Too Much Travel!!

We will once again be out of town this weekend. Our feasting opportunities have been scarce because of all our travel this summer. It has made me think about other ways to to set the Sabbath apart. We really miss our feasting, and cannot wait to get back on a more consistent routine, but we do not desire to forgo all festivities just because we are not home. Therefore, we are considering our on-the-road options. I do not want to come across legalistic, but we have literally been gone more weekends than not since the end of May, and I can see my children's view of the Sabbath suffering. It has just been one of those summers full of out of town weddings and other things which cannot be avoided. Do not get me wrong we have enjoyed all of the activities, it has just been a bit difficult. Any suggestions?

P.S. Next week I will try to post a different reason to celebrate the Sabbath everyday of the week. Do not hold me to everyday, but I will try.

Clam Bake

The children have been taking turns staying with grandparents. They are home for a week and then the younger three will go to the other grandparents for a week. So, we decided to do a very casual low key feast last night. We wanted time to just enjoy our children. We did a clam bake. My husband had never done it with the corn and potatoes and all the other stuff. It was a lot of fun. The kids labeled it the best feast ever. I wish I could say it was because the food is so good, but I think it had more to with all of the clam shells left to play with. I never knew you could pick up so many things with clams shells. I have had several conversations recently about feasting and why we do it. I need to put my thoughts together and post on it. Why do you feast with your family?

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!! This is one of my favorite holidays. I grew up in an area which is rich in Revolutionary history. Our celebrations were big! Very Americana. My birthday is July 1, so my celebration was always at the lake with the entire extended family on the 4th. We would spend the entire day there eating, swimming,and boating, and then caravan to see fireworks. Some years instead of the lake it was to the Independence festival downtown. There were raft races on the river, craft fairs, and a parade where the kids decorated their bikes and wagons in red, white, and blue and rode in the streets for everyone to see. The day ends with fireworks at the river. This is the only time of year I can say I get truly homesick. Cherish your time with family today. Have fun feasting! Nancy Wilson wrote a great post today. You should read it.


P.S. My project is almost done. I will be back to regular blogging soon.

Camping

We are going camping this weekend, so we will not be feasting. I thought about trying to come up with some sort of rustic feast using my new picnic cookbook, but I am not the one in charge of food. We have not camped since we were children and our families had campers. So, this should prove to be fun with a tent. We did decide to leave the one yer old with the grandparents. I do have to provide lunch and campfire snacks for our family. Any ideas?

This Week's Feast

I have not had time this week to search for new recipes so, our feast will be our old favorites. We will be having grilled steaks, roasted potatoes, asparagus, and dinner rolls with honey butter. We have not feasted for a couple of weeks, I am looking forward to having the time with the family. We will have to do it for Sunday dinner. Bruce and Isaac will be on a Father/Son bike challenge. This is quite comical as neither one are huge bike riders and the ride is 24 miles. Somehow Bruce committed himself to being a leader. Obviously, they will want to fall into bed when they get home. Then again maybe they will not be able to move on Sunday. We'll see!

Quick Meals

I have been asked before to write to working moms to give advice on general quick meals and feasting meals. Any advice I had was just a shot in the dark because I was not a working mother. Well, I am going through a season now which I am working. I am working on a writing project for Veritas Press. If you have not heard they are providing daily lesson plans for all of the home school curriculum for grades K-6. I am helping with that. Thankfully I can do this at home, but my meal planning and prep time has really been limited. The first week we ate out 3 nights. Obviously, that was not going to work long term. I will tell how I have tried to fix this. First, I decided I really had to have a menu and stick to it. I know a week in advance what we will eat and if I get a chance throughout the week I do prep work. This also allows me to cook what I can when I get up in the morning to reheat later. Tonight we are having barbecued chicken. I cooked it in the oven this morning and will reheat it on the grill before we eat. I have been doubling dishes if I can. On Monday we had Spaghetti Casserole. I doubled it and will have the other one next week. Last night was pork chops and creamed peas and potatoes. I doubled the peas and potatoes for tomorrow night. As for feasting, I will still do the same type of meals as always. I will more than likely do more main dishes that can be put in the oven or on the grill and be left alone. These things have been helpful to me. If you have other ideas please tell me.

New Cookbooks

Summer equals very busy around here. We have a lot of traveling planned. This weekend we will be going out of town to a wedding. My Feasting menu ideas will be scarce over the next couple of weeks, but I just bought two new cookbooks which I would highly recommend. They have planned menus for feasting occasions. They are A Return to Sunday Dinner and A Return to Family Picnics.They are great books. If you cannot do both at this time, then get the picnic book. The recipes are just special enough to make a great feast, but they call for simple ingredients which the entire family will enjoy. You can purchase them from Abondante Living. Let me know what you think.