Make it yourself...Ketchup!



I "Heart" Heinz!

 

Happy Monday, Sisters!  I love ketchup.  I don't care if you call it ketchup or catsup...you can call it whatever you want as long as it's Heinz.  Store brand ketchup and other major brands just don't cut the mustard. =D  They are just too sweet.  Heinz has the perfect salty to spicy ratio that makes it the ideal accompaniment to french fries.  I found a blogspot that tells you everything you would ever want to know about ketchup:   nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com  I am going to share with you a few of the facts I learned.  

 

Some Random Facts About Ketchup

97% of American homes keep ketchup in their kitchens.

Each person consumes about 3 bottles per year.

A Tablespoon of ketchup has about 16 calories and no fat.

4 Tablespoons have the nutritional value of a ripe medium tomato.

Like fine wines there can be good and bad ketchup years depending on the quality of the harvest.

Heinz ketchup was introduced in 1876 as a "blessed relief for Mother..."

Heinz sells more than 50% of the ketchup sold in the U.S.    

The "catsup" spelling went out of popularity in 1981 after the Reagan Administration declared     "Ketchup" to be a vegetable that could be used in school lunches.

Public outcry caused a reversal of that ruling, so now ketchup is back as a condiment

Disclaimer:  Heinz does not pay me to "love" their ketchup. =D

 

 Homemade Tomato Ketchup
By now your gardens are probably starting to produce a good crop of tomatoes.  Mine are a bit slow to come on this year.  I still have a lot of salsa and chili sauce left from last fall, so I wanted to try something new.  My good friend, Lynette Chidester graciously allowed me to publish her tried and true recipe for ketchup.  She says she likes it better than store-bought.  I think it would be fun to try this out.  Grandma Zetta used to make a lot of her own condiments.



Lynette's Ketchup
Ingredients:
3 gallons plus 1 quart tomato juice
4 cups white sugar
3 cups white vinegar (could use part cider)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/3 cup salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or 1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. dried cloves
1 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Carefully boil the juice, stirring frequently, until juice is reduced to about half.  Add 1/2 of the vinegar and all of the sugar and salt.  Cook an additional 30 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the rest of the vinegar.  Just before ladling it into the jars, add spices and mix well.  Until recently Lynette processed it in a boiling water bath.  But she warns that because of the lower acidity of today's tomatoes, it would probably be prudent to pressure process pints at 15 pounds (Highland, Utah altitude) for 15 minutes.

Hope you get a great tomato harvest this year,

 

Joy in Family History!

Joy in Family History

June Visiting Teaching Message

Many of our visiting teaching messages come from this book.

 

Sisters, I have a confession to make...one that I am not proud of...but until this morning I have not once opened my copy of Daughters in My Kingdom.  I have been full of good intentions, but today it has been on my mind.  Since my rainy...and all too brief...visit to Nauvoo a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that Relief Society needs to play a more important role in my life.  After all...isn't that what the visiting teaching messages have been trying to tell us?  Each one has featured some aspect of the work of the Relief Society and our responsibilites as visiting teachers to help and uplift the sisters we watch over.  This month's message is a wonderful example..."Joy in Family History."

 

Our families are more than just names written on the family tree.

 

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead."

 

President Boyd K. Packer said, "When we research our own lines, we become interested in more than just names...Our interest turns our hearts to our fathers--we seek to know them and to serve them."

 

We can serve as proxy in the temple for our deceased ancestors,

performing necessary ordinances for them.

 

In the visiting teaching message, a woman named Sally Randall of Nauvoo, Illinois, whose son died, found great comfort in the promise of eternal families.  After her husband was baptized for their son, she wrote to her realatives: "What a glorious thing it is that we...can be baptized for all of our dead [ancestors] and save them as far back as we can get any knowledge of them."  Then she asked her relatives to send her information on her ancestors, saying, "I intend to do what I can to save [our family]."

 

Daughters in My Kingdom

The story of Sally Randall was found on page 21 of Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society.  I am making myself the commitment to read this book.  I want to know more about the founding of this wonderful organization.

 

Public Notice...March 17, 1842

I was inspired to buy a copy of this notice, and frame it for my home.

What was that meeting like?

 

Emma Smith became the first president of the Relief Society.

 

Organizing the Relief Society 

On page 12 of Daughters in My Kingdom we read, "That next Thursday, on March 17, 1842, twenty women assembled on the upper floor of a building, often called 'the red brick store'...They met under the direction of Joseph Smith and two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards.

 

"Rather than pattern a Latter-day Saint women's organization after the women's societies that were prevalent and popular at that time, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized them in a divinely inspired and authorized manner."

 

 

The sisters were to encourage, "the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor--searching after objects of charity, and in administering to their wants--to assist by correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the female community."

 

The Prophet chose Emma, his wife to serve as president and then encouraged her to chose counselors who, with her, would "preside over this society, in taking care of the poor--administering to their wants, and attending to the various affairs of this institution."



Re-enactors in Nauvoo.

 

I was so disappointed that my only chance to visit Nauvoo came on such a rainy day.  Would I ever have the chance again?  We didn't have much time to spend there at any rate...we had a long, long drive to get home before the end of the weekend.  Imagine...two days of driving would bring me back home!   My pioneer ancestors traveled weeks and months to get here and endured many trials along the way.  I think it's wonderful that our children are able to participate in Trek...I am sure it will help them to gain perspective and love for those Saints.

 

I didn't get to see any of the re-enactments while I was there, but my last memory of Nauvoo as we pulled away from the Visitor's Center was the sight of a dozen giggling Sister Missionaries dressed in their period dresses, trying to protect their hairdos as they ran through the rain. 

 

Have a lovely day!





 

 

 





 

Something Fun...Women's Hiking Group!

 Women's Hiking Group

Actual photo of today's group...lol!

Heidi Kennington passed on this information to our RS presidency: 

"Suzanne Palmer is sponsoring a women's hiking group. Here is what her handout says:

 

School is out... Hip, Hip Hooray,

Let's head for the hills to hike on Mondays!
Hiking club will begin on June 3rd
It'll be more fun than you've ever heard!
A different trail we'll try each week,
Because fitness and fun are what we seek.
And you'll find it at the Hiking Club
All summer long, except for rain and mud!
Meet at Suzanne's at 7 AM
For a potty break before we begin.

Suzanne:  801-362-4470
11088 North 5020 West in Highland ( just off the road that goes to AF canyon)

Everyone is welcome...spread the word.  Call Suzanne to find out about next week's hike.  Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.  I used to hike up the Timp Cave trail a couple of times a week just for the exercise...before we had to pay to use the canyon.  It was fun talking to people from out of state.  I would point out Highland from our high viewpoint and brag that "That's my town."

That's our town!

Highland in the distance

 

Just a short post today!



Old Nauvoo Angel...a Mystery!

The Nauvoo Angel

Hello, Sisters!  Sorry I haven't posted for a bit...I had a good excuse though! This past weekend I was able to take a quick trip to Nauvoo.  George and I were on a "road trip" to pick up an expensive and unwieldy piece of painting equipment in Davenport, Iowa.  I looked up Davenport on the map and found it was located on the Mississippi River and only about 100 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois.  I was so excited!  Nauvoo had always been on my "bucket list" of places I wanted to see in my lifetime.  Funny about buckets...it was raining buckets on Saturday, my only chance to go!  When life hands you Nauvoo...you make the best of it!

Beautiful Temple in the Rain.

I have long been fascinated by the history of the original Nauvoo Temple.  I always loved pictures of the temple so graceful on its hillside overlooking the Mississippi River.  I often marveled that the Saints were able to leave this lovely temple behind just as soon as it was completed.  A 1992 article written by Don F. Colvin in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism tells us...

"As most of the Saints left Nauvoo under threat of mob violence in early February 1846, a special crew stayed behind and completed the temple. Three months later the building was considered complete and was publicly dedicated on May 1, 1846. Dedication services were repeated over a three-day period and witnessed by thousands. Visitors paid a one-dollar admission fee, and the funds were used to help workmen move their families and join the main body of the Church on the plains to the west.

Tintype photo of completed temple.

"When most of the remaining Church members were driven from the city in September of 1846, the temple was temporarily abandoned. Mob forces desecrated and defiled the sacred structure. Some physical damage, though not extensive, was sustained. Attempts were later made to sell the temple, but these proved unsuccessful. The building was consumed by fire in October 1848, by the deliberate act of arson. Only the bare walls were left standing. A French Icarian community purchased the site and was preparing to reclaim the structure when it was struck by a tornado, which knocked down some of the walls and damaged others so severely that they had to be razed. Much of the structural stone was later reused in other Nauvoo buildings."

Damaged and Desecrated.

Doesn't this old photograph break your heart?  I know mine aches to think of it.  I picture one of my pioneer ancestors looking back across the wide expanse of the Mississippi for one last glance at the temple on the hill...perhaps catching the glint of sunlight on the gold leaf of the angel weather vane. Did she wipe away a tear as she turned away?   How I wish I had been there to see it in its glory!  So much had been suffered and sacrificed for that sacred building.  But thankfully, many Saints were able to receive the blessings of the temple before leaving...they would need that strength for the journey.

The First Angel...and a Mystery.

 

Old Print with Angel

 

The angel atop the old Nauvoo temple fascinates me.  I have always enjoyed the primitive folk-art of the 1800's...especially the figures carved as weather vanes.  The Nauvoo angel was part weather vane and lightning rod.  The Perrigrine Sessions Journal described it as a "representation of an angel in his priestly robes with a book of Mormon in one hand and trumpet in the other which [was] over laid with gold."  The angel, flying in a horizontal position, represented the "angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel." (D&C 133:36, Rev. 14:6)  If you want to know more about the symbolism of the weather vane, Nauvoo Temple Exterior Symbolism is a really interesting site.

 

30" Nauvoo Angel

I bought this at Zion's Mercantile in Nauvoo.

May be available from Deseret Book.

 

The Mystery at last!

What happened to the angel figure which crowned the Nauvoo Temple?  Many people assume that the statue was destroyed in either the fire or windstorm that brought the temple to ruin.  But is it possible that the original Angel Moroni from Nauvoo flew over the city of Cincinnati atop another church for 100 years?  Some people say "Yes!"  The story is from a Nov. 25, 1999 article on the KSL News Website.

 

In the late 1960's an LDS Stake President, John Taylor, who worked for Proctor and Gamble, would look out his window and see a "beautiful figure, shining in the sun, because it was covered with gold leaf."  A genealogist in the area told him that she had seen in the records of the Salem Evangelical Church that a delegation had gone from Cincinnati to Nauvoo.  They bought the figure from the destroyed temple, called it "Gabriel" and put it on their steeple.

 

One day a windstorm toppled the angel from it's steeple.  The Cincinnati church commissioned another one and gave the damaged one to John Taylor.  He called a man from Nauvoo to come in his pickup truck and carry the angel back to Nauvoo.  Before it left, President Taylor took pictures of the angel.

 

Unfortunately...a prominent Church historian looked at the pictures and told Taylor that although it was definitely folk art of the mid 1800s...he doubts that it was the angel on the Nauvoo Temple. He gives some of his reasons in the article.  But in the meantime...where is the angel that left for Nauvoo?  No one knows.  It may have been destroyed or is in someone's barn somewhere.  Many people to this day still believe that "Gabriel" is Moroni and that someday he (the angel figure) will return.  I sure hope so!  Until that day, I will enjoy my small copy hanging in my living room. 

 

Temple view from across the Mississippi.

The picture I would have taken if weren't raining cats and dogs!

Of course it wouldn't be autumn...sigh!

 

Hope you enjoyed this journey...

I hope to return some (sunny) day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun with Composition Books!

Young Women Camp Journals
Tuesday night the Young Women are going to be decorating the covers of those old faithful composition books to be journals for camp.  If your daughter is in YW could you please make sure she has what she needs...a list should have been given to her.  The books are being provided.

Ever since I was a young teen I have loved decorating  notebooks to be a kind of "smash book" for my dreams and ideas.  I wrote poetry, copied John Denver song lyrics...and designed bridesmaids dresses for my future wedding...lol!  They were also scrapbooks of pictures cut from magazines like Seventeen.  I still have these notebooks.  Looking through them is like a nostalgic trip through my adolescent dreamland.

A Few Examples... 

Two of the books I decorated for my granddaughters.

They were "back-to-school" gifts.

I bought a whole stack of the black and white books at Walmart

on clearance for 40 cents each.

The back of the books.

I used pictures found online and scrapbook paper.

I chose a Paris theme for some I made as gifts for my VT sisters.

"Moulin Rouge"

This is a small version I have had in my purse since 2007.

I have six years of Christmas lists in this little book...plus to-do lists and plans.

It's fun to mix colors and patterns.

The girls can use rick rack or ribbon for trims.

 

I have seen some decorated books on Pinterest that are works of art!  I think I am more of a "less is more" kind of girl.  What is important is that the girls have fun expressing their own tastes and personalities.  If desired...when the girls bring them home...a coat of mod podge brushed over the front and back will help seal and protect her journal.  Which is how my little pocket journal has lasted these many years!

 

On a related note...

Pinterest Pin of the Week!

 

Life Story Pages to Print

Becky Higgins Project Life Blog 

In Becky's blog she posted about a YW journaling activity...it was several years ago...but the pdf files are still there and active.  I thought these pages were great for getting started in writing one's personal history.  There are two versions...one for teens and one for adults.  I have downloaded them to my computer to print later.

By the way, the binders are “half pint” binders, or in other words, they hold papers that are 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ (which is half the standard size). If you can’t find them at your local office supply shop, look online. Just do a search for “5.5 x 8.5 binder”.

 

Becky's Young Women decorated their covers at the activity as well as beginning to "fill in the blanks."

 

Happy Spring!

 

 



What do May Flowers Bring?

Butterflies!

Even though the sun is shining today...there was frost in the grass this morning.  And as I type this, clouds have moved in and...it's snowing! Thank goodness our tomatoes were cozy in their little "walls o' water!"  I know I am not the only one longing for Spring to stop and stay awhile.  Last weekend was so lovely, warm and filled with the scents of blossoming trees and new-mown lawns.  I saw my first butterfly...gracefully large and bravely yellow...gracing the branches of our new flowering chokecherry tree.  I have to say, it gave me hope.

An LDS blogger that I love has been posting about her daughter's baptism.  Writing to a non-LDS audience she likened baptism to butterflies...how it's a symbol of change...a rebirth.  Today's post was about the butterfly decorations she made for the family luncheon to celebrate the little girl's special day.  In the years to come, the daughter will cherish this memory of her mother's love.

Very pretty...the wreath is from brown-paper sacks.

White or natural coffee filters make lovely fluffy wreaths.

 

Womens Conference

Women's Conference is this week, May 2-3, and we're excited for you to attend!

Walk-on registration is available beginning at 8:00 am on Monday, April 29, through Wednesday, May 1, at the registration desk in the Harman Continuing Education Building (connected to the BYU Conference Center, east of the Marriott Center). Walk-on registration during the conference is available at the Marriott Center.

All who register by April 28th can pick up their name badge at will call.

Will call is available at the Harman Building:
Monday and Tuesday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Wednesday, 8:00 am-9:00 pm

Will call is available during the conference at the NE corner of the Marriott Center:
Thursday, 7:30 am-8:00 pm
Friday, 7:30 am-3:30 pm

CERT Emergency Preparedness Training

 

May 4......8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

May 18......8 am. to 4 p.m.

Cost...$45

Highland LDS Stake Center

5335 W 11200 N in Highland

Advance registration required.

Sign up by calling Scott or Kristine Oldroyd at 801-492-1448

 

 

I Heart Pinterest... Pin of the Week!

May Baskets!  Did you make them as a child?

I remember that baskets of flowers were hung on door knobs to celebrate the first of May!

We also learned to dance around the May Pole.

 

My friend Renee from My Vintage Mending pinned this picture of a folder of baskets from Hallmark that she found at an estate sale.  If you visit this link, she has pictures and instructions for saving the baskets to your computer to print on 8 x 11 inch cardstock.  Wouldn't your VT ladies love a sweet May basket?  It doesn't have to be today...May has 31 beautiful days. What a gracious and lovely custom to revive!

 

Have a lovely day!

Is there any day more beautiful that a day in May?

 

Tulip Festival!

Tulip Festival!

 

It would be almost criminal to live so close to Thanksgiving Point and never go to the Tulip Festival.  I went a few years ago and was amazed at the beauty and color...not to mention the variety of beautiful tulips and daffodils, and other spring flowers.  This would be a wonderful opportunity to call your VT sisters and spend some (Spring) time with them.  I hope the weather will be as nice as pie...the temps should be a bit warmer by Wednesday.

 

When our family lived in Germany, we were not too far from the Dutch border.  One beautiful...and rare...sunny day, we drove to the Keukenhof for the Tulip Festival.  Driving through the lovely countryside we passed field after field of colorful tulips and daffodils.  One field would be purple, while the next was red...or yellow.  It was like being in a storybook.  There were windmills in the fields and several at the Keukenhof...which is located outside the town of Lisse.  It was a hunting area in the 15th century. Herbs for the kitchen of the castle of Jacoba van Beieren were also collected here; hence the name Keukenhof...which means "kitchen garden."  A little tulip trivia for you.

 

I love how the flowers flowed through the woods like a river.

Windmills are a favorite symbol for me...they make me happy! 

 



Don't miss out on the fun!

 

 

A Letter of Thanks...

 

From Lynette Chidester to the committee members for the RS Birthday Dinner

 

Dear Sisters,

Thank you so much for the time you spent and effort you made for a wonderful evening.  Because I am in Primary, it was so enjoyable to visit with people I don't see on a regular basis.  It was also nice to have the chance to socialize and catch up with the everyday things happening to the sisters in our ward, have a wonderful meal, (I love salads, so I especially enjoyed that part of the menu) have a yummy ice cream sandwich, (something I haven't enjoyed for years) and then finish with a poignant and spiritual lesson.  Please submit the story Rich told about his mother to the Church News or Ensign so others will be encouraged in their visiting teaching.  I shared it with my mother, and even over the phone she was touched by the message.  I am not sure everyone will receive this little note, but I hope everyone who did so much for all of us knows it was appreciated.

 

Thanks again,

Lynette.

Thank you, Sisters, for visiting!