Parenting....one of life's great adventures. What can it be compared to, baking bread, training for a race, or possibly both?
The thought of making bread may seem very intimidating and time consuming. A lot like parenting. We are given the gift of a child. Many young parents leave the hospital intimidated by this small baby with maybe an inkling of the investment of time they will be making. In the beginning of the bread making process there is a lot of hands on involvement. You mix the water and sugar with the yeast, add in the butter, and then the flour. Next comes one of the most important parts, kneading the dough. The first few years of parenting are very hands on and time consuming, but some of the most important years. Love, trust, and boundaries are established offering security. A child will thrive when they feel secure. Next, the dough needs time to rise. There is not as much hands on activity, but a time to check in making sure the environment is conducive. As our children enter those middle years of their childhood they will not need as much of our time as when they were little. But, we do want to make sure their environment is right for them to continue to safely grow and mature. After the dough has risen, not once but twice, it is time to bake it. If the previous steps were followed the dough will rise and bake into a beautiful loaf of bread, the intended purpose of the dough. We are entering this final stage with our own daughters. It is with humility and joy that we see them becoming beautiful young women living out God's purposes for their lives. Now, what about training for that race? It is hard to believe that five years ago this June, the girls and I ran our first 5K. Hannah was in 5th grade and Abby was in 3rd grade. We actually started training during Spring Break. Eric, the only runner in the family at the time, became our personal trainer. He mapped out a plan for us to build our way up to running 3.1 miles! Our first day we drove to Resurrection High School to run our three laps around the track. We slowly added laps and miles. A warm early morning before school the week before our race we drove to Bunker Hill Forest Preserve to run the 3.1 trial run. After our trial run we celebrated our great accomplishment with yogurt smoothies before school. With our goal in mind, finishing a 5K, we began to train. What is your goal for your children? What steps will you take to get there? Our goal is to raise godly daughters who find their identity in Christ and are empowered to live their lives to bring Him glory. Both baking bread and training for a race are a process. There are intentional steps involved. Parenting is a process, there are intentional steps to take to get from point A to point B. I challenge you to evaluate where you are at in this process to see if you are still on target to accomplish your goal. "I believe that trust in God, love for one's children, and prayer for wisdom are a recipe for successful parenthood far more reliable than all the books and seminars in the world." Elisabeth Elliot, The Shaping of a Christian Family. I made the Irish Soda Bread this afternoon from the recipe I posted last Wednesday. I found that as I hand mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, I needed to add more flour, 1/2 cup to 1 cup. It never reached the consistency of kneading and I ended up pouring the batter into the pan from the bowl. It also took longer to bake, about 10 to 15 minutes longer. I baked it until my tester inserted near the middle came out clean. I made the same recipe last year and remember that it was quite tasty with a good texture. I will be sure to make these notes on my recipe sheet for future use. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I day to celebrate my favorite color :)
I enjoy celebrating holidays, I suppose because they involve decorating and cooking. Our family celebrates St. Patrick's Day by sharing a meal of Corned Beef with cabbage, boiled potatoes, carrots and Irish soda bread. Since St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner, I am including recipes below. This is the story of my tattered 1961 Good Housekeeping Cookbook. For a majority of us, we enjoy spending one-on-one time with our parents no matter how old we are. I was a fairly new bride, full-time student, married to a full-time student and living away from parents for the first time. Eric and I were both students at Trinity, I was working on my bachelor's degree and Eric was working on his Master's degree. It was Spring Break and my mom was coming for a visit. I was super excited! I was exploring fun inexpensive places for my mom and me to visit besides Gurnee Mills. At the time we lived in Waukegan and I heard about this quaint little town called Long Grove. On a chilly overcast day we got in the car and traveled south to Long Grove. We enjoyed exploring the shops and having lunch out. I was taken with this small little village. We came across an used bookstore (it is no longer there). As we were looking around my mom spotted a Good Housekeeping Cookbook. My mom thought this was a must have for me because it taught you the basics like how to cook a pot roast or make butter cream frosting (my two go to recipes in this cookbook). Believe it or not it was an older edition than the one she had received as a wedding present. Although it was a gift from my mom to treat me to lunch out and buy me a cookbook, the real treasure for me was spending time with her. My mom is someone I can laugh with. She is someone I can share the ups and downs of life with. I know she is praying for me in the down times and praising God with me in the up times. She is fun to be with. My mom is so much more out going than me and enjoys meeting new people, she has quite a few stories of people she has met traveling on the train from Waterloo, IN to Chicago to visit us. I am looking forward to another Spring Break visit with my mom soon. She is now passing along fun stories of her teen years to my girls. Stories about how her grandmother taught her and her cousin to drive a stick shift truck through the cornfield all while laughing. To be honest I am not sure how my mom reached the pedals :) She is a bundle of fun in a small package. Last week I encouraged you to spend time with your kids. This week spend some time with your mom, either by giving her a call or making time for a visit. Irish Soda Bread 4 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder ½ cup sugar ½ cup currants or 1 cup raisins Pinch salt ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted 2 eggs 2 cups buttermilk Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the butter, eggs and buttermilk. Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture, and stir with a spoon until it forms a dough. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until well combine. Butter a 10 inch cast iron skillet and place the dough in the skillet, flattening it to fill the bottom of the pan. Score a large X across the top of the dough. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Whipped Orange Butter Whipped softened butter with a whisk until it is light and fluffy. Whisk in the grated orange zest to taste and spread on the soda bread. Corned Beef and Cabbage Corned Beef (I like the ones from Trader Joe's, they are already seasoned and free from nitrates and other nasty preservatives) Head of Cabbage cut into quarters Red Potatoes Carrots, pealed and chopped in large chunks Cook Corned Beef according to package directions. About 45 minutes to 1/2 hour before meat is done, add potatoes, carrots and layer cabbage on top, simmer covered until cabbage is tender-crisp. |
AuthorI am a woman who loves everything about making a house a home. I enjoy meal planning, cooking, baking, sewing, crafting, and decorating. Not so much cleaning and laundry, but that goes along with caring for a home. I am blessed to be married to a pastor and we have had the privilege of raising two daughters. Archives
July 2021
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