He Has Given the Seasons

Fall Harvest

Fall harvest foods and cooler weather cooking is a tradition of kitchen lore that I'm willing to partake in, even though I don't fancy kitchen work much. Love my window framing wind blown golden leaves and the slanting light of early dusk as I chop and dice colorful produce. Love those oven roasted dishes that add warmth and aromas to my home as it takes on fall's early evening temperatures. Love the promise of supper's tasteful blessings. Love our traditional Grace, passed down from my Norwegian grandparents, blessing every meal.

Come Lord Jesus,

Be our guest.

Let these gifts to us

be blessed.

Amen.

You might enjoy adding this vegetable beauty to your menu one evening.

Layered Vegetable Casserole

Spray large casserole dish with cooking oil and fill with the following ingredients in layers:

1/2  c. uncooked rice, lightly salt

3 c. fresh or frozen cut green beans

3 sliced yellow squash, sprinkle lightly w/ sugar

4 green onion tops, diced

1 green pepper, diced

3 large tomatoes, sliced

salt & pepper to taste

Top with 3/4 stick butter, thinly sliced in pats.

Cover with aluminum foil. 

Bake for 1 & 1/2 hour at 350 degrees.

Check rice after 1 hour, if still raw add 1/2 c. boiling water. Continue to bake.

Begin with the first layer of uncooked rice sprinkled in the base of the greased casserole dish followed by a layer of green beans, gorgeous bright green, either frozen or fresh.

Sliced yellow squash is the third layer of garden bounty to grace this dish, seasoned with a hint of sugar over these yellow rimed disks ( that culinary wisdom from my mom-in-law).

Diced green pepper [this one really belted out the pepper fragrance as I chopped] and green onion tops compose the 4th layer of dotted flavor.

Now look at the beauty of these colors and pattern! Thinly sliced quarters of tomato. That's where the moisture to cook that rice comes from. If  you use less tomatoes, add 1/2 cup of hot  water to insure fully cooked rice.

Flavor dripping essence of dotted butter pats, salt, and pepper will trickle down through every veggie layer as this dish simmers in the oven. Really, when it's in your mouth you'll love this part! Cover with that aluminum foil to capture all the fresh produce mixture that's about to be released. Let the cool late afternoon temperatures descend on your home. Your oven will add a cozy warmth and aroma as these vegetables soften and mingle flavors for the next hour and a half.

Out of the oven, bubbling, ready to eat as an entrée or as a side dish. At my house it's a one pot, stand alone dinner with very little left over after we've stuffed ourselves with seconds. Delicious fall supper!




And add this to your kitchen musings; home cooking contributes to longevity, as in, you may just live longer.

Joining Ann Kroeker at tasty Food on Fridays, and other posts of praise here:

SUNDAY & here ...

The Bounty of the Lord

They will come and shout for joy...

they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord.

Jeremiah 31:12

There are more lovely photos and  praises to be enjoyed here:

SUNDAY , Food on Fridays, here & here ...

 

Invitation Accepted

Would the seat be empty or just apparently so?

Who might come to sit, ponder the moment, offer insight, share an exchange?

Might the companion be ethereal; ever present, attentive, ear inclined to whispers, murmurs, or sighs.

Might the seat be consistently held by listeners from places divine;

an angel of mercy, a guardian assigned, the spirit of the heavens, or the power MOST divine.

Would the seat ever be empty through a life given by sacred design?

Seated with glory in the kingdom beyond,

how could the preferred chair in the orchestra of my life
compare to the diadem most royal?

Yet the chair has been taken, claimed since memory could record.

The invitation accepted, a standing reservation filled.

The chair is never empty if the heart wills it so.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; 

I will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Joshua 1:5

Sharing moments of Saturday Stillness here...

and moments of Sunday photo praise here...

Pursuing a Grace-FULL Life

Precious drops of pink petals hanging gracefully from the thinest of tendrils. 

I hovered over them angling for a frame that best revealed their stunning form and intricate design. 

Does my Lord hover so tenderly, so intently over me searching my life for the most becoming elements, those becoming most Christ like? Does He capture a glimpse of something pleasing in the frame that reveals my pursuit of a Grace-FULL life?

Joyfully joining the Five Minute writing community using the prompt GRACEFUL. 

Visit and read more here...

Sharing moments of Saturday Stillnesses here...

Go to the House of the Lord

I rejoice with those who said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

                                                                              Psalm 122:1

Chapel doors stand transparent with handles smoothed for the grasping, eager to swing wide in invitation and hospitality. The Lord's church, living and breathing, welcomes the hungry heart to be nourished by praise, prayer, and  worship. I love the body of  Christ's church for all that it encourages me to be.

There are more lovely photo praises to be enjoyed here:

SUNDAY , & here...

I Will Tell of All Your Wonders

I will praise you,  
 O Lord, 

with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders.

Psalm 9:1

There are more lovely photo praises to be enjoyed here:

SUNDAY , & here...

Stop and be refreshed!