Author: Carol Underhill

Easy Recipe: Mock Salisbury Steak

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Um, this kind of looks bad, doesn’t it?

Believe me, it is made with people food, not dog food. And it is food, not some other substance.

It tastes better than it looks. And it only uses 3 pantry ingredients, not counting the mashed potatoes.

Mock Salisbury Steak

Ingredients:

1 – 16 oz. canned beef, drained (See, it’s people food.)

1 jar brown or beef gravy

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Instructions:

In saucepan, whisk together gravy and soup. Add drained beef and stir. Heat until desired temperature.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Makes enough for 4 generous servings.

From the Vault: Unconditional Love

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Before planning my own wedding, I had no idea of the details and decisions we would need to make. A wedding dress and veil, rings, registries, invitations, musicians, and…cake napkins? We didn’t have a lot of time or money to work with. We had to sacrifice some of the things we wanted to save money.

One of the things we saved money on was our wedding cake. There were two people we knew who did wedding cakes as a side business and neither of them could make ours. One suggested we make our own cake. So we decided to. Since it was a February wedding and close to Valentine’s Day, we went with a heart-shaped cake.

Or rather, several of them. Different flavors included chocolate, carrot cake and cherry chip cake. We, meaning my fiancé Pat and I, mixed up the batter and baked the heart-shaped cakes in my mom’s kitchen. We coated the baked cakes with an icing glaze to keep them moist.

My sister iced and decorated the cake and added some sugared hearts that a friend helped her make. A friend gave us a musical figurine that we used as a cake topper. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty, and uniquely ours.

We had way too much cake left over. I think we were eating it for weeks. We put the top layer in the freezer for our one-year anniversary, but we didn’t eat it when that day came. The thought of eating one-year-old cake, even though it had been preserved by freezing it, didn’t appeal to us.

We didn’t just have cake left over. We also ended up with about 50 unused cake napkins. We packed them away and planned to take them out on our 25th anniversary , when we would have family and friends gather to celebrate.

However, we didn’t make it to our 25th anniversary. Not because we fell out of love, but because a tragic work accident took Pat’s life after just 20 years of marriage.

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the Love Chapter. It is incorporated into many wedding ceremonies. I don’t remember if it was read at ours, because my head was in the clouds that day.

…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

These verses speak of unconditional love. Pat loved me unconditionally. He was my rock, my biggest supporter, provider and protector. I miss him, but God is healing my grief. I’m learning to stand on my own two feet, with the love and support of family and friends.

Our “Happy Ever After” was cut short, but I’m grateful for the twenty years we had together.

Good Monday Morning 2-7-22

/ Carol Underhill / 1 Comment

Good Monday Morning

It is a good morning here in map-dot, Michigan. I was blessed to spend time with family this weekend, to attend church and work with the children’s ministry on Sunday, and to have time to relax and read.

Like all weekends, the time went by too fast. I usually have Mondays off but today I am working to make up for the time I will miss on Thursday when I go to a medical appointment.

Several thoughts came to mind throughout the weekend and I’m sharing them here. My life’s journey includes ups and downs like anyone else’s. However, because I have bipolar disorder and battle depression and anxiety, even small challenges can become overwhelming.

In 2021, I received many blessings.

I had two books published by Anaiah Press. I built up my blog and presence on social media, gaining a following of readers from various parts of the U.S. and other countries. My number of local readers also increased.

After trying a couple of different jobs, I finally found a job that I love and feel like I am good at. I’ve met interesting and lovely people who make the job rewarding.

I’ve also grown closer to my kids who are my greatest blessings in my life, in large part due to the pets we’ve rescued.

Around Thanksgiving, I started working with children’s church again, something I used to enjoy before Pat passed away.

In spite of these wonderful blessings, I found myself struggling with depression towards the end of 2021.

That struggle carried over into the month of January and began to affect my job.

Recognizing the depression because I have experienced it before, I sought help from my therapist. I’d forgotten the tools I learned in counseling.

I’d lost my way.

Now I’m working with my counselor to get back on track in the fight against depression. I’m also seeing my doctor about changes in my medication.

I’m trying to get back into exercising daily, which I had gradually given up starting around Thanksgiving. All the overeating over the holidays didn’t help and I ended up putting on a few pounds that I’d lost.

I also began to neglect my spiritual life as I stopped reading the Bible and praying which I’d been doing daily for many months.

Now I am carving time in my day for devotions so I can draw closer to God and gain wisdom in how to spend my days. And to help me treat the people in my life well.

What will 2022 bring?

I have an annual review of my job coming up. There have been some complaints from clients about me missing work. Most of the days I missed were due to mental health or physical ailments. I was exposed to Covid a few times and had to quarantine although I didn’t get sick. I know I can’t get fired for that, but I’m nervous about what the evaluation will show.

As far as my writing goes, after the initial excitement of my book releases died down, I was unable to complete work on two novellas that I’d started. Then came a contest that I wanted to enter which means increased writing time.

I’ve spent the past few days organizing my writing projects for the year which include one holiday novella and writing for the contest. I will concentrate on those two things and put the rest on the back burner until these are complete.

I’m also writing lessons for children’s church. I’m putting together curriculum that teaches the story of how Jesus grew from an infant who was born at Christmas to when He grew up and died on the cross and was resurrected.

I want to teach the children I’ll be working about how God loves all children, and all people, the same, no matter what their differences are.

In a world of hate and discord, I want the church to be a safe place where children can learn kindness towards each other. We adults need to learn that lesson as well.

In order to prepare these lessons, I have to believe and practice what I am teaching.

In my day job, it’s important that I show kindness and patience with the people I work for.

In my home life, it’s also important that I am patient and kind.

I still have days when I don’t feel those things, but I am confident enough to put them into practice regardless.

I know that God will give the strength to get through each day, to not only survive, but to thrive as I journey with Him through life.

From the Vault: February Sweethearts

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Romance is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches. The day when sweethearts show their love for one another with cards, flowers, and candy. Many weddings are celebrated around that day. For myself and my husband, it was no different.

Pat and I started dating in May 1989. By August, we were unofficially planning our wedding. In November, the night before Thanksgiving, he proposed on bended knee and presented me with a diamond solitaire.

When we tried to figure out a wedding date, my grandma said, “Why don’t you have it in February? There’s nothing going on that month.”

Pat liked the idea of a February wedding. His birthday was February 12th, and Valentine’s Day of course is on the 14th. What easier way to remember his anniversary than to have our wedding on February 17th?

We didn’t have many weeks to plan or pay for our wedding, but somehow, we pulled off that big day. I had my dream wedding after our fairy-tale romance. We vowed to love each other “for as long as we both shall live.” For us, that was only twenty years.

I thought we would grow old together, but Pat passed away in August 2010 from a tragic work accident. Although time has healed my grief, February holds bittersweet memories.

The photo above was taken around the time of our engagement. I loved that dress. I’d looked at it in the store for a few weeks before I had the money to buy it. You can tell that I had stars in my eyes.

In spite of my loss, I’m a big fan of romance. In fact, I write about HEA’s (Happily Ever After’s) and believe they are possible. My marriage to Pat was too short, but the time I had with him was a gift from God.