Ham Dinner Slices

(Also a Once-A-Month Cooking Recipe: OAMC)

This is a great beginner recipe for anyone who wants to start a OAMC file.  An easy meal to prepare for the freezer, this entree goes well with baked potatoes and green beans.

Ham Dinner Slices

2, 3/4 inch thick, cooked ham slices (from center ham)*
Prepared mustard*
Brown sugar*
1 cup milk (about)*
4 medium baking potatoes*
Freeze ham slices in 1-gallon bag.  Label bag so you'll remember what meal the ham is for.
To serve, thaw ham slices.  Prepare potatoes and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 1 hour or until done.  Place ham slices in a single layer in the bottom of an 8x8x2-inch baking dish treated with nonstick spray.  Spread mustard on top of each slice; sprinkle brown sugar over mustard.  Pour enough milk over ham slices to come half-way up their sides.  
Bake uncovered 45 minutes.  Yield: 4 servings.  Serve with baked potatoes and cooked green beans. *Food items with an asterisk(*) won't be prepared until you serve the entrée.
Once-a-Month Cooking, by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg, Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Co.

September Traditions

A favorite book I re-read each year:  Autumn, from the Heart of the Home, by Susan Branch

 September

The breezes taste Of apple peel.

The air is full Of smells to feel.

Ripe fruit, old footballs, Burning brush.

New books, erasers,  Chalk, and such.

The bee, his hive Well-honeyed hums,

And Mother cuts  Chrysanthemums.

Like plates washed clean With suds, the days

Are polished with A morning haze.

John Updike

Leaf Craft
I love crafts, and preserving fall leaves is a favorite our family does nearly every year.  Just place leaves between two layers of wax paper and cover with an old cloth.  Press the cloth with a warm iron, sealing the wax paper together with the leaves in between.  Cut the leaves out, leaving a narrow margin of wax paper around the leaf edges.  So pretty tucked in a scrapbook or to use as gift tags!

An Ap-pealing Recipe!
Fruit Leather:  Spread plastic wrap out on a cookie sheet.  Clip or tape as needed to keep the edges of the plastic from rolling.  Spread canned applesauce evenly with a spoon about 1/4 inch thick.  Don't spread too thin.  Make sure the edges are as thick as the middle of the leather.  Place in the oven and set oven on the lowest possible setting.  It will take several hours.  When the center of the leather feels firm and leathery, you can carefully peel the leather off the plastic and turn it over to dry for a short time on the other side.  If the leather will not peel off the plastic readily, it has not dried long enough.  When leather is dry yet flexible, roll it in plastic and cut into one-inch sections for easy eating.

Making Choices Quotes

Choose Today

There are choices to make today--

Read the scriptures, fast, and pray.

I want to do what Jesus would--

Be of service, be kind, and good,

Pay my tithing, and tell the truth.

I'll choose the right while in my youth.

Elizabeth Giles, Friend 9/03 

Look at everything through the lens of eternity.  ~President James E. Faust

Never let things which matter most be at the mercy 

of things which matter least.  ~Marion D. Hanks

Soberingly, more than one-fourth of this year already has passed--partly in pursuit perhaps of things that don't matter much.  ~Richard L. Evans

My counsel to you is to fill up your memory bank and your book of life with as many "I'm glad I did" activities as you can possibly crowd into one lifetime.  L. Tom Perry, Ensign 8/93

We cannot fill someone else's cup if our own is empty.  

Evelyn T. Marshall, Ensign 1/87

Sisters, put successful personal relationships, especially with those dearest to you, near the top of your list of priorities.  ~Janath R. Cannon

You must "...honestly evaluate your capabilities to determine the limit of your physical energy and your intellectual capacity.  ...Adjust your living patterns accordingly."

1.  Identify priorities in order of importance to eliminate the stress of decision-making.

2.  Maintain a time log, you might be surprised to learn that you are not really using time as you thought.

3.  Make adjustments - Needs vs. wants.  For instance recreation that does not involve family should be a low priority. 

You have an unbalanced life when undue attention is given to any one area.  Family Home Evening should encompass recreation, relaxation, refreshment, and instruction for the whole family.  "A Time for Every Needful Thing," Herbert F. Murray,  Ensign 9/71

The primary function of a LDS home is to insure that every member of the family works to create the climate and conditions in which all can grow toward perfection.  For parents, this requires a dedication of time and energy far beyond the mere providing of their children's physical needs.  For children, this means controlling the natural tendency towards selfishness.

Do you spend as much time making your family and home successful as you do in pursuing social and professional success?  Are you devoting your best creative energy to the most important unit in society - the family?  Or is your relationship with your family merely a routine, unrewarding part of life?  Parent and child must be willing to put family responsibilities first in order to achieve family exaltation.  ~Joseph Fielding Smith

It is helpful to remember the Savior's parable of "counting the cost" (Luke 14:28) before we launch into any enterprise.  When we simultaneously branch out into too many channels, we may not have the strength or the resources to sustain the effort, and frustration will result.  

In light of these facts, one of the least profitable things we can do is to compare ourselves with others.  Generally, when we make such comparisons, we match our weaknesses against the most prominent talents and virtues of those we admire or envy.  No one comes out well in this useless game.  Its effects can be devastating.   "The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom," Dean L. Larsen, New Era, 2/86