UPDATED: Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have two Thanksgiving feasts this week. But when my sister and her husband and their four kids showed up the week before the holiday, we figured we'd go for it. And we did.
We roasted a turkey, sautéed green beans, tossed a mandarin orange salad, made our Mom's stuffing recipe, peeled and boiled and mashed the potatoes, baked banana-citrus-nut muffins, made a roux for the gravy, and for dessert, I merged two recipes to create this beauty.
What are your plans for Thursday? I'll be making another turkey. And hosting a few Boundless readers for our feast. Though blessedly, we're getting our sides this time around from Whole Foods!
If you're going to someone else's for Thanksgiving and are on for bringing dessert, the above pie is a sure hit. Just in case you're still trying to decide what to bake, here's the recipe.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup + 3 Tbsp. sugar divided
3 Tbsp butter, melted
3 packages cream cheese, softened (brought to room temperature)
1 can of pumpkin puree
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
2 & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Mix crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9" spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium till well blended and smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed just until blended. Blend in sour cream and pumpkin puree. Pour over crust.
Bake at 350 degrees for 65 minutes or till center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving.
Cut with large knife. For clean slices, run knife under hot water between cuts.
Top with spiced pecans roughly chopped (see below) and freshly whipped cream (I chill my metal mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer before whipping; then add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp. of vanilla just before cream peaks.)
Spiced Pecans
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 cup pecans
pinch salt
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch clove
Melt butter, add spices and pecans. Coat pecans. Spread pecans onto a sheet pan and bake in 350 degree oven. Cook until crisp, approximately 15 minutes. Try not to eat them all before the guests arrive and the pie is served!
Garrison Keillor (NPR host, author columnist) isn't for everyone. His rambling style engages some people and annoys others. Likewise his mostly-liberal politics. Me, I find him hit-and-miss, both in style and substance, but he's entertaining, insightful or interesting often enough that I check out what he's saying from time to time. A few weeks back he really got something right, and Thanksgiving is just the time to repeat it.
In a column, Keillor described what he called "a true conservative":
This is someone who believes that the treasures you inherited are probably more important than what you chose for yourself, that your family, your community, your culture, about which you had no choice, are the true gifts and all that you were ambitious to acquire on your own -- fame, wealth, an elegant prose style, mastery of the tango, Jessica -- are less true.
Beautifully put. And it seems to me that a variant on those words is just as good a description of an attitude that Christians should have. Only the treasures would be defined more broadly. Family, community, culture -- yes, these well may be among them. (Such things vary from person to person.) But beyond those, so is our faith, our salvation, our Lord. All the things we want to pursue on our own are petty at best compared to the things God gives to us.
There's more to Keillor's column, and he is, as I say, hit-and-miss. In this sentence, though, he's captured a type of conservatism deeper than modern political labels convey. More important, he's captured the spirit of Thanksgiving.
Hope this resonates with some of you the way it does for me. Happy Thanksgiving!
PluggedIn.com's Bob Waliszewski says the new Twilight movie, New Moon, can be summed up with this: Guys on film take their shirts off and elicit screams from movie going girls. Does Cheryl Wilhelmi agree? Watch to find out. Bob and Cheryl also discuss The Blind Side, which promises to be an inspiring movie.
This is the scandal of the century. It needs to be thoroughly investigated -- and the culprits need to be brought to justice.
What's reporter Robert Tracinski talking about? He's talking about the recent discovery that significant evidence supporting man-caused global warming is absolutely bogus. Essentially, scientists at the influential Climatic Research Unit made up data and manipulated it to support their agenda-driven and predetermined conclusions.
I've been arguing that this global warming climate change hysteria is more about controlling the masses and making money than about good science, or about caring for the environment.
Turns out I'm right. Here are some recent headlines:
As always, I have to reiterate that I affirm conservation. I affirm caring for the earth. I affirm responsible use of resources. I affirm not polluting air and water and ground. Personally, and among other things, I use an electric lawn mower and CFL light bulbs, and use organic methods in my victory garden. It works for me, and may work for you as well.
I also affirm that there's a political agenda (Agenda 21?) behind climate change theology, an agenda that empowers bureaucrats to infringe on our rights and take more of our money, all in the name of compassion for the planet.
So, now that the evidence for anthropogenic global warming has been found to be fraudulent, what's next?
According to the AP, young adults are more likely than ever to be "home" for the holidays:
Nearly 1 in 7 parents with grown children say they had a "boomerang kid" move back home in the past year, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. In a turnabout in the rite of passage in which a college graduate finds a job and an apartment, many are returning to their parents' empty nests because of tight finances or as they pursue an advanced degree.
Pew also reports that roughly 30 percent of adults age 18 to 34 live at home. That's up from 27 percent in 2005. Many of these individuals are back after living on their own for a time. And it seems we won't see this trend vanishing any time soon:
"Boomerang kids are a major trend, and they represent a shift in cultural norms," said David Morrison, president and founder of Twentysomething Inc., a marketing and research firm. "Young adults are the first to feel the brunt of a bad economy and the last to feel the benefits of a recovering economy. So the first way you hedge your bets is to minimize your expenses."
Saying there is now less of a stigma in moving back home, Morrison predicted that the trend of boomerang kids may lessen somewhat but still continue after the economy recovers. That could create longer-term ripple effects in social relationships, from multigenerational family tensions to delayed marriage, he said.
What do you think about young adults moving home? In various cultures and times, this kind of communal family living was accepted and even encouraged. Is moving in with Mom and Dad a viable way for young adults to save money and get ahead? Or is it not worth the independence and personal responsibility that is being lost?
Over the past couple of days, a large and broad range of Christians have been signing on to a document called The Manhattan Declaration (including Focus on the Family president Jim Daly and founder Dr. James Dobson -- who invited Chuck Colson and Robert George to talk about the document on his daily broadcast).
It's a bold and well-articulated declaration that we support here at Boundless because of how well it frames many of the issues we care about. Here's the description from the Manhattan Declaration Web site:
Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.
We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:
1.the sanctity of human life 2.the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife 3.the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Visit the Websiteto view the declaration, to sign it and/or to share it on Facebook and Twitter.
Just have to say how much I enjoy reading anything and everything from Boundless! I discovered Boundless at the New Attitude Conference 2008 and I've been hooked ever since.
I live in northeast Ohio where I grew up. I am one of 9 kids ... born to an Amish farmer and his lovely wife. I was raised in Amish and Mennonite churches until I was 10 years old. Then we became what my siblings I like to call "normal". :)
After high school I moved to Maryland (near Washington D.C.) for about 5 years to be a nanny and later took a job in an office. I have since moved back to Ohio and I am currently enjoying my job as a bookkeeper for a really great company.
I enjoy reading, daydreaming, organizing stuff (anything!!), and I love the outdoors and traveling (but only in warm weather).
Thank you Boundless for all your hard work and dedication!!!
Do you ever feel like the time frame "moment" gets really abused? Like when the preacher says he will end his message in "a few moments" and then goes on for another hour?
The older I've gotten the more the dentist is actually one of the least painful appointments to keep in life. Case and point, every time I get my hair cut now the person cutting it takes it upon themselves to suggest how I could look better if I covered up some of the silver hair or used a different product. At the least the pain at the dentist is only physical.
I've never been a morning person. I'm no longer a night person, and really it's tough to get back in the zone after lunch. So basically my peak production hours are 10:00-12:00.
In New York City, restaurants are now required to list how many calories each food item contains right on the menu. Wouldn't it be nice if life worked the same way? In the menu of life's decisions, it would be helpful if there were a disclaimer on each one that said, "This decision will accomplish this or will cost you that."
I really can't taste the difference between Starbuck's Christmas blend and their regular blend. But I'm a sucker for any marketing that includes the word Christmas.
I've been in New Delhi where drivers miraculously defy the rules of space, time, and physics. I've been in Germany where the cruising speed is 130 MPH. But the most dangerous driving experience continues to be in the church parking lot after the service.
I really like people. Unless I'm bidding against you on eBay.
Is there any chance that playing on expert level on Rock Band counts as being an awesome guitar player? It would really boost my life resume if it does.
Why is that kids get all the good food on their menu? Just because I'm 28 doesn't mean I don't enjoy a $3 grilled cheese sandwich as much as little Johnny.
That's all the wisdom I have for today. What do you guys have? And I hope everyone out there has a great Thanksgiving!
There is no in-between. At least, there shouldn't be according to Marc Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.
In this video, Pastor Driscoll unpacks Luke 1:80 about John the Baptist's maturation into adulthood. He said the transition happened suddenly back then. Today there's an in-between stage called adolescence where "being a man is defined not by what you produce but by what you consume."
My favorite quote in the video: "What kills young men is this worldly thinking that this indefinite period of extended adolescence is acceptable, natural, and unavoidable."
Sadly, there's a lot of niceguys out there who fit this category.
"Poll Supports Taxing Rich for Overhaul," read the headline in my hometown paper on this story about health-care reform. "Americans Sour on Other Options for Meeting Costs," added the subhead.
In other words, same old, same old.
I have to wonder how many of the people who take the tax-the-rich line pause, even briefly, to ask themselves what gives them a claim on other people's money, and a pretty much limitless claim at that. Not many, I'm afraid. It's habitual by now.
But they should pause. And more to the point, we should. We, meaning Christians. We have it on good Authority that it's a sin to steal. Should we be quick to conclude it's not stealing if it's done by the state? Automatically? Should we blithely assume it's OK if the government is democratic? Might that not make it worse -- increasing the complicity, and the corruption, of the people?
Shouldn't we at least ask these questions?
Yes, I know: There are mitigating factors. Health care isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. (I really know: I've had major medical bills with no insurance.) But the issues remain, and we still need to wrestle with them. And we can't forget that the people always support making "the rich" pick up the tab. The spirit of the nation isn't "we're deeply sorry to take other people's money, but we're desperate." It's simply "We're entitled."
And yes, I know: Scripture has many warnings about attachment to wealth and many calls to care for others. But those words aren't just for the wealthiest of us: They're for all of us. When we feel we're entitled, we're not getting our spirits into harmony with God. We're only doing that when we're voluntarily giving, not forcibly taking.
I'm not entirely closed to ethical arguments for government programs of this sort, though I'm skeptical of them. The trouble is, few people seem to feel they even need to make those arguments. They just feel free to take the money.
So let's talk about this. A ground rule: Let's not talk about the details or the practicalities of health-care reform. We've done that a lot already on this site, and we may do it again, but it's not today's topic. Let's focus on the moral and spiritual issues raised above. There's plenty to chew on right there.
It's been two years now I've been hooked on Boundless. A friend of mine introduced me to the site and I've been faithful to it and the podcast ever since.
I'm Kerry and this is me at my home office in Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean.
I run a national student news magazine called The Student Press and naturally I work with a lot of young people. Your articles have been a source of great inspiration to me especially as it pertains to giving advice to youth.
Lisa is my favourite of course. She is so brutally honest and sweet.
Oh, I must tell you guys thank you for messing with all my beliefs and pre-conceived notions of relationships. (Hope you get the sarcasm a la Lisa here lol.)
A few years ago, I wrote an article about "non-random acts of kindness." The holiday season, which is nearly upon us (is upon us if you listen to the all-Christmas-music-all-the-time radio station), is a great time for specific acts of kindness.
The pinch I've felt this year and at various other times in my life (e.g., as a college student), is a lack of financial resources for giving. That's why it's great that many acts of kindness carry no price tag. Here are a few ideas:
Free babysitting. This weekend my husband and I are babysitting for our pastor and his wife. We had wanted to do something for them during Clergy Appreciation Month in October but were tight on funds. However, when I mentioned free babysitting, my pastor's face lit up. "We haven't been able to go on a date since September!" he said.
Gift cards. Each year I receive an assortment of gift cards. A grocery card from work. Multiple Starbucks cards (everyone knows about my habit). And various other cards to restaurants, movie theaters and stores. I'm not advocating re-gifting Mom's sole Christmas gift to you, but if an extra gift card comes your way, why not pass it on to someone who needs it more than you do?
Food. The holidays are a great time to make someone a meal or prepare plates of cookies for neighbors or shut-ins. My high school youth group used to spend an evening caroling to all the older people in our church and taking them plates of cookies.
Hospitality. Give the gift of your home. People love a warm, happy place to gather. Host a Thanksgiving or Christmas get-together. Serve Christmas treats, play some games and watch a holiday movie. I have a friend who loves to put on a "romantic dinner" at her house each time one of her friends gets engaged as her gift to the couple.
Nice stuff you don't need. Do you have extra items you're thinking of selling on craigslist? Why not give away quality items instead. When Kevin and I got married, we ended up with an extra king-sized bed. Kevin learned that one of his coworkers was six months pregnant and sharing a double bed with her husband. When we offered her the bed she was thrilled and offered to pick it up the next day!
The holidays are a great time to reach out to people, though opportunities to bless others with kindness exist year round:
Part of being a blessing to others is being alert to opportunities. If an affirming thought comes into your mind, say it. If you wonder if someone is in need, offer to help. If you find yourself thinking of a person, go a step further and act. A little deliberate kindness goes a long way.
And the great news is ... kindness is absolutely free.
Do-It-Yourselfers -- 0:00 Last weekend I spent about an hour pulling my toilet up and fishing out my son's toothbrush from the trapway. (He didn't get in too much trouble. He was just trying to multi-task while getting ready for bed.) I never really considered calling a plumber. I knew I could get 'er done with a couple of tools, a wire coat hanger, and an adventurous spirit. It's a skill I picked up from the ultimate do-it-yourselfer: my dad.
This week, Steve and I talk with Lisa about what our dads taught us and how it's made us better men.
Art of Manliness -- 16:09 I've noticed several ladies comment on the blog this week that they've broken up with men because of poor hygiene. If only those poor guys had known about the Art of Manliness, a website dedicated to, well, the art of being a man. And apparently, good hygiene is part of the art of manliness.
Unfortunately, I know far too many grown men who still smell like reeking teens, and whether they know it or not, their odor problem is wreaking havoc on their personal relationships, their business prospects, and the respect people give them. Most of us are too polite to confront a man with an odor problem and some men live completely oblivious to the foul destruction they leave in their wake. We grow accustomed to our own scents and as putrid as they are, we cannot recognize them.Our nose filters out and ignores many background odors, such as the ones in our nasal passages.Some of us also have poor olfactory senses, so bad odors don’t bother us like they do others. Time to wake up and smell the B.O.!
Good stuff.
For this week's Culture segment, Lisa interviews the couple behind the popular Art of Manliness website, Brett and Kate McKay.
Leading a Man to Lead -- 37:34 I thought this was a perfect question to tackle this week. A girl writes that she's in a relationship with a guy who did a great job at initiating a relationship but doesn't really know where to go from there. Should she back off and let him find his way or take the lead on leading him to lead? Or something like that. Anyway, Candice and Lisa have the solution.
"That drives me crazy," my husband commented on Sunday afternoon.
It was halftime of the football game we were watching. I, being not too interested in the halftime show, had retired to reading my paper. But hubbie's comments focused my attention to what the sports broadcasters were discussing: a recent video showing one college football player flagrantly attempting to eye gouge another player who was pinned in a pile.
The coach had decided to suspend the player for a half-game after viewing the video tape ("Oooo," hubbie commented. "Suspend him for a half game against Vanderbilt. That'll teach him."). But what got under hubbie's skin a little was this comment from the coach as he was interviewed:
"I don't condone that. I understand what goes on on the football field, but there's no place for that ... I spoke with him. That's not who he is ... He got caught up in emotion."
A female college soccer player, who was videoed repeatedly pulling hair, kicking, punching and elbowing opposing players in a recent match, is using the same type of language in her defense. She told the New York Times
"I look at it and I'm like, 'That is not me,'. I have so much regret. I can't believe I did that.
I think the way the video came out, it did make me look like a monster. That's not the type of player I am. I'm not just out there trying to hurt players. That's taking away from the beauty of the game. And I would never want to do that."
It's that language that was driving hubbie a little crazy on Sunday.
"Not who he is? Take a look at the video. If that's not who he is, he never would have done it, even with the emotion," hubbie said. "Better to say, 'That video showed me someone who I don't want to be. I apologize for my behavior. I've got some things to work on. I will be working on them.'"
Smart guy, that hubbie. As I thought about what he said, I thought about how exactly right he was. It's under pressure ... under intense emotion ... that my own ugly comes out bright and clear. Yep, I can hold the ugly in under most conditions. But it's when I'm frustrated with my family, or driving when I'm late to an appointment, or tired, or whatever, that Ugly Heather makes her entrance.
And it's so tempting to sweep UH under the rug. "That's not me," I protest. "I'm not like that." But, maybe, that's exactly who I am. That's exactly why I need a Savior. That's exactly why I continue to need to be sanctified.
My in-laws have a magnet on their refrigerator that reads, "Sports don't build character. They reveal it."
Perhaps for me it might read, "Life doesn't build character. It reveals it."
The next time Ugly Heather reveals herself (which, let's be honest, probably won't be that long from the time I end this post), I've got something to think about. Instead of protesting to God, "That's just not me!", I can say, "Please forgive me. Create in me a clean heart and a right spirit. Because that is me and it's not who I want to be."
Recently Gary Thomas gave us a taste of his new book Pure Pleasure in the article "Enjoying the Earth Without Loving the World." Now he's making the whole book available as a free download. See details at his Website.
Candice has almost finished the book, but she's let me interrupt her reading to knock out a couple of the chapters. I couldn't get enough of it -- especially as someone who grew up in a fairly legalistic church community and had some difficulty learning how to rightly enjoy God's good gifts.
I appreciate the great job Gary does of explaining how enjoying God's gifts properly is the best shield to resisting our enemy's counterfeits.
Don't miss this chance to read one of the best books of the year at the perfect price for Boundless readers ... free.
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