Holy cow, I think it was 40 degrees warmer the last time I sent you an email. Welcome to winter, Minnesota!

What’s in the farm kitchen this week

By popular request, I made Chex Party Mix over Thanksgiving weekend.

Several years ago, I made this into an extra large batch of party mix. When I made it last weekend, it filled just 3 ice cream pails. 

3 ice cream pails of munchies isn’t much in our house these days.

Food used to go a lot further when there was only 3 small kids in the house. 

So if you need to feed a crowd sometime in the next couple weeks here’s a fun, easy recipe:

Dump these together in a clean garbage bag.  Mix gently.

• 1 box each of Cheerios, Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Wheat Chex (off brands are fine)
• 1 bag of pretzels
• A small can of peanuts (I have requests not to add them…so I didn’t….tastes great either way)

Mix up the salty flavoring:

• 1lb of melted butter
• 2 tbsp of granulated garlic
• 2 tbsp of granulated onion
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice
• 2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

Mix everything together in the garbage bag. I’ll usually put the sauce part on in small increments, mixing in between.

Pour mix into roaster pans and bake for about 2 hours in a 250 degree oven. Stir once in the middle of the baking time.

Like I said before, this stores well in ice-cream pails. Not sure how long it stores….it usually doesn’t last long at our house. 😉

Bible inspiration this week

There is a small “country church” near by that generally stands empty.

Through the years, a couple of different denominations have held services there.

Originally, the leaders were conservative in beliefs, but the church closed sometime in the last 15 years or so because, honestly, Jesus was taken out of the services.  

Members, who used to belong to that church and since have joined ours, shake their heads…so sad to see the importance of our Savior Jesus removed from the one place it most certainly should be!

But there’s a silver lining.  

When the church was sold, it was purchased by a member who didn’t want to see it get taken down. 

And in the last few years, he opens it up again and the pastor of our church preaches two services a year back at “the old Penn church”. 

Folks who used to go there or who have family buried in the cemetery or those of us who just think it’s fun to go to a country church fill the pews again for special Easter and Thanksgiving services.

So, once again, the church rings with piano and singing and people gathering after the service for yummy treats that the “church ladies” bring.  

And especially, once again, the beautiful reminders of our sinful nature and our Savior’s love for us fills the ears and hearts and souls of all of us who need to hear it.

Jesus is back.

Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.  Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.

Psalm 119:89-90

Encouraging you this week to not let Jesus go.