Jesse Tree: December 11

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Jesse

1 And the Lord said to Samuel. How It long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and come, that I may send thee to Isai the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said: How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he will kill me. And the Lord said: Thou shalt take with thee a calf of the herd, and thou shalt say: I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3And thou shalt call Isai to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou art to do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I shall show to thee. 4 Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: Is thy coming hither peaceable? 5 And he said: It is peaceable: I am come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, be ye sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Isai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

Read the rest:

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Jesse Tree: December 10

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Samuel

1 Now the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Heli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no manifest vision. 2 And it came to pass one day when Heli lay in his place, and his eyes were grown dim, that he could not see: 3 Before the lamp of God went out, Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 And the Lord called Samuel. And he answered: Here am I. 5 And he ran to Heli and said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. He said: I did not call: go back and sleep. And he went and slept.

6 And the Lord called Samuel again. And Samuel arose and went to Heli, and said: Here am I: for thou calledst me. He answered: I did not call thee, my son: return and sleep. 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. 8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose up and went to Heli. 9 And said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. Then Heli understood that the Lord called the child, and he said to Samuel: Go, and sleep: and if he shall call thee any more, thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and slept in his place.

Read the rest:

1 Samuel 3:1-18

Jesse Tree: December 9

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Moses

1 After this there went a man of the house of Levi; and took a wife of his own kindred. 2 And she conceived, and bore a son; and seeing him a goodly child hid him three months. 3 And when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch: and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges by the river's brink, 4 His sister standing afar off, and taking notice what would be done. 5 And behold the daughter of Pharao came down to wash herself in the river: and her maids walked by the river's brink. And when she saw the basket in the sedges, she sent one of her maids for it: and when it was brought,

6 She opened it and seeing within it an infant crying, having compassion on it she said: This is one of the babes of the Hebrews.

Read the rest:

Exodus 2:1-10

Free Christmas Music!

Amazon has free Christmas music downloads, but I do feel obligated to warn you that they are not all really Christmas music. The Boxmasters' single seems anti-Christmas and actually has an "Explicit" warning on it!

That said, it's still free downloads, and their handy-dandy MP3 download tool makes it easier to do (and loads it straight into iTunes for you).

Don't worry (as I did) that you missed a few days...Amazon allows you to download all the songs so far this month!

There is a really pretty "Coventry Carol" available that I would highly recommend as a remedy to the noise and bustle that seems to be everywhere. Just look for the album cover you see to the left.

Jesse Tree: December 8

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Joseph

23 And as soon as he came to his brethren, they forthwith stript him of his outside coat, that was of divers colours: 24 And cast him into an old pit, where there was no water. 25 And sitting down to eat bread, they saw some Ismaelites on their way coming from Galaad, with their camels, carrying spices, and balm, and myrrh to Egypt.

26 And Juda said to his brethren: What will it profit us to kill our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 It is better that he be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands be not defiled: for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren agreed to his words. 28 And when the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites, for twenty pieces of silver: and they led him into Egypt.

Read the rest:

Genesis 37:23-28, 45:3-15

Jesse Tree: December 7

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Jacob

21 And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and he heard him, and made Rebecca to conceive. 22 But the children struggled in her womb: and she said: If it were to be so with me, what need was there to conceive? And she went to consult the Lord. 23 And he answering said: Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be divided out of thy womb, and one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. 24 And when her time was come to be delivered, behold twins were found in her womb. 25 He that came forth first was red, and hairy like a skin: and his name was called Esau. Immediately the other coming forth, held his brother's foot in his hand, and therefore he was called Jacob.

Read the rest:

Genesis 25:1-34, 28:10-15

Jesse Tree: December 6

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Isaac

1 After these things, God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. 2 He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision: and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee. 3 So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass: and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. 4 And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off.5 And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the ass: I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you. 6 And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son: and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword.

Read the rest:

Genesis 22: 1-14

Jesse Tree: December 5

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Abraham

1 And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's house, and come into the land which I shall show thee. 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

Read the rest:

Genesis 12:1-3

Jesse Tree: December 4

(Note: This is a series of posts from 2008.)

Theme: Noah

5 And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

6 It repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, 7 He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noe found grace before the Lord.

Read the rest:

Genesis 6:5-8, 13-22, 7:17, 23-24, 8:1, 6-22

Yummy WW Pastitsio

This is DEE-LISH-US!! First, I'll give you the low-down on the nutrition stuff. It boils down to 7 points for a 1 cup serving.

• 319 Calories
• 11 g Fat
• 4 g Sat. Fat
• 103 mg Chol.
• 512 mg Sodium
• 36 g Carbs
• 3 g Fiber
• 19 g Protien
• 226 mg Calc.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups reduced-fat (2%) milk
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 Tbsp. grated Parm. cheese (divided)
• 3/4 tsp. salt (divided)
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper (divided)
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 pound spaghetti
• 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3/4 pound ground sirloin (10% fat or less)
• 1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 7 x 11-inch baking dish with nonstick spray; set aside. (Note: I wait to preheat to save energy. I started preheating when I started cooking the ground beef. I was also using a slightly larger pan: 9 x 12".)
2. To make the white sauce, combine the milk, cornstarch, and eggs in a large saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickend, 7-9 minutes. (LIARS! Takes me WAY longer, and on my 1-10 setting on my stovetop, I was on 3. But anyway...) Remove from the heat and stir in 6 Tbsp. of the Parmesan, 1/4 tsp. of the salt, 1/8 tsp. of the pepper, and the nutmeg; cover and set aside.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside. (I used more spaghetti because my pan was bigger. You'll see why later.)
4. To make the filling, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl in the oil (Note: flourish makes it fancier!), then add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 4-6 minutes. Add the sirloid and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 5-6 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes (I used two cans of diced tomatoes and a pound of beef), garlic (I used jarred garlic), cinnamon, and the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Cook, stirring often, until liquid from tomatoes evaporates, 4-5 minutes. (Because I upped the amount of tomatoes to compensate for the extra beef and spaghetti, it took a little longer. Worth it, though!)
5. Arrange half of the cooked spaghetti on the bottom of the baking pan. (Do this in between stirring your beef to save time.) Top with the filling, then top with the remaining spaghetti. Spread the white sauce evenly over the spaghetti (you'll probably want to stir it again to minimize cheese lumps!). Sprinkle sauce with the remaining 2 Tbsp. cheese. Bake until top is golden, 30-35 minutes. Cool at least 5 minutes before serving.
6. Wipe chin frequently to prevent drooling all over the table. No one wants to see that!

Okay, so I added that last part. Sue me. This is really fantastic, and even my sometimes-picky eaters like it. It's time consuming, so I have to be sure I don't have a lot going on the day I make it. It's not something you can make ahead and then pop into the oven just because of the white sauce, which I can never really get to thicken a lot in spite of cooking it longer.

A side salad or a loaf of French bread would probably go nicely, even if this is a Greek dish.

Note: I'm going to try to remember to take a picture of the dish when it's done and post that in an update to this post.