As mentioned last week, today’s post will actually be published tomorrow so that I can share with you some photos from the Thanksgiving Team Gathering happening here this evening.
At present I’m running around setting out dishes, arranging chairs and prepping supplies for the Bible Study etc. My contribution to our supper is an Autumn Charcuterie Board but that can only be assembled at the last moment although, by mid-afternoon, I will need to start the hot apple cider since it takes quite a while to heat up in the slow-cooker. I bought 6 litres of cider and hope it will be enough for the hungry horde😊 A certain amount of time this week has been spent pulling together everything for this evening. Miriam and Donna sent me their choice of songs so I was able to get the PowerPoint completed and I then printed out copies of the Taizé Bible study. This morning while Steven was at home to watch Thomason I dashed down to the corner store to get a sheet of white Bristol Board as the small groups will be drawing on mini-Prayer Boards during their devotions time. All in all things seem to be coming together quite well and I’m expecting about 15 young adults, mostly recent Team Members as well as a few of the Committee members. Jillian is coming as she is the coordinator of next month’s Coffeehouse and so wants to hype it to the gang. I’m very pleased with the poster she designed and Henry did a great job printing it for us. We will be asking everyone to take copies to hang at their churches or schools.
In other news, I met with Arnee this week and she has agreed to take over as our main proofreader of the Program Manual. Now that Jessica is doing layout it is easiest for her to just take the individual chapters as they are sent in and insert them in the layout template but we still very much need at least one proof reader so I’m really happy to have Arnee on board. Sadly, I have still been unable to find anyone else who has the time to join the Day Camp Committee. This week one person, after taking time to pray about it, declined and 2 others feel they live too far away to be able to attend meetings with any regularity. As we already have 2 “out of province” members who join us via FaceTime for most meetings we really need some actual “bodies” to meet in person from month to month and even more importantly to be available for leadership positions at various events and training workshops.I guess I should end off here and continue with set up jobs but first let’s close with a recipe.The evenings are already drawing in and with several frost warnings this week one is drawn to Autumnal comfort foods 😊. Yesterday afternoon I did some baking and so took the opportunity to make a pumpkin risotto. We really enjoyed it, do give it a try!
Pumpkin Risotto
- 1 Tbsp. each olive oil and butter1
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- -½ cups cooked puréed pumpkin
- 1.4 tsp. each ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg & black pepper
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ cup Greek yoghurt
- 2 cups short grain brown rice
- 2 ¼ cups fresh apple cider
- 2 ½ cups water
- freshly grated Parmesan
- ½ cup toasted chopped hazelnuts
Melt the butter and oil in a skillet and caramelise the onions for approx. 25 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally.Meanwhile, bring 6 cups of water to the boil, stir in the rice and parboil for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.Grease a large shallow casserole. Place the apple cider and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.When the onions are ready combine them with the pumpkin, spices, yoghurt and rice. Spread the mixture evenly in the casserole. Pour the apple cider mixture over the rice but do not stir.Transfer to a preheated 375º oven and bake for 40 minutes or until almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. The extra juices will be absorbed as it begins to cool.Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan and nuts. Serves 4