Please Pass The Butter…

Thinking of learning to put up some butter in the pantry? If you are interested in learning how to do just that, come and spend a fun evening at Sherry Harmon's home on Thursday, March 12th. All you need to bring is a stick of butter, the salted kind is best, and we will have a jar for you. You will go home with a jar of butter for your pantry shelf, and the information to do more.

We will also be demonstrating how to vacuum seal in Kerr/Mason or Ball jars for things like brown sugar, chocolate chips, nuts, and lots of other items that you would like to keep longer on your shelf. If you have a jar, a lid and band, and something you would like to vacuum seal, just bring it with you and we can show you how. Come on March 12th and learn more about how to “Be Prepared”. Class will start at 7:00 p.m., there will be no nursery. 

Look for sign-ups in Relief Society, Primary and Y.W. or call Sherry or Emily to put your name on the list.

Are We Too B.U.S.Y.?

I received this little story in an email from my daughter, and thought it was a good thing to consider. I just keep thinking the word Balance. Our stewardship is tough these days, and finding balance seems impossible. After I read this, I decided that at least for myself and my family, I will work harder to find a way to balance the worthy things of the world with the gospel. Hard choices sometimes when there is so much good to choose from. But at what cost? Time is more precious than money, I need to be better about what I spend mine on.

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,
"We can't keep Christians from going to church."
"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth."
"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour."
"Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."
"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.
"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."
"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."
"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly."
"This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."
"Invade their driving moments with billboards."
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. "

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."
"Give them headaches too! "
"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere."
"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas."
"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death."
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."
"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."
"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead."
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. "
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus."
"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!"
"It will work!"
It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?
You be the judge!!!!!
Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

Chicken Into Jars…

This was pretty fun. Leigh came over yesterday for a personal canning class and we had a blast. Well, okay, we had the most fun you can have while you wait 90 minutes for your chicken to process in a pressure canner. Here are some pictures of Leigh getting her chicken into jars and then the processed jars (still boiling) after coming out of the canner. We also did some pinto beans as the processing time is the same for chicken, and I wanted to fill the canner. Wide mouth jars are the easiest to pack meat in. I like regular mouth jars for small stuff like beans. You don't have to get your hand in the jar to pack stuff like that. It takes about 2 pounds of chicken for a quart jar and the canner will hold 7 quarts at a time. Pints hold about a pound, and again the wide mouth is best. The canner holds 8 pints at a time. If you watch the sales, you can save a lot on your meat purchase, even freeze it to do another day if you are busy with other things that week. I bought 55 pounds of chicken to do before Christmas, and I just barely got it all into jars. I saved over $100.00, so feel pretty good about that. If you just want to do a little at a time, that's fine too. It all works. The directions for doing chicken are in the post after this. I would love to do this for anyone interested, so don't be intimidated by canning food and come on over to learn. I can all the time, and even though some of my kids think I'm sick, I really enjoy it. They like to eat the food well enough. I have canned applesauce, pie apples, pinto beans, white (northern) beans, chicken, top sirloin, green chile, ground beef, tomato mix, tomatoes, peaches, pears, BBQ sauce, vegetable beef soup, and salsa. I am getting ready to do carrots, ham and maybe some green beans. If I haven't done what you want to can, I'll find out how to so you can do it.

After the chicken is in the canner, we had time to visit, play solitaire, and we had fun. I enjoyed getting to know Leigh better. She is the bomb!

Bottling Chicken

If you have a chance to attend a canning class at Shar’s Kitchen, you should go and learn some of the tips and tricks. She charges a ten dollar fee, but you will sample lots of amazing food. It’s always good to attend with questions about the things you want to do. Even if the teacher may not know, someone in the class will have an answer or a source. Classes are always fun.

I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts to get the most meat into the jar. Everyone likes white meat, so I don’t bother canning anything but breast meat, but you can bottle the whole chicken if you want.

Prepare jars.
I like to rinse off the chicken in cool water and I cut the breasts into long strips, maybe 3 strips per breast. Fit raw chicken into jars leaving 1 inch headspace.
DO NOT PRECOOK • DO NOT ADD LIQUID
Add 1 teaspoon salt to each quart, 1/2 teaspoon to pints.
Salt is optional, but I strongly recommend it.

Close jars with prepared lids and bands according to manufacturer's directions.

Process in a Pressure Canner…
Exhaust air from canner following manufacturer’s directions.
Once weight is in place, bring to 15 lbs. pressure.
Maintain pressure for 75 minutes for pints, 90 minutes for quarts.
When time has been reached, remove from heat and allow pressure to fall on it’s own. When there is zero pressure, remove weight. Carefully lift off canner lid and lift jars onto a towel on flat counter and allow to cool. Jars should “ping” and should not be disturbed for at least 12 hours. Remove bands to clean jars and replace if you want. Keep rotated as meat should not be kept much over a year.

Enjoy in many, many recipes.

Ace Hardware

Hey guys, thought I'd pass this on to you so you could save some money too.  They have a bunch of basic household stuff on sale with their "dollar days" sale this weekend, and with the coupon, it lowers their sale price another 40%.  Just print the email, and cut out the coupon.  Happy shopping!

 

Diane

If you're interested in the coupon, email Emily at bardinaz@gmail.com

Something to take the kids to...

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FREE DAY AT THE CHILDREN MUSEUM OF PHOENIX

Families are invited to enjoy the Children's Museum of Phoenix for FREE on Saturday, Feb. 21, to celebrate Shamrock Farms Essentials Tmilk line, which combines convenience with nutrients DHA omega-3 and extra calcium to help families get more from their milk. DHA omega-3 is proven to help with brain development and cardiovascular health, while calcium gives you strong bones. Kids can engage in art projects and learning activities while parents join nutritional seminars. Milk samples and a special appearance by Roxie the Spokescow and Sesame Street characters are also in store for families at this event.

• Location: 7TH AND VAN BUREN

Stake Enrichment Tonight

Tuesday

7 pm. Sunday dress.  Hope to see you all there!

Good Deal

Hey ladies, at Fry's this week they have a 1 lb. bag of pistachios for 2.99.  Great price and they're good for you, too!  Hurry before they run out!

Temple Day

Don't forget about Relief Society Temple Day Thursday!

10:00 Session with lunch in the cafeteria afterward.

Hope to see you there!

Buttermilk Syrup

This recipe is from the ward Breakfast with Santa just before Christmas this year. Several people requested the recipe, so in case there are some you that still needed it, here it is:

Buttermilk Syrup
1 1/2 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Buttermilk
1/2 C. Butter (1 cube)
2 T. Karo (corn syrup)
1 t. baking soda
Bring these ingredients to a boil and add:
1 tsp vanilla

Serve hot or not.