Fiery Furnace Bible Craft

Posted by Lori:

Tomorrow morning our "All Aboard!" Vacation Bible School (VBS) begins.  The lesson for tomorrow is about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego being thrown into the fiery furnace.  I found a great printable page on Danielle's Place (must pay for this lesson) for the three men and the other who looked to be a "son of God" (it shows it as an angel).  I decided to use it in a different way, but wanted to share it with you.

Materials needed:
2 small paper plates (dessert size)
1 print out of 3 men and "son of God"
red, orange, and yellow tissue paper pieces
Glue (I used a hot glue gun, but will let the kids use glue sticks for their craft)

This final picture isn't showing the 3D effect like it really has, so you'll just have to imagine it to look that way! 

Take one small dessert paper plate and cut an arched shape from the middle and edge of it.  Keep the piece to serve as the base and stand.  On the other paper plate, glue scrunched yellow, orange, and red tissue paper.  Then glue the picture of the men on top of that.  Glue the cut plate upside down on top of the tissue paper/people.  It will look like they are inside of the furnace in 3D fashion.  Glue more pieces of scrunched tissue paper across the front, lower part of the men.  Glue the cut out piece on the back of the whole paper plate, creating a stand for the craft.

Memorial Day

Posted by Donna: Instead of a recipe, I decided to post the words to my favorite patriotic song. I love anything patriotic. My favorite sight while driving into our town from the east is the huge American Flag. It gives me goosebumps when I see it.


God Bless America by Irving Berlin

While the storm clouds gather
Far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance
To a land that's free.
Let us all be grateful
For a land so fair,
As we raise our voices
In a solemn prayer.
God Bless America
Land that I love,
Stand beside her
And guide her
Thru the night with a light from above;
From the mountains, To the prairies
To the oceans white with foam,
God Bless America
My home sweet home.



Have a Great Memorial Day!!!!!

Luscious Grape Salad

Posted by Lori:

This is a new recipe from Kraft.  Sounds DELICIOUS!  I've used the cooking creme before and really liked it.  Sounds like a great recipe for a Memorial Day cookout!

1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Original Cooking Creme
1/4cup packed brown sugar
4 cups each seedless green and red grapes, halved
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
1/2cup PLANTERS Slivered Almonds, toasted

MIX cooking creme and sugar in large bowl.  Refrigerate up to 24 hours before serving.

HOW TO TOAST NUTS

Toasting nuts adds crunch and intensifies their flavor. To toast nuts in the oven, spread nuts in single layer in shallow baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 8 to 10 min. or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. To toast nuts on the stovetop, place nuts in ungreased skillet. Cook on medium heat until golden brown, stirring frequently. To toast nuts in the microwave, place up to 1 cup of nuts in a microwaveable shallow dish. Microwave on HIGH until fragrant and crisp, stirring every 30 sec.

Molten Lava Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by Lori:

I got this recipe via email from Pillsbury.  Sounds so yummy!! 
 See their website for a pretty photo, too!

Molten Lava Chocolate Chip Cookies

1

roll Pillsbury® refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

9

teaspoons semisweet chocolate chips

Ice cream, if desired

Chocolate-flavored syrup, if desired

Maraschino cherries, if desired

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray.
• Remove cookie dough from wrapper. Spoon 1 tablespoon dough into each muffin cup. With fingers, press dough to flatten in cups.
• Place 1 teaspoon chocolate chips on top of dough in each cup. Place additional 1 tablespoon dough over chips in each cup; press lightly to flatten.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Cool in pan about 10 minutes.
• Remove warm cookies from muffin cups. Top each with ice cream, chocolate syrup and 1 cherry.

Pineapple Palm Tree

Posted by Lori:

Last Friday night was our school's Junior-Senior Banquet. (Note:  To see the from a "Red Carpet Affair", click HERE).  To decorate the chocolate fountain area, one of the moms made two pineapple palm trees. Isn't it cute??!  Do make, gather desired number of pineapples.  Chop the tops off of each of them and stack them together with a dowel stick.  Decorate the very top pineapple with palm leaves (she used fern leaves because my palm leaves looked "sickly"!  And there you have it!  Your pineapple palm tree!

Skinny Recipes

Posted by Lori:

I apologize for no recipes lately.  It's the end of the school year, and life is crazy!  But it's crazy and fun - all at the same time!  You most likely understand what I mean.  It's been crazy for Mom and Kimberly, too.  Maybe this summer we'll be trying new things again.  I know my four children are hoping so, anyway.  They wouldn't care if it's new or old.....as long as I'm cooking!

Here is a neat site I just came across.  Thought I'd share it will you:  www.skinnytaste.com

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Crock Pot Italian Beef

Posted by Lori:

Oh, this is YUMMY!!!  I actually cooked it in the oven because I didn't think I had enough time to cook it in the crock pot, but I ended up cooking it a long time, anyway, so I could have.  Either way, it was great!

3 to 5 pound beef roast
2 packages brown gravy mix, dry
2 packages Italian dressing mix, dry
2 cups water

Put roast in crock pot.  Mix all other ingredients and pou over roast.  Cook on high 4 - 6 hours or on low 6-8 hours.  Remove roast, shred up and put back into juice.  We served this with garlic mashed potatoes and Italian bread (found on this blog, using biscuits).  So, so good!
 

Teacher Appreciation Week

Posted by Lori:

Typically the crafty type, this doesn't appear to be very crafty.  Why?  Because mom sent me this cute idea, but while I was in the middle Mexican for today's luncheon in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, I left this job to my husband and two middle boys.  Crafty isn't their forte'!!  But, it's done.  And I'm thankful it is!

The little note attached to the water bottle says:  "Thanks for all you do by QUENCHING our students' "Thirst for knowledge".  Mom said she saw where the lemonade packet was attached to the bottle and the little note had a lemon motif, but I knew that many of our teachers were doing weight loss programs and would rather have a lower calorie drink, but some might want the real sugar stuff.  I opted to just put a small container of selections near the water bottles for the luncheon.

What a great idea!!  Thanks for the idea, Mom!  And for whoever came up with this idea - thank you, too!

Husband Pleasing Meal

Posted by Donna: I thought this might be a good post to score brownie points with your husband. It's not a new recipe--just a combination of a couple of things. Larry loves this--and I scored brownie points last Friday. Brown about a 1/2 lb. of hamburger meat. Add flour, salt, and pepper and continue to stir over medium heat until mixed well. Add milk and stir until it thickens into gravy consistency. Serve the hamburger/gravy mixture on top of biscuits. Of course, sausage can be used as well. So simple, but definitely a husband pleaser.

Sunshine Cupcake

(Photo from Taste of Home)

Posted by Lori:

Doesn't this just make you smile?  Reminds me of the song, "I Can See Clearly Now" with the lyrics, "it's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day!" This would be a cute "Creation - Day 4" snack for special treat at Bible class or VBS, too!

Here's the link for the Taste of Home recipe:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Sunshine-Cupcakes

Grape Salad

Posted by Lori:

This is an unusual, but very good salad.  It is from a cookbook I received from the Waynoka, OK, church ladies after speaking there for their spring ladies' day in March.  With grape at their peak season right now, be sure to try out this delicious salad!

Grape Salad

3 pounds red seedless grapes
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup  brown sugar

Mix the cream cheese and sugar together;  add the sour cream.  Mix the grapes and cream cheese mixture together.  Warm the pecans and add the brown sugar.  Sprinkle this on top of the salad.
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