Understanding Basic Math Would be Helpful . . .

Last-Minute Baking Suggestions

The clock is definitely ticking down to Christmas. It really seems to sneak up on a person the last week when you realize that you do NOT have another week to shop, you do NOT have another week to buy groceries, and you do NOT have some great Christmas cookies stocked away in the cupboards and freezer. There is also the concern for people who have to avoid gluten. It wasn’t stated in my marriage vows, but after thirty-plus years of marriage, I seem to have acquired a husband who is very sensitive to gluten.

Around Christmas time, Christmas cookies  would make life sad for my husband until I discovered ‘flour’ blends that can turn out rather great cookies and still be safe for him to eat.

My latest discovery is Pamela’s All Purpose Flour, Gluten-Free Artisan Blend, Non-Dairy. It doesn’t work well for yeast-raised goodies but some people think it makes better cookies than wheat flour. It is pretty much cup to cup for measurements so you can use some of your old favorites still. I found the best deal on Amazon.com.

BetterBatter is a standby in my cupboard for making quick biscuits, egg noodles, tortillas and such. Their computer site has a lot of recipes to cover just about any need you have for baking during the holiday and throughout the year. Sometimes, the best deal is on Amazon and other times directly from BetterBatter.

King Arthur’s Flour is almost the same as Pamela’s and BetterBatter but, probably best for cookies and cakes. They, too, offer recipes for the asking  and just surfing for a particular recipe on the internet with their name in the search will bring up a lot of recipes from individuals, too. Just make sure to read the ratings for hints to avoid disasters.

Before my husband had to omit gluten from his diet, my specialty was bread and most any yeast-raised recipe. Although I have managed to produce some reasonable outcomes, to date, nothing was exactly what I wanted. I just discovered Steve’s Gluten-Free Bread flour blend by Authentic Foods. The first baguette turned out amazingly well with a crust and a ‘bread interior’ that was springy and didn’t ‘melt’ down exposing it’s gluten-free origins. I purchased 25 pounds and bread baking is back in my schedule. It looks, acts, and tastes like the real deal.

Antics in the Pews . . .

Some people rejoiced in the ‘freedom’ Vatican II gave us in how we worship at Church. Most people don’t seem to realize that Rubrics are still important and many have been abandoned or added to by Catholics who either aren’t aware of the Rubrics or chose to worship ‘like everyone else’ or their own way. Freedom was claimed but a lot of the ‘universality’ of the church went by the wayside.  Yes, we are still one, holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church but every Church seems to be adding some tweaks aka unnecessary distractions.

One is preparing themselves to receive Holy Communion. The whole Mass has been preparing for this moment and you don’t want anything in your heart and mind but the fact that in minutes you will receive our Lord. Then a sort of chaos strikes when the Our Father is started and there is an instant break in the God-person moment as everyone struggles to insure that everyone has a hand to hold. It isn’t in the Rubrics so could be considered an illicit gesture. Suddenly we go from God as the center of our attention to a group of happy hand holders. We are reaching for each other rather then concentrating on our connection with God.

Then we go almost immediately into the Sign of Peace/Lamb of God combo. It is like everyone has a ‘spiritual dance card’ they have to fill out with as many shaken hands as they can reach. And, if they can’t reach enough people, they travel and if they can’t scamper across the aisle or climb over a pew, they flash the peace sign, wave, and blow kisses. I call it the Sign of Peace/Lamb of God combo because there just isn’t enough time for some of these greetings and I’ve often experienced people poking me in the back mid-Lamb of God to get in one, final handshake to mark on their dance card.

The Rubrics are also pretty clear on prayer positions and there are some that are supposed to be done only by the priest. More and more people have taken to raising up their hands when the priest does, sort of a ‘Father is waving at me, I’ll raise up my hands in reply’.

Hardly anyone does a complete genuflection coming into the church or leaving after Mass. We are supposed to do so coming in and leaving with a profound bow the rest of the time when we go past the altar.

No mention in the Rubrics about grinning Eucharistic ministers, however.

 

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Solving Problems, One Fool at a Time!

Christmas Panic Setting In . . . You Still Have a Little Over a Week!

For some reason, Christmas crept quietly into view after being a speck on the horizon for months. Suddenly, shopping needed doing, Thanksgiving took out a chunk of time and the supply of Christmas cookies tucked away for snacking and unexpected guests wasn’t in existence.

I posted a help for the Christmas baking, last year, called Christmas Cookies – The Twelve Days of Christmas in Three. In the post I outlined a time table for actually having a nice supply of goodies on hand without too much kitchen-time trauma on your part. I even used recipes that could be used with gluten-free flours. So, if you want to get your home smelling like Christmas, you can look it up and be elected Mom of the Season for 2017!

I got a day of baking done yesterday. With only one of my three children still at home, my list was shorter this year. Too bad for the other three offspring. I don’t mail cookies! You want cookies, you come home. Anyway, my list this year was:

Peanut Butter Cookies. I like to add a touch of orange extract in with the vanilla in my recipe.

Lebkuchen Bars. This is a German cookie recipe that I developed to match what I remember from my mother’s baking and treats sent to us for Christmas. I soak the chopped, dried fruit in the refrigerator in brandy for three months before Christmas.

Cinnamon Cookies. This was a new recipe I tried this year. It is a crispy drop cookies with cinnamon in the dough and rolled in more cinnamon before baking. Tastes like a dainty version of a Snickerdoodle cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are big, fat chewy versions with an overabundance of chocolate chips . . . as that were possible.

Cinnamon Sour Cream Twists. These are the decadent ones. The dough is enriched with a good amount of sour cream and eggs. The dough isn’t sweetened because it is rolled out in a cinnamon/sugar mixture, folded over, more sugar until you can see layers. One, more rolling and folding and you cut strips which you  twist a bit when you bake them. I always use parchment paper for baking but with the amount of sugar and fat in this cookie, it is a must that will save you a lot of clean up.

Russian Tea Cake. Cookies also known as Snowball Cookies, Mexican Tea Cakes, and probably a lot of other names I haven’t heard of yet. I always use walnuts in these along with some orange zest.

Amish Sugar Cookies. Now, these are a favorite as they are delicate yet don’t crumble. There is oil and butter in this recipe so not exactly dietetic.

Just a Current Time Table . . . Trump Ahead!

In 8 years, the best Obama could do was give the whole Middle East over to ISIS.

In just 11 months, Donald Trump utterly crushed them.

Imagine how many lives Obama lost over those years and how many Trump just saved.

(From the Conservative Byte)

The Catholic World Today . . .