"My Quiet Time" for August 31

Here is another devotional page from my children’s devotional book QUIET TIMES WITH GOD:

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“Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9)

On this day in 1861, a little girl named Jessie Brown was born near Cleveland, Ohio. As a child, Jessie was often sick. Because of this, she did not go to school, but was taught at home. By the time she was 15, she began to write articles for Cleveland newspapers and various Christian magazines.

In 1896, Jessie married John Pounds, a pastor. An editor had once told Jessie that some of her poems would make good hymns. So Jessie Pounds began her songwriting career. Over her lifetime, she wrote 9 books, 50 cantatas, and more than 400 gospel songs. Some of her hymns are still sung today. Here are a few of them: “The Way of the Cross Leads Home”; “The Touch of His Hand on Mine”; and “Anywhere With Jesus.”

The chorus of “Anywhere With Jesus” says:

“Anywhere! Anywhere!
Fear I cannot know;
Anywhere with Jesus
I can safely go.”

Our verse today talks about the same thing. The words were spoken to Joshua by God. He said that Joshua did not have to be afraid of anything he would face as he led the people into the Promised Land. God would be with him wherever he went.

We are not leading people on a long journey or into battle as Joshua did, but God has also promised to be with us wherever we go. He has said that He will never leave us or forsake us. No matter what is happening in our lives, we do not need to be afraid. God is with us and will not leave us. We can be strong and brave as Joshua was. We have the same God with us!

• Thank God that He will never leave us. Ask Him to give you courage for hard times in your life.

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Some of my favorite apple recipes

With fall coming (yes, I know it’s still August, but the nights are beginning to get cool up here already. Besides, September starts Friday!), I thought this would be the ideal time to share a few of my favorite apple recipes. These are tried-and-true favorites in our family!

APPLE CRISP PIZZA

Pastry for a single crust pie
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 medium apples, peeled and sliced 1/2” thick
TOPPING:
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup old-fashioned (or quick-cooking) oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 to 1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping

Roll out pastry to fit a 12-inch pizza pan; fold under or flute edges of
pastry. Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl; add apples and
toss mixture together well. Arrange apple slices in a single layer over
pastry in a circular pattern to completely cover pastry. Combine the
first five topping ingredients in a bowl; mix well and sprinkle over
apples. Bake at 350º for 35 to 40 minutes or until apples are
tender. Remove from oven and immediately drizzle caramel topping over apples. Serve warm.

Yield: 12 servings

This is a wonderful dessert to make in the fall when the apples are
ready to pick. It makes your kitchen smell so good! You may add
vanilla ice cream on top if you like, but it’s delicious just as it is.




HOT APPLE OATMEAL

4 cups milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups chopped, unpeeled apples
1 cup raisins, optional
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

In a large saucepan, combine the milk, brown sugar, butter, salt and
cinnamon. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, combine all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. When the milk mixture comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. Pour the hot milk mixture over the oatmeal mix in the bowl. Stir well. Pour the mixture into a buttered 2-quart casserole. Cover the casserole and bake for 45 minutes at 350º, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Serve with
additional milk or cream.

I found this recipe many years ago in my favorite cooking newsletter, Cook & Tell. We have served this oatmeal to many guests over the years and everyone loves it. I will sometimes omit the raisins and/or walnuts if I know our guests have picky children, but the nuts and raisins are a delicious addition to the recipe otherwise.



APPLE CRANBERRY CRISP

3 cups chopped unpeeled apples
2 cups raw cranberries
3/4 cup sugar
TOPPING:
1 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup canola oil

Combine the apples, cranberries and sugar in a 9” square baking dish or a 2-qt. casserole dish. Mix thoroughly to blend; set aside. Combine topping ingredients until crumbly; spread evenly over fruit layer. Bake at 350º for 1 hour or until the fruit is fork-tender. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Yield: 6-8 servings.

This is a wonderful dessert to make in the fall when apples and cranberries are both fresh. But it tastes good anytime! I’ve adapted this recipe from the original to make it healthier and lower in fat and sugar.



CRUMB TOP APPLE PIE

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
Unbaked 9” pie shell
6 apples, peeled, cored, sliced
Lemon juice
Crumb topping:
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of salt
1/2 cup butter

Begin by mixing together the brown sugar and spices in a small bowl. In the pie shell, alternate layers of apples with the spice mixture. Sprinkle each layer with lemon juice before adding another layer. When all apples and spices are in pie shell, make the topping by mixing the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and dash of salt in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until crumbs form. Top the pie with the crumb topping.
Bake the pie at 450º for 15 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350º and bake 30 minutes more. Serve warm with cheddar cheese or ice cream on the side.

This excellent pie comes from Jane & Michael Stern’s wonderful cookbook, Square Meals. I have made this pie so many times that its page in my handwritten cookbook is freckled with apple juice and spices.



BUTTERCUP SQUASH & APPLES

3 lbs. buttercup squash
3 apples
6 Tblsp. margarine (or use 4 Tblsp. oil)
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 Tblsp. flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt

Cut squash in halves; remove seeds and fibers. Peel and cut in slices 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick. Arrange the slices in a 13 x 9-inch pan.
Core apples but do not peel them. Cut in 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch slices and arrange them on top of squash.
Mix remaining ingredients; sprinkle over top of apples and squash. Cover pan tightly with foil. Bake at 350º for about 1 hour or until squash is tender. Serves 6 to 8.

I have been making this recipe for over thirty years. It’s nice with any autumn meal and would be a great side dish for Thanksgiving. It would also make a nice contribution to an autumn potluck.

Hope others enjoy these great apple recipes as much as we do!

Breakfast Potatoes

Here, for mom2fur, is the recipe for Breakfast Potatoes mentioned in my Menu Plan Monday. Enjoy!

BREAKFAST POTATOES

2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup sliced onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Coat a 9-inch microwave-safe pie plate with cooking spray. Arrange the potato and onion slices in the plate and sprinkle with the seasonings. Cover and microwave on High for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the cheese. Cover and microwave on High for 4 to 5 minutes more, or until potatoes are tender. Yield: 2 servings.

We really like this easy potato recipe from an old TASTE OF HOME magazine. It goes especially well with egg dishes, but I think it would also be good alongside a hamburger. You can obviously increase the amounts to make more servings, but if you do, remember that the cooking time will be longer.

A Celebratory Chocolate Cake

Recently our family got together to celebrate my daughter-in-law’s birthday, and I offered to bake a cake. I really love to bake, but don’t do it often any more with no children left at home. (If goodies are here and in sight, I will eat them, and that’s not a good thing. So I keep them in the freezer.) I decided to bake a chocolate cake, and the easiest, best chocolate cake I know of is Never-Fail Chocolate Cake from COOK & TELL, my favorite recipe newsletter. This cake recipe is also found in the cookbook of the same name, by Karyl Bannister. Here’s the recipe.

NEVER-FAIL CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 cup sugar
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup milk
1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9-inch square cake pan.

Combine the sugar, chocolate, and milk in a large saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Add the butter, remove from the heat, and cool briefly. Beat in the remaining ingredients. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean. Cool in pan on rack -- or remove from the pan if desired. Frost, or top with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Makes 1 9-inch cake. (For our group, I doubled the recipe and baked the cake in a 13x9-inch pan.)

For the frosting, I wanted a milk chocolate one. This cake is very fudgy, and I thought a dark or fudge frosting might be too much. (In retrospect, it probably wouldn’t have been.) I adapted a frosting recipe I found on the internet.

EASY PERFECT MILK CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tblsp. half & half cream (I used the fat-free kind)

Beat the softened butter in a medium bowl. Slowly beat in the remaining ingredients until combined, then beat on high until frosting reaches desired consistency. (The recipe didn’t say how much frosting it would make. I thought it didn’t look like enough for a 13x9-inch cake, so I added another cup of powdered sugar and another tablespoon of cream, and left the other ingredients the same. I think the recipe as printed would work fine for the 9-inch cake.)

Maybe your family will enjoy this celebratory cake too! (With school starting for many students, this might be a nice dessert for the first supper of the school year!)

Two of my favorite kitchen helpers

It’s always nice to find new products to help make kitchen tasks easier. These are two of my favorites.

1. REYNOLDS® SLOW COOKER LINERS. These are plastic liners for your slow cooker. My biggest concern about these -- that they would draw liquid out of the slow cooker and leave a mess on the countertop -- has turned out to be a non-issue. (Sometimes my new slow cooker will do that all by itself, but that’s another story.) I wouldn’t bother to use the liners for soup or anything really liquid. But in any case where the food is apt to stick or the cleanup is apt to be messy, I find these liners very helpful. I always use them for my Crockpot Ribs, for example. And yesterday I made a recipe for Smoky Bean Stew -- containing mini sausages and many different types of beans/veggies -- which I assumed would turn out more stew-like than it actually did, so I didn’t use a liner. Oh, how I wish I had! This meal stuck on more than anything I had ever made in this cooker so far. When I bought it, I liked the look of the stainless steel cooker with black insert -- and I still like the look of it, but I’ve found that black stoneware hard to clean. Which leads me to my other favorite helper...

2. SCOTCH-BRITE® CAMPWARE COMPANIONS. These are terrific! They are small Scotch-Brite®-backed soap-filled sponges that come three to a package and are sold with the camping supplies. I first found these in the camping aisle at Walmart several years ago and took them on a camping trip. We do tent camping, so the dishes are washed in a bucket with water that’s been heated on a camp stove. I was thrilled with how these sponges cleaned up my skillet and dutch oven, even when foods really stuck on. When we returned home, I put the extra sponge to use in my kitchen. Even after the soap is used up, these sponges continue to work very well for pots and pans or any tough dishwashing job. I just keep the one I’m currently using tucked into a cute little custard cup on the windowsill above my sink. The others, with the open end of the package paper-clipped shut to keep them from drying out, live under the sink. Yesterday, as I was trying to clean the slow cooker stoneware (after having soaked it for a good six hours!), I muttered to myself that what I needed was a new Campware Companion. I thought I had run out of them, but no! There under the sink was a whole new package. Campware Companions to the rescue again! That stoneware was shining in no time.

I highly recommend these two helpers for anyone’s kitchen!

Menu Plan Monday

I love this idea, which I found over at I'M AN ORGANIZING JUNKIE. Although I've been doing menu planning for many, many years, I like the idea of posting my week's menus on my blog in addition to the side of my fridge! As I mentioned last time, I ordinarily plan my meals from Thursday to Thursday. But lately I've been trying to do that planning earlier in the week, so Menu Plan Monday is going to help me achieve that goal. Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Monday -- Crabmeat Quiche, Breakfast Potatoes, Fruit Salad (this is a menu that didn't get used last week)
Tuesday -- Cheese Ravioli & Veggies, Fruit 'n' Nut Tossed Salad, Bread & Butter
Wednesday -- Cashew Chicken Wraps, Ranch Pasta Salad
Thursday -- Creamy Swiss Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus Stir-fry Vegetables (frozen, from Walmart)
Friday -- Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups, Mixed Vegetable Salad, Italian Bread
Saturday -- Vegetable Shrimp Toss, Herbed Dinner Rolls
Sunday -- Greek Pasta Salad, Herbed Dinner Rolls, Apple Crisp Pizza (the first Sunday of the month is our fellowship dinner at church)

Looking forward to seeing the menus others will post!

Building a prayer journal

L asked if I would share my instructions for building a prayer journal. I am happy to do so, as I’ve been thinking for some time that I’d like to do a post about my prayer journal.

For years I jotted down prayer requests on scraps of paper stuck in my Bible, or wrote them in the notebooks I used for taking notes in church. Many of them I kept in my head. One of my unspoken prayer requests for a long time was just to be able to organize things so I could pray more effectively. So one day I bought a little spiral-bound notebook and began to try and organize my prayer requests in sections so I could pray for different things and people on different days. That worked for quite awhile, but not quite as well as I had hoped. Then my daughter went off to college and took a class called Study of Prayer. They made prayer journals as a class project. I was so impressed when I saw what a prayer journal could look like -- and with its potential as a helpful tool for one’s prayer life. I studied the journal my daughter had made and gathered my own ideas from here and there. Then I began to put together my own prayer journal. It has become every bit as helpful as I envisioned it would be.

I suggest getting one of the smaller binders -- mine is approximately 7 inches by 9 inches. Larger ones would be fine, but the smaller one is easy to keep with your Bible. I prefer the kind with a clear pocket on the front and back covers, to slip your own “cover art” into. Mine has a colorful picture on the front cover, along with the words “Prayer Journal” and a favorite quotation on prayer. On the back cover there’s another colorful picture (I cut these from Gooseberry Patch catalogs, as these picture many of my favorite things) , part of a poem about prayer, and a verse (James 5:16). I cut card stock sheets in half to fit my binder and -- after punching holes in them -- used them as dividers for the different sections. I used index tabs to label the different sections. I cut white paper in half, punched holes on one side, and used these to write my actual requests on. For the special people in my life, I have their photos (stuck to card stock with clear photo corners) right across from the page with my prayer requests for them. Whenever I come across something that will help me in my prayer life, I incorporate it into my prayer journal. For example, one mission board made available a bookmark listing basic, biblical ways to pray for missionaries. I cut this up and scattered the different requests on the card stock divider for my “Missionaries” page. Every time I pray for missionaries, I have before me some concrete ways to pray for them.

Here are my basic guidelines for putting together a prayer journal. Feel free to adapt them for yourselves.

PRAYER JOURNAL GUIDELINES

Of course there are a multitude of ways you can organize your prayer journal. This is a combination of what my daughters learned in a college class and what I came up with myself. My prayer journal is still a work in progress!

My prayer journal consists of 3 basic sections -- Adoration, Agreement, and Asking. Each section has categories within it.

Section I -- ADORATION

A. Praise.

1. Attributes of God. Choose 10 (or more) attributes of God that you want to praise Him for. Make a page for each one. For each attribute, write out at least 3 Scripture verses which mention or describe that attribute. Some examples of attributes would be holiness, righteousness, sovereignty, omniscience, etc. At the bottom of each page, write a brief statement or prayer describing why you praise God for that particular attribute.

B. Thanksgiving.

1. Spiritual blessings.
a. God
b. Jesus Christ
c. The Holy Spirit
d. The Word of God
(For each of these spiritual blessings -- and you could certainly add more, like salvation, sanctification, etc. -- write out 3 verses that describe that particular blessing. Then write a brief statement or prayer describing why you thank and praise God for that blessing.)

2. Material blessings.
(List as many material blessings as you like -- food, home, etc. Write out a relevant verse for each and a brief statement or prayer thanking God for them.)

3. National blessings.
(List our blessings as a nation -- a free country, privilege of voting, etc. Add a verse if you wish and write a brief statement or prayer thanking God for these blessings.)

4. Physical blessings.
(List physical blessings -- good health, the health of your family, etc. Write out a verse if you wish and then write a brief statement or prayer thanking God for these blessings.)

5. Family blessings.
(List your immediate family and other relatives or friends you are specifically thankful for. Add verses if you like and write a brief statement or prayer thanking God for these folks.)

Section II -- AGREEMENT.

A. Character flaws
(List several of your character flaws or areas where you are prone to sin. [I personally have listed 9 of these so far -- not that there aren’t many more than that!] Make a page for each one. For each flaw or sin, find and write out several helpful verses. [Proverbs is a great source for these verses.] At the bottom of each page, write a summary of why each flaw or sin is not pleasing to God, and what behavior He would have you to work at instead.)

Section III --ASKING.

A. Every Day -- Make a page for each person you plan to pray for every day. List the things you plan to pray for in their lives. I have a page for my husband, my parents, each of my children and their spouses, and one for some dear friends.

B. Sunday --List the things you will pray for on Sundays. (I chose to pray for our church services, pastor, Sunday School teachers, visitors, music, nursery, etc.)

C. Monday -- List the things or people you will pray for on Mondays. (This is the day I chose to pray for missionaries. I also pray for a portion of the people in the church directory each day [about one-sixth of the names each day*]).

D. Tuesday -- List those you will pray for on Tuesdays. (I pray for special friends, near and far away, on this day.)

E. Wednesday -- List those you will pray for on Wednesdays. (I pray for our church leadership on Wednesdays.)

F. Thursday -- List those you will pray for on Thursdays. (This is my day to pray for our country and for our extended families.)

G. Friday -- List those you will pray for on Fridays. (On Friday, I have several individuals or couples I am praying specific verses for. I have a page for each person/couple. I have listed the specific things from each verse that I’m praying for them.)

H. Saturday -- List the requests you’ll pray for on Saturdays. (This is my day to pray for myself. I list concerns that I have for my own personal spiritual growth, the use of my spiritual gifts, faithfulness in ministry, etc. )

* To pray for the folks in the church, this is what I do. Make one page for each day of the week, except Sunday. On each page, list about one-sixth of the names of the people in the church. Put that page in the section for the particular day of the week.

Of course you can adapt these guidelines to work better for you. I think that the more personalized you can make your prayer journal, the more of a tool it will be for you. I definitely recommend adding stickers, photos, etc. to add color and interest, and to jog your memory as you pray for special people in your life. Card stock dividers are colorful and very helpful, and index tabs for the different days are also helpful. You may also enjoy finding challenging, encouraging quotes on prayer to add to the journal. Have fun!