A TASTE OF SUMMER

STRAWBERRY BREAD.

I baked all day today.

First off, I made and baked Challah … (http://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/07/low-cholesterol-challah-shabbat-bread.html)

I normally braid my challah, but I was in a hurry this morning, so I skipped getting fancy and just baked the bread.

While the challah cooled, I got the strawberry bread – I have finally gathered enough strawberries for – underway. I have been faithfully checking and picking the strawberries I grow in my strawberry jar here at home, and was happy to see that there was the exact amount I needed for the recipe. I found a recipe for strawberry bread online, so this afternoon, the bread was made, cooled, and stored away in the freezer for a taste of summer in the winter months ahead.

The recipe is posted at the end of this post.

I substituted Stevia & yogurt for the sugar in the recipe. A LOT of stevia packets were used to equal the amount of sugar being substituted:

I also lined each mini loaf pan with foil to make cleanup quicker; it was tedious, but necessary as I am also very frugal, and want to reuse the pans ...

==Strawberry Bread Recipe ~6 mini loaf pans

Ingredients

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

36 to 48 individual Stevia serving packets (equals 2 cups regular granulated sugar original recipe calls for)

·         1 teaspoon Baking Soda

·         1 teaspoon Salt

·         1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon

·         1 cup Vegetable Oil

·         4 Eggs, lightly beaten

·         1 teaspoon Vanilla

·         2 1/2 cups diced Strawberries

·         6 ounces of Yogurt

Instructions

1.   Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.

2.   In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. The batter will be thick. Stir in the strawberries.

Elohim blessed me with just enough strawberries from the strawberry jar to make the bread with.

3.   Place the batter in the prepared pans. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean – 35-45 minutes for small loaf pans or about 60 minutes for large loaf pans. Cool the loaves in the pans for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Batter equally divided among mini loaf pans.

Strawberry bread baking; pans fit the oven with room to spare.

First cooling.

Foil removed came away cleanly from the bread.

Final cooling.

Double wrapped & labeled for the freezer. These little loaves of summer goodness will be a very welcome taste of Summer in the Winter months.

Not only will these tasty summer-filled breads push back the gray days of winter months, they are also FULL of healthy goodness as this link explains: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/strawberries

1st CORINTHIANS ~Chapter 5

If Christians would get back to DOING what SCRIPTURE TELLS them to DO, the Church would not be so weak.

The pastor is NOT GOD - the pastor is just a man, and we do not answer to the pastor; we, as Christians, answer ONLY to Elohim.

"Going to Church" is for The Church to gather to worship/praise Elohim, exhort Elohei, amplify the Body, be Yeshua's example among the Body, expect to be visited by The Ruach, expect a blessing/healing, and be strengthened to move forward as Ambassadors of Yeshua so that we can be effective in getting His Gospel message our to a dying world.

We do not gather to worship the pastor or to praise him and his family!

We do not gather to turn a blind eye to open sin and slap backs during networking contacts!

We are NOT to preach the message of vineyard ministries!

If Christians would get back to DOING what SCRIPTURE TELLS them to DO, the Church would not be so weak.

********************

It is generally reported that immorality is practiced among you, such immorality as is no found even among the heathen. They say that one of you has taken to himself his father’s wife. And you seem to be proud of it, instead of being sorry about it and expelling from your membership the man who did this shameful deed. For my part, I am present with you in spirit even though I am absent from you in body, and I have already passed sentence on the man who has done this, just as if I were present. Therefore, call a meeting in the Name of Adoani Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, and I will be present with you in spirit by the authority of Adonai Yeshua Ha’Mashiach. We would then hand this man over to Lucifer to be physically disciplined, in order that his spirit may be saved on the Day of The Lord.

It is not right that you should boast about this case. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? Therefore, clean out the old leaven, so that you may be as a lump of fresh dough, unleavened. For Mashiach, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, not with old leaven of vice and wickedness.

In a letter I wrote that you should not associate with immoral people, I did not mean that you should not have anything to do with those of the unchurched world who are immoral or greedy, extortioners or idolaters. For to that, you would have to leave this world altogether. No, I wrote to say that you must not associate with anyone who is a so-called-Christian “brother”, if he is immoral, or if he is a miser, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler. One should not even eat with such a person.

What business have I to be judging outsiders? It is not for you to judge those within the church? And it is Elohei Who judges those on the outside. In conclusion, expel the wicked man from your congregation.

**CORINTHIANS 4: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2019/06/1st-corinthians-chapter-4.html

FIRE BLIGHT PRUNINGS

Yesterday was laundry day, so as soon as my eyes were fully awake and it was safe to be noisy in the neighborhood without complaints, I jumped into some clothes and went outside to tackle the infected apple trees before my day got away from me.

I wasn’t looking forward to the task as I knew I would have to prune my Patio Apple Trees pretty severely; and that action may well kill them. But if I want to keep them alive, the cuts had to be made now:

I removed a lot of apple tree limbs from my 2 patio Apple trees – and lost the few apples that did set, as well. I normally get enough apples for 6 apple pies through Winter into Spring, but there will be no apple harvest this year ...

I know it is the wrong time of the year to be pruning fruit trees, but they had both been seriously struck with the apple tree killing disease, ‘fire blight’ – and severe pruning is their only hope of survival at this point …

They look so naked and forlorn. Poor things.

Then I fertilized all the veggie beds.

Hopefully, the added boost will give the struggling plants some of what the absent sun has been holding back:

These Comos should be pretty tall by now, but the gray skies and yo-yoing temperatures keep everything confused and stunted.

I found another volunteer petunia coming up in one of the Yellow Parrot Tulip bowls …

And I got excited when I saw a colorful fruit set blossom on my eggplant!

In truth, I did not expect this eggplant to get as far as it has in this wet and humid PNW climate. It is struggling – but it is also thriving :-D

If I get just 1 eggplant, I will be happy. At least I now know that I can grow them here.

I bet Bob is smiling down on me; watching my personal growth, & my garden’s growth, as my experiments are starting to hit pay dirt.

And saying to Yeshua, “Will You look at that? My lady is a winner”.

Only Bob could ever see me as a lady ;-)

ETERNAL FATHER’S DAY

My day was pretty quiet today.

I missed Bob.

A lot.

This is the first time in 45 years, Bob has not been present for Father’s Day.

But you know what?

Bob is with our Heavenly Father; so he is having a day with our Father that will never come to an end – guess that trumps anything that is happening down here, on Earth :-D

Knowing that, took the edge off missing him.

I had some BBQ ribs for Supper because Bob liked BBQ Ribs, and I ate some of my home-style garden-fresh salad (loaded with an abundance of healthy greens - purslane ranking the highest for nutritional value and healing proprieties) with a new tangy salad dressing I found while browsing through one of my cooking magazines:

But first I brought my fresh picked greens out of the crisper and tore them into bite-size pieces …

LITTLE GEM LETTUCE

L to R: NASTURTIUM LEAVES, PURSLANE, & MINER’S LETTUCE

SALAD of Mascara-Tom Thumb-Deer Tongue & Little Gem Lettuces; Nasturtium leaves & Flowers; Purslane; Miner's Lettuce; & Johnny-Jump-Up Violas

Then I made the beefed-up dressing - this stuff is practically a meal by itself, it's so loaded with stuff:

==TANGY DRESSING ~ Yield: 1 cup

¼ cup Mayonnaise * ¼ cup Ketchup * 1-1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice * 1-1/2 teaspoon Olive Oil * 1 hard-cooked Egg, finely chopped * 1 Tablespoon Celery, finely chopped * 1 Tablespoon Green Pepper, finely chopped * 1 Tablespoon Onion, finely chopped * 1 Tablespoon Parsley, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Cover and chill thoroughly.

After Supper, I hung some sprigs of English Thyme to air-dry (the rest went into the freezer for a taste of "fresh" during the winter months) …

ENGLISH THYME hung to dry on a rack Bob made for me. It’s made of PVC, so it is light and easy to set up and move about; but strong enough to hang whatever I want on it: it had previously been used for my hanging Bazaar items like baby things and children’s sweaters.

And made myself a 4-pc. Christmas Hot pad Set – an early BD gift to myself ;-)

4 -PC HOT PAD SET. Christmas Stripe Hot Pad Set. Sm-Md-Lrg Pads & 1 Hot Hat. Crochet

WE MISS YOU BABE - ESPECIALLY TODAY

Bob was a marrying man.

He was a family man who truly enjoyed being a husband, a father, and a grandfather.

He would have loved to have had the chance to be a great-grandfather.

Being surrounded by children was as natural to him as breathing ... little kids just naturally flocked to him and basked in his presence. I used to kid him that he was "the piped piper of the littles".

While we, together, only had one child (Bob wanted 6, and there are legit personal reasons I made the (1!) choice), seeing Bob with a child on his lap and a smile on his face was one of the most beautiful memories I have. We always had children in our lives and in our home 24/7/365 ... at one point we had a dozen; all under the age of 10 years old - before the state got involved and insisted we get a foster license: THAT license did not last long - we handed it back and went back to what worked best for us and the kids we took in without their interference's.

We had been enjoying our life and our grandchildren before Candy & Ron's 2018 insanity that killed Bob and stole our family's future 
(https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/12/goodbye-2018-welcome-2019.html).

Our littlest one misses his grandpa every day.

Our grown grandchildren miss their grandpa every day - specifically today.

Our grown children miss their dad.

And I miss my husband every day - specifically today.

Bob gave everyone unconditional love and 1-on-1 attention.

Bob was love personified.

GOING UP TO THE COUNTRY

I woke up around 3 a.m. this morning (have been doing this off and on since December 14^th, 2018): I seem to have lost my night-owl DNA since Bob’s graduation, and morphed into his early-bird habit; so I logged into FB and have been told by a fellow gardener that my Patio Apple Trees have been stricken with “fire blight”.

I have never heard of that before, so I did a google search, and read that while it is controllable, the measures used may be deadly to my Patio Apple Trees as the required pruning would remove at least half of the tree’s limb growth. Not happy about this turn of events. Bob bought me those 2 Patio Apple Trees for a Mother’s Day present 10 years ago – I don’t want them to die.

Why am I continually having to give up things Bob and I enjoyed together???

Wednesday, our bank forced me to close our joint account and reopen a new account – for their benefit, not mine. ALL they had to do was remove his name and bump mine up to primary account holder: but they refused to do that, citing legal reasons for the refusal: sounded like legal BS to me. So, that was one more thing that I have had to let go since Candy and Ron ruined our life together.

I am tired of giving things up for the benefit of someone else’s comfort at my expense …

I will make the necessary {life-saving} cuts on my Patio Apple Trees, and pray to God they survive the mutilation. Yesterday I thought it was a worm or an insect infestation (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2019/06/ive-been-everywhere-man.html), and I sprayed it pretty heavily with BT before asking for help in my FB gardener’s group. I hope I did not spread the fire blight infection in ignorance.

But whatever I do to correct the dicey situation with the apple trees will have to wait until later this week, when Ron is gone to work (the for sale sign is still up, so his 'buyers' must not have been approved: DARN IT! I want him g.o.n.e.), and my haul from the Crawford Strawberry Farm is taken care of.

My strawberry picking adventure in Goble, OR that I mentioned in yesterday’s Blog post (http://www.crawfordberriesncream.com/), went great – good and companionable travel/picking pals, good and comfortable weather (the earlier gray clouds here gave way to a blue sky with fluffy clouds there), good Supper company, and a reasonably easy pick-over/wash/blend/storage of the strawberry haul once I got home :-D

Crawford Strawberry Farm

Loved enjoying the country air, the sounds of cows/geese/chickens/power saws in the background while we picked berries and chatted back and forth. My heart longs for the country ... I really MISS it.

My haul. I gathered 7 pounds of tasty berries, which totaled $11.35; about $1.62/lb

Homemade Strawberry Concentrate with the seeds removed. Very pleasantly odiferous and sweet tasting! I can't eat seeds because they cause internal issues, so the process was tedious; but necessary.

My 7 pounds of berries = 22 cups, which when blended and seeds removed = eight, 1 cup baggies of Strawberry Concentrate to be frozen for Winter Smoothies. I’m happy :-D

Knowing I would be gone for a good part of today, I watered my garden beds straight off when I got out of bed this morning; and was surprised to notice a white petunia peeking out of the Johnny-Jump Up violas in the yellow onion bed – how it got there is a mystery:

Moving down the line, I saw that the tiny yellow straight-neck squash I spotted last Friday – and thought would more than likely wither and drop off – is staying put; and thriving despite the uncooperative weather :-)

I will probably pick this Tom Thumb Lettuce for Supper tonight. It had reached it’s mature size and is ready to harvest …

And I will pick some nasturtium leaves, as well as this 1^st nasturtium blossom peeking out of the foliage. I have never eaten flower blossoms before in my salads because that was not something I could have talked Bob into; but, Bob is not here, so I will give it a try ;-) I did like the violas, and the nasturtium leaves I tried last week; so the nasturtium blossom will be this week’s taste experiment:

In the last 2 garden beds, barely visible BABY CANTALOUPES (!) and a tiny Golden Star Bell Pepper are making their debuts :-D

I am glad to see those teeny baby cantaloupes – usually the cantaloupe plants I buy just die to the ground and disappear when I put them in the garden; but this one that I grew myself from seed seems to be doing well, even though it is not very big or bushy yet …

Barely visible – but they are there.

What surprised me the most, was seeing that tiny pepper because all of my pepper plants are stunted due to the crazy weather we have been having here – I don’t think any of the pepper plants are more than 4” tall: they just are not doing well at all in the garden bed. I hope the pepper plants survive and get taller, prolifically producing – I use a LOT of peppers when I cook:

And THIS is WHY my garden is limping along this year …

Maritime weather here in the PNW. So tired of gray skies; I would really like to see some blue skies and sunshine that hangs around for more than a blink of the eye ..

Today is exactly 6 months, 12 hours and 36 minutes since my life status changed from wife to widow.

I have GREAT friends who got me out of the house today and filled my day with fun and laughter. Nothing does my spirit good like a day in the country ;-)

Elohim is good all the time; and all the time Elohim is good - He provides what I need most to help my heart heal :-D

Shalom Mishcopah

L’Chaim!

FOREVER LOVING YOU