Caleb's Bible Class

Caleb is getting completely immersed in the world of ministry. The church has kept him busy leading singing, visiting the sick, attending youth events and other aspects of church work.  Tonight he taught the auditorium class.  He was given the topic of 'How Can We Trust the Bible?'  The best part is the church streams the lessons on their YouTube channel! Enjoy! 

 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 4

Homemade Canned Tamales

Today I made us tamales for lunch, but it can be a lot of work.  So I usually make a double batch and freeze the extra tamales for another day.  So of course my thoughts move to if you can freeze it you can can it. 

So I flipped through my grandmother's Kerr canning book and there was a recipe for canning tamales.  I'll save the part about the recipe for tamales, basically you can begin with your favorite tamale recipe, pork, chicken, beef or combo.  We happen to prefer beef tamales. 

Once you've prepared your tamales and rolled them, pack them into sterilized Ball Wide Mouth Quart Jars. You can use a butter knife to make it easier to make room to pack the tamales into your jars.  I was able to pack nine tamales into each quart jar.  Add 1 tablespoon of water to each jar before sealing.

Put on lids and bands screwing them down firmly tight, Process in Pressure Canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes, (60 minutes if using pints). 

Ta da!  Homemade canned tamales!  Serve with chili, or cheese or salsa. Homemade lunch in minutes! 

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31

Canning Caramelized Onions

While the girls and spent a lot of time peeling skins off of our green bell peppers, Jon chopped up six pounds of yellow onions for me. I like the caramelized onions in casseroles, on fajitas, in soup and other dishes.  But I don't always have onions on hand or want to take the time to cook them down.  

I tossed the sliced onions in my crock pot on low adding one stick, half a cup, of melted butter.  Stir to coat the onions and allow them to cook for about ten hours.  The onions will cook down to about one fourth of your beginning volume. 

To preserve them in canning jars add your caramelized onions to sterilized Half Pint Mason Jars and top with 1/2 teaspoon of Canning Salt.  Wipe the rims of your jars with vinegar to remove any oily residue. Because onions are a low acid food and since they were cooked with butter, I processed the jars at 10 pounds of pressure for 70 minutes in my Pressure Canner. 

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—
also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  Numbers 11:5

Canning Bell Peppers

So I'm missing the boy and needing something to keep me busy.  If only I had something to can!  We have about seven bell pepper plants all which are loaded down with peppers.  Normally I would just wash, seed and freeze them.  But instead I looked up how to can them.  

Apparently when canning bell peppers you want to remove the skins because they can become bitter in the canning process.  Sounds easy enough, right?  No, no it's not.  

One website said to put the halved peppers on a cooking sheet, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.  Then bake in the oven remove from heat and peel the skins right off.  No that didn't work.  Another site said to toss baked peppers in a paper bag for 20 minutes and steam the skins off. No.

I ended up placing the peppers in a skillet with olive oil skins down on a high heat.  This blisters the skin.  Remove peppers from the skillet and dip in ice water to peel off the skins. 

Pack the peppers into Half Pint Mason Jars and cover with water and 1/2 teaspoon of Morton Canning and Pickling Salt.  Process in a Pressure Canner for 35 minutes at 10lbs of pressure.  

I have cooked with a few of the jars and they add a wonderful flavor to pastas and Mexican food.  But I'm not sure I would go through all that work again.  Peeling the skins was incredibly time consuming and I was very grateful for my two helpers, but next time I will just freeze my peppers. 

You will eat the fruit of your labor;

    blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Psalm 128:2

Year Round Softball

There is a saying by Ernie Banks, "It's a great day for a ball game; let's play two!"  In Abigail's case today it was a great day for a softball game so she played three!  Fortunately her tournament was in town so several of her friends made it to the ball fields to watch her play.  

She caught one game and played in the outfield for the other two games.  She had several good hits and scored in two of the games!  That's a good day at the ball park. 

For through wisdom your days will be many,

    and years will be added to your life.

Proverbs 9:11

PC's and Pizzas

Tonight was another meeting of our PEACH Technology Club for the high schoolers. Today they worked on building frequencies and their applications. 

The group was going to take a break over the summer but have enjoyed handing out and learning from Mr. Kleinfall so they've kept the meetings going through the summer.  

The nice thing for this mom is that the girl can drive herself to the meetings, AND the meetings are near the Papa John's where we pick up pizzas on Thursdays for the food pantry.  That means she can stop by and pick up pizzas and drop them off at the pantry's cooler on her way home.  Tonight she snapped a picture of the back of her car loaded with pizzas.  That's just the back of the car there are more stacked in the back seat. 

Praise our God, all peoples,

    let the sound of his praise be heard

Psalm 66:8

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

We took a break today to run up to Ada to celebrate Ryan's 18th birthday a couple of days early.  The girls loved seeing the new calf born earlier this week.  We all had a good visit and enjoyed hanging out and celebrating with Ryan.  It's hard to believe these kids are one by one becoming adults. 

Let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.  I Samuel 25:27

Doing Good

It's Monday morning so we are back to work at our local food pantry.  We put out the call today for food donations and our community responded.  

Abigail went to work helping unload cars with donations and Frankie worked inside marking bar codes and circling food expiration dates.  

Some of the things we go through the most are spaghetti sauce, canned mixed veggies, canned spinach, canned potatoes, soup, mac & cheese, dried beans, canned pasta, and toiletries.  

Most food pantries can do the most good with cash donations because for $20 they can purchase food from local food banks at a dramatically reduced price.  In fact the cost of purchasing food from a food bank can be about one fifth of the sale price at the grocery store!  So with a monetary donation food pantries can purchase five times the amount of food for the same dollar value!  Just something to keep in mind, when you're wanting to help out!   

You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.  Deuteronomy 6:18

Sunday Selfies

The Lord's Day is the best day of the week!  It is the day we pause everything to worship.  It is who we are and the driving force between everything we do.

When the kids were young I loved even the car ride to church.  The three would recited all the books of the Old Testament and New, then we would sing songs on the twenty-five minute drive to the church building.

At services even when the kids got older they still choose to sit with Jon and I as a family.  

When Caleb went to college my mom heart missed the family camaraderie on Sunday mornings. We began a new tradition in the spirit of what held us together.   Every Sunday morning we send Caleb a Sunday selfie taken in the car on our way to church.  Caleb would then take his picture or a pic of him with friends at church and send it to us.  Now that Caleb is working with the church in Houston, we've continued that tradition.  This is the Sunday Selfie from his first day at work! 

After worship services this morning Abigail had another ball game in her tournament so I included a few pics from our afternoon. 

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, 

who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2

Field, Friends and Fun

High school softball season has ended, and this week select softball season began.  Abigail's select team is Rage, she's been with them for two seasons.  The select teams in the area kicked off the season with a tournament this weekend, with each team guaranteed three games today and two tomorrow afternoon.  

The girls played three games between 8am and 5pm.  Each of the teams set up pop up shades tents and camp out for the day.  Each of the players brought food and some of the dads grilled and kept the girls nourished throughout the day.  

Richard brought Melissa and Hannah down to watch the girl play ball and after her final game of the day we headed to On the Border for some Mexican food!  It was so good to hang out with them, there was so much laughter!  Why the girl is drinking salsa out of straw is beyond me! 

“Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’”
I Samuel 20:42