Coleslaw…the KFC way

I found this recipe at Top Secret Recipes and it is fast becoming my most requested dish at BBQ’s and family dinners.  It really does taste just like the stuff at KFC, which is about the only coleslaw that I’ve found that I like.

You’ll need:

1/2 cup mayonnaise (use the real stuff…miracle whip will make it way too sweet)

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 TBSP lemon juice

1 1/2 TBSP white vinegar (I’ve used all sorts of different kinds of vinegar with just results just as good as the white stuff)

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 head of cabbage

1 medium carrot

2 TBSP minced onion (I used one whole small onion)

I always mix up the dressing first…Combine the mayonnaise, sugar, buttermilk, milk, lemon juice, white vinegar and salt & pepper in a bowl and whisk it together, then set it aside to be doing it’s thing while you shred the vegies.

Start with the onion and carrott…in a food processor, shred on the smallest setting, then add to dressing mix.

Shred the cabbage on the same setting, then put in a large bowl.  Pour dressing mixture over the top and combine well.  This stuff is best if you refrigerate it overnight, but that NEVER happens when I fix it.  Cover it and refrigerate a couple hours at least…the longer the better.

I have to remember to pull out a bowl in advance of serving it so my husband can have some when he gets off of work, because this stuff is GONE immediately.

 

Don’t let the ideal become an idol

I’m an idealist.  I like to think and plan and prepare for the worst case scenarios, and I like to always have the best case outcomes.  I interact with people who think the same as I do, and some who sharpen me with an alternate view, or a scenario I hadn’t considered, or a different perspective.

I am challenged today to not let the ideal become an idol.  And it so easily can happen.  Be it homeschooling, modest dress, homesteading, or whatever your ideal is…you know, that “conviction” or “vision” you have for yourself or your family…guard carefully, that it doesn’t take the place of God in your life.

That is all.

Carry on.

Delays are not refusals

I try not to be presumptuous with God.  I don’t want to put words in His mouth that He didn’t say to me, and yet, I want to believe the messages that I keep receiving from His Word, that almost daily are uncannily reinforced by my two favorite devotionals, and the daily readings of the Catholic Church.  I find myself identifying with the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9, and saying with Him “Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief.”

For the past several years, starting in the early 1990’s, my husband and I have received the message that God works all things out for the good of His people (Rom. 8:28); that He has hope and a bright future for us (Jer. 29:11); that He’s doing a new thing,  (Isaiah 42:9, 43:19, 48:6); that dry desert wandering will eventually come to an end,  and God will deliver, vindicate, and restore us (Isaiah 35, Joel 2); and that He makes ALL things beautiful in His own time (Ecc. 3)

My personal quiet time today is a perfect example of how God uses different means to send me these same messages, and I have to believe that they are beyond coincidence.  This verse was chosen for today on my homepage (myway.com):

I know what it is to be in need (abased), and I know what it is to have plenty (abound).  I have learned the secret of being content in every situation, whether fed or hungry, in plenty or inwant.  I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. (Phil. 4:12.13)

From there, I traveled to the daily readings of the Catholic Church and this jumps out at me from today’s responsorial Psalm:

Poor and needy as I am, the LORD has me in mind. You, my helper, my Saviour, my God, do not delay. (Psalm 40:17)

Immediately followed by the last line of today’s Streams in the Desert devotional:

Delays are not refusals; many a prayer is registered, and underneath it the words: “My time is not yet come.” God has a set time as well as a set purpose, and He who orders the bounds of our habitation orders also the time of our deliverance.

Today, I hear God speaking to my heart:

  “Lyn, I’m teaching you how to be content and rest in Me.  You are learning the practical application of walking by faith…I’m with you, you can do it!  One day, I will pour out these promised blessings on you, but it’s not today.  Trust Me.”

And I turn to my last resource for my quiet time Come Away My Beloved, by Frances J. Roberts.  I open it and read a random passage from it:

With the Strong Cords of my Faithfulness

Oh my child, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
With the strong cords of My faithfulness I have bound Myself to you.
Throughout all the days of your sojourn, I have been deeply concerned for you,
never turning my attention from you.

Darkness may have pressed around your soul, but I was near at hand.
The night of affliction may obscure your vision,
but the night and the day are both alike to Me.
When you pass through the waters, I am with you.
Whether you see me or not, I am at your side.
Though at times you feel only aloneness, My hand is upon you,
My arm encircles you, and My heart is touched by your grief.

I suffered in all ways as you suffer, but you will never suffer as I suffered;
for I experienced one awful moment of separation from the Father;
while I have promised “I will never forsake you, and I will never leave you.

Stable and Serene in Twenty-Thirteen

That is my prayer for the new year.
I hope to be a little more active here again this year than I was in 2012…many of the struggles of this past year are so painful and private, that it is difficult to properly process them.  I struggle between the need to be discreet and the need to honestly evaluate what is going on inside of my head.  I haven’t been able to put it into words, so I often found myself staring at my computer screen, paralyzed.  As a result, my thought life has been a mess, and those closest to me have borne the brunt of my emotional instability.

In general, I want this year to be the year that I receive a breakthrough in my emotional well-being.  Specifically, I am praying for the grace of God to overhaul my thought life, my prayer life,  my marriage, and our finances.  I have so much to be thankful for, and with that, I feel a great responsibility to care for and nurture what is given to me.  Like any mortal, I get stuck sometimes.  I fall.  I fail…often.  But in the middle of success or failure, I want to have a deep assurance of the love of God for me.  I want to keep an eternal perspective on the temporal things of this world that is not my home.

That’s the extent of my “resolutions” for the year.  I resolve to pray.  I welcome the camaraderie and accountability.

Happy New Year!