Apple Pie Recipe

Hey Ladies! For those of you that were not at our meeting yesterday, we really missed you! So that you don't completely lose out on getting to make an amazing apple pie, Barbara has kindly provided me with the the recipe to share with you here so that you can make it on your own if you'd like. I know I'm definitely looking forward to sharing it with my family on Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks. And that just shows you how much I love them, because honestly I could eat the whole thing by myself if I hadn't already promised it to them. Haha.

MOPS Apple Pie

Ingredients:
1 prepared, unbaked pie shell (frozen or home made)

Filling:

8 c peeled, cored, sliced apples

1 c sugar

4 T flour

1 t cinnamon

Crumble Crust:

1/2 c (1 stick) butter

1 c flour

1/2 c packed brown sugar

Directions:

1.      Mix apples, sugar, 4 T flour, and cinnamon and pour into prepared pie shell.

2.      Mix 1 c flour with brown sugar. 

3.      Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.  Sprinkle over the apple filling.

4.      Bake at 425° for 40 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil and bake 10 minutes more.

Chill Out, Mamas!

Thank you to Barbara who reminded me, in my state of constant forgetfulness, that it's been too long since I posted a new blog post. :) I linked this article on my personal facebook page, and she suggested it as a good post for the blog. She was right!

As moms there is so much pressure on us (often self-inflicted) to be the ideal mom. We are constantly comparing ourselves to one another, and in the process doing ourselves and our families a disservice because we never feel like we're matching up to what we see others around us doing. The author of this blog got it right on in encouraging Christian moms to focus on the job that God has given us, and not get bogged down trying to be Martha Stewart and June Cleaver all rolled into one. I hope you're as encouraged by his words as I was.

Dear Moms, Jesus Wants You To Chill Out

by STEPHEN ALTROGGE on OCTOBER 12, 2012

FACT: If your children can’t read by age four there is a 95% chance they will end up homeless and on drugs.

FACT: If your children eat any processed food there is an 85% chance they will contract a rare, most likely incurable disease, by age 12.

FACT: If  you’re not up at dawn reading the Bible to your children, you are most likely a pagan caught in the clutches of witchcraft.

FACT: If your children watch more than 10 minutes of television a day there is 75% chance they will end up in a violent street gang by age 17.

Obviously, the “facts” listed above are not true (at least, I don’t think they are). But, I’ve noticed that the Internet has made it much easier for people, and moms in particular, to compare themselves to each other. Now, just to be clear, this is not a post against “mom blogs”, or whatever they’re called. If you write a mom blog, that’s cool with me. This is a post to encourage the moms who tend to freak out and feel like complete failures when they read the mom blogs and mom Facebook posts.

Moms, Jesus wants you to chill out about being a mom. You don’t have to make homemade bread to be a faithful mom. You don’t have to sew you children’s clothing to be a faithful mom. You don’t have to coupon, buy all organic produce, keep a journal, scrapbook, plant a garden, or make your own babyfood to be a faithful mom. There’s nothing wrong with these things, but they’re also not in your biblical job description.

Your job description is as follows:

• Love God. This simply means finding some time during the day to meet with the Lord. It doesn’t have to be before all the kids are awake. It doesn’t have to be in the pre-dawn stillness. Your job is to love God. How you make that happen can look a million different ways.

• Love your husband (unless you’re a single mom, of course). Your second job is to love and serve your husband. Husbands are to do the same for their wives, but that’s for a different post. If your husband really likes homemade bread, maybe you could make it for him. But don’t make homemade bread simply because you see other moms posting pictures of their homemade bread on Facebook.

• Love your kids. Your calling as mom is to love your kids and teach them to follow the Lord. They don’t need to know Latin by age six. If they do, more power to you. But that’s a bonus, not part of the job description. Your job is simply to love your kids with all your exhausted heart, and to teach them to love Jesus. That’s a high calling. Don’t go throwing in other, extraneous things to make your life more difficult. If you want to teach your kids to sew, great. But don’t be crushed by guilt if your kids aren’t making stylish blazers by the age of 10.

Moms, Jesus want you to rest in him. He wants you to chill out. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Don’t compare yourself to other moms. Don’t try to be something God hasn’t called you to be. If the mom blogs are making you feel guilty, stop reading them. Be faithful to what he has truly called you to do, and know that he is pleased with you. When your kids are resting, don’t feel guilty about watching an episode of “Lost”, or whatever your favorite show may happen to be.

Love God, love your husband, love your kids. Keep it simple and chill out.

Creamy Hashbrown Casserole

What an incredible morning spent with all of you! I have been so touched by A Heart To Hold and hope to continue to be able to support them in the future. Thank you for your love and time, working to send a little comfort to the families who have experienced such loss. God works through even the most difficult circumstances, and this is a great way to show His love to others.

I also want to thank you personally for being such a warm, loving, and welcoming group of ladies. I had a guest this morning (who I actually met in person for the first time today) and she was so impressed with all of you and what a wonderful group you are. It looks like she will be joining us again, too, which is awesome. It's such a special treat to be a part of a group like this!

Last piece of business...Yay for new coordinators taking over after this session!!! The announcement was officially made this morning that the lovely Allison Bowman and Courtney Shrum will be taking over the job as co-coordinators in the Spring and I am so excited! Not only do we get to continue to have a MOPS group, but we get to do it with two very capable and awesome new leaders! It will be great, as well, to have Sharaun and Kristy get to come on Tuesdays and just take it easy and relax, something I know they are both very excited for.

Okay, now for the recipe. This morning I made a new recipe for breakfast and I really liked it (I hope others did, too, of course) so I decided to share it on the blog. I thought that it was a much smaller recipe than it turned out to be, so I plan on using the extra ingredients to make it for dinner tonight, only I'm adding sausage to turn it into a main dish casserole. Oh, and there's also a possibility that, in the near future, we'll be privied to the yummy chocolate oatmeal bread recipe that Barbara brought this morning. Mmm!

Cream Hash Brown Casserole
From Paula Deen

Servings: 8 to 10 servings 
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 50 min

Ingredients 

1/4 cup butter, plus more for dish
1 onion, chopped
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
1 (10 1/2-ounce) can cream of celery soup
1 (8-ounce) package shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (30-ounce) package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups crushed potato chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a casserole dish.

In a small skillet, melt 1/4 cup of butter over medium heat. Add onion, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, or until soft. Pour mixture into a large bowl. Add the sour cream, cream of celery soup, cheese, garlic powder, hash browns, and salt and pepper. Combine until well blended.

Pour mixture into prepared 9x13 baking dish. Top evenly with crushed potato chips and bake for 45 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Obviously not every blog will be a recipe, even though the first two were. In the future we'll also have articles, crafts, service opportunities, and other neat things. As always I'm very open to suggestions or recommendations for any and all of those things, so if you have any input feel free to let me know! I hope you all have a blessed week and hope to see you at Fairytale Town for our playdate next Tuesday! 

Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip

Alright ladies! I decided to start the blog off with something yummy. This is a recipe that I have tried myself more than once and has always been a huge hit, often being requested as what I bring to the next gathering. And since it's officially fall, I figured something apple-related would be appropriate. Enjoy!
P.S. Lets give credit where credit is due. Here's the original link to the recipe: Half Baked Blog

Caramel Cheesecake Apple Dip

Ingredients:  12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 3 Tbs. heavy cream 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1/2 tsp. vanilla Caramel sauce (recipe below) or store bought Heath milk chocolate pieces mini chocolate chips 2-4 Granny Smith or other crisp tart apples, sliced and soaking in lemon juice/water until ready to serve Method: This is the method is to make a layered dip, for a quick method see note below.  Line a six inch cake pan or springform pan with plastic wrap. Use enough plastic wrap to hang over the sides of the pan about 2 inches.Place softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Add the heavy cream and powdered sugar, mix well, until smooth. Place half of the cream cheese mixture in the lined pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. (If you dip the spoon into warm water before you start to smooth the cream cheese, it will be much easier to spread.) Spoon on a layer of caramel. Sprinkle with a layer of chocolate chips and the Health pieces. How much you use is up to you but don't go to overboard or you may have trouble spreading the top layer of cream cheese. Place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. This will let the caramel set up a bit and make topping it with the remaining cream cheese much easier. Scoop the remaining cream cheese on top and smooth out using the back of a dampened spoon, like you did for the first layer. Fold the overhanging plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to overnight. Pull back the plastic wrap so that the top of the cheesecake is exposed. Place a serving plate on top of the pan and invert. Remove the pan and the plastic wrap. Spoon caramel sauce over the top of you cheese cake and top with more of the Heath pieces and chocolate chips. Place the sliced apples around the dip and serve. *Note: If you want to throw this together super fast, just spread all the cream cheese on a serving platter and top with the caramel, Heath bits, and the mini chocolate chips.

Welcome!

Well hello ladies! Welcome to the new Cordova MOPS blog! This year we decided to try something different in lieu of a printed newsletter. We figured that this format would be more accessible and enjoyable for the average busy mommy and, quite frankly, would make things a little easier on me because finding material for a full newsletter every time was running me fresh out of ideas quickly.

So here's how the blog will work. Once or twice a week I'll post a new entry and link it on the Cordova MOPS page for your viewing pleasure. (Or, if you have a blogspot account, you can follow the blog if that's easier.) Rather than each entry containing all of the components of the original newsletter every time (recipe, articles, craft idea, etc.) it will just feature one of those things. You may also be fortunate enough to enjoy the occassional article written by the lovely Wendy Power, who has generously offered her services. I may even try my hand at authoring something, too. (That one may not be so fortunate for you.) :)

I hope you enjoy this new format. Please feel free to give me any feedback or suggestions you might have on the format or content. I'm also still very willing to take suggestions for things to feature on the blog. I'd really like all recipes and crafts to be something that either myself or someone I know has tried, so if you have something you've done that you really loved please share it with me and I'll get it on here. So keep your eyes open in the next day or so for the first real entry.

P.S. Don't worry, the blog will be much prettier in the future. I'm still working on that part. :)