Beautiful Poem

I love this poem and I can't say who wrote it. It's from my devotional book that I read every year.

"He was better to me than all my hopes;
He was better than all my fears;
He made a bridge of my broken works,
And a rainbow of my tears."

The billows that guarded my sea-girt path,
But carried my Lord on their crest;
When I dwell on the days of my wilderness march
I can lean on His love for the rest.

He emptied my hands of my treasured store,
And his covenant love revealed,
There was not a wound in my aching heart,
But the balm of His breath hath healed.
Oh, tender and true was the chastening sore,
In wisdom, that taught and tried,
Till the soul that He sought was trusting in Him,
And nothing on earth beside.

He guided by paths that I could not see,
By ways that I have not known;
The crooked was straight, and the rough was plain
As I followed the Lord alone,
I praise Him still for the pleasant palms,
And the water-springs by the way.
For the glowing pillar of flame by night,
And the sheltering cloud by day.

Never a watch on the dreariest halt,
But some promise of love endears;
I read from the past, that my future shall be
Far better than all my fears.
Like the golden pot, of the wilderness bread,
Laid up with the blossoming rod,
All safe in the ark, with the law of the Lord,
Is the covenant care of my God.

Yoga Class

Over a year ago I attended my first Yoga class. I had every intention before I attended to do this at least 2 to 4 times a week. After the first class I never went back. :( It is probably the hardest exercise I have ever done. Maybe, it's because I'm older.

I think I mentioned in an early blog that I still have 30 pounds I want to get off. So I was recently putting together an exercise program for myself and I knew I needed to incorporate the Yoga class in my regimen. It has been over a year so I somewhat forgot about how hard it is. Now I want to say, that Yoga is a lot of stretching and flexibility and it is amazing how you sweat when you are not really doing anything aerobic.

So last week I went back to my first class in over a year. It first started with a lot of stretching and it felt good and I thought to myself, "Ok, this is not so bad." Then things started to pick up and I then remembered why I never came back. Ok, visualize this. On the floor, in a men's push up position and from this position you bring one leg up under you and come up into a standing position. Oh my gosh, I can't even tell you how hard this is. My thoughts, in the midst of all of this was I'm not doing this, I'm not coming back, this is just too flippin hard, then I thought no, I can do this and I have to make myself do this. It is good for my body. As I do it, it will become easier.

Toward the end of the class, I started laughing because of what I am about to tell you. I think everyone pretty much experiences this, even though we are getting older, inside, in our spirit, we still feel like we are in our 20's or maybe 30's. Anyway that's how I feel. So here I am, standing with this huge rubber band stretched around my foot holding it with my hand and this leg is out in the air and I am trying to balance myself on the other foot. Really struggling to keep standing and all of a sudden I look up and this huge mirror is in front of me and I wonder who this old woman is trying to stand on one foot and about to fall on her face.

It was funny! You probably don't see the humor in all of this but you needed to be there to really appreciate it. So, the moral to this story is I am not giving up. I am making myself attended the Yoga class once a week and my goal is to work into twice a week. When the class was over, I really felt better and was I ever sore the next day. I'll keep you posted on my progress!

I'm determined, "I will not give up."

Easy Cherry Dessert

I had a client call me in July and was having a birthday party for an aunt. She was wanting a dessert with cherries but not a cherry pie and she also wanted a chocolate pie. I remembered a dessert I use to make years ago and it was very good. I told her about it and she liked the idea so I made it for her. She called me later and said it was a hit at the party and everyone loved it. You may or may not know about this dessert but it is very easy and good. One of those things you can whip up quickly and it taste so good everyone things it must have taken time.

2 cans cherry pie filling
1 lg. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 white cake mix
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups, chopped pecans

Pour cherry pie filling in a 9x13inch ungreased pan. Sprinkle crushed pineapple over the cherry pie filling. The sprinkle white cake mix over cherries and pineapple. Pour melted butter over cake mix. Top with chopped pecans. Bake at 350 for one hour. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

I want to share another idea with you for gift giving. I have posted a picture of 2 chocolate pie tarts. I had a lot of chocolate filling left from the pie I made so I made 2 chocolate tarts to give to a friend for her birthday. She loves chocolate pie and she is a person who has everything. She was delighted with the tarts. This particular chocolate pie recipe is served with whipped cream so that is why there is no meringue on the top. On another occasion I made coconut cream tarts with the meringue and they really look cute. People really like things that are homemade and the tarts are perfect.

Chicago Steakhouse Sandwich

All the family was home yesterday for dinner. It was a pretty exciting day. We have a house divided in the area of college football. Some of kids were at the OSU game and some were at the OU game. It makes for lively dinner conversation. Then as we are eating dinner, we see one of our neighbors in his four wheeler running our next door neighbor's Longhorn bull up the road.

My husband and I ran outside to see what we could do. Our neighbor cornered him in our back pasture and I thought we were going to have a bull fight on our hands. The bull was hitting the dirt with his front hoofs they way they do in the bull fights. It was pretty funny. He was mad! This bull belonged to our neighbor on the north and the bull was trying to get to our neighbor's heifers on the south.

Well the roundup :) ended safe and sound and the bull got back in the right pasture. So much for life on a Sunday afternoon in the country!

Ok, back to food. This steak sandwich is really awesome you've got to make it.....you will love it. I was watching the Sandwich King on Food Network and he made this sandwich and my taste buds were having an attack. I knew I had to try it for sure. I made homemade onion rings to go with it. It was a great combo and my family all loved the sandwiches.

3 boneless rib eyes or strip steak would work
12 0z and 5 oz container of spinach (I used this much for my family of 6)
10 peeled garlic cloves, sliced thinly
baguette bread
crushed red pepper flakes
olive oil

Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayo
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 heaping Tablespoon fresh dill chopped
Cracked pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Use a large skillet and put in about 1/4 cup of olive oil and cook garlic until it starts to turn golden then remove and place on paper towel. Use the garlic oil to saute spinach and add one teapsoon of red pepper flakes or more if your family likes it spicy. Your spinach will be overflowing the skillet but it will cook down and you will wonder if you have enough. Keep turning spinach with tongs until it is wilted down.

I have just started cooking steaks this way and they are really great. I have watched this on the Food Network Channel and all the cooks do this. If you buy a good grade and cut of meat you really don't need a lot of seasoning and if you cook it correctly the taste is excellent. Salt and Pepper your steak. I have very large cast iron skillets but you can use any skillet just make sure you can put it in the oven. Salt and pepper one side of the steaks. Make sure your skillet is very, very hot and lay the steak in the skillet and sear both sides of the steak. When you lay the salted side down make sure you salt the other side. After you sear the second side then put it in a 420 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes depended on how you like it cooked. Take it out of the oven and cover it with foil for about 10 minutes. Don't cut into it until after it has set for 10 minutes.

After the steak has set for 10 minutes, put the steak on a cutting board and slice it thinly. Take your baguette bread cut it in half (horizontally) then cut in half vertically. Butter both sides of bread and grilled it or put it in the oven until slightly golden. Take bread and put slices of steak on bun then sauteed spinach then put garlic chips on top of spinach then top with several spoonfuls of the buttermilk blue dressing.
YUMOOOOOO!

If you have friends over on Saturdays to watch the game, this would be a great sandwich to serve.

Strawberries and Balsalmic Vinegar with Vanilla Ice Cream

I love balsamic vinegar and strawberries but I never thought of putting them together. I have seen Ina Garten on the cooking channel do it a couple of times. But recently, she had a segment on quick and easy sides and desserts. This was one of the desserts and I have tried it. It is quick and easy and really good.

2 pints of strawberries, cut each berry into 3 sections
2-3 Tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of black pepper

Cut berries add vinegar, sugar, black pepper. Make sure berries are covered well with all the ingredients. Cover with saran wrap and let it set for about an hour. After it has set for an hour put about a cup full in a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I know this sounds odd but it really is good.

Cool Weather on the Way!

I'm so excited. Cool weather is on the way. I've just turned off the television from watching the weather report and finished my cup of coffee. It's just getting daybreak and I can't wait to get outside and do some work in the garden.

The heat has been so unrelenting this summer my garden didn't make it. But I am going to start planting my fall garden today. I wouldn't do it before because I knew the tender little seedlings would get cooked after one day in this scorching heat. Lots of spinach, kale, beets, swiss chard and several different lettuce mixes that will be my fall garden. I'll have lots of greens for juicing.

Speaking of juicing, I would like to tell you about a very interesting lady. A little over twenty years ago, I was having some health issues and had been praying for God to give me some direction as to what I needed to do for my health. One morning I got into the car to run some errands and a talk show was on the radio. A lady was talking about health and at first I didn't pay much attention but as she continued to talk I finally pulled over and started taking notes and then got her address for more information. That was my start of drinking barley green and I still drink it today. I started my kids on it back when they were small and honestly for years we were hardly ever sick. No colds and thankfully the flu passed us by. It is the single most important thing I think you can do for yourself. Now green drinks are really becoming popular and fresh greens are really great for you but if you can't get fresh check into getting barley green. The lady I was listening to that day was Dr. Mary Ruth Swope. She is 91 now and still going strong. I was recently listening to a broadcast of her from late 2010 and early 2011 on an LA talk radio show. If you are addicted to soft drinks you need to hear what she has to say because you will never want to drink one again. Go to latalkradio.com/Aging.php. There are 3 segments Oct. 7, 2010, Jan.6, 2011, Feb.10,2011. They are all good but if you have to pick one listen to Jan. 6. You can also get information to order the barley green.

Have a great Saturday!