Recipe Swap- Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes

The best recipes tend to be "a pinch of this and a dash of that." My personal favorite among the Thanksgiving recipes happens to be on a cherished water-stained yellow Post-it note of chicken scrawls I wrote while on the phone with my mom 13 years ago on my first married Thanksgiving. My mother's sweet potatoes (yams) are all the rage in our family and once my husband tried them, he made sure I called Mom on Thanksgiving to get the recipe. This year I'm in charge of sweet potatoes at the preschool Thanksgiving dinner and will bring them along to Andrew's Aunt Donna's gathering in Virginia Thanksgiving Day. What about you... what's that dish that you love to make and others can't seem to get enough of? Post your favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish so we can all have a tastier Thanksgiving!

Bette Ann's (Brittney's Mom) Famous Sweet Potatoes


*Melt in a saucepan a 1/2 Stick of Margarine
*Add 1/3 C. Orange Juice and 3/4 C. Brown Sugar

(Cook above ingredients until melted together and slight boil)

*In a small bowl combine 2 1/2 Tablespoons of Cornstarch and water until smooth. Add this mixture to the other ingredients in the saucepan to thicken sauce.

*Drain one large can of sweet potatoes (or yams) and put in casserole dish. Cover the sweet potatoes with sauce and cook at 350 degrees until bubbly (approximately 20 minutes.) Enjoy!!

Triangle Restaurants Open on Thanksgiving

One of the funniest and most heart-breaking scenes in holiday movies has to be in Tim Allen's Santa Clause (the original) when Dad burns the turkey, blasts it with the fire extinguisher, and ends up eating at Denny's... where they are all out of egg nog! Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are an intrinsic part of the celebration, so if you are looking to secure just the right resaurant (that does have egg nog, pumpkin pie, and all the other necessities) here is a blog I found that lists the restaurants in the Triangle that will be open on Thanksgiving Day.

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/food/restaurants-open-thanksgiving-day

Enjoy!

Helping Charities When Money is Tight

There are charities on every corner (sometimes literally!) during the holiday season. We want to give to them all, but when finances are tight, what can we do? Why not do what you are already doing... just maybe a little better! Organizations like the Raleigh Rescue Mission are able to help you plan your holiday travel and you can give to your favorite charity every time you shop at the supermarket! Check out this great link for 11 more ideas like these. Plus, don't forget the His Radio Blanket Bundles event (canned food and blanket drive) on Saturday, November 14th!

http://http://www.newsobserver.com/business/local_state/story/155733.html

And the Winners Are...

... The Deep Fried Snickers AND the Deep Fried HoHo! (I can't believe I ate the whole thing.) I thoroughly enjoyed eating the foods that you selected for me to eat at the State Fair. The Deep Fried Snickers and Deep Fried Ho Ho ended up tying as the foods you wanted me to try at the fair, so between the four members of my family we HAPPILY polished them off.

My personal favorite was the Snickers with yummy, melt-y, carmel-y, chocolate, plus the texture the peanuts provided. The HoHo had a nice cake-y structure surrounded by the deep fried batter, however the white filling was MIA. It appeared to have been baked out (or baked in.)

Thanks for your votes and thanks for the fun!

Deep Fried Suggestions- Vote for State Fair Food I Should Eat

If it can be skewered and fried, you'll find it for sale at the North Carolina State Fair. The latest delight on a stick: the deep fried HoHo (to go with its close cousin the deep fried Twinkie.) From deep fried candy bars to deep fried macaroni and cheese there is something for everyone.

I tend to be the funnel cake type, but I'd like to branch out and try something new. I will try the State Fair food that receives the most votes (comments) here prior to Friday's Jeremy Camp concert. (I'll even be sure to get a pic of me eating "His Radio's Best Loved [Fried] State Fair Food.")

Have you been to the State Fair this year? Tell me what fried food you'd recommend.

Confessions of a "No guy"

Earlier today I received an urgent email from an organization whose goal is to unite one million people who will at a moment's notice fight to defend the traditional definition of marriage. I often send my appropriate emails to the right congressmen and hope and pray they make a difference. I receive probably three or four of these types of emails a week from this organization and others desiring my action. Protect babies, defend marriage, stand for strong families. Worthy causes that deserve my time and my money.

I go through times, probably like you, when I am battle weary. I am weary because for as long as I can remember I have fought (losing) battles. Growing up listening to programs which encouraged my parents to "write their congressmen" and "call the White House switchboard" I learned the importance of being an active citizen and defending what is Biblically right with the freedom offered voters in our country.

I'm the "No guy." Saying "no" to everything from "pro-choice" to "sexual freedom" and this language makes me feel like the bad guy in this battle of verbiage. "Defending the faith" is a statement we commonly use, but perhaps the reason we lose so often in the marketplace is because we are on the defense and not on the offense.

It's widely known that Christians in music, books, and media are primarily imitators. We see something that works in the secular world and we simply shift the marketing to suit the Christian public. We are often six months too late and unoriginal. (If you need an example just look at knock offs like the "Sunday School Musical" DVD or "Conservapedia" which is claims to be more Christian-friendly than Wikipedia.) How would the world be different today if a Christian had originated either "High School Musical" or Wikipedia?

Not to downplay the validity of the putting out moral fires as they come, but what if we anticipated fires in advance and assembled an army when there is a moral consensus? Child pornography is a battle Americans who care about children have a general agreement about- it is horribly wrong. Why not mobilize on this issue NOW instead of in 10 years? This is a war where we can win by being on the OFFENSIVE. This beats putting out last minute fires, winning a few battles and losing the war.

So how about becoming Christian innovators and changing the face of technology? How about fighting a winning battle together and celebrating the chance to be "Yes Men!"

The Power of Tears

Back in the day... I mean WAY back in the day, when Jesus walked the Earth, young people just starting out didn't flip signs behind their backs along the roadside (or flip burgers for that matter.) No, an entrepreneurial-type might go into the "crying" business. Since there were always people passing away (and not enough true friends with real tears) they'd send in actors who could work up tears at a moment's notice.

Even today professional mourners call up funeral directors and offer their services, for a price. I understand one professional mourner who garnered a large sum ($50,000!) actually tore out chunks of her hair as she mourned during Marilyn Monroe's funeral.

I know for me when I am at a funeral I find it so refreshing to be with someone who is moved to tears. It is both contagious and freeing. One person's expression seems to give the group permission to let down their guard emotionally.

"Jesus wept." John 11:35

The shortest verse in the Bible struck me in a new way this week. Those two little words tell us that Jesus was willing to be vulnerable, and for a moment "feel" instead of "fix." His friend Lazarus (who he would later raise from the dead!) had just passed away and his emotions welled up. He felt sorry for the crowd and Lazarus's sisters Mary and Martha. He did what the book of Romans calls, "mourning with those who mourn."

A few friends who get probably the worst rap in the Bible are Job's friends who provide him nearly 40 chapters of bad advice. (Not much different than mid-afternoon TV!) Anyway, in Job's friends' defense, when Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard that Job had lost his possessions, his children, and was physically sick they "met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. (Job 2:11) The three men wept alound and sat with Job in silence and tears for seven days. Seven days! (How many women could be quiet for seven days?!) These are rare friends!

In our crazy lives it is easy for us each to become too busy to take on each other's pain. The impending divorce... The lost job... The wayward teen... But as Jesus showed us, being a true friend means being willing to shed real tears because of love for the hurting.

When I think about my own funeral someday I don't want plastic, paid-off mourners but true friends who are both thankful for my home-going and heart-sick. Emotion at the end of life begins with emotional investment in others now.