Schneeballen! Snowballs this late in the season?

http://www.kitchenproject.com/GermanGoodies/2012/Feb20-2012.htm#Schneeballen

I was looking at various links, today, and discovered a recipe for a favorite treat my son and I enjoyed when we visited Rothenburg, Germany last year. It is a simple fried ball of twisted dough but it tasted so good. We could tell who on our bus has indulged as the powdered sugar got everywhere! No dainty way to eat this but that was half the fun. I just copied off the recipe and hope I can make some for our own Fat Tuesday at home tomorrow.

You can also sign up to receive the recipes in your e-mail from the link above as the owner offers three or four great recipes every three to six weeks.

Your Lenten Cross . . .

It was nice to be reminded of this story today. One of our former pastors used to tell it to us in his sermon a couple times a year. It never got boring and was always a good reminder to be thankful for what we had and bear what we have to. Good thought for the beginning of Lent.

Carrying A CrossFrom Paulo Coelho's Online Blog

In a certain village in Umbria (Italy), there lived a man who was always bewailing his lot. He was a Christian, and found the weight of his cross too heavy to bear.

One night, before going to sleep, he begged God to let him change his burden.

That night he had a dream; the Lord led him to a warehouse. "Go ahead and change it," he said. The man saw crosses of all sizes and shapes, with the names of their owners. He picked an average size cross – but when he saw the name of an old friend written on it, he left it aside.

Finally, as God had permitted, he chose the smallest cross he could find.

To his surprise, he saw his own name written on it.

Still befriending the cat . . .

We are still trying to be friends with the stray cat that has been darkening our doorstep for the last few weeks. So far, Howl is happy with the food, likes coming in the house, appreciates the cat toys, but wishes we weren't included in the deal!

Today, he came howling (thus his name!) for a snack. I gave him cat kibble. He looked at me as if I had lost my mind! He wanted canned cat food which was not forthcoming. Later, my daughter was around and he complained to her about the lack of food service. She gave him the same kibble and he eats it up like it was what he wanted all along!

Howl is definitely the product of a mixed marriage. He has the Siamese markings but, as you can see, stripes instead of solid colored fur on his feet. His tail is interesting . . . It is shiny black, striped fur. When he curls it around his feet, it looks like he borrowed another cat's tail.

Quilt in Progress . . .

I have a 'wonderful' cold that has been four days in the making and it seems to have hit full force today. Fortunately, my husband has a day off and the most I could do, besides search for Kleenex, was to sew. I think the fact that I could finally see how my recent fabric purchases worked out helped me manage in spite of the fever! I am not someone that can rest even when I need to so I have something to show for my 'sick day'.

I'm making a fan quilt and, so far, am happy with the way the same pattern blends in so well with the different colors. It is not a difficult pattern only a bit tedious but that was about my speed today!

Happily, I discovered a prepared meatloaf in the freezer so just had to put it in the oven for dinner along with a few potatoes and steam a vegetable.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to be up to do the work part of life like bills and answering correspondence. Today, I was lucky I didn't mismanage the scissors . . . too much. Yesterday, I 'mis-cut' some fabric and it included the sleeve of my shirt!

Never thought of this . . .

We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him' Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.

- Joseph Roux

Fast and Easy, Healthy Cupcakes!

I ran across some talk show the other day and they were talking about making healthy substitutes in your baking. Intrigued, I later did some research on-line and discovered that you do not need to add oil and eggs to a cake mix to still come up with a good cake or cupcake. On the television program, they subsituted a cup of pumpkin for the oil and eggs in a chocolate cake mix. They mentioned you could use just about anything to avoid the extra fat. Eliminating the use of oil and eggs cut the serving size calories down substantially.

I didn't have instant access to canned pumpkin so experimented with my baking. I grabbed a yellow cake mix and substituted the eggs and oil with pureed carrots, apple, and orange zest. The result was a pretty orange cupcake with a very moist crumb, and great flavor. I topped it off with a thin, lemon/orange icing.

Knowing the frequent hunger pains of my family, I also used a chocolate cake mix with canned garbonzo beans! They pureed down very smoothly (I used the liquid, too). I also added cinnamon and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. It was dipped in a chocolate/orange icing. I got no complaints even after they learned the secret ingredient! In fact, the garbonzo bean cupcakes turned out to be the favorite!

Although I try and keep everyone's diet on a healthy basis, it was fun to find a snack/dessert that wasn't too horribly bad for you!

I usually prefer to bake my cakes from scratch but when cake mixes are on sale for 88 cents a box, I stock up. They come in handy and there are so many ways to enhance them and produce an excellent cake. You can even make cookies from a cake mix which is fun for children to do as their first baking effort with Mom.

Convenient justice?

I heard on the news, last year, that a young woman delivered in a restaurant restroom and left the baby to die. She is now under arrest and facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted. The newscasters are appalled at the suffering she inflicted on that helpless newborn. I can't help but wonder why?

Abortion is legal in the United States. Abortions can be obtained at nine months. Why is this woman being prosecuted when doctors are shoving pointed scissors into the heads of preborn babies and killing them every day? Seems someone in the newsroom should be a bit appalled at that thought!

Naturally, I'm not advocating abortion at any stage of the pregnancy. I do have to wonder at the medical world who have to know it is human life they are destroying. I also have to wonder about a government that makes this issue primary over others while the world falls apart. Then, there is our modern media/press that often protects the politicians and liberals and reports or 'forgets' to report the truth to the public.

Both this woman and abortion doctors have done the same thing, let a baby die miserably yet the 'procedure' done without a doctor is punishable by the same governing hand that allows doctors to torture preborn babies. Where is the justice before God and man here?

All three quotes describe our world today . . .

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
-- H. G. Wells

"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much."
-- Donald H. Rumsfeld

"You get fifteen democrats in a room, and you get twenty opinions."
-- Senator Patrick Leahy