Homemade Mayonnaise!

After going to the store yesterday, and finding out today that we just used the last of our mayonnaise (we prefer Hellmans for taste), I was quite reluctant to dash back to the store to make an additional purchase. SO, I brought out my good ol' trusty "Cream of the West Cook Book", and sure enough, found a recipe for mayonnaise:


Mayonnaise

In a small mixer bowl, combine
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
dash of cayenne
Using electric mixer, beat in, drop by drop
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Beat in
1 tablespoon vinegar
Then very gradually beat in
1 cup vegetable oil
When thick, alternate oil additions with few drops of
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Store and chill in tightly covered jar.
Makes 1 3/4 cups.

How "I" made it:
-I used my magic bullet
-I used the whole egg rather then just the yolks
- I first put the yolks in as per the recipe, and added the whites AFTER I had blended in the first 1/4 cup of oil
-I used canola oil
-I mixed in the first 1/4 cup in about 5 additions, pouring then blending.
-I added the 1 cup of oil in 1/4 cup batches, adding the lemon juice to the final 1/4 cup.

It became very thick (that's good!), so I put the whole concoction into a bowl, and stirred it with a spatula. I put the whole thing in a mayonnaise bottle, and popped it in the fridge. It made 2 cups with the whites added.

The taste test was successful! The kids tasted it for me as well, and all said "yum!" {success!} It doesn't taste exactly like Hellmans Mayonnaise, but is close enough to suffice.

The recipe took less time to make then the trip to the store would have.


**note** The cookbook I have (and treasure!) had multiple printings, under two titles. "Cream of the West" was the flour in Newfoundland, and "Purity" was the flour in other parts of Canada. Both books have the same cover, which leads me to assume they have the same content inside. :)

Thanks for..?

I try to be a thankful person, even not at Thanksgiving. I often fail. I find myself complaining about things not being "perfect", or people falling short of what "I" think they should do. Most of my complaining is done silently, but that means that God can hear my ungrateful, and thankless thoughts, even when I never voice them. When asked what I am most thankful for, my answer will inevitably be health. I am so very very very thankful to God for the health of my husband and kids, as well as my parents and siblings. At my house we rarely have stomach flu, and will have colds maybe a handful of times over the course of a year. My kids seem to be particularly resistant to getting ill, and are usually quickly over it when they are not feeling well. We have a number of friends and acquaintances who have sick children, and my heart constantly goes out to them. There is no feeling like a mothers feeling when her child is sick.. A father's feeling comes close though. :) This thanksgiving I asked my kids what they were most thankful for. My 4 year old daughter was thankful for the bunkbed I made her stuffed kitty and stuffed doggy this week. My 3 year old was thankful for toys. :) My 6 year old was thankful for Jesus living in our hearts, and insisted that his was the best answer of all. :) I try to encourage all my kids to speak up and support each others answers without favoritism, but it IS hard to argue with that response. To be thankful for God's plan for salvation. For sending his Son to die on the cross. For Jesus' willingness to lay down his own life and take our sin upon himself. For the Holy Spirit infilling, that we may live our lives with the power and guidance that God has provided us. Not just at thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Easter, but all the year through. Let us strive to be grateful for the new life we have, and not to take Christ's death for our sins for granted. As I walk more in the Spirit, I have to take control of my complaining thoughts, and redirect them to become thankful...

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer" ~Psalm 19:14

Broken

We have been home from our vacation to Newfoundland for a week today. What a wonderful time spent with family, despite hurting my foot the second day into our reunion week together. On the second night at the 'lodge', we were swimming, and I made a quick decision to jump into the deeper end of the pool. I crossed my legs under me, and jumped in. Apparently the rule "no jumping in the pool" is there for a reason, as I went straight to the bottom of the pool and hit the side of my foot on the concrete floor. (Yes, there was water in the pool!) As I hobbled around for the remainder of the week, the pain in my foot was a reminder of how often we ignore rules, or rationalize that they are not applicable to us or our situation. We do this not only with man's rules, but also with God's rules and guidelines for our lives. How much easier would our lives be if we obeyed what God is asking for us to do. If we upheld the standards that He has laid out before us. I've heard people talk about the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. Somehow I wonder if this is another way to make excuses for not living the way we -as followers of Christ- should be living. I find myself as Paul was, constantly conflicted in what I want to do, and what I do. My prayer is to follow so closely to God that there will be no more me, only Christ in me.

*After a week of hobbling around, I had an x-ray done. I have a bone broken in my foot.

Romans 7 -the Message Version

^14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

^17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

^21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

²⁴I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

²⁵The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Born Again -Third Day