A Mac N Cheesy Tradition

Traditions are so important. They ground us, they bring comfort during turbulent times, they give us a sense of who we are and that we belong. I would like to share something special that happened during our son Josh and his beautiful wife Naomi’s visit this past week. I wanted to do something special with Naomi that honored our family’s traditions and also pass one down to her. I reached out to my sister Janet to make sure I got the recipe right (Yes, Sis – I used Panko!) and bought the ingredients for making the macaroni and cheese that my mom used to make. She didn’t make it very often and so we were all very excited when she did. I remember the unique bread crumb crust on the top that everybody loved.

So this week Naomi and I made Mom’s macaroni and cheese together. It was a very special time as we chatted and together decided how much of what to put in it, since we didn’t use any measuring cups. Naomi’s grandmother had also shared a macaroni and cheese recipe for her to treasure. Naomi now has a recipe from my Mom that she may not follow exactly, but is something for her to build off of (along with her grandma’s recipe) that will carry a part of both of our families into the new family that she and Josh are creating together – and that is really cool!

I thank God for the gift of my daughter-in-love Naomi and I’m so blessed by the times that we get to spend together.

If you don’t have a family tradition to pass down, that’s okay because you can start creating your own right now. And it doesn’t even have to be family that you pass it to. The important thing about tradition is the love behind it and that each of us can create our own as an expression of that love and give it to anyone. It’s also good to remember that blessings are meant to flow in both directions. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to the German Pancakes Naomi makes for us whenever we get together for an extended visit – Yum!!

 
For those of you who are interested, I am including the macaroni and cheese recipe. If you choose to use it – feel free to tweak it and make it your own. And I know my Mom will be smiling from Heaven because a tradition that she began in our family is being continued by others.

Leah Venetucci’s Mac N Cheese

16 oz. large elbow macaroni

Approximately 1 cup of milk

Kraft Deluxe American Cheese (12 Slices)

Butter

Olive Oil

Breadcrumbs (You can use plain or Panko)

9 X 12 Glass Baking Pan

Lots of love

Cook the elbow macaroni as you normally would – boiling – straining – and adding a dollop of olive oil to prevent the macaroni from sticking together. Now would be a good time to start preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Place pats of butter on the bottom of the baking pan. You can also mix some butter in with the macaroni, although we settled for just the olive oil we had already added earlier. Layer half of macaroni into pan. Pour approximately half a cup of milk over macaroni. Layer cheese slices on top of macaroni. (For a richer recipe you can add additional pats of butter on the cheese – being a bit health conscious, we chose not to do that this time and really didn’t miss it).

Repeat with another layer of macaroni and add some more milk (this is now individual preference as to how you like the final texture to turn out – more milky or less milky…) and layer cheeses slices on top of macaroni.

Now the fun part – shake the container of breadcrumbs so that they cover the top layer of cheese. You can experiment with how thick a layer you like, but it doesn’t take much to achieve the desired affect of a crispy, tasty top.

Bake for about 30 minutes (on top rack is fine) until golden brown. Timing is not critical but if you see the macaroni is getting crisp and you don’t want to overcook it – you can also broil it for a few minutes (less than 5) to achieve the color of the crust you see in the pictures. If you choose to do this, the top will cook very quickly, so you will want to monitor it closely.

It is now ready to enjoy and of course refrigerate leftovers promptly. We also have a family tradition of praying over our meals and we often end our prayer in a beautiful way – “Please bless this food and the hands that prepared it.” I think we’ll start including, “and thank you for the tradition of love behind it.” Seems like a good idea, don’t you think?

A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven

Today is Palm Sunday – the beginning of Holy Week recognized by those, like me, who are followers of Jesus Christ. As excited as we all get about Christmas (the birth of our Savior!!) it runs second to the most exciting holiday of all in the Christian calendar. In the secular world it is known as Easter Sunday but to understand the meaning of Easter in all its glory – Christians refer to it as Resurrection Day – the day that Jesus conquered death after bearing incredible torture on our behalf – and all of this driven by His love for us. The Bible tells us in Romans 10:9-10, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Easter commemorates God raising Jesus from the dead. Palm Sunday is the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem – knowing what was ahead, yet still choosing to do so.

We have all been living in tremendous tension for the past two years, as the world remains in a constant state of chaos and uncertainty and there seems to be no end in sight. This plaque hangs in our kitchen, bringing comfort even when the unfathomable happens. It reminds me of God’s purpose through His Son Jesus Christ for humanity: John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We have a hope that is enduring, a Lord who loves us, and a purpose ordained by Him for our time on earth. Holy Week is a special reminder that God’s love for us is relentless, incomprehensible, sacrificial, and unconditional. Perfect and without sin, yet willing to die for us – that is the amazing love that God has for us.

You may hear a Christian exclaim, “He is Risen!!” on Easter Sunday – we just can’t contain our excitement. It really is an emotional time of gratitude for us and we are overflowing with joy as we contemplate the sacrifice of our Lord and how He overcame death so that we can spend eternity with Him. The usual response is just as enthusiastic: “He is Risen, Indeed!!”

What we find so amazing is that God is faithful even when we aren’t. The Bible tells us in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He doesn’t wait for us to clean up our acts – He loves us exactly where we are at, with a fierce love that knows no bounds. The baby born in the manger on Christmas Day is God’s greatest expression of love – His provision to deliver us from our sins so that we can spend eternity with him. He tells us in John 16:33, “‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.'”

I take tremendous comfort in this. My last blog post was titled “What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do.” It was helpful to be sure. But yesterday after a stressful week of having surgery, a minor reaction during recovery, and starting a new position at work, I found myself in need of more. I needed to be still. I needed Jesus. So I found myself crying out yet again, and again, Jesus met me at my point of need.

As we begin our journey towards Easter Sunday, and we focus on the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, it is good to remember to not only keep Jesus in Easter, but to also invite Him into our lives throughout the year. Jesus came down from heaven to save us from our sins. When we call out to Him, not only do we receive eternal salvation, we receive His peace on earth. Putting Christ in the center of our lives changes everything. Gaining the eternal perspective of heaven helps us walk in this world with all of its pain and suffering, and enables us to do so with joy. The joy we have in Christ overflows into our relationships and our daily lives, touching others even as it touches us.

God’s love for us is beautiful, extravagant, and unforgettable. Each one of us has a purpose under heaven and we are each given a season to live out that purpose. Our ultimate purpose is to love God and to love others. That looks different for each one of us because we are all unique, but the end result is the same: In whatever we do, let us honor God and seek to please Him, and love one another in both our words and actions. Life here on earth is both precious and short – Let’s remember to do that each and every day ❤️

If you would like to learn more about Jesus – I will be glad to send you a copy of an Advent Devotional I wrote (available on Amazon) for free. While it is directed towards the Christmas season it can be read any time of year and will give you a better understanding of who Jesus is and why Christians get so excited about Easter 🙂 Just message me your email address and I will gift you a free Kindle version. I promise not to contact you or use your email address for any other purpose. May you enjoy a blessed Easter season!

Love was Born on Christmas Day!

As we journey through the Advent season, let us reflect on why Jesus came down from heaven to live and move among us. Matthew 1:21 says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Yeshua, because he will save his people from their sins.” Yeshua is Hebrew for “the Lord shall save,” and can be interpreted to refer to the atoning work of Jesus at the cross. He came here to save us! Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Yeshua, and its English spelling is “Jesus,” the name we find in our English Bibles. As his name reflects, the birth of Jesus is part of God’s plan to save us from our sins, so that we may have eternal life with Him.

God gave Jesus his name and, by doing so, announced to the world that He had provided a Savior for us, a way out of the predicament that we all find ourselves in. Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God gave us the greatest gift of all on Christmas morning, in the humblest of surroundings: a manger. He sent His Son Jesus into the world to save us from the consequences of our sin, and Jesus willingly went. What kind of love drives that? What kind of love leaves the glories of heaven to be born in a stable and to walk upon a broken world and call it his home? Only an incomprehensible, unconditional, passionate love could do that. That was the love that was born on Christmas day!

Reflection: Think of all of the gifts you have received in the past. Many of them came to you in beautifully wrapped packages, or with some type of fanfare. Now imagine being handed a brown cardboard box. Don’t let its plain appearance fool you. You can’t tell a gift by its wrapping. Open it slowly and peer inside. See in your mind’s eye a baby, born in a lowly manger, God’s gift of eternal life to you, in Christ Jesus, accessible to everyone. The packaging isn’t auspicious, but the contents are precious beyond measure!