Grace for Dinner: Six Easy Dinner Recipes

"It's the most wonderful time of the year. . . "

Andy Williams croons and I sing along.  But I can't help but think that it's also the busiest time of the year.  And sometimes it's the most stressful.

That's this week at my house--the most stressful.  Aside from the usual Christmas activities, I have a number of special projects due this week. All three of my boys have final exams. Jack has a really busy week at work.  And on Friday, our 19-year-old Preston will have hernia surgery, for which we'd really appreciate your prayers.

I'll bet you can relate.  I know I'm not the only one facing a super-busy week.  Yet we all still need to feed our families.  So today I'm featuring several easy recipes for a good dinner, any of which you could have on the table quickly.  These are all tried and true!  Just click on the name of the recipe and you'll be taken straight to that post.

Lemon Chicken


Cowboy Stew



Easy Chicken Pot Pie


Busy Day Soup


Homemade Slow-Cooker Spaghetti



Chicken Chili


Whatever you serve your family on this busy day, here's a prayer for your meal:

Dear Lord, We bow our heads in gratitude.  We thank you for all that you've provided for us.  We are especially thankful for the gift of food at this holiday season, Lord, because we're very mindful right now that many people don't have enough to eat, much less enough to make a merry Christmas for their families.  Help us never to take our blessings for granted, and give us hearts that are willing to share.  Amen.

Grace for Dinner: Coconut Milk Chicken Thighs

Every Monday, I'm featuring a post called called "Grace for Dinner."  Each of these posts will include a recipe for a simple, delicious dinner food and a  prayer of blessing for you. My hope is to impart grace to you body and soul with these posts.

Today's recipe is from Sandy Coughlin at Reluctant Entertainer.  Sandy is one of those dear people I feel as though I know--almost as if she were a neighbor of mine--yet I've never yet actually had the pleasure to meet her in real life!   Sandy's blog is a treasure trove of recipes and good advice for how to extend hospitality, such as her 10 Commandments of Hospitality.  Sandy has also written a book called Reluctant Entertainer.  I own a copy and have given two away as gifts--it's a wonderful book!

Here's Sandy with a great recipe for us:

I'm glad to be here at Imparting Grace today to share my recipe for Coconut Milk Chicken Thighs.  This recipe is great for every day--really easy and yummy!



I've re-discovered chicken thighs.  I've learned that they are higher in fat and calories than chicken breasts, but as long as you remove the skin and any excess fat, economical thighs fit into a good-for-you diet.  They also provide 25 percent more iron and and more than twice as much zinc as the same amount of breast meat.

You'll love this easy recipe using chicken thighs!

Soy and Coconut Milk Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs, boneless, trimmed
• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 can (13 1/2 ounce) coconut milk
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• pressed garlic
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. white ground pepper
• fresh chives, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together.  Leave some chives out for garnishing chicken after it's grilled.
2. Marinate in refrigerator for 12-24 hours.
3. When ready to serve, remove chicken from marinade.  
4. Grill until cooked through.  Sprinkle with fresh chives and serve.

Thank you so much for this recipe, Sandy!

Sandy originally published this recipe at Reluctant Entertainer.  If you'd like to pin it, you should click here and pin Sandy's post (plus she includes even more wonderful photos and a printable recipe--you'll be glad you clicked over there!).

And now a prayer for the meal:

Dear Lord, we are so grateful to be at this table to partake of the bounty that you've provided.  Help us to remember, Lord, that every good gift comes from you.  We thank You for providing all that we need.  We ask you now to bless this food as we eat it and bless our bodies as they gain strength from this food.  May we always use our bodies to serve and honor You.  Amen.

Grace for Dinner: Slow Cooker Spaghetti

Happy Monday, friends!  I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is officially upon us!  I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and full of time to give thanks for all your blessings.

If you're like me, you're ready to eat something very different from traditional Thanksgiving fare.  As much as I love turkey and dressing and all the trimmings, I'm ready for something else.  Today's Grace for Dinner recipe definitely fills the bill.

Today's recipe is from my friend Tonya from Love of Family and Home.  Tonya is one of the loveliest souls in the blogosphere.  She works part-time as a registered nurse and full-time as wife to a wonderful husband and mother of two of the cutest little boys you've ever seen.  Her blog is packed full of inspiration--everything from craft projects to room makeovers and all points in between.  I'm thrilled to have Tonya here today to share a simple dinner recipe.  Here's Tonya!

Hey friends!  I don't know about you, but cold weather always makes me CRAVE comfort foods!  One of those comfort foods for me is my great-grandmother's slow-cooker spaghetti sauce recipe.




Oh yeah....did I forget to mention that you make it in the crock pot?!  Delicious and easy! Woot woot!!

2 pounds ground beef (uncooked)
6 Tbsp minced onion
16 oz. can tomato sauce
4 6 oz. cans tomato paste
1 cup water
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves (dried)
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp basil
4 tsp parsley flakes

Place uncooked ground beef into crock pot.  Add onion, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water.   Add in seasonings.  Stir ingredients thoroughly until mixed well.  Cook for 3 1/2 hours on high.  Remove bay leaves before serving.  Serve with your favorite pasta.  Enjoy!

Thank you so much, Tonya!  This spaghetti sauce looks delicious, and it's just the kind of food I'm craving.

Now a prayer for your dinner:

Dear God, You are so good and kind.  You've given us so many blessings, and we are grateful that we had a special chance last week to stop and count those blessings.  Will you please help us to hold onto that attitude of gratitude as we move now into a the very busy Christmas season?  Help us always to be thankful, God.  We thank You now for this food, and we ask that you bless it to nourish our bodies.  Amen.

Grace for Dinner: Busy Day Soup

Can you believe that Thanksgiving week is upon us?  The days are flying by so quickly!  If you're like me, you have a long list of things to accomplish this week, but our families still need to be fed today.

I'm excited to share this recipe with you.  I got it from my sister, who is a wonderful cook.  It's easy, fast, and delicious.  Best of all, you can keep the ingredients in your pantry so that you can whip this up in a jiffy on a really busy day.



Now, I know that some of you avoid any kind of processed foods, including canned soup, and you won't care for this recipe.  I avoid some processed foods, but I grew up on Campbell's soups, so those red and white cans are staples in my pantry.  If you're like me, you really should try this recipe.



Brown one pound ground meat (turkey or beef, your choice) along with some diced onion and garlic (if desired). Drain off fat.

Into soup pot, dump the contents of these eight cans:

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans Campbell's chicken gumbo
2 cans Campbell's minestrone
1 can chicken broth
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce plus one tomato sauce can full of water

Add meat to pot and stir together. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until ready to serve.

That's it!  No measuring, no seasoning, no wondering--just combine the contents of those cans and you'll love the results. Rich and hearty and delicious. It will warm you body and soul.

And now, a prayer for your meal:

Dear Lord, this is the week when we'll follow the tradition of pausing to give you thanks for all our blessings.  But our thanks to you can't be confined to one day, God.  We are grateful for everything You provide every day.  Help us to keep our hearts focused on you even as we are busy this week with all our holiday preparations.  You are so good and generous; help us to be more like You.  Amen.

Grace for Dinner: The Best Potato Casserole

Every Monday, I'm featuring a post called called "Grace for Dinner."  Each of these posts will include a recipe for a simple, delicious dinner food and a  prayer of blessing for you. My hope is to impart grace to you body and soul with these posts.

Today is a special Monday.  It's the official observation of Veteran's Day in the U.S., so for today's Grace for Dinner I'm going to share a recipe that I've served a number of times to my very favorite veteran--my Uncle Richard.

Uncle Richard at the airport on his way overseas

My uncle served in Viet Nam when I was a small girl.  He was badly wounded, and the memories of him as he fought his way back to health are imprinted on my mind.  What a kind and good man he is! He has always been my hero.

Uncle Richard and his beautiful family have shared several Thanksgivings with Jack and me, and this casserole is something I made every time they joined us.  Paired with any simple meat, it makes an amazing meal.

I know there are lots of hash brown casserole recipes floating around out there.  I've tried several of them.  This one is a little different.  A friend gave me the basic recipe over 20 years ago, and I've changed and adapted that into this recipe.  I think it's the very BEST potato casserole recipe ever.

To make it, you need a 32-ounce package of Southern-style (the little chunks) hash browns or 2 pounds of potatoes cut into small cubes.  Spread these evenly into a 13x9 pan.



Then grate 12 ounces American (yes, American) cheese.  American cheese has a mild flavor and is very creamy, so it works beautifully in this dish. You can buy this at the deli or do as I do and use 18 slices of cheese.  Press them together and grate.

Melt 1 stick butter or margarine.  Into that mix 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 8 ounces sour cream OR plain Greek yogurt, 1 teaspoon salt, and the cheese.  If you like, also stir in 1 teaspoons dried minced onion.  This will add just a tiny bit of onion flavor; too much onion would overwhelm the flavor of the potatoes.  Spread this mixture evenly over the potatoes.



And for the crowning touch, crush some corn flakes.  You need 2 cups of corn flake crumbs.  Sprinkle these evenly atop the casserole.  Then melt another stick of butter and pour it evenly over the corn flakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until corn flakes are golden brown and potato mixture is bubbly.

You won't believe how delicious and creamy this is.  Don't think about the fat grams; this is comfort food!

The Best Potato Casserole

 Ingredients
32-ounce package frozen Southern-style hash browns OR
2 pounds potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
2 cans cream of chicken soup
12 ounces American cheese grated
8 ounces sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried minced onion (optional)
2 cups crushed cornflake crumbs
1 stick butter, melted

Directions
Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread potatoes evenly in pan.  Mix 1 stick melted butter, soup, cheese, sour cream, salt, and minced onion together.  Spread mixture evenly over potatoes.  Sprinkle cornflake crumbs evenly over soup mixture; drizzle 1 stick melted butter evenly over top.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

A blessing for the meal:

Dear Lord, we thank you for all that you've given to us.  We are grateful, God, for all the men and women who have served in our country's military forces.  Help us always to be thankful for service offered on our behalf, God.  Help us never to take such service for granted.  Please bless this food to nourish our bodies, and may we use our bodies to serve and honor You.  Amen.

 

Grace for Dinner: Lemon Chicken

Every Monday, I'm featuring a post called called "Grace for Dinner."  Each of these posts will include a recipe for a simple, delicious dinner food and a  prayer of blessing for you. My hope is to impart grace to you body and soul with these posts.

Today I'm so happy to be featuring Melissa from 320 Sycamore.  320 Sycamore is chock-full of helpful posts--from small projects to whole-house renovations, from great deals to words of encouragement.
 Melissa is one of the bloggers I admire most, and I'm proud to be able to call her a blogging friend and a real-life friend.


As the mom of five children, Melissa knows a thing or two about getting dinner on the table!  Here's Melissa:

I am honored to be over at Imparting Grace today~Richella makes everyone feel at home here! This is one of my family’s favorite, do-able recipes~if I ask what they want for dinner, most of the time they yell, “lemon chicken!” We have made it for birthdays, company, Sunday dinners, missionaries, and grandparents. It’s a winner in our book!



 Lemon Chicken

from Remedies for the "I Don't Cook" Syndrome~this is so easy; yet it can pass for gourmet. :)

4-6  boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup butter or margarine
2 Tbs. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 to 5 cups cooked rice
Pound chicken breasts flat with a mallet (or just choose thin breasts or cutlets)
Put flour in a plastic bag, add chicken breasts, and shake to coat. Melt butter and oil in a large skillet. Cook chicken breasts on moderately high heat, approximately 4 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place chicken in an ovenproof dish; keep warm in oven set at 250 degrees. Prepare lemon sauce.

Lemon Sauce

(this is the BEST with fresh parsley and fresh lemon, but if you don’t have them on hand, bottled lemon juice and dried parsley will work)

3 Tbs butter or margarine
3 Tbs. minced fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 ½ Tbs lemon juice)
Add butter to skillet and melt, scraping up brown bits in pan. Remove from heat; add parsley and lemon juice. Pour hot sauce over chicken. Serve with rice.

Melissa, this looks absolutely delicious!  Thank you so much for sharing the recipe with us.

Now a blessing for the meal:

Dear Lord, we are so grateful to gather at the table.  We are grateful to be fed by You--our bodies with physical food, our souls with spiritual food.  Sometimes we feel anxious by all that's going on our world, but we know that You are good.  Help us always to trust You to provide just what we need.  Amen.

Grace for Dinner: Cowboy Soup

A few weeks ago I began a weekly series called "Grace for Dinner."  Each of these posts will include a recipe for a simple, delicious dinner food and a  prayer of blessing for you. My hope is to impart grace to you body and soul with these posts.




Today's recipe is a treat for us from one of my oldest blogging buddies, Amanda from Serenity Now.  Not that Amanda's old--she's a beautiful young mom--but she's been a blogging friend of mine for a long time now.  We first got acquainted with one another in 2009 and have been friends ever since.  I'm so grateful to know Amanda.  She's fun and funny and kind and thoughtful, and those attributes show forth brightly in the way she writes, the way she runs her blog, and the way she interacts with readers.  

Amanda's daughters at the pumpkin patch

Take it away, Amanda!

Hi, Imparting Grace readers! Today's recipe for Cowboy Soup is one of those throw-it-together meals that makes dinnertime easy. I love that you can add extra spices to give it some more kick, or leave it as-is for family members who don't like hot food.

My Aunt Linda gave me this recipe several years ago. I'm not sure why it's called "Cowboy Soup," (it's more of a stew) but since she lives in Texas and Texans know everything there is to know about cowboys (right?!), I decided to go with it.

I love the simplicity of this recipe!

Cowboy Soup

Ingredients:

-1 can red beans
-1 can pinto beans
-1 can ranch style beans
-1 can corn
-1 can hominy
-1 can stewed tomatoes
-1 can rotel tomatoes
-1 pkg. taco seasoning
-1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
-1 pound ground beef

(Note: Sometimes I have a hard time finding ranch style beans. I improvise with this soup and use whatever I think might taste good.)

Instructions:
Brown the ground beef. Drain and add all the ingredients to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer until cooked through. (15 to 20 minutes)

I like to sprinkle some cheddar cheese on my soup after dishing it out. Served with a side of warm cornbread or biscuits, this is a great cold weather meal!

Thanks so much, Richella, for sharing your blog with me today. I hope Imparting Grace readers will come visit me at Serenity Now! You can also connect with me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+. I have some great stuff coming up for the holidays!

Thank you, Amanda!  This looks like the kind of hearty fare my guys would love!  And now, a blessing for the meal.

Dear Father in heaven, we are so grateful for hot food on a chilly day.  We ask that even as our food nourishes our bodies, You will nourish our hearts.  You know just what we need, and we thank You for providing for us in every way.  Thank You for allowing us to gather at this table, and thank You for always making us welcome at Your table.  Amen.

Blessings to you today!

Grace for dinner: Chicken Chili

A couple of weeks ago I began a weekly series called "Grace for Dinner."  Each of these posts will include a recipe for a simple, delicious dinner food and a  prayer of blessing for you. My hope is to impart grace to you body and soul with these posts.

This will be a place to find recipes you can really use.  My hope is that you might read a recipe here on a Monday and have it for dinner on Tuesday!



If I were to share with you only my own recipes, we'd have a pretty short series, so I've asked some blogging friends to help.  First up is Vivienne from The V Spot.  If you don't already know Viv, you're in for a treat.

Vivienne is wife to a wonderful husband and mother of four amazing boys, all of whom bless her life greatly and keep her busy.  She playfully describes The V Spot in these words: "Rants, observations, and home decorating. . . from a woman with no time for a blog."  Viv is fun and funny and sarcastic and smart--but she's also kind and gracious.  She's one of those bloggers whom I've not yet had the chance to meet in real life, yet I feel that I know her.  You may find yourself laughing or crying with her--or laughing so hard that you cry!  But you'll feel right at home at The V Spot.

Now with a busy household that includes five boys of various ages, Vivienne knows a thing or two about practical dinners.  Today she's going to share one of her favorite recipes with us.  Here's Viv. . . .

I love fall for several reasons, but one of them is that I just feel more in the mood to cook in the once the temperatures start to drop. I also find that things seem to get a bit busier in the fall as well, especially with my kids' schedules and activities, so hearty soups, stews and one pot meals just make life a bit easier.

I want to share one of our very favorites with you today:  Chicken Chili.

My kids actually say Yay! when I tell them that we're having Chicken Chili for dinner.  I first had this at my friend Jen's house several years ago.  Since then, I've revamped it, spiced it up and tailored it for our family.

I love this dish because it's delicious in addition to being low-fat, high-protein and very economical.  But best of all?  I can make it ahead of time and it's the perfect freezer meal on those busy days when I didn't plan for dinner.
This recipe makes a ginormous amount of Chicken Chili, but keep in mind that I have 4 growing boys who are eating me out of house and home and love this meal.  If you have a smaller family, just halve the recipe.  (Or make the whole thing and freeze some.)

You will need:

• Large yellow onion, diced
• 4 large cloves of garlic, smashed
• 4 cups of water
• 1 quart of chicken stock
• 4 to 6 chicken pieces (I use thighs and leg quarters, skin removed)
• 1 Tbsp of ground cumin
• palm-full of dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp of salt
• 2 cans each of: black beans, white beans, pinto beans, corn  (all drained and rinsed)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (un-drained)
• jar of salsa (I recommend chipotle)
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped into a paste (optional)
• 1 bunch fresh (or frozen) cilantro, chopped (optional)

In a large stock pot bring water, chicken stock, onion, salt and garlic to a boil.  Add chicken pieces.  You can use chicken breast, but I like the darker meat for both flavor and price.

Boil chicken for 5 minutes or so, then reduce heat and let the chicken simmer for another 25 minutes.  Remove chicken with tongs and set aside.  

Drain and rinse the beans and corn.  Go ahead and do it all at once.  It's faster and easier that way.

Toss the beans and corn into the pot, along with the oregano, cumin, and the chopped chipotle pepper.

Add the 2 cans of tomatoes, the cilantro, and the jar of salsa.  (We like spicy, so I add more like a jar and a half, but it's totally up to you.)

Pull the chicken off the bones, shred and put back into the pot.  Let simmer another hour or so.  I use a diffuser under the pot to help evenly distribute the heat, and I actually let it sit overnight... we think it's better the next day because the flavors are really able to marry.  The smokiness of the chipotles, the broth, the beans, it all works together for a yummy, hearty meal.

I even toss in extra things here and there.  For example, I added some leftover rice and roasted red bell pepper to this batch.  We top it with shredded cheese, sour cream and more fresh cilantro.  It is mmm, mmm good!

And yes, freezing it into smaller portions means the boys can grab some and heat it up when ever they want.

Yummy, healthy, hearty and comes in at about a dollar a serving.  Not bad, huh?  Enjoy!

* * * * * 

Thank you so much, Viv!  I'm going to make up a batch of this soon.  And now for all of us, this prayer:

Dear Lord, we thank you for every gift.  We praise you as the Giver of all good things, including the food to nourish our bodies and the minds and hearts to appreciate you.  Bless us as we eat, dear Lord.  Give us strength to serve one another with love.  Amen.

Every blessing to you today!
  .

Grace for Dinner: Easy Chicken Pot Pie

In the cold weather months, one of our favorite meals is homemade chicken noodle soup.  Mine is very simple--chicken stock plus meat plus diced celery and carrots plus seasonings all cooked together in a  stock pot.

I cook the noodles separately and just add them to the soup at serving time so that any leftover soup can be turned into delicious chicken pie.  Sometimes I skip the soup entirely and go straight to the chicken pie!

Now, "chicken pie" in my family never signified a chicken-and-gravy mixture in a pastry crust.  Instead, it referred to chicken topped with biscuits--sort of like chicken and dumplings but a lot easier to make.  Here's how:

Bring chicken soup to a boil.

Put about 1/4 cup flour and about 1/2 cup water in a container with a tight-fitting lid; shake vigorously to make a paste.  Stir paste into chicken soup and continue to boil, stirring occasionally.  This should thicken the soup into more of a gravy-like consistency.  Add more flour paste if necessary to thicken more.  Stir in a bit of cream or milk if you like just to make the gravy creamier.  Do a taste test; your mixture may need additional salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, make up a batch of your favorite biscuit dough--homemade or from biscuit mix such as Bisquick.  Cut out biscuits.  (Or buy frozen ready-to-bake biscuits; these are wonderful for this dish and so simple to use!)

Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour chicken mixture into dish.  Top with biscuits.  The biscuits will float atop the chicken mixture.

Bake according to the directions of your biscuit recipe or the instructions on your frozen biscuit package.

Straight out of the oven--yum!

Voila!  Chicken pie!  This is absolutely delicious served with mashed potatoes for all that lovely gravy.  Add the green vegetable of your choice for an amazing comfort-food meal.




A blessing for your dinner:

Dear Lord, We thank you for comfort food.  Sometimes in our busy lives we need the kind of food that our grandmothers made to remind us of the way you've blessed us and provided for us throughout the years.  Help us to enjoy this with grateful hearts.  And please help us to remember that real comfort comes from you.  Amen.

**In this "Grace for Dinner" series, I'll be posting an easy dinner recipe and a prayer for dinner every Monday.  My prayer is that this series will be a blessing to you body and soul.**

I'm joining Centsational Girl's "Comfort Food" party this week.  

Check out her party for lots of yummy recipes!

New series: Grace for Dinner

Hello, friends!

Today I'm beginning what I hope will be a weekly series full of blessings. both literally and figuratively.  It's called "Grace for Dinner."  These posts will include recipes for delicious dinners and a  prayer of blessing for you.  The name of the series harks to the time when praying at dinnertime was called "saying grace."  My hope is to impart grace to you body and soul with these posts.

Sometimes our recipe searches yield results that are just perfect for foodies.  Or people with big food budgets and small need to tempt the palates of kids.  Or folks with not much to do other than create gourmet meals.  That's not what you'll find here.

This will be a place to find recipes you can really use.  My hope is that you might read a recipe here on a Monday and have it for dinner on Tuesday!

Today I'll share with you one of my staple recipes (read: one of my easiest recipes).  This is one that all my boys like, and it's a no-brainer kind of recipe--perfect for those busy days when we need a good dinner but I don't have much time to cook.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Blend together (I use my food processor or blender for this):

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes or 1 cup salsa
1 packet or 1/4 cup taco seasoning

Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray.  Place pieces of chicken (I usually use boneless skinless breasts) in your crock pot.  Pour mixture over chicken.  Cook on low or high setting depending on how much time you have. It's great to turn this on in the morning and allow it to cook low and slow all day. If you don't get around to that, you can cook the chicken throughout the afternoon on high. Or, in a pinch, you can cook it in the oven (350 degrees, tightly covered, for an hour or longer).

When you're ready to use the chicken, simply cut it up or pull it apart with two forks. It'll be tender and full of flavor, and you can use the sauce as well. It's great for making nachos, chicken tacos, chicken quesadillas, or enchiladas (here's an easy recipe for enchiladas).  Simple and delicious!

**Click here for a printable copy of this recipe.**

I pray that this new series may bless your homes with the gift of simple, everyday dinner ideas.  Future weeks will include some recipes from me and lots of recipes from other bloggers.  

Here's a prayer for your dinner:

Dear Lord, we thank you for the blessing of food.  We stress over it, worry about it, sometimes mis-use it--and yet we need it.  Will you please help us to look at our food and the chance to share it with loved ones as the blessing it is?   Help us, God, when we're feeling too busy to prepare it and too tired to enjoy it.  May the act of sitting down to eat with our families and friends be a time to remember that all good things come from you.  Thank you, God.  Amen.

Every blessing to you today!

I'm joining these wonderful blog parties:

Inspiration Friday, At the Picket Fence

Weekend Bloggy Reading, Serenity Now
Crockpotalooza, Kelly's Korner