Taking The Iced Tea Plunge

Are any of you old enough to remember the 80’s commercial featuring “The Nestea Plunge”? It was one we always reenacted anytime we were at a swimming pool. Over and over and over and …

I’m not sure a powdered drink can be all that refreshing, but they were pretty successful in getting their point across – iced tea is one of the most refreshing things you can drink, especially on a hot day! (This is not the actual commercial I watched, but you get the idea).

We try not to consume much sugar in our house. Not to mention, since when do sugary drinks really actually quench your thirst? With so many people around here who would like to have something to drink besides water, we drink alot of iced tea. It is the only other drink besides water I have found that actually quenches a thirsty mama’s dry mouth. My kids still sometimes sweeten it with sugar. But a half cup of sugar to a whole gallon of tea isn’t too bad. If I am making it, I sweeten it with pure maple syrup (no, it does not taste like maple), or with honey. You could also use agave nectar. I like about 2 Tablespoons per quart, but my kids like it about twice that sweet.

I have been experimenting with various teas and tea combinations just to give us some variety. I have discovered that I most enjoy black tea flavored with a fruit tea. I’ve mixed and combined and mixed some more. So imagine my delight when I discovered that one of my favorite tea companies has created a tea, meant to be iced, just for me. Okay, so maybe they didn’t create it just for me. But they must have had me in mind.

Recipe:

Put 1 bag Zhena’s Strawberry Osmanthus Iced Tea into 1 quart canning jar

Pour boiled water over tea bag to fill jar almost to very top

Let steep 5 minutes, remove bag

Add 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (from a maple tree, with nothing added) and stir

Let cool and serve over ice.

I sometimes put my jar in the freezer and let it partially freeze. This morning I had a partial jar that had completely frozen so I poured some of my fresh batch over it and enjoyed it nice and cold right away. Later, I poured some over one of my favorite mugs which had been left in the freezer. Mmmm, frosty!

I’m keepin’ cool, cuz in my neck of the woods, it’s a hot one out there today!

Cheers!

The Float Test

Aren’t these eggs beautiful? The brown ones are from Black Australorps or Buff Orpington chickens. The blue and green “Easter eggs” come from the Americana Chicken, which is as close as we can now get to the old heritage breed Auracana, who are apparently no longer around (or are rare).

I am a big proponent of eating food as fresh, local and natural as possible. So I am really grateful that my son raises chickens for eggs. Farm fresh, free range chicken eggs.

When you purchase eggs at the grocery store, they do not stamp them with the date on which they were laid. They do not stamp the date on which they were packaged, packed or driven to the store, or the day they were placed on the shelf.

Have you ever had an egg that is, shall we say, questionable? Do you abide by the saying "if in doubt, throw it out"?

Wait! You can tell how fresh an egg is by “floating” it in water.

Have you ever noticed the little pocket of air at the end of your eggs? The older the egg, the more air enters it and causes it to stand on that end or, when it begins to really get old or rotten, to float.

Egg Age Guide:

~ A fresh egg lays flat on the bottom of the sink or bowl (unless the bottom is curved as mine is!).

~At about 3-4 days old, it will tip at a slight angle.

~ At about 10 days, it stands upright.

~ If it floats, it is very old and do not use it!

Water and curved glass do distort the images some, but hopefully you can see what I mean.

Above is a picture of two white, store-bought eggs. Notice how they are standing up on one end, indicating that the air bubble is larger in size than the fresher farm eggs below.

The fresh farm eggs above lay flat on the bottom of the sink, but are slightly propped up by the curve of this bowl.

No matter where you get your eggs, you have a way to tell about how long they’ve been “out of the chicken”.

 Do you have any egg buying or storage tips?

Look, I'm Famous!

My friend Elizabeth called me tonight. She often receives inquiries and comments about her touching blog post about abandonment. She couldn't figure out where they were all coming from, so she finally paid attention to her tracking feature and saw most were coming from the Women of Faith blog. She explored further and found a post by me -- where I link her abandonment post. Not my best work, sadly. But I am glad I referenced her post, especially since so many people have been reached by it as a result of the many ladies who read WOF.

WOF captured my post for their blog! I wondered how I kept any readers during my absence -- now I know! I suppose I should look at my tracker too!

So, there you have it. I am famous. I bet they will be asking me to speak at the conference any day now. I could talk about being almost famous.

But I Had A Tiara on WOF blog

Where I Left Off

You know how you have friends with whom, when you don't talk to them for awhile, it is still easy to pick up where you left off? Or you meet someone and you feel like you've known them forever? I hope my blog is like that.

I don't want to spend a whole lot of time explaining why I haven't blogged lately, since I don't really have one specific reason. It wasn't really a decision I made. I just wasn't purposeful about blogging, and living life won out over talking about it!

I just want to dive right back in. I miss this friend. And I miss reading all of my used-to-read-regularly blogs too.

Get ready for my rational yet rambling, random and ridiculous posts!

Everything and Nothing

Here I sit all alone. No one else in the house. That pretty much never happens. I thought about all that I could do, but nothing sounded good.

It happens with food sometimes too. I am hungry but nothing sounds good. Sometimes I even think about eating any food in the entire world, and can't think of anything.

It happens with blogging too. There is always lots to blog about, but sometimes nothing sounds good.

Does this ever happen to you?

Traditions: Stained Glass Cake

I love traditions. Any tradition. Any time.

If there is a tradition associated with a holiday, all the better.

I have many boys. Boys are not as likely to hang around for holidays once they are grown and married.

But maybe they WILL show up if they just can't miss that one special thing "we always did" at a certain time. Or, if that isn't enough, that one thing "we always ate" should do the trick, right?

That is my hope.

For Easter one of the food traditions we have is this cake.

We call it Stained Glass Cake. Taste of Home calls it Jeweled Gelatin Torte. It is hard to locate the Lady Fingers that are used for the edges and the bottom. If you cannot find them, they are pretty easy to make.

I am also not a Jello freak, but it sure does look pretty in this cake. And the mixture of ingredients is scrumptious.I prefer to leave out the lime Jello most of the time. Unless we have company coming who loves lime Jello. You know who you are.

My entire family loves this refreshing, light cake. And everyone else seems to enjoy it too!

Stained Glass Cake

1 package (3 ounces) cherry gelatin

3 cups boiling water, divided

2 cups cold water, divided

1 package (3 ounces) lime gelatin (I usually sub another flavor)

1 package (3 ounces) orange gelatin

1 cup pineapple juice

1 package (3 ounces) lemon gelatin

1/4 cup Sugar

36 ladyfingers

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Citrus slices and fresh mint, optional

Directions:

In a small bowl, dissolve cherry gelatin in 1 cup boiling water; stir in 1/2 cup cold water. Pour into a 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat with lime and orange gelatin, using two more loaf pans. Refrigerate until firm, about 1-1/2 hours.
In a small saucepan, bring pineapple juice to a boil. Stir in lemon gelatin and sugar until dissolved. Stir in remaining cold water. Refrigerate until syrupy, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, line the sides and bottom of a 9-in. springform pan with ladyfingers; set aside.
Cut cherry, lime and orange gelatin into 1/2-in. cubes. Pour lemon gelatin mixture into a large bowl; fold in whipped topping. Gently fold in gelatin cubes. Pour into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set. Garnish with citrus and mint if desired. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Infinite Forgiveness

Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

This Easter weekend I am mulling this over in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus. That verse to me speaks so clearly of death and resurrection, and also of the symbolic and obedient act of baptism.

The darkness of the crucifixion is not His death. It is the sin and shame He took upon Himself for all of us. It is symbolized also by the cave in which He was buried. Sometimes I forget His benefits, and I lay claim to my sin and my ugliness. I retreat into my cave of unworthiness, of isolation, and of shame. And yet, why? He already took it from me.

And when the Light comes, boy, does it ever come! The dead body is gone -- Jesus is alive and well. He is walking and talking to His friends. Is he still saddled with the sin and the shame? NO!

The sin and shame and all of the ugliness He took upon Himself is simply gone. It's not just that He took it. It's that He took it and it was forgiven. He put it as far as the east is from the west.

I read a Bible study on this once (get ready -- I looove this!). If He would have said as far as the north is from the south He would have been describing a finite distance. You can only travel so far north before you start back up and are traveling south! But you can head east or head west forever!

Infinite forgiveness. Ours because we are called out of darkness and into His glorious light!

I John 1:5b "God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."

Darkness= sin and shame, death
Light= infinite forgiveness, LIFE!

May you have a blessed, light-filled Easter!