The Proverbs 31 Woman

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
– John 10:10

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
-Psalm 40: 1-3

These verses describe my life perfectly right now. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been - the freest, the most joyful, the most secure. We celebrated two milestones this year – my 30th birthday, and our 10th wedding anniversary. We greeted both with joy and thanksgiving. I love my husband. Our love is deeper and richer than ever. I respect him. I’m proud to be his wife. I miss him when we’re not together. Excuse the cheesiness, but I couldn’t be more sincere.

Now there is a verse (one among many) that does not describe my life:

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
-Proverbs 31:25

I definitely have room to grow on the strength and dignity part, but it’s the second part that really escapes me. When I think about how wonderful my life is right now, it is always tagged with thoughts like, “not for long” and/or “something terrible is sure to happen any day now.” Now, I don’t believe these thoughts are entirely untrue, because bad stuff is always going to happen in this world. The death rate is still 100%. People I love are going to die, hopefully not tragically, but anything is possible. All sorts of horrible things are possible – house fires, violent crime, sickness, etc.

While bad things eventually happen in everyone’s life, surely it can’t be good to worry about it in advance. And of course I worry about worst case scenario. It’s like I’m trying to brace myself, so that something can’t take me by surprise, or maybe by living out the scenario in my head, It’ll be easier to deal with when it comes. It can't be healthy to stress oneself out over imaginary trials. Yet, despite the realities of this world, of which she is surely aware, the Proverbs 31 woman laughs at the days to come.

The Proverbs 31 woman is pretty sweet. If you've never read about her before, you should check it out (Proverbs 31:10-31) I used to feel condemned when I read about her, about how I could never measure up. Romans 8:1 says: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So I don't have to feel that way. She may not have been a real woman, but rather a portrait of the ideal woman, someone to emulate. I was reading the notes in my NIV Study Bible about the Proverbs 31 woman and I loved what it had to say. I’ll end this post with the authors notes:

Proverbs has a lot to say about women. How fitting that the book ends with a picture of a woman of strong character, great wisdom, many skills, and great compassion. Some people have the mistaken idea that the ideal woman in the Bible is retiring, servile, and entirely domestic. Not so! This woman is an excellent wife and mother. She is also a manufacturer, importer, manager, realtor, farmer, seamstress, upholsterer, and merchant. Her strength and dignity do not come from her amazing achievements, however. They are a result of her reverence for God. In our society where physical appearance counts for so much, it may surprise us to realize that her appearance is never mentioned. Her attractiveness comes entirely from her character.

Fondue Night - The Meat & Vegetable Course

Turns out the cheese fondue recipe was from recipezaar.com in case you want to check out the original post.

The following recipe was found at: http://anabolicminds.com/forum/recipes/43401-fat-free-fondue.html

Of course I added in my little notes and advice. I'm going to put a little asterisk by each dipper that I used personally. The Bouillon recipe is followed by recipes for sauces to serve with the meat. The Green Goddess sauce/dip is especially good with the veggies and is my favorite. I made all of the sauces the night before for better flavor and less work the day of.

Be careful with the raw meat and make sure it only touches the raw meat plate and your skewer which is then dipped in the simmering liquid until it is cooked through. No pink chicken please.

Court Bouillon Fondue

Tastes identical to the court bouillon at Melting Pot. After making the bouillon, transfer it to a fondue pot or saucepan on a hot plate. Then, over medium heat, add skewers of lean meats (chicken, pork, lean beefsteak, etc.) and cook until done. Delicious!

Enough for 10-12 people (I made the whole recipe for my party of 6 and refrigerated the rest for lunch the next day, worked out great!)

Fondue Ingredients:
2 medium carrots
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion
1 - 2 cup dry white wine ( I used a cheap bottle ($5.99 on sale) of Pinot Grigio)
2 lemon slices
1 bay leaf
3 whole black peppers

Suggested Dippers (cut all into large bite size pieces):

Meat:

• boneless skinless chicken breasts *
  
• pork tenderloin marinated in teriyaki sauce*
• raw peeled deveined shrimp* (I bought it frozen and deveined, I thawed overnight and peeled them before serving)
• salmon
• filet mignon
• lobster tail
• duck breast
• teriyaki marinated sirloin

Vegetables (these do not need skewers - just toss them in and retrieve with a slotted spoon after a few minutes):

• Mushrooms*
• Red Potatoes*
• Yellow Squash*
• Zuchinni

Other:

• Pot Stickers
• Ravioli

Directions:
1. Slice carrots, celery, and onion.

2. In a 4-quart dutch oven, combine vegetables, wine, lemon, bay leaf, peppers, 8 cups water, and 2 teaspoons salt.

3.Bring to a boil. Reduce Heat. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Strain broth through sieve and use for fondue.

(Store unused broth in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer up to 6 months.)

SAUCES

I used a bottled barbecue sauce that was great. I'm sure there are many bottled sauces that would be tasty.

Yogurt Curry Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
3 teaspoons curry powder

mix and store in the fridge for a few hours - overnight if possible. This sauce was a big hit at my party. I love it on the chicken.

Green Goddess

Makes 12 servings
Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus
1 to 2 hours to cool
Cooking time: 2-4 minutes
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into slices
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons finely sliced chives
In a microwave-safe container, microwave cream cheese and milk for 2 to 4 minutes, whisking after each minute, until cream cheese melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in sour cream, onion, parsley and chives. Refrigerate until cold, overnight to let flavors develop if possible. Leftovers would make a great dip for pretzels, chips and/or carrots.

For my party I did not have fresh parsley or chives. I had some green onion, so I cut up enough green onion to cover all of the onion and chives (4 Tablespoons total). I used dried parsley - generally a good rule of thumb is to use 1/3 of the amount when substituting dry for fresh. Ideally I will have all of these ingredients on hand next time, but it was pretty darn good even with the substitutions.

Fondue Night - The Cheese Course

Last night Jason and I hosted a few friends for a fondue night. Jason and I had made the cheese course, and chocolate course before with great success. I had never made the meat course, court bouillon style is our favorite, so I decided to invite some company and see what happened. I don't think it could've gone any better or that the food could've tasted any better. Jason and I go to the Melting Pot every year for our anniversary, and I honestly don't know if we'll need to go back, because the food tasted every bit as good for half the price, although it was a bit of work.

I use an individual hot plate and sauce pans for my fondue, because it's easier to control the heat, and I can switch out the pans with ease. I picked up a set of skewers at Goodwill a few months ago. I don't know how they got separated from their fondue pot, but it was nowhere in site, so I didn't feel bad swiping them - well it felt like a steal at $2 for 11 skewers. I picked up 6 more from the Pampered Chef outlet. So we were good to go.

I did all sorts of web searches to find just the right recipes. After testing them out, I'm ready to share. Let's start with the cheese! I believe this recipe was posted on a message board, sorry I didn't save the link and don't know if I could find it again. I edited it a bit to give more precise measurements and instructions:

Cheddar Cheese Fondue

(Courtesy of the Melting Pot)

a very simple fondue recipe shared by the melting pot on an early morning talk show!

Serves 2 (double and triple as needed)

Fondue:

4 ounces beer (I used cheap Miller Lite - tasted fabulous)

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

4 oz. cheddar cheese

1 Tablespoon Corn Starch

Five turns of pepper

3 shakes mustard powder

3-4 shakes Worcestershire sauce

Dippers:

any sort of yummy bread

celery

apples

whatever else sounds good

Directions:
In a small saucepan (for 2 servings)

start with 4 oz of base beer over medium heat

add garlic

add 3 shakes of mustard powder and stir

mix cheese with 1 Tablespoon of corn starch

add small amount of cheddar cheese mixture to pan

mix thoroughly (using figure eight motion until cheese is melted)

keep adding cheese until it reaches desired consistency – like ooey gooey melted cheesy goodness

add five turns of pepper grinder

add three to four shakes of Worcestershire sauce and stir

serve in fondue pot, or saucepan over hot plate on low

dip to your heart's (and stomach's) delight