Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Prayer for the Economy?
Can you pray for a bailout?
In today's New York Times article about Detroit churches praying for a bailout:
The S.U.V.’s on the stage, a Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Escape and Chrysler Aspen on loan from local dealerships, were all gas-electric hybrids, and Bishop Ellis urged worshipers to combat the region’s woes by mixing hope with faith in God.
Is this really how prayer works?
Certainly we can pray for the strength to make it through tough times. We can pray for the ability to help ourselves and others. We can even pray for wisdom - for ourselves and our lawmakers.
Prayer, I believe, is within us. God is not a magic candy dispenser, giving us a gumball for a quarter, a bailout for a prayer. Faith must, I believe, be coupled with the inner work of the self and the outer work of culitvating our connection to humankind.
My prayer for today:
May difficult times bring us the power to help each other. May we all be blessed with the prosperity of spirit that will bring us together and uplift us even in dark days. May we find inner peace and outer community.
May we all be blessed.
Some Related and Possibly Useful Posts:
Human Rights
Change the World, One Sandwich at a Time
Growing My Own
Gifts of Tzedakah
The Obama Family Thanksgiving
and please consider donating to this DonorsChoose project which is about to expire.
In today's New York Times article about Detroit churches praying for a bailout:
The S.U.V.’s on the stage, a Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Escape and Chrysler Aspen on loan from local dealerships, were all gas-electric hybrids, and Bishop Ellis urged worshipers to combat the region’s woes by mixing hope with faith in God.
Is this really how prayer works?
Certainly we can pray for the strength to make it through tough times. We can pray for the ability to help ourselves and others. We can even pray for wisdom - for ourselves and our lawmakers.
Prayer, I believe, is within us. God is not a magic candy dispenser, giving us a gumball for a quarter, a bailout for a prayer. Faith must, I believe, be coupled with the inner work of the self and the outer work of culitvating our connection to humankind.
My prayer for today:
May difficult times bring us the power to help each other. May we all be blessed with the prosperity of spirit that will bring us together and uplift us even in dark days. May we find inner peace and outer community.
May we all be blessed.
Some Related and Possibly Useful Posts:
Human Rights
Change the World, One Sandwich at a Time
Growing My Own
Gifts of Tzedakah
The Obama Family Thanksgiving
and please consider donating to this DonorsChoose project which is about to expire.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Take the (Carrot) Cake
My cousin had a birthday this week, and so I baked him a carrot cake.
The list keeps growing of people who love this cake, who hope or expect (um, husband) a carrot cake for their birthday or sometimes when their favorite team loses the SuperBowl.
This past summer I suggested to make this cake for a friend's birthday. She protested, "oh, you don't have to do it." Her 7-year-old son came up behind her and whispered (loudly), "Take the cake, mom!" I delivered it on her birthday!
Even kids like this carrot cake.
Growing up, my Bubbie Rose (bubbie is Yiddish for grandmother) made it for our special occasions or whenever we begged for it! I used to put a piece on my plate on its side and eat it all the way up to the frosting and then eat the frosting last. It was quite a cake-eating-ritual. But Bubbie says my cake is even better than hers...I think she's biased, because she likes me better than cake.
I have made a few adjustments to Bubbie's cake. I've replaced most of the oil with applesauce and I'm pretty free and easy with the measurements in general. It always comes out for me.
Here goes:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar (technically you're supposed to sift with the flour but I often skip that part)
2 cups grated carrots (I usually throw 2 cups of baby carrots into the food processor and chop them up really finely)
1/2 cup oil
1 cup applesauce (I use the unsweetened kind and I think the unsweetend chunky is best, but it's hard to find.)
16 oz. crushed pineapple with juice
3 eggs (egg substitute works fine)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Mix the dry ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients plus the nuts.
Put into a greased and floured 9x13 cake pan.
Bake at 350 (*325 if using a glass pan) degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
Let cool completely.
Frosting:
Blend 8 oz cream cheese, 4 oz powdered sugar, 1/4 cup butter, a little vanilla and a splash of milk if needed in the food processor or mixer...spread on the cake and lick the spatula.
I have actually made this into a layer cake before but it's just too much work. I frost it right in the 9x13 pan and we never have any leftovers!!!
--
Five Places I've Been This Week...
Take a Weekly Retreat
Ugg Cargo Boots (I've got a birthday coming up, it's a good idea to point out)
Picture Perfect Snowflakes
Chocolate Cobbler....looks delightful
Meshuggah Mommy's Thanksgiving with Adopted Sailors - beautiful and so touching
From my delicious
Where have you been?
P.S. This week's Haveil Havalim is up over here. It's a good one!
P.P.S. Please read my post about this about-to-expire DonorsChoose project!
The list keeps growing of people who love this cake, who hope or expect (um, husband) a carrot cake for their birthday or sometimes when their favorite team loses the SuperBowl.
This past summer I suggested to make this cake for a friend's birthday. She protested, "oh, you don't have to do it." Her 7-year-old son came up behind her and whispered (loudly), "Take the cake, mom!" I delivered it on her birthday!
Even kids like this carrot cake.
Growing up, my Bubbie Rose (bubbie is Yiddish for grandmother) made it for our special occasions or whenever we begged for it! I used to put a piece on my plate on its side and eat it all the way up to the frosting and then eat the frosting last. It was quite a cake-eating-ritual. But Bubbie says my cake is even better than hers...I think she's biased, because she likes me better than cake.
I have made a few adjustments to Bubbie's cake. I've replaced most of the oil with applesauce and I'm pretty free and easy with the measurements in general. It always comes out for me.
Here goes:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar (technically you're supposed to sift with the flour but I often skip that part)
2 cups grated carrots (I usually throw 2 cups of baby carrots into the food processor and chop them up really finely)
1/2 cup oil
1 cup applesauce (I use the unsweetened kind and I think the unsweetend chunky is best, but it's hard to find.)
16 oz. crushed pineapple with juice
3 eggs (egg substitute works fine)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Mix the dry ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients plus the nuts.
Put into a greased and floured 9x13 cake pan.
Bake at 350 (*325 if using a glass pan) degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
Let cool completely.
Frosting:
Blend 8 oz cream cheese, 4 oz powdered sugar, 1/4 cup butter, a little vanilla and a splash of milk if needed in the food processor or mixer...spread on the cake and lick the spatula.
I have actually made this into a layer cake before but it's just too much work. I frost it right in the 9x13 pan and we never have any leftovers!!!
--
Five Places I've Been This Week...
Take a Weekly Retreat
Ugg Cargo Boots (I've got a birthday coming up, it's a good idea to point out)
Picture Perfect Snowflakes
Chocolate Cobbler....looks delightful
Meshuggah Mommy's Thanksgiving with Adopted Sailors - beautiful and so touching
From my delicious
Where have you been?
P.S. This week's Haveil Havalim is up over here. It's a good one!
P.P.S. Please read my post about this about-to-expire DonorsChoose project!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Please help - Time is Running Out
Only 29 days remain on this Donors Choose project.
Here's what Mrs. M says about her program:
As a new teacher at a junior high last year, I enthusiastically developed an after-school Book Club for Girls. This new extracurricular activity was a smashing success, particularly with bilingual and socially-challenged girls who may not have otherwise joined an after-school club. A group of approximately fifteen girls met weekly to discuss book and life related issues of friendship, diversity, peer pressure and determination. This group of girls, representing a plethora of races, languages, religions and ages, put aside their differences as they bonded over great literature.
This project only needs $312 more. If each of my wonderful subscribers (I know there are a bunch of you!) clicked over to the left <---- where the Donors Choose widget is, or clicked on that link above, and gave just a few dollars of your tzedakah money....we will fund this great project, helping girls gain so much from reading. I know there are a lot of causes out there in the world, but I'm hoping you'll help me and these students out here today.
It is customary to give tzedakah (charity) before Shabbat begins. So click over today....you certainly won't regret it and it will help out.
Thanks so much and Shabbat Shalom!
Here's what Mrs. M says about her program:
As a new teacher at a junior high last year, I enthusiastically developed an after-school Book Club for Girls. This new extracurricular activity was a smashing success, particularly with bilingual and socially-challenged girls who may not have otherwise joined an after-school club. A group of approximately fifteen girls met weekly to discuss book and life related issues of friendship, diversity, peer pressure and determination. This group of girls, representing a plethora of races, languages, religions and ages, put aside their differences as they bonded over great literature.
This project only needs $312 more. If each of my wonderful subscribers (I know there are a bunch of you!) clicked over to the left <---- where the Donors Choose widget is, or clicked on that link above, and gave just a few dollars of your tzedakah money....we will fund this great project, helping girls gain so much from reading. I know there are a lot of causes out there in the world, but I'm hoping you'll help me and these students out here today.
It is customary to give tzedakah (charity) before Shabbat begins. So click over today....you certainly won't regret it and it will help out.
Thanks so much and Shabbat Shalom!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Ima's Breakfast Menu
I am so tired of fighting over breakfast. Most of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook know that my kids have been getting up super-early lately, and then can be crabby. (Me too!) This means that they tend to fight about whatever I offer for breakfast. And I really believe that giving choices just invites problems. Also, we have been going through frozen waffles like crazy and they're not so cheap!
So I invented the "Breakfast Menu."
Not only did I make a menu, but I now make a big deal about each day's food.
Here's the Menu:
Monday: Yogurt and Cereal
Tuesday: Muffins (and cereal)
Wednesday: Pancakes
Thursday: (Frozen) Waffles
Friday: CheeseToast & cereal
(Saturday and Sunday are more free-for-alls....)
The biggest hits are, of course, Muffin Tuesday and Pancake Wednesday. These even have songs composed in their honor.
How, you might ask, do I serve muffins in the morning? I make them over the weekend or whenever I have time and freeze them, of course! Pancake Wednesday is a little trickier. Sometimes I measure out all the "pancake sugar" (as David called it once) the night before. But today I made this recipe for a Baked Pancake (found via this great blog) and it was a huge hit. One of my kids even said: "Pancake Wednesday should always be this kind of pancake!" (I think I could measure it all into the blender, refrigerate overnight, and then whizz it up in the morning for a really speedy thing.)
Hey, it works for me.
So I invented the "Breakfast Menu."
Not only did I make a menu, but I now make a big deal about each day's food.
Here's the Menu:
Monday: Yogurt and Cereal
Tuesday: Muffins (and cereal)
Wednesday: Pancakes
Thursday: (Frozen) Waffles
Friday: CheeseToast & cereal
(Saturday and Sunday are more free-for-alls....)
The biggest hits are, of course, Muffin Tuesday and Pancake Wednesday. These even have songs composed in their honor.
How, you might ask, do I serve muffins in the morning? I make them over the weekend or whenever I have time and freeze them, of course! Pancake Wednesday is a little trickier. Sometimes I measure out all the "pancake sugar" (as David called it once) the night before. But today I made this recipe for a Baked Pancake (found via this great blog) and it was a huge hit. One of my kids even said: "Pancake Wednesday should always be this kind of pancake!" (I think I could measure it all into the blender, refrigerate overnight, and then whizz it up in the morning for a really speedy thing.)
Hey, it works for me.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Why This Is A Great Picture
How on EARTH am I supposed to get a family picture with everyone actually smiling and looking at the camera!? What do you do?
My dad took this picture on Thanksgiving and it is a great shot of me and my husband, and even David....but Sam and Yael just don't want to look in unison at the camera.
Oh well....
Go see other people's best shots this weekend....
Check out this week's Haveil Havalim, too!
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