Gifts from God

* husband who cooked ginger pancakes with peaches for supper

* other teachers at school, wiser ones than me, who help me - collaboration

* students laughing with me and not at me - a good rapport - this is truly a Gift from God! (and from St. Raphael & St. Moses, whom I have been asking to pray for me regarding school)

* a Second Grade teacher who truly looks after my son

* open doors concerning job opportunities for my husband

* reading Iggy Peck Architect and Buffalo Wings with my kids on the couch tonight.

* Akathist prayers that offer comfort and put words to ideas that I knew I needed to pray but hadn't the exact phrases

* a comfortable bed to nest into at night

St. Peter the Aleut, Pray for Us!

My son's Sunday School class has chosen St. Peter the Aleut for their class patron.

Not only, as a teenage saint, is he a good example for young ones, but also as a martyr he reminds us of the importance of our Orthodox Faith, a Faith worth dying for.

I pray that I may live this Faith in my heart and in my actions.

St. Peter, pray for us!

Gifts from God

* Reading in bed with my children at night before bed.

* Boxes of photographs of my grandparents, the better to remember them before sickness and weakness came. Old school-teacher photos, dapper suits, newspaper articles, perfectly curled vintage hair, smiles around the table as we perused the past.

* 4 other English teachers giving me ideas of how to make reading and writing more doable for my sophomores.

* pre-written prayers that sometimes say an idea better than I could, and often say an idea I hadn't realized I needed to think.


That last part is the challenge for me during worship: with a clear mind!

St. Peter the Aleut

Do you have a special way of remembering this teenage saint?

I asked this question last year and got no reply.

Last year in Sunday school, we enjoyed whale-shaped crackers and dried berries in memory of this young Alaskan man. I think that as the month passes, the best I can do this year is ask St. Peter to intercede for my teenage students.

Holy Transfer

from Community...


...to home


She who bore Life dies to be received to Life,

and Holy God transfers blessed festal flowers
down the interstate,
ferrying also Love and Life from Eucharistic Body
back to our Family Alter.

Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos - An August Fasting Menu

I am a high school teacher (Speech, English, Drama, and Debate) and school is rapidly approaching. We were blessed to home school last year, so are a little nervous about the kids being back in public school, though they are in wonderful programs. This year we'll have my husband in grad school, my son in 2nd Grade, and my daughter at Montessori preschool, so we'll all four be in four different schools!

Anticipating the need to give more time to my family and my classroom, I plan on substantially decreasing my blog presence. I did a similar thing last August, but had not the grace to let you know first.

My goal is to post once a month, near the beginning of the month, so here is my post for August: Dormition Fast Menu

Sunday - Procession of the Cross
Supper: Caponata and Polenta (with olive oil instead of butter)

Monday
Breakfast: Vegan Banana Bread I can't count the endless number of times we've enjoyed this - thank you so much, Matushka Emily, for sharing it!
Lunch: Crock Pot Veggie Soup
Dinner: Tostados (crunchy corn rounds topped with seasoned refried beans, caramelized onions & kale, tomatoes, and guacamole)

Tuesday
Breakfast: English Muffins and Fruit
Lunch: Polenta Slices (leftover from Sunday)with Peanut Butter Sauce or with Caramelized Onions and Kale from yesterday
Supper: Purple-hull Pea Patties or Pasta and Marinara

Wednesday
Breakfast: Scrambled Tofu
Lunch: Boca Burgers
Supper: Pinto Beans and Rice

Thursday
Breakfast: Squash Bread (like Banana Bread recipe, but use mashed cooked Sugar-Pumpkin Squash in place of banana)
Lunch: Bean Quesadillas
Supper: Liturgy for the Transfiguration

Friday - Transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Breakfast: English Muffins and Fruit
Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly
Supper: Grilled Fish marinaded in Dales

Saturday
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Bread, Earth Balance, and Sauteed Greens
Supper: Pizzas made with Mission Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Wraps and the crust, Basil Almond Pesto, mushrooms, tomatoes, and veggie mozerella.

Week 2 will be the same, except Monday will include Alaskan Salmon Patties in honor of St. Herman of Alaska

Snacks: grapes, banana chips, almonds, animal crackers, flour tortillas

And to feast, I highly recommend this Lasagna Casserole, which makes enough to serve one 8x8 pan and freeze the 2nd 8x8 pan for another week.

Gifts from God: More Monasteries

The Dormition of the Theotokos in Michigan had a wonderful children's garden, planted by Abbess Benedicta, memory eternal.

I would love to create some of these little rock messages in our garden at home.
The Monastery also sells little nun and monk dolls , which were dotted all along the children's garden, re-enacting various scriptures and events.

At Holy Cross Hermitage in West Virginia, we all got to milk goats!


The monks use the goat milk to make soap and lotion products.

Although the monastery website provides a woderful 7-page Vistors Guide, I would add One More bit of ADVICE as a Mother:

Do NOT put your little girl in pretty church shoes. Tennis shoes or mud boots would be much more appropriate for milking goats and hiking through the woods!

As the monks said every time we told them "Thank You" for something,

THANK GOD for our summer visits!

Gifts from God: Visiting Monasteries

We were blessed to spend an afternoon at the Presentation of the Theotokos Monastery in Marshfield, MO on our annual summer drive to the grandparents.

After visiting over a lovely afternoon snack, we stepped into the stream of prayer that flows day and night all over the world in faithful monasteries.

The nuns introduced us to some instruments that often call people to prayer.

Little Builder ringing the bells (with protective ear coverings).

Hammering the simantron. Mother Alexandra explained that when the animals heard Noah beating his hammer, they heard it as a call to come to the ark; and so we also can hear the beating of the wood as a call to enter the ark of the Church of Christ.

In general Abbess Sergia and Mother Alexandra were so generous and attentive to the children. When we asked them later what they remembered about the monastery they replied,
"the sweet nuns."

During the evening prayer services, both children were unusally peaceful and quiet. Our souls indeed were nourished by the sweet and holy spiritual atmosphere in the chapel.

Thanks be to God.

Scrambled Tofu Rancheros

Although my first encounter with Scrambled Tofu was pretty unsatisfying, I've been tweaking the process for the past year and found something my husband and I both like. The recipe is the same as linked above, except that I don't use bell pepper anymore - just nicely browned onion and garlic in olive oil.

The key, I think, is draining the tofu. That gets rid of the strange flavor.

This morning,

I grilled a corn tortilla,
spread some re-fried beans on the roasted corn goodness,
spooned on some tofu scramble,
and topped with salsa and fresh diced tomatoes.


It's not something I would make every morning, but sometimes during a fast a little extra protein helps.

Since I would eat Mexican food five times a week if my family tolerated it, this meal is a special treat for me.

Beautiful Beans

At Coffee Hour last Sunday, our priest's wife asked me if I had planted beans. "They are so gratifying" she explained, "they sprout quickly and flower." I agreed with her; they are gratifying. And, I figured, by way of fasting food they are Orthodox. (smile)

I planted two types of beans this year. Pole beans called rattlesnake, which have a horrid name, but make pretty green beans with dark purple splashes that disappear when they cook. Sort of like those hot wheels cars that turn colors in the freezer, but more, um, natural.



















Those will slowly produce all summer. I wish I had planted more!

Then, I planted etna beans, which are an Italian Soup bean. Why did I choose etna? Well, they make pretty pink and white pods and pink and white beans - why else! Also, I figured soup beans would be good to have around.

Farmers Market Goodies

Our square foot garden is taking off, but we still head to our little town's Farmers Market each Saturday morning.

Zinnias for our Anniversary (11 years!)


Squash and Peaches scattered about the counter

We are so very thankful to have the opportunity to be locavores, and I especially appreciate the opportunity to get to know the growers has we visit them throughout the summer!

Gift from God: Zuchinni Bread

I finally couldn't put it off any longer.

Every time I take a bite of my Pawpaw's recipe, I can see and hear and smell my Nana & Pawpaw's kitchen. The only reason I hesitated is because of doubt that the recipe, copied from a phone call in my mother's hand on yellow and white striped paper, would translate into a fasting treat, but it was time. Time for for Zucchini Bread.

I'm glad I did it, and here's the recipe for any of you who might be starting to get an abundant crop.

The only change is that the original recipe called for 3 eggs instead of rice milk and egg-replacer.

The Ingredients
(WET)
3/4 cup of rice (or soy) milk, warmed and beat with 1&1/2 TBS of Energy Egg-Replacer
*******************************************************************************
update: taking Marfa's advice, I made it again with 3/4 cup of applesauce and 2 TBS of flax meal instead of the rice milk/egg replacer combo - worked just fine. I did decrease the sugar a little, to compensate for the added sweetness.
*******************************************************************************
1 c oil
2 c grated raw zucchini
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
(DRY)
3 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1&1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

The Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease 2 large loaf pans.
3. Beat wet ingredients and sugar.
4. Sift dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
5. Add dry to wet and add 1 TBS of vanilla, and optional chopped nuts or raisins.
6. Bake 50-60 minutes.


One loaf stuck to the pan because we didn't wait until it cooled to take it out. The other loafs came out fine after a couple of hours cooling. It seems a little oily, so I might decrease the oil next time, but let me tell you:

sitting at our round wooden kitchen table here in 2010, I was completely transported to 1986, at the rectangular table in my Pawpaw & Nana's kitchen in the little village in south Louisiana. Thank you, God, and please bless my grandfather Gilliam, and grant rest to the soul of my grandmother June.