CSA Week 6

This week's box included carrots, green beans, potatoes, cucumbers, squash, and onions.

I cooked the green beans with bacon...for a really long time.  Kevin seemed to like them but the kids disagreed.  Maybe I will deep fry them next week?

Pretty sure this is an eggplant.  What the heck do I do with eggplant?

We got a huge load of peaches.  The kids were at camp so I needed a way to preserve all this fruit.  Most of the recipes I found for freezing peaches involved copious amounts of sugar.  Ya'll, I can buy peaches drenched in syrup at the grocery store.  Instead I improvised.  I cut an 'X' in the bottom. Dunked them in a boiling water bath for about 45 seconds.  Then submerged them in a bowl of ice water.  The skins came off pretty easy after that process.  Then I sliced them up.  (Caution:  Peaches are as slippery as snot without the skins.  DO NOT use a really sharp knife unless you just enjoy the emergency room.)  I drizzled the slices with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown, scattered them on a cookie sheet and popped them in the freezer.  Two hours later, I dumped them into freezer bags.  The Klines will be enjoying peach smoothies in January.  Yay us!!!

This was our cheese selection for the week.  It's a spreadable goat cheese/honey mixture.  I have no picture because I ate it too fast.

Finally, Does anyone know what this is?  Is it a squash?  Zucchini?  Squashini?

Bible Thursday - David Part 11

(Blog Note - Bible Thursday is what happens when I can't get a post written in time for Bible Tuesday.  Just go with it.)


King David decides to move the ark.  Much like those Nazi's from the Indiana Jones' movies, Dave is going to figure out that the ark is not an item to be treated lightly.

Then let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.”  All the assembly agreed to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

1 Chronicles 13:3-4

The whole deal seems pretty simple, right? 

Yeah...no.

And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.  And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.  And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.  And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.  And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

2 Samuel 6:5-11

Seems like a kinda harsh judgement for a stumble, doesn't it?  But there is quite a bit of sin in this innocent sounding story.

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die.

Numbers 4:15

The ark was holy.  It's wasn't the kind of thing you just throw on a cart and haul around.  Even so, it still seems like maybe the dude deserved a second chance.  That's the new covenant talking though, isn't it.  Jesus is so merciful to us that we forget what life without mercy is like.  We want everyone to have a second, third and forty-seventh chance because we need that many ourselves.  But God doesn't play by our rules. 

Thank You seems insufficient

It's no secret that Nora Ephron is one of my heroes.  The world is diminished without her.

Quoted - Tozer Edition

"Are you satisfied being filled with good information about God, or do you long to burst into His manifest presence?"

AW Tozer

CSA - Week 5

Guess what happens when you go on vacation?

Yep.  You miss your veggies and you have no exciting photos to blog.  I donated my box to my neighbor and she spent a happy evening blanching the harvest for freezer storage.

I did find this link though.  And it looks like I may have enough squash and zucchini to try every dang one of these recipes before the summer is over. 

Be aware that one of these recipes is for zucchini cupcakes.  You heard me.  Cupcakes!

Book Review - Deadlocked

This is book 12 in the series.  I am currently watching Season 3 of True Blood (which is the HBO series based upon these books.)  I mention this to explain that I am terribly confused.  The TV show combines lots of plots, adds new characters and just generally uses the book series as inspiration.  That doesn't, of course, stop me from narrating every episode with "That is not what happened at all!" every ten minutes.  Both the book and the show have vampires, werewolves, were-panthers (seriously), and white trash.  What else could you possibly desire for entertainment?

Book Review - A Grown Up Kind of Pretty

Joshilyn Jackson knows what it means to be a Southern writer.  She is like Faulkner...only not boring and unreadable.

Grown Up Kind of Pretty is about  three generations of women.  Stay with me.  I know, if you have suffered through a lot of crappy fiction, that the phrase 'three generations of women' is enough to send you running for the hills.  Trust me.  This is a good one.  No pretentious nonsense.  No false melodrama.

Jenny is the the matriarch.  A single mom at age fifteen, she emancipates herself from her goofy Baptist parents and raises her child alone.  That child, Liza, also becomes a mom at age fifteen.  This book begins when Liza's daughter, Mosey turns fifteen.  Naturally, everyone expects the worst.

This book is just good.  Smart, funny and real.  Just like I like 'em.

Bible Tuesday - David Part 10

David is now King of Judah.  He is trying to negotiate with Ishbosheth who is Saul's son and the current King of Israel.  David wants his wife, Michal back.  Remember her?  She was Saul's daughter and David's first wife.

Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
2 Samuel 3:14

What follows has very little to do with David but I want to talk about it anyway.

And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish.  But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned.
2 Samuel 3:15-16

Is that the saddest thing you ever read, or what?  Apparently, while David was hiding out from Saul, Saul gave Michal to Paltiel to marry.  I have no idea whether Michal liked him or not but he must have loved her big time.  Middle Eastern men do not cry over their wives.  They definitely do not follow them and weep in public. 

The next part of the story is kinda gross.

Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.”  But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity,   when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

2 Samuel 4:5-12

I don't have anything to say about this.  I just felt you needed to know.

This gruesome scene does, at least, lead us to an important event.  Now that Ishbosheth is dead, the people of Israel want David to be their king too.  So Judah and Israel are united under David's rule.

And you would think that after finally achieving this, that David would just chill out and king for a while but, nope, he goes after the Philistines, again.  (Remember when David lived with the Philistines a while back?  Remember how they didn't trust him?  Pretty good call in hindsight, huh?)

This war with the Philistines does have a purpose though. It shows us that, even though David is now king, he still considers himself to be a  humble servant for God.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went out against them. Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.” And he went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. And they left their gods there, and David gave command, and they were burned.
And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley.  And when David again inquired of God, God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees.  And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”  And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.  And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.

1 Chronicles 14:8-17

One more battle before we finish here. 

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David's soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”  And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward.  And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

2 Samuel 5:7-10

Here is our first glimpse of 'the city of David'...Jerusalem.  Clearly, this physical location has been referenced many times before this but here we have the beginning of Jerusalem as the center of Israel. 

So David has defeated his enemies.  He has united two kingdoms.  He has established a capital.  Things are looking good so you know he is about to start making a mess of everything, right?

Book Review - The Peach Keeper

I was really looking forward to reading this book.  Just look at the cover.  Isn't it beautiful?  Plus it has rave reviews in all the right places. (You'd think I would have learned my lesson on that deal by now.)

Anyway, I started reading and within ten pages I thought "Those two old ladies killed that guy when they were young and have kept it a secret for 70 years." 

And guess what?  "Those two old ladies killed that guy when they were young and have kept it a secret for 70 years." 

I issued no spoiler alert for that because anyone who has ever read a book could see that coming. 

The rest of her contrived storyline is just as bad.  My personal favorite is the guy that everyone has assumed to be gay for the past 20 years turns out to be a heterosexual.  Let me ask you a question?  Has that ever happened?  EVER? 

CSA - Week 4

This week we got peaches!!!

I made this peach cobbler and dropped half of it into the hot oven when the buttery casserole dish literally jumped out of my hands.  It smelled great though.  Next week, I will try again.
Note:  I pretty much only use Paula Deen's dessert recipes.  They have never failed me and they all start with one stick of butter.  It just works, people.

We also received carrots, red cabbage, green beans, onions, strawberries and...
zucchini and squash.
Let me just say that I am sick of zucchini and squash already.  Here's the recipe I am planning to try though.  Don't worry, it's not a Pinterest recipe so your chance of success is good.

The cheese this week is a marinated goat cheese.  It looks like two discs of awesome floating in a jar of buttery, herbed oil. 

We did get around to trying the spreadable goat cheese.  The serving suggestion was to eat it drizzled with honey.

Oh. Dear. God.

This stuff is gonna be served at heaven's cafeteria.  Yowza!!!

Quoted - Tozer Edition

"If your Christianity depends upon a pastor's preaching, then you're a long way from being where you should be."

AW Tozer

Bible Tuesday - David Part 9

David has the opportunity to kill Saul again and he doesn't.  He runs off (with his 600 men and their families) to live among the Philistines.  Apparently the Philistines have forgotten the deal where David gave 100 of them a forced circumcision.  They must be a forgiving people.

David tries to fight as a part of the Philistine army but that's where they draw the line.  So he basically hangs out for a while and begins amassing an ever bigger army.

Then Saul finally dies.  David's best bud Jonathan, Saul's son, dies too.  David is so bummed that he kills the messenger.  (Is that where the phrase actually comes from?) Then he writes a song because that's how he deals with stuff.

If you think everything is gonna be good now, then you are new here.  But that's ok. 

David does get crowned King of Judah.  This would be akin to becoming President of California and Texas.  Saul's son. Ishbosheth is crowned King of Israel.

David rules from Judah for 7 1/2 years.  Not really sure what he did for those years but he definitely spent a lot of time at home because he fathered at least 6 sons.  The Bible doesn't  mention any daughters but I bet there were a few of those too.

He also begins to put together his elite fighting force.  And a super elite group called 'The Three". "The Three" are involved in an exploit that gives us another big insight into David's character.

And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.  David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.  And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!”  Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord  and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it.

2 Samuel 23:13-17

I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I mean if your church raised a ton of money for someone in need and they gave it somewhere else as an offering to the Lord, I could see being simultaneously awed and annoyed.  I'm not sure how "The Three" felt about David pouring out their water but David was clearly trying to honor their service.  David is not a king who sees his subjects as disposable.  Remember this later when it looks like he may have forgotten this.

David eventually ends up with a group of 37 'Mighty Men' leading his army.  The bible lists the names of each of these men.  And as you read through it, you might begin to wonder why you need to know all of these names.  But then you get to the last name.

 Uriah the Hittite

2 Samuel 23:39

Ya'll...it's about to get interesting.  Trust me.

Book Review - The Winter Rose and The Wild Rose

These books deserve their own reviews but, sadly, I read them really close together and now I am having a hard time remembering what happened in each of them.

They are the completion of the trilogy that began in The Tea Rose.  The Winter Rose is about a 'lady doctor' named India Selwyn-Jones who is trying to help the poor residents of London.  She gets involved with the notorious crime boss who just happens to be the long lost brother of Fiona Finnegan (the heroine of The Tea Rose.)  Confused yet?  It takes a long time, but it all works out.  Which is why this book is the bomb-diggity.

The Wild Rose continues the story of the Finnegan family.  This one focuses on Seamus Finnegan, the youngest brother.  He is a brash adventurer (is there any other kind of adventurer?)  who falls in love with Willa on a mountain climbing expedition.  She has a terrible accident and loses her leg...yep.  She hates her life and Seamus because she can no longer 'adventure' so she moves to some far off place for about three hundred pages.  It's a whole lot better than I made it sound here.

So, seriously, you have to read this series.  But, ideally, read one book a month rather than gorging on all three back to back.  Your brain will thank you.

CSA WARNING

Oh merciful savior...

DO NOT try the strawberry recipe from the last post.

Never in the history of recipes has anything turned out so badly.  Oh good grief...

I admit that I am not the greatest cook but the recipe was pretty simple and I'm not sure how this could be my fault.  The texture (once I scraped them off the pan) was about what I thought they should be but the flavor was almost indescribable.  It was like Satan had declared war on my taste buds.  Sour, bitter and just horrible.  The worst part is that during the three hours they were in the oven, the house smelled like a strawberry fairyland.  How could something smell so good and taste so bad?

At this point I have to assume that no recipes on Pinterest are any good.  I am at a 0% success rate with recipes that have people gushing praise all over the Internet.  I'm no master chef but I can't possibly be such a bad cook that I am screwing up every "The World's Best fill in the blank" recipe.

CSA - Week Three

This week's harvest included cucumbers, carrots, zucchini. squash, red cabbage and kale.

Here's my recipe for the cucumbers:

Peel.  Slice.  Dip in Ranch dressing.

Stop making life so hard people.

Now, can we talk about squash for a minute?  It must seriously be the easiest vegetable to grow in Tennessee.  I am convinced our state will survive any sort of worldwide annihilation just because, no matter what happens, we will have squash.  My stepdaughter once worked at a fast food place.  While working the drive-thru one day, a man drove up without ordering, she opened the window and he handed her a bag of squash and drove off.  The squash will save us folks.  Don't forget it.

We also scored our first green beans of the season.  Try this recipe and tell me if it's good.

Roasted Green Beans
Wash and drain beans and let them dry well.  Trim off both ends of your beans.

Place beans in a large bowl and drizzle good extra virgin olive oil over the beans.  Sprinkle a small amount of paprika, coriander and cumin over the beans and toss with your hands until beans are coated with seasonings.  Lay beans out in a single layer on half sheet pan (with rim).

Roast beans at 500 F. about 15 minutes, stirring beans around three times while roasting.

After 15 minutes, remove from the oven and season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

 Dip/Dressing to accompany beans (make ahead of time)

- 1 Cup of Greek yogurt

- 2 T. Parsley or Cilantro (your preference)

Now add your choice or both to taste:  chopped chives and/or minced red onion.  Add ¾ cups diced cucumber.

Refrigerate for a couple hours before serving so yogurt can absorb the flavors.

Strawberries are still our only fruit.  Not complaining.  Just ready for some variety.  This is the strawberry recipe I want to try...if the kids stop eating them as fast as they can shove them in their greedy little mouths.

Here it is:  Halve the strawberries, place them on a cookie sheet, bake in a 210 degree oven for 3 hours.  The recipe is getting rave reviews online.  But I haven't tried it yet so don't blame me if you end up with a pan full of strawberry bleck.

The cheese this week was a log rolled in some kind of herbs.  It looks friggin delicious but I still haven't got around to eating it.  Come by the house and I will give you a bite...or seven.

Need poster size enlargement

It's important to remember that I worship NO man.  That being said, if we get to have lockers in heaven, then this picture of Billy Graham and Mark Driscoll is going in mine.

Bible Tuesday - David Part 8

David is still on the run.

He does end up with a new wife so it's not all bad.  Basically, David stops at a big ranch and is given no hospitality.  David ain't happy about this.  He plans to murder the whole bunch.  Abigail, the rancher's wife, realizes that things are about to get ugly and she goes out to meet David with a whole bunch of food. 

And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!  Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!  For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”  Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

1 Samuel 25:32-34

This is the power of food ladies.  Don't forget it.

And about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.  When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”  And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

1Samuel 25:38-42

I'm really glad that God does not avenge me like this because folks would be dropping like flies in the Midstate

Quoted

An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold, hard-hearted Christian, is the greatest absurdity & contradiction.

- Jonathan Edwards

And yet, just about every 'Christian' you see on television could fit easily into one of those categories.

CSA - Week Two

This week's harvest was much bigger.  The fruit share was strawberries.  Probably one more week of those.  No strawberry pictures because the kids ate the berries before I could document them.  I bet there are tons of great recipes using strawberries but I am never gonna get a chance to use them.  Here's what else was in the box.

Cauliflower and Broccoli.

I roasted them both.  I have to start looking for some new recipes for these guys but honestly, roasting makes them so good I desire no variety...yet.

More friggin beets :( 

 My friend Lauren took the beet greens to make this casserole.  I haven't tried it but she swears it is awesome.

Greens-n-Beans Cobbler

3 to 4 Tbsp. olive oil

1 large red onion, diced

1 whole green garlic, finely diced

1 large bunch collards, washed and chopped

1 large bunch beet greens, washed and chopped

Generous pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

Generous pinch salt

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 15.5 oz. can red beans, rinsed and drained

Topping Ingredients:

1 c. flour

1 c. cornmeal

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 egg

1 c. plain yogurt

4 Tbsp. neutral oil, like sunflower

1 can corn, well-draine

Heat olive oil in a large oven-safe pan over medium low heat.  Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 5 or 6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook just a couple of minutes more.  Increase heat to medium and add all the greens, red pepper flakes and salt.  Stir well, and then reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook until desired doneness is reached, stirring occasionally and adding a tiny bit of water if greens start to stick to the bottom of the pan.  (I like mine really well-cooked, southern style!)  Preheat oven to 400°.  Stir tomato paste into greens.  If you would like a saucy cobbler base, also stir in ½ cup or so of water.  Stir in beans, and let mixture simmer on low while you get the topping ready.

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg, and then mix in yogurt and oil.  Pour into dry ingredients along with drained corn and mix just until it comes together.

Remove greens from heat and drop big spoonfuls of the corn batter over the top.  Put in oven and bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until batter is cooked.  Serve while hot with plenty of hot sauce!

I used the squash to make this casserole.  I didn't taste it but it was a hit at my family reunion so it must have been at least tolerable.

I used the zucchini to make three loaves of zucchini bread.  Nobody ate it.  I finally force fed a bite to the teens.  Anna said she could possibly stand it if it was covered with cream cheese icing.  I could eat a whole zucchini if it was covered with cream cheese icing so...

And we still haven't eaten the cheese. 

I am so ashamed.

This week's variety is the soft, spreadable kind.  Looks very similar to cream cheese.  Kevin gets home in a few days so I plan to decimate our cheese stockpile and report back.