If Jesus Came Back - author unknown

If Jesus Came Back

Would you have to change your clothes
Before you let Him in?
Or hide some magazines,
And put the Bible where they'd been?
Would you hide your worldly music
And put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in,
Or would you rush about?
And I wonder if the Savior
Spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing,
The things you always do?
Would you go right on saying
The things you always say?
Or would life for you continue
As it does from day to day?
Would you take Jesus with you
Everywhere you go?
Or would you maybe change your plans
For just a day or so?
Would you be glad to have Him
Meet your closest friends?
Or would you hope they stay away
Until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay
Forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief
When He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know,
The things that you would do,
If Jesus came in person,
To spend some time with you.

How did you react today?

What do we have in common that many of us are always losing? Few people have been able to keep this in hand forever. At one time or the other, we have all lost this, probably more than once. And losing this is always detrimental to the people around us and our own sense of being. What is this elusive object that we seem to misplace so easily? Our temper.

The stress of life and the problems facing us, contribute to this loss, however, we don’t have to let it’s loss control our lives.

Although there can be occasions of justifiable anger, I, personally, have not been victim of too many episodes of that nature.

Temper is a spur of the moment reaction to something against your wishes. It is usually a self-centered response because your space has been invaded.

An outburst of temper alleviates your stress for only a minute. Bitterness soon takes its place as you resolve to hold your ground because you are right and the recipient of your wrath is wrong. How can you easily forgive someone who is in opposition to your feelings or ideas? A loss of temper, instead of making a point, poisons the one who lost it. Many times, the temper is evoked because you don’t want to admit wrong, guilt, or even stupidity.

"Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of nature." Orson Welles

There is a moment of justification in your mind when you have ‘set someone in their place’ but when you lose your temper, you lose a bit of your own worth. People won’t respect your ire. They will avoid your company.

Some people say their temper isn’t really temper, but their ability to speak their mind. If speaking your mind hurts, embarrasses, or alienates another person, we are talking temper not virtue. Guidance by your words or actions is entirely different from getting your way with an onslaught of temper. Loud noises cause us to close our ears while a whisper draws our attention.

Losing your temper is a selfish event. You get to vent. You get to shout. You get to let people know that you are not happy. You get that minute’s worth of enjoyment at seeing another person suffer. Are there any long-term benefits to your tantrums?

"Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong." Baltasar Gracian

Someone apologized to me once after giving in to a massive tirade that lasted twenty minutes as I stood there in shock. Her later explanation for the behavior? She was having a bad day and whatever I had said, set her off. She went on to say that she was always apologizing for her temper as if it was a virtue. She is on the way to being alone with her ‘virtue’. Better to have held your temper in the first place than trying to justify it.

A quick look in the dictionary gives an interesting view on temper. One meaning of the word is "Proneness to anger" and the other one is "To exercise control over".

As we enter into the Advent Season and start our approach to the stable at Bethlehem, what form of temper will we use on our journey?

"REMEMBER --For every minute you are angry with someone, you lose 60 seconds of happiness that you can never get back."

Will Rogers

You aren't going anywhere if you've never been mistaken!

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

Albert Einstein

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate

Just discovered this recipe on the Rachel Ray page on the Food Network site. I'm definitely going to give it a try for the holidays as 1.) it sounds good and 2.) my daughters like anything pumpkin. Check out the Food Network site as it has a multitude of very good and reasonable recipes.

Pumpkin Hot Cocoa
2 cups milk
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup powdered hot cocoa mix
3 tablespoons canned pumpkin
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Whipped cream to top

Mix all the ingredient in a cooking pot, mix, and cook until it is smooth and steaming. Don't bring it to a boil! Pour into festive mugs, top with a spritz of whipped cream, and serve.

You can very lightly dust the whipped topping on each serving with cinnamon or a bit of powdered cocoa. A Mocha accent could work so add a tablespoon or two of brewed coffee to the mix. Serve with a cinnamon stick in the cup for a stirrer.

Bean Pot Bake - Now all I need is a cold evening to enjoy it!

I'm always looking out for way to make dinners everyone in the family will eat and enjoy. Let me be clear in that when my children were growing up, they did eat and whether they enjoyed it or not was entirely up to them! :-)

Bean Pot Bake

Olive oil as needed
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of peeled garlic, smashed and chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
2 cups of canned baked beans, your choice on brand.
2 cups canned butter beans
2 cups canned red beans
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dried hot mustard
1 tablespoon dijon-type mustard
Approximately 12 ounces of your favorite hot dogs, cut into one-inch pieces.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan and cook the onion and garlic until tender but not brown. Add the bell pepper and the rest of the ingredients except for the hot dogs. Cook and bring to a boil. Stir in hot dogs. Remove from heat.

Pour the mixture into a suitable baking dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until heated through and bubbling.

This makes a great side dish or a quiet evening at home with the family main dish. Serve toasted bread and some sharp grated cheddar for sprinkling over the dish.

Ideas . . .

You don't have to use hot dogs. Bratwurst or sausage (not the breakfast type!) is good, too. I would, however, slice and brown these types before adding to the dish to cut down on the fat.

To marinade or not to marinade . . .

Even with all the years of cooking to my homebody credit, I never seriously considered marinading anything unless I was making Sauerbraten which is beef basically soaked a day or two in an herbed vinegar bath in the refrigerator. It didn't seem to make sense to me unless I wanted that Sauerbraten flavor.

I recently tried a recipe and followed it religiously to see how it would actually come out. It called for marinading the pork chops. Thinking I knew better, I followed this instruction anyway. When I seared the marinaded pork chops, they smelled extra good. Coincidence? When I plated the pork chops and we cut into the first bite it was like a sudden light illuminating the room. I had never cooked a pork chop that came out THAT juicy and tender. I was sold and even now have a beef roast . . . marinating in the refrigerator!

So, I learned not to think I know it all 'cause I don't! I've also learned to think ahead when I make steak or chops because I WANT them to marinate sufficiently. I'm now a marinating cooking snob and don't plan to change.

It was so simple, too. All I do is use 1/2 cup of red or white wine, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and time - about one to six hours. I usually remember to put it together when I get home from morning Mass, turn it a few times during the day, and then have it ready for dinner.

I'm a marinating convert which doesn't sound quite right but you know what I mean!

Got that right!

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.

- Laurence J. Peter

Rain?

I like the way light plays on the early morning sky. Some mornings, we have a bit of a cloud cover that forces the sun to peer around them thus giving us a very pretty picture. We seldom get the rain it seems to promise, however. The weatherman is now saying that some moisture should be falling from the skies tomorrow. In Southern California, we never hold our breath in anticipation but we live and hope!

When life give you cake crumbs, make cookies!

It was, indeed, a disaster but I found a way to not waste the ragged chunks of cake that refused to exit the cake pans in a cake like manner! There are many, many such recipes out there but this one was easy to tweak to meet my immediate requirements.

Cake Crumb Cookies
3 ½ cups cake crumbs
4 egg yolks
½ teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons juice or cold water
½ cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
Dash nutmeg
½ cup chopped nuts
½ cup chocolate chips

Crumble the leftover cake into a mixing bowl until you have fine crumbs. Add everything except for the nuts and chocolate chips. Beat until well combines. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls (amount depending on how big a cookie you want.) on a vegetable-oil sprayed baking sheet.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies depending on size you make the cookies.



I discovered this recipe and adjusted it to my tastes because my baking pans decided to not yield up my cake layers! Had to figure out something to do with a big bag of broken cake pieces. After using cake crumbs in recipes, I keep hoping for another sticking disaster so I can make crumb cakes or cookies!

Ideas . . .

It doesn’t matter what flavor cake crumbs you have. Just adjust the spices and nuts, etc. to suit it.

A drizzle of icing won’t hurt the cookies, either.

If you are dealing with spice cake crumbs, you might want to reduce or omit the spices listed in the above recipe.

The last quote is hits too close to home!

"Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities."
-- Aldous Huxley

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
-- Albert Einstein

"I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people who can understand it."
-- Queen Juliana

"Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages."
-- H. L. Mencken

There is a reason you pray in thanksgiving before you eat . . .

As we read in the newspapers or hear on the news most any day of the week, we are a nation of overweight people in many respects. There could be any variety of reasons for this but the bottom line is that we tend to eat more in calories that we expend in activity. The government steps in and has restaurants post calorie counts besides their menu description, they ban soda in the schools, and try to convince grade school children that fiber bars are more fun than a cupcake at school parties. It doesn't seem to be working and I don't see fast food places going out of business.

I think a lot of this is in our mentality that if we can get more for less, we'd be wasting our money to not opt for the gallon-sized soft drink or the extra fries along with that. The government steps in, again, and makes them use a better oil. Oil is still fattening and the fries continue to be fried.

I don't think having a fun meal every once in a while is wrong. I also do not think it is the government's business to mandate our eating habits. Just what we need (not!) is the 'carrot police' hopping from door to door and making us eat our daily bunch of vegetables each day. No one is going to change unless they want to change.

As always, moderation is the key but we have become, in many respects, a lazy world where it is easier to drive through for a 'bag' of dinner than actually put a pot to boil on the stove and make pasta at home. The government can make all the proclamations that it wants but the bottom line is that each individual needs to come to terms with their eating habits. The government can put up billboards, run television commercials and people will still do what they want when they want to do it. How many of us have sat through exercise advertisements on television while eating a bowl of ice cream?

I struggle with my weight. My frame carries the extra pounds pretty well so I don't look as if I have a real problem but I know I can do better. What got me to thinking more about this was when I realized that eating dessert after a filling meal bordered on greed. I wasn't really hungry but let my tastebuds rule the input. I could have self-control on matters I considered important but checked it in at the dinner table. Also, even a few extra inches around the waistline is hazardous to your health! I started viewing my eating in line with being a good Christian and it makes a difference. Oh, I'm far, FAR from perfect but a few pounds disappear, I eat healthier, and I don't seem to be suffering! I noted that a lot of my former eating habits pushed the limits of obeying the Ten Commandments.

A side benefit of not eating between meals and sticking to fruits and vegetables for snacks, when necessary, is that I've lost a lot of my temptation for sugars and fats. When I bake, I still enjoy my share but my 'share' is a good taste not a marathon eating adventure. Being hungry when I prepare dinner has also enhance my cooking inspirations. My family likes 'surprise' meals and they turn out better because I've got the best spice going for us - justifiable hunger!