We go downstairs to play Mexican train sometimes on Tuesday , so it isn’t fun to sit there with a stuffed tummy while trying to choose the right domino! Besides I’m taking down some of the lemon minis I made yesterday for us to snack on! So today since I didn’t want to go down feeling like a stuffed toad, I thought about how good soup would taste and then to make enough to last a couple of days, so After looking in the fridge, I found a bag of 3 cheese tortellini in the freezer and went to work!

Sautéed some Mild Italian Sausage with 1/2 onion, chopped, 2 stems of celery and 1/2 green bell pepper! Cooked until meat was done! Added a slice carrot, 1 can of petite diced tomatoes and 1 can of chicken broth! Added:

1-2 teas Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Sprinkled Lawrys Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked ravioli according to the directions for frozen ravioli in a separate pan and as soon as it was done, added the ravioli (after draining it) to the soup mixture!

Sliced some garlic herb French bread, buttered the bread and warmed it in oven! Spooned up the soup and sat down to a bowl of wonderful Italian ravioli soup with garlic bread!

Randy and I stopped for a Pink drink today (well he got a mocha Frappuccino because he can afford to do so. His cholestrol is 177 and mine is 310 but I’m not the least bit bitter even though we eat the same things) but as we drove off I began to regret that I had not ordered a slice of their lemon loaf! So as soon as we got home a couple hours later, I quickly got a lemon cake mix out and decided that I would make my own lemon cake! These little gems are so moist and so lemony that I could eat about a dozen. Good thing I used the large mini pan and had enough batter left to make a dozen regular size cupcakes. Because they are so moist and have so much flavor using the cheesecake instant pudding, it isn’t necessary to use a lot of frosting. Just a quick glaze is sufficient! These are so perfect to pop in your mouth as you sit and watch House Hunters or a Hallmark movie! You will never need to go to Starbucks for lemon loaf again! Well unless you don’t like to bake or just don’t want to wash baking dishes! Then head to your nearest Starbucks!

1 Duncan Hines Lemon Cake mix

1 small box of cheesecake instant pudding

4 eggs

1 cup water

1/2 cup veggie oil

Mix all ingredients together until well blended for about 2 minutes

Using a medium cookie scoop fill greased mini muffin baking pan (mine holds 24 minis) half full bake In preheated 350 degree oven for about 12-15 min depending on your oven. Do not over bake. Take them out just when top is soft and doesn’t look dry ! Cool and pour glaze over top or dip each mini in the glaze. I ended up nuking the glaze until it was thin enough to pour but found it easier to dip the tops of the minis instead of pouring it over them. I did the same with the 12 regular size cupcakes that I made with the left over better.

Glaze

2 tablespoons very soft butter (u can even melt it it that is easier)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teas vanilla or lemon extract

Water enough to make a thin consistency

Stir until no lumps remain and butter is complexity mixed in. Add extract of your choice. Dip each mini/cupcakes in glaze and slow to cook and glaze to set

For quite some time I have been searching for the perfect sour cream sauce to pour over chicken enchiladas! Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think this is what I have been searching for all my life! Ok maybe not all my life but for several years! Made this the other night and all I can tell you is this……it was amazing! We loved it and you would have thought our surname should be Cruz or Cortez, not Cox!!! We found it!! The best sour cream sauce and it was so simple! The picture below was our first chicken enchiladas that would make any Tex Mex restaurant proud! Found it on line but don’t remember the web site so forgive me whoever posted it for not acknowledging you!

I made 6 enchiladas with shredded chicken from Costco and sautéed 1/2 white onion in a little butter with some Lawrys seasoning salt! Put a little of the chicken, onion mixture and a sprinkle of the Mexican shredded cheese inside a corn tortilla that I had seared in hot oil 2-3 seconds on each side! Placed the enchilada in a greased pan and covered with the sour cream sauce and topped with sharp cheddar cheese. Baked in preheated 350 oven for about 25 min or until sauce bubbled and cheese was melted ! Ole’.

Make a roux with the flour and butter and then slowly add the chicken broth. Stir u til paste is smooth and add rests of ingredients. Stir until mixed.

Last couple of days Chuck Swindol has been teaching on KCBI about Jonah and his disregard for Gods instructions of going to Ninevah to proclaim Gods’ message! In this teaching, Pastor Swindol has shared that just like Jonah, all Christians sometimes get complacent in our obedience to God. Like Jonah, we think that we can hide from God when we don’t want to do what is ask of us! Our walk in faith becomes stagnant and we loose respect and fear of the Lord. Fear is not the same as being afraid of God! We are not to be afriad of Him, but just like parents want our kids to fear us enough to obey us, it is no different with God. Do we enter the church building with any thoughts to its holiness? Do we approach our quiet time with eagerness and desire to not only learn more of God but to have a heart of obedience that will strengthen our walk with him? Do we desire to fall in love with the Lord more each day? Today because the grocery store forgot to put in the 36 eggs I had ordered to be delivered yesterday I spent over 24 hours with no eggs, when I had planned to bake several things for needed people’s request and cookies for a birthday order! I know this sounds silly, but because I couldn’t leave to go to the store due of several reasons, I felt almost lost when I couldn’t bake! Made me a little mad that I didn’t have what I wanted or needed! As I thought about that, I began to wonder about how I felt when I skip a day of reading Gods Word! Do I miss that as much as I missed having eggs? Do I ever feel like I’m missing something important? Do I feel lost when I don’t take time to pray and talk to the person who is suppose to be my best friend, my Creator God and Savior? Or do I just go about my day with no regard to what I should have done to made it a priority? Like Jonah, I think that I can hide in activity or business. But God….He and only He can calm the stormy seas! He is always ready and willing to welcome us back when we try to run and hide!

Do we ask Him to give us more of a hunger for Him snd His Word? When God allowed Jonah to be in the belly of the whale for 3 days, Jonah came out with a new desire of obedience! It took a storm in his life to get his attention! Will God have to send a storm in my life to get mine?

1 Duncan Hines Carrot Cake Mix

4 large eggs at room temperature 

1 cup water 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 small package vanilla instant pudding

Mix all ingredients and beat for 2 min! Pour batter into greased Bundt pan and bake until cake test done!

This cake taste like Starbucks pumpkin pound cake!  Very moist!  I sprinkled powdered sugar over the top after turning it out onto a plate and completely cooled!   Store covered until ready to serve.   This cake is delicious served warm also with a par of butter as well! 

PS. I used two small Bundt pans and divided the better between them. Then Baked them for 25 min.   If using one large pan, will require longer baking times.  

Carrot Pound Cake

Miracle Peach Pie:
A few days ago Randy and I were driving on the tollway when The Peach Truck came up beside us and I remembered some of our kids (Cam & Mandy) always buying peaches from them!
So it got me in the mood for fresh peaches and will be making this pie in next few days.
It is one of the first recipes which I remember making as I entered into my late teen years. My Aunt Gladys, who was my biggest cheerleader, gave me a cookbook which now has old spills all through the pages. She showed me this recipe and it quickly became a favorite of our family.�

2 cups diced peeled fully ripe peaches�¼ cup sugar, 1 ¼ cups water�1 small pkg of Jello Vanilla Pudding (not instant)�¼ teas salt,1/8 teas nutmeg, 2 teas lemon juice, 1 tables butter, ¼ teas almond extract�1 baked 8 in pie shell, cooled.�Combine peaches, sugar and 1 cup of the water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Combine the pudding mix, salt, nutmeg, lemon juice and remaining ¼ cup water. Stir to form a smooth paste. Add to boiling fruit, stirring to blend. Then cook and stir until mixture comes to a full boil.�Remove from heat and add butter and almond extract. Cool 5 mins. Pour into baked pie shell. Let stand about 4 hrs or until firm. Serve with sweetened whipped cream and additional sweetened sliced peaches if desired

It’s been almost a year since Randy and I moved out of our house into an over 55 community and into an apartment! Would I have feelings of regret or disappointment of leaving a house with a garage and a pantry that held so many sets of dishes and pounds of flour and sugar? What would it be like living in a building where 200 others lived and would we fit in? So many questions and so many different expectations! There are still days when I do miss having a garage and a large pantry but there are things here that have made up for the things that I miss! We have a community of people that have been truly a gift to us! Just like last night, we had been gone most of the day doing pre op appt for randy and got home at 4:00. Randy fell asleep and I ran downstairs to find someone/anyone that could look in my eye to see if they could find my lost contact that had been a source of pain for the last 4-5 hours. As soon as I saw a friend and explained my situation, she took me by the hand and led me over to another friend, who happened to be a nurse years ago. She quickly saw the contact and gave me directions on how to flush it out! She also reminded me that she was going to be bringing me some cilantro that she grows before assuring me that she will run up if I need her! Well I got the contact out and before I knew it, our doorbell rang and it was another friend who had brought us dinner from downstairs. Every Thursday Avenida serves different foods for us and last night, they served egg rolls, chicken fried rice and sushi! She knew we had been gone all day and she thought it might be nice for me not to have to cook! So my dinner ingredients went in the fridge and we ate Chinese! We have had people leave cookies or candy at our doorstep when we open the door to leave and find little thought gifts from time to time! This place has been a gift from God to us as it is just so nice to sit out on our patio and have people walk by downstairs and look up and talk to us! We never have to feel lonely as there is hardly a day that goes by that we don’t see friends to talk to just walking down the hall or downstairs as we come and go! That would not happen if we were still in a house. Because Randy is in a season of not being able to go like we use to we were feeling isolated in our house so many times. But here….we are a community of people who look out and care for one another! We no longer have a garage or a huge pantry but we have so much more! It is refreshing to just look out our windows and see all the blessings God has poured out to us! And I don’t miss the garage or pantry near as much!!! When I do, I open our door and walk downstairs and then remember what all God has given us.

Prayer of Jabez:

Oh Lord that you would bless me indeed that You would enlarge my territory, may Your Hand be with me and You would keep me from evil that I would not cause pain! and God granted His Request!

1 Chronicles 4:10

Randy and I have closed our devotions almost every single day for years with this scripture , and yes, God continues to have his hand over us as we begin another new season, which was out of our comfort zone, as He continues to expand our territory!

Our church has been having a senior revival this week with Henry Blackabys son Richard, preaching! Yesterday he focused on Genesis 12 when God spoke to Abraham at the age of 75! Genesis 12 is the chapter that tells of Abram being called by God to leave his family and home and go! Abraham wasn’t told where but just to go and God would lead him where he was suppose to go. Abraham just had to trust God and be obedient to leave everything familiar to him! Well, he was obedient to go but he stopped short of the destination when he became fearful during a time of famine and went to Egypt! But there things began to unravel! Abraham lost his faith in God to protect him and his wife! In fact, Abraham had his wife lie and say she was his sister so the Egyptians wouldn’t kill him so they could have her, as she told them she was jsut his sister!In other words, Abraham made his wife a liar and allowed her to be taken in Pharoahs harem just so he would safe. What happened to Abrams faith in God! Did he think God could keep him safe just part of the time, not all the time? Was he thinking that once he got to where he was originally being led, that he could go back to trusting God but that until then God could not be trusted? What led Abram to think God would not protect and provide for he and his wife? Before we cast judgement on him, let’s stop and think of the times when we have done the same thing. We trust God to show us where to move, what house to buy, what school to attend, who to marry, but sometimes when we don’t like the answers He gives, we decide we know what is best! Mr Blackaby shares that first, we have to allow God to work in us before He can work thru us! Because Abram needed time to become the man that God wanted him to be before he had Issac, it was 25 years before God gave Issac to Sarah and Abraham! What if They had had Issac when Abram was still the man that allowed his wife to be taken into Pharoahs haram and told her to lie because he was afraid. Was this the type of person God wanted to father a son? It wasn’t until Abraham grew in his faith, trust and obedience, that God blessed them with the promised child. What is God withholding from my life and yours because of any disobedience or immature faith that He is trying to grow in us? Not only is He wanting our trust, but our obedience. Maybe this is why we keep getting a “no” or “wait” before some of our prayers are not bringing the results God wants to give us? Is there something in my life that I need to let go of before He can move me forward?

“Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!”

Soon after moving to Dallas and marrying Randy I use to read a column in the Dallas Morning News that was so entertaining! One day I happened to see this article they gave a recipe for pecan pie and I quickly cut it out! That was about 25 plus years ago and last night i happened to go thru some old recipes I had saved in a folder! This recipe was a little different from my old stand by pecan pie recipe so I decided right then to make it first thing g this morning! We were having friends over for dinner this would make the perfect ending to a fried chicken dinner! It uses just brown sugar instead of granulated and brown combination! It turned out wonderful I only had light brown sugar so used that not the dark brown sugar!

Avenida had a tea for the ladies a couple weeks ago and one of the ladies ask the group what were some of the things we rememebered from years past. Someone mentioned that they always had just plain sliced bread on the table at every meal, to which we all agreed that our homes had the same. Fast forward to today and when I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner, I remembered how good sliced bread always tasted with gravy! So tonight we relieved days gone by with fried chicken baked with gravy, rice and sliced bread with gravy, fried okra and a fresh tomato just because it made the plate look pretty! They didn’t have much flavor but added color to the southern meal! We both enjoyed the familiar flavor of just good ole sliced bread with gravy! Brought back so many memories….one of which was my mom always saying “Trudy K no more, you have already had 3 slices! You don’t need anymore!” And that is maybe why one of my nicknames was Ms Pleasingly Plump!