Doughnuts!

Nothing tastes better on a cool day than a mug full of steaming apple cider and a warm doughnut!  And actually, doughnuts are not that difficult to make!

First, you make the dough, and let it rise till its light and airy

Then roll it out smooth

Cut it into circles with a biscuit cutter 

Then cut little circles in the middle of them. 

The only thing I have that is small enough is a tiny heart cookie cutter.

Lay them on a cookie sheet and let them rise again

Wait for the oil to heat (It takes forever! But mostly because at this point you can start to taste the doughnuts in apprehension of their yummy goodness!)

Now for the fun part!  When the oil is finally ready, carefully drop the dough into the hot oil and watch it bubble :)

Don't forget to flip them over as they brown!

Roll them in spiced sugar

And enjoy the finished product!

You can see the recipe I use here, however I add a bit of vanilla and nutmeg or cloves to the dough to make them that much better.  I would love to hear how yours turn out!

The Full Gospel

The Gospel is not simply being saved from the punishment of our sin.

The full gospel encompasses the purpose and the reason The Savior saved us.

We know what He has saved us from, but what has He saved us to?

Monday Meditation

A thought, verse, or quote to meditate on through the week...

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."

 

~Oswald Chambers

 

 

Life In General These Days.....

Clay worked the rappelling
tower and rock climbing wall

Yes, that is me!

Wow. It seems like all summer has consisted of is being home for a week, then leaving the next! Today Mom and I returned from visiting Clay in Texas for two weeks. (yes, almost as soon as I published the post titled 'home again' I wasn't!) Mom and I had fun working in the kitchen with a great group of girls during family camp, but as you can see from the pictures, we found time to have fun outside of the kitchen as well! The highlight of the week for me, (aside from visiting with Clay) was seeing Lew Sterrett for the first time! The way he draws life lessons from horses and applies them to our life makes you look at life with a completely different perspective. I could not help but buy one of his books, Life Lessons From a Horse Whisperer. In one chapter he tells of a horse he trained that knew him so well he could blind fold the horse and direct him with without a bridle. The horse was solely directed by his master's voice and promptings. It made me think. When I don't know where I am going, when I'm seemingly 'blindfolded,' do I get frightened because I cannot see, or does it cause me to listen all the more closely to the master?



Yep! That's me too :)

Now that I'm home, life promises to keep me busy! I have finished all my classes for medical assisting and start the two month clinical portion of my training bright and early on Monday morning. I appreciate your prayers as I step completely out of my comfort zone!

So, because it has been so long since I've posted anything substantial and it promises to be that way for the next couple of months at least, here is a link to a blog article that has blessed me!

The One Purpose Behind All Our Passions

Be Blessed!



Back in Town!

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks, it seems it should have been a couple of months!  God is good, and so faithful to teach me to love Him! 

I have so much to tell, and some very fun pictures to share of Northwoods and Chicago adventures, but tis late!  I've finally caught up on school, and could not turn the computer off without writing something. So how about a glimpse of the beautiful  Michigan scenery we get this time of year?

I love the view from my back yard.  Just say'n.....

VBS Is Over!!!

Yes, I actually just finished all the little post VBS jobs that have been waiting for me since July.  ...talk about procrastination...  (maybe tomorrow)  Anyway, I finally bought and finished making the guy's teacher appreciation gifts which means I can turn in my receipts, which means I can plow full speed ahead into planning next year's VBS! 

I like how this year's gifts turned out.  Since it was a military theme I wanted to get something along the same lines, so this is what I came up with... 

OK, so its not super military, but I like it!

I get a lot of questions about how I develop my VBS curriculum.  I'm hoping to document the procedure here and share some of the things I've learned and resources I use.  Be on the look out!

For now I am Northwoods bound (a very happy thought!)  Pics coming in a couple weeks!

Gluten Free Apple Pie

It has been a while since I have made a pie, much less the all American apple pie.  But after judging them at fair this summer (and last summer) I think I have an idea of what makes an apple pie just right.  Its the crust.  Tender, never hard, just flaky enough to make it appealing without falling apart.  It is the all important, essential, cannot do with out, make it or break it "piece of the pie" when it comes to baking the all American classic. 

However, when living with and baking for someone with a gluten intolerance, the ever elusive perfect pie crust is even more elusive.  So, here is my stab at making gluten free pie crust that does not taste or look gluten free.  And actually, I think I did a halfway decent job!   (yes, I'm patting my self on the back... but you don't know how hard it is to bake gluten free!!!!!)

Step one, the filling!  Not hard to do this part gluten free.  As you can see in the picture it looks super runny.  I made the filling from apples we had frozen from last fall.  When they defrosted, there was a lot of juice that I did not want to waste, (plus, who likes dry apple pie?) so, instead of draining it off, I added some quick cooking tapioca pearls.  The tapioca cooks with the pie and soaks up all of the yummy juices and spices, maintaining the flavor, while giving you better texture!  I used lemon zest, Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and sugar to flavor the filling.

Now for the hard part.  I have tried several gluten free pie crusts, but have not been satisfied with any of them.  After reading through several more gluten free recipes and not being satisfied with any of those either, I decided to just go for it with the ingredients I had on hand and hope for the best.  I mean, the worst that could happen is that I end up with another flopped crust!

The ingredient list ended up looking like this:
1C. Brown rice flour
1C. Tapioca four
1C. Potato starch
1C. Sorghum flour
1tsp. Salt
1 Stick frozen butter
and "some" sugar

First things first, when mixing several different kinds of flours, make sure you mix them thoroughly together so it looks like one flour before adding anything else.  Who wants a bite of entirely sorghum flour with their apple pie?  Next I mixed in the sugar and salt.  Now the fun part :)  I grated the frozen butter (make sure it is entirely frozen) into the dry ingredients.  It was much easier and faster than cutting the butter into the flour!  When adding the butter I stopped every few seconds and coated the butter shreds with flour so they would not stick together in one big clump.  After the entire stick of butter was grated, I added enough water to make a smooth dough.  It came together beautifully!  After rolling it out, this is what it looked like!

How beautiful is that?!?!?  I've never had a gluten free pie crust come together so well and stay together without crumbling!  It was nicer to work with than some pie crusts I've made that contain gluten.  I was on top of the world!  And of course, it looks so much better when there is filling in it...

The top crust...

After about an hour and a half of baking time... (at 350) not sure if that had something to do with the flour mixture I used or if it was just being ornery... this is what came out of the oven!

A while later, this is all that was left!  I think, just maybe, it was a success!  

A few notes about the crust:  It wasn't super flaky, and the crimped edges were a bit hard.  Next time I don't think I'll use sorghum flour, I could taste the sorghum a bit to much for my taste, but I got no complaints from anyone else!  ...Well, they did say I could have cut the pieces a bit bigger....