Toot Sweets

If you missed the wonderful cake baking class held last week here are the recipes that Sister Carr shared;

The Very Best Chocolate Cake (makes 2 - 8" layers)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup water

1/2 cup oil

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare pans.

2. Melt butter in a pan or in the microwave, combine water and oil in a medium bowl. Once butter is melted pour it into the water and oil mixture. Let cool until lukewarm.

3. Meanwhile mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Whisk milk, eggs and vanilla into butter mixture.

5. Add liquid to flour mixture all at once, beat with mixer to blend. Divide evenly into prepared pans.

6. Bake 30 -35 minutes. Cool cakes in the pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, release the cake and place onto a wire rack. Cool.

Buttercream Icing (makes about 3 cups)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners sugar (sifted) (1 lb)

2-3 tbsp. milk

1. Ina large bowl, cream shortening and butter together with a mixer until well blended.

2. Add vanilla, mix.

3. Gradually add the sugar 1 cup at a time beating, well on medium speed.

4. The icing will appear dy. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. Store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

Upcoming Activities

CAKE BAKING CLASS

February 9th is the first in a series of Cake Baking Classes we will be holding. Sister Carr will be teaching us how to make cakes from scratch, how to make a buttercream frosting and some other cake making tricks we all wish we knew. We will be making everyone that attends a small 4 inch cake that you can experiment on. In order to prepare for this class we need to know how many of you plan on attending. If you are interested please notify Sister Summers or Sister Armstrong.

SOUP KITCHEN SERVICE

February 16 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The soup kitchen is located at;

105 S.W. 3rd Ave.
Homestead Florida
305.245.7448

If you would like to attend please contact Sister Summers or Sister Mackey.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Sisters!!! We are so excited for 2011. Yesterday in Relief Society we introduced the Pursuit of Excellence. The Pursuit of Excellence is an achievement challenge designed to help each participant develop a Christ-like life of love and service. Accomplishing this objective requires a diligent and serious effort in all aspects of life-spiritual, intellectual, social, and physical.

We pray that the sisters of Homestead Ward will learn to serve each other more willingly and gain new insight into ourselves and our fellow sisters. We pray that we work together on common goals and values to inspire self improvement and more Christ centered lives.

The Pursuit of Excellence includes five areas of personal improvement:

· Spiritual,
· Intellectual
· Service
· Physical
· Character.

We would like to challenge each of you to select goals, either one that is listed or one of your choice, in each of these areas to work on throughout the year. Let us strive as sisters to “try a little harder, to be a little better.”

Spiritual Challenges

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you," (D&C 88:63)

Continually strive to have a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father through seeking greater spirituality personally and in our homes and families.

Choose one of the following goals or select one of your own.

· Increase personal spirituality.

*Temple attendance weekly/monthly.
*Fast and pray.
*Ask the Lord in prayer daily to draw near unto Him.
*Read scriptures daily.
*Look for opportunities to serve others.
*Write in a journal regularly.

· Increase spirituality in home and family.

*Limit TV time. Encourage other worthwhile activities.
*Clear schedule to increase more time with family: family dinner, family night, and family prayer.
*Play beautiful music in home to invite the spirit to dwell.
*Read scriptures regularly with family.
*Read scriptures daily with spouse.
*Pray with spouse daily.
*Encourage kindness/positive attitude in home with family members.
*Priesthood presence in home.

Goal:

Character Challenges

“Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good; and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” “The wise in heart shall be called prudent; and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.” “Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it; but the instruction of fools is folly.” Proverbs 16: 19-22

Choose one of the following goals or select one of your own.

· Evaluate an area in your life where you are not setting a good example.

· Evaluate an area that maybe no one but you and the Lord know about and see how you can improve it/stop doing it/start doing it.

· Smile at a minimum of 10 people each day that you don't know.

· When someone is about to share a piece of gossip with you simply state that you would rather not hear it and suggest you talk about something else.

· Remind yourself at least 3 times each day of the promise you made with the Lord at baptism or in the temple.

· Apologize for something that has been bothering you, even if it has been years.

· Willingly accept an assignment, complete it willingly.

· When there is contention in your home (even when you’re a part of it), choose to break the tension by busting into song. (If you can't carry a tone it doesn't matter)

· Try to get to know someone at work/school/neighborhood that you usually avoid.

· Take a few minutes each day just to reflect on the fact that God loves YOU.

Goal:

Intellectual Challenges

“Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118)

Select one of the following goals or choose one of your own. Be specific. Make it doable. Modify as needed. Don’t give up.
Examples/Ideas:

• Read 3 “good” books
• Take a clas
• Attend a cultural event such as a symphony, opera or a play
• Develop a new interest such as poetry, dance, photography
• Develop a hobby such as coin collecting, astronomy, woodworking
• Help a scout earn a merit badge of interest to both of you
• Learn about an exciting place and travel there, (it doesn’t have to be far
• Play classical music during dinner. Teach your family about the piece and the composer
  
  “There are few things more pathetic than those who have lost their curiosity and sense of adventure, and who no longer care to learn.” Gordon B Hinckley
  

Goal:

Service Challenges

“When ye are in service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” (Mosiah 2:17)

Select one of the following goals or choose one of your own.

• Send letters and/or a box to each current ward missionary or serviceman or contribute toward the financial support of a full-time missionary.
• 100% Visiting Teaching
• Help someone in need by providing them with a meal, babysitting, yard work, house work, etc.
• Fellowship new members of the ward or new church members
• Adopt a friend/grandparent at a nursing home to consistently visit with, read to, etc. This is a good one to get you children/family/pets involved with.
• Get involved with a local humanitarian foundation or organization (a list of some of these will be available on the RS website-cedarbenchrs.blogspot.com
• Help with a community cleanup project or volunteer to coach for a city athletic program
• Volunteer to help with an Eagle project
• Become involved with a holiday program-Sub for Santa, Angel Tree, Toys for Tots, etc. or adopt a family in need for the 12 Days of Christmas
  Become a member of the OWL club, (contact Jennifer Dickson 479-5169 for more information)

Goal:

Physical Challenges

“Cease to be idle, cease to be unclean…cease to sleep longer than is needful, retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” (D&C 88:124)

Be physically fit so that you may be prepared for any challenges you may have in your life.If you improve your personal attractiveness you will feel good and have a greater outlook on life.

Select one of the following goals or choose one of your own. Be specific. Make it do-able. Modify as needed. Don’t give up.

Examples/Ideas:

• Exercise your body (to get into shape and lose weight)
• Exercise your mind (read good books and the scriptures)
• Eat properly (Word of Wisdom)
• Encourage each other and help your family to do the same.
• Make attainable goals and write them down.

Goal:

Sopapillas

This weeks International Cooking Class was fabulous! Sister Garcia taught us how to make Sopapillas. We were all so busy eating that we forgot to take photos.

Because so many of you have asked for the recipe we have included it at the end of this post. Thank you Sister Garcia for teaching this class, we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We hope to see more of you at next months class.

The sliced pieces of dough before they are fried.

Frying up the sopapilla dough.

Sopapilla Recipe

1 package dry yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

3/4 cup milk

6 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. butter

1 beaten egg

3 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Bring milk, sugar, and salt to a boil. Stir in butter. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in yeast mixture, then egg. Beat in flour. Cover dough and let rise for 1 1/2 hours. Knead the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 4x4 strips.

Fry in oil at 350 until golden brown turning only once.

Meat for the Sopapillas

Ground beef or ground turkey

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 roated green chilies (or 1, 4 oz can of green chile)

1/4 cup salsa

salt and pepper to taste

Brown meat with onion. Add all the other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the dough is cooked open one end of the sopapilla and fill with the meat, guacamole, salsa, cheese etc.

These are super delicious!

International Cooking Class

Sister Sakamoto and Sister Nunez taught a great class on how to make Pabellon Criollo and Tres Leches. It was a great class and everyone enjoyed the great food and great company. Here are some pictures of the activity.

SUPER SATURDAY CRAFTS

WAY TO BE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Chapel

Lunch will be provided

Babysitting will be provided for those with no alternative.

Following are pictures and information on the crafts we will be making.

ALL ORDERS AND MONEY MUST BE RECEIVED BY SEPTEMBER 20.

TEMPLE PLAQUE

$5 includes picture of temple of your choice, wood and paint.

You will need to email me the temple you would like so I can have it printed and ready for the evening.

HAIR CLIPS AND HAIR BANDS

Hair clips and hair bands - $2 EACH

If you use your own fabric, the cost will be $1.00

THANK YOU CARDS

Set of 3 cards - $5

ART GALLERY BOARD

Each - $6

We will paint ALL the boards black. If you would like a different color you will need to paint your own board prior to the activity. All vinyls will be white.

I still haven't completed this board :( I am trying to find a metal strip to attach to the bottom so you can use magnets to hang your kids art on the board. If I cannot find something to place there we will use pegs.

LOOK WHAT I DID

Each - $3

We will paint ALL the boards black. If you would like a different color you will need to paint your own board prior to the activity. All vinyls will be white.

BE TILE

This is a 12 x 12 tile. Includes tile and vinyl - $6

FAMILY PHOTO HOLDER

The first one is free. Each additional piece is .75 cents

WALL ART

A SET OF 4 WALL HANGINGS - $8 (includes painted pieces of wood and scrapbook paper)

USING YOUR OWN PAPER - $6.50

We will provide black and white scrapbooking paper and paint ALL the pieces of wood BLACK. If you want different colors for your wall art, please let us know so we can get you the pieces of wood prior to the activity. If you would like to use your own scrapbooking paper the price will be $6.50.

Rolling in the Dough

After eating all the fabulous bread today I think we all felt a little like we were rolling out of Sister Donnelson's home. Todays bread class was GREAT. We had around 23 sisters attend and had a great time. Sister Donnelson and Sister McKee did a fantastic job showing us shortcuts to making fabulous bread. We thank you both for the time you put into creating some yummy eats and showing us how easy and versatile bread making can be.

Donna and Connie working their magic.

Savory Twist. Below is a short clip of the method used to twist the dough.

Pizza Rolls. Below is the demo for the pizza rolls.