July 2007 – Page 2 – The Welcome Home

great recipes and more

My chef brother called this morning… lots of great ideas and encouragement here in my kitchen. He was interested in hearing about my visit to the doc a couple of weeks ago and was concerned that maybe I was dealing with not so much a high level of uric acid (which I don’t have) but too much acid or, rather, acidic blood rather than alkaline blood.

And so… after telling him all about my talks with “my herbalist” and what I was attempting to do… he said… see? this conversation isn’t just a coincidence! I know that the LORD uses many things in my life that are co-incidences — times where the vertical meets this horizontal and speaks to me about whatever’s going on. I told him that, too. God meets us where we’re at—the vertical meeting the horizontal for the purpose of the horizontal becoming vertical. Well, that spiritual analogy breaks down, I suppose, but I was sure thankful to the LORD for His tender mercy and lovingkindness… it’s just what I needed right about now.

And so some of those recipes? Well… he shared a site with me and then began to read some of the recipe names and described them to me. I’m glad I didn’t suffer any dietary setbacks from the recipes and foods he was describing to me. You can talk all day long about making turtles or making appetizers… but I’m totally gone after a bite. So, for now, I need to stick to just browsing the site: recipes-from-friends.com. When he recommends a site, I know it’s a good one… cooks usually know the best sites.

Then, another friend called me this morning with some recommendations… and I’ll have to do some browsing to see what might be most helpful here in our home. This one’s the Beeyoutiful site… articles, supplements and essential oils. The other site I was looking at was Doc Shillington’s site: Academy of Natural Healing. So many things to read. I had previously searched the site and receive email updates — lots of great ideas and crazy names. So… lots to see today!

the triple seven wedding

When I don’t blog for a bit, you can pretty much guess that I am: a) out of the country, b) on a cruise, c) shopping at Nordstrom, d) sunning at the beach or e) catering a wedding. Well… I will surprise you: this time it was not A-D. ~wink~

So, the day of the wedding we’d been planning for finally arrived — and what an honour it was to be asked to cater the reception. This wedding was for our daughter-in-law’s sister. It was important to me to be as careful as I could be in the selection of foods, preparation, presentation and service. I suppose it always is, but somehow, I was overly concerned for this wedding as it meant so much to so many I love. Well, it was a very lovely and though there were some tense moments (would the roasts be done on time? would the chicken be cooked through and yet tender – would everyone like it? would there be plenty for everyone and yet not too much overage?), but there were no problems, no glitches… so, all in all, the wedding went off without a hitch – well, except one… Dave and Tatijana got hitched. ~smile~

They’ve been planning this wedding for nearly a year… just so they could have the triple seven wedding date. Many in our area did so! In fact at the Belle Chapel in Snohomish, the first wedding on 07-07-07 was held at midnight! Wow… isn’t that amazing!!?? The wedding we catered was at the Rose Crest Farm in Snohomish – and whew! it wasn’t held at midnight!! What a blessing to have had the whole day to prep and cook for the 7pm wedding reception. Now, that’s not to say we weren’t totally scrambling at the end – right before “showtime,” but it’s always like that… it’s sort of a hurry up and wait and then scramble! I’m ever grateful to Wes for his expertise and to the children for not only their help but enthusiasm to serve. I’ll share a few pics – the very few I have, and a couple of recipes. You’ll think the recipe for the chicken is really strange – but it was tasty! I would never have made it had the mother of the bride not chosen it… you’ll see from the ingredients… a very strange combination.

777wes 777pamela

Chicken Marabella

9 lb Chicken (we used chickenbreasts cut in half)
1 Garlic; entire head peeled and minced (we used 3 tablespoons)
1/4 Cup Oregano; dried
Salt and pepper; to taste
1/2 Cup Red wine vinegar
1/2 Cup Olive oil
1 Cup Prunes; pitted
1/2 Cup Spanish olives
1/2 Cup Capers
6 Bay leaves

1 c Brown sugar
1 c White wine
1/4 c Parsley; finely chopped – for garnish

1. In large bowl combine all the ingredients EXCEPT brown sugar, wine and parsley. Cover and let marinate in the fridge overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange chicken in single layer in shallow baking pans. Spoon marinade over chicken. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar. Pour white wine over chicken. Bake for 50 min to 1 hour at 350º –basting frequently with pan juices. Serve with rice (or, as we did: with garlic mashed potatoes). Sprinkle with parsley.

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For the garlic mashed potatoes, I boiled the 50 pounds (washed and quartered) baby red potatoes in the 22 quart pot and the roaster until the potatoes were just fork tender and poured off the salted water… wow… this was very hot and very heavy! Then I divided them into the 4 extra deep chafing pans; and for each pan I poured over the potatoes 2 cups butter, 2 cups cream, 2 cups sour cream and 1/4 cup minced garlic and 2 tablespoons of salt and white pepper – about a teaspoon or two and then lightly mashed them while mixing in the butter and creams. Topped with a bit of fresh parsley, they were delicious.

my bookends…

Here are the bookends to my own motherhood… our oldest and our youngest… their birthday’s are twenty two years and a day apart. God’s been so good, so faithful and so true… every day of these 28 years of motherhood… He has never failed. Never.

danielamelia

So it is with great joy and great gratitude and humble amazement that I celebrate the births of my oldest and youngest babies — and I do celebrate them — for so many reasons, so many sweet memories, so many blessings. God is only good. All the time.

He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
and to be a joyful mother of children.
Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 113.9