That Blessed Dependency

I had the privilege to attend the Spring Concert at my father's church in March. The second half of the program was a performance of K. Lee Scott's new Requiem. Mr. Scott has been invited to conduct his Requiem in Carnegie Hall next year.

It was a beautiful Requiem, from a distinctly Protestant perspective. The movements incorporate scripture about death as well as quotes from John Donne and Timothy Dudley-Smith which tie Christ's death to our redemption.

My favorite movement of the Requiem is part 7 - That Blessed Dependency. It is a quote from one of John Donne's sermons:

"There we leave you in that blessed dependency, to hang upon Him that hangs upon the Cross, there bathe in His tears, there suck at His wounds, and lie down in peace in His grave, til he vouchsafe you a resurrection, and an ascension into that Kingdom, which He has purchased for you, with the inestimable price of His incorruptible blood. Alleluia! Amen."

I changed some of the spellings to contemporary English to make the quote easier to read. (ie. we instead of wee).

If I remember correctly, this particular sermon was the last one Donne preached before he died. Either way, it's a beautiful reminder of what we as believers rest in!

Cinnamon-Pecan Buttermilk Waffles

So, I have a bunch of pecans in the pantry and Damian wants to know what I'm going to do with all of them. I hadn't really decided yet, so he suggested making some Cinnamon-Pecan Waffles.

I knew I wanted them to be buttermilk waffles as well, since I love buttermilk pancakes and also happened to have some in my refrigerator. I did a search and came up with a few good looking recipes, but none of them had all three constituent parts I was looking for. So I compared a few recipes and saw that the main ingredients were basically the same, so I was able to combine the parts I wanted into my own recipe (which turned out really darn good!):

Cinnamon-Pecan Buttermilk Waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
4 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (toasting is optional)

Preheat waffle iron.

Sift together first 6 ingredients, set aside.

Beat eggs in standing mixer until pale yellow. Stir in buttermilk, mix well.

Gradually add dry ingredients, mixing until smooth. Stir in butter until smooth.

Stir in pecans.

Pour into waffle iron (my iron takes approx. 1/3 cup of batter per side). Enjoy with syrup!

These were some of the best flavored waffles I've ever had. They weren't too sweet and the pecans really stood out.

Try them and let me know what you think!