Chili & Corn Bread

I love recipes for idea's but I never stick to them because in the end your taste buds will make the final analysis. So this recipe is a little of this and little of that, throw it all together in a pot over the stove and you have dinner.

Chili

1 lb ground beef
2 (8oz) cans of beans (pretty much any kind of bean except Garbanzo)
1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes
1 small onion
1/4 cup green chili's
2 tbsp sugar
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Cook the meat and onion together in a pot until the meat is fully cooked through. Then add the rest of the ingredients and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it cook another 10-15 minutes.
Now if you are serving a vegetarian and some who wish to have meat then cook the meat separately and mix the onion in with the sauce then divide them and add the meat to one of them. Then say Mom and Dad want spicy but the kids can't handle it. Split it up.

Keep it sweet -for the kiddies
parsley
basil
little more sugar

Hot and Sassy
chili powder
Tabasco or jalapeno sauce
red peppers

Once served don't forget to top it off with some shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and green onions.

Corn Bread

1 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil (safflower is best and better for you)
1 cup milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 13x9x2 pan. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and place in pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. For my family of four I usually have to double this batch. It's a big hit in our home. Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour (I use wheat and it tastes great)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup oil (saflower is best and better for you)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup blueberries

Optional Topping
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan. Mix all ingredient in bowl except blueberries until just blended. (If you stir muffin mixes very much you end up with a rubbery muffin). Then add the blueberries and fold into the rest of the dough so as not to crush them. (I use frozen blueberries) Place in muffin pans. If you desire to use the topping melt the butter then add the rest of the ingredients and place on top of the muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes on the bottom rack or the bottom of them will burn before they bake through. Enjoy!

Coffee Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
1 tbs butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbs flour
1 tbs cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Combine and stir together dry and wet ingredients. Then add together, stir just until well blended. Place in greased 9x9x2 pan. Then melt the butter in a small bowl and add the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon and strinkle on top. Place in oven on the bottom shelf about 25-35 minutes until cooked through.

Tator Tot Casserole

I thought the regular versions where boring so I modified the recipe as follows.

1 bag of tator tots
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion
1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
2 cups milk
1 cup cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1 tbs garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Cook the ground beef and onion in a pan on the stove. Then mix together the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Place just enough tator tots in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish to cover it. Then pour the meat mixture over the tator tots and the rest over the top of that. Cover the top of it in cheddar or mozzarella cheese and bake in over for 40-60 minutes. Enjoy!

To Disciple and Be Discipled

I find myself discipled when I study words like honor, which follows with honorable, respect with respectful, correction with correct, instruction with instructed, restraint with restrained. We must become students before we can become teachers. (1 Tim 1-5-8)

To disciple is to teach, to train or bring up. To discipline is to educate, instruct, cultivate and improve. To correct is to set right. To punish is to chastise. To chastise is to correct. To honor is to respect, to be in submission to. To be honorable is to be worthy of respect. To submit is to surrender without murmuring. To discuss is to resolve, to examine. To control is to restrain, to overpower.

These words will guide a parent’s journey and will either be to our destruction or to our praise. There is the principle and the method. We cannot deny the importance of the principle but as to the method of how it’s applied we have much to decide. If we are guided by these principles through intention but fail to apply them in appropriate application we have failed. It is only by both the intention and the application that we may raise our children in the way of the Lord. It is not enough to say you’re sorry if you don’t mean it. It’s not enough to say you love Jesus if you don’t live it. It’s not enough to require something of your child which you have been ignorant to uphold yourself. (Rom 10:3-4)

My father-in-law has said that “little children are not problems to be solved; they are little mysterious to unravel.” We need greatly to understand our children for who they are and not what we want them to be. To love them even when they are wrong and not tare them down even more. To praise them and lift them up and stop expecting more. To be kind to their feelings and not embarrass them to put them to shame. To be tender to their needs and not grow weary of their ways. To listen to them and not ignore their plea’s. To be sensitive to them and stop thinking to yourself. To be tender to them, most of all when they have done wrong. Do unto your child what you would have your child do unto you. This is the example in which you give your child to live by.

To do these things we are teaching them a better way, we are educating them to improvement of mind and character unto the Lord, we are setting right the wrong ways, we are showing them our submission to the Lord that they may have respect for us and for God. We are becoming worthy of His praise and we are resolving with our children matters of the heart that when God examines us He may be glorified and when these attributes are exercised we have no need to overpower them. For they have become our “willing” disciples as we make witness of God. (Pro 14:5-6)

-Stacey Wallace

Issues Of The Heart

Heart appears in scripture eight hundred and thirty times in seven hundred sixty two verses. These scriptures tell us that the heart is the seat of affection. (Eph 4:23) His elect are graciously affected of God by their hearts. (Pro 21:1) Our hearts are enlightened (2Cor 4:6), tried (1 Thes 2:4), have faith (Rom 10:10), trust (Pro 3:5), love (Matt 22:37), fear (Jer 32:40), fidelity (Neh 9:8), zeal (2 Chr 17:16) and to be perfect (Psa 101:2). The heart should render to God obedience (Eph 6:6), it should seek God (Psa 84:2), be upright (Psa 97:11), clean (Psa 51:10), pure (Matt 5:8), sincere (Lk 8:15), repentant (Psa 34:18), devout (Psa 119:10), wise (Job 9:4), tender (Eph 4:32), holy (1 Pet 3:15), compassionate (Lam 3:51) and lowly (Matt 11:29). Our hearts can also be full of iniquity (Rom 1:21), love evil (Jer 17:5), be a fountain of evil (Matt 12:34), be way ward (Pro 6:14), blind (Rom 1:21), double-minded (Isa 9:9), unstable (Pro 27:8), hard (Mark 6:52), deceitful (Jer 17:9), proud (Pro 18:12), subtle (Pro 7:10), sensual (Rom 8:7), worldly (2 Chr 26:16), malicious (Ecc 7:26), diabolical (John 13:2), covetous (2 Pet 2:14) and foolish (Ecc 9:3). But what do these mean? What is the extent of these understandings? How do we keep our hearts unto all righteousness and how will that show forth in our lives that our child may by their hearts glorify God by our example?

We are commanded to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and might, to have a willing mind and contrite spirit. (Mat 22:37 & Psa 34:18) To keep our hearts fixed on God, to be fruitful unto righteousness. (Col 1:10) To keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. (Pro 4:23)

The heart by definition is the inner self that thinks, feels and decides. The heart is central to a person, it directs his steps, chooses his thoughts, produces his life. What is in a man’s heart, so is he.

Our children will only be as good as what is in their hearts. We may only guide them in uprightness when our hearts are right. We cannot expect our child to do any better than we have done ourselves. Most assuredly we know that the Lord does not see, nor judge as we do. For a man can only look to the outward appearance but the Lord looks to the heart. (1 Sam 16:7) We can only know a man’s heart by what his life produces. (Matt 12:33 & 7:20) As teachers, as parents we must fashion our hearts unto God that our lives show forth righteousness unto our children. When our hearts are not diligent unto God, our lives will become a lie and our children will reflect that lie. But when our hearts seek after the Lord with all our strength, soul and mind, our steps are directed by Him, our thoughts are formed by Him, our strength is found in Him, our love is all for Him, our souls belong to Him, our words are about Him and our hearts live in Him. May this be what God sees in our hearts and our children.

-Stacey Wallace

Homemade Essential Oils

1. Mix 1/4 ounce of bulk herbs of your choice with 1 cup of carrier oil.
2. Add the mixture to your slow cooker and allow it to cook on very low heat all day (about 8 hours).
3. Remove the mixture from the crockpot and strain.
4. Place in a jar, storing in a cool, dark place. The oil should last about 6 months.

Essential Oil Ailment Guide (Source: Remedies for Life)

For PMS
Combine geranium, peppermint, rose, and ylang-ylang oil. Breathe it in daily.

For happiness
Combine chamomile, clary sage, valerian, and ylang ylang adding a few drops to a bath.

For headaches
Combine basil, chamomile, lavender, and peppermint and breathe it in daily.

-by care2.com