New Feature: Recipe of the Day

Eggplant Parmesan

from Claudia Del Papa

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
4 beaten eggs
salt an pepper to taste
about 2 cups flour
about 3 cups bread crumbs (Italian style)
about 1 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
8- 10 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 jar spaghetti sauce (Bertolli tomato & basil)

extra: bow-tie pasta prepared per directions

1. Peal the eggplant and cut into thin slices, about 1/4 in.
2. In a bowl beat the eggs, salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a plate pour the flour.
4. In another plate pour the bread crumbs.
5. In this order put these things: left - plate of flour, middle - bowl with eggs , right - plate of bread crumbs.
6. Flour each side of the slice eggplant, pour it in the egg bowl and
   last bread crumbs, both sides. Repeat with each eggplant slice.
7. Bake in a cookie sheet, at 375 degrees, for about 8 minutes, and then turn over
   and cook the other side for few more minutes, lightly basting each side with cooking spray (Pam) for crispness.
   
8. Pour tomato sauce over each slice of eggplant, (about 3 tablespoons), some Parmesan cheese, and a couple of slices of mozzarella cheese.
9. Bake few more minutes until the mozzarella melts.
10. In a plate, put some cook pasta, with some sauce, Parmesan cheese
    and the eggplant on top.

Yummy! my kids love this recipe, and is delicious and easy to make. Try it! I like to bake it instead of frying the eggplant, like restaurants do, as that is mushy and not healthy at all! :)

Enjoy it!

Claudia Del Papa

Preach My Gospel

FAIR: Defending Mormonism

• If you've ever been at a loss for words when a friend asks regarding some derogatory or inflammatory material they may have read or heard, this site is for you. Get the answers to your questions, put those misleading quotations into context, and help clear away the flotsam and jetsam of the media. http://www.fairlds.org/apol/
  

New Feature: Link of the Day

Printable Paper

• A site devoted to providing FREE printable files to turn your regular paper into story, graph, and music staff paper, to name a few examples. From pre-K to accounting, this site has what you need. You’ll never be caught off-guard again, no matter how late your kids tell you, “Mom, I need . . . ” www.printablepaper.net

Today's Additions

• Houston Metro Area LDS Single Adults Group. Find this link on our home page. This group includes far too much material for me to keep up with, including email lists and discussions, activity calendars and announcements from stake SA committees, Beaumont to College Station, and Conroe and Cleveland to Richmond and Friendswood. I'll try to keep the Northside activities updated on our calendar, but the best thing to do is subscribe to this group.
• New Blog Feature: Link of the Day. Hopefully, we'll help you utilize the resources of the Internet to help make your life easier, keep you informed, and perhaps even learn something. However, this will definitely have to be a group project, to submit as many as you like! The Great Links page on OORS will also be updated with these links.
  
• New Blog Feature: Steadfast Faith in Christ: a Missionary Journal. I hope y'all don't think I'm just a bit too self-indulgent in putting the link to my family's missionary page on this blog. However, it is one small effort to follow Elder Ballard's counsel in using the Internet to share the Gospel, so, I need to raise the visibility of it, to speak out, if you will. We also have a reverse sort of page, that being uplifting letters written to missionaries which help to share our testimonies, but I'm still debating as to whether or not to put a permanent link on this blog. In case you're interested, it's URL is http://amormonfamilyjournal.blogspot.com. I would very much like to fill the side bar with similar links, voices you raise to help spread the Good News. Let me know what they are, send me any graphics you'd like to use, and I'll make certain they get on this blog page!
• New Blog Feature: Preach My Gospel: There are a myriad of resources available from the Church to help you answer your friends' questions about the Gospel. I'll try to share these links as they come to me, and again, welcome any submissions. When I've exhausted the specifically 'missionary' resources, I'll start to highlight the great features of LDS.org. OORS will also be updated with these links.

RS Weekly Update: Monday, June 30th through Sunday, July 6th

First and Foremost: Big Texas welcome to President Todd and Sister Sharon Hansen. We're looking forward to a great three years!

Sadly, this week we're losing

John and Laurie Armour
Gary and Nancy Conners
and Stacie Anderson (congrats! Stacie)

See our Contact Information page for their new information.

This week:

• Newsletter Deadline! Please, get the calendars and announcements for your auxiliaries and committees to me as soon as possible. July's issue comes out on Sunday.
  
• Dry Pack Day: Tuesday, July 1st, 8:45am for the morning shift, 6:45pm for the evening shift. Check out Lucy's full post on her temporary blog.
  
• Suggested Family Outing: Thursday, July 3rd @ 6:30 pm: Admission is FREE. "A Star-spangled Salute", concert and fireworks by the Houston Symphony, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands. (map it) A great way to kick off the holiday weekend.
• Olde Oaks Ward Annual Independence Day Pancake Breakfast and Parade. Friday, July 4th @ 8:00 am. This one you don't want to miss! Bring your tykes on their bikes for a patriotic start of the day.
  

Sunday's lesson:

Fast Sunday: Presidency Lesson

Upcoming Ward Events:

4th of July Pancake Breakfast. See you there!

Visiting Teaching:

Summer's got everyone running, to make your appointments early. If schedules don't coincide, remember a letter in the mail or a phone call to ensure all is well.

Preparedness:

I received a treasure trove of information on hurricane preparedness and food storage from Cheryl Driggs this week as hand-outs for the Spring Creek Ward joint meeting. You can find them all on our group page at http://oldeoaksrs.googlegroup.com. Follow the links on the first page.

Enrichment:

What's upcoming in for your personal enrichment:

• Friday July 11, @ 10:00 am Learn to crochet at the church
• TENTATIVE: Friday, July 11, Gardening Club Field Trip to Heiden's Feed Store (map it), the fruit tree experts; further details TBA.
  
• Friday July 18,@ 10:00 am Jewelry making: necklaces and bracelets taught by Melissa Bowcutt
• Friday July 25 @ 9:00 am Houston Children's Museum field trip. Meet at the church and we'll go downtown together. Cost: children museum $ 5/ person, under age 2 free. Contact Marsha Johnson for more information @ 281-353-7930.
  
• Friday August 1 @ 8:30 pm Suggested Family Outing: Houston Shakespeare Festival, Miller outdoor theather @ Hermann park. no cost.

Remember: participation in any of these activities is strictly voluntary. Participate in what you like or are able, and ignore the rest. If you have ideas for low- or no-cost activities, if you'd like to learn something we're not offering, or if you have a skill you'd like to share, please, let us know. Enrichment Committee: Jeanette Schadler, Claudia Del Papa, Marilyn Bullock.

Olde Oaks Relief Society Group Site:

What's new? Just about everything. We've got a new look, a new home page, lots more information and more to come. Everything is a work in progress, so have patience with us while we get everything up to speed. Here's a rough sketch:

• An easy index right up front for better navigation.
  
• Easy access to the Olde Oaks Relief Society Calendar linked right on the home page.
• Members' map. This is still in it's conception phase, so please be patient. Also, be assured that no one will be able to access this map unless they are members of the Olde Oaks Relief Society.
  
• The Olde Oak monthly newsletter now in pdf format online.
• Lesson Schedules and Links to lds.org, recommended reading, etc.
  
• Preparedness hints, helps, handouts, and links, from our two sources of all knowledge, Lucy Stern and Cheryl Driggs. Lucy will have her own blog up soon, just as soon as she sits still long enough to set it up. For now, I'm posting them on our Weekly Update blog, and on a special page on the group site.
• Contact information for families who have left our ward but not our hearts. If you have addresses that belong on that list, please, let me know.
• An Enrichment section which provides not only information on upcoming activities and events, but also on those in the past, including the Cooking and Gardening Club. Look here for hand-out and recipe files to download, announcements, tips and more.
• A spot for good uplifting material you may want to share whether or not it is "scripture and verse". You be the judge and I'll put it up, so long as it is virtuous, lovely and of good report or praiseworthy.
• Links of other good stuff, including blogs of ward members past and present, as well as those you may find of interest or are related to the classes, such as scrap-booking or recipe blogs. If you have great ideas for family helps or fun activities, or know of other bloggers out there that aren't listed, let me know. This is just the barest conception of a list, and I'm sure there are others out there.
  
• Finally, a Weekly Update blog, where these posts will appear. Also, because this site is so new and growing so quickly, and because the larger it becomes the more difficult it will be to know what is knew that you haven't seen before, I will be noting new pages, changes to old ones, corrections, etc., on the blog. This should enable you to tell at a glance what's cookin'. If you're really a fanatic (which I seem to be) and you know how to use it (which I don't), you can even subscribe to an RSS feed for up-to-the-minute information.
  

Remember. This site is yours, including the blog and the email list. If you have something you think needs to be added, or I've overlooked something or am in error (highly likely), please, let me know, post a comment or start a discussion, and I'll get it up. Or, you can even contribute pages and files yourself. You've already got the necessary permission.

To post on the Google Group site, address your email to oldeoaksrs@googlegroups.com. You can also post discussions from the website directly. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.

More Summer Resources:

• Today's Mama, Houston Mama: a great resource for free activities in and around Houston from our own Jennifer Hatch. Check out her calendar of events here.