What a Beautiful Sunday

Today my roommate and I have been quite productive in the kitchen.  We've made roast beef, mashed potatoes (Well, a mix of cauliflower and potatoes.  If you haven't tried mashed cauliflower/potatoes, I highly recommend it!), salad, gravy, chocolate chip cookies (Shelby is making 6 dozen!), pumpkin muffins, and a pumpkin pie (for pie day at work tomorrow).  I think that's pretty good for a Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  I suppose I could go take a picture of my pie, but it's not very pretty.  You see, we don't have a pie plate so it's cooked in a round cake pan.  Not very pretty, but it will taste delicious.  It's one of my favorite recipes, even if it isn't in season.  In my mind, pumpkin is always in season.

In fact, I think I'll share the recipe, because it should be shared:

Pumpkin Pie

from: http://foodloveswriting.com/2010/12/20/pumpkin-pie-homemade-pie-crust/

Picture from foodloveswriting.com

Ingredients:
1 unbaked pie crust (see recipe below)
2 eggs
1 cup sucanat (or brown sugar.)
1 Tablespoon flour
2 cups pumpkin puree (usually about one pie pumpkin, roasted, scooped, food-processed)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
12 ounces organic heavy cream

While this says it only makes one pie, it actually makes 2.  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat two eggs lightly. Add the rest of the ingredients (sucanat, flour, pumpkin puree, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cream). Mix together well.

Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust, leaving a little space at the top.  Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees; then lower the temperature to 350 F, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes more. The pie is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

_____________

Homemade Pie Crust
Makes one pie crust.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (I use half wheat and half white)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup cold water

Directions:
Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in water. Using your clean hands, shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic. You can refrigerate for four hours or overnight, or you can use it right away.

If you do refrigerate it, then set it on the counter for about 20 minutes or so to thaw before using. Roll out on floured parchment paper, making it larger than the pie pan you want to set it in. Using the parchment to help you move it, turn the crust onto the pie pan, pressing it down and up the sides.

 There you have it.  It's delicious and always turns out the perfect consistency.


Now on a more spiritual note, I wanted to share a bit that I've learned from my institute class I've been taking in Cedar City.  I'm taking, Teachings of the Living Prophets, and just loving it.  We are going through the apostle's talks from general conference.  Before we talk about the doctrine in their talks, our teacher tells us about the lives of the apostle of the day.  We get to understand where they came from and what made them the way they are. 

I really love hearing about the general authorities lives, especially when they were my age.  It helps me I have a whole lifetime to mature and become a spiritual giant, but it also gives me a good gauge for where I should be right now.  My favorite podcast to listen to when I sew is Conversations on the Mormon Channel.  It's interviews with general authorities and other prominent church members.  Once again, I love how it gives me a peak into their lives.  They make me want to be better people.  Someday I'm going to find time to read as many biographies as I can about the apostles and prophets - right now President Monson's To the Rescue is top on my list.

But I digress.  On Thursday we were talking about Elder Hales talk, "Coming to Ourselves: the Sacrament, the Temple, and Sacrifice in Service."  The talk is fantastic, but what stuck with me was when we talked about Elder Hales' life.

I pulled one of the stories we talked about from LDS.org to share with you.

Elder Hales and his wife, Mary

"When Robert D. Hales was a graduate student at Harvard University, he was called to be the president of his elders quorum. He was willing to accept the call. But he also knew that because of the intensity of the courses required in his master’s of business administration program, professors discouraged students from participating in outside activities. He and his wife, Mary, prayed for guidance and discussed the calling together. As they did, Mary said, 'I’d rather have an active priesthood holder than a man who holds a master’s degree from Harvard. We’ll do them both.'

The next day when Robert came home from school, he discovered that Mary had walled off a section of the unfinished basement in their apartment to create a small office. The office would give Robert a place where he could concentrate on his studies, so that he would be better able to fulfill his elders quorum calling.

 'I put myself in the Lord’s hands when I made that decision [to serve],' Elder Hales says now, many years later. Putting themselves in the Lord’s hands is the pattern Elder and Sister Hales have followed throughout their life together; they are a team committed to balancing family life, Church service, and career. And because they established that pattern early in their marriage, it was much easier to accept additional callings later on."

Isn't that awesome?  I want to be just like Mary.  I love that she didn't just say she'd support him, she really did it.  It made me think about what I would do in a situation like that, or even just if the Lord asks me to do something.  Would I follow through with that kind of gusto?   I hope the answer will always be, yes.
 
I have to say, it was the woman in his life that most impressed me.  I also learned that in order to get his drivers license his mother made him promise that he would use his license to drive her around to do welfare visits.  What an awesome mother.  I've decided I need to be much more dedicated to serving, so when I have a family someday I can be a good example to my children of service.


You've probably heard enough of my ramblings for today.  I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.  Look up Conversations if you're board and need something uplifting.  They're seriously great!