Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"The beautiful prayer of St. Patrick, popularly known as 'St. Patrick's Breast-Plate,' is supposed to have been composed by him in preparation for this victory over paganism. The following is a literal translation from the old Irish text . . ."


I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.


I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.


I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.


I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.


I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.


I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.


Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.


Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop [deck],
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.


I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

My week so far....

I am thinking a lot about NY the last few weeks! I am leaving in just 14 days. I have to slip down to NY to a UPS store. It is only about an hour and a half from our house. I am ordering some skirts from a really nice modest clothing store in the states. The skirts fit nicely and are very comfortable.They are also very good about returns if need be.


Thank-you Shawn for driving me :)

I am growing three pots of tulips for Easter and they have been growing fine....but they have gotten so tall that they are starting to fall right over. We have put some string around them hoping to try and keep them upright but it is not working. We were thinking of just cutting them and putting them in a vase, but they are not open at all really, just slowly starting to peel back at the top. Do you think that this will work? Please leave your thoughts!!

I was doing some cleaning today with Mom (it is March break here!?!) It is interesting how the house seems to keep getting dirty isn't it? There is a a quote that I really like.

"Better to die tired by doing good, then to just die"

From "Mom"

I was given a beautiful pot of violets at Christmas (I just love violets). There are about seven buds on it and I think in about a week or two it will look like this :)

Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Erin

A weekend smile.....

A five dollar bill met a twenty dollar bill and said. “Hey. Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around here much.” The twenty answered. “I've been hanging out at the Casinos, went on a cruise and did the rounds of the ship, back to the United States for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you? The five dollar bill said, “You know, same old stuff…church, church, church.



Have a great weekend everyone..... and don't forget to "Spring Forward" tonight!

Boiled Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients-

1/2 cup butter ( I used margarine )

1/2 cup milk (I used rice dream )

2 cups sugar (I used 1 1/4 cup sucanet)

1/2 cup cocoa

2 1/2 rolled oats ( I used 3 cups because I used less sugar )

Directions-

Put butter, milk, sugar and cocoa in large saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring often. Boil for 5 minutes. .Remove from heat. Stir in rolled oats.

Drop by teaspoonful onto waxed paper.

Makes about 3 dozen

Substitutions.....

I wanted to do a post on substitutions.



We have some food allergies in our house so we have gotten used to changing our recipes around. Pretty well all of the recipes that I will be posting are changed :) I will add what I have done at the bottom of the recipes.

We use organic Coconut milk and Coconut Oil in our baking, they give the baking a tasty and non greasy flavor. We also use rice dream and goat milk, as well as cow's milk.

When we use sugar in baking I usually use sucanet. We buy from Wholesome Sweeteners-we get the 50 pound bag which is about $115.00- this lasts our family+my grandparents at least a year and three months ( and we bake alot )When we bake with it we use 1/3 cup to the 1 cup the recipe calls for. That way it is not too sweet. Sucanet has a very nice taste to it as well.







When we are baking bread I make Spelt bread for Mom and I as sometimes wheat bothers us. There will be a post on that soon! I also find with spelt you sometimes have to use a bit more as it is a very soft grain. I always use spelt when I am making cookies, cakes... things like that. I usually make the boys whole wheat bread. I will be doing a post on how I make our bread soon! I also like using dark (whole) spelt when I bake with cocoa. Nobody knows!


Blessings,


Erin

MASHED POTATO BISCUITS

Ingredients


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ( I used light spelt )


2 tablespoons baking powder


1 teaspoon salt


1/4 cup sugar ( I used sucanet )


1/4 cup butter or margarine ( I used coconut oil )


1 1/2 cups leftover mashed potatoes


1 egg, beaten


1/3 cup cold water


1/3 cup milk ( I used rice milk )


extra milk for brushing the tops


Directions


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).


In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in butter, until pieces of butter are no larger than peas. Use a fork to stir in mashed potatoes, breaking them up into chunks. Make a well in the mixture, and pour in egg, water and milk. Stir into a loose dough using the fork.


Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 6 or 8 times so the dough holds together.


Pat the dough out to about 3/4 inch thickness, and cut into circles with a biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet. Brush the tops with a bit of milk.


Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bottoms are golden.

Make about 12


These taste wonderful! I had always wanted to do some baking with mashed potatoes in them and this fit the bill! Worth a try...

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

My Cat Jenny...

IT STARTS WITH ASH WEDNESDAY.....

Lent lasts 40 days from Ash Wednesday until Holy Thursday. The Lenten journey begins with ashes, a solemn reminder of life's limits, as we hear "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return". Ash Wednesday calls us to repent of our sins and to return to communion with Christ, in preparation for the joy of His Easter resurrection.

What does this mean for my Lenten journey?

A few days ago I posted one of my favorite chapters in the Bible~ 1 Corinthians 13. Through Lent I like to spend more time in prayer and at church. I also like to read many scriptures that remind me of Christ and His great sacrifice. His great love for us.

I will be sharing some of my favorite scriptures throughout Lent and after Holy week.

God Bless you all!

I THINK SPRING IS ALMOST HERE !!!

What beautiful weather the LORD has given us the last few days! When my family and I were at church today the first spring buds where coming out in the flower beds :)

My brother Shawn and I went back into town today after we had lunch and went for a nice, long walk with our golden retriever, Ralph. Ralph had a wonderful time with us. He always seems a bit worried when we first set out, then relaxes after we pass "the exits" to the groomers and the vets!

I have been busy getting ready to go to NY the last week. I got a pretty suitcase that has blue flowers on it (hopefully the little matching carry-on that we ordered will get here on time!)

Monday is going to be a busy day :) I need to wash and carton eggs for my customers as well as school work and some baking for the boys.

I think the chickens can hardly wait for spring to come! I have 21 birds but I only am getting about 16 eggs a day...I need to have a talk with them!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :)

Blessings,

Erin