Quote of the week

"It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason."

-Pascal

Lesson for 9/28/08

The lesson for September 28th is Elder Bednar's talk, "Ask in Faith". You can find it here. (Assuming that link works!)

Enjoy ladies!

"Craft" Night TONIGHT!

Hey ladies. Just wanted to give you a friendly reminder that tonight is craft night. We'll be meeting at 8:00 p.m. at the Belmont clubhouse to talk about our spouses and how they make us better women. Remember to bring a photo album, or pictures if you would like. We'll have card stuff to make cards for our husbands, and yummy dessert.

Also, if you did not get the email reminder yesterday, you will NOT be allowed to park in the Belmont parking lot because they will be re-striping the lot. As a result you will either need to park on a side street (that allows parking), or park in the Seven Peaks parking lot that is just kitty-corner from the south end of the Belmont complex. Better yet...maybe we should all just walk over (burn some extra calories), or have someone drop you off.

Hope to see you tonight.
-Katie Smith

Quote of the Week

"My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny."

---Elaine Maxwell

Relief Society Lesson for 9/21/08

This week's lesson is Chapter 17 in the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church manual. It's entitled The Great Plan of Salvation and begins on page 206 of the manual.

New Future of the BYU 5th Ward Blog!

Hey ladies!
I'm Rebecca Teets and I'm the Ward Literacy Specialist. Any idea what that means? Yeah, I didn't have a clue either! For this ward, that means that I'm going to be one in charge of the Blog, or aspects of it at least!
Before I go into the details of what I'm going to be doing with the %th Ward Blog, let me tell you a bit about myself. My husband is Andrew Teets and we've been married for 3 years. I'm from Boise, ID and that's where we met, though he spent his childhood in Michigan and Belgium. He's a major in Landscape Management and I majored in Visual Arts, though I'm done with BYU! I currently work for Enterprise Rent-A-Car full time, which makes me a bit hard to get ahold of. My hobbies are reading, movies, and basically anything artsy. I'm currently (attempting) to sew a wall hanging, but it's slow going because I'm new to the whole sewing thing! I love to help, so if there's anything I can do feel free to ask!

Now, about the blog! My goal here is to update it once a week (unless I have something burning that just has to get out to the rest of you ladies). I'm going to be posting what the next Relief Society Lesson is, in case any of you are like me and liable to forget where exactly we are. I'm also going to try and post a quote of the week which will be inspired by the lesson. I'm also going to try and find a way to get the ward calender posted on here so that if you lose yours, or don't have access, whatever the case may be, you have another resource to find what's when! If I can figure out how, we'd also like to have a gospel discussion of the week where people can post comments. If any of you have more experience with Blogspot than I, I'd love to chat about how to make the most of this site!

So, now you know what the heck we're doing with this site! I hope it's beneficial for you. Enjoy your week!

:)

Cooking w/Molly - Sister Driggs

First of all, THANK YOU to Sister Driggs for preparing such delicious and festive Fall foods! And another thank you to Ashley Perry who is always so willing to let us invade her home for a night. There was a lot of talking and eating going on, and it was fun to see so many of us together outside of our regular Sunday meetings.

For everyone who wanted very badly to have a copy of Sister Drigg's recipes, I am pleased to announce that they are here!!! Enjoy, and remember to share some of the pumpkin brownies with your husband... and with friends (ahem...) like me. :) -Lori

Photo from www.kreativedryve.blogspot.com

Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 fresh bay leaf
2 ribs celery with greens, finely chopped (save time and purchase celery already washed, trimmed and cut into sticks, this makes chopping fast work)
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning or 2 teaspoons ground thyme
2 teaspoons hot sauce, or to taste
6 cups chicken stock
1 (28-ounce) can cooked pumpkin puree
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Relish:
1 crisp apple, such as McIntosh or Granny Smith, finely chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries, chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium high heat. Add the oil and melt the butter. Add bay, celery, and onion. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. Cook 6 or 7 minutes, until tender. Add flour, poultry seasoning and hot sauce, to taste, then cook flour a minute. Whisk in chicken stock and bring liquid to a bubble. Whisk in pumpkin in large spoonfuls to incorporate it into the broth. Simmer soup 10 minutes to thicken a bit then add in cream and nutmeg. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

While soup cooks, assemble the relish: combine apple, onion, lemon juice, cranberries, chili powder, honey and cinnamon. Adjust seasonings in soup and relish and serve soup in shallow bowls with a few spoonfuls of relish.

Harvest Soup

1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey

¾ c chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 ½ c water

2 ¼ chopped and peeled sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes)

1 c chopped red potatoes

1 c chopped peeled acorn squash (or zucchini squash)

2 beef bouillon cubes

2 bay leaves

½ t chili powder

½ t pepper

1/8 t ground allspice

1/8 t ground gloves

1 can (14 ½ oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

In a large pot, cook the meat, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain well. Add water, potatoes, squash, bouillon, bay leaves, and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer or 15 – 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add the tomatoes. Cook until heated through. Discard bay leaves.

Pumpkin Brownies

½ c margarine or butter, melted

1 c sugar

2 eggs

½ c pumpkin

¾ c flour

¾ t pumpkin pie spice

1/8 t cinnamon

½ t vanilla

Beat eggs, add sugar, add pumpkin, vanilla, and melted butter. Add dry ingredients. Bake in 9x9” pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

ICING:

¾ c powdered sugar

3 oz cream cheese

¼ c butter

1 t vanilla