On the menu tonight

For Gabriel's birthday dinner...tonight because last night it didn't work out with everyone's schedules.

Gabriel's favorites...

• Chicken Fajita Nachos, everything in a fajita (chicken, onions, peppers, spices) on top of nacho chips with cheese sauce
• Cream puffs, with the best vanilla custard and homemade whipped cream

We were able to pull the dinner off as a surprise party, with all of Gabriel's friends here.  He said he was genuinely surprised.  Above is a pic of the creme puffs that we made!!

Happy Birthday Gabriel

Recipes of the week

New recipes, they are both "keepers"!!

Beef Daube Provencal (from Cooking Light magazine)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt & pepper
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
• 1 teaspoon thyme and rosemary 
• 1 bay leaf

Preparation

1. Heat oil and beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until beef is browned.  Place browned beef mixture in a 6-quart electric slow cooker.  Add all ingredients and cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender.
2. Combine water and cornstarch to thicken if desired. Serve with egg noodles!  Enjoy!

German Apple Cake (from Penzeys Spice catalog)

Ingredients

• 4 large apples, peeled and diced 
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) 

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour 9x13 pan.  
2. In mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.  In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Mix dry ingredients into wet ones.  Finally add the apples and nuts.  The batter will be thick.  
3. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.   Enjoy!

	Love People, cook them tasty food!!

Five Finger Prayer

 

1. The thumb is the closest finger to you. So start praying for those who are closest to you. They are the persons easiest to remember. To pray for our dear ones is a “sweet obligation.”

2. The next finger is the index. Pray for those who teach you, instruct you and heal you. They need the support and wisdom to show direction to others. Always keep them in your prayers.

3. The following finger is the tallest. It reminds us of our leaders, the governors and those who have authority. They need God’s guidance.

4. The fourth finger is the ring finger. Even that it may surprise you, it is our weakest finger. It should remind us to pray for the weakest, the sick or those plagued by problems. They need your prayers.

5. And finally we have our smallest finger, the smallest of all. Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. When you are done praying for the other four groups, you will be able to see your own needs but in the proper perspective, and also you will be able to pray for your own needs in a better way.

A flurry of activities

In no particular order....

Rowing season underway.  New head coach has arrived, I have yet to meet him, but the boys are impressed with his credentials and are excited for a new opportunity.

Auditions today for "Emma", Anna will do her best at an English accent and be thinking Jane Austen thoughts.   2nd week of football games, the team won (51-14) and Anna didn't drop her flag during color guard and the halftime show (which is really more important than the game).

Marian officially changed from trumpet to clarinet, and is much happier as she can actually play the clarinet.  We think it might have been the braces preventing her from making a good trumpet sound.

Bogdan and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary over the weekend, sometime I will post a picture.  We were at a banquet for a Knights of Columbus function so we were actually both dressed up for the occasion.

We had some out of town guests for the weekend.  Our good friends, Cynthia and Mark Koenig came in from New Mexico.  They had a work-related conference in Atlanta, so they dropped off their son Luc and he stayed with us as they went on to their conference.  He was in xBox, minecraft and general boy nirvana all weekend.

Everyone off to school and the NM contingent back on the long road to the Southwestern US.   Another busy week ahead of us, par for the course (as the saying goes...).