Happy Wednesday! It’s been a really great morning so far and I feel like I’ve started out accomplishing things and it gives me the momentum to keep it going! I’ve checked a few things off of my list and am excited to get more checked off as I go. I’ve made hubby’s breakfast and lunch, made a double batch of no sugar chocolate syrup for coffee and hot cocoa, and made two different kinds of low carb cereal for National Cereal Day – see below for details and pictures. Now I am getting ready to clean the house, do laundry and get things on their way to being organized around here. It’s a never ending job, but I can’t stop trying or it will get completely out of control . . . sort of like my never completed office project. *sigh*
Verse of the Day
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
God does know us. We cannot pretend we are something we are not with him. He knows us — inside and out, through and through. This should liberate us to share a remarkable degree of intimacy with him, but most of us run from such a close relationship with our Father. If our desire, however, is to become more like him, the only way to be transformed is by inviting him in to look at our hearts, our motivations, and our desires.
Food for Thought
What makes some people think that it is OK to be rude to others? Especially to people in the service industry? There are individuals out there who seem to be under the impression that there are others who should just take their verbal abuse with a smile, that the old adage that the customer is always right also implies that the customer can’t ever be wrong. When the abusive individual isn’t even a customer, just someone being rude to a business’s employee because it they feel entitled, they are just asking for one of those employees to snap and punch their lights out. Remember, no matte who you are dealing with on a daily basis, even if they annoy you, they are people too and deserve to be shown respect for the job that they do. If you happen to work WITH someone who is perpetually rude, well all I can say is you are a good person for tolerating it without either smacking them sideways or telling them off . . . I’d have to say that not wanting to be arrested and the need to keep your job are probably high on your priority list. As they should be.
National Be Heard Day – HELLO! HELLO? Is anyone listening? Today is National Be Heard Day and is a holiday set up as a way for small businesses and entrepreneurs to make their presence known in a world of large corporations, popular brands and big box stores. It is a day to help the “little guy” find their voices and be heard. It is good to be seen too. Use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest (or any social networking groups I am unaware of yet) to get your name and face out there.
This Day in History –
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell patents the Telephone.
1933 – Monopoly board game is invented.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Cereal Day – Rice Krispies mascots Snap, Crackle and Pop used to have a fourth brother, Pow. Around in the ’50s, he was created to represent the nutritional impact of the cereal. I remember when I was little we always had cereal in the house. Dad loved Shredded Wheat . . . I liked it a little then, but love it now. It gets pretty squishy so you have to eat it quickly though! My VERY favorite back then was Honeycomb. Do they even still make that? Of course, Captain Crunch was right up there on my happy eating list, never even knowing how terrible it was for us – all that sugar! It’s a wonder our generation even has teeth left. I thought this was an interesting bit of history regarding the start of cold cereals . . . John Harvey Kellogg served the first breakfast cereal during the week of March 7, 1897, to patients at his sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich. He and his brother “invented several foods made from grains, which were forced through rollers to make long sheets of dough. Called away while cooking wheat one day, when the brothers returned the wheat seemed overcooked. Funds were tight so they decided to put it through the rollers anyway, and as each wheat berry was flattened it emerged as a thin flake — they had accidentally invented ‘flaked’ cereal, and the Sanitarium became famous for its wheat and corn flakes”. Way to make a good thing out of an “oops”, right? One of the things that people who eat low carb generally do without is cereal. I’ve seen a couple of recipes that make me skeptical about how they taste, especially considering that one of the ingredients in one of them was crushed pork rinds. I don’t mind it as a breading in meat dishes, but I can say that I personally must draw the line at pork rinds in my cereal bowl. *shudder*. I did find a couple of really, lovely granola and cereal recipes that would qualify in my mind as cereal though. Here’s one by Kim at Low Carb Maven that I felt like I MUST try – so I did this morning! This one from Carolyn at All Day I Dream About Food looked pretty amazing too, so I made it as well! YUM! I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, but here are a few pictures. The first one is Carolyn’s Banana Nut Hemp Cereal, the second is Kim’s Really Good Low Carb Granola – and she should honestly have called it Really GREAT Low Carb Granola. They are both awesome.
- Cinnamon Munch
- Cocoa Pebbles Cookies
- Honey Snack Mix
- Rice Krispies Chocolate Dream Bars
- Golden Graham Cereal S’mores Squares
- Breakfast Cereal Muffins
National Crown Roast of Pork – I have never actually had Crown Roast of Pork, and I have to wonder, how is it really different from a regular pork roast? Can it truly be any different? I know it’s really expensive and let’s be honest, if it’s not a holiday, or a special occasion, is it really worth the extra cost when you can have a perfectly good pork roast instead? What do I know? I’ve never had one. It could be awesome and I’m just not aware of how awesome it is! You will have to tell me. Have you ever had Crown Roast of Pork? Was it amazing? I couldn’t find a reason for this one to be a celebration. I must just assume that the person who registered this one REALLY loves Crown Roast of Pork. I looked on www.allrecipes.com and found tons of recipes, but this one was the first one that had the cute little paper crowns on the roast, so I copied it for you.
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup peeled, cored and chopped tart apple
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground seasoned pork sausage
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
9 pounds crown pork roast
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
To Make Stuffing: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When foam subsides add onion and saute, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. Stir in celery and apples; saute (without browning) about 5 minutes longer. Scrape skillet contents into a large mixing bowl. Add bread crumbs, ground pork, sausage meat, parsley, sage, salt and pepper. Mix together gently but thoroughly. (Note: Do not taste the uncooked stuffing, for it contains raw pork; instead, fry a small ball of the stuffing in the skillet, then taste and season with more salt and pepper as necessary). Fill the center of the crown with the stuffing, mounding it slightly. Cover it with a round of aluminum foil and wrap the ends of the chop bones in strips of foil to prevent them from charring and snapping off. Place the crown on a rack in a shallow roasting pan just large enough to hold it comfortably, and roast in the center of the oven, undisturbed, for about 3 hours or until internal temperature of meat is 175 degrees F (80 degrees C). (Note: 30 minutes before pork is done, remove the foil from the top of the stuffing to allow the top to brown.) Carefully transfer the crown to a large, heated, circular platter, strip the foil from the ends of the chops and replace it with paper frills. Let the crown rest for about 10 minutes before carving and serving.
To Carve Pork: Insert a large fork in the side of the crown to steady it and, with a large, sharp knife, cut down through each rib to detach the chops. Two chops per person is a customary portion accompanied by a generous serving of the stuffing.
Well, my coffee is nearly gone, my tummy is happy with this morning’s breakfast, and it is time to start working on that list. May your day be as productive as I hope mine will be! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.