Cloth Diapering
See, I’m not the only looney one out there who loves cloth diapering! I just could never put it as eloquently as she does!
Category: Family
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Archive for » April, 2007 «
Italian Recipes
As promised, here are a couple of the recipes I used for our Italian meal last night.
I don’t think I have craved anything as much during my pregnancies as I have this salad and simple dressing.
Italian Salad:
- Mixed Baby Greens, White Raisens and Toasted Pine nuts
Lemon Dressing:
- 2 Tbs Lemon juice (fresh if possible–about 1-1/2 to 2 lemons)
- 3 Tbs Olive oil
Mix the lemon juice and olive oil and pour over salad immediately before serving. Toss the salad well. And add salt to taste.
Gretencord Variation:
I still use the Mixed Greens salad, but when I don’t have the raisens or nuts on hand, just mix in whatever salad veggies you like. I’ve recently taken a liking to topping my salads with Feta cheese…yum. If you have a Good Seasons Cruet, fill with lemon juice upto the “V” marking, then water upto the “W”, and olive oil to the “O”. This make about twice the amount. I like making this dressing in the cruet because I have plenty left over and everyone can pour as much as they like in their own salads.
Tiramisu
This turned out to be a truly Gretencord variation. I combine what I liked out of two different recipes I found. Note that I went easy on the coffee and liquer because of my pregnancy.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb (16 oz) Mascarpone Cheese
- 1- 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
- 2 tbs Brandy (Or substitute Brandy and Vanilla for 1/4 cup Marsala Wine)
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2/3 to 1 cup Strong Coffee
- 30 lady fingers or (Family Size of Sarah Lee Pound Cake–found in frozen food section. I used the pound cake as the grocery store was out of lady fingers. It makes the tiramisu a bit denser.)
- 1 tbs cocoa or grated chocolate
Cream together the Mascarpone cheese and 3/4 cup sugar. Add whipping cream, brandy and vanilla. Set aside.
For the strong coffee I used 4 tsp coffee with 1 cup of water in the coffee machine. If you have instant coffee or expresso, you can use that as well. In a sauce pan heat coffee and 1/2 cup sugar until boiling. Set aside and cool.
In a large dish (about 2 inches deep) place one layer of lady fingers (or pound cake cut up in strips) to cover the bottom of the dish. Brush with half of the coffee syrup. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top. Repeat with remaining lady fingers, syrup and cheese. Sift cocoa over the top cream mixture. Refridgerate for at least 4 hours.
Category: Recipes
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Happy Italian Feasts!
Happy feast of St. Gianna Beretta Molla today! If it weren’t Sunday, tomorrow you’d find the feast of St. Catherine of Sienna on the calendar. They are both on our list of favorite saints and daily intercessors. St. Catherine is my confirmation saint; which by the way, I celebrated the 8th anniversary of my confirmation on the 19th of this month.
So we are we doing to celebrate? Yesterday, we finished watching St. Rita de Cascia. (We’ll review it soon….5 stars!) We went to Mass this morning. I transplanted my basil plants to the garden and Adam did a lot of husbandly hard work around the house and a yard. And we’ll probably watch our video of St. Gianna tonight.
I’m cooking up some Italian cuisine for dinner tonight. On the menu we have homemade lasagna, with salad (no, not from the garden yet) with my favorite homemade lemon dressing, and for dessert homemade Tiramasu! I’ll post recipes tomorrow.
Category: Faith, Family
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Texas House Bill 3474
The Most Rev. Bishop Gregory Aymond of the Diocese of Austin gave testimony on Advanced Directives at the committee hearing for Texas House Bill 3474 last night on behalf of all the bishops of Texas. You can read the written version of his testimony here.
He gave a very clear message of the Catholic Church’s position on end-of-life issues. God Bless our bishop!
Category: Faith
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Mixed Messages
About the only thing I usually lose sleep over is my sick children or those needing a pair of socks at 3 a.m. But this week I did lose sleep over an event in our diocese.
Catholic Chartities of Central Texas of the Diocese of Austin had a fund raising luncheon yesterday. Our bishop was the keynote speaker and actually sits on the board of directors of Catholic Charities. I heard an ad on Relevant Radio the other day advertising the event and the honorary event chair, Kristen Armstrong, was used in the ad very much to sell the event to the public. Consequently the event sold out.
What made me lose sleep is the scandal this event creates to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. If you’re not familiar with Ms. Armstrong, she is the ex-wife of cyclist Lance Armstrong. Their three children were conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Ms. Armstrong’s self-proclaimed use of and supportive position on the issue of IVF is not consistent with Catholic moral teaching. She continues to be associated with an organization called Fertile Hope that promotes banking sperm, using donor sperm, freezing embryos, and surgical implantation of embryos (including IVF) for later use by cancer patients.
I rejoice that Ms. Armstrong has returned to the Catholic Church. However, as a dissenting Catholic in the public eye, I believe her high profile participation in events supported financially by the diocese sends the wrong message to Catholics. There are so many couples who struggle with infertility and many who are either ignorant of or reject the Church’s teaching on sexuality and gift of fertility. It creates confusion whenever a publically dissenting Catholic, however well intentioned, becomes the focus of Church supported events.
I pray that she comes to understand and embrace the fullness of the Church’s teachings as I believe in her position she has the potental to do a great good for the Church. I also pray that the diocese and those in positions of leadership will be infused with wisdom and trust in God to make prudent choices in who represents our Church publicly in the future.
Category: Faith
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God our Loving Father
One of the most challenging things about parenthood for me is caring for a sick child. It’s so challenging because I’m a worry wart, and I don’t want my children to suffer. Fulton has fallen ill since yesterday. He’s running a fever and just not his usually smiley cheerful bright eyes. Although he does sweetly let me hold him for long periods of time instead of running off to get into mischief!
It’s during these challenging times that I learn more about God our loving Father and how much He cares for us even when we’re too ill spiritually or physically to realized He is cradling us in His arms. I learn that He appreciates when we take our sweet “spritual medicine” (reconcilation) knowing that He gives it to us to make us better…rather than fighting Him and making more of mess of our lives. I learn to depend on Him to heal my babies just as my babies look to me to make everything better. I learn that sometimes the medicine works faster when we just let Him hold us and love us as a father (and mother) should. And I learn how much joy it gives Him when His other children pray for those that are ill as I saw Therese kneeling in Fulton’s room praying, “Dear Jesus, please help Fulton feel better so we can go to the park.”
Category: Faith, Family
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Garden Netting
Adam spotted another tomato starting on one of our plants a couple of days ago. This of course means we needed to do something to stop our little furry friends from eating it. So our first and hopefully only course of action is a garden net. Adam can also use the net with his grapes when they become large enough to attract our kids–I mean the birds.
So we wrapped our garden “snuggly” with this net. I’ll post a picture soon. Let’s hope this is enough of a deterant.
Category: Garden
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Engaged Couples Ministry
Since last summer, Adam and I have been giving a Basic Information Session in Natural Family Planning (NFP) to engaged couples. We have been blessed to be able to do this ministry together for the NFP Center where I work parttime as the Program Director — and we are eternally grateful to our good friend Alexis who graciously watches the kids on these evenings. Our talk includes a history of NFP, the anatomy and physiology behind it, the Theology of the Body, and how using NFP has blessed our marriage.
Last night we had our largest class ever. Twenty-six couples (52 people) attended our session! Wow, I was slightly overwhelmed with the large audience. In a large crowd I feel we lose a little bit of the intimacy. But apparently God thinks we have something useful to say as our classes have been getting larger and larger. And the Holy Spirit is working in us and these couples as we have seen several express interest in signing up for classes after our presentation. A deacon that attended our talk last September with one of his married couples even asked me yesterday if we’d be willing to travel to his parish in Kyle to give the talk twice a year for his marriage preparation program.
I feel very blessed to share my very spiritual and loving husband with these couples that they see such a devout man not afraid to share his faith or live it. And I hope they see the joy we have in our marriage in living out the Church’s teaching.
So I want to humbly ask for your prayers. I ask that you pray that God will enlighten these couples with His truth; just as the scales fell from St. Paul’s eyes when he was converted, may the scales of secularism and the culture of death fall from their eyes. And pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work through us and them to encourage holy sacramental marriages.
Category: Faith
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Novena Prayer of St. Gianna Beretta Molla
April 19-27
God, our Father, you have granted to your church the gift of Gianna Beretta Molla. In her youth she loveingly sought you and drew other people to you, involving them, through apostolic witness and Catholic Action, in the care of the sick and aged, to help and comfort them. We thank you for the gift of this young woman, so deeply committed to you.
Through her example, grant us the grace to consecrate our life to your service, for the joy of our brothers and sisters. May we become generous Christians at the service of our brothers and sisters, especially those with whom you design to share your Cross. We beg you to grant to our families the serene and Christian presence of mothers committed to transform them into cenacles of faith and love, rich with generous activity and sanctifying service.
Grant us the grace we seek… and the joy to find an inspiration in Saint Gianna who, as model spouse and mother, after the example of Christ, gave up her life for the life of others.
We offer this Novena for the sanctity of all life and for the intentions of all those who are praying with us.
Glory Be…
Hail Mary…
Category: Faith
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Good Idea
Therese: Mom, I have a good idea.
Me: What’s that?
Therese: Jesus is my friend.
Category: Faith, Family
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