WEEK FOUR: SWEET TREATS!

We ended our last week's meeting with ministering to the homeless. This week, our outreach focus is on the elders of our church. I mentioned in my last blog about my Paw Paw passing away recently. Later in life (I use that term loosely since I'm only 28...and I specifically mean college and beyond...), I had become very close with my grandparents and learned so much from them when they were alive. I'm continuing to learn from them in their death. As I was digging through boxes of old photos and the like, I came across various emails, letters, and other correspondence where my Grandmother was sharing what God was doing in her life.

Pauline Williford Dodson's Testimony

Anyway...I digress...my point is, we have a lot to learn from the elders in our church, so we should be more aware of the way we interact with them and treat them. Often times they may not physically be able to come to church every Sunday, or get the words out that they want to say. That is all the more reason that WE should be reaching out to THEM, and showing how much we love them!

Our Tis So Sweet group certainly has a heart for this sweet group of men and women. We decided to bake goodies for the Joy Club and deliver them to the Young at Heart Sunday School class. A big thank you to all the ladies who baked these yummy treats!

We had an assortment of: brownies, chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, and of course soft mints to finish it all off!!

We saran-wrapped the brownies and cookies separately, then packed them in individual Ziploc baggies...

Attached these cute little labels...

And packed them up for Sunday morning!

The Young at Heart class loved them! Check out these precious smiling faces :)

And here is the sweet "thank you" note we received:

Well, that sums up our Sunday morning...

Sunday night, we had a small crowd due to some out-of-towners and other conflicts. Nonetheless, we had an AWESOME time kicking back and enjoying some great food and even better company. I can't say enough how much I absolutely love and adore each one of these ladies (and their families) and I feel so blessed to get to hang out with these precious people every week! 

L to R: Lauren, Belinda & Alison. Btw - seriously - no filter...even my camera phone captures their glow ;)

Here are the yummy recipes this week!

BUBBLE PIZZA

Contributed by: Belinda

1 1/2 lb ground beef

1 can (15 oz) pizza sauce

2 tubes (12 oz each) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

Additional toppings of choice, optional

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink and drain. Stir in pizza sauce. Cut each biscuit into quarters; place in a greased 9x13 in. baking dish. Top with beef mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 400F for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with cheeses. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

**NOTE: You can easily play around with this recipe by making the pizza of your choice. You can choose a different sauce base such as ranch, or different toppings like pepperoni, chicken, veggies...the possibilities are endless!

NO BAKE CHEWY COOKIES AND CREAM BARS

Contributed by: Lauren

1 - 16 oz pkg of Oreos

5 cups large marshmallows

4 tbsp butter

Place Oreos in food processor and pulse until ground. Melt marshmallows and butter in microwave until puffed, approx. 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove and pour in ground Oreos. Stir to combine then transfer to a foil lined 8x8 in. baking pan. Let set up for 10 minutes. Remove bars out of pan with edges of foil and cut into squares.

BBQ PORK SLIDERS (CROCKPOT)

Contributed by: Mallory

1 pkg Hormel onion garlic boneless pork roast (24 oz)

1 - 18 oz bottle Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 vidalia onion, quartered

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 - 12 pack King's Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls

Pickles, Wickles, or slaw for topping (optional)

In a crockpot, mix together BBQ sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add onion slices to mixture. Place pork roast in the crockpot and, using a spoon, pour some of the sauce mixture over the roast. Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Remove roast and pull apart. Add shredded pork to sauce to coat. Bake rolls for approx. 5 minutes according to package in order to crisp them up. Take a bread knife and slice the whole sheet of rolls in half (top and bottom halves for sandwiches). Spoon the sauce mixture on the top and bottom layers. Add the shredded pork and (optional) top with slaw, pickles, or Wickles -- or you could serve these on the side. Spread a couple of spoonfuls of sauce mixture on top layer of rolls desired, then put the top layer back on and cut into individual sandwich servings using bread knife. Serve warm.

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I leave you tonight with two things:

1. A picture of my Buddy

2. The Word of God

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

Heavenly Father, you knew me and my inner most being even before I was created. You gave me eternal life, power, love, and a sound mind when I asked you into my heart and you so graciously saved me from my sin. Thank you for your grace and mercy. In times of weakness and stress, help me to remember that your spirit lives inside me and through your power, I can overcome fear, worry, and anxiety. In your name, Amen.