Daily Preparations

Since we have been invited to feast with another family from church this week, I have not had to prepare my feast. Sarah Beth is home again due to icy roads. There was a 2 hour delay. No school for kindergarten when there is a 2 hour delay. Anyway, when she realized it was Friday she asked to help with cooking the Sabbath Feast. I proceeded to tell her we did not need to. Her response was,"no preparing this week." I said,"Of course we prepare for the Sabbath. We practice our catechism, we learn new hymns and psalms, and we do a lot scripture memory." She responded"Oh!" She then went back to whatever she was doing. I want my children to realize that while our feasting is a important part of celebrating the Sabbath, there is so much more. Our daily family worship times are a time to worship God, but it is also a time to prepare for Sunday. We learn our creeds, and hymns, and psalms during these times. After a week of training and preparation we are ready to come together as a body of believers to worship or risen Saviour. If you were told that your family would be performing before the President of the United States, I believe you would practice until you could do it in your sleep. Though I do not believe worship is a performance, I do believe we should not present a fumbling mess to our God. So, on the days that are busy and it is hard to make the time for family worship, remember the end result. A family that can fully participate in worship on Sunday. Children who are not bored because they have been trained to take part in the worship.

Corrections

I had a friend call about the Chicken Divan recipe. I was typing yesterday as the children were begging to get dressed to go out and play in the snow. So let me make my corrections now. Put the broccoli on the bottom of your dish. Then the chicken. Mix all other ingredients except the cheese and stuffing. Pour soup mixture on top of the chicken. Then cheese. Then stuffing. Bake at 350 for 30 min.
I hope this is right now. The children are begging again. Our yard had become boring. They want to go to a bigger hill. Here we go to sled!!

Easy Feasting Recipes

Here are the promised recipes. These are primarily recipes that could be made ahead, frozen and then thrown together at the last minute. Chicken Divan is good dish for a large crowd. It can be made ahead and frozen easily. It also has a nice presentation. It can be pared with rice and glazed carrots. Both dishes are very quick to throw together. Abondante Living has a good recipe for glazed carrots. When I do mine, I just steam baby carrots until they are to my families liking.I drain the carrots. I then add 6tsp of butter and 2/3 cup of honey. Let this simmer until a glaze develops, stirring 2 or 3 times. Baked ziti is also a good crowd pleaser. Add sausage or a different kinds of cheeses. It will seem like you really put a lot of work into it. Italian dishes are always better left over. I like to freeze these dishes and then cook them later anyway. I salad and garlic bread would complete your meal.Now for the recipes.

Chicken Divan

1 Whole Chicken cooked and cut up
2 packages broccoli chopped and cooked
2 cans cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
Juice of 1 lemon
11/2 tsp curry powder
Sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1 box of cooked cornbread stuffing mix
Put broccoli in the bottom of 9x13 inch pan.Cover w/ chicken pieces.Mix all other ingredients, except cheese,in a bowl.Add to chicken. Add dressing. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 min.


This salad goes great with Italian dishes. I took it to a dinner party last week and it was a huge hit. It was supposed to be the Olive Garden Salad, but At the last minute i realized I was missing the main ingredient for the dressing. i had to improvise. We all agreed that we liked this dressing better.

1 head romaine lettuce
1/2 red onion sliced
1 tomato sliced
black olives
banana peppers
prated Parmesan cheese

Dressing
1 1/2 c Balsamic vinegar salad dressing
2T prated Parmesan cheese
2T sugar 1 large raw egg
1/4c. olive oil
Blend first 4 ingredients on high for 30 seconds. Then place in a double broiler with oil. Stir gently with a whisk over boiling water until it thickens and the egg is done.Chill over night. If it is too thick add more salad dressing.

These are just a couple of recipes. I will post more later.

Company is Coming!

Do you completely go into panic mode every time you invite guests for dinner? I was just thinking recently that something was terribly wrong because years ago having guests was easier. I could shop, clean and cook all in the same day and still greet my guest with a REAL smile at the door. What happened? Four kids is what happened!! I forget to allow the time for their lunch, diaper changes and anything they undo in the process of my preparations. You know what I mean. The spreading of toothpaste all over the sink immediately after I cleaned it. The last few times we had company I decided it was time for a change. I love to entertain, but I was losing my joy. I was also a terrible example to my children. I do not want them to equate company with mommy freaking out. There a few things I have done that has helped my stress level. First, I will invite the guests a week to two weeks ahead of time. This allows time to search for recipes to go along with sale papers. It also obviously gives more time for preparations. If it is last minute I have decided that a frozen lasagna or take out is perfectly fine for a casual night of fellowship. Second, I am in entertaining mode all week. That means the areas of my house that people see, are kept picked up the entire week. I treat it as if the company will be there that day. This means that my real cleaning can be done quickly on Thursday or Friday, because all of the clutter is gone. If you are working I would recommend A quick pick up before bed, and have everyone wake up 10 minutes early every morning that week to make sure the house is left as though company will be coming. On Saturday get everyone involved with the real cleaning and it should be done in no time. Also, ask for your husbands help. It is amazing how efficient my children are when their father is working with them. I agree with Abondante Living on the fact that the preparations for Sabbath Feasting should be a family affair. i could not pull it off every week without the help of my wonderful husband. Third, I make any dish that I can ahead of time. This may mean staying up a little later on one or two nights, but the end result is well worth it. There are many dishes that can be made weeks ahead and frozen.(I know, I already promised recipes. That will be my next post.) Finally, I try to have a menu that requires little fuss. My meat will go in the crock pot or it is something that can be put in the oven and not thought of again until it is time to come out. I buy frozen bread dough and make a special spread to go on it. Nothing is better than homemade honey butter. It is a lot faster to make than homemade bread. I buy bagged salad and then dress it up a little. These are just a few ideas. Maybe you have some to share.

Help for Working Moms

I have been asked by a reader to post some advice to women working outside the home. First I'll just say that I do not work outside the home, though sometimes I do get bogged down with many things that keep me away. I am not sure how realistic my advice will be,as I am not experienced with this. I believe that for many who work, Saturday is a catch up day. It is spent cleaning house and running errands. I think the same rules would apply as when I have a Saturday that I am not home or a busy Friday that does not allow for preparation. One of the first things I would say is, to pull this off you will have to think about this early in the week and prepare through out the week. I try to know my menu a week ahead, so I can prepare when I have a few extra minutes through the week. If you are doing potatoes on Thursday, chop some extra and let them sit in water in the refrigerator until your feast. All you will have to do is drain, season and roast. I have a great recipe for a mashed potato casserole that can be made ahead of time. You will have to think about recipes that are quick and easy. I would suggest your main dishes be meats that can go in the crock pot or you can put in the oven and not have to think about again. Purchase bagged salads and just add some of your families favorite toppings and dressing. These are just a few things off the top of my head. I will look for few make ahead recipes and try to think some more on this.

Julie

What are Your Traditions?

Have you ever dreaded having to prepare for a party or feast? There have been times that all I could think of was the work and how completely exhausted I was going to be when it was all over. I have become more comfortable with this as feasting has become part of our weekly life. I have learned to prepare as much as possible ahead of time and I have become more comfortable in trying new things. I do not come from a family that is big on traditions. It was just not important. As I have started feasting traditions in our home, it has become very important that my children not only carry these traditions, but that they love them. I have come to enjoy the preparation and hard work, because I see the joy my family gets from it. As I have become more comfortable with this, it has carried over into other parts of our lives. I try to make every holiday and birthday a big deal. This blog is primarily about Sabbath feasting, but I think you will soon find that celebrations will be a bigger part of your life as you become more familiar with pulling them off. So let's share our celebration traditions. Valentines's Day is coming. How do you celebrate? As much as I would love to prepare a huge romantic feast, we have a different tradition. The male gender rules in our home. This is the holiday that they treat Sarah and myself. Bruce and I will celebrate another night. The guys will take the ladies out to dinner. It will be very child friendly. Isaac will choose the place. Last year it was Cracker Barrel. No long lines there on Valentine's Day. I have heard whisperings of Friendly's this year. As they get older I am sure the resturaunts will be a little more adult. I could never change this tradition. We rarely dine out as a family. It is too expensive. They look foward to this a soon as Christmas is over. Please share your traditions with us.

I wanted to clarify my lost post. We will still have to eat dinner even if we are insanely busy. Our dinner just will not be a gourmet feast. It could even be pizza. We will still make it special. We may picnic on the floor. I believe it is very important to celebrate the sabbath, and we do even if we are not at home. Feasting has just been a fun way to celebrate. As I have said before it is about so much more than a meal. Feasting for us as been a picture of the Marriage Supper with Christ. There is much to be said about the many different reasons to feast, but it will have to wait until another post.

Julie