Posted in Training for Triumph E Newsletters
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Training for Triumph E-Newsletter Issue 002 Table of Contents: *Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) materials now available from TFT 2. Spotlight on One of Our Products *Helps for Homeschool Moms Tape Series 3. Frequently Asked Question(s) About WBLA/CQLA *Are we really supposed to do all of this in one week? *Can I really drop my other language arts programs when using WBLA/CQLA? 4. Tips for Homeschool Moms *Organizational Strategies for the Busy Homeschool Family—chores, efficiency, and more! 5. Book Review Just for You *Make a Mix Cookery (review for Mom!) 6. In the Kitchen *Apple recipes we love! 7. Get Connected: Internet Site Review *E-Sword Online Bible study and Bible reference materials free of charge 8. Article from Training for Triumph * “How to Teach Speech and Debate in the Homeschool” *************************************************************************************************************** 1. Training for Triumph Events and Announcements *Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) materials now available from TFT Character Quality Materials from IBLP and TFT Life of Adoniram Judson Biography $15.00 George Mueller of Character Booklet 1-Attentiveness $4.00 Character Booklet 2---Obedience $4.00 Character Booklet 3---Gratefulness $4.00 Character Booklet 4---Truthfulness $4.00 Character Booklet 5---Orderliness $4.00 Character Booklet 6---Diligence $4.00 Heroes of Faith 1- Adoniram Judson $4.00 Heroes of Faith 2-Joseph Heroes of Faith 3-Gladys Aylward $4.00 Heroes of Faith 4-John Heroes of Faith 5-D. L. Moody $4.00 Heroes of Faith 6- Oswald Chambers $4.00 Heroes of Faith 7-Susanna Wesley $4.00 Heroes of Faith 8-Fanny Character Sketches Set $105.00 Character Sketches I $39.00 Character Sketches II $39.00 Character Sketches III $39.00 Character Sketch I Coloring Book $4.00 Character Sketch II Coloring Book $4.00 Character Sketch III Coloring Book $4.00 Women of Wisdom Coloring Book $4.50 Creation Corner Coloring Book $4.50 Wedding Covenant $.50 Power for True Success $25.00 Sovereign in the Affairs of Man (historical devotional) $7.00 Eagle Story $8.00 Pineapple Story Book $6.00 Pineapple Story Cassette Tapes $29.00 Helps for Homeschool Moms 3-Tape Set (Donna Reish) $12.00 Father and Family 3-Tape Set (Ray and Donna Reish) $12.00 Teaching Children to Be Diligent tape (Donna Reish) $5.00 Making God Real 3-Tape by teen for girls (Cami Reish) $12 History Tapes/ Children (teaching history to children by Kayla Reish) 3-Tapes $12 *About Our E-Mail Address List Our cottage classes for the fall are coming to an end. We had a great semester with exciting results as students learned to speak and write better! We are working on our class offerings for the second semester, so watch your newsletter for upcoming events.
*Helps for Home school Moms Workshops Tapes
Anyway, we began hosting Saturday brunches in which we would feed parents brunch then give them handouts, excerpts, etc. to try to convert them to home schooling! I spoke for an hour or so (and knew so little twenty-one years ago!), then we answered questions. What does this have to do with our “Helps for Home School Moms” tapes? Well, I feel a similar zeal and urgency to help families learn to prioritize, choose the best over the good, teach children to be responsible and diligent, and more. Much of this is covered in my three-cassette series entitled “Helps for Home School Moms.” This tape set consists of three cassettes that build upon each other: Prioritizing Your Life, School, and Home; Organizing Your Life, School, and Home; and Scheduling Your Life, School, and Home. They are jam packed (I can talk really fast when I have something important to say!) with tips and techniques we have used in our twenty years of home schooling. Even more importantly than those helps, they are jam-packed with philosophies of parenting, home management, child training, home schooling, and more. Prioritizing Your Life, School, and Home deals with determining priorities, utilizing your skills and talents fully, being consistent in maintaining your priorities, learning to say “yes” to the best things and “no” to the good, and more. In it, I explain our long journey to seeking God’s priorities for our family—and how each couple can and should do this to be effective for the Lord and in our families. Organizing Your Life, School, and Home deals with more than just “Better Homes and Garden” storage tips. It continues the prioritizing message by helping you teach your children to be responsible, working together as a family, the importance of chore times and schedules, and more. Scheduling Your Life, School, and Home helps you put it all together. Once you have prioritized and organized, how do you keep on track to fulfill God’s calling for you and your family? By scheduling and organizing your days! This tape deals specifically with scheduling your school day to get the most out of it. Whether you have seven children twelve and under or three teens, “scheduling” gives many tips and solutions that have worked for us throughout the years. “Helps for Home School Moms” tapes are available from Training for Triumph in a three-cassette holder for $12.00 or individually for $5.00 each. Email us to receive our E-Catalog if you do not have one.
*Are we really supposed to get all of the WBLA/CQLA weekly lesson done in only one week? The weekly lesson looks overwhelming at first. Especially if you start to count the number of “lesson items” that a student is to complete in one week---often as many as twelve items. I always remind moms the total number of pages they would be doing in a week if they had a vocabulary program, spelling program, grammar program, and composition program. It would look overwhelming too! All of those four grammar components (and more, including comprehension of material) are woven throughout the weekly WBLA/CQLA lesson. Thus, it looks like a lot of work at first. If you follow the weekly lesson plan given at the back of each WBLA/CQLA monthly unit, you will have no trouble completing all of the assignments within the week, allowing the following timetables to complete everything:
*Twenty to thirty minutes per day *Nearly all with his teacher *He may copy passages and write some sentences on his own, but for the most part, this level is pretty teacher-intensive.
*Thirty to forty minutes per day *Half or more of that time with his teacher; up to half of that time may be independent, depending on his skill level.
*Forty-five to sixty minutes per day *Teacher assistance for two or three of those sessions, depending on skill level, for Checklist Challenge (CC) help, editing his essay, spelling test, dictation quiz, etc.).
*Sixty to seventy minutes a day *Teacher assistance for one or two of those sessions, depending on how independently this student checks his assignments, completes his CC, etc. *Can I really drop my other language arts programs if using WBLA/CQLA? I get asked this question a lot! It is often shocking for a mom to think of her various English programs---and the time (and number of books!) being replaced by one, albeit large, book (or in the case of WBLA, eight (forty to eighty page) booklets). The answer to this question is not cut and dry. Yes, you can do WBLA/CQLA with no other language arts programs in elementary and junior high---except for reading. I feel like children who are still learning to read at higher and higher levels should read aloud to Mom until all phonetic skills are mastered for decoding (reading). This may be through third, fourth, or fifth grade. Then, I have my children at least do silent reading from then on. This could be a reader, a devotional, a content area book (social studies, science, health), or one of each. Of course, the student is also supposed to read the entire passage (all copy boxes) each day too. In high school, language arts gets trickier. You have a myriad of language arts courses to choose from: Grammar and Composition (WBLA or CQLA), composition only (like IEW, Writing Strands, or our soon-to-be published book Meaningful Essays), grammar only, (I don’t recommend this unless it is for college preparatory, such as SAT/ACT prep, etc. as it does not help them in real life much without being connected to writing.) literature, specialty writing (fiction, poetry, technical, editing, etc.), speech, debate, and more. When using WBLA or CQLA for many years, students will probably get done with their “Grammar and Composition” portion of high school English early. Then, of course, you should take into consideration their interests (fiction writing, love of literature, etc.) as well as their future studies (speech and debate for college preparation, SAT preparation, etc.). We have had students finish their “Grammar and Composition” for high school as early as eighth grade (due to doing two years of English in one for a few years to help us test our programs), then take research paper class for a semester, story writing class for one semester, two semesters worth of speech and advanced speech, two semesters worth of speech and advanced debate, and a couple of semesters of literature (according to their interests). It would also be possible to simply do WBLA/CQLA for all four years of high school English, add a literature course, and be done. This would probably not prepare a student for college, however, since the student will have no speech background at all. The point of this is that, yes, WBLA/CQLA can be your sole language arts for second through eighth grade, along with reading. Then, you need to figure out what language arts your high school student will do for his four years (eight semesters) of high school English. Certainly, WBLA/CQLA can be a big part of this too and will be a great help in preparing your student for college or whatever is ahead for him. 4. Tips for Homeschool Moms *Organizational Strategies for the Busy Homeschool Family—chores, efficiency, and more! When Moms learn that we teach speech and debate, homeschool six children, write curriculum, and more, they always ask the same question: “How do you get it all done?” One thing is for sure—we never get it all done. We have, however, found some ways to achieve efficiency, organization, and completion around here. This section will detail some of our favorite “get it done” tips through the years. It should be noted that we don’t do all the ideas listed at the same time! Some of them are more useful with younger children, some with older children, some for extra busy times, and some for maintenance times. It should also be noted that my ideas are not designed for perfectionists! I definitely have lower standards as to wrinkliness of clothing, how clean a refrigerator has to be, how frequently the shower gets cleaned, and more! However, my daughters have been able to make complete meals (including homemade bread and desserts), clean entire rooms, organize closets, update file cabinets, babysit for many children (and teach and entertain them at the same time!), and more by the age of twelve, so I don’t regret all the training I’ve put into them in household areas—and my lower standards in many “domestic” areas! a. Room to Room—Room to room time is a time we call out when things get out of control—as well as a time we call right before everyone disperses to do their “jurisdictions” or “cleaning chores.” We use it before chore times to ensure that when a person goes into vacuum, he can vacuum the room without it being an obstacle course! We use it before Dad gets home, so he doesn’t give extra chores for things left out! We use it when we’re in a pinch, and we just want to get a handle on things. Room to room time works! In room to room time, we set the timer for a certain amount of time, and each person is supposed to go through the main rooms, putting away anything that is his or hers—or that he or she had out. b. Blitz time---When we are in the middle of hosting a big tournament or meeting deadlines for publishing materials, we often incorporate “blitzes.” A blitz is a time in which we again set the timer for a fixed period of time, start in one room (all together), and “blitz” through the main rooms decluttering and organizing. (We seldom get to real cleaning in this time!) We usually state a goal at the beginning (depending on how bad things have gotten, our goal may be as miniscule as making a path through the downstairs or as grandiose as scrubbing as many surfaces as possible), so everyone knows what to focus on. Blitzes are usually fifteen to sixty minutes in length, and we all work as fast as we can. I prefer to work with the children during blitz time to keep everyone on task and give instructions as we go. c. Morning routines---Ever since our first born was just a baby, we have had a time each morning called “morning routines.” As its name suggests, morning routine time is a routine of activities done in the morning. We have had it just before morning devotions, just after breakfast, before morning chores, etc. according to everyone’s morning schedules and the ages of the children. One thing has never changed—we still do morning routines every morning. Sometime during the first hour or two of every day, each child completes his morning routine list. This list is different for each child according to ages and hygiene needs, but it usually consists of dressing, grooming, putting away everything from bed (pj’s, books, tapes, etc.), devotions, and room to room time. Little kids have “morning routine charts” and older kids have their morning routine items listed on their daily charts (although they don’t need them anymore). Morning routines ensure that children are ready for school with real clothes on and teeth brushed. They also develop good habits that last a lifetime. I believe a morning routine is one of the biggest factors in our daughters’ disciplined lives. Sometimes I wish I had been made to have a “morning routine” when I was little! d. Family cleaning time—As the girls have gotten older and are gone more and more for special classes (Spanish, piano, sign language, college classes, etc.) and we have gotten busier and busier teaching, we have instituted family cleaning time. Those two to three hour cleaning sessions we used to have each week (the children and I) just do not seem to come around anymore. I tried passing out individual jobs (i.e. vacuuming, mopping, bathroom cleaning, refrigerator cleaning, etc.), but it just didn’t seem like everything was ever done all at the same time. Thus, we began family cleaning times. We were amazed when we began how much we could get done when all eight of us were going full steam. We run family cleaning times as follows: we set the timer for thirty minutes, pair off in teams of two, and assign each pair a room. I give instruction as to what needs focused on (windows, washing the registers, cleaning the rugs, etc.), and we get out the cleaning basket and go. I shout out the remaining time in five minute increments, and in thirty minutes, Ray, the children, and I have a big majority of weekly cleaning done. It should be noted that we do not declutter or pick up during this time. The children have to have everything up and put away before we begin as we are focusing on cleaning during this time, not picking up. e. Jurisdictions—Jurisdictions teach children responsibility and make it easy to see who has done their “jurisdictions” and who has not! In jurisdictions, a child is assigned a room for the week (or month—or in our case, indefinitely!) that he is to straighten up two or three times per day. The more difficult rooms (main ones, like living room, dining room, and kitchen) are given to the older or more responsible children (however, the meal prep person for the day has to clean up his cooking messes and the little boys always do dishes—I don’t like to “waste” all the girls’ skills on dishes and laundry!). We have jurisdictions two times a day right now---after morning routies/breakfast/ morning chores and in the afternoon before the little kids have “free time.” Thus, our morning schedules are: 1) morning routines (including personal devotion time and the girls’ exercise times); 2) morning chores (little boys do laundry and dishes and another person fixes breakfast); 3) room to room time 4) jurisdictions. Then we’re ready to start school! We start school later than a lot of people do right now do to late night editing and writing and trying to get some of the household things out of the way first thing, but it is nice to have laundry, dishes, and other daily things out of the way before we officially “start school”---though those of you who know me well know that I consider all of our life “school”! Jurisdiction time is not necessarily “cleaning time,” but if the living room needs vacuumed, the dining room swept, etc., the person does that quickly during one of his or her jurisdiction times. Also, the bathroom person does wipe down both bathrooms each day during jurisdiction times. (See Don Aslett’s Clean in a Minute for more about the five minute bathroom cleaning!) Watch this space next month for more ideas on meal preparation time, daily chores, mega cooking, servant day, school charts, and more! 5. Book Review Just for You *Make a Mix Cookery (review for Mom!) One book I have had almost as long as Raymond Moore’s Better Late Than Early –and used even more often---is Make a Mix (my original copy fourteen years ago was called Make a Mix Cookery). This book is a gem that I cannot speak highly enough of. It is the only cookbook that I keep out on a shelf. Make a Mix was my introduction to “once a month” or “mega cooking” when I was expecting my fourth child fourteen years ago. Though it doesn’t mention either of these terms in it, this volume was where I began cooking ahead, freezing entrees and “starters,” and more. It truly aided me in years of joyful hospitality that I will always fondly remember—and long for in our lives again! The authors, These gals start out with master mixes, those mixes that we often rely on the supermarket for—such as brownie mixes, cake mixes, bread mixes, muffin mixes, cookie mixes, and more. Also in their master mixes, they include unique mixes like flavored oatmeals, onion seasoning (to replace dry onion soup packets), “shake and bake” coating mixes, and more. Next, they move into “freezer mixes”—where the beginning of my “mega cooking” experiences evolved. They have all purpose ground meat and chicken mixes in which you precook meats with seasonings, vegetables, sauces, etc, then freeze them for use in dozens of entrees (recipes also given, of course). These freezer mixes include my personal favorite—braised beef cube mix, which I have made several times a year for over a dozen years as a starter for beef stew, stroganoff, etc. (This is my personal favorite to give to new moms!) Of course, those are just the basics. They have freezer pie crust mixes, slice and bake cookies, salad dressing starters, gravy starters, and drink mixes. I just can’t say enough about this exciting book. I have used it probably every month of my life since I got it—though some months I use it to simply pull out a quick dessert recipe and other months we are “make a mix” maniacs! I have used it as a springboard for devising healthy mixes for my son with allergies as well as gifts for people at Christmas time. It is published by Fisher Books and has sold over a million copies. I’m sure it’s available online at any major book distributor. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have! Oh, by the way, did I mention that I’m on my third copy of it?? J 6. In the Kitchen *Apple recipes we love! Also, watch this spot next month for more Christmas goody recipes than you could make in a month! Fall means apples, and apples mean yummy treats. Of course, we love apple slices drizzled with melted caramels, dipped in apple dip, with popcorn and cheese, and out of hand, but two of our favorite apple recipes just must be shared! Apple Crisp This wonderful apple recipe is the best apple crisp recipe I have ever had. It was given to me from a German Baptist friend back home (Union City, Indiana many, many years ago) and is especially yummy because it adds another step that most apple crisp recipes omit—that of a syrup over the apples before the topping is added. It takes extra time, but it is SO worth it! 6 cups finely diced apples Syrup: ¾ cup sugar 1 cup water 2 TBSP corn starch or quick tapioca ½ tsp vanilla Topping: 1 cup flour ¾ cup quick oatmeal 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp cinnamon ½ cup melted butter
Apple Dumplings This recipe was given to me by Ray’s Grandma Rager. She always made these in a little toaster oven |
Posted in Training for Triumph E Newsletters
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Training for Triumph E-Newsletter Issue 001 Table of Contents: *Cottage Classes *Speaking engagements *Language arts workshops *Creation Corner (educational coloring book) *Women of Wisdom (educational coloring book) 4. Frequently Asked Question(s) About WBLA/CQLA *White boards *Minit books 5. Helps for Homeschool Moms *Children Help in ‘Cooking Ahead’” 6. Book Review Just for You *Reel Kids Adventures (review for kids) 7. Get Connected: Internet Site Review *Dinah Zike’s Big Book site (minit books and more) 8. Article from Training for Triumph (informal article by one of us) * "Comprehension Skills and the Key Word Outline" by Donna Reish *************************************************************************************************************** 1. Tid Bits of Info *CQLA Volume I Available in All Levels Training for Triumph's "Cottage Classes" are underway! We are still hosting language arts classes in our learning center here at home to test WBLA and CQLA, and we continue to teach beginning speech and debate. We have thirty-five new students this year learning to be communicators for Christ in our beginning speech and debate class, in addition to the dozen or more returning students.
*Creation Corner and Women of Wisdom Coloring Books
*What Is a Whiteboard? A whiteboard is a wipe and write board. You use dry erase markers on it. I I recently noticed that Office Depot sells “white board paper” with sticky backing that you can stick to card board or light press board. It came in a pack like laminating sheets, and it looked as though there were five or six in a pack. This would be much less costly than paying ten or fifteen dollars for a small hand-held (12” x 18”) one, and you could even make each student one to practice spelling words on, etc. *What Is a Minit Book? The newest Teacher's Guide will clarify this. A minit-book is a little book 5. Helps for Homeschool Moms *Children Help in “Cooking Ahead” Realizing that my oldest daughter, our chief cook, was going to start college, write books, and become a missionary, I set out in the past year to teach my other children to cook. With our commitments to ATI for WBLA in the past four years, each task around the house fell to the one who was best at it. Kayla automatically became chief cook, Cami became the chief cleaner, and Kara became the chief editor. Of course, the little guys filled in in between, and we would all pitch in for large tasks, but that is how it went for a few years. This summer I really got serious and began typing up simple recipes and steps for even my third grade son to be able to follow directions to “take a cooking night.” We have done “mega cooking” around here for fourteen years now, but in the past few years, my freezers have gone from always having between one hundred and two hundred entrees in them to being filled with frozen pizzas and pot pies! Thus, it was time to get serious about teaching the younger children to cook. One of the first things I did to “take back my kitchen”—which is still somewhat surrendered to Sam’s Club freezer section---is to teach everyone to at least get three basic meats into a useable form. This meant cooking large quantities of meat and freezing it to be ready to use in entrees. Anyone (even a third grader!) can do this, and it makes a big difference in mealtime preparation. The remainder of this section will detail how we do that. (Watch upcoming editions for how to save money making your own soups for the processes below!) Ground Beef
Beef Roasts
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Pieces
Uses for Pre-Cooked Meats
The uses for these meats are endless. I will enumerate a few below, but I’m sure you have ideas of your own! *Ground beef ideas:
*Beef Roast ideas (some you use juices with; some you separate juices and do not use them): 1. Beef and noodles or dumplings with beef 2. Vegetable beef soup 3. Beef stew 4. Mexican dishes like shredded beef tacos, Mexican beef casseroles, shredded beef burritos, etc. 5. Beef pot pies 6. BBQ beef 7. Serve as is with gravy, rice, noodles, etc. 8. Beef stroganoff *Chicken ideas:
6. Book Review Just for You *Reel Kids Adventures by Dave Gustaveson (reviewed for kids by Kayla) For someone who is interested in world missions and what life is like in other countries, the best fiction books I can recommend are the Reel Kids Adventures. The Reel Kids are a group of kids that travel to different countries making movies about the Christian work is each country (to be shown in churches and such). The main character is Jeff, the reporter; and there are two others in the group: his younger sister (the researcher) and K.J. (his best friend and the cameraman.) They are very dedicated Christians, and they share this love with those they come in contact with. They go to many different counties including the 7. Get Connected: Internet Site Review *Dinah Zike’s Big Book site (minit books and more) You might see sidebars or "Extra Practice" assignments throughout CQLA that suggest you and your students make "minit books." Those of you who make minit books and lap packs might enjoy perusing Dinah Zike's web site. Mrs. Zike is the author of The Big Book of Books, describing how to make these great little booklets. The link for this site is www.dinah.com.
by Donna Reish That is why I suggested that she write for him so much (he doesn't need the writing practice, and if he is forced to do all the verbal comprehension work and write a bunch after each interchange, I thought she would lose him). In other words, I would do more writing for him in exchange for the 3. I would go back to reading daily with him---just the two of you. I would start off with a reader at his level (truly at his level; not "History Stories for Boys" (though I like that to read aloud to kids) that is listed in the 6th grade section but has old English-type writing in it). I would use a modern type reader like Abeka or BJU--or even something easier than his level like Creation Corner coloring book, etc. Just read a paragraph to him with him following your finger across the page (have him follow along; remember, he knows how to sound out the words; you want him to comprehend them). Then discuss it. You'll know what word he might not know, etc. Ask him any of the following questions: b. What is the main subject of this sentence? Lead him through it. If he says the whole sentence is about the cave, but it's really about the bears in the cave, ask him what the cave is doing. He will realize that the cave isn't doing anything. The bear is doing something in the cave, etc. 2. Discussion about higher level materials read--There are two ways to determine readability: a. Difficulty of the words as far as pronouncing/sounding them out
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Posted in Past Journals
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While cleaning out "piles," I just discovered some little notes that I have not seen for many years. They brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. These little notes were written by Joshua, now 26, when he was fourteen or fifteen and going away for a week to serve at a Christian children's conference. He left these little notes around the house for me and the younger children. Oh, to go back to those sweet days gone by!
Dear Mother, Words cannot describe your specialness. You are just totally wonderful. Thank-you for training me. That's why I can go to this convention and serve. I love you so much. P.S. Don't look at my sentence structure!
Dear Girls, I am glad to see you take such an interest in the animals. You are all so diligent! I love you!
Dear Jonathan and Josiah, You boys be good for Mom and the girls. Be sure to obey as soon as you are told something. You guys are the best! I am going to miss you so much this week. I can't wait to come home and play legoes with you both. I love you!
Dear Kayla, Thank-you for your diigence in working. You are great at helping mother while I am gone. You also happen to be a great cook! I love you and will miss you.
I love being a mother~ :)
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Posted in Christmas Letters for Reish Family
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Merry Christmas from the Reishes 2008! What a whirlwind year! Talk about emotion, changes, overwhelmingness (Is that a word? It should be!!), and joy unspeakable! Those words would describe 2008 for the Reishes. Ray is still the most incredible, loving, kind, selfless person in the world—but as of the first of December, he removed a title from the myriad of titles he formerly bore—after ten years of running a middle of the night paper route delivering to stores and boxes (for the first six years as an outside job for our teens and preteens that he would do with them part of the time and they would do with each other part of the time, then for the past four years to fund the start of our publishing company), Ray is no longer a paper boy! Yippee!!! He no longer sleeps from midnight to 3:30 am every night or has huge bags under his eyes. And we have him a whole lot more—more of that incredible-ness, loving kindness, and selflessness for us to enjoy. We are thrilled beyond description. As long as I don’t get too book-crazy and write too much, hire too many editors, etc., Training for Triumph Publishing (TFT) officially pays for itself after four long, hard years! Another yippee! So what is Ray doing with his new-found time—working on new TFT projects, teaching the kids more, doing extra household work with the kids to free me up to write/edit, helping me maintain a better schedule around here, continuing his work as materials manager at Buckhorn in Bluffton, playing with and heart training our kids more extensively, doing Sudoku puzzles, reading with me more, dancing whenever we can (!)…and much more! He is going to help with Jakie’s Upwards basketball—back to his refereeing days thirty years ago (only just one sport, not eight!). And we are loving it. We adore our work with TFT—and are enjoying helping homeschoolers and parents so much, but we are extremely grateful that we no longer have to work so many extra jobs to fund it. I am, as I mentioned above, still writing and editing. As a matter of fact, somehow, as of the summer publishing of our parenting book, The Well-Trained Heart, I have written or co-written over 100,000 pages over the past eight years! That’s a lot of pages, but many of those are lessons (i.e. Write ten sentences using similes/metaphors learned in this week’s Write On! Lesson—with a half page of lines for student to write on, in the case of our work books), so not all pages are complete text. Needless to say, I am officially a speed typist (and speed thinker, though that is, unfortunately, slowing down more and more every June 14th…tee hee). I also enjoy testing my books and lessons with forty to fifty students each week who come to our cottage classes. And I LOVE teaching and discipling our own kids every day—both those at home and those who are adults but still near to our hearts. Ray and I are enjoying our ballroom dancing—more than ever—and we practice and dance as often as we can. (We know sixteen dances now! Incredibly fun!!!!) As for household management, well, it is definitely a group effort. Ray and the kids want me to be able to help homeschoolers and write books for TFT, so everybody digs in and gets everything (which is a relative term!) done. It is truly a blessing to be a mom in this family! Joshua and Lisa are doing great in Bluffton. They come to church at First Assembly and help us out on our many endeavors. Joshua continues to paint for Yaste Painting, which is flexible enough for him to teach story writing, literature, history, economics, speech, debate, writing, and more one or two days a week at various locations within a couple of hours of here. He and Lisa enjoy learning, and their living room often looks like a library with history, economic, and geography books open everywhere as Joshua prepares for his classes (or as he is just studying “for fun”) and architecture, design, decorating, and art books open everywhere as Lisa continues learning about things she enjoys as well. The younger four kids love to go to Joshua and Lisa’s to watch AND play football. Joshua also edits and helps me write lessons for our writing books. Joshua and Lisa’s creativity, loyalty, resourcefulness, love, and attention to the younger kids are all so appreciated. Kayla has had quite a year. She graduated from IU Purdue-Fort Wayne with an RN degree in May, passed her boards in June, got hired at Baylor Hospital in Dallas in July, moved to Texas in August, and began college at Southwestern University in Texas to finish her second degree in biblical studies (while she works as an RN at Baylor) in September. She received a full tuition scholarship from Southwestern. She lives on campus and goes to school all week and works weekends. She absolutely loves her classes and her job—and is amused at living with eighteen year olds in the dorm! J (Yes, she has shared a room with two younger sisters her entire life, but Cami and Kara were not your average eighteen year olds!) We talk to her on the phone most days. It is so good to hear her enjoying her classes, reading for pleasure (even if “pleasure reading” means early church history books like the ones she asked for for Christmas!!), etc. after a difficult, demanding couple of years in nursing school, working, etc.. We miss her so much and look forward to every chance she gets to come home. The boys are counting the days until she gets home for Christmas to play four person Chess or Axis and Allies! Kayla continues to be an extremely diligent, wise, godly, selfless young lady—and we’re still crazy about her! Cami also had an eventful year! In January, a young man named Joseph Gross called Ray to tell him that he was falling in love with Cami. Ray told him to continue to be friends with her and see how he felt in a couple of months. If he still felt that way, he was to call Ray back then. To make a long story short, Cami and Joseph got engaged in April and were married on November 15th. Joseph is a diligent, self-less, character-filled young man, and our entire family is crazy about him. He moved from a house he sold in Kara got her driver’s license in May; left to travel with the play “Sanctity of Life” on a summer drama ministry team with the Academy of Arts in June; received the “Academy Award” (best character award) for her team in August; started college at Taylor University as an early entry student in September; wrote and directed the playlet, “The King, the Mountain, and the Love That Moved Them Both,” for First Assembly’s Disability Awareness week and One Heart’s Luke 14 banquet (in which the ministry fed 500 people with disabilities) in October; sang a solo at Cami’s wedding in November; and wrote and directed a playlet for our church’s yearly “Breakfast at the Manger” outreach in which 600 children and their parents attended in December. She was also in our church’s Christmas musical and had a blast at the practices and performances. That child is a regular drama queen—as well as a talented writer. She also managed to continue taking piano and voice lessons. Kara works for TFT as a typesetter, editor, and keypuncher. She is an extremely gifted editor and typesetter and blesses our books and materials with her touch. Most importantly of all, she has been at home this fall working tirelessly for the Lord and others; serving her family; mentoring her brothers (and their friends!); and being the most incredible, godly, helpful, compassionate, diligent, thoughtful, sensitive, kind, wise, resourceful, character-filled eighteen year old girl on the planet! Jonathan turned sixteen in September and has been busy doing drama as well. He, along with the other three kids still in school, performed in the Fort Wayne Area Homeschool’s fall drama, as well as the two playlets Kara wrote for church. Additionally, he joined a local theatre company’s character outreach, Character Counts. He, along with a dozen other homeschooled kids, practiced and prepared two different character dramas all fall that they will perform in area public elementary schools throughout the winter and spring. He has one of the leads in which he is the “bad conscience,” trying to persuade a student to do wrong—which is a comical, as well as a dramatic role. It’s quite comical to us to see Jonathan being such a bratty, dishonest, mean character—since he doesn’t have a mean or dishonest bone in his body! J This summer Jonathan spent two weeks serving at Joni and Friends family retreat. Jonathan continues to love school and learning, as well as football and ultimate frisbee. He is also a huge help to us in TFT as he is the chief order taker, customer service “rep,” and order filler. Jonathan continues to be a positive force in his younger brothers’ lives—and a joy to us as a godly, loving, sensitive, caring, resourceful, clever, wise, mature son. Josiah also loves drama, along with coins, football, ultimate Frisbee, reading, research, Sudoku, dvd’s of Hogan’s Heroes, the boys’ dog Shelby (adopted from Joseph when he moved into the apartment), his family, school, friends, and One Heart. All three of the boys serve at One Heart each week as it holds its Bible study and outreaches, as well as during its respite care for children affected by disabilities and their siblings each month. Josiah is especially sensitive to the needs of the disabled and has quite a ministry with many of the adults who have cognitive disabilities. Josiah participated in Kara’s two playlets as well as the homeschool drama, in which he thrilled the audience with the role of Arthur Danforth as he conversed with Philip Nolan on Nolan’s deathbed in A Man Without a Country. The highlight of Josiah’s year was his 13th birthday present. Ray surprised him by enrolling him in a program through the Allen County Sheriff’s Department called “Citizen’s Academy.” For thirteen weeks, Josiah and Ray went to class every Wednesday evening for four hours to learn about the sherrif’s department—complete with shooting range, canine training camp, special speakers, and much more. They were even there one evening as the SWAT team prepared to go out on the biggest drug raid in the history of Jacob turned ten this summer and showed his dramatic side as he and a girl his age were the lead roles in “Breakfast at the Manger.” They played a brother and sister team who were demanding and spoiled on Christmas eve only to find themselves back in Bethlehem encountering the wise men, Shepherds, and, of course, Baby Jesus, during their dream. He was too cute—and did a great job! He enjoys One Heart, the That sums up our year. TFT grew some more business; everyone grew spiritually and relationally—and those are all good. I will leave you with a thought that I have kept at the forefront this year—from a visiting missionary: “Put your full weight into the demonstration of God’s love in your life.” In what areas has God most demonstrated His love in your life? Put everything you have into spreading that to others.
Love--- Donna, for the Reish family www.tfths.com P.S. I'm giving up on getting the fonts to all be the same size on this letter....I am blog illiterate~ |
Posted in Recipes
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Cooking for Two Families One of the neatest things about mega cooking over the past nearly twenty years has definitely been the ability to bless others. Through the years, we have cooked for those having a baby, moving (and their movers), suffering illness, losing a loved one, and more—several times over. We have organized cooking co-ops in which teen girls learned to mega cook together. We have held “cooking bees” in which our field trip cooked for the mom having a new baby (multiple times). We have helped with weddings, receptions, showers, and graduation parties. All because of, with, and through mega cooking. And we have been blessed in reverse. We recently had occasion to cook for us and another family in need. I purposely chose some “hearty” meals since both families were feeding eight people at least during that time. I also purposely chose meals that are “normal”—things that most people are familiar with and enjoy. Lastly, I chose those entrees that come together quickly, but produce a nice, final entrée. These included the following recipes: Grandma’s Meatloaf (from Ray’s grandma when I was a young bride); Swiss Steak (also from Grandma Rager); Lasagna; and Pizza Burgers. To go with the meats (I don’t like to give meats only—either combination entrees like lasagna or a meat and rice or meat and potato), we made Freezer Mashed Potatoes (not like fresh, but definitely better than instant) and Creamy Potato Casserole (our most-used freezer recipe by far). Try our recipes. Get some simple entrees in your freezer. And they each yield plenty to share—so spread the love of Christ through mega cooking! J Note: Over the past year or so, I have been…sniff-sniff…revising my recipes to feed less people. Anyway, you will notice that many of my new recipe entrees yield four or five servings—and they can easily be combined to feed eight or ten (i.e. each meatloaf feeds four to six). GRANDMA’S MEATLOAF ½ cup beef base 3/4 cup+ minced onion ½ tsp pepper 10 lbs ground beef 4 tsp salt 3/4 cups ketchup 8-12 c. oats 8 eggs milk, as needed 4 (9x13) foil pans 1. Mix all ingredients. 2. Shape into 12 loaves of 1 lb each. 3. Place two in each 9 x 13 foil pan (6 total pans) 4. Cover tightly. Label. Freeze with nothing on top of them. 5. Make labels for them as follows (6 labels needed) GRANDMA’S MEATLOAF Serves 4-5 per loaf (Uncooked) Thaw. Bake at 300’ for 1 ½ to 2 hours w/ sauce over them (just over an hour for one loaf),if desired. Sauce per two meatloaves: 6 TBSP brown sugar, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ cup ketchup, and 2 tsp dry mustard. (May reduce sauce if less is desired.) 6. Yield: 12 loaves of 1 pound+ each; each one serves 4-5. Thus, six pans of two loaves each, serving 8-10 for a “panful.” Swiss Steak 10 lbs round steak 1 cup flour 1 ½ tbsp salt ½ TBSP pepper 2/3 cups celery, sliced thinly 5 onions, sliced in rings 5 green peppers (optional) 5 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce 3 cups water 4 TBSP worcestershire sauce 4 TBS beef base diluted in ½ cup hot water 1. Trim fat from meat. Tenderize with meat mallet, and cut into serving pieces. 2. Mix flour, salt, and pepper. 3. Coat meat pieces and brown lightly in oil in electric skillet. 4. Saute or micro vegetables. 5. Mix vegetables with rest of ingredients. 6. Pour meat and veggie mix into 8 one-quart bags (approximately 1-1 ½ lbs meat w/ sauce per bag). 7. Label with info below and freeze: Swiss Steak for 4-5 Use 2 quarts, at least Partially cooked DATE Thaw. Cook in cooking bag at 250’ for 1 ½ to 2 hours or on low in crock pot for 4-6 hours. Optional: Make gravy out of tomato-based juices. Lasagna We have been making our lasagnas without precooking our noodles for years now. It is SIMPLE You’ll make lasagna more often once you try this method! This recipe yields six deep lasagnas (be sure to use lasagna or roasting pans). 12 lbs. ground meat 12 quarts spaghetti sauce 8 (12 oz) pkgs lasagna 240 oz cottage cheese 24 eggs, beaten 6 tsp pepper 24 TBSP parsley 6 cups parmesan cheese 8 lbs mozarella cheese 1. Brown meat and drain. (If browning large amounts of meat together for several dishes, remember that 2 ½ cups fried and drained meat is equivalent to 1 lb of raw.) 2. If using uncooked noodles, place them in large roaster filled with water to soften (or squirt each layer of noodles with a squirt bottle filled with water as you layer the lasagna). 3. Add sauce to meat. 4. Combine cottage cheese, parmesan, eggs, pepper, and parsley. 5. Grease 6 9 x 13 baking dishes or foil pans. 6. Place small amount of meat sauce in bottom of dish. 7. Place one layer of noodles (if desired, cook noodles before this step). 8. Place ½ the cottage cheese mixture over all pans evenly. 9. Place ½ the mozzarella over all pans evenly. 10. Place ½ the remaining meat sauce over all pans evenly. 11. Repeat. 12. End with sauce. 13. Label and freeze: Lasagna Partially cooked DATE Serves 6-8 To use: Thaw. Bake at 375’ convection for 30-40 mins (40-50 regular)—Covered. Pizza Burgers 24 (1/4 lb) hamburger patties Optional: canned mushrooms 8 cups pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce Optional veggies: green peppers and onions 36 1 oz slices of mozzarella cheese 1. Grill hamburgers on grill until medium rare. 2. Stir fry or micro veggies until tender (optional). 3. Place 6 patties in each of 4 foil pans. 4. Top each patty with veggies and mushrooms. 5. Pour 2-3 TBSP of sauce over the veggies. 6. Place 1 ½ slice of cheese on each patty. 7. Freeze unlayered. 8. Label: Pizza Burgers DATE Serves 4 Fully Cooked Thaw. Reheat in micro of oven until bubbly and hot all through. 9. Total yield of this recipe: Four pans of six patties each; four pans serving four people each. Mashed Potatoes 20 lbs russet or 4 sticks butter 4 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper 1. Boil peeled potatoes until tender. 2. Mash potatoes in big mixer with white beater in 5 lb increments(4 “loads”)—first add butter, salt, and pepper to each load, then gradually add in warm cream or ½ and ½. 3. Freeze in 5 lb increments in foil pans or large freezer bags. 4. Label: Mashed Potatoes Serves 8-10 Fully Cooked Thaw. Reheat in micro or carefully on stove top, using wire whisk and warm cream or milk to soften and cream. 5. Total yield of this recipe: Four “loads” feeding 8-10 people each. Creamy Potato Casserole Creamy Potato Casserole--- Uncooked Serves 8-10 Thaw. Bake uncovered for one to one Let sit before serving for ten minutes. 9. Yields six pans that serve 8-10 each. . |
Posted in Holiday Recipes
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Reishes’ Favorite From December 2003 I warned you last month that I would bombard you with holiday goody recipes, and here they are! These are some of our favorites (see notes with each one), and ones that we make year after year.
We have our holiday baking down to a science of sorts with three teenage daughters and two young baker boys (and another little goody sneaker boy)! We start at the end of November, making our four to six favorite cookie doughs in large quantities. We keep these doughs in large tubs in our garage or refrigerator, depending on the temperature. Then, I assign a different girl something else to make most days for the first couple of weeks of December---quick breads, fudges, bars, etc. (We make quick breads first as they freeze well. Then we move onto fudges by the 10th or so to have for goody trays for our students, co-paper deliverers, etc. early in the month. Then, the girls make the bars when it is closer to our first gathering. Lastly, we have a couple of candy-making days in which we make dipped, filled, and dropped candies with chocolate and white chocolate melts, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips. Even Jakie (age 6) can help with these. We all enjoy listening to our favorite Christmas cassettes while we make candy.
I have to relate a funny story to our practice of keeping doughs and batters until we bake them. Last year, Joshua and Lisa had just gotten engaged the day before our banana bread batter day. She pulled into the driveway to spend the evening with us when Joshua ran out of the shower announcing that we had to do something with the banana bread batter (now in what I would most accurately describe a vat of at least a dozen gallons in the middle of the dining room table) ------because Lisa gets sick over bananas. She can’t eat them, or even smell them, he related. Well, we were filling loaf pans on the dining room table, and you have to understand that our dining room table is about six feet from every room in our small downstairs. There’s simply no escaping it. So we filled the pans quickly and baked several loaves, then promptly put the remaining vat of batter in the back of the van (to keep the cats out of it!). Of course, the banana bread smell was all through the house by this time.
The next night, Joshua was on his way up to pick up Lisa to go to a Christmas philharmonic concert when I called him and told him he had the banana bread batter in the back of his van. He said it was okay because it must be frozen; it didn’t smell at all, so he went on up to pick her up. By the time he got to her house, the batter was nice and warm from the heat of the van, and the entire van smelled like rotten bananas! (Needless to say, Joshua drove her parents’ car to the concert.) The moral of this story: Keep your batters and doughs in cold places away from cats. (I think that’s the moral of this story. Maybe it’s find out any complete aversions your future daughter-in-law has before immersing her in that aversion.)
Anyway, when we are ready to make up boxes or trays of goodies, we bake however many cookies we want at that time, get some loaves of quick bread out, cut some of the fudge, pull out all the candy we’ve made on candy days, and defrost and cut the bars (if they’re frozen). Then we form an assembly line to fill trays and boxes for gifts.
It is hard for me to believe how easy it was to accomplish all of this so far this year. The boys made some doughs for the first time; everyone was involved in the baking of things moreso than before as Kayla and I taught the next two girls to make some of the things that only we had made previously. (It also helps that we live in a fairly cold climate and can store things in tubs on the porch, in the van, and in the garage!) It has been a lot of fun, and we enjoy giving goodies to our students, co-workers, printer, librarians, mail carriers, neighbors, and more, as well as preparing trays for the many Christmas parties and gatherings we attend.
One note of caution: If you make as many holiday goodies as we do, you’ll want to quickly establish boundaries for that massive amount of sugar. I do not allow myself to eat any of the goodies until Christmas week (except for maybe a taste of something that broke off!). The children can have an item or two each time we make something, but they may not get into it between baking or packing sessions. Otherwise, you can end up eating cookies, candy, and bars every day for over a month!
It should be noted that the recipes below are the largest quantities that will work well or fit in our mixing bowl. They may be reduced as desired. All recipes are written in steps for my children and include convection as well as regular oven times.
Mexican Wedding Cakes
One of our favorites! So tender and rich. We make them for every occasion!
2 cups butter 1 cup powdered sugar 4 cups sifted flour 2 tsp. vanilla 1 cup finely chopped pecans extra powdered sugar for rolling after baking
Sour Cream Cookies
A favorite of several in our family, hands down! These are the most tender, soft, delicious cookies. We use various colors of sprinkles for other occasions (red and blue for July 4th, red for Valentine’s Day, pastel for Easter, etc.).
4 c flour 1 ¼ tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp soda ¾ tsp salt 1 1/4 c. butter, softened 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 ½ tsp vanilla 1 ¼ cup sour cream Colored sprinkles/sugar according to occasion
1. Sift soda, flour, salt, and baking powder together; set aside. 2. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs together. 3. Beat sour cream and vanilla into the butter mixture. 4. Gradually beat dry ingredients into the wet mixture. 5. Refrigerate for one hour or longer. (We shape and freeze, freeze in one quarter containers (chunks of dough); etc. too.) 6. Drop and sprinkle with colored sugars (or sprinkle half way through baking time. (If sprinkled before baking it's not as distributed but it stays on better.) 7. Bake at 350' for 6-8 minutes for convection; 8-11 minutes regular oven.
Peanut Blossom (“Kiss”) Cookies
These are better than your average peanut butter cookie. We prefer the milk chocolate taste of stars on them rather than kisses. These go quickly on holiday trays.
5 ¼ cups flour 1 ½ cups peanut butter 3 tsp soda 3 eggs 1 ½ tsp salt 6 TBSP milk 1 ½ cups sugar 3 tsp vanilla 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed 3 pkgs Hershey’s kisses or stars 1 ½ cups shortening/butter (we use ½ Crisco and half real butter)
Buckeyes
A simple candy (though the dipping process is best done by older kids or adults or you’ll have peanut butter balls floating in your melted chocolate!) that most people love. I’m always amazed how quickly we run out of these in spite of the large amount it seems we make on candy days.
1 (18 ox) jars creamy peanut butter 2 sticks (1 cup) butter 5 cups powdered sugar 2 cups chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Fudge
This is the yummiest peanut butter fudge I’ve ever had---when I get the texture right. It can be tricky to get it just right, but it is so worth it.
4 cups brown sugar 4 cups mini marshmallows 4 cups white sugar 4 cups peanut butter 2 cups evaporated milk 4 TBSP vanilla 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
Never Fail Chocolate Fudge
My personal favorite holiday treat—the more walnuts, the better. This is a very simple fudge recipe that truly is no-fail.
8 cups sugar ½ lb butter (2 sticks) 2 (7 oz) jars marshmallow cream 2 cups chopped nuts 2 12 oz cans evaporated milk 2 12 oz packages choc chips (4 cups)
Banana Bread
I like to have one of the kids use up brown bananas anytime of the year and put some of these loaves in the freezer. Then we have them for potlucks, company, or new baby gifts. Quick breads are even better after they’re frozen! 2 cups sugar 2 tsp soda 2 tsp salt
Scotch Crunchies
If you like butterscotch chips and cashews, you’ll love these. Don’t let their strange ingredients steer you away. They are SIMPLE and yummy.
2 (12 oz.) of butterscotch chips (4 cups) 2 cup cashews 4 cups chow mein noodles
Peanut Clusters
A peanut-chocolate drop candy that is SIMPLE to make.
2 (12 oz each) packages butterscotch chips 12 cups peanuts (not redskin or dry) 2 (12 oz each) packages chocolate chips
Best White Frosting for Cookies
Even years when we bought frozen shaped cookies at the restaurant supply store (instead of making them) due to time crunches, we always still used our own icing recipe. This has lots of extra flavors, but those are what make this frosting delicious. Definitely not your typical powdered sugar/butter icing!
2 cups Crisco 4 lbs. Powdered sugar 1 cup hot water 2 tsps. white vanilla 4-6 drops lemon extract 1 tsp almond flavor 2 tsp clear butter flavor ½ tsp salt
Butterscotch Brownies
These chewy brownies are good year round. They’re easy and feed a crowd--2 1/2 dozen total brownies.
1 pound Light Brown Sugar Stir in vanilla at end.
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Posted in Inspirations on Parenting, Marriage, and Homeschooling
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The $100 Pay It Forward Reward It happened. It finally happened! We found a recipient for the $100 Pay It Forward Reward. What, you might ask, is the “$100 Pay It Forward Reward”? Twenty years ago I read an article by Mary Pride (homeschool author and speaker) in which she told about her family’s experience traveling—and how a stranger paid for their dinner in a restaurant not once, but twice, on the same trip. It seems that in both instances a man was impressed and encouraged by her children’s good behavior in public, so he picked up the tab for their family’s dinner. For many years following that, we always told our children that if they were really, really, really, really, really good when we were eating out, we would know it because somebody would pay for our dinner. (See Training for Triumph’s E Newsletter for February 2009, Issue 24’s article, “Only By Comparison” for more on this.) Anyway, for several years, people would comment on the children’s good behavior in a restaurant or other public setting, and we would all laugh and joke that it wasn’t quite good enough or somebody would buy our dinner. Then it happened. On Joshua’s (our first child, now 26) thirteenth birthday, we were sitting in Red Lobster eating when a stranger approached us, commented positively about our family, and slid Ray a $100 bill for our dinner. The kids were elated. They had finally done it! Fast forward several years (and no, it never happened again), and we have since kept our eyes and ears open, especially in the past few years as our children have been becoming adults. We always thought it would be so cool to “pay it forward”—pass that blessing of a free dinner on to another family. But well-behaved children and intimate, relational, teaching families in public are hard to come by anymore. Then it happened. Ray and I had just left our first “Well-Trained Heart” seminar and went to Red Lobster (can’t afford to take the whole family there anymore!). We were discussing the seminar, what we should add, change, etc. when a family with three little blonde haired girls (around ages 10, 8, and 6) walked by our booth and into the booth behind us. I am always taken aback when I see families with three little blonde-headed girls in a row anyway, but this family was special from the moment we laid eyes on them. They sat down behind us, and I’m a little embarrassed to say it, but neither of us could talk. All we could do was listen to the interchange between two sisters, Mom and Dad, Mom and daughter, Dad and daughter. It was refreshing and heart-warming. I missed some of it as I could not keep from crying. With our first daughter moving away to For that brief time, all I wanted was to turn back the hands of time. I wanted it to be me, Ray, Kayla, Cami, and Kara in that booth. I wanted to hear the girls giggle, watch Ray snuggle up to one of them, and see the light bulbs go off in their heads as we taught them about restaurant tax, sharing food, and manners (like we heard these parents do). To be honest, though, Ray’s eyes were more than a little misty during that thirty minutes, too. I could tell that he missed those days as much as I did. Enough nostalgia…why did this family deserve (and win!) the “$100 Pay It Forward Reward”? Let me enumerate why we thought this family should win the “$100 Pay It Forward Award” after all these years:
I could go on and on about how happy we are to have found this special family—and return the good deed that was done to us fourteen years ago. I have to tell you, however, that both of us were crying pretty good by the time we left—and unable to talk to them and slide the $100 bill on the table like the stranger did to us. We jotted down a quick note of encouragement, wrapped the money in it, and asked our waitress to deliver it after we left. It was hard to not be the ones sitting in that booth with our three little blondies, loving them and enjoying them the way this couple did. But it was incredible to see parents truly “doing the stuff,” trying to raise their children with godly character, high principles, intimate relationships, and joy. |
Posted in Inspirations on Parenting, Marriage, and Homeschooling
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Dancing Through the Seasons It happened again…when I least expected it. And of all places…on the dance floor. Ray and I have been ballroom dancing for over three years now—the best exercise and most incredible marital unifier I have ever heard of. We dance all kinds of dances—cha cha, rumba, swing, foxtrot, waltz—and many more. It is usually a romantic time—and more fun than almost anything I have ever done. So why did I find myself crying uncontrollably on the floor? Once again…it is the whole season of life thing. (Why did I ever learn that there was such a thing as a season of life? Why couldn’t I just blissfully go through life thinking that things will always be like they are now? Would I have noticed the drastic changes as much if they didn’t have a name?)
Don’t know anything about the songwriter or singer—but I know the words are true and heart-rending. The song? “Remember When.” That should tell you right off the bat why this emotional mama who would still like to keep one foot in the previous season while enjoying the benefits and blessings of the next one broke out into tears. (Listen to the song for yourself at jukebox—and you can cry with me: http://songerize.com/ Remember When by Alan Jackson: see lyrics below.)
And that’s when the breakdown occurred. I don’t fully understand it. I mean I love the season of life that I am in. Some things that formerly were so difficult (getting ready to go anywhere, getting the meals on the table, finishing school by 6:00 pm, housecleaning, etc.) are easy now—almost simple. Other things I never even dreamed about are incredibly challenging now (teaching tweens to focus more on others than themselves; helping teens to stand alone; guiding young adults into full adulthood; coaching each of our married kids in how to be the best husband or wife he or she can be). And yet, as my eighteen year old always says, “it’s all good.” So why can I not fully accept (even after eight years with no babies or toddlers) the fact that this is my life now? Looking back, I realize that out of eighteen years (from my pregnancy with our first born until the stillborn birth of our eighth), I was pregnant or breastfeeding nearly fifteen years of that time period. For almost eighteen years, my home and my children were my life. I seldom did things outside of this sphere. Ray and I had definite vision: if God gave us children, we were going to pour our lives into raising them for him. And I was fulfilled in doing so. Sure, it was hard. Sometimes the days seemed long and lonely. Occasionally, I lost sight of our purpose and vision. Then I had Ray to remind me (and vice versa) what the ending goal was—and what we had agreed it would take to get us there. And we pressed on again, never giving up on the goals we had in our child rearing. I think that’s why it is so hard to go from one season to the next—even though the transition has been happening over the past several years. It was such a huge part of who I was. It was my life purpose at that time. The reason I was here on earth for those years was the nurturing of these children, to a large extent. Technically, I have the most awesome season of all now—seeing the fruit of those years of nurturing and training. And it is incredibly rewarding—having tweens who have so many adults pouring into their lives, having teens who love their parents and each other, having young adults who are continually seeking God’s will and way, having relationships with my children that I could never have even dreamed I would have. (I guess I thought I would always “micro-manage” them, so to speak.)
Dancing to “real” music today is fun; it is easier in many ways. Yet there is always something that draws me back, makes me want to, once again, “dance to the sound of little feet.” To “remember when”—to have things the way they were ten years ago, fifteen years ago, and twenty years ago. I will try, as the song says, to not be sad, but be glad for the blessings of a life filled with children—little ones then and older ones now--and for the different seasons of dancing. Remember When Remember when I was young and so were you Remember when we said when we turned gray
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Posted in Holiday Recipes
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Reishes’ Favorite From December 2003 I warned you last month that I would bombard you with holiday goody recipes, and here they are! These are some of our favorites (see notes with each one), and ones that we make year after year. We have our holiday baking down to a science of sorts with three teenage daughters and two young baker boys (and another little goody sneaker boy)! We start at the end of November, making our four to six favorite cookie doughs in large quantities. We keep these doughs in large tubs in our garage or refrigerator, depending on the temperature. Then, I assign a different girl something else to make most days for the first couple of weeks of December---quick breads, fudges, bars, etc. (We make quick breads first as they freeze well. Then we move onto fudges by the 10th or so to have for goody trays for our students, co-paper deliverers, etc. early in the month. Then, the girls make the bars when it is closer to our first gathering. Lastly, we have a couple of candy-making days in which we make dipped, filled, and dropped candies with chocolate and white chocolate melts, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips. Even Jakie (age 6) can help with these. We all enjoy listening to our favorite Christmas cassettes while we make candy. I have to relate a funny story to our practice of keeping doughs and batters until we bake them. Last year, Joshua and Lisa had just gotten engaged the day before our banana bread batter day. She pulled into the driveway to spend the evening with us when Joshua ran out of the shower announcing that we had to do something with the banana bread batter (now in what I would most accurately describe a vat of at least a dozen gallons in the middle of the dining room table) ------because Lisa gets sick over bananas. She can’t eat them, or even smell them, he related. Well, we were filling loaf pans on the dining room table, and you have to understand that our dining room table is about six feet from every room in our small downstairs. There’s simply no escaping it. So we filled the pans quickly and baked several loaves, then promptly put the remaining vat of batter in the back of the van (to keep the cats out of it!). Of course, the banana bread smell was all through the house by this time. The next night, Joshua was on his way up to pick up Lisa to go to a Christmas philharmonic concert when I called him and told him he had the banana bread batter in the back of his van. He said it was okay because it must be frozen; it didn’t smell at all, so he went on up to pick her up. By the time he got to her house, the batter was nice and warm from the heat of the van, and the entire van smelled like rotten bananas! (Needless to say, Joshua drove her parents’ car to the concert.) The moral of this story: Keep your batters and doughs in cold places away from cats. (I think that’s the moral of this story. Maybe it’s find out any complete aversions your future daughter-in-law has before immersing her in that aversion.) Anyway, when we are ready to make up boxes or trays of goodies, we bake however many cookies we want at that time, get some loaves of quick bread out, cut some of the fudge, pull out all the candy we’ve made on candy days, and defrost and cut the bars (if they’re frozen). Then we form an assembly line to fill trays and boxes for gifts. It is hard for me to believe how easy it was to accomplish all of this so far this year. The boys made some doughs for the first time; everyone was involved in the baking of things moreso than before as Kayla and I taught the next two girls to make some of the things that only we had made previously. (It also helps that we live in a fairly cold climate and can store things in tubs on the porch, in the van, and in the garage!) It has been a lot of fun, and we enjoy giving goodies to our students, co-workers, printer, librarians, mail carriers, neighbors, and more, as well as preparing trays for the many Christmas parties and gatherings we attend. One note of caution: If you make as many holiday goodies as we do, you’ll want to quickly establish boundaries for that massive amount of sugar. I do not allow myself to eat any of the goodies until Christmas week (except for maybe a taste of something that broke off!). The children can have an item or two each time we make something, but they may not get into it between baking or packing sessions. Otherwise, you can end up eating cookies, candy, and bars every day for over a month! It should be noted that the recipes below are the largest quantities that will work well or fit in our mixing bowl. They may be reduced as desired. All recipes are written in steps for my children and include convection as well as regular oven times. Mexican Wedding Cakes One of our favorites! So tender and rich. We make them for every occasion! 2 cups butter 1 cup powdered sugar 4 cups sifted flour 2 tsp. vanilla 1 cup finely chopped pecans extra powdered sugar for rolling after baking
Sour Cream Cookies A favorite of several in our family, hands down! These are the most tender, soft, delicious cookies. We use various colors of sprinkles for other occasions (red and blue for July 4th, red for Valentine’s Day, pastel for Easter, etc.). 4 c flour 1 ¼ tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp soda ¾ tsp salt 1 1/4 c. butter, softened 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 1 ½ tsp vanilla 1 ¼ cup sour cream Colored sprinkles/sugar according to occasion 1. Sift soda, flour, salt, and baking powder together; set aside. 2. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs together. 3. Beat sour cream and vanilla into the butter mixture. 4. Gradually beat dry ingredients into the wet mixture. 5. Refrigerate for one hour or longer. (We shape and freeze, freeze in one quarter containers (chunks of dough); etc. too.) 6. Drop and sprinkle with colored sugars (or sprinkle half way through baking time. (If sprinkled before baking it's not as distributed but it stays on better.) 7. Bake at 350' for 6-8 minutes for convection; 8-11 minutes regular oven. Peanut Blossom (“Kiss”) Cookies These are better than your average peanut butter cookie. We prefer the milk chocolate taste of stars on them rather than kisses. These go quickly on holiday trays. 5 ¼ cups flour 1 ½ cups peanut butter 3 tsp soda 3 eggs 1 ½ tsp salt 6 TBSP milk 1 ½ cups sugar 3 tsp vanilla 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed 3 pkgs Hershey’s kisses or stars 1 ½ cups shortening/butter (we use ½ Crisco and half real butter)
Buckeyes A simple candy (though the dipping process is best done by older kids or adults or you’ll have peanut butter balls floating in your melted chocolate!) that most people love. I’m always amazed how quickly we run out of these in spite of the large amount it seems we make on candy days. 1 (18 ox) jars creamy peanut butter 2 sticks (1 cup) butter 5 cups powdered sugar 2 cups chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Fudge This is the yummiest peanut butter fudge I’ve ever had---when I get the texture right. It can be tricky to get it just right, but it is so worth it. 4 cups brown sugar 4 cups mini marshmallows 4 cups white sugar 4 cups peanut butter 2 cups evaporated milk 4 TBSP vanilla 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
Never Fail Chocolate Fudge My personal favorite holiday treat—the more walnuts, the better. This is a very simple fudge recipe that truly is no-fail. 8 cups sugar ½ lb butter (2 sticks) 2 (7 oz) jars marshmallow cream 2 cups chopped nuts 2 12 oz cans evaporated milk 2 12 oz packages choc chips (4 cups)
Banana Bread I like to have one of the kids use up brown bananas anytime of the year and put some of these loaves in the freezer. Then we have them for potlucks, company, or new baby gifts. Quick breads are even better after they’re frozen! 2 cups sugar 2 tsp soda 2 tsp salt
Scotch Crunchies If you like butterscotch chips and cashews, you’ll love these. Don’t let their strange ingredients steer you away. They are SIMPLE and yummy. 2 (12 oz.) of butterscotch chips (4 cups) 2 cup cashews 4 cups chow mein noodles
Peanut Clusters A peanut-chocolate drop candy that is SIMPLE to make. 2 (12 oz each) packages butterscotch chips 12 cups peanuts (not redskin or dry) 2 (12 oz each) packages chocolate chips
Best White Frosting for Cookies Even years when we bought frozen shaped cookies at the restaurant supply store (instead of making them) due to time crunches, we always still used our own icing recipe. This has lots of extra flavors, but those are what make this frosting delicious. Definitely not your typical powdered sugar/butter icing! 2 cups Crisco 4 lbs. Powdered sugar 1 cup hot water 2 tsps. white vanilla 4-6 drops lemon extract 1 tsp almond flavor 2 tsp clear butter flavor ½ tsp salt
Butterscotch Brownies These chewy brownies are good year round. They’re easy and feed a crowd. 1 ½ cup oil 6 cups brown sugar 6 eggs, beaten 4 ½ cups all purpose flour 6 tsp. baking powder 3 tsp salt 3 tsp vanilla
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Posted in Holiday Recipes
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Other Leftovers White Potatoes:
Leftover mashed potatoes 1 egg little milk Optional: onion, grated cheese, and a little chopped green pepper
1/2 teaspoon crumbled, dried rosemary 1. In a small dry skillet toast the rosemary and thyme until fragrant, do not burn. Shake the skillet and heat for about 3 minutes. Set aside. 2. In a large saucepan sauté the onion, celery and carrots in olive oil over moderately low heat for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. 3. Stir in the broth or stock and bring to a boil. 4. Break potatoes up with a fork. Using a wire whisk, add potatoes a half cup at a time. 5. Continue whisking until smooth, reduce to a simmer and add toasted herbs, lemon juice and fresh parsley. 6. Taste soup and add salt and black pepper if desired. Makes 4 servings. Sweet Potatoes:
SWEET POTATO DIP Puree potatoes with any or all of the following: low-fat sour cream, bell pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Other: GARLICKY CROUTONS OR CHEESE TOASTIES Using the leftover dinner rolls can be a challenge. They are excellent cut into cubes and toasted into croutons for the potato soup or make the Garlicky Cheese Toast, cool slightly and cut into croutons for the soup. The Garlicky Cheese Toast can also be used to make petite turkey sandwiches.
Stuffing (Homemade or Boxed)
Cranberry Sauce (Canned or Fresh)
Pumpkin Pie (Store-Bought or Homemade)
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Posted in Holiday Recipes
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Ham Leftovers Tips for Ham Leftovers: 1. Plan for leftovers ahead of time. For example, if you know you will only use half the ham, consider cooking the two halves separately, one with ham glaze and one without for other recipes later. 2. Freeze ham in freezer bags in whole pieces to decide later what you will do with them. Be sure to use freezer bags, not regular storage bags. 3. Quick leftover ham ideas: a. Ham omelettes b. Bean soups c. Chicken cordon bleu d. Hot ham and cheese sandwiches e. Cheesy scalloped potatoes w/ ham f. Fried rice w/ ham g. Ham and mashed potatoes croquettes h. Cheese toasties with ham i. Scrambled eggs w/ ham Meals and Snacks for Leftover Ham:
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Posted in Holiday Recipes
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Tips for
Turkey carcass and all bones from leftover turkey Break up turkey bones and place in a large pot. Add remaining ingredients and cover with 2 quarts water or canned chicken or combination of the two. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook, skimming for 2 hours. Strain and boil down to one quart. CHINESE
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Posted in Inspirations on Parenting, Marriage, and Homeschooling
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Ballroom Dancing and Homeschool Stress
On a loop I am on, the ladies were discussing colonial dancing and homeschool stress. The post below is my two cents on both...sort of....
This sort of ties into the colonial ballroom dance thing AND the homeschooling “in the trenches”—boy, I hate to write that….even though I struggle to get things done, have kids behind in some things, have trouble keeping on schedule with my olders’ needs—I still love schooling and am so glad we have four left to homeschool! I know it might sound naïve and overly-optimistic—but I just figure I will do the best I can at the time and everything will shake out in the end! (It has worked so far with three extremely successful academically, spiritually, and morally graduates!) Anyway, no quilting, milking, or sewing here—but one thing that we have been doing for a little over three years—that helps with all that homeschool stress—is ballroom dancing. And Vera, it is awesome!!! You’re right. We can’t afford many private lessons, but we try to go to a group lesson (which is just us and another Christian couple, former homeschoolers whose kids are grown) each week.
Mostly, we just dance. The studio is only five minutes from our house, and we try to go over and dance (practice) two or three times a week for thirty to forty minutes. (It is usually about empty or just has a private lesson going on, so we dance our hearts out!) Then, we usually dance at an open dance once a week or at least three times a month, anyway (usually on a Friday or Saturday night while our kids are serving at disability ministry). Anyway, while we only have four still in school (and Kara, eighteen, is pretty much on her own, just finishing up math, preparing for SAT, and taking a couple of college classes, then her voice, piano, drama, and ministry opportunities)
Then there’s Cami, who is about to be married. Her fiancé doesn’t have parents involved in his life, so we are doing double duty there—and besides just planning the wedding (and working extra for that money!), there are so many emotional, spiritual, etc. things—and with the boys feeling like they are “losing their sisters” so quickly (with them moving away so close to each other—one in July and one upcoming in November), and helping Kara make decisions, etc. etc. Then, of course, there’s Training for Triumph—and all the time and money we are investing in it in the hopes that someday we will be able to minister to more and more homeschoolers…. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but because the raising/discipleshi Anyway, those of you in the trenches might consider it. I have lost ten pounds a year for three years doing nothing but dancing---the remaining ffifty will not budge now until I do something more drastic….:) And I don’t feel like it right now! So, there’s my ballroom dancing plug! I understand that there’s a television show about ballroom dancing, and Ray and I always preface our dancing information with the news that I don’t think we are dancing like them—or dressing like them (from what I’ve heard; I’ve never seen the show myself). Ray taught Kara how to do a couple of dances (we know sixteen!) before he took her to a father-daughter purity ball. She was so happy as she said that she and Dad were the only ones doing “real dancing.” Otherwise, we have told our kids that they can learn to dance with their fiancés when they’re engaged!!! Then we sing this song to them by Steve and Annie Chapman: Married lovers, they’ve got a right to their romance. Married lovers don’t have to worry when they dance. Married lovers, there’s no sin in what they do… ‘Coz heaven gives its blessing to this holy rendezvous!! Wow..did I ever ramble. Anyway, it’s good exercise, intimate, fun, and awesome. When you waltz, you are supposed to look over the guy’s shoulder, and I get in trouble all the time because I refuse to—for 3:33, I just look into Ray’s face—nobody needs me for a few minutes, and I just want to bask in his presence…not some formal posturing!! Ray Baby and dancing...they make everything better!! :) Makes you all want to ballroom dance, huh? |
Posted in Inspirations on Parenting, Marriage, and Homeschooling
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Big Week for the Reishes: Disability Awareness Week This week is a big week for the Reishes! Cami (third child, 20, getting married in eight weeks!) is our church’s disability director. This week marks the first-ever Disability Awareness Week at our church. She (and her fiancé Joseph) has been working tirelessly to prepare for the week.
Then, to the delight of our family, our children (along with others involved in One Heart) performed part of the drama that Kara (fourth child, eighteen) wrote for the Luke 14 banquet. Kara directed it, and she and all three little boys performed in it. Lastly, a man who lost three of his limbs nearly thirty years ago in a car accident, who is a traveling evangelist with his family (also homeschoolers!) spoke. This afternoon, Cami had a special luncheon for the families involved in One Heart. It was an incredible, rewarding day for all of us. All week this week, the kids will continue to practice their drama (today they only performed about ten minutes of the thirty minute playlet they will give Friday night) and Cami and Joseph will finish the loose ends associated with the Luke 14 banquet. It looks as though they will serve nearly four hundred people a banquet, along with entertainment and Bible teaching. We are so excited and pleased to see the four younger kids working so selflessly to serve those who are less fortunate and need a loving touch from the body of Christ. You can see Cami’s One Heart promo, as well as the video about the Luke 14 banquet at the link below. They are September 21st and September 14th video announcements. I’m not sure how much longer they will be up there, but they are there now. Oh, and if you want to teach your children to serve, consider disability ministry. As you will see in the video clip, only five percent of those affected by disabilities are involved in church. There are social programs galore for these people, but they do not simply need more activities—they need to know Jesus—and their families need to know that there are Christians out there willing to give of themselves and help them. www.firstassemblyfw.org/VideoAnnoucements.php |
Posted in Inspirations on Parenting, Marriage, and Homeschooling
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Kayla Moved Away That which I greatly feared has come upon me: Kayla is all grown up and moved away from home! I thought I was sneaky talking Kayla and Cami into staying home while working on their undergraduate degrees. It was great—three to four more years to spend with them, that many more years of continual input into their younger siblings’ lives, oh…what a great idea. But all great ideas come to an end—and so has this one. Now this one may backfire on me—Kayla moved to TX in July and Cami is getting married in November. My “gradual-but-later” approach did not include two children moving from home at the same time! L I know, Kayla is twenty-two, has a nursing degree, and is preparing for ministry—but I still don’t want her to move! She graduated from Indiana-Purdue-University in She got a nursing position at The first six weeks she worked a lot, did her orientation and training at the hospital, and learned to drive in She is in a different stage of life than her “college-counterparts”—she leaves each weekend in scrubs to work twelve hour shifts at a huge hospital. She has one degree under her belt already. She is older than they are. She has written books; preached many, many times; taught the Bible for years and years; taught homeschooled students biology, chemistry, Spanish, apologetics, research paper, speech, debate, government, writing, math, and language arts; and much more. However, getting on campus and studying the Bible there (while working as a nurse) is what she has been waiting to do for some time. To be able to focus on biblical studies and sit under excellent Bible teachers are two things that she has longed for during her difficult three years in nurse’s training. And she is finally there! Hopefully, the “generation gap” and “experience gap” that will likely surface as she lives on a college campus won’t hinder her as she seeks to understand others’ needs and desires. Kayla is an incredible person. She is intellectually gifted while being dyslexically and dysgraphically challenged. She accepted Christ at a young age—and took that commitment seriously. She chose, on her own, at age thirteen, to make “mom her ministry.” She has served this family, and then later homeschoolers all around the world through her curriculum writing for the Advanced Training Institute, tirelessly. She is diligent, wise, deferential, resourceful, loyal, responsible, compassionate, generous, and selfless. We all miss her so much. We talk every day or every other day. Of course, she talks to her siblings every chance they can get her on the phone (the joy of cell phones). I do want God’s will for her—even if it doesn’t involve a little, white, wooden house in |
Posted in Inspirations on Parenting, Marriage, and Homeschooling
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Kara’s Home Kara arrived home safely after a summer of ministry with the Academy of Arts (http://www.theacademyofarts.org/) traveling drama team with Sanctify of Life (the same drama she traveled with last summer, but this summer she was near us—on the midwest team!). We are so happy to have her back home!! On the last night of the summer ministry, the academy holds a big closing ceremony in which all three traveling teams perform parts of their respective dramas, their home drama team performs, leaders give awards, etc. It is an awesome evening for everyone—seeing all of the young people’s hard work come to an end and sharing the fruits of their summer ministries. Unfortunately, Ray and I were not able to go down to South Carolina this year for the ceremony, but immediately following it, we received “the call”—the phone call from Kara telling us (through tears and cheers) that she had received her team’s “Academy Award”—the character award given to one young person on each team. She asked us if we were surprised that she received it. We told her that we were not the least bit surprised! It was fine if she didn’t receive it—if there was someone else on her team who won the award, great. However, we knew in our hearts, award or no award, that Kara displays the character of Christ in her life on a daily basis. And that made her and us all three happy! Of course, we had talked to Kara every “phone day” that she had throughout the summer, so we knew the challenges she faced—as well as the many, many times that she put herself behind others, gave others the best, preferred her teammates over herself, served asking nothing in return, etc. etc. As a matter of fact, when our kids (16 and up) are away serving in some capacity, or even when our younger kids are out helping with the disability ministry, riding with a friend to drama camp, etc. etc., we always challenge them when they return: Who did you serve? Who did you prefer before yourself? Who did you lift up? Anyway, Kara is now back home serving those closest to her—and serving in whatever context she finds herself. Her latest “project” includes writing, directing, and starring in a disability drama (The King, the Mountain, and the Love That Moved Them Both based on Luke 14) for our church’s disability awareness Sunday and at One Heart’s (the disability ministry directed by Cami, our third child) Luke 14 banquet. (Read more about these at www.homeschoolblogger.com/relationalhomeschool/593858/.) Additionally, she is now three months out from receiving her driver’s license, so she is carting the three little boys to play practices, One Heart, ultimate Frisbee days, the movies, McDonald’s, and Wal-mart. The four of them are having a great time—and we are all so happy to have Kara home—being the wonderful, sweet, diligent, responsible, resourceful, serving, loving, kind, wise, deferential, fun, personable, caring, understanding, empathetic eighteen year old that she is—and not just because she won an award! |
Posted in Recipes
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Cooking for Two--Using a Saucepan! Cami (twenty, third child, engaged to Joseph) wanted to cook food for a new mom, so she and I set out to cook for two adults—and one two year old. We had a blast! It was especially good for Cami to see how fast you can cook for two (since she has never cooked for less than six, and usually closer to ten!). We were both amazed how quickly it went—twelve entrees and/or sides made, froze, and cleaned up in a little over two hours. (We had never used the “sauce pans” in our pots and pans set to speak of except for a couple of boiled eggs for salad, etc. a time or two—and we were both in awe at how quickly water begins to boil in a little pan! One of my friends called when we were cooking, and I exclaimed, “I’m cooking in a saucepan!” over and over again—then my sauce pan promptly boiled over. I mean, those babies are fast! Someday when it’s just me and Ray, I’ll pull those sauce pans back out and have fun boiling something fast again! Check out our "menu" and "recipes" below!
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Posted in Recipes
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Dori's Wedding Reception
Cami and her fiancé Joseph blessed Joseph’s sister and her new husband by doing the food for their wedding reception. Joseph and his sister chose the menu, and I helped Cami and Joseph figure up the amounts, etc. They had a few glitches along the way---needing to make the punch at the last minute when they weren’t prepared to do so and dropping a glass bowl filled with several pounds of cheese ball (and the bowl shattering, resulting in starting over on the cheese balls), but overall they did an awesome job—and Cami, once again, saw the benefits of all of her early mega-cooking training days! The wrap recipe is Joseph’s own recipe—and he has gotten quite famous for it at his other sister’s wedding a few years ago and his brother’s graduation party a couple of years ago. (He has been a bachelor living alone or with his younger siblings for six years, so he’s had lots of cooking experience!) The other recipes were ours—mostly simple concoctions of cream cheese and something else—sure to please most guests with all that creaminess! J
Dori’s Wedding Reception With Recipes—to feed 300 Vegetables and Dip—6 trays of 8-10 lbs of veggies (48-60 lbs total) on each tray; 6 (16 oz) containers of dip Fruit and Dip—12 trays of 6 lbs of fruit each (approx 72 lbs total) and 8 “containers” of dip (recipe below, divided up) Dip—3 lbs marshmallow cream; 3 lbs cream cheese; vanilla 1. Cream the cream cheese with a beater/mixer. 2. Fold in and cream the marshmallow cream. Do not overmix. 3. Pour in vanilla as desired and stir. Cheese balls and Crackers—4 cheese balls of 4 lbs each; 8 boxes of crackers Recipe: 6 lbs cream cheese; 12 pkgs dried beef (6 oz packs); 3 bottles Italian dressing (16 oz each) 1. Cream the cream cheese with a beater/mixer. 2. Continue creaming while adding dressing. 3. Fold in dried beef that you have snipped into small pieces. 4. Mold and chill. Joseph’s Wraps—ingredients to feed 300: 15 lbs thinly sliced ham 15 lbs thinly sliced turkey 15 lbs sliced cheese (swiss and provolone for this; they like pepper jack too!) 6 lbs cream cheese 156 (12 inch) soft, four tortillas 1 large mustard 3 bottles ranch dip (not dressing) 3-5 lbs baby spinach Instructions:
(1) cream cheese (2) cheese slices (3) both meats (4) spinach (5) squirt of mustard (6) thin spread of ranch dip 2. Start at thick side of wrap and roll up loosely, keeping the meat in place as you roll. 3. End with the thin edge. 4. Wrap individual wraps in plastic wrap tightly and refrigerate. 5. Remove from fridge, cut off ends (and feed to helpers!), and cut in half, then cut those halves in half again.
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Posted in Recipes
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Mashed Potatoes--freezer side dish 20 lbs russet or 4 sticks butter 4 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper 1. Boil peeled potatoes until tender. 2. Mash potatoes in big mixer with white beater in 5 lb increments—first add butter, salt, and pepper to each load, then gradually add in warm cream or ½ and ½. 3. Freeze in 5 lb increments. 4. Label: Thaw. Reheat in micro or carefully on stove top, using wire whisk and warm cream or milk to soften and cream. Serves 8-12 people. |