Patriotic Fruit Pizza

Patriotic Fruit Pizza

1 (16 1/2 oz.) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 C of sugar, divided
2 T of cornstarch
1/2 C of orange juice
1/4 C of lemon juice
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1 T of milk
1 t orange peel, grated
2/3 C of heavy whipping cream
1 apple, peeled and sliced thin
1 1/2 C of fresh strawberries, halved
1 C seedless dark purple grapes, halved
1 banana, sliced thin
1 C of fresh raspberries
1/2 C of fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the cookie dough and let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Carefully spread the dough onto an ungreased pizza pan. Bake the dough 15 minutes or until a golden brown. Remove and allow the dough to cool on the pan.

Dump half of the sugar into a small saucepan. Add the cornstarch and toss slightly to combine. Pour the orange and lemon juice into the mixture.

Place the pan over medium heat bringing the mixture to a steady boil.
Continue boiling for 2 minutes stirring constantly then remove the pan from the heat, setting aside to cool. Cube the cream cheese and place in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over the cream cheese. Add the orange peel and the remaining sugar. Beat the mixture until blended together well and smooth.

Place the whipping cream into a small mixing bowl. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks begin to form. Fold the whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture until blended in well. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Place the apple slices around the outside edge of the crust.

Next layer the strawberry halves around the crust. Circle the halved grapes on next. Add the bananas to the ring. Place the raspberries onto the crust next. Finish the ring with the blueberries. Spread the reserved glaze evenly over the all the fruit. Place covered in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or until chilled.

Makes 12 servings

Preparation Time: approximately 30 minutes

Firecracker Cupcakes

Firecracker Cupcakes

1 (18 oz. ) box of devils food cake mix
1 1/4 C of sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 C of canola oil
2 T instant coffee crystals
1/2 t ground chipotle chili pepper
1 (11.5 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate chunks
2 t flour
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C butter, room temperature
1/2 t vanilla
2 1/2 C of powdered sugar
Red and blue food coloring
2 oz. semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 C of whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Dump the devils food cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sour cream, eggs, and oil. Sprinkle in the coffee crystals and pepper.

With an electric mixer on low speed beat the ingredients for 45 seconds.
Adjust the speed to medium and continue beating 2 minutes making the batter thick.

Place the flour in a small bowl. Add the chocolate chunks and toss to coat.
Fold the chocolate into the cupcake batter. Fill the prepared muffin cups 3/4 full of the batter.

Bake 20 minutes or until the tops bounce back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to continue cooling.

Place the cream cheese and the butter into a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until the mixture reaches a frosting consistency.

Separate the frosting into 3 small bowls and tint one bowl with the red food coloring and 1 bowl with the blue food coloring. Frost the cupcakes dividing between the 3 different colors.

Place the chopped chocolate into a small mixing bowl. Heat the whipping cream in a saucepan over low heat to just boiling. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth.

Place the mixture into a sealable baggie. Snip one corner of the baggie and drizzle the chocolate over the frosted cupcakes.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Cute Children and pets pictures

My Mom sends me some cute e-mails.  I love these one and had to share with you all.

Who is walking who?

I look like you or is it you look like me?

Ah, can I keep him?  (the dog is asking):

Um mom, why am I wearing clothes and his is not??

Look Mom at what I learned :

Just one little bite that's all:

Are you sure they taste like chicken??

Are you sure they are in here???

That's all for now, Blessings,Mj

4th of July Treats

Lots of yummy sounding and festive looking treats at The Crafty Crow today!  Now I'm wondering if I can't sneak in another trip to the grocery store for just a few more things .

Hope your 4th of July is filled with fun and family!  I plan to find a nice cool spot to sit and read for a while, enjoy some fun food with the kiddos,...perhaps I'll take the new neighbors across the road up on their offer of a boat ride...or I'll just let everyone else go and I'll stay home and enjoy a bit of "quietude" .

Yes, another entry! :)

Each evening, we take a ride up top to check on our cows. Last night, we were rewarded with seeing a new bull calf! Had we been there 10 minutes sooner, we could have watched him being born.

What an amazing thing birth is. I am in awe of it. Animal births are so different than human births. We treat animal births as a natural event, and very few need any help or intervention. Human birth, on the other hand, is treated as some sort of illness that simply must be treated and have intervention. Whether the intervention is to "move things along with pitocin", or to "monitor to be sure all is well" or to "take the baby". God designed the female body to reproduce. I think we'd do well to let His design do the work, not the medical community.

I digress...sorry...birth is such an incredible event...I hate to see women give that time of their life over to the medical community. God is doing so much more than just bringing a new life into the world...though that's awesome in and of itself....He can use that time to grow you as a person. As a couple. As a child. As a parent. But, if you're all doped up, can't feel the labor pain, and can't move....you kind of remove Him from the situation, don't you?

Okay, okay....moving on.....

We're going to a cookout tomorrow for the 4th. Thomas wanted fireworks, so we may have to have our own private show another day. Wish our town put on a fireworks show. I remember living in NY, there was always a big show to go see. Even in FL, there were fireworks on the beach.

Honey starts a new schedule soon. He'll be working on the inventory prep crew. Instead of his normal 5am to 2pm shift, he'll work 2pm to 11pm. We all see this is a really good thing for the summer. It's light out so late that it makes getting to bed on time difficult. And it's too warm to sleep comfortably...course, in the morning, it's quite cool and pleasant, so sleeping in is really easy to do. (ask me how I know this to be true?!)

Mom's night out is next week. I didn't go last month, so I'm really looking forward to going this month. It's always a good time with fun friends. Sure, some seem to have their own agendas......and that I surely don't understand....but I do like my time out with friends.

Mary has a couple of loose teeth. So does Natalie. They just keep growing up....

Rebecca is going on a trip with my family later this year. My folks, Aunt Nina, brother and his family and cousin and his family are going to Cozumel, Mexico over Thanksgiving. Aunt Nina invited Rebecca since my niece will be there too. She's footing the entire bill, from her passport to her flight to her time there. How incredibly generous of her!!!! Rebecca is quite excited about this opportunity...and I am too....though I know I will miss her terribly.

Natalie and Mary have decided we need to do something special while Rebecca is away. They've tossed out some wild ideas....we shall see what the future holds...

Honey is stopping at the sawmill on his way home today to get the rest of our lumber for the corral. This needs to be finished up for so many reasons....one of which being just to cross off a HUGE to do on the never-ending list. What a blessing it will be to have this finished!!!

I need to get my July menu finished up so we can do our big monthly grocery shopping tomorrow. The cupboards are looking a bit bare. The pantry needs re-stocking. I will have a most happy family to have cheese in the house again. We ran out of all but mozzarella earlier this week....and I've heard many a comment about this tragedy.

I'm off to work on said menu.....Happy Fourth of July!!!

July? Already??

Is it just me or is this year flying by with lightning speed??

We're having a fun, busy summer. We've really enjoyed spending time with friends, gardening, going to the creek, reading, and just generally enjoying our time together.

I'm realizing how short my time with Rebecca is getting to be. Not that I expect her to go anywhere right after graduation, but she's going to be in 11th grade this coming year....who knows what the Lord has in store for her. I want to soak up every minute with her...and her siblings, of course.

Rebecca and Mary were discussing how old each of them would be in "so many years". When Mary turns 16, Rebecca will be 26. If she's anything like me, Rebecca will have a couple of children by that time. Strange to think about it that way....

If she did follow me...Rebecca would be married in 5 short years..and a Mama in 7. Doesn't seem that far away....

Okay...I'm going to get all teary-eyed if I keep on...so I'll stop and just love the time NOW.

Rebecca and I taught Natalie and Mary how to play Dutch Blitz. We have two more girls who love to play this game! Mary is the Uno girl..but she likes the Dutch Blitz too! What fun we have playing. We should get another deck of cards, since there's only cards enough for 4 players....

We're all getting nice tans. I'm loving this weather. Could be cooler for my taste, but I'll take it. It's not overwhelmingly hot as it has been the last few years. The a/c isn't running non-stop. It's not unbearable outside. Most days, we've had a nice breeze which makes such a difference. It's warm enough to make me want to swim, yet not so warm that makes me want to stay indoors. I'm quite thankful for this weather!!!!

Honey is going to the dentist next week. He's lost one of his crowns for the 3rd time. The dentist told him if it comes off again, there was nothing he could do to put it back on. It started out with one pin holding it in place...he now has 3 pins...and it still comes off. So, he's going in so the dentist can remove the pins....one less tooth for my beloved. I feel badly for him. I so wish someone had taught him...and emphasised to him...the importance of taking care of your teeth.

We've done some organizing and re-arranging...with more to be done. I have a pile here in the office....quite the pile...of things to sell. I'm not sure I want to deal with the hassle of eBaying them...but then....I've done two book sales and am left with this pile. The pile was MUCH larger before the sales, so I've done pretty well at downsizing it...but I want it GONE altogether!

Guess that job won't do itself.....I should spend some computer time taking care of such things....

7-2-09 Up-date

Kristi was board earlier today and decided to play wii.  She played monopoly with Hope!  Hope is our soon to be 10 year old golden medical alert service dog.  We train the dog to all kinds of stuff some funny and silly but this is too much!

Titus is doing great in his service dog training.  We took him out for the first time to go shopping and he was wonderful.  If we stopped and looked or spoke to someone he would lay down with out being told to.  I thought it was odd, so I kept testing him.  I would walk and stop not look at him he would just lay down .  That is amazing for a six month old puppy to do on his first outing in stores.  I wonder if Kristi is going to teach Titus to play monopoly??

We start training them as soon as they are born.  Also having good parents helps too.  It took me two years to find his parents, to find the lines I was looking for.  Now we need one more female golden.  We might get one from Alex's breeder.

Blessings, Mj

Kristi and Mya's new adventure in pictures

Okay, Janet is in trouble she let Kristi and Mya run free on the mountain.  Worse yet with a camera .  Here are some pictures of the adventure.

1. Is Kristi finding out there are more than one of her:

2. Mya discover pine cones, do pine nuts come from pine cones??:

3. Is Kristi playing cars (she is the car)

4. Maybe I will be a better car sitting down??

5. Better yet I will play speed bump!! Did I send Kristi with her insuance card???

6. Mya discovers a cow and gives it a kiss !!

7. Milk comes from here ???? I know the poor thing , will she ever get over the shock???

8. Then they made friends with the locals:

JANET!!!!, we do not let the girls play speed bump in the middle of the Road!!! /.    We need to let the girls out of the house once in a while.  Poor Mya was so lost as to where milk comes from!! And did not know what a pine cone was!!!   Poor Kristi she thought there was more than one of her!!  Look at the locals nails on that local, see how long they are?? They could hurt the girls!!

Sorry but I had to write and show the pictures , they are so cute.  I will show more latter.

Blessings Mj

Simple Hospitality......It really can be simple!!

Simple Hospitality......It really can be simple!!

I have been reading the book written by Jane Jarrell, titled, "Simple Hospitality". I thought I might share a little of it with you.

I really enjoyed reading this one thing that she wrote about using the letters that spell out the word "hospitality". So today we look at the H.

H--Hospital for the Soul

Why does one go to the hospital? To visit, maybe, or to welcome a new person into the world. But oftentimes it's because our bodies are broken. A hospital can be a place to go for healing and repair.

So the word hospitable is taken from the word hospital, which means a charitable institution, a repair shop, a hospice, or a shelter. Hospitality is a shelter for the soul, healing for the spirit. So when we open our home in the true spirit of hospitality or when we bring our gifts of hospitality outside of our homes, we are offering hospitality!!

The Bible states it this way: Romans 12:9-13, "Let love be without dissimulation.....v10, Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;. .vs12, Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; vs13, Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality."

So real Christian hospitality isn't an option, it is what God commands.

O-Obedience

Some may think focusing on hospitality is frivolous or a waste of time. But in reality it is nothing less than obeying God's clear command in Scripture. Hospitality was not Martha Stewart's invention; it was God's!! Romans 12 paints an incredible picture of what it means to truly give our lives to God......In these selfless acts, we serve not only those in need but Christ Himself. Hospitality is obeying God by cheerfully serving others.

S-Simplicity

If we don't approach hospitality simply, most of us won't do it at all. When we exchange the harried hoopla for the heartfelt, everyone is blessed. Can we be comfortable when everything is not perfect, or do we always need to put on a show for people? As one lady states "I don't want to buy your house, I just want to visit." Simplicity brings us closer to having authentic relationships. Our focus is on our guests, not on the "stuff" that surrounds us.

P--Prayer

Hospitality involves prayer. Ask God to show you who and how to show hospitality to. God will show you the when, the how, and what that someone might need. I may not know what a person needs at the time but God knows!! You should always ask God for His blessing on the gathering you are about to have with someone, no matter how small or large the number will be.

I--Intimacy

Intimacy is sharing who you are and what you are to others. You need this type of relationship with your husband, your family and your friends, but nurturing genuine intimacy takes time and effort.

Cell phones and emails are nice, but we need to take time to sit quietly with a friend sometimes. You never know where they are at or what they may need.. Time plus realness plus genuine caring equals intimacy.

Simple Hospitality......It really can be simple!!

T--To Go

Are you ready to take your kindness on the road? Do you have a plan or list of ideas that will work in a hurry?

Keep a few recipes with the ingredients on hand so that you can prepare a meal or a welcoming treat for someone in need.

There is something extra-special about busy people who take the time to reach out and help others.

A--Acknowledge and Appreciate

We all have our own gifts, but what about those who are known for the hospitality? They also need a "dose" of hospitality sometimes. They need to be acknowledged for their kindness, appreciated for the efforts and recipients of the hospitality of others.

Most of us are "takers' by nature and unless we make a conscious effort, we’ll always take and forget to give back. Those who are more "givers", either by nature or intent, often get taken for granted.

In our busy lives, gratitude is often felt yet not expressed.

L--Lifestyle

Hospitality is a lifestyle, a ministry lifestyle. God weaves it into our hearts. We all need each other to make the body of Christ its best. You are making the commitment to a lifestyle of opening up your heart to others on a regular basis.

You will need to start small, perhaps by committing to one act of hospitality each month. Gradually you will see how easy it is and move towards once a week and before you know it you will be asking God to show you someone in need every day!!

Take time to ask God to show you how He might use you today, this week or this month. You are allowing God to work through you and when He is working, we cannot fail.

I--Ideas

When looking for ideas for hospitality, scan your favorite magazines, talk with your friends or keep a simple notebook or card file with your favorite recipes, holiday decorating ideas, party themes, or anything else that spurs your hospitality thinking. Just keep it simple, and honest. Let God's love show through you and that will be all that you need to make any time a good time to visit.

T--Time

We are all short on time for the things that we want to do or need to do. That is why hospitality is such a valuable gift to others. It means we gave them our most precious resource: our time.

Think of things to do for hospitality for others when you are doing for your family. Double a casserole for dinner one night and freeze the one for a family that may be in need, or a mother who may be sick at the time.

When baking cookies for your family, bake a few more to brighten someone's day. Out buying groceries? Cut back on one thing or two for snacks and make up a meal for a new mom.

If your time is limited, begin your quest to hospitality with small things and think about other ways that you will want to show it when your time allows for it.

Y--You

To show hospitality to others, you must first love yourself so that you are capable of loving others. This means taking care of yourself so that you are able to take care of others. When we've taken the time to put our own hearts in order, we are freed to reach beyond ourselves to meet others where they are.

The new Transformers Movie.

Lilli and I went to see the new Transformers movie yesterday.  It was really really good and we both enjoyed it.  When it was over, she said, "Optimus Prime is my favorite Transformer".  I had to agree, that he is my favorite too.

It was very cool watching them transform on the big screen.  I know that makes me a dork, but I really did enjoy it ;)  Of course, I used to watch the cartoon when I was younger, so to see it on the big screen...well, it was cool.

From a mom's perspective...be warned that there is a lot (LOT) of bad language and more sexual references than in the first Transformers movie.