Thankful Thursday - Many Blessings (and a couple of recipes)

I decided to get a jump on Thankful Thursday this Wednesday evening, recounting some of the best parts of this week so far.

 This beautiful Arizona sunrise was about  6:10 a.m. Monday morning...

and this one was the next day, about the same time.  I love getting up and leaving for school early so I get to see the Sunrise most days.  To me, it is a great blessing that I get to start my days early with amazing scenes like these.

I had some bananas that were ripening too quickly, so modified an old favorite recipe and made these muffins that were about the best tasting banana nut muffins I have ever made.

They turned out so well, I decided to share a few with an elderly widowed friend who lives down the street. It is always a blessing to be able to share something delicious with a friend.   I have included the recipe below because it was really very good.

Honey & Spice Banana Muffins

1 cup Bran Flakes Cereal

1/4 cup milk

1 cup flour (I used half wheat flour - and really liked the results)

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup melted butter (I always use real dairy butter)

2/3 cup ripe mashed banana

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 375.  In a small bowl, soak cereal in milk for five minutes.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, then add cereal mixtures.  Beat at medium speed scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).  Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin pan.  Fill cups 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops spring back when touched lightly.  Cool  five minutes and remove from pan.  Yield:  12 muffins, but recipe is easily doubled so you can have enough muffins to share!

I had success with another quick and easy recipe this week.  I admit that cooking is not my favorite thing, but I do consider it a blessing when I can prepare a meal that my family enjoys:

Italian Meatball Sandwich

1 - 1/2 pounds ground turkey or lean ground beef.  I actually used some ground pork I had in the freezer, combined with 1/2 pound of lean ground beef.

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 can spaghetti sauce

grated mozzarella cheese

Thoroughly mix together the ground meat and onion soup mix.  Shape into 1 - 1 1/2 inch meat balls. Brown meatballs in a lightly greased skillet. (I used olive oil).  Pour spaghetti sauce over meatballs; cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.  Serve meatballs on a lightly toasted hoagie roll (or bread of choice  - we used Chompie's Thick Sliced Texas Toast).  Top with grated mozzarella.   Yield - 18-20 meatballs.  

My family enjoyed this the first day and the leftovers were even more tasty.  

Yesterday, about dinner time, our doorbell rang.  It was our next door neighbor telling us that water was shooting out of our swimming pool pipes over into his yard. He was right.  We had water shooting up into the air a good 15 -20 feet.  The problem is shown in the picture above.  The black tube was supposed to be attached where the small hole in the clamp on the angular pipe is.    We immediately called the pool repair company we usually use and were told they could not come out to even look at the problem until next Monday and they estimated the repair would cost at least $600! 

Waiting almost a week to get the pool repaired would not be a good thing at all because, as you can see, we already have algae growing in the pool in our still triple-digit end of summer temperatures.  We decided to call another pool guy we had used a couple of years ago with good result.  Long story short, he came out this afternoon, and while he didn't have the needed part, he promised to get it and return tomorrow and have the pool fixed five days before the other company could come out!  The best part is, that this repairman said the cost will be less than $150! Getting the pool fixed quickly and at a significant saving - now that is a blessing!

It was my birth mother's birthday a few days ago and I sent her this little plaque that really says how I feel. Although she did not raise me (I was adopted when I was six months old), we have been in contact for over 25 years and have a good relationship.  We talk on the phone at least a couple of times a month.  She brought me into this world,  gave me up to a better life, and is now my friend.  I consider her, and my entire birth family, a great blessing in my life.

Uplifting and inspirational books are always a blessing.  These are some of the ones I have been spending time with this week.

Finally, I am finally getting caught up after feeling overwhelmed and buried with work since the school year began.  I finished and submitted a big work project, got ahead in my online class and graded most of the student essays that had been turned in.  It is always a blessing to be productive and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Hope you are seeing blessings in your life this week as well!