CADIE has taken over all of Google.....
She has even taken over The Young Thinker!!!
At least she hasn't taken over this one yet. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25

Pumpkin Ginger Scones

Here is the recipe for the pumpkin scones my roommate made for the pumpkin week:

from the Taste of Home Magazine

Pumpkin Ginger Scones
2 c flour
7 tbsp + 1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp baking soda
5 tbsp cold butter, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 c. canned pumpkin
1/4 c. sour cream

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 7 tbsp sugar, baking powder & soda, and spices. Cut in 4 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg, pumpkin, and sour cream. Stir into dry ingred until just moistened.

Turn on a floured surface; kneed 10 times. Pat into an 8 in circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Separate wedges and place onto greased baking sheet. Melt remaining butter, brush over dough, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 425 F for 15-20 min or until golden brown.

Challenge of the Week:

Bake a new recipe

Baking can sometimes be a relief for stress, we have found.
This week looks to be a stressful week.
Hence our challenge.
In preparation for this week, my roommate made pumpkin scones on Saturday.

Pumpkin Biscuits

I made these earlier this week:

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. sugar
cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice to taste

1/4 c. to 1/2 c. pumpkin from a can of pumpkin
1/3 c. oil
2/3 c. milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Stir together all the dryish ingredients.
Add the pumpkin.
Toss in the oil and milk.
Mix the whole thing until it is a nice thick batter-type substance.
Then drop spoonfuls onto a non-greased baking sheet.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Sometimes 12 minutes are better. They must look cooked and be rather brownish, you know, the way baked things always look when they are baked but not burned.

Do not eat them all in one sitting.

Challenge of the Week:

Eat more pumpkin.

How do we propose to do this?

How about pumpkin chili, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin yogurt, and pumpkin with sweet potatoes?
And maybe pumpkin bars.
And there was even a recipe we found for pumpkin/corn pudding!

Learn a New Word!

I learned a new word today.
I am so excited.
Here it is:

Diffusivity: "the property of a substance indicative of the rate at which a thermal disturbance, as a rise in temperature, will be transmitted through the substance."

So basically, you have a substance of something. And then you change a thermal property like the temperature. Of course it takes time for the heat to travel through all that substance and to completely change the temperature of your substance. And the diffusivity tells one something about how fast the substance will change.