Worth Sharing: October 14 - 25

Have I ever shared my frustrating history with pumpkin pies?  No?  Well let me start by saying that for two weeks now John has mentioned pumpkin pie.  He came very close to buying a pumpkin last week and when I asked him why he said "I want pumpkin pie."   "I can make you one and no need to buy a pumpkin." I said.  He said "You won't..."

Only because he knows the long and sorry saga of my life with pumpkin pies.   

When I was married the first time, our first Thanksgiving came around. First there was the tussle between his mother and mine to make us attend their holiday meal and not the other's.   I settled it pretty quickly.  My ex-husband was raised as a Jehovah Witness.  They do not celebrate Christmas (and from what his grandmother told me Thanksgiving either, but that's beside the point) and it seemed reasonable we go to his folks for Thanksgiving and to mine for Christmas.  Right?  Well a lot of hard feelings resulted let me tell you...but again, that's beside the point of this story.

So my mother in law asked me to bring pumpkin pies.  She was very specific in asking me to bring pumpkin.  And I showed up with two lovely golden pumpkin pies I'd made that morning and she said "I swapped one of my pecan pies for one of my neighbor's pumpkin pies..."  So there sat my two pies without a single slice removed.  

And so it went for 10 years.  Each year I was asked to make pumpkin pie and each year, I arrived to find a pumpkin pie had been purchased or swapped for across the fence and my pies went untouched.  Finally I took a stand.  Asked to make pumpkin pies I said I would happily do so, but I did not want to see a pumpkin pie when I arrived.  Well come that morning, as we opened the trunk to remove my two perfectly beautiful pumpkin pies, Erlene came out of the house with a pecan pie in hand and was greeted at the fence by her neighbor who called, "We're swapping a pecan pie for a pumpkin one..."  I told my husband to put the blasted pies back in the trunk. "But...they'll spoil! and Mama is expecting you to bring them."   "I don't care.  They can rot right there.  I am done with this silly game!"

That was our last Thanksgiving with the family by the way.   Apparently showing up pie-less was a deadly sin.

So we went to my mother's or grandmother's house for the meal and Mama invariably asked me to bring a pumpkin pie...

Only each year, the day before the meal, Mama would call.  "I've just found a recipe for Pumpkin Bars (or some other dessert recipe that included pumpkin)…Why don't you bring that instead of pumpkin pie?"  Every.single.year.   It wasn't until I was married to John and we began having Thanksgiving dinner in our own home that he ever got a pumpkin pie and then Mama complained bitterly that she just didn't care for pumpkin...Nor Turkey or stuffing but again, that's beside the story, isn't it?

So the saga has gone.  We planned pumpkin pie into the menu two years ago when we had 18 to dinner but somehow the pies didn't get made.  I can't remember why.  Was it no room in the oven, too much to do and so they were forgotten?   And last year when it was just us and Mama, we arrived at her house for a simple meal for three with chicken and dressing but NOT turkey or stuffing and she'd promised to make pumpkin pie but didn't.  No.  She made pumpkin pudding bars or some such thing. John looked at me when we left and said "Ok. I want a do over.  I want Turkey and Stuffing and Pumpkin Pie."  And three days later when he was off work again, that's what we had.

The pies I made this morning were a disaster.  I don't know why the pastry turned out so wrong.  I've been using the same recipe for 9 years with good results, but not today.  And the filling puffed up in the middle of the pie pan.  But John was happy.  He had pumpkin pie.

I stumbled upon an Instagram video one morning last week. I can't even tell you who the young woman was, but she was sharing a very personal story that touched me so that I felt compelled to listen to the entire video.  She said at the end of the video, "Healing is REAL.  Not in the sense that all the pain goes away, but in the sense that the brokenness does."    I hope that is the same message of hope for others that I found it to be.  I don't suppose we any of us forget the deep griefs and the mortal hurts that bring us to our knees, but the brokenness does go away...Amen!

From a devotional I read one morning during Bible study,  written by Alma Barkman.  "There is always the possibility that I am poor because I feel poor, not because I lack necessities."    This was just a confirmation of  something I had realized earlier in the month and part of my reason for changing my focus a bit here on the blog.   I have ENOUGH.  I may not have all I want, my bank balance may have fallen almost to the "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up, " stage,  but I am not poor in any sense of the word.

I read this quote by St. Francis of Assisi:  "Witness at all times, and when necessary, use words."  It's not, as John says, bashing someone over the head with the Bible that is the necessary witness.  Very often it's our actions which will leave it's mark on others and we might never mention Christ at all, but He was visible all the while.

I started "Downton Abby" all over again.  From Season 1, episode 1 this gem: when asked why she'd apologized to Mr. Bates when caught wandering the halls of the servants quarters with a guest, "I always apologize when I'm in the wrong.  It's a habit of mine."  Lady  Mary.



Wise Economies:   I made a small batch of yogurt one morning.  I had too much milk in the fridge and was about to use most of the last of a jar of yogurt in making a curried chicken dish.  Having learned how to make yogurt quite a few years ago, I felt quite comfortable making a smaller batch this time.   The original recipe called for 1 gallon of milk which is just right if you've a whole family to make yogurt for... I made two pint jars which is plenty of yogurt for me since  John eats only store bought.  The measurements change but the basics of temperatures and order of mixing, etc., do not.

On our first really cool morning, I made a big pot of vegetable beef soup.  This netted us not only enough for a meal for ourselves, but I put up three quarts, one of which I sent home with Bess for a help during one of her busy days.  The other two I froze for both our own future meal and a mother's help meal for Katie.  I still had about a cup leftover and I saved it as well.  Later in the weekend I made a beef stew and had a few leftovers with plenty of broth.  For supper that night, I reheated the leftover vegetable soup and just mixed it with the leftover stew.  It was the perfect amount for our supper for two.

I've been seeking new meatless meal options to add to our rather limited repertoire and it seems to me that these days when the budget is snug is the best time to experiment.   This meal proved to be very tasty and most importantly, it called for only standard pantry items which is always a budget bonus.  It can be a 15 minute meal if you use canned beans as I did or you can take the longer but less expensive route of cooking your own beans.  I meant to follow the original recipe pretty strictly and I did stick close to it but used some items that were languishing in the fridge which needed to be worked into a recipe (onion and Asiago).

Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake

Heat oven to 475F.  Use an ovenproof skillet...

1/4 cup olive oil (I used less)
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced (I used 4 tsps minced)
2 tbsps. tomato paste
2 15 ounce cans cannelini or Great Northern beans
1/2 cup boiling water
salt and pepper
1 1/3 cups mozzarella (I used about 1/2 cup and then used up some Asaigo I had in the fridge which totaled another 1/2 cup)
My other additions:
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Heat oil then add in onion (my addition).  Cook onion until just translucent then add the garlic.  Cook about 30 seconds.  Add tomato paste and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Add beans and water and generous amounts of salt and pepper (you really do need to be generous!).  Stir everything together well.  I let mine cook down a little, since John doesn't like things soupy.  Here is where I added the baking soda to reduce the acidity of the tomato paste and bring down the after effects of the beans.   Once the foam had died down, I sprinkled on my cheese.   Then I  put the skillet in the oven and allowed the cheese to melt fully and brown.

I thought this was quite good.   It smelled heavenly whilst in the oven.  A big green leafy salad and crusty bread is really all you need to complete this meal.  I had no crusty bread, so settled for homemade croutons on the green leafy salad.   John was so pleased with the bean dish that he suggested I make it again and I shall.

I wouldn't change much about this recipe, but do taste it as it's heating and adjust the seasonings to taste.  I found I really did need a generous amount of salt and pepper which the original recipe does state.  If your family doesn't like a meat free dish, this would be lovely with some Italian sausage crumbled and browned and then added to the beans but it really is a stand alone entrée.



One morning this week I felt the urge to sew. I'd picked up a remnant of heavy fabric that I really liked in Hobby Lobby, as well as some deep maroon colored velvet to replace the green velvet I'd formerly used on a needlepoint seat cushion I'd fashioned into a throw pillow.

I'd chosen the heavy fabric because of the reddish color and found a second piece that I declined to buy that was beige and brown with touches of red and blue...Little did I know it was actually the RIGHT side of the very same piece I was buying.  I'd wanted both, you see, but could only afford the one and so I chose the maroon piece.  Much to my surprise when I got it home I found I had BOTH fabrics on the same length.  Whoever had folded the two pieces folded one wrong side out and one right side out...I chuckled because I liked both fabrics very well and it was funny that they were one and the same.  You can see the length of fabric tossed across the back of my chair here with both sides showing.

Here's my handiwork from this morning.  You'll see I used the reverse of the fabric for one pillow  and the right side for the other and I think they both are lovely.

That needlepoint seat cover was a thrift store find that I used as a seat when I made an old toile curtain into a slipcover for a rolling desk chair some years ago.

That slipcover shredded and I saved the seat cover and made it into a pillow earlier this year.  I have not cut the seat cover but left it intact and simply tucked in the excess of the fabric.  After all, I might want to use it for it's original purpose at some point in the future!

I have found that inexpensive poly fill bed pillows from the dollar store do rather well as pillow inserts.  Often they are loosely enough stuffed that you can shape them into any rectangle or square shape you'd like.

My 'new pillows' cost me a whole $7 for the fabrics used.



Has anyone else been thinking about Christmas décor yet?  I'm not by any means suggesting we hurry through autumn, especially since our autumn took such a long time to show up here in the South, but I am thinking about Christmas décor and how I'd like to have things look this year.  I'm thinking sheep because really can you imagine the English countryside without sheep?  No, I can't either and since I'm not going to take up keeping sheep I thought perhaps having them on the Christmas tree would be rather nice.  I found a craft on Pinterest from Prodigal Pieces and I have all the materials required to make these.  My sheep will be more cream colored than white...

Don't you think they'd be cute with a plaid bow and tiny bells?

Here I shall end for the week.  The boys are coming this evening to spend time with us while the parents hopefully get out to celebrate their anniversary.

Have a great weekend!