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Audrey Hebbert is a freelance writer with more than forty years of experience.
CHILDREN'S
Fingers to Eat
Article appeared in Focus on the Family, Clubhouse Magazine, June 2005. Copyrighted
Kids eat fingers every day. Not the ones attached to your hands that help you catch a ball, but long, yellow, tasty ones—bananas. A single banana is called a finger on the plantation where it is grown, and a group of 10-20 fingers is a hand. Farmers plan on 15 hands (100 pounds) from each tree within a year.
Bananas grow best in the tropical rain forests of South America. The farmers transport millions of pounds of bananas to ports all over the world in special refrigerated ships. At the ports, the huge boxes are inspected for tarantulas and other banana-loving bugs and loaded onto refrigerated trucks. Then the wonderful yellow fruit is hauled to zoos, hospitals and supermarkets.
God drops in banana perfume as He wraps each finger in its skin. He measures out about 109 calories that provide energy as you run and play. Potassium and Magnesium keep your muscles and bones strong and healthy. Fiber works like a scrub brush that keeps your digestive system clean, and vitamins fight off cold and flu germs to help you stay healthy. Mmmmm! Bananas taste good, too!
Remember, the next time you eat a banana finger, be sure you don’t bite your own!
Sources:
Farmer, Jacqueline, Bananas!, Charlesbridge Publishing, 1999. pp. 1-23.
Flowerdew, Bob, Bob Flowerdew’s Complete Fruit Book, Kyle Cathie, Limited, 2000. pp. 146-147.
Greenwood-Robinson, Maggie, Ph.D., Foods that Combat Cancer, Avon Books, 2003. p. 150.
Thank you for asking permission to copy anything from these pages.
Olive Oil (OO), The Good Shortening
Nutritionists may disagree over trans fats, saturated fats or other fats, but nearly everyone recommends olive oil.Old timers in Italy have known the value of OO for years. They still drink ¼ to one cup of the golden stuff before breakfast as a good-health elixir. Sophia Loren has been rumored to bathe in it, and whose skin is more beautiful than Sophia’s?Replace unhealthy fats with the cheapest grade OO for cooking and baking and you’ll be rewarded with tasty, healthy foods.
You’ll notice ~~
§ wonderful golden crust on sautéed foods,
§ fine, silky texture in baked goods,
§ palate‑pleasing salad dressings.
You can even spread OO on toast with a pastry brush, and add a little salt for healthy “butter.”
Remember to lower the heat when sautéing because OO tends to smoke and burn at high temperatures
Exchange 1/3 cup OO for one cup of another shortening in any recipe.
Olive Oil makes healthy salad dressings! Pour 2/3 cup OO into a prepared bottle and add 1/4 teasp. sweet basil. 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar and a good shake complete a wonderful salad dressing, especially for the winter brightening salad below.
OOOH & AAAHH Salad
Easy! - 12 oz. baby spinach, washed
- Pinenuts, sauted in OO till golden
- 1/2 lb. Feta cheese, cubed
- Strawberries, raspberries or canned Mandarin oranges
- OO salad dressing (above)
Prepare the salad dressing the day before and refrigerate.
On a large glass plate arrange the spinach, pinenuts, Feta cheese and fruit. Drizzle salad dressing over and serve! Your guests will oooh and aaahh over every bite.
BOOK REVIEW
Single Servings
by Lee Warren
© 2005
(Revell: ISBN 0 8007 5947 8
Lee Warren’s clear, concise and honest writing style has earned sales in magazines such as Decision, Discipleship Journal, and Sports Spectrum. He’s also the former Christianity Today online singles columnist and a current staff writer for the Heartland Gatekeeper. Warren follows his established writing style in his first book, Single Servings. Here he takes an honest look at the issues all Christians deal with, but specifically singles. This book has answers based in the truth of God’s Word.
Warren includes 90 devotionals for singles under Completeness, Emotional Health, Physical Desires, Embracing Life and five other categories. He covers singles issues with selections offering comfort, instruction and inspiration, often drawing upon his own experiences as a thirty-something Christian single. There are no sappy “poor me” selections or thoughts on how to be a perfect mate in the future.
- Looking for gift ideas? Consider giving Single Servings for birthday, Christmas or any occasion.
- Churches can implement discussion groups with the questions that follow each devotional.
- Warren’s words are for any Christian adult who experiences loneliness or needs encouragement in his God-walk
You can read more of Warren’s writing at www.singleservings.net.
DEVOTIONALS
MIRACLEs? today?
“Ask and it shall be given unto you,” Matthew 7:7 (KJV)
In Green Light Red Light, Monica thought nothing of praying for a miracle, but how do you feel about it? I experienced a miracle one wintry morning. I woke up to a dark house. The lights and oven wouldn’t work. I had no TV, and the computer wouldn’t boot. I watched the snow build up on the windowsills.
Then I heard the furnace start! How could the furnace start when everything else had stopped?
A quick call to the utilities company brought the technicians to my door. In less than an hour, the lights blinked on and the refrigerator hummed. The man in charge reported, “You had a broken wire from the pole to the house.”
“What did you have to do?” I asked.
“We had to splice it,” the technician said. He pointed to the loop they’d made in the wire.
“But my furnace worked all along,” I said.
“Could be a miracle,” he said, grinning. Maybe he’d had that experience before.
Sometimes miracles come even before we ask, because God loves to send them.
WRITERS' ORGANIZATIONS
Heart of America Christian Writers, Kansas City www.heartofamericachristianwriters.com
Fellowship of Christian Writers www.fcwreadywriter.com
American Christian Fiction Writers www.americanchristianfictionwriters.com
Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators www.SCBWI.com
NEW EXCERPTS AVAILABLE EVERY WEEK
Monica chuckled and reached for her own breath mint at the same time the “fasten seatbelts” sign went on. “Ah, we’re almost there.”
Erika stuck the mints back in her bag as she glimpsed the runway below. Her stomach churned. China! Land that Monica loved, but would she?
The jet grumbled into its descent toward the Chengdu airport. Erika whisked a rubber band off her wrist and tied her long auburn hair into a tight ponytail. She linked arms with Monica as the plane rolled to a stop on the tarmac half a world away from their hometown, Seneca, Kansas.
Cabbage man spit his mint into his hand and shoved it into his pocket as he moved down the aisle toward the exit.
“He must not like mint.” Erika’s eyes followed the yellow happy face sticker on his computer case until it disappeared into the crowd at the exit.
Monica smiled at her young friend. “Many Chinese have cavities so sugar makes their teeth hurt.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about his teeth, just my nose.” Erika cringed at the thought of his breath and recoiled at the hot, humid air filtering around them at the exit door. Smells of jet fuel and rotten eggs in the heavy air attacked her nose and the wind kicked up clouds of dust. “Oh great! Just great! I didn’t know it’d smell like sour garbage here.”
“It’s bad in the big cities.” Monica’s eyes sparkled and Erika knew her friend had barely heard her complaints.
Erika peered into the heat waves shimmering off the tarmac and realized she could barely see the buildings about a block away. “Ummm . . . Wh-wh-where’s the terminal?”
Below: Monica Moore Goes to Pakistan, too.
