Allison read in Matthew about blasphemies and mentioned to Amber that she bets we say words that we would probably never speak again if we knew what they meant. In passing, Allison said, "shoot" about something and thereby Amber was urged immediately to get the dictionary and search out it's meaning. What we learned is appalling...
Before I continue, I'll be the first to admit that as a child, I knew I must stand before Almighty God one day and give account for every idle word I speak (Matthew 12:36), but at the time I didn't care how I used my tongue. Bad habits were formed. Words slip. Today I confess that my speech is still too sloppy at times for one who professes to be a child of God and I shudder to think of standing before God. I've been guilty of saying the same word that prompted our search.
James 3 talks about the tongue. Verse 8 says, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."
Verse 10, "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."
GUILTY. Is that how I want to be? No.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me." Psalm 52:10,11
My heart needs to be cleaned. Purified by reading the Word of God.
The holiness of God will make me speechless when I stand before Him. I won't have a thing to say.
Oh God, I've sinned and I'm so sorry!
Back to this morning...
The dictionary meaning for shoot: (euphemism for shit) (1876) - used to express annoyance or surprise
What is euphemism? the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant
In essence, shoot is a nicer word to use than the offending and unpleasant word shit.
And I've used this awful word? Oh, wretched woman I am! I had no idea that's what it meant. I think this study will help some more of us to quit using this word forever in the wrong context.
I guess we'll be thinking more about our speech from now on. We'll be looking up more slang/offending words in the dictionary to see if the word is OK to use and/or if it is a euphemism. One sure thing, if you don't know the meaning of a word you use, it's probably a bad word to say.
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Today we canned 7 quarts of pinto beans and finished the carrots which yielded 7 quarts. So glad that is done.
We had black beans and rice with cabbage salad. We really like the combo.
The salad is so easy to fix. Chop cabbage finely with a knife. Sprinkle with olive oil, balsamic or red wine vinegar, and salt. Eat with rice and beans.
For dessert, I saved a few apples for apple dumplings, probably the last for this season.
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Apple dumplings always remind me of our dear friend Pepper who is now deceased. My Mom would occasionally fix them. I would say it was very infrequent. Consequently, almost EVERY time Mom would bake them, our friend would stop in on a whim. We didn't know he's coming. He didn't know, either. I remember several times when dessert was served that one of our family members would suggest that 'Pepper should be here' or 'Just watch Pepper come' and more than once, he showed up. This subject would come up in most of our visits.
My Mom and sisters compiled a cookbook years ago. It was named "The Esh Cookbook" and I've no idea if we would have any left to sell.
Pepper told us, "There's one mistake you made. One thing is missing. You forgot to include the recipe for Anna Dumplings." That's what he called our apple dumplings. Apple substituted for my Mom's name. He was right. We forgot to include it.
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I don't really know what recipe my Mom uses for the dumplings. I used to use our pie dough recipe to wrap the dumplings, but somehow they never tasted quite right.
This summer I've been using the Mennonite Community Cookbook a lot as I've been learning more about the old timers and how they lived and preserved food. It's where I found the dumpling recipe that I so very well like. It's where I always went for the sauce recipe anyway.
Old-fashioned Apple Dumplings
6 medium-sized baking apples
2 cups flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening (I used lard)
½ cup milk
Sauce:
2 cups brown sugar (I like to use ½ the amount.)
2 cups water
¼ cup butter
¼ teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)
Pare and core apples. Leave whole. (The corer from Pampered Chef works best.)
To make pastry, sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
Cut in shortening until particles are about the size of small peas.
Sprinkle milk over mixture and press together lightly, working dough only enough to hold together.
Roll dough as for pastry and cut into 6 squares and place an apple on each.
Fill cavity in apple with sugar and cinnamon. The boys love to help with this part!
Pat dough around apple to cover it completely.
Fasten edges securely on top of apple.
Place dumpings 1 inch apart in a greased baking pan.
Pour over them the sauce made as follows:
Combine brown sugar, water and spices. (I ommitted the spices.)
Cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat and add butter.
Bake at 375ยบ for 35 to 40 minutes.
Baste occasionally during baking.
Serve hot with rich milk or cream.
Tonight I used raw sugar as I'm out of brown sugar. The dumplings tend to get lighter in color when using the raw sweetener. I usually cut the sugar in half for the sauce when using brown, since the cavity of the apple is filled with sugar. Using all the recipe calls for is simply too sweet for our family.
It was absolutely delicious served with ice cream!
1 comment:
Those dumplings looks so good n make me wanna goake a batch right now. o wait. I'd better wait till tomorrow. :-) thx for the post. It was a good reminder!
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