So yesterday I made fried, mashed potatoes, gravy and black eyed peas for dinner and I made enough extra potatoes that I had enough for a shepard's pie today. I wanted gravy yesterday and when you fry chicken in oil you don't really have any drippings so I was looking for a way to make a great gravy without them and I found it! You can just use a can of broth and a couple teaspoons of bouillon and then put in 2/3 c. of baking mix, put them in the blender to mix them up and then simmer for just a couple minutes. It was awesome! It got thick so nicely, great flavor and no fighting lumps! Now I have used flour and cornstarch but I NEVER thought of using baking mix. Don't know why, I just didn't. Used the same recipe today for the shepard's pie other than instead of a can of broth I mixed water with the pan drippings. Seems no matter how long you have been cooking you always can learn something new!
All my kids were home last night which was obvious when I got up this morning and felt like Old Mother Hubbard (my cupboards were bare). Katy said she was telling someone at work that when they were out of food it was time to go and visit Mom. ::laughing:: You have to know -- they HAVE food -- it just isn't pre-cooked and ready to eat! Seems like I always have leftovers around, except for a morning after they all come home. I was grateful there were enough potatoes left for the shepard's pie!
My new half semester's classes start tomorrow night. I am all ready for them and praying they are as good as the last half a semester. It seems they either go very well or I have a bunch of "problem children", students who have never sat in front of a computer before and have difficulty with the fast pace of the class. One or two students per class like that aren't bad but when you get several it is extremely hard to give them the attention and help they need because it is an accelerated class and I have a certain amount of information I need to cover in 7.5 weeks. Then it gets a little frustrating for all of us.
On to the thinking part -- kind of an offshoot of the blessing thought Sometimes when people don't think they are blessed I wonder if some of it has to do with not being content, with always wanting MORE. To truly be content doesn't mean you have to get everything you want, it simply means you need to realize how much you already have. Today's society tends to be so materialistic. No matter how much we have it seems we always want more, or want what someone else has.
In reality, the more we have, the more we have to do to keep it and to take care of it, and the more we want. For example, we want a bigger house, then we need more furniture, more flowers for the yard, more knick knacks to display and on and on. Not that there is anything the matter with owning nice things, it is when owning them and gathering more of them becomes the focus of our lives it is when material items become our "god" and our focus is in entirely the wrong place. I also believe that too much wealth and too many material possessions can tempt a person to believe our own abilities made it possible rather than God's blessing and grace.
My mother lived with us for years and when she passed away about 2 1/2 years ago and I had to go through her "stuff" I realized that much of it was just JUNK. It was then and there that I decided my kids weren't going to have to weed through years of useless collecting on my part and started throwing things out. Believe you me, I have a LONG way to go -- in part because I love some of my junk. ::laughing:: But I have made great steps and continue to keep working at it, one room, one drawer, one closet, one day at a time. I have also started something else, when I want to buy a new clothing item or anything else new, I ask myself what I am willing to throw away to bring this item into the house. It makes me look twice at whether I really want it or have a use for it.
Hebrews 15:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
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