Yummy Recipes!

Mac & Cheese ~ Sheral

1 Cup Macaroni
1 T Flour
1 lbs butter
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 lb bacon (2-4 slices)
2 cups shredded cheese

Cook macaroni
Fry bacon
In a sauce pan combine butter, flour, bacon, and milk and saute until a smooth, white sauce.
Combine in a baking dish (9x9) macaroni, white sauce, bacon, and cheese and bake at 350 for 30-1 hour. About 5 minutes before done dust more cheese on top until it bubbles.

Vegetarian Penne ~ Abbie
2 Cups uncooked penne
1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T canola oil
2 cans (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
2 cups frozen cut green beans
2 t dried oregano
3 T cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 T minced fresh parsley

Cook pasta. Meanwhile in large non-stick skillet, saute carrots and garlic in oil. til tender. Add tomatoes, green beans, basil and oregano; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth, stir into veggies. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 more minutes or until thickened. Drain pasta, stir into veggies. Sprinkle with parsley.

Julie's Pasta Salad ~ Julie M.
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
Salt & pepper to tast
1 - 160z whole grain or wheat pasta shells cooked and drained
1 small onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 cup sliced olives
1/2 lb bacon cooked and crumbled
2 cups cubed cheddar cheese

Mix dressing, sour cream, salt & pepper. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine all other ingredients. Mix in sauce and chill

Greek Barley Salad ~ Joy
1 3/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
pinch of salt
1 cup barley (pearled or hulled)

Bring to boil - reduce to simmer. Cook 30 minutes. Cool in refrigerator.

In food processor chop

2 cups (3 ounces) salad spinach
1 clove garlic
1 T fresh oregano (or 1 t dried oregano)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 t lemon zest
1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil

Stir into barley.

Add
1 medium cucumber chopped
4 oz feta cheese
1 large tomato diced

Top with more feta cheese. Serves 6

Corn Salad ~ JeriAnn

2 cans whole corn, drained
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 bag coarsely crushed chili-cheese corn chips

Mix first 5 ingredients and chill. Stir in corn chips just before serving.

Cafe Mocha Punch ~ Felicia
Scoop 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream into punch bowl. Pour 1 pint half and half or heavy cream and 1/2 cup chocolate syrup on top. Pour 1 full pot of hot coffee, brewed double strength on top of ice cream mixture. Ladle into cups and enjoy!

Oreo Dessert ~ Rhonda & Stephanie
1 pkg oreos (crushed) half on bottom rest on top
vanilla ice cream
hot fudge
8 oz cool whip

Put half of crushed oreos on bottom of 9x13 pan. Scoop desired amount of ice cream on top. Pour hot fudge over ice cream then spread cool whip. Place the rest of the oreos on top. Place in freezer.

Green Fluff ~ JeriAnn
1 pkg pistachio pudding mix
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple undrained
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 8oz container cool whip

Mix pudding and pineapple together. Add marshmallows. Gently fold in cool whip. Chill overnight.

I know there were a few more recipes that I did not get. If you wish to include your recipe, please give it to me!

Thanks to all who contributed.

The Pleasure of Purity

The weather was thought to be questionable with severe storms on the radar, but God held off the rain allowing just a gentle sprinkle. Otherwise, it was a beautiful night to have a picnic at the park with some GREAT food!

We started off by....eating...

eating...

and eating some more!

If you didn't know it, there are some great cooks at RHC! Thanks to everyone who contributed some yummy food. I will give the recipes on another post, so keep looking at this site for some great foods for summer.

After filling our tummies and enjoying some great fellowship, we discussed the next chapter in Feminine Appeal... The Pleasure of Purity. We began our talk by some sharing their love stories. There were some great stories. If you get the chance you should ask Joy about her canoe trip, Felicia about Jeff's dancing sister, and Julie M. about dancing Craig:) Honestly, it was great to hear how God brought couples together.

This chapter on purity is an extremely important chapter! The world, media, everyone but Christians seem to be willing to talk about sex. Just read the Bible and you will realize that God intended for sex as long as it is in marriage! Sex is 1. God's Idea (Genesis 2:21-25), 2. He fashioned it for Marriage (1 Corinthians 7:1-9), 3. It is intended for pleasure (Song of Songs 5), 4. He designed it for intimacy (Genesis 4:1), and 5. it was created for procreation (Genesis 1:27-28).

It is great to be married and once in love and married, it is easy to think that "I will never sin against my husband...I will never be unfaithful." The sin of lust is "no respecter of persons". We are told to "be careful that you do not fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12&13) We need to set our hearts on things above, make no provision of the flesh, and pursue accountability. It is easy to think that men struggle with lust, but women can also lust when watching shows they should not or reading books that allow the imagine to wander. We, just like our husbands, need to stay away from things that could cause us to fail and think about Godly things.

Finally, we need to always be ready for romance our husbands!!!!! Ladies, always strive to be attractive...in your husbands eyes and theirs alone! Be available! You are the only one in the world that can, under God, meet your husbands needs! It should please you as well. Be anticipatory...allow your thoughts to wander...ON YOUR HUSBAND! Flirt with him and find out what is the most meaningful thing to him.

Ladies, God has blessed us with a great gift to be used in marriage to please our husbands! Seek to honor Him in all that you do!

Our next gathering is Tuesday, July 6 at Abbie's house. We will be putting together care packages for our troops overseas. If you know of a soldier overseas, please let us know. Look for a list of needed items coming soon!

The Safety of Self Control

*Disclaimer: I am writing this a week plus since PEARLS. I do not like to do that and I know I will not do justice to all that took place and those who worked hard to prepare. If anyone has anything to add, please do so. It was a great time and I apologize for being so slow.


Felicia started our evening off by giving each of us words that we were to use in some form to describe ourselves (not necessarily in the order on the paper). These were words like angel food, cheese, devils food, upside down...yes these are all cakes, but we had to use them to describe ourselves. It was very interesting how each lady used her word(s). Megan's stuck out the most to me. She had tripped walking "up the side" walk causing her to fall down. That is my paraphrase, but it was a great use of her words.

Next, Felicia led us in a devotional on Self-Control. Yes, self-control. Something we all need, and probably all struggle with and will always struggle, but John 15:5 says, "Apart from me you can do nothing." Felicia reminded us of the Titus 2 passage, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." There are lots of different areas where we need self-control...going to bed at a reasonable hour, getting up on time, not eating too much, not eating the wrong things, not overspending at the mall, not overspending at the grocery store, keeping self from stomping around and slamming doors when angry, and the list goes on. In Feminine Appeal the topics were limited to eating, sleeping, thoughts, feelings, and meeting with God. We have to "Train ourselves to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7). Proverbs 25:20 says, "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." We have to practice self-control every day in every area of our life, but we do not have to do it alone! Carolyn Mahaney in Feminine Appeal says "self-control requires effort...however, it is not solely dependent on us". THANK GOD!!!!! We are reminded in 2 Peter 1:3-9 that we do have to make an effort, and with the help of God this is possible and we can be effective and productive for Christ. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Then we practiced self-control! I personally went the entire cake decorating time without licking my fingers! I think that is a first, but when we were finished I tasted the delicious icing that Heather made!


Heather did a great job sharing with us the skill of icing cakes. She gave us same great tips and we all got to practice them on our own "cakes". Here are a few of the tips...

1. Start with a big spoonful of icing in the center of the cake and push the icing over the sides and down until cake is covered.

2. Slide your icing knife around the cake in the same direction then smooth out the top.

3. When making the fancy icing use a seashell movement or "c" movement.

4. Most of the supplies you would need for cake decorating can be found at Walmart.


Heather did a great job of teaching and there were a lot more tips that she gave. I know I learned a lot and really enjoyed the time. Thanks, Heather.







Due to unforeseen circumstances, our June PEARLS will not be the Floral arrangements as listed in the bulletin. When new details become available, I will let you know. It will still be held June 1 at 6:30PM just the location and practical will be different, so you can still hold that date for PEARLS.

Service Project...church clean-up.

This month we decided to clean up the church basement...specifically the furnace room, children's church area, kitchen, and nursery. The first thing we did though was to divide into groups and pray for specific areas in the church. One group stood on the stage and prayed for the worship team. Another group set in the pews and prayed for the people who would fill them. A group went to the sound room and prayed for technical difficulties (or for a lack of). A group prayed in the foyer for the greeters and visitors. Another group prayed in the nursery for the little ones. A group prayed for the children in children's church. Ladies prayed in Pastor Jeff's office for him and the preaching of God's word. And a group prayed outside the church for our community. These areas all need lifted up in prayer on a regular basis. If you think of it...add them to your prayer list.

Then we got to cleaning! We through out 2 garbage bags full of stuff and sent a big pile to the thrift store. In a short amount of time there was a lot accomplished. Thanks to all who helped out.

The nursery was rearranged in hopes to make the space a little more welcoming and easy to use. Of course there were some yummy snacks to enjoy after the hard work!

I forgot to take before pictures, but the furnace room was pretty clean after.


I forgot to mention this at PEARLS and so I will bring it to the next meeting. Last July we put together care packages for the troops. This thank you was sent to Sue who organized that PEARLS. If you click on the picture you might be able to read it. If not, I will bring it in May. It was a very nice note and a good reminder that we need to pray for our troops and remember them in any way that we can.

Our next gathering is May 4 at Felicia's house. We will be studying chapter 4 in our book...Self-control and learning some cake decorating tips. Hope to see you there!

The Blessings of Loving My Children

Tuesday night we met at Karen's home for our monthly PEARLS gathering. It was like any other PEARLS night, but yet it was different as well. I definitely noticed a lot of chatting as everyone was coming in and excitement. The weather was sunny and nice, so I think spring is in the air!

Felicia began our evening with a "Match the Biblical parents with their children" quiz. There were definitely names that you were not sure of, and then there were the obvious ones...Joseph and Mary with Jesus!












Rhonda then led us in our devotional for the month of "The Blessings of Loving My Children". She began by reminding us of last month's lesson on loving our husbands and asked what we had done to show our husband that we love him. I don't remember them all, but one stands out...thanking him for the little things that he has done...taking out the trash, etc. Our husbands love to feel appreciated.





































Then on to children:) Rhonda stressed over and over that the most important thing you can give your children is the love of the Lord. Teach them His ways. Start when they are young and continue as they get older. Be an example to them by being in the word yourself and allowing them to see that. Raising children is not an easy task, but they are only little for such a short time. Enjoy them as the precious beings that God created and entrusted to our care.



2Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Older mothers might tell you that the time goes so quickly, enjoy it because it is only a stage in life. Mothers with young children think about sleeping again and children who listen and obey:) Women without children might think we are all crazy:) Your turn will come:)
Rhonda stressed to take every opportunity with your children to teach them God's love and to spend time with them so that they know you care. Other women shared advice as well. For the young moms...seek out those older women who have already experienced the raising of little ones. They have lots of wisdom and encouragement to give. For those who are not yet moms...remember those older women someday!

Next, Karen gave us some great tips for taking care of our skin. There are 5 steps to follow to help give you healthy skin...Cleanse, Purify, exfoliate, moisturize, protect (foundation). 3 of us, Heather, Kelli, and I got to experience a facial. I must admit that this is not my cup of tea...but when I got home almost 3 hours later I jokingly asked Hinnerk if he could tell which side of my face received the facial. He felt with his hands and couldn't tell, but then he kissed each cheek and correctly chose the correct side. Maybe there is something to this:) Thanks Karen for sharing your expertise in this area. If you have questions...ask Karen!

It was a fun evening complete with yummy desserts...thanks Kelli, Gail, Felicia, and anyone else I missed for bringing the great food.

Our next PEARLS is Tuesday, April 6 and will be a service project at the church. We will be cleaning out the furnace room, reorganizing the kitchen area, and cleaning the nursery. I will be sending out an email that has a list of needed items if you wish to donate something to those areas.

The Delight of Loving My Husband

Love is _
This was the question that Felicia started our evening off with on Tuesday night. How do you define love? Some of the answer were...
Love is...
a verb
blind


unconditional
patient
Love me tender (From Julie M. who shares the same b-day as Elvis!)

February is the month of love, but we did not purposely plan the devotional theme of the month. We just fell on chapter 2 of Feminine Appeal which is "The Delight of Loving My Husband".

Julie M. led us in the devotional about loving our husbands. She began by asking if we had any embarrassing moments when dating our husbands. If you weren't there, then I guess you missed out on the laughs.

We looked at Titus 2:4, "Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands..." The word love in this passage is actually phileo which is used to describe love between close friends. In Feminine Appeal it is described as "a tender, affectionate, passionate kind of love. It emphasizes enjoyment and respect in a relationship." Is this how we love our husbands?

Are we enjoying our husbands or are we busy serving our husbands? We need to Prize him, Cherish him, & Enjoy him. Think of some ways that you can do that today!











We then had the opportunity to learn Calligraphy which means "Beautiful writing" from a friend of Felicia's. Shelly lives in Belmont, and she & her husband work at a jewelry store in town. She has been doing calligraphy for over 30 years and does a great job. Probably the most important thing she taught was to hold your pencil/pen at a 45 degree angle to help get the thin and thick parts of the letters. She gave some other helpful hints like placing a lined sheet of paper and cardboard under the paper or envelope that you are writing on to keep the words straight and so that you don't tear the paper. She went around to each of us and looked over our writing and gave us some tips to make it easier. There were definitely those ladies who got it! Check out Meliza's handwork! Awesome!




































Pray for our birthday beauties of the month and encourage them in any way you can.
Amy M ~ Feb. 1
Sue K. ~ Feb. 12
Becka M. ~ Feb. 15
Bev H. ~ Feb. 17
JeriAnn ~ Feb. 21

Our next gathering will be Tuesday, March 2 hosted by Karen. We will be learning about skin care and "The Blessings of Loving my children."

Remember to let Felicia know who you are pairing up with for String of PEARLS! Don't miss a great opportunity to be a part of another woman's life!

Beauty Mark

Where did 2009 go? I have no idea, but I am excited about 2010 and our theme for this year, "Beauty Mark". We don't just casually pick themes. We seek out ideas, we laugh, we debate, and we pray! That is what led us to this year's theme. There are really 4 themes that you will hear about throughout the year, but all go back to Beauty Mark.
1. A Beauty Mark is usually defined as a dark mole on the face which is considered an attractive feature. Our ultimate Beauty Mark is described in 1 Peter 3:4, "Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." As Christians, our Beauty Mark is the gentle and quiet spirit.
2. Mirrors! How often do we look in mirrors? We are women, right? We look LOTS! This year we handed out compact mirrors with the 1 Peter scripture verse written on the mirror. The whole idea is that you see the God's word and not yourself! You see what He desires you to be...a gentle and quiet spirit.
3. Pink!!!!! We are women and we are beautiful in God's sight! Pink is definitely a girl color! We want to be excited that God made us women and He made us unique!
4. Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney! This is an AWESOME book! Mrs. Mahaney has broken down Titus 2:4 for all women to learn from! Titus 2 instructs older women to teach the younger women how to love their husbands & children, to be pure, self-controlled, kind, busy at home, and subject to their husbands! This is very applicable to all of us! Even if you are a "younger" woman, there are still younger women or girls under you! Share God's truth with them too!




Our afternoon did begin with Pastor Jeff giving us words of encouragement! This is one of the few times we allow a man to come amongst us during PEARLS...mainly I think because they don't want to be in a room full of women:) We are thankful that Jeff came and shared with us.

We also had to go around the room and share one quality trait that we each admired in a Godly woman. Words like, gracious, selfless, guarding of her tongue were all used plus many more.

The Birthday Beauties were honored with a great singing of "Happy Birthday". The Beauties this month were Leta, Julie M., Mary M., & Rhonda. Happy Birthday, Ladies! Pray for these women this month as they celebrate another year of life that God has given them!




It was a great time to be together, to cast the vision for 2010, eat yummy desserts, and to just catch up again! One thing that is slightly different this year is the String of PEARLS mentoring. In the past three years, we have come to realize that there is a need among our women for relationships that may be outside the older woman/younger woman...more like a friend to friend. Titus 2 clearly instructs older women teaching younger, but there are also many "one another commands" like encourage one another, pray for one another. Some of you need a friend...a listening ear. Others need a prayer partner or accountability partner. While some of you desire mentoring by an older woman. Whatever your need is, the PEARLS leadership team wants to see the women of this church actively involved in each others lives...teaching, training, equipping, encouraging, studying God's word, sewing, cooking, cleaning...growing in faith & obedience. So, this year the responsibility is on you. We want you to seek out that friend, peer, older woman to form a purposeful relationship with this year. We ask that you do three things 1. Use the Feminine Appeal book as your guide. You may choose to do a Bible study as well. 2. When you have committed to a woman, please let us know so we can keep you accountable and have the men of the church pray for you. 3. If you want a relationship, but are unsure who to ask, we are more than happy to help connect you with someone...just ask. Don't miss out on the blessings of being involved in each others lives!

If you really can't be involved in the String of PEARLS program then please, still pick up a Feminine Appeal book! This is an EXCELLENT book and will still guide you through biblical lessons in life. The book is $10.














Remember, ladies, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and GOD IS WATCHING YOU!








Our next gathering is Tuesday, February 2 at 6:30 PM at Rhonda's home! We will be studying "Loving our husbands" and learning how to do Calligraphy. Hope you all can make it!