Does it Have to be So Hard?

I have heard people ask the question, does it have to be so hard? No!! If feasting is something you dread, then by all means start over with something you love! I have said this before, but I do not think I can over emphasise it. DO NOT think you have to do what "the Jones's" do. The purpose of starting traditions is to give your family something that you all love to celebrate with for generations to come. I love hearing ideas from others, but sometimes I hear things that I know will not work in my home. We have to be mature enough to realize what works in my home may not work in yours. I have also said before that I love to cook. I love to try new recipes for our Sabbath feast. I like for them to be more on the gourmet side. I would call it it a hobby. Does that mean when I go to someone's home and they serve me a casserole or maybe hot dogs that I think they should have done more. Absolutely not!! i know not every one shares my hobby, just as I would not share their's. Let's all remember that Sabbath keeping is a principal full of many methods. Let's continue sharing ideas while remembering we do not have to use every one we read.

Julie

P.S. I said I would share with you through the week as I prepare for our big feast this weekend. Today I will make my menu in detail and make the grocery list. I will clean the house so on Saturday if we all work together we can do the last minute cleaning very quickly.

Wednesday's Ideas

Today I will give some ideas to make feasting a little easier. Hopefully it will make it easier for those who work outside the home. I asked some friends that either work outside the home or have very busy life styles for some help. Most of them say finding recipes that can be made ahead and frozen are the key. I have a friend that freezes her marinades with her meat. On Saturday all she has to do is pull it out of the freezer and let it defrost, then throw it on the grill or in the oven. I would suggest that if you do not have hours to cook on Saturday, find main dishes that you can put in the oven and not think about again. Having to baste every few minutes or turning it over in the pan can be very time consuming and leave you feeling frazzled while trying to get everything else done. If I had a dining room, I would set the table on Friday or even earlier in the week. I do not, so I have the kids help with that on Saturday morning a then we picnic outside or in the living room floor for lunch on Saturday. The one deal about feasting that I have made with my husband is, I have to have a week's notice if we are entertaining. If we invite someone at last minute then he is in charge of the house work and taking care of the children. I cannot do everything without his help when I have not had the extra time to prepare. These are just a few ideas. If you have more time saving ideas please let us know.

Wow, it seems as though it has been months since we have feasted. It has not been that long. We have had sickness and travel and a few times we feasted with others in their homes. It has been a while since I started my Monday with planning my menu for our Sabbath feast. I do this on Monday so I can plan through the week to make things a little easier on Saturday. We are in soccer season now, therefore I will not have my entire Saturday to cook and clean. This week we will be having guests. We are so excited. A year ago we bought a table with 9 leaves. We had a Mennonite man make it for us. Well, we do not have a dinning room and our kitchen was too small to pull it out. What did we do? We just spent the last two months having a wall knocked out and a little rearranging in the kitchen. The table can now stretch out and seat 18 to 20 people. We will have 17 people for our feast this weekend. I cannot wait. I will do a marinated London Broil because I found it on sale a few weeks back and have enough in the freezer to feed that many. I will do rosemary roasted potatoes, corn pudding, spinach salad and rolls with a flavored butter. For dessert I will do a Chocolate Toffee Trifle. Here are some of the recipes. If you want one that I do not post, let me know. I do not have time now to do them all.


Marinaded London Broil

Rosemary Balsamic Marinade

1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
6 rosemary sprigs, coarsely chopped
Whisk together ingredients. Marinate the meat for several hours. Broil or grill.

Corn Pudding ( This is like a Southern style baked corn.)
2 cans cream style corn
6 eggs
1 cup milk
2 TBS flour
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla
salt to taste
3/4 cup of sugar

Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a glass casserole dish. Stir together all of the other ingredients. Pour into the casserole dish with the butter. Be careful the dish will be hot from melting the butter in the oven. Bake for 1 hour or until the dish is golden on top.

This Week's Feast

Wow, it seems as though it has been months since we have feasted. It has not been that long. We have had sickness and travel and a few times we feasted with others in thier homes. It has been a while since I started my Monday with planning my menu for our Sabbath feast. I do this on Monday so I can plan through the week to make things a little easier on Saturday. We are in soccer season now, therefore I will not have my entire Saturday to cook and clean. This week we will be having guests. We are so excited. A year ago we bought a table with 9 leaves. We had a Mennonite man make it for us. Well, we do not have a dinning room and our kitchen was too small to pull it out. What did we do? We just spent the last two months having a wall knocked out and a little rearranging in the kitchen. The table can now stretch out and seat 18 to 20 people. We will have 17 people for our feast this weekend. I cannot wait. I will do a marinated London Broil because I found it on sale a few weeks back and have enough in the freezer to feed that many. I will do rosemary roasted potatoes, corn pudding, spinach salad and rolls with a flavored butter. For dessert I will do a Chocolate Toffee Trifle. Here are some of the recipes. If you want one that I do not post, let me know. I do not have time now to do them all. I will let you know through the week how I plan and prepare each day.

Good Friday

In our family worship this morning my husband asked if it was too short of notice to prepare a feast for tonight. He does not want to over look Good Friday and thought that ending the day in feasting and thanksgiving to our Saviour would be great. So, I am off to the store. We have been invited to spend Easter with friends, so I would not be doing a whole feast that day. We will move tomorrow's feast to tonight. As I thought about his request I realized that as a family we have really neglected Good Friday. Sometimes I feel we forget the incredible sacrifice that was made for us. Yes, the miracle is in the resurrection, but there would be no resurrection without the death. As Christians I am afraid we take God's love and Christ's death for granted. I am now looking forward to the worship time we will have together tonight. What are your plans for the Easter weekend?

I'm Back

Things have been extremely hectic around here. I was thinking things would start to slow down, but looks as if that does not happen anymore. As our life gets busier, I am more than ever seeing the need to set the Sabbath aside as a special time to leave everything else alone and focus on Christ. I was talking to an Amish friend this week and she reminded me that as "Englishers" we are so busy with all of the unnecessary things that we forget to stop and be thankful for God's creation. I am not becoming Amish, but in my conversation with her I did feel a need to evaluate the things in my life and categorize them as necessary and unnecessary. I have determined that I will always be busy, but I will try to stop make excuses for letting the unnecessary spill over into the Sabbath. I am not a legalistic person. If you see me make a quick stop at the grocery store on Sunday or something else not deemed Sabbath worthy, please do not judge me. I am not perfect. I just want my children to know that the God we serve is worth laying everything else aside to give Him His day. Any thoughts on this?

As you have more than likely noticed, I am having to take a break this week in my blogging. We have an insanely busy week. I will hopefully be back in the swing of things next week.