Puffy Pigs in a Poke

"For we live by faith, not by sight."

2 Corinthians 5:7

Food for the Palate

Ingredients:

1 thawed Puff Pastry Sheet

4 Sabatino's Paleo Organic Pork Sausage (or your favorite)

1 egg

1/4 cup of Everything Bagel Seasoning

Sauce:

1 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp Sriracha chili sauce 

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (the juice of about 1 lime)

3 garlic cloves, minced

Instructions: Preheat oven to 375F

Mix all of your ingredients for your sauce in a bowl and put in fridge until ready to use.

Roll out your sheet of puff pastry and cut it into four squares. Make sure your squares are large enough to lay your sausage across the dough and have a small edge on each end for tucking. 

Beat your egg and brush the egg wash all over your wrapped sausages.  Pour your Everything Bagel seasoning onto a small plate and roll your sausages onto the seasoning until they are completely covered in the seasoning. 

Place on a sprayed cookie sheet (or parchment paper) and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until your pastry is golden brown and fluffy. Serve with your sauce and enjoy! Tasty to the Palate

Food for the Soul

The term "Pigs in a poke" first arrived on the idiom list in 1555. A "poke" is a bag, pocket or pouch.  The image is of a concealed item, usually a pig, being sold without the buyers seeing what they were purchasing first. Basically "sight unseen" in today's terms, but the term "pigs in a poke" is still used in some areas of the world.  So, I decided to name this recipe "Puffy Pigs in a Poke". Basically, it is an elevated version of the much-loved appetizer "Pigs in a blanket".

I don't know about you, but when I purchase something with our hard-earned money, I want to see what it is that I am purchasing first. Even if it is just a picture, I need to see it. But this is not the case when it comes to our faith in Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we live by faith, not by sight." First, let me just say up front that we don't "purchase" our faith! Ephesians 2:8-9 make this very clear in saying; "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast."  Paul explains to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 5:7 that even though this fleeting world we live in may seem like a concrete wall between us and God, because of Jesus Christ we are able to have fellowship with God through the invisible reality of faith. 

When we use our faith as an informative filter, through the Holy Scriptures, it changes the way we see things, which adjusts the way we live. Through faith, we make use of the eternal vision only God can provide. When we have been equipped with this new viewpoint as Christians, we can live out the life that God has called us to through the strength and power of the Holy Spirit because of what Christ did for us.

In the classic 1989 film Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, there is one scene that shows Indiana wobbling at the edge of a gigantic precipice-to cross to the other side, he has to step out into thin air and trust that an invisible bridge will appear. “It’s a leap of faith,” he mumbles. And he steps out into what looks like thin air, to find that a bridge is revealed before his eyes. I love that scene! It is one of the best depicted definitions of faith that has ever come out of Hollywood!

Stepping out in faith involves trusting God to do what He has already promised that He will do in His Word. And while we may not see those fulfillments in this lifetime, we know that real faith, confidence, and trust in Him, will move us to action.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” 

The beloved Rev. J. Vernon McGee once said, "Walking by faith will cause all of us to recognize that as children of God we are just pilgrims and strangers down here on this earth." When we walk by faith and not by sight it allows us to face difficulties with resilience, knowing that God uses the tough times to make us more like His Son, Jesus.  And that is exactly where we want to be if we have true faith in the One True God. Satisfying to the Soul