Week #2 of Operation Pie – Pineapple Cream

In honor of Labor Day and the hot and humid temps here in Western New York, I decided that the second pie of my pie challenge should be my pineapple cream. It is virtually a no bake pie, especially if you use a store bought graham cracker crust.

My Great Aunt Leona used to make this pie and as a child I loved it’s cool, fruity, creamy flavor on a hot day just like we are having now. Hope you like it as much as we do!

According to the box’s directions the graham cracker crust is 1-1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs, a 1/4 cup sugar and a 1/3 cup of melted butter.

Mix the three ingredients in a bowl until incorporated thoroughly. The result will look like moist sand.

Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9″ pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.

For the filling: in one bowl combine 1- 8oz container of whipped topping unthawed and 1-1/4 cups of sour cream. Stir to combine thoroughly.

In a second bowl combine and stir together 1 box of vanilla instant pudding (3.5 oz) and 1 can of crushed pineapple in heavy syrup drained.

Put both bowls of ingredients together into one bowl.

Spoon into the cooled pie shell. Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge and serve cold. Easy peasy huh?

Doug eats this pie for breakfast. He claims it is fruit and dairy. How can you argue with that?

Here is the complete recipe:

Crust:

1-1/4 cups of graham crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter melted

Filling:

1 box of instant vanilla pudding

1 regular sized can of pineapple in heavy syrup

1- 8 oz. container of whipped topping unthawed

1-1/4 cups sour cream

Directions:

For the crust: Mix the three ingredients in a bowl until incorporated thoroughly. The result will look like moist sand. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9″ pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.

For the filling: in one bowl combine the whipped topping and sour cream. Stir to combine thoroughly. In a second bowl combine and stir together the vanilla pudding and pineapple. Put both bowls of ingredients together into one bowl. Stir together. Spoon into the cooled pie shell. Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge and serve cold.

Happy Labor Day Everyone! -MM

Week #1 of Operation Pie – Mississippi Mocha Mud Pie

If you ask the males in our household which they would rather have for their dessert, cake or pie, they would probably say “pie” about 95% of the time. So when I brought the subject of a pie challenge up to Doug his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree in a Chevy Chase movie.

I plan to feature a different pie every week for the next 52 weeks. Pretty big deal huh? If you have a favorite pie recipe that you would like me to try out in the next 52 weeks please feel free to e-mail me at marymargaretripley@yahoo.com with your recipe and story (I love a good story behind a recipe) and I will try it out and feature it on the blog if all goes well. With that, here is the How-to and recipe for Week #1 Mississippi Mocha Mud Pie. Enjoy!

Start with 18 Oreo cookies, fillings removed. Grind along with a 1/4 cup of chopped pecans and 1 Tbsp of sugar in a food processor or mini-chopper.

In a bowl add a 1/4 cup of melted butter to the cookie, sugar and pecan, mixture

Remove 3 Tbsp of mixture and set aside to use as a garnish later. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9″ pie pan and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. No wonder they call it a mud pie it looks like potting soil!

For the filling, using a medium saucepan, whisk together 3-1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1/4 tsp salt until combined well.

To the above dry ingredients add 3 large egg yolks, 1-1/3 cups of milk (I only had 2% on hand but the original recipe calls for whole) and 1/3 cup of brewed coffee.

Whisking all of the wet and dry ingredients together in the saucepan, place over medium heat whisking constantly until it begins to boil. As it starts to boil it will get thicker and harder to whisk but keep whisking for another 30 seconds after it starts. Remove from heat.

After removing from heat immediately add 2 Tbsp butter, 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 1-1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Whisk together until the butter and chocolate have melted and the whole mixture is smooth and silky.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and cover with plastic wrap. Chill it in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Looks great already doesn’t it?

Before serving the chilled pie, top with whipped cream. Combine in a stand mixture or use your handy dandy hand mixture, 1-1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1-1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla. Whip until soft peaks form.

Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie and if you like you can pipe it on with a pastry bag like I did. Sprinkle the toasted pecans and reserved cookie mixture over the top of the whipped cream and drizzle chocolate sauce over all of it. Yum!

Over all this recipe trying it for the first time was fantastic! There are a couple of things I think I would tweak though. One being, add more filling. I would have liked it a little fuller. Either that or use an 8″ pie pan instead of a 9″ pie pan. Two, I used walnuts instead of pecans and I wished I had used the pecans. Three, I really didn’t taste a lot of the coffee so next time I will use a stronger brew. Four, I will chill it overnight. It was even better the next day .

This was one of the easiest cream pies I have ever made and I hope to use these same methods with other cream pies. I have never put the egg yolks directly into the mixture while it was cold. Most recipes and methods call for putting half of the hot mixture into the egg yolks separately then dumping the whole egg mixture back into the original mixture. This recipe eliminated that extra step and it worked beautifully!

As far as the taste and how it went over with the guys? Scott gave it two thumbs up and Doug…well he likes banana cream pies better. Ha! Next time Doug!

I will definitely make this pie again. Here is the link to the original recipe for easy printing. Posted by David on his blog, Spiced-One Dash at a Time. Thanks for a great recipe David! http://spicedblog.com/mocha-mississippi-mud-pie.html

Until next week! -MM

A Pallet Garden Fence and My Latest Reads

A PALLET GARDEN FENCE

My husband Scott has been saving wood pallets for quite some time now and a few weeks ago while I was at work one Saturday he and Doug made me a fabulous fence made of the pallets.

I was stunned when I got home though he had texted me a few progress pics during the day. It was beautiful! Also, everything he used we already had in the garage so it didn’t cost a thing.

What a wonderful husband and son I am blessed with.

What do you think?

He will finish the front when he finds more pallets and he plans to add a gate.

I think a bird bath, or water fountain and some white lights will make it a hangout as well as a peaceful place to garden. Thanks boys!

MY LATEST READS

Scott and I signed up for the Summer Reading Program at our local library and have been reading some really great books.

The reading program always gets me to read books I wouldn’t normally try if not for the categories it specifies.

So far I have read GI Brides, by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, The Reluctant Widwife, by Patricia Harman, Top Secret 21, by Janet Evanovich, and currently I am reading My Mother was Nuts a Memoir, by Penny Marshall. All great reads!

Our library is the best. They always have what we need and if they don’t they can transfer it in from another library in the system. They have great adult, teen and children’s programs, wonderful book sales and a friendly staff. You can’t beat it!

If you would like to check out any of these titles I just mentioned you can go to my new Amazon.com store. I also have a few canning and baking items I can’t live without also available.

Here is a link

http://astore.amazon.com/marymargare07-20

-MM

Lunch Date with Doug and Why am I so Tired?

Doug and I decided that a lunch date would be better for us this month because our schedule was very busy in July. I had been feeling very tired and somewhat miserable and this day was no exception. We were recommended by a friend to try a small restaurant called Otto Tomotto’s in Victor. It serves Italian food and Doug loves Italian. Victor is about 50 minutes away from us on the other side of Rochester.

We arrived just before noon. It is a small restaurant in a small plaza just outside the Village of Victor. We walked in and our first impression was good. It was clean and decorated nicely. Many people were seated at tables chatting and eating. It took a while to get a table because there was no sign stating whether to seat ourselves or to wait to be seated. After a few minutes a waiter came around and said we could sit anywhere.

I was extremely tired and was having a hard time concentrating on the menu. At one point I even bumped my drink and spilled my water at the table. Nothing like a wet lap to wake you up right?

Doug ordered the rigatoni with sausage and I ordered a grilled chicken and pesto panini with a side of pasta salad. We also ordered a bowl of beans and greens which we shared.

The food was very good but I think Doug enjoyed his more than I enjoyed mine. I didn’t have a taste for anything that day. I did enjoy the beans and greens though. It was excellent! Flavorful broth, the right amount of salt and garlic. Yum!

We enjoyed Otto’s but to be fair I do want to go back and try it again sometime. The way I was feeling that day really made the experience not as good as it could have been. We both felt it was a nice restaurant and the food was fresh at a reasonable price.

The reason I am talking so much about how I was feeling is important. That morning I went to my doctor because of the exhaustion I had been feeling. I knew I shouldn’t be this tired just doing my normal work and home duties. It took me days to recover from my Fridays and Saturdays at work and I didn’t want to do a thing once I got home. I had absolutely no motivation and that is not like me.

I feared thyroid problems because every other woman in my family including my grandmothers, mother, sister and niece were all on medication for thyroid. My doctor didn’t think there was anything physically wrong with me but she would test me just to be sure.

After speaking with me for about 10 minutes she gave me a sort of an ultimatum though it was more of a suggestion. She said my work was causing me too much anxiety. I was so stressed that I was forgetting to turn the stove off sometimes burning our dinner, I was forgetting where I was driving to and had to pull over at times until my mind cleared, I was tired and irritable and not sleeping at night. Her suggestions were to either be put back on medication (no way), seek counseling (maybe), decrease my hours (not likely) or outright find a new career (yeah right).

I was not having a good day when I took Doug on our lunch date that day. In fact I was a basket case though I didn’t let that show to him.

A few days later I got a call from my doctor’s nurse telling me that all of my tests were normal except I was Vitamin D deficient. She wanted me to take 5000 mg of Vitamin D every day. Okay I said, sure, no problem.

I had no idea that Vitamin D was that big of a deal until I started taking it. It was like my energy was instantly back. My mind was clearer and I wanted to get up and move again. In fact my husband and I went on a 4.3 mile walk within 3 days of me starting this Vitamin D dosage. Wow.

I now had the energy and mindfulness to also sit down with my boss and my warehouse supervisor to talk about the things that were bothering me and sapping my spirit at work. It was a good and productive conversation between the three of us.

Not everyone gets the same result to starting a Vitamin D regimen as I did but boy am I glad my body reacted as quickly as it did. I can now focus much better at work and at home and life isn’t as overwhelming. My family is also happy to get the happy side of me back instead of the yelling and crying me.

Typically all of us are somewhat Vitamin D deficient in some way. Most of us get the vitamin from sunshine and our diet but with an increase in inside jobs and changes in our diets we just don’t get enough Vitamin D. If you are feeling like I did see your doctor about it. Your tiredness could be an easy fix like mine. -MM

Here is a pic of Bernie the Cat. He thinks he is Batman. I couldn’t resist snapping this photo

Locally Owned Stores

First and foremost I want to start by saying that this post is intending to put a positive light on smaller locally owned stores not put a negative light on larger retailers.

Now with that out of the way I want to tell you about my grocery and food shopping habits which have changed tremendously over the last 20 years.

There are so many options out there for us as consumers that sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.

I work as a Bakery Manager in a relatively smaller grocery store considering the mega grocery store options in our county such as Tops, Wegmans, and Super Walmart.

Recently there was an article in our local newspaper featuring our store, Caledonia Marketplace, which focused on the changes that have been happening in the store as well as changes that will be coming in the next few months. Exciting changes for us as employees and to you the consumer.

I bring this article up because some of the comments have been extremely positive about our changes but some comments still make it clear that shopping at a smaller retailer is cost prohibitive.

The reputation of a smaller store is that it just can’t compete with the “Big Boys.” That goes for any type of retail store whether it is an appliance store, furniture store, hardware store, etc. The mentality of many general consumers seems to lean towards one-stop shopping.

When Walmart came up with adding grocery to their already mega stores I was honestly stunned. I couldn’t imagine such a thing. In fact, I still can’t wrap my head around why you would want to get your clothes, garden shovels, baby bottles and bicycle pumps from the same place you get your ground beef and chicken breast?

Why does everyone want one-stop shopping? Are we getting lazy? Are we spending too much time on our phones and computers? Have we lost the desire to connect with our local community by shopping at our own town’s stores? Would we rather stand in line at a mega box store and then come home and sit in our recliners and not have any social interaction with our neighbors?

“The prices are too high at the local stores, I am on a fixed budget,” you say. Yep there is that. Just about everyone is on a fixed budget. I was curious to see if that was really true in our store’s case. Was it really more expensive to shop at our local grocery store?

This past Saturday I grocery shopped at the store I work for, for my weekly groceries. Obviously it is convenient for me because I work there. I purchased a wide range of products from snacks like chips and dips to produce, dairy, meats and bakery items. The total was $96.44. I used the same receipt and priced checked on-line using the Geneseo Wegmans grocery store as my model. Yes, most general grocery items were more expensive at our store than Wegmans but wait, there’s more. Produce was almost even in price between the two stores but meat and bakery departments in our store won hands down. The result? The same products if I had purchased them at Wegmans would have cost me $100.93. That’s a little over $5 more than my little grocery store.

Yes the big stores are cheaper when it comes to grocery items because they have better buying power than small independently owned grocery stores but in general the surrounding departments like Deli, Bakery, Meat and Produce offer cheaper prices in the smaller stores. So I guess if you are only purchasing say a bag of chips your experience would be that our store was more expensive. However, buying a large amount of items from a smaller store proves that you might come out the same or even beat the prices against a larger retailer.

I am not advocating for buying everything your family needs at one store though. I think you do yourself a great disservice by doing the one-stop shopping thing. I would never buy items like detergents, toilet paper, paper products, diapers or cleaning supplies at a grocery store unless it was a really great sale and I had a coupon. For me I have found the best prices on these items have been at dollar stores, pharmacies like Walgreens with their savings cards and most often I use Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program.

I, as a consumer also frequent farmers markets, farm stands, bulk food ingredient stores run by local retailers and sometimes we will stop at mom and pop butcher shops on our weekend travels or head into the city to go to a local Italian bakery or Deli.

I know that everyone is different in how and where they shop, their schedules and lifestyles at home, their knowledge of cooking baking and growing their own food and financial situations.

I have to say I completely understand that money is almost always the central issue in your buying habits and wouldn’t it be nice if it wasn’t? I just ask that you give the little guy a second look. Traveling down the road a mile to your local hardware store instead of heading into the city to go to a major chain retailer might save you $5 but how much did the gas and time cost to get you there? And who knows, you might even run into a long time friend you haven’t seen in ages. -MM

June’s Date Night with Doug and Teaching Him how to Clean the Kitchen Floor

Date Night With Doug – June

For June’s date night with Doug we went all out Mexican. I am not talking about a quickie trip to Taco Bell or Mighty Taco here folks. We drove an hour to taste authentic Mexican cuisine in Medina, NY, but first, date night with Doug always starts off with a little shopping before dinner.

Father’s Day was coming up and a few weeks before, I had spied the perfect gift for Scott at Tractor Supply, a broadcast seed spreader for the lawn. I know that doesn’t sound very interesting to most of you but when you are a guy who is obsessed with obliterating every single dandelion in the lawn this is the perfect gift. While we were at the checkout we told the cashier where we were going for dinner and she thought that was great fun. She commented that she was still going to dinner with her dad and she was 26!

Next we went to Game Stop and Doug turned some of his old video games into store credit and purchased a couple of new games with it. He loved that!

Now on to dinner. After traveling what seemed like forever we finally arrived at our dinner destination Mariachi De Oro Mexican Grill in Medina. When we pulled in, the parking lot was packed, which is always a good sign, especially for a Tuesday night.

We waited for a bit in the doorway, not quite sure how they seated people but soon we were being led to our table for two. It was a colorful, bustling restaurant with many people sipping giant margaritas chatting animatedly at each other.

Looking at the menu, our dinner choices were many, but after much consideration Doug decided on steak and cheese quesadillas and I decided on steak and chicken fajitas.

Our appetizer as you might guess, was salsa and chips.

Everything was really, really good. Nothing was overly seasoned or greasy. Everything was fresh and colorful. Now about dessert.

Doug ordered fried cheesecake. I ordered the flan. Neither one of us had ever had either of these desserts.

Doug’s dessert was impressive to say the least. I have to give this restaurant an “A” on its presentation. He ate more than half of it before collapsing against the seat giving in to his full belly.

The flan was very different for me. It’s texture was not something that I would really order again though I have nothing to compare this restaurant’s interpretation of a flan to. The honey it was draped in was sweet and luxurious tasting but I didn’t enjoy the cold, rubberiness of the flan. I will have to give it a try somewhere else to compare.

It was another very successful date night with my son. I enjoyed every minute with my young foodie. July’s date night is at Otto Tomato’s in Victor, NY. Can’t wait!

Teaching Doug How to Properly Clean the Kitchen Floor

Doug is 13. He doesn’t really want to clean anything, let alone the kitchen floor. However, when one wants to buy himself a brand new XBox One, one has to work for the money to buy it.

When Doug wants to earn money we play the card game. The card game is getting out a deck of playing cards and every playing card has a certain point value to it.

Cards 2 through 10 are face value, Jacks are 25 points, Queens are 50 points, Kings are 75 points, and Aces are 100 points.

Now if you really want to step it up a notch you can throw in the Jokers for 500 points. That’s a lot though and this time we took the Jokers out of the deck.

So to earn a point you have to pick something up or do a specific task. Examples, fold 25 pieces of laundry or put away 10 pieces of silverware from the dishwasher. You get the idea. Not only does this game promote counting in younger children, it also gives older children a sense of the work it takes to do the chores that we as adults do every day.

I forgot to tell you what a point gets you in this game. A point gets you a penny. Yeah that sounds like a lot of work for a penny but it really adds up. Today I told him I would double the penny value to 2 pennies per point. He picked the first card off the top of the deck (be sure to shuffle them first) and he was off and earning money. After washing and folding all of the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming his bedroom, and deadheading all of the peony bushes outside he was looking for more. I told him he could sweep and mop the kitchen floor and hallway for 100 points.

After about 10 minutes he said he was done. Yeah right. We have a huge linoleum floor in the kitchen and it is white. Who installs a white kitchen floor you say? Apparently my grandmother thought it was a good idea at the time. Me, not so much. It shows everything.

I went in to inspect. As I suspected the edges were still full of dirt particles and he hadn’t cleaned under the desk nor moved the bar stools. The mopping needed more attention too.

One thing I have learned while employing certain kids at the bakery is that no one has really ever properly taught them how to sweep and mop. Seems like a simple thing but not everyone is good at it.

So I had Doug move things around, sweep under the desk and workbenches, and mop a couple more times around the room. He didn’t think he deserved the 100 points because he hadn’t done very well the first time but I told him after we both worked on it together that doing chores was also about learning as well as doing. We will keep working on his sweeping and mopping skills. By the end of the afternoon his double scored playing card game had earned him $18.36. Not bad!

By the way here is a picture of Douglas smiling on the last day of school with a celebratory caramel latte. His favorite. Sheesh, I don’t make the kid work all of the time ya know! -MM

Garden Pics and My Cross Stitch Project

Garden Pics

The one good thing about all of the rain we have had lately in NY is that the garden is going gangbusters! In a week the cabbage has tripled in size, the corn is almost knee high and the carrots and beets are making small meals for us and it’s only the end of June.

Here are some pics from around the garden.

beds2 — Melons and Buttercup Squash are looking good

beds4 — Onions in their new bed are growing fantastic

Cherries are ready for picking, the bosc pears and apples are growing well and the red raspberries and blackberries might be ready right after 4th of July. Can’t wait!

From now until Autumn we will be harvesting or planting or processing almost every day. How is your garden coming?

My Cross-Stitch Project

About 3 months ago I got back into one of my favorite hobbies. Cross-stitching. I have to say though, it is difficult to find patterns for my kind of cross-stitch style. I am not into cute puppies or tacky tea towels with grapes or pillow cases with birds on them. I prefer a more modern style.

I happened upon a book at my local library that had the most beautiful pattern for a poppy remembrance field in honor of Veterans Day in it.

Here is my progress so far.

I have almost half of the picture done. The other side will be more of the same with an even bigger tree than the left side. This ain’t your gramma’s kind of cross-stitch and I love it! I plan on trying my hand at my first Black-Stitch project sometime in the fall too. What kind of sewing project are you working on? -MM

Turning a Weed Patch into a Usable Garden

The area behind my garage has always given me problems. Years ago when my grandparents had my home they used the space behind the garage for a sunken garden which had blueberry plants and many other things in it through the years. By the time I bought the house the area was a mess from years of neglect and there was nothing growing in it other than giant weeds.

About a year into us owning the house we rented a small backhoe and dug out the “pit of despair” which I liked to call it and filled it in with a couple of loads of top soil. However, even after filling it in, it would still give me problems.

It is a fairly large space which was wonderful for growing tomatoes and squash and such but sometimes the chore of weeding would get away from me and again it would look unkempt.

This year I vowed to make the space usable and easy to maintain. Here is what I started with.

Again, the space started the year out as weedy and any nutrients left from the original load of top soil were gone.

I first lined the entire area with cardboard boxes that I opened and placed flat on the ground (working at a grocery store has its advantages). Then I recycled the rails from an old split rail fence that I had laying around and used them for the frames of the garden beds.

I made sure when I was constructing it that I left room for a wide sawdust lined pathway. My dad is a woodworker so I have unlimited use of his sawdust bin.

So far at this point the new garden bed area has cost me absolutely nothing except hard work.

garage4

I filled the two long beds with soil and in the back I planted various herbs which included, parsley, sage, lemon balm and lavender. In the front I planted the whole thing with close to 100 onion plants. Done. garage3

I am excited to see how the plants grow in the beds! As the season progresses I will post updates. -MM

Date Night With Doug

Douglas is my 13 year old son. After reading the Happiness Project , by Gretchen Rubin, I got the idea to take my son on a monthly adventure/date night. The two of us would go out to dinner together and shop for a few necessities once a month.

The rules are we have to eat at a different place each time and it has to be a place we haven’t been before.

Our first adventure/date night was last Tuesday and we decided to go to an authentic Polish restaurant in nearby Geneseo but first we stopped by the Goodwill retail store on a hunt for a pair of summer sneakers for Doug.

As soon as we went into the store he headed right to the shoe section and found a pair of black Under Armour sneaks for $9.00. Score! We also picked out 3 shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, a pair of swim trunks for him and I also found a couple of shirts for me. Total $50.

After our good fortune at the Goodwill Store we headed over for dinner.

The Euro Cafe is on Main Street in Geneseo, NY and is run by two sisters with authentic Polish accents and boy do they know how to cook!

Our soup was borscht. I had never had borscht before. It’s an earthy soup of beets (hence the red color) and veggies like celery, potatoes and carrots in a rich veggie based broth. It was so delicious Doug even drank the broth.

We each had a different main course. Doug had the Hunter’s platter.

Smoked sausage, perogies, hunter’s stew, mashed potatoes, and a stuffed cabbage roll.

I had the Polish Platter.

Baked sausage, rye bread, sauerkraut, salad, mustard, horseradish and cranberry relish.

Both platters were delicious with such a depth of flavor! Something you can’t get at a fast food/chain restaurant.

We skipped dessert and had ice cream on the way home. It was a perfect night. I so enjoy my son and these date nights give us a chance to catch up with each other.

Next month is Mexican in Medina. Stay tuned….-MM

http://www.gretchenrubin.com/books/the-happiness-project/buy-the-book/

http://m.facebook.com/439504192862979/photos/a.44034710277868 The Euro Cafe
Continue reading “Date Night With Doug”

Easter Sunrise Service

I have to admit that I had never been to an Easter sunrise service. I have been to every 10:00 Easter service, every year, for forty years but I have never gotten out of bed in the early dawn to attend a sunrise service. I regret that now.

A few months ago I told our Pastor that my husband and I would like to host this year’s Easter sunrise service. I wanted to experience it and I figured the only way that might happen was if we hosted it at our home.

Easter week was a tough week at work. I was just coming off of being sick for a week with a stomach virus unlike anything I had ever experienced and I was behind. I had a lot to catch up on and I needed to get all of the specialty items prepped for Easter sales. Bunny cakes, Easter egg bread, St. Joseph’s bread, Easter wreathes, dinner rolls, loaf breads and cookie cakes were on the to-do list.

After being pulled automatically through the tunnel that is holiday baking I came out on the other side tired as usual but excited this time unlike usual. I was excited for Easter morning. All week we watched the weather forecast. It was going to be cold that morning. About 27 degrees to be exact. And snow. About an inch or two. These reports did not discourage us.

In addition to the service we also would be serving breakfast afterwards. On Saturday evening I spent about two hours prepping everything for the morning. I baked the quiche, mixed up the dry mix for the scones, cut up all of the fruit, and had the danish and sweet roll dough rising in the fridge over night. I went to bed excited.

We woke up the next morning at 5:30. Our guests were coming at 7:00. I baked everything I had prepped the night before. My husband set up the chairs outside in the cold side yard. People started arriving. My first Easter sunrise service.

Although it was not a sun filled morning, it was crisp and calm. A calm like no other. Most Easter services are filled with glad rejoicing. With singing of praise to our risen King. What I had experienced at this service was calm knowledge and peace. The cold air outside conveyed a peace that our sins were forgiven and that atonement flowed from our Lord to us. What I had been missing all of these years was a more intimate experience with Christ’s Resurrection. A quieter time to reflect and be thankful for His sacrifice.

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The service lasted about 20 minutes. We sang hymns, read scripture and listened to the sermon. After worship, we gathered in the warm house and sat in fellowship sipping hot coffee and eating our breakfasts. We were a joyous group.

My husband and I hope to host Easter sunrise service again. Even though it was cold and a little snowy this year I plan on being there next year. I don’t want to miss it ever again. -MM