Gout Toe vs Gaucho
When the good fairy grants you one wish, make sure you enunciate well and specify gauchos, NOT gout toes. Painful lesson learned. Silly me.
Sharing the Bar
These bars contain no oil and no sugar; they get their sweetness from dried fruit. They are also chock full of walnuts, which contain lots of those fabulous omega-3 fatty acids. These bars are wheat and soy-free -- great for those with allergy concerns.
1 cup whole spelt flour
1 cup rolled oats
¼ cup prune purée or one 2.5 oz container prunes
½ cup currants or finely chopped raisins
½ cup dried apricots, chopped fine
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Water as needed by the tablespoon
Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Lightly coat an 8-inch x 8-inch pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and knead with your hands until a good, stiff dough forms. Add a tablespoon of water if the mixture is too dry. Press dough firmly and evenly into the prepared pan. Cut into squares with a sharp knife before placing in the oven.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until baked through but still soft (don’t overbake them or the bars will be tough). Store leftover bars in the refrigerator.
Fruit-and-Nut Breakfast Bars - makes 8 bars
¼ cup orange juice½ cup whole Medjool dates (about 5), halved and pitted
½ cup whole raw almonds with skins
½ cup dried apricots
¼ cup dried plums (prunes)
¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
Preheat oven to 300°. Pour orange juice over dates and let soak 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place almonds, dried apricots, and dried plums in a food processor and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. Add salt and dates with orange juice and pulse until mixture starts to stick together. Add pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, pulsing a few times just to incorporate.
Using wet hands, scoop mixture onto a work surface and form into a log about 1 3/4 in. wide and 1/2 in. thick. Use your palms to flatten into a bar, and cut bar into 8 equal pieces.
Arrange pieces about 1 in. apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Using a heatproof spatula, turn bars over and bake another 8 minutes, or until nuts are toasted (but before fruit begins to burn). Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
IT'S FLOAT TIME
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| Solitude by Frederic Leighton |
Heaven forbid! That’s not exactly what I had in mind, out of all those possibilities; I choose deliberate choice with a positive outcome.
Today I experienced five glorious minutes of solitude, while surrounded by a group of others, also in some sort of solitude. My companions were fellow muscle stretchers in the pool. After the routine of exercises to strengthen and stretch my knotted up spine, we are informed that “It’s Float Time!” Grab a noodle and float. No swimming or talking (but a few were whispering so in my point of view, that doesn’t count as solitude).
One of my favorite authors, Richard J. Foster quotes: “In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds.” That’s me.
Today I choose solitude for pleasure, to hear direction, and for strengthening my resolve in an ever-busier life. It’s not an emptying of self but instead a quieting of self so that I can be refilled with truth and things that matter.
What an unexpected gift in a busy day. I know I could award myself “float time” anytime, but today the instructor takes me by surprise; sort of like an unexpected present. And so…….I float. Eyes closed. Pool door open so I can hear birds sing and my neighbor’s little sigh of heaven.
A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening. -Soren Kierkegaard
Happy 80th Rog!
I am a delinquent friend. Weeks ago I purchased a birthday card for a special friend who is celebrating 80 years of life and then tonight I found out it was last week! You see, my birthday friend, Rog has Lou Gehrig's disease, and it is progressing rapidly. Each day it is getting more difficult for him to talk and soon that voice will be silent.
And so I was holding onto the card because I wanted it to say just the right thing or for me to write the perfect greeting, but every time I sat down it sounded shallow.
Tonight as I finished rereading The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, the words from the book jumped off the page at me and became exactly the right encouragement for him, better than anything I could have composed. The words made me weep for the joy to come for all of us who are Christ followers and I knew it was meant to be shared with him. Happy birthday Rog!
"And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."Who's dwelling in your life?
It's 1.30 am and I can't sleep so decided to check emails instead. I went to bed before 10 tonight because it was a busy day but now woke up with a million things running through my head. My day started at the Health Center where Tim and I now have gym membership. There are always friends there so I can start with a short cup of coffee, then work out, shower, and get on with the day. It's been a good fitness routine this winter.
As I drove home and turned the corner, I saw an older gentleman crawling on his hands and knees on the sidewalk, an upset dog in tow on a leash, who was barking and trying to get help for his owner. I immediately pulled over and heard the man's cry for help. He had slipped on the ice, hurting his hip and couldn't get up. Today's temperature was in the high 30's so much of our snow melted into puddles, covering the ice beneath. The man was more shaken than anything so after checking for broken bones, I helped him up and very gingerly walked him home. His dog Teddy Bear was traumatized and wouldn't budge so I also had to calm an extremely hairy, filthy animal who turned out to be gentle, but terribly dirty. Long story short, I deposited a very grateful 88-year old man back home, but I was the one truly blessed by him. I'll stop in tomorrow again to check on my new friend Jack.
By 1:30 I drove to the County Jail where I've been shadowing my chaplain friend, learning the ropes of jail ministry. It's a newer facility with many corridors and doors so finding my way around is always an adventure. Today we had 9 women in our 12-step program, some proud and haughty, some so broken they can barely speak. This new adventure is stretching my little world and once again opening my eyes to care more for hurting people.
Home at 4 pm, hustling to be ready for friends who were coming over in one hour for our Valentine's Day lobster dinner. Opened a bottle of wine by 5, sent Tim back to the grocery store to replace 1 of the 4 live lobsters who wasn't kicking, and started cooking. Oh the running around we do! Dinner comprised of appetizers of fresh veggies and smoked fish (from recent Duluth trip), peppery arugula salad, wild rice, and the tasty lobster. Dinner was relaxing and a huge success, finishing with homemade blackberry sherbet, chocolates, and coffee.
My day was full of good friends, new friends, hurting friends…and then there is me, saved only by grace. It got me to thinking of my circle of acquaintances and people I am in community with. I leave you with a great truth that some friends shared with me the day they moved to Florida, when we had to part company:
psalm 84:5-7 The Message
and how blessed all those in whom you live,
whose lives become roads you travel;
they wind through lonesome valleys,
come upon brooks,
discover cool springs, and
pools brimming with rain!
God traveled,
these roads curve up the mountain,
and at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!
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