This is an easy, fast recipe you can mix up and forget about until it has risen and is ready to shape for the oven. It could be the perfect compliment to one of your Friday Lenten meals.
Sour Cream Bread
1 1/2 cup sour cream
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
(1/4 cup poppy seeds or sesame seeds add some drama!)
Place the yeast in your mixing bowl and add a tablespoon or two of cool water and mix to dissolve the yeast. Add the rest of the ingredients and either use the dough hook on your mixer and a sturdy spoon to form into a workable dough. Knead until smooth. Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise about an hour until doubles in size.
Knead the dough, after it has risen, and place in a vegetable-oil sprayed loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Bake the loaf for approximately 60 minutes but keep checking after 45 minutes as it depends on your oven. When dark golden brown, set on a cooling rack for a few minutes and then release from pan to finish cooling.
Remember, with any bread recipe, it could also become rolls, too! Just adjust the baking time.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Something to save for Easter . . .
In clearing my cupboards for Lent, I used up the last of some sliced almonds and coconut to make these cookies. I've been looking for a crunchy yet very moist macaroon for a long time and this one fit the bill.
Coconut/Almond Macaroons
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
14-ounce can of condensed sweetened milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almont extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 egg whites
Dash salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix together the coconut, almonds, condensed milk, and extracts in a large bowl. In a mixing bowl whip up the egg whites and salt until they form almost stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the coconut/almond mixture.
A medium-sized ice cream scoop works well here if you have one about 1 3/4th inches in diameter. If not, scoop out 1/4 cups measures of batter onto the baking sheet (or make smaller one, if you like!). Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Cool before serving . . . although my son grabbed two of them from the oven and ate them with a fork!
Remember to adjust your time according to the size you make your cookies.
Coconut/Almond Macaroons
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
14-ounce can of condensed sweetened milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almont extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 egg whites
Dash salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix together the coconut, almonds, condensed milk, and extracts in a large bowl. In a mixing bowl whip up the egg whites and salt until they form almost stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the coconut/almond mixture.
A medium-sized ice cream scoop works well here if you have one about 1 3/4th inches in diameter. If not, scoop out 1/4 cups measures of batter onto the baking sheet (or make smaller one, if you like!). Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Cool before serving . . . although my son grabbed two of them from the oven and ate them with a fork!
Remember to adjust your time according to the size you make your cookies.
The real deal from the pulpit!
http://youtu.be/ltTd81XpDnc
I wish all Catholic priests would come out this strongly on the obama mandate!
I wish all Catholic priests would come out this strongly on the obama mandate!
Pope Benedict XVI speaks . . .
"Lent
is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen
to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a
period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with
pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the
word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in
truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism". ~Pope Benedict
XVI
Get your ashes . . .
I suppose that in this hurried world of ours that this was bound to happen but it does seem rather funny. Too many people think that you have to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday or it may prove unluckly. Other people think of it more as a holy day of obligation. Some always show up for the 'freebies' like palms on Palm Sunday, ashes on Ash Wednesday even if they avoid the church every other day of the year. Fast food religion?
I remember one Ash Wednesday at our parish. My then-toddler had fallen asleep on my shoulder. The church was packed and just as it was my turn to receive ashes, a whole troupe of people poured in the side door and pushed in front of the line. I now had 20-30 people forcing their way to the front. I got my ashes and was happy to head back to my pew as the baby was heavy. Eight of the late comers had taken over my pew. As I walked up, they grinned meanly, and handed me my Rosary, prayerbook, and diaper bag. I was shocked that they bothered to get ashes when they were starting off their Lent in such a mean-spirited way!
An Ohio church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners who might be pressed for time.
The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in suburban Cincinnati plans to provide the service for people of all faiths and services beginning around 5 p.m.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (http://cin.ci/wErYFp) that the service is aimed at busy people as well as people who might be intimidated walking into a church.
In addition to ashes, Cook will provide a church brochure and a Lenten booklet.
The church is also offering a more traditional Ash Wednesday service inside at 7 p.m.
I remember one Ash Wednesday at our parish. My then-toddler had fallen asleep on my shoulder. The church was packed and just as it was my turn to receive ashes, a whole troupe of people poured in the side door and pushed in front of the line. I now had 20-30 people forcing their way to the front. I got my ashes and was happy to head back to my pew as the baby was heavy. Eight of the late comers had taken over my pew. As I walked up, they grinned meanly, and handed me my Rosary, prayerbook, and diaper bag. I was shocked that they bothered to get ashes when they were starting off their Lent in such a mean-spirited way!
An Ohio church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners who might be pressed for time.
The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in suburban Cincinnati plans to provide the service for people of all faiths and services beginning around 5 p.m.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent, which concludes after 40 days with the celebration of Easter.
In addition to ashes, Cook will provide a church brochure and a Lenten booklet.
The church is also offering a more traditional Ash Wednesday service inside at 7 p.m.
Someone who will speak out . . .
Not often that we have a politician that will speak out so adamantly against abortion and all the related horrors that go along with it. It is refreshing to hear Rick Santorum speak his mind and morals over this issue and has the experience to back it up. As he says in this article, he initially thought his daughter was the one hurting when it was his own blindness to the gift she was from God. God sends these little children to us for a reason. How many people will never discover the grace and reason because they opt for the 'convenience' of abortion?
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/santorum-bashes-obama-over-abortions-on-disabled-babies/
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/santorum-bashes-obama-over-abortions-on-disabled-babies/
How clean are your windows . . . ?
A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. 'That laundry is not very clean', she said. 'She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap'
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: 'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?'
The husband said, 'I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.'
And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. 'That laundry is not very clean', she said. 'She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap'
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: 'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?'
The husband said, 'I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.'
And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
A real fast-food treat?
Chick-Fil-a is a favorite treat for us because the food is always well-prepared, nicely priced, and tasty. The ultra polite service, however, can get a little cloying although it is better than some of the attitude you get at other establishments.
We do have to laugh at a memory of a visit there last year. Although the food clerk spoke the 'party line', her expression and voice pitch did not give us any indication that she meant what she was saying to us. I guess we had gotten used to the cheerful, "Welcome to Chick-Fil-a! We are happy here today and how are YOU?" This clerk just looked at us when we ordered and when she pushed our tray of food towards us and we said 'thank you', she remember to come back with "My pleasure" but we could tell that it gave her absolutely no pleasure at all to see us much less serve us. We figured the poor woman was having a bad day.
A few weeks later, my son and I stopped for ice cream there and Miss Bubbly was working, again! We had to laugh as we got the exact, same treatment and almost felt like apologizing for intruding into her day.
My son said he figured out the problem with her. In order for so many employess to be so consistently cheerful, they have to have one to soak up the negativity . . . and the snarling clerk was it!
We do have to laugh at a memory of a visit there last year. Although the food clerk spoke the 'party line', her expression and voice pitch did not give us any indication that she meant what she was saying to us. I guess we had gotten used to the cheerful, "Welcome to Chick-Fil-a! We are happy here today and how are YOU?" This clerk just looked at us when we ordered and when she pushed our tray of food towards us and we said 'thank you', she remember to come back with "My pleasure" but we could tell that it gave her absolutely no pleasure at all to see us much less serve us. We figured the poor woman was having a bad day.
A few weeks later, my son and I stopped for ice cream there and Miss Bubbly was working, again! We had to laugh as we got the exact, same treatment and almost felt like apologizing for intruding into her day.
My son said he figured out the problem with her. In order for so many employess to be so consistently cheerful, they have to have one to soak up the negativity . . . and the snarling clerk was it!
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