Ahhhhhh! Rest....Quiet....Time to put my feet up with a glass of iced tea. Yeah right you probably are saying!
But what if you stopped just 20 minutes a day, sat outside and listened to the birds? The scripture says, "if I care for the birds of the air, how much more will I care for you?" God calls us to times of quiet rest so he can minister to us.

Enjoying good food, time to journal, walking, sleeping, all do much more than we realize. Why can't we seem to slow down and take time to just do nothing?  Maybe it's because it makes us feel as if we are not worthy or producing anything?  Perhaps some of us may even be afraid to get quiet due to our own thoughts.  What will others think of our inactivity?

As a mother, I would feel a sense of guilt if I wasn't devoting myself 1000% to my kids or husband.  Sometimes our "life demands" force us into going 100 miles and hour. I get it. But it's not good for us all the time.

So how can we learn healthy patterns of engagement and disengagement? It is modeled for us by God himself. He made the world in 6 days and rested the seventh. Not because he was tired or spent, but because right from the beginning he wanted to teach us, it is GOOD to work hard then rest. To cease from our labor reminds us of much deeper spiritual truths than to just rest. It is also a picture of dependence. Of reliance upon the sovereign one. The discipline of intentional engagement and disengagement is a powerful life tool to pass onto our children and grandchildren. The pattern of working and resting, playing working, giving and receiving. Praying and listening to God.

I know it depends on what stage of life you are in at the moment. I am very much a type A doer type, and it is very unnatural for me to slow down. But I am learning the enormous value of this lost art. It has been transformational for me.
I wish someone would have shared with me a rhythm earlier on in my life that promoted a stronger sense of centering myself in the Lord and in his presence, beyond the traditional devotional times. The art of silence and solitude. I was too busy drinking from the fire hose of life to take time to s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n.
See www.carriagehouserest.com

Star Banner Berry Pie

This pie is show stopper. And not that hard to make. Ingredients:

1 large bag frozen mixed berries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries

1 1/2 c sugar

4 tbsp. cornstarch

2/3 c water

juice of 1/2 lemon

zest of two small lemons

two tablespoons merlot wine (magic)

Make your pie crust or pie store bought and cut out stars, sprinkle with sugar and set aside,  refrigerate

In a large pot put fruit, sugar, water lemon juice, cornstarch and zest, stir in merlot and heat until bubbly and thick. set aside to cool

Get your crust ready. Put about a tablespoon of flour in the bottom of the pie dish to prevent the dough from sticking to the pan and roll out your dough and put it in the pan and ladle in your filling. Get out stars and lay along the sides in any pattern you like, sprinkle with additional sugar and bake about 50 minutes. The first 15 at 425. then reduce oven temp to 375 for the remainder of the time. Put a cookie sheet under the bottom rack to catch any over spill. Your pie will be fabulous!

 

Sara's House HD: Homemade Peach Ice Cream

Sara's House HD: Homemade Peach Ice Cream: I love ice cream all year long, but homemade ice cream tastes especially good on hot summer days.  I had two peaches leftover the other day...

Emperor’s Garden

Adapted from Wong

TOTAL TIME

20 minutes, plus 1 hour infusing

• TWITTER
• LINKEDIN
• SIGN IN TO E-MAIL
• PRINT
• SHARE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup thinly sliced rhubarb
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 Thai basil leaves; more for garnish
• 1 teaspoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice.

PREPARATION

1.

Make rhubarb simple syrup: Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add rhubarb and sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour. Reserve a selection of rhubarb slices as cocktail garnishes, then strain syrup and store chilled for up to 7 days.

2.

In a mixing glass, muddle the Thai basil leaves with the seasoned rice wine vinegar. Add gin, 1 ounce rhubarb simple syrup and lemon juice. Fill mixing glass 2/3 full of ice and shake vigorously. Using a fine mesh strainer, pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a Thai basil leaf and a slice of reserved rhubarb.

YIELD

1 serving

Homemade Snickers Bar

Chocolate Top & Bottom:

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

1/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

FILLING:

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1-1/2 cups marshmallow creme

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups chopped salted peanuts (I just put a cup in but next time will put in more)

CARAMEL LAYER:

1 package (14 ounces) caramels

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

ICING:

1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Line a 13-in. x 9-in. pan with foil; butter the foil with 2 teaspoons butter and set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and peanut butter; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set.

For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar and milk; bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in the marshmallow creme, peanut butter and vanilla. Add peanuts. Spread over first layer. Refrigerate until set.

Juice It UP!

Juicers. So many types and methods, both manual and electric. How do you know which one is the best for your typical use? My first experience with a juicer was one day I stayed home from church because I was feeling a little under the weather and a Jack LaLanne juicer infomercial was on! They stuck cucumbers, carrots, celery, apples, cabbage, potatoes and all kinds of stuff into this easy to use tube connected to a a centrifuge type of juicer and the result was with a beautiful cup of pure juice!  It all looked so easy. It came apart and you could throw it into the dishwasher. I bought it!
Well since then I researched all the different types and actually found out that is was a good decision. I lucked out. Today I juiced a cabbage, carrots, potatoes, vidaillia onion, fresh ginger and some parsley as my base for a veggie soup. I added a couple of garlic cloves and chicken broth with a good amount of salt and pepper cooked it until it reduced by about a third. I wanted to make it thicker so I added some canned white beans and after cooking a while I took my trusty electric soup puree wand and made it smooth. It still had a few pieces visible and so I strained it through a wire sieve and it was perfect! So many layers of flavors. So then I made some sweet fresh orange/apple/carrot juice and it is about the yummiest juice ever! So if you are thinking of getting a juicer, DO IT,and I suggest electric because of the volume of fruits and veggies you go through to get a good batch. If you do apple juice be prepared for it to turn brown. If you do granny smith apples and serve it immediately it is a beautiful bright green!

Cowboy Beans

Cowboy Beans
The picture here doesn't even begin to look as good as the recipe I am recommending you try but believe me it's a must for summer or fall picnics. My recipe is deeper and richer than this pictures shows and has many layers of flavors.
So, I made one of the best things in a long time and I made it up basically from a Calico Bean recipe but on steroids!  I need to make a slight disclaimer at this point that my proportions are not exact but pretty darn close.  Sometimes I share recipes such as this and because I am a a "toss about this much in" type of cook and some folks (like my son) scream that it didn't turn out like mine, so hear my disclaimer now!  Some things are forgiving and inexact and some are not. This is a pretty forgiving one, so here is what I put in ans it make a LARGE batch, that will fill a whole crock pot.
Make a batch for a big crowd or divide it in half and freeze one.


2 cans black beans (all beans drained)
2 cans white beans
2 cans red kidney beans
2 cans garbanzo beans
1 large can baked beans
1 c crumbled cooked bacon
1 large vadellia onion saute until golden brown and caramelized 
2/3 c maple syrup
1/2-2/3 c Ketchup
1/2 c Jack Daniels BBQ sauce
1 TBSP dry mustard
1 lb lean ground beef browned well and drained
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt & and pepper to taste (lots of cracked fresh pepper)
1 tube Jimmy Dean's ground breakfast sausage browned and drained well
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper
1 bottle lager beer
liquid smoke to taste


In a large pot toss in a couple of tablespoons butter on a medium high stove top and throw in diced onion. Cook until nicely caramelized. Stirring constantly and being careful to not burn them. Turn temperature down medium low. Once done, add maple syrup,bacon Ketchup,BBQ sauce 1/2 c water and one bottle beer. Stir until well all blended. Set aside.
In another pan brown sausage and lean ground beef until well done. Drain and mix with onion mixture.
Drain all canned beans except for baked beans and combine with onion and beer mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake in oven until bubbly at 350 for about 45-60 minutes or put into crock pot for about two-three hours.  I don't like to over bake or heat beans too long due to the beans starting to break down. It is amazing and the response I got was "what on earth did you do to these beans?" "They are unbelievable and I can't get them into my mouth fast enough!" I served them with a smoke beef brisket, rolls, hot sweet pickles, salty potato chips, and some red potato dill potato salad and coconut cake balls. It was fun to see the reaction to this meal. I am so glad it blessed them!