Book Review: Dollar Tree Cookbooks

Ok, so it's confession time... I may have gone to the Dollar Tree today and I may have bought three ridiculously thin cookbooks... but in my defense, they have pictures. 

Gorgeous pictures. 

On every page. 

Honestly, I did look at the recipes themselves before purchasing the books, but to be equally honest, the pictures were a deciding factor. I'm a very visual person, and to be able to see a picture of what a recipe makes really does help.

Well played, Dollar Tree... well played.

Anyway, these three little cookbooks really did have a number of delicious- sounding recipes I am excited to try. The books on salads and smoothies are probably going to be the most helpful; Any way I can motivate myself to actually eat leafy greens is a good thing, and if I can disguise them in a smoothie, then so much the better!

The smoothie book has a good variety of smoothie recipes, ranging from dessert smoothies to breakfast smoothies, to protein smoothies and green smoothies. There are only 11 recipes, but they are diverse enough to make quite a useful little collection.

The appetizer book is probably the least useful to me, but I bought it because, like the other two, it has a good variety of recipes... and it had recipes for Baked Crab Dip and Spinach Artichoke Dip, both of which I greatly enjoy eating, but haven't tried making yet. Later in the summer if we have a good pea harvest, I want to try the Green Pea Hummus recipe. It sounds quite interesting.

Each book also has one of these helpful measurement equivalents pages

As I have mentioned, the third book I purchased contains salad recipes. Like the others, it also has only 11 recipes, but very diverse ones. For example, the book starts out with a Chili Lime Southwest Chicken Salad (reminiscent of the one I love to get at Panera), but also contains a recipe for Fruit Salad, several pasta salad recipes, and a yummy-looking Lentil Salad recipe.

Lots of bang for your buck... and maybe not such a bad impulse purchase after all!

To find these books, you can go to the Dollar Tree website here to find location near you, or you could order online... they only let you buy a case of 36, though...

Oh, and I was reminded as I looked these up on the website --there's also one about grilling.

The Importance of Family Vacations

A week ago, I traveled with my parents to my oldest nephew’s graduation. I almost decided to travel separately, partly because I enjoy driving, and partly because I enjoy the freedom to stop whenever and wherever I feel like stopping on the way back home. My dad had seemed a bit disappointed, though, when I had voiced my inclination to travel alone, so I had changed my plans. After all, it had been years since we had done a trip together, and he had planned to do some vacation-y things on the way back home. 

I am so glad I did not go with my first instinct about this trip. My parents and I had so much fun! It wasn’t as though we did anything extravagant –we stopped at a grocery store and bought food to put in our cooler for lunch in the car later, we went to a free visitor’s center museum, and we took a walk at a small state park while Daddy napped in the car. We did go to one visitor’s center museum that charged admission, but my parents are both seniors now, which gave us a discounted rate.

No, the blessing of this trip wasn’t in enjoying luxuries or in the novelty of things we did (picnic in the car, driving, going to a couple visitor’s centers…). It wasn’t even in seeing something amazing. (We got pictures of Mount St. Helens from afar, but by the time we got to the closest viewing area, the clouds had rolled in.) The joy of this trip was in the bonds developed by experiencing something together. It was my dad’s first visit to St. Helens, and it was fun to show him all the things my mom and I had enjoyed when we had visited there years before. The memories we made are now the building blocks of relationship, because they gave us a new source of conversation, reminiscence, inside jokes, and illustrations for future times together. The shared experience of even a day trip can serve as a catalyst for building relationships with your family. 

Spending a lengthy amount of time in the car together also forces a family to find things to talk about. In our case, it was the scenery, the book I was listening to (with headphones), the talk shows and music everyone else was listening to, and anything else that came to mind as we drove. Because we had such a long time together in a small enough space no one could escape into their own space, we ended up finding things to talk about that we wouldn’t otherwise have bothered to bring up in conversation.

So the moral of my trip is: even if you enjoy the independence of traveling solo, try traveling with others more often: you never know how God might use it!

Hope of Gladness

This morning as I read in Proverbs, a verse stood out to me which I had never taken the time to really think about before.

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

Proverbs 10:28

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness… I could tell by the way the phrase grabbed my attention that the Holy Spirit was quickening it to my heart, that is, showing me that this particular truth was what I needed today. I wasn’t exactly sure how to apply it… a couple of obvious doctrinal applications came to mind, but to my shame, I must admit that I didn’t take time to think it through right then. In fact, I found myself rushing to get ready for church, then rushing from ministry to ministry all morning. It wasn’t until during the sermon that it finally clicked. 

I had one of those thoughts pop up as I was listening to the sermon… you know, those sparks of discontentment which if given any fuel at all spread into a full-blown forest fire in no time. Anyway, the thought occurred, and as I took a deep breath preparing for battle, the verse came to mind again.

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness… I realized what it was that the Holy Spirit was teaching me. At that particular moment, doing battle with my own thoughts and emotions, I wasn’t happy. The hope that I had was not that I would never experience unhappiness, but rather that the way to gladness was in responding to the unhappiness in a righteous (Christ-like) way. I can trust that no matter what difficulty or unhappiness God allows, He has already promised to help me through it, and He will give me grace and strength to fight off the ungratefulness of discontentment so that I can return to the gladness He desires me to enjoy -the gladness that comes from stopping Satan’s fiery darts of discontent with the inflammable and impervious shield of faith.

Isn’t it amazing how God gives us exactly what we need when we need it? This truth helped me to get the spark extinguished before it had a chance to spread, and instead of having a crummy, emotional, depressing day, I had quite a happy one! This all reminded me of the promise in I Corinthians 10:13

“God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Praise the Lord for His faithful love!

Bargain Hunting 101

During my reading time this week, I came across a list of bargain hunting tips I thought were quite good. The following are from Aged to Perfection: adding rustic charm to your modern home inside and out.

• Visit destinations frequently --I have found this to be quite a major factor. As I have been making regular trips to the thrift stores near me, I have not only found that I am less likely to buy something before it goes on sale (saving me some money!), but also that I have a better sense of what a good deal actually is at the thrift stores. Also, many thrift stores put out new items daily, so if there is something specific you are looking for, frequency can improve your chances of success. 

• Build relationships with stores and dealers: So far, I haven't really tried this one out. The idea is that as you go to thrift stores or antique dealers frequently, you can get to know them and build a relationship where they would be excited to call you up and let you know when they get just the right item in. At the thrift stores I go to, I can't quite see panning out, but who knows? --Right now, I'm pretty sure it's more like they see me walk in and think, "here's that crazy glassware lady that always uses up our newspaper supply". 

• Travel further afield: There is much to be said for the grand adventure of buying trips. This is true with antique shops as well as thrift stores. People who live in different areas tend to have different things to donate or sell, so a trip to a shop in a different area can yield some surprising and refreshing results. For example: I recently went to an antique shop with my sister in Olympia, WA where I found some beautiful Spode pieces that I had never run across at the stores near where I live. 

Just a few tips for my fellow bargain-hunters. I hope they are helpful! 

Now, please post your bargain-hunting tips in the comments for the rest of us to learn from! 

A Feel for Quality: The Unexpected Benefit to Family Antiquing

My childhood memories abound with the old and historical. For years, my family volunteered at a living history farm (click here for a link!) where from infancy I was surrounded by the family’s antiques and heirlooms, including a small bedroom in the old log house which was full of old toys (which since have been redistributed amongst the upstairs bedrooms). I still remember sitting side by side with my friend (who was a descendant of the family who built the house) in the old cast iron car with pedals that really made it go. We only pretended we were using said pedals, because there was really no room to move the car without breaking things. We had many hours of enjoyment, too, over the kitchen tools in an adjoining display, and many a “sick” playmate was nursed back to health with the fruits of our imaginary culinary experiments. 

There were always surprises when we played in those upstairs rooms. Some were more pleasant than others. I will forever remember the day we lifted the roof of the dollhouse only to find a mouse's nest inside… I never played with the dollhouse again after that. But there were interesting and delightful ones as well. My favorite surprises were the things like the old container of “black face” stashed among the kitchen wares (still in its original cardboard box) which somehow felt like holding a piece of history in my very hand. (A scene from a Shirley Temple movie came to mind when I realized what it was.)

Looking back, it amazes me how many of my memories had to do with the feel of things. For example, I can close my eyes and envision the railing of the old, narrow, short-treaded stairway; and instantly I recall the smoothness of the worn banister, which was really the trunk of some young tree devoid of bark and affixed there for the purpose. Whether the smoothness came about from years of use or many coats of varnish, I could never tell. I also remember the way my fingers would lift the catch of the secret drawer in one of the old chests of drawers and push it out, to the amazement of any small children in the groups of visitors I would show it to.

               

One time, I was at a different historical site, and a very nice lady showed me how to spin on her antique Great Wheel. She pointed out to me that the wood was worn from all those years of fingers touching the spokes to turn the wheel and spin the wool into yarn. It was that day that I realized that history wasn’t just in knowing about events or even seeing historical things. History can be experienced with all our senses, whether it’s the taste of buttermilk fresh from the churn with little lumps of butter still in it, the smell of burning lamp oil, the warmth that radiates off those same dim oil lamps on a rainy spring day, or the feel of wood smoothed by generation after generation of use.

               

 The unexpected benefit of being surrounded by antiques as a child is that now I seem to have a knack for spotting antiques or things of value. Of course, one of my family’s favorite activities when I was growing up was to go to antique stores (actually, it’s still a favorite thing for my parents and I to do together on a Saturday). So there is at least some explanation for my being able to recognize antiques, but I have noticed that the primary way I can tell if something is actually old is by the feel of it.

                 

For example, I recently brought home an oil lamp chimney from the thrift store, which I knew was the right shape for my older lamp; but I knew it was probably a modern reproduction, except I couldn’t tell why I thought that until I got home. I walked over to one of our antique lamps which had exactly the same shape and felt the top rim. I instantly knew why my recent purchase seemed newer. It was because the glass was thicker and sturdier with a very little bit of a lip around the edge to round it over. The old ones are made of thinner glass and come to an abrupt edge without any kind of rounding over. (Or at least, the antique shade we have at my house is that way. I have yet to discover a definitive source for learning about lamp shades.)

                 

This newfound ability to recognize antiques has become useful, as I have begun selling antiques or other beautiful things on eBay. There have been many times when I have seen something in the store and thought, “I don’t know why, but I think that’s old”. When I find myself thinking along those lines, I pull out my phone and look whatever it is up online to see if it really is; and nine times out of ten, it is old and more valuable than I would have guessed. In every case so far, when I have thought something was a particular type of antique, which I had had no prior experience with, it has always turned out to be so.

Of course, credit for this ability in no way belongs to me. There are so many stories I could tell about things I have found that I never would have known even to be interested in. It is quite clear that the ability is from the Lord, not from anything of my own doing. He has, however, used this new eBay endeavor to make me realize the value of the “hands-on” education in antiques I was given as a child.

So, the moral of the story is: teach your children to be careful, but let them touch things sometimes. (And with permission of the owners, of course!) Read up on antiques, find a few inexpensive things to have in your home that are actually old, and have your children hold them, dust or clean them,or just play with them carefully. All those things are building an aptitude to recognize and appreciate the quality and age of the antique objects they come across in their later lives.

In the log house on the farm I mentioned above, there were some cast iron banks. One or two were actual antiques. The others were reproductions, but they were all fun to play with. We used to spend hours setting the banks, putting a penny in, and with great anticipation pressing the button to make them work. Each time we were just as delighted at the result as if we had never seen it before! These made a sturdy introduction to antiques but were old enough (at least, some of them,) to need the small amount of carefulness a small child is capable of.

Things like cast iron banks, a genuinely old and use-worn piece of woodwork, or even a set of old marbles can help develop a feel for the quality of older things without putting your most treasured antique heirlooms at risk. 

Remember, you never know what knowledge and abilities God might be developing in you or your children. He even uses trips to the antique store for His glory and our good!