I am a Christian and I stand with Chick-Fil-A

I have been commenting on a couple of blogs that the Chick-Fil-A matter has gone far past "Freedom of Speech" and is now a "Freedom of Religion" issue.  Red Stick Rant (whom we are delighted to have back in the world of active blogging after a bit of a hiatus) put it very bluntly, asking: "Should we make them sew on little yellow crosses?"  Harsh?  I wonder. The vitriol being bandied about in too-high places is excessively vicious for the subject. Is this how pograms start - with politicians & "thought-leaders" using any excuse to scapegoat people who are faithful to God?

Here's my comment from Pundit & Pundette's great round up article on the matter:

[Worse than the conservative intellectualizing about Dan Cathy's right to believe in traditional & Christian morality] is the desire to make this about "freedom of speech" instead of "Freedom of Religion", which it absolutely is: this is persecution. These mayors who are declaring against Chick-Fil-A are persecuting Christians in their capacity as agents of government. The refusal of Obama to issue insurance waivers on religious grounds is also direct and blatant persecution. Persecution includes - and usually begins with - monetary penalties, proscribed locations, withholding of permits solely because of religion. The whole reason that Freedom of Religion is our First Freedom is because the American Colonies were tired of the abuse by governments against Christian denominations that didn't fall in line with whomever held political power at the moment. Even Texas' own Declaration of Independence from Mexico gave tyranny against their free worship of Almighty God as cause.

We need not be mean or unChristian in our response, but we must stand up for Christ however we can as individuals when our brothers and sisters are being persecuted, reviled and mobbed.  This time it is easy: we just eat chicken, and keep patronizing Chick-Fil-A this whole year.

But if we ignore this one, what is next? If we do not, who will stand up for us when our time comes?

Who Can Take Your Money? Hmmmm?

Very Funny! Christian comic Tim Hawkins does a great impression of the late, great, Sammy Davis Jr in this so-true-it-hurts parody called "The Government Can". Check out the rest of his stuff too - he has a bunch of music parody that had us all - including the 16 year old in our house - rolling. A good laugh at the end of the day is a good thing!

Taste of Summer: Hand Cranked Mango Ice Cream

 The grandkids and I made a tiny batch of ice cream when they were here - they wanted to test drive my little garage sale find of an ice cream maker that has a bowl you put in the deep freeze, with a handle on top to turn the paddles. It works great! Very speedy and not much effort required. The only trouble is that it doesn't hold much, so it is only useful for a couple of servings.

The recipe I used was a keeper for sure: Mango Ice Cream! YUM!  Our church had a picnic gathering on Wednesday evening for Independence Day and I made a large batch to take. It was a big hit.

This recipe is for a half gallon (2 quarts), but you can divide it by four and make as little as 2 pints successfully. It is smooth, creamy, rich - and makes Husband-King Paul swoon! :-)

Mango Ice Cream

4 ripe mangoes
3 cups sugar
Juice of 2 large limes (4 tablespoons)
4 cups whole milk
10 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

Peel and cube the mangoes into small pieces and place in a glass or ceramic bowl (not a metal one - the acids would react). Squeeze the limes into the bowl with the mangoes, add 1 cup of sugar and stir. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.

Separate the eggs and freeze the whites to use later for meringue. I used the fresh country eggs we buy locally, and the rich yolks are wonderful in ice cream.

Stir the yolks and 2 cups of sugar together in a mixing bowl.

Pour the milk into a large pan and "scald" it - this means to get it hot but not simmering or boiling. It should just be steaming.

Whisking constantly (or use an electric mixer), pour the hot milk into the eggs. Be sure to whisk the eggs without stopping so they won't turn into scrambled eggs! It helps to have two people at this step. Or use your stand mixer if you have one. 

Whisk all of the milk into the eggs, then pour it all back into the pan, and keep stirring over medium heat for 4 minutes, until it has thickened slightly. Stir constantly and don't allow it to boil.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

When cool, combine with the fruit mixture and the whipping cream. Chill overnight and freeze in an ice cream freezer. When well-frozen, remove the ice cream to a storage container and place in the deep freeze for several hours until frozen hard. It may need to be stirred once or twice during that time.

My little ice cream freezer only does a quart at a time so it took two rounds of cranking to get it all made. Since the custard was chilled, it only took me about 15 minutes of churning per quart. I used one bag of ice and about half a box of rock salt: keep adding more ice and salt as it melts down. The salt makes the ice colder, thus it freezes faster.

I worked outside in the cool of the morning and it was really nice: lovely memories of "helping" Nandy freeze the ice cream when we were kids, and anticipation of the upcoming 4th of July events made the time go by in a dreamy hour. Would that all mornings could start so sweetly!