Comfort Foods

Thanksgiving is NOT the time to be counting calories unless you have taken "higher math"! Potatoes, gravy, yams, dressing, rolls, corn, cranberries, pies... all those yummy foods teeming with carbs. Traditional meals are sometimes called Comfort Foods. I don't know why they are called that; I am always left with an uncomfortably full tummy after Thanksgiving!

Here is a new recipe for an old Comfort Food. We'd never had it until last night at a church dinner, but we loved it! It's an old Betty Crocker classic.

"Scalloped Corn" - 4 servings

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen whole kernel corn; cooked and drained (or 16 oz. can whole kernel corn; drained)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green and red pepper
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
Dash pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg; slightly beaten
1/3 cup cracker crumbs
1 tbsp. butter or margarine; melted

Heat oven to 350* Cook and stir onion and green pepper in 2 tbsp. butter until onion is tender. Remove from heat; stir in flour and seasonings. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat; gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in sour cream, corn and egg; pour into ungreased 1-quart casserole.

Combine cracker crumbs and the 1 tbsp. melted butter; sprinkle evenly over corn mixture. Bake uncovered 30-35 minutes.

"Betty Crocker's Cookbook" - 1974

Movie Recommendation

Do you have an open mind? Did you see "An Inconvenient Truth?", "Fahrenheit 9/11", or "Bowling for Columbine?" ...Add this one to your list. (If nothing else, you'll enjoy the trailer.)

If you have heard of the new documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, opening April 18, chances are you have heard all kinds of distortions and myths about it. So let's set the record straight about some of the most common myths.

Myth #1: Darwinists interviewed for this film were tricked into participating.
Not so. Each scientist interviewed for Expelled, on both sides of the evolution debate, knew who would do the interview and what it was for. Each of them signed a release, allowing the producers to use the footage of their interviews.

Myth #2: The film is anti-science.

Wrong again. Many distinguished scientists were interviewed for this film and given the chance to express their views. Just like their Darwinist counterparts, the advocates of intelligent design and their supporters who are interviewed are there to talk about science, not to dismiss it. These are people like Cambridge physicist John Polkinghorne; Oxford mathematician and philosopher John Lennox; journalist Pamela Winnick, who has received hate mail for covering the issue; and biologist Caroline Crocker, who was fired from George Mason University for discussing intelligent design in the classroom. Some of them are religious believers; some are not. But what they share is a commitment to science and the unfettered pursuit of truth. Expelled is not anti-science; it is anti-censorship.

Myth #3: Ben Stein, the actor and writer who hosts the movie, has lost his mind.

Bringing up this very issue in a conference call, Stein quipped that he probably has, "but it was a long time ago . . . probably sometime around 1958." Well, I have known Stein well for years, and he is as bright as a button and anything but out of his mind. On a serious note, Stein and his film's producers explained that the mud that people are flinging at him is just one small example of what happens to people who question Darwinian orthodoxy. The original idea for Expelled, said co-producer and software engineer Walt Ruloff, came to him when he was working on a project with a group of biotechnologists and learned "that there was a whole series of questions that could not be asked."

The prevailing ideology among many scientists—it turned out—he concluded, was keep your mouth shut, take the research money, and publish only the data that fits with "the party line." The issue that concerns Ruloff and the others behind Expelled is whether the scientific establishment in this country is going to allow genuine "freedom of inquiry," or simply shut up—and slander—those who do not toe the line.

Given all this, Ben Stein states, "As long as the cause is right, I'm happy to be in an uphill struggle."

Myth #4: Popular author and atheist, Richard Dawkins tells Ben Stein in this film that there could have been a designer of life on earth, but it would have had to have been "a higher intelligence" that had itself evolved "to a very high level . . . and seeded some form of life on this planet."

Well, actually . . . that one is not a myth. He really did say it—striking admission, though it is.

So, I urge you to go see Expelled when it opens at a theater near you. Believe me, in this case the truth really is stranger—and more compelling—than any fiction the film's detractors could possibly dream up. (from Breakpoint, 4/11/08)

A Must-See Movie

This is just a jumping-on post. The fact that it's my first in over six months (and only second-ever) does not imply any special importance.

Have you seen The ULTIMATE GIFT?

The movie came and went too fast in the theaters to gain much attention, and received little press. With apologies and credits to Charles Colson, I quote here part of his review of this sleeper:

The Ultimate Gift tells the story of a wealthy man, Red Stevens, who was so busy providing for his family's physical needs that he failed to teach them real values. Faced with grown children who cared for nothing but money and power, Red makes one last effort to help a family member find redemption.

To the rest of his family, Red leaves money and businesses; but to his grandson, Jason, he leaves a set of instructions on DVD that he recorded before his death.

On the first recording, Red explains to Jason what money without values does to people. "How can I leave you something and not ruin you?" he asks. So to earn his inheritance, Jason has to perform a series of tasks—or "gifts," as his grandfather calls them—that will teach him the value of hard work, friendship, dreams, and other things that the younger man's life has been too long without.

I can recall very few films that have dealt as wisely and as beautifully with so many important themes, like the corruption that wealth can cause, or the redemption that's possible for even the most self-centered human being.

It bothers me that more people did not get to see this film in theaters. You would think a film that starred two Oscar nominees and told a compelling story would have done better. But unfortunately, the fact is that it was distributed by Fox Faith, and the Christian label may have hurt it.


Watch the trailer at http://www.theultimategift.com and see if it doesn't move close to the top of your To Watch list.