Singing Sunday--Blessing by Laura Story

I have heard this song a couple of times on the radio and really love the message that it sends to those who hear it!




We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

Easy Bacon Burgers with Seasoned Pan Fries

I love making this meal because of how fast and easy it is to put together. I find that I can get this meal done in about a half hour.  It definitely is one of those meals that cuts my time in the kitchen.

How does the meal get done in a half hour?

• burgers already prepped to use coming out of the freezer. 
• pre-made diced potatoes
• baking the bacon either on the grill or oven. 

Prepped Burgers


When I buy my ground beef in bulk, I take the time to make up raw burger patties and stick them in the freezer with wax paper separating each patty then sticking them in a freezer bag.  Doing this helps cut my  meal preparation along with having quick meals ready to roll out of the freezer for those busy summer days.  I usually will pull them out of the freezer at lunch time so that by dinner time they are thawed enough to separate to go on the grill.  For dinner, I just grill them while fixing the rest of the dinner.

Pre-made Diced Potatoes

I have tried to do diced potatoes for the freezer but have not come up with a good way to do them where the texture doesn't change too much of the potatoes.  So if I am making the diced potatoes from whole potatoes I work on peeling and dicing potatoes around the lunch hour and then letting them soak in salt water until I use them for dinner.

If I want to make things very quick then I will just pull out a bag or two of Southern style hash brown potatoes from the freezer that I have bought from the store on sale.

To cook either the fresh or frozen way: I put 2-3 tbsps olive oil and 4 tbsps margarine in the skillet before placing the potatoes in the skillet.  Once the margarine is melted and sizzling a bit I pour the potatoes in(drain the water off the fresh first before cooking).   As the potatoes cook, I just shake in some seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper. Sorry I don't have measurements for those spices, I just shake in to our tastes.

Cooking Bacon

A couple of years ago, I underwent a change in my kitchen on how I cooked bacon for the family.  I had always fried the bacon in a skillet but I was tired of how long it took to cook a pound of bacon. I did an experiment for one meal where I did fried and baked bacon to see what the family would say about the baked bacon.  The results of the experiment was baked bacon was the way to go!  Now I just bake the bacon along with the rest of the meal. Stick the bacon on a jelly roll style pan and place in the oven at 400°. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes for the bacon to cook completely.

If you do not want to heat up the kitchen you can do the same thing on your grill as what you do for cooking the bacon in the oven.  I do not have a pan for the bacon to go on my grill so I just put some foil down on the grill grates and cook the bacon.   I use a gas grill so I make sure that side of the grill is on low while the burgers cook on the side.   I definitely watch the grill very closely while the bacon is cooking.

Once everything is cooked it is ready to fix your burgers!  I love mine topped with lettuce and mayonnaise and if I have fresh tomatoes I will slice one to put a couple of slices on the burger.

I love putting together this meal in the summertime because it is fast and easy and very filling.

This post is linked to: 

• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at At The Well!
• Tuesdays at the Table over at All the Small Stuff!

Singing Sunday Strong Enough- Matthew West

An awesome new song from Matthew West! It is a great reminder that when we are weak in our trials, the Lord is strong enough to pull us through them! As the song and Philippians 4:13 says " I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"

You must, You must think I’m strong

To give me what I’m going through

Well forgive me, forgive me if I’m wrong

But this looks like more than I can do

On my own

I know I’m not strong enough to be

Everything that I’m supposed to be

I give up, I’m not strong enough

Hands of mercy won’t You cover me?

Lord, right now I’m asking You to be

Strong enough, strong enough

For the both of us

Well maybe, maybe that’s the point

To reach the point of giving up

‘Cause when I’m finally, finally at rock bottom

Well that’s when I start looking up

And reaching out

I know I’m not strong enough to be

Everything that I’m supposed to be

I give up, I’m not strong enough

Hands of mercy won’t You cover me?

Lord, right now I’m asking You to be

Strong enough, strong enough

For the both of us

‘Cause I’m broken

Down to nothing

But I’m still holding on to the one thing

You are God

And You are strong when I am weak

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

And I don’t have to be strong enough

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

And I don’t have to be

Strong enough, strong enough

Oh yeah

I know I’m not strong enough to be

Everything that I’m supposed to be

I give up, I’m not strong enough

Hands of mercy won’t You cover me?

Lord, right now I’m asking You to be

Strong enough, strong enough

For the both of us

Ways to use Ground Beef!

I have shared before how to purchase meat on the cheap, and with the summer months upon us I thought it would be a great time to share different ways to use ground meat. I usually can't get ground beef on Manager's specials/markdowns so I usually will purchase it in bulk at Sam's. Sometimes though I able to find it in the grocery stores for cheap and with the summer grilling season upon us now will be the time to look for the sales at the grocery store.  I will get around 9-10 lbs all at once, sometimes more! When I first starting getting it in bulk, I thought what in the world am I going to make with all this meat! I thought I would end up having and making the same thing all time! Well I found several recipes that have become family favorites. I like to use ground beef for my recipes but you can use ground pork or ground turkey as well!

I cook all my ground meat and then divide it into one pound packages for the freezer so that I can just pull out what I need to make the following recipes...

Queso Dip (This makes a quick lunch or appetizer!)

One large Velveeta Cheese

1 can Rotel tomatoes

½ pound of hamburger (approximately)

Slice up the Velveeta cheese in to a big bowl

Add ¼ cup milk

Melt in the microwave

Add ground beef and Rotel tomatoes

Stir and put in crock pot

Serve with the tortilla chips!

To make for large get-togethers I make 2 large Velveeta Cheese, 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes, and 1-1 ½ pound of hamburger.

Besides grilled burgers and queso dip, here is a list of other dishes that I make:

1. Tacos--1lb ground meat, a can of refried beans(or make your own), and 2 tbsp. of taco seasoning. Or instead of using bean in the meat I'll use a can of tomato soup.
   
2. Goulash--1lb ground meat, a can of tomato sauce, 1-2 tsp. chili powder, 1/2 tsp. yellow mustard, 2 cups of elbow macaroni.
   
3. Spaghetti--1 lb ground meat or meatballs and a jar of spaghetti sauce. I usually will add more spices(italian seasoning, garlic powder, and minced onions to the pot. Also instead of adding sugar to the pot, I add shredded carrots. I also put this in the crockpot and let it simmer all day!
   
4. Hamburger gravy--1lb ground meat, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1-2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce, garlic powder, and minced onions. Mix all together. Serve over egg noodles or rice.
   
5. Chili--1lb ground meat, 1-150z can tomato sauce, 1 can tomato soup, 1 can red kidney beans, 2-3 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. garlic powder, minced onions. Mix all together. Simmer in crockpot all day.
   
6. Sloppy Joes--1 lb ground meat, 1 can tomato soup, 1-2 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. yellow mustard. Mix altogether. Simmer. Serve on hamburger buns. In my opinion, this is better than Manwich!
   
7. Meatloaf--1lb. ground beef (I usually use ground chuck or ground round which is like 86%-91% lean meat)
   1 egg
   1/4- 1/2 cup bread crumbs or crushed saltines or regular/quick oatmeal
   1 tsp. garlic powder
   2 TBSP. minced onion
   3-4 TBSP. ketchup
   1 TBSP bbq sauce
   1-2 tsp. yellow mustard
   1/2 green pepper, chopped(optional)
   1-2 medium size carrots, shredded(optional)
   
   Mix altogether. Form into mini meat loaves and stick on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper to "flash freeze". Once frozen, stick in a freezer bag and label!
   
   If you do not want to freeze them uncooked, place in a 9x13 pan and place in the oven at 350° for 30-40 minutes or until done. Let cool completely before freezing!
   
   Other notes: if the meat looks too wet add more bread crumbs/crushed saltines/oatmeal. This recipe makes tasty burger patties too! If you want to make an actual loaf, you can do that as well, I would let the loaf cool completely first then slice it into individual servings, wrap them and then stick in a freezer bag for later consumption.
   
8. Salisbury Steak--take the meatloaf recipe and instead of forming loaves I make patties. Cook the patties. Once cooked, add beef gravy. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes.

What are some dishes that you make with ground beef?  Have you found any ground beef on sale lately?

This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday at Life As Mom!

My Redeemer Lives - Nicole C Mullen

My King is ALIVE!