Thursday Thoughts . . .

We had our Relief Society Presidency meeting last night. (The Relief Society is the World's longest running Women's Organization, having been founded in 1842, and now having over 5.2 milllion members in over 170 countries. ) As most of you know I am in the leadership of our Ward's Relief Society. There are three of us as well as our Secretary and we meet together every two weeks to discuss the needs of the Sisters in our Ward and plan Lessons, Activities, etc. for them. It's all about love . . . love for the Saviour, love for the sisters, and love for our Heavenly Father.



We always start our meeting off with a prayer, and then one of us shares a spiritual thought with the others. I just loved the Spiritual thought that was shared last evening and wanted to share it with you this morning. The sister who shared it began by speaking about the Saviour and how most people know who He is, and if asked would certainly say that they believe in Jesus Christ . . . perhaps they may think He was a great man, a man of great historical import, a great teacher, etc. I don't think you would get many who would deny He existed. She then went on to ask . . . but do you believe Jesus Christ??? There is a big difference between believing "in" Jesus Christ and "Believing" Jesus Christ. Even Satan believed "in" the Saviour . . .

It really started me thinking about the difference and has stayed with me all night through.


(I love the art of Simon Dewey)

I believe in the Saviour of course. I always have . . . but it is not enough to merely believe "in" Him . . . to be a true Disciple of Christ, one must always believe Him. That means we take everything He said, everything He did, everything He taught and everything He promised, to be the absolute truth with no variance or grey areas involved.

That means we believe without a doubt that He is the only begotten of the Father in the flesh . . . that He came to save us and show us the way, that His life is the only example we need to follow, and His teachings are all we need to know. That He loved us with an infinite love and still does. That He cares intimately for each of us in a very personal way, despite any faults or shortcomings we may have. That He will return again one day to restore God's Kingdom here on earth.


(again Simon Dewey)

Faith in Jesus Christ means believing Him . . . it is a firm conviction without deviance that He is who He says He is and that He will help us when we seek Him. It means trusting in Him, remembering Him and following His teachings. It means knowing He is the son of God and that He is the only way, the truth and the light.

As we follow His example and teachings . . . and live our lives according to His words, we can become like Him . . . we can become one with Him and our lives will be changed in immeasurable ways . . . for the better. Having faith in Jesus Christ is more than a belief and a knowing . . . it is a source of power that we can renew each day through prayer, study and the desire to follow Him.



It is simply not enough to know who He was and is . . . we must know Him. This is the knowledge which will help even the weakest of us to walk on water . . .

Just my thoughts this morning.

Hot and sticky weather = crockpot weather. Yes, I have been using my crockpot again and . . . in a very tasty way . . .



*Crock Pot Pork Chops with Salsa Beans*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

Tender pork chops cooked with a tasty bean mixture, the perfect combination and size just for two people. It can very easily be multiplied to feed more if you wish. Do take the trouble to brown your chops first as this adds a lot of flavour to the finished dish.

2 bone-in center-cut pork loin chops (1/2 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon peppered seasoned salt
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup chunky salsa
1 can (8 oz) baked beans, undrained

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat (Spray first with nonstick cooking spray). Sprinkle pork chops with the peppered seasoned salt. Place them into the heated skillet. Fry for 2 to 4 minutes or until nicely browned on both sides.


Mix the corn, salsa and beans in a 1 1/2 quart slow cooker. Top with the browned pork chops, overlapping them as necessary, and pressing them gently into the bean mixture.

Cover and cook on low heat for four to five hours. I like to serve this with a salad of some sort and baked potatoes.



Cooking in The English Kitchen today, Corned Beef, Sweetcorn and Red Onion Hash!

Monday Morning Ponderings . . . and a winner

He leadeth me beside the still waters,
He restoreth my soul.
~Psalm 23

We, each of us, start to form an emotional history almost as soon as we are born. The mother's breast and nurturing sustenance . . . touching a hot stove, fear of fire . . . in a tender moment, a hand is slapped and fear of love begins. Our emotions and reflexes run deep within us. Our heart can be found beneath our emotional history . . . like a soft sandy shoal, waiting beneath the waters of our existence.



In order to see ourselves clearly, we have to try to still our emotional history until the waters of our existence are still and calm, like a quiet transparent lake, clear enough that we and other's can see through to the bottom. This is when it becomes possible for us to connect with others and to form relationships, for love to begin.



However when someone moves out to touch our hearts . . . the water is stirred, sending up ripples, and making it difficult for us . . . and them . . . to see what really matters. We need to learn to stay with our deepest feelings long enough for the emotional associations with touch and love . . . or the ripples caused by the disturbing of our waters . . . to settle. Nobody can escape this. Each of us, no matter how innocent or experienced in love we may be . . . each of us has experienced love, for good or for bad . . . has been in relationships, now or in the past and we carry our emotional baggage with us, like a ship upon the waters. When someone tries to reach into our waters . . . our baggage gets jostled and the water can become very muddy indeed.



We must stay patient . . . and still our hearts, so that we . . . and they . . . can see clearly the joy that is there to discover, and the new stories and emotions that are waiting to be written upon our souls. This peaces come from trusting in the Lord, allowing Him to direct our paths, and knowing that, if we listen to and trust in that still small voice, everything will be ok.

Just my ponderings this morning . . .

I remembered this morning to pull a winner on my giveaway last week, and I pulled number 4. Lyn, send me your address and any details you may want on the hearts, family names etc. and I'll print one out and it will be winging it's way to you pronto! Congratulations!

I like to use my slow cooker on Sundays most weeks. That way we can have a tasty dinner waiting for us when we get home. We're always starved when we get home on Sunday afternoon. The temptation to just chow down on anything is so great, it's much easier if dinner is ready and waiting. If I've had enough forethought to pop something into the crock pot in the morning, that is not a problem!



*Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings*
Serves 5
Printable Recipe

Easy peasy and helps to keep the kitchen cool in the summer heat. You can just pop everything into the slow cooker in the morning and then go on about the business of your day, knowing supper is already dealt with.

2 1/2 to 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 pound small red potatoes (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter)
1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped ( 3/4 cup)
2 cups baby-cut carrots
5 1/4 cups chicken broth
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp summer savoury
1 small bay leaf
2 cups baking mix
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons parsley flakes

Place chicken, potatoes, onion and carrots in 6-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle with some salt, black pepper and the summer savoury. Add broth and bay leaf.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 9 to 10 hours.

Increase heat setting to high. Stir together baking mix, water and parsley in medium bowl. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto hot chicken mixture. Cover and cook 45 to 50 minutes or until dumplings are dry in center.

Spoon out into bowls to serve, discarding the bay leaf when you find it. Delicious!



Baking in The English Kitchen today, a delicious English Pea, Spinach and Gruyere Tart!

Poetry Saturday . . . I met a man . . .

I met a man in love with life,
Who felt the magic of the world,
Whose heart thrilled to the commonplace,
Smoke from a chimney lightly curled,
The blue upon the distant hills,
The blessed gold of daffodils.



His eyes beheld the rainbow's hue,
And marvelled at the sky's clear blue,
A clump of marigolds . . . a tree,
The golden wonder of a bee.
A woven nest against the eaves,
The scarlet tracery of leaves.



He loved to see the shadows crawl,
Along a quiet garden wall,
As night was settling on the town;
He loved a dog's soft coat of brown,
The furry warmth against his skin,
A kinship you could almost see.



He loved his church and found therein,
A sweet forgiveness of all sin;
A happy man in love with life;
Proud of his children, and his wife,
Taking the day for what it brought,
And clothing it, in happy thought.



A man in love with Simple things,
Who wouldn't trade his lot with kings.
~Edna Jaques, Fireside Poems



I hope you've enjoyed the poem and the pictures I have shared here this morning. They are all pictures that I took at Scotney Castle several years ago. That was a place that Todd and I loved to go. It was breathtakingly beautiful any time of the year and it was no small wonder it was known as one of England's most romantic gardens! With a beautiful moated castle surrounded by beautiful gardens it was a place we frequently visited.

Yesterday we popped off to one of the trading estates close by to pick up a new mouse for the laptop. I can't get on with the mouse pad on the laptop. It is ok for some things, but I like a real mouse for most things and the mouse I had was beginning to cock up! Anyways we found one in the Curry's shop and then I said to Todd, lets have a look at the mobile phones. I wanted to upgrade at some point to a more modern phone that you could do e-mail and such on. We couldn't find the phones but a nice young lad kindly directed us to the area where they were and we were looking and I was pointing out the different features etc. Then a sales person came over and started to talk to us and he told us he could give us this really wow phone for free, and not only that . . . he could give us £150 cash in hand for my old phone! To make a long story short, we walked out of there with not only a new mouse, but a great new phone and a Nintento Wii Sport system so that I can whoop Todd's arse at bowling and such, and all we paid for was the mouse! I am on a phone contract, but I was anyways, so that's no biggie. I have a new mobile phone number now though, so if you had my old one, it won't work , and I need to send you my new one. E-mail me!

We are supposed to have a heat wave starting today. I'm not sure about that, but Todd and I are going to be optomistic and go to Llangollen this afternoon for a walk and a drink, while my knee is behaving pretty well. (Here's hoping it lasts for a bit longer this time.) We might even take Mitzie, depending on if it is showery or not. If it is showery we won't because if it starts to rain we will want to pop inside and we can't do that with a dog in tow!!

I'll probably pop something into the slow cooker for our tea, something like this delicious bean dish here today. SO easy to make and quite delicious! You can't really find the Great Northern Beans over here in the UK, but no worries, I used tinned haricot beans, which work out very well! You could actually use any mixture of tinned beans and it always tastes great. I've even used chickpeas! If you want a heartier dish, add some browned beef or turkey mince and some sliced smoked sausage! Delicious!!



*Slow Cooker Tex Mex Beans*
Makes 14 (1/2 cup) servings
Printable Recipe

Hearty and delicious. You will want to serve these with some warm cornbread or a crusty loaf to sop up all of that delicious sauce!

2 (15 1/2 ounce) tins of great northern beans, drained and rinsed
2 (15 1/2 ounce) tins of black beans, drained and rinsed
8 fluid ounces of tomato sauce (tomato passata)
1 (4 1/2 ounce) tin of chopped green chilies
3/4 cup of your favourite barbeque sauce
3/4 cup of chunky tomato salsa
1/4 cup soft light brown sugar, firmly packed

Combine all the ingredients in a 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker. Mix together well. Cover and cook on low for at least 4 1/2 hours, until the flavours are well blended and heated through. Delicious!

Note: you can make it heartier by adding some well browned minced beef, and or sliced smoked sausage!



Baking in The English Kitchen today, a delicious Oatmeal Cake!

Marie's Sunday Six

Welcome to my Sunday post of smilemakers, that wonderful ending (or beginning, depending on how you look at it!) to my week where I get to dwell on all that is good in my life. I always struggle just pinning it down to six. There are so many blessings in my life and I am so very lucky to have a mind and heart that is able to seek them out and to accept them for what they are! Everyone has blessings in their lives, but not everyone is able to see them. I am a very lucky woman indeed because I can and I do!!



Sunny days and blue skies made me smile all week long!!! Oh what a beautiful spring we are having. Some days it was not so warm, as there was a very cold wind, but the sun kept shining and it did my heart good. It is always so good to see the sun shining brightly after a long cold winter and we have certainly had a doozie of a winter this year! Worst on record for over fifty years they said. This sunshine and the warmer days are long over due and I have relished each and every one of them!! Here's to many, many more!!



Long walks with my sweetie pie! Because of the nice, dry weather we have been having, Todd and I have been able to go on nice long walks just about every day!! Sometimes even twice a day! Todd and I have always enjoyed going for walks. That is one of the things that we love most to do together. We always hold hands. It is so nice to have a companion in life that I can do things with, that I can enjoy just being with. We do not have to do anything special. We just have to walk. We don't have to go anywhere special. We just have to walk. It is a blessing to have a special person in my life that I can just be "me" with and who understands who I am and why I am the way I am, and who loves me for the "me" I am!!



There is a wonderful program in my church called the Visiting Teaching Program. It is more than just visiting another sister in the church or sharing a thought with them. It's about connecting with them, supporting them, forging relationships and making friends. I was not able to really participate in the program fully when I was down South. I had very limited time when I was not at work because of the hours I worked, and because of the other demands on my time from my employer. I missed it so very much. Oh . . . I did regularly send out letters and cards to some of the inactive ladies in my Ward, but it was not the same as being able to visit them face to face and connect with them. Each month my own Visiting Teachers always found the time to come and see me, and I loved those visits so very much. I always felt bad though that I was not able to do the same. I am so happy now to be able to participate fully in the program again and to be able to go out and visit my sisters in the church!!! Visiting Teaching is one of those special activities that blesses both the giver and the receiver, and I am so very grateful for it! To be able to do it again makes me smile!



Working in the garden again makes me smile! We went yesterday and got some baby cabbages to plant and some other seeds. We filled our hanging baskets with petunias, and our pots with geraniums. We planted a salad garden . . . we covered our baby plants with all the little bottles from the water that I drink each day. You just cut the bottom off and discard the lids. They make excellent little cloche's to help to protect the plants until the danger of frost is past. The plant can breathe through the top opening etc. You can make really big ones using really big water bottles, like the ones at a water cooler as well. It feels good to be able to dig in the earth. One never feels closer to God than when in a Garden. I wonder if this feeling hearkens back to when Adam and Eve were in the Garden and they walked and talked with God??? Who knows!! I only know for sure that it feels good to get my hands dirty and to be doing something to help to provide sustenance for Todd and myself. We planted cabbages, carrots, beets, two kinds of beans, peas, butternut squash and courgettes, oh . . . and the salad garden! Fingers crossed they all do well!!



Talking on the phone to Lura! That always makes me smile! With her having gone on country wide jaunts, and me having moved halfway across England, we had not been able to talk on the telephone for a number of weeks! Talking to Lura on the telephone has always been one of the highlights of my weeks. We do not talk for hours and hours, but we enjoy every minute of the time we do have together on the phone. It is always so good to hear each other's voices and to connect in the special way that ware able to! Finally this week we were able to talk to each other again and it was wonderful to hear her voice! In truth she is never very far from me, as I hold her in my heart, but sometimes it's really nice to have tangible evidence of our wonderful friendship in the form of a voice connection! It would be even nicer if we lived in the same neighbourhood, but I reckon we will have to wait until the eternities for that. I think we'll have to request adjoining mansions when we get there! Do you think John and Todd will be able to stand it?? Well, I reckon so! If they can put up with us now, they can do so even more so then, coz they'll be perfect you know! And so will we! I can't wait to be able to wow Todd with my younger, more beautiful me! He won't be so shabby either! Ohh, that's another thought that makes me smile! ☺



Getting stuck back in to creating makes me smile!! I have had such a productive week this past week . . . making dolls, painting, planning, sorting out my craft room, etc. Nothing else to show you just yet, but soon . . . I love creating things, I really do! Whether it be a cake, or a batch of cookies, or a doll, or even something so simple as a folded napkin . . . I get ever so much pleasure from it all! I hate it when real work gets in the way, I really do!!



Being able to "feast" on the word of God makes me smile. I just love the scriptures and my reading schedule had been off somewhat with the move and all. It was so good to get back on schedule this past week and begin my daily feast again! I always feel such a special connection with my Heavenly Father and with my inner me when I am able to totally bury myself in His word. They speak to my heart in a way that nothing else does. No matter how low I may be feeling, or how lost . . . I can go to His word and it reaches out to me in a special and profound way. Even if you were a person that did not believe in God, I truly believe that you could read the scriptures and find food for your soul amongst the words on their pages. There is so much truth there, so much wisdom, so much sustenance . . . in a world that appears to be getting ever increasingly unstable . . . it is wonderful to be able to cling to the stability of God's word, and allow it to nourish me. I am so grateful for that. The scriptures make me smile.




Feeding the missionaries makes me smile in a very big way! We were finally able to have them over for supper one night this week and I loved every minute of it! I didn't do anything fancy, just plain old sausage and mash with onion gravy, some vegetables on the side, and apple pie and custard for dessert! It's not really about the food. It's about having them here in our home. They always bring such a special spirit with them and it is good to be able to sit around the table and drink it in! I miss having my sons and daughters close by so it is nice to have these young people in our home and to be able to spoil them, if even for only a short while. If I had a son or a daughter on a mission, I would love to know that wherever they were the members of the church were taking good care of them and I love to know that I am doing something to help these sons and daughters of other mother's out, even if it's only by giving their bodies nourishment and encouragement. I know that some days they have a really rough time. Not everyone out in the world is kind to them, and it is sometimes very wet and cold and unwelcoming . . . I love to be able to provide them with a loving haven, even if it is only for an hour or so!

With all the warm dry weather we have been having, I have noticed the ants are back!! I have only found a few in the kitchen, but it drives me up the wall!! I hate having ants in the kitchen! I know they are not dirty, but even so! Yesterday I read online that they don't like cloves or vinegar so I am busy washing my counters down with vinegar and water and the floor too! I also sprinkled a line of cloves across the door way from outside into the kitchen. I hope that it works!!

On Sundays, I like to pop something into my crock pot in the mornings before we leave for church. That way when we get home there is always something tasty waiting for us to eat! Last week I made this delicious Crock pot Beef Stroganoff. Oh my but it was some good. We had it with rice, but it is equally as tasty with buttered noodles. In truth I would prefer to have the noodles, but you know Todd . . . he is not a pasta man. He's probably love this even more with mashed potatoes, but we had rice.



*Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Deliciously tender pieces of beef in a tasty mushroom sauce. Serve with rice or noodles for a tasty and easy meal!

500g of beef stewing steak
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
500g of closed cup mushrooms, wiped and sliced
2 TBs cornflour
1 packet of dry onion soup mix
6 TBS water
freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS Dijon mustard
150ml of sour cream
1 TBS fine chopped fresh dill



Cut the beef into thin slices across the grain. Mix together in the crock pot along with the onions, mushrooms, cornflour, water and onion soup mix. Season with some pepper and salt if you think you need it. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the meat is tender. Stir iin the mustard, sour cream and dill. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve with rice or buttered noodles. Delicious!

Note - You can also cook this in an oven proof casserole dish at 180*C/350*F. Add an additional 250ml of water and cook, covered for about 2 hours until tender. Stir in the mustard, cream and dill and continue as above.



After working in the garden all morning yesterday, I made Todd a tasty BLT Panini with Cheese for his lunch! Check it out on The English Kitchen!

Wednesday morning thoughts . . .

"A pebble held close to the eye appears to be a gigantic obstacle. Cast on the ground, it is seen in perspective. Likewise, problems or trials in our lives need to be viewed in the perspective of scriptural doctrine. Otherwise they can easily overtake our vision, absorb our energy, and deprive us of the joy and beauty the Lord intends us to receive here on earth."
~Richard G Scott, "Finding Joy In Life," Ensign May 1996

I got this little nugget of inspiration in my e-mail the other day. It was a very timely reminder of how I need to keep my eye on the greater picture, instead of on the minor irritating things that cause me to stumble along the way. We will all face difficulties in this lifetime, some of them small and some of them large, the difference comes in how we handle them.

I am reminded of the song thrush. Our garden is full of song thrushes and I love to listen to the beautiful music that they treat us to every single day. Not much to look at, they are a very plain bird to the eye, but my what a beautiful song. It doesn't matter the weather. On a sunny morning, he can be seen sitting on the peak of the roof next door regaling us with his lovely tune, and when the storms hit, he can often be seen on the top of a large cedar that sits at the front of the house, swaying in the wind and singing his heart out. The worse the storm . . . the louder he appears to sing. I reckon if he can do it, so can I.



What a blessing it is to be able to sing my way through life's storms, and to be able to put any problems that might come my way into an eternal perspective. I am reminded daily of that well known phrase . . . "This too, shall pass." And the truth?? It always does.



I did another one of my paintings yesterday afternoon. I call this one, "Wherever Two Are Gathered." The Lord told us when he was here on earth that . . .

"where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."~Matthew 18:20

As usual, this piece is available as either a print or a card. If you would like to see the whole piece you can see it here, on my art blog.

I was able to pick up a nice piece of spiced beef in the grocery store last week. I don't often see it there, so when I do, I always grab a piece. It is very similar to the corned beef brisket from back home, both in appearance and in flavour. I did Todd and myself a lovely boiled dinner in the crock pot for our tea yesterday and it was delicious!



*Slow Cooked Spiced Beef*
Serves 4

This smells heavenly when it is cooking. I put this in before I left for work yesterday morning and by the time I got home in the afternoon, it was pretty much done. It was delicious . . . the meat thinly sliced along side of the vegetables and served with some horseradish sauce. Ahh . . . bliss!

2 - 2 1/2 pound piece of spiced beef
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 stalk of celery, trimmed and cut into pieces
4 large potatoes, peeled and cut in half
4 carrots, peeled and cut in half
1 small swede (rutabaga) peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup of beef broth
1 bay leaf, broken
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Place the piece of spiced beef into a large slow cooker. Pile the vegetables all around it. Whisk together the beef broth, bay leaf, garlic, Worcestershire Sauce and dry mustard. Pour this over top. Close the lid on the slow cooker. Cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours, or on medium for 5 to 6.

To serve, remove the meat and cut into slices. Serve on hot serving plates, with some of the vegetables along side and some of the juices spooned over top. We like horseradish sauce with this, but mustard is also good.

*Note - You can also do a corned beef brisket in the same way. You may also add wedges of cabbage in the last hour of cooking, if desired.