Akron Adventist

It’s officially spring and time to start planning your vegetable garden. If you have not considered growing a garden in the past, it’s the perfect time to do so! Gardens can be big or small, filled will green beans, tomatoes, or asparagus, but they all have one thing in common—the great tasting food that goes straight from your garden to your dinner table. Growing your own food provides not only better-tasting food, but also higher quality food that will help save money on food bills. It’s also fun and rewarding to see your plants grow throughout the summer and produce an edible harvest.

To help first time gardeners, or more experienced gardeners looking for new ideas, we’ve found a great guide to vegetable gardening and posted it here. This fantastic guide, created by Joe Lamp’l, talks about everything you’ll need to know to start your first garden, from how to choose the best location to what to plant and when to plant. Additionally, many of our church members are expert gardeners who produce bumper crops each year and can provide great gardening tips for those of us who are novice gardeners. We’ll share some of these gardening tips and tricks in the newsletter throughout the summer.

If you have limited yard space or aren’t ready to commit to a full-sized garden, consider starting a container garden! A window sill, patio, balcony, or doorstep that gets at least 5 hours of sunlight a day is all you need to get started. Most herbs and vegetables grow great in containers—even green beans can be trained to grow up a support if you purchase a pole variety. Many vegetables come in smaller, compact varieties perfect for container gardening. All it takes is finding the right containers, adding soil, planting seeds or small plants, watering regularly, and fertilizing as needed. Links to a few different sites that provide good information on container gardening are posted under Vegetable Gardening Links at The Happy Cow to help you get started.

Start planning, buying seeds, and dreaming of your perfect garden now. You can’t beat the taste of a homegrown tomato fresh from your own Vegetable Patch!

Recipe courtesy of Tamara Franke
Come try spaghetti and meatballs at potluck this Sabbath, April 4!

Ingredients
2 large eggs
1 20 oz. can Worthington Vegetarian Burger*
½ cup of diced onion
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning (optional)
1 ½ cups of bread crumbs
Oil for frying meatballs
*Worthington Vegetarian Burger is available at The Happy Cow.

Directions
In medium mixing bowl beat eggs with a whisk until blended. Add vegetarian burger, onion, and Italian seasoning. Mix ingredients well. Stir in bread crumbs. Form into round balls.

Fry in deep fat fryer for at 375 degrees for 4 minutes. OR Cover bottom of skillet with vegetable oil. Place meatballs in heated skillet. Fry until brown. Turn meatballs over and brown the other side.

Makes approximately 32 1 ½ inch meatballs. Serve with your favorite spaghetti and tomato sauce or other favorite meatball dish!

Congratulations to Mittie Brown! Her name was drawn in the drawing for a $10 Happy Cow Gift Certificate from all those who turned in forms for the church directory update. Mittie can use this gift certificate for some free, delicious vegetarian food products. Thank you to all who turned in updated information for the church directory.

Be sure to come and enjoy a taste of this delicious casserole at potluck this Sabbath, March 7!!

o Cook 1 lb. bag of wide noodles until tender (Mrs. Troyers noodles are preferred—available at Beiler’s Market)
o Drain noodles and place in a 9×13 pan
o Add 1 can of Worthington Diced Chik (drained)
o Add 1 medium onion, diced
o Add 1 10.75oz. can of mushroom soup
o Add 2 cups of milk
o Add 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
o Stir ingredients
o Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minues
o Optional: Top with a can of Chinese noodles

Worthingon Diced Chik is available for purchase or order from The Happy Cow, our vegetarian food store.

10. Call the drive into the church ‘Veggie Burger’ Drive
9. Replace the donkey in the children’s Christmas program with a cow
8. Ring a cow bell to round up people for potluck
7. Paint the church walls in giant black and white polka dots
6. Have Wham scented bulletins
5. Have giant Vega-Link mascots take up the offering
4. Play hide the Prosage Roll at the church retreat
3. Place Stripple scented air fresheners in the restrooms
2. Replace the steeple with a giant, inflatable cow
1. Greet church members with a hug & friendly ‘moo’ instead of hi

Visit the website for our vegetarian food store at www.akronadventist.com/thehappycow

There will be a special music concert on Sunday, March 15 at 4:00 pm in the Akron First Seventh-day Adventist Church. This concert will be brought to us by Esterline Jones & Friends. Esterline has been a part of our Community Christmas Concert since we began in 1988. Her music talent on the piano is an inspiration for the heart. Clearly her love for the Lord shines as she ministers through her music.