Pumpkin Recipes

Tapioca Filled Baked Pumpkin Dessert 

One small to medium pumpkin (no larger than a basketball).

·        Cut off top of pumpkin and clean it out as you would a Jack-o-lantern. Bake on a rack over a pan of water in the oven at 350 until you can pierce it with a fork.

·        Filling option one: Fill the cooked pumpkin with already-made tapioca pudding purchased in the refrigerated section of your grocery. Bake until hot through.

·        Filling  option two: Follow the directions for making tapioca pudding on the back of a box of dry tapioca pearls. Fill the pumpkin with the tapioca. Bake for half an hour. 

Tip: Wrap this delicious dessert in large bath towels and it will stay hot for three to four hours while you wait for company to arrive. To eat, scoop out the cooked pumpkin along with the tapioca.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

One small to medium pumpkin no larger than a basketball.

·        Cut off top of pumpkin and clean it out as you would a Jack-o-lantern. 

1 onion, chopped                                                                                  2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. of oil                                                                                          1 can cream of chicken soup

1 ½ - 2 lbs. ground beef                                                                        2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 4 oz. can mushrooms, drained                                                            1 ½ c. cooked rice

One can sliced water chestnuts, drained

·        Saute onions in oil until tender. Add meat and brown. Drain off drippings. Add all ingredients together and simmer for ten minutes. Spoon into pumpkin. Bake on a rack over a pan of water in the oven at 350 until you can easily pierce it with a fork. About an hour.

 Pumpkin Bread

Cream together:

1 c. oil

2 c. white sugar

Then add:

4 beaten eggs

1 pound pumpkin (2 cups)

Put these together then add to above:

               3 c. flour

               1 tsp. salt

               ½ c. nuts

               3 tsp. cinnamon

Dissolve in hot water and add to above:

1 tsp. soda        

Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

              

A Powerful Way to Pray

God gave my daughter the gift of tongues years before this story begins, but she rarely used it. She felt foolish doing so. Was she babbling nonsense? Had God really given her the gift? Sometimes she worried she just made the whole thing up.

Recently while facing a challenge, Tori’s prayers seemed to hit a ceiling. Finally, as a last resort she decided to pray in her tongue. Soon after she began praying, she experienced a powerful breakthrough in the situation. Excited, she shared with her husband. He said since he’d never heard her pray in her tongue, maybe for their regular nightly prayers she should spend some time praying that way.

She did.

He listened.

Her husband is Jewish and knows some Hebrew. When her prayer finished he said, “Tori, you’re praying in Hebrew.” Some of the words he recognized. Others he looked up. But the main phrase she had been speaking over and over was, “Consecrated to God. Consecrated to God.”

God knows Tori’s heart. He knows she wants more than anything to be consecrated to God. So he gave the most effective words she could pray in the language Adam and Eve probably spoke in the garden. He guided her to focus on him and declare her love for him rather than asking for help.

And then he helped her.
            Though God has not given me the gift of tongues, I want the same thing Tori wants. I long to be consecrated to God. So I’ve begun praying aloud, declaring in front of all the heavenly powers as well as to God, “Consecrated to God.” I pray in my only tongue, English, and mean it with ever fiber of my being.

When I do that, I feel God powerful presence. That’s the best gift possible, even though I know he’s also answering my requests.