PRAYERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jon Cook; Millie Mutka; Barb Zima and her friends Stefan Sladek, Dave Butschli, Mick, Steven and Marilyn Hummel; Gregory Bowens; Laurie Nelson; Amber Ross’s daughter Linda; Randy & Diane Niemczyk’s daughter Julia VanAvery, niece Sarah Joda, and their dear friend Denise Hazel; Dick Volland; Valeria Hesselberg; Chris Markussen; Anne Verona’s sister/brother-in-law Pat & Woody Woodworth; Dawn Gonitzke’s brother Scott Premo; the Ebert’s friends William Charaf, Patricia Kulzick and John Oliver; Ashley Clark’s friends Michael Loomis, Keith & Becky Hernandez; the Waggoner’s sister-in-law Cheryl Busse; Karen Engels and her niece Lisa and friends Bob and Dawn; Ann Carlson’s people Stacy, Enid, Carolina, Curt, and Troy; and peace for all nations and comfort for those in distress.
PRAYER LIST PROCEDURE – Submit your prayer requests to the office in writing, by phone, by email or in person. If requesting prayers for someone other than yourself or an immediate family member, please obtain permission – unless the circumstances are public in nature.
WORSHIP ON FACEBOOK – Live on Facebook on Sundays at 9:00 & posted later for viewing.
GUESTS – if you are visiting us today, please sign our book at the entrance to the sanctuary.
UPCOMING ABSENCE – Pastor Grant will be gone on March 2. Fortunately we have Adam Matyska filling in! Adam gets to indulge in our Pancake & Paczki breakfast. Thank you Adam.
INSTALLATION OF CHURCH COUNCIL – Please welcome our 2025 Church Council: Jerrie Van Haverbeke (President); Bob Michaels (Vice-President); Dawn Gonitzke (Secretary); Emilie Braunel; Chris Ebert; Rich Hess; Jim Moravec; Diane Niemczyk; and Dave Tipple. Pastor Grant and Mike Bishop also serve with council.
QUILTERS UNTIE! – I mean unite to tie. Tie one on with the quilting group as they assemble quilts. Meet every first and third Wed of the month 9:30 to 11:30 am.
COMMUNION CARDS – there are yellow communion cards in the Narthex. If you were at the Annual meeting and took communion – you do not need to fill one out. These cards only need to be filled out once a year.
PANCAKE/PACZKI SUNDAY – is March 2nd after Worship. A not-to-be-missed event! Pancake breakfast will be served by Burt Johnson and Ann Carlson. FOUR different flavors of paczki! Prune, raspberry, lemon and chocolate.
THRIVENT CHOICE DOLLARS – Attention Thrivent Members, you can support the ministries of Prince of Peace through the Thrivent Choice Dollas. Login into your account at Thrivent.com. For more details check with Mike Bishop or Pastor Grant.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH – there is a handout in the Narthex celebrating women during Black History month! Read about numerous powerful women who have changed our world. Thank you, Chris Ebert, for providing such a valuable resource.
BAD RIVER – if you missed the movie last time – here is another chance to view it. Tuesday March 4th. At Nicolet College in Rhinelander. At 5:00 pm there will be a meal and fellowship. At 6:00 pm there will be a drum ceremony, followed by the movie. Admission is $8. Reserve your seat online at nicoletlive.com. Bad River chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty.
GOD’s WORK-OUR HANDS – once again we are tackling the Mountain of Love during Lent. We will start on March 9. The weekly schedule is as follows:
March 9 – canned goods
March 16 – peanut butter, jelly (plastic containers only please), juice boxes
March 23 – hot and cold cereal
March 30 – boxed foods (mac & cheese, crackers, dry soup mixes, jello, pudding)
April 6 – paper products (Kleenex, paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates even)
(Pro-tip – if you are like me and aren’t here every Sunday – plan a Walmart trip towards the end, purchase everything at once and bring it in on April 6)
SOUPER SUPPERS – keep your Wednesday’s open during Lent. Soup suppers will be happening. Schedule of flavors will be published in the near future.
FUN FACTS –
Why is Lent 40 days? The number 40 is a significant number for Christians. Jesus spent 40 days in a desert. Noah had to wait 40 days for his ark to float. And Moses, along with his followers, traveled through the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.
Catholics started the tradition of Lent around the year 325, during the Council of Nicea.
Lent comes from the Middle English word “lente,” which means springtime.
Lent starts on what’s known as Ash Wednesday. This is when followers spread ashes on their forehead to signal their repentance to God. The ashes come from burning last year’s palms that were distributed on Palm Sunday.
Lent doesn’t actually end on Easter; it ends on Maundy Thursday.
The date for Easter has been set for thousands of years. It all has to do with the full moon of the Pashal, or Passover, full moon. Easter will fall between March 22 and April 25. There are mathematical formulas you can use to determine when Easter will fall in any year.
Mardi Gras – means Fat Tuesday in French. It is also known as Shrove Tuesday and is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday reflects the practice of the last night of consuming rich, fatty foods in preparation for the Christian fasting season of Lent, during which the consumption of such foods is avoided.
And we cannot forget about the Kings cake. In Louisiana and parts of the Gulf Coast region historically settled by the French, king cake is associated with Mardi Gras and is traditionally served from Epiphany until Carnival. It may have been introduced by Basque settlers in 1718, or by the French in 1870.
It comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted cinnamon roll-style dough. It may be topped with icing or sugar, which may be colored to show the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Cakes may also be filled with cream cheese, praline, cinnamon, or an assortment of fruit fillings.
Traditionally, a small porcelain baby, symbolizing Jesus, is hidden in the king cake and is a way for residents of Louisiana to celebrate their Christian faith. The baby symbolizes luck and prosperity to whoever finds it. That person is also responsible for purchasing next year’s cake or hosting the next Mardi Gras party.
(I have made it from scratch and from a box mix. Trig’s usually sells it as well. I’m partial to making it from scratch. Whichever way you do it – it tastes good!)
So how DO you say Paczki? How to pronounce paczki donuts? To pronounce paczki correctly, start by saying “pownch-ki.” The “p” is similar to the English “p,” and the “ow” makes a sound like “o” in “row.” The “nch” sounds similar to “n” in “lunch,” and the “ki” is pronounced as “key.” (Pastor Grant just says Polish donut).
Notes from Ann: I jumped the gun on all things Lent, but we are rapidly approaching the Lenten season and I figure if someone wanted to bake a King’s cake – you might want a reminder this week instead of on Mar 2nd. And we all know about my rabbit holes – and that is why you have two banana bread recipes included in this week’s emailed announcements.
I also owe everyone who looked at the crossword puzzle for Valentine’s Day an apology. I usually have the puzzles vetted first by Pastor Grant and Mike Bishop. I did not do so this time. We have some more puzzles coming up and those puzzles are in the process of being vetted. I left the answer key in the Narthex in case anyone really wanted to know the answers. If it makes you feel any better – I took it home to Burt and even though he lives with me and understands (mostly) the way my mind works – he wasn’t able to finish it either. Quality control has been put into place moving forward! 🙂
Feb 23 is Banana Bread Day. I have a basic recipe (but it is at home) and when I went online to find a recipe to share – I found two that I had to share. I haven’t tried either one of these yet but will be making each to find out which one is actually THE best banana bread recipe.
The first one is from the Smitten Kitchen and was referenced in the comments from the Food Network’s Best Banana Bread recipe.
Ultimate Banana Bread
Servings: 8 to 10
Time: 75 minutes
Source: Smitten Kitchen
Very key here is the size of your loaf pan because this will fill out every speck of it before it is done. Mine holds 6 liquid cups; it’s 8×4 inches on the bottom and 9×5 inches on the top. If yours is even slightly smaller or you’re nervous, go ahead and scoop out a little to make a muffin or two on the side. When making this for the first time, place a sheet pan underneath, just in case it spills over but I can promise you that in several tests, mine never has.
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, plus more for pan
1 cup (190 grams) packed light brown sugar
2 slightly heaped cups (about 18 ounces or 510 grams) (updated weight, see why) of mashed banana, from 4 extra-large or 5 medium-large bananas
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (25 grams) raw or turbinado sugar (on top)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 6-cup (9×5-inch) loaf pan (see note up top if yours is smaller) or coat it with a nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Melt butter in a large bowl and whisk in brown sugar until smooth, then stir in mashed banana. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Sprinkle the surface of the batter evenly with salt, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using), baking soda, and baking powder, and whisk until the ingredients are fully dispersed in the batter, and then whisk 10 more times around the bowl because it’s better to be overly cautious than to end up with unmixed pockets. Add flour and stir until combined. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan. It should come to just over 1/2-inch from the top rim. Sprinkle the top of the batter with the raw sugar; it will seem like a lot but will bake up beautifully.
Bake banana bread for 55 to 65 minutes. It is done when a toothpick or skewer inserted into the bread is batter-free — be sure to check the upper third as well, near the rim of the pan; that’s where I’d find the unbaked pockets of batter hanging out. The bread will get very dark but will not taste burnt.
Let cool in pan. This banana bread is good on the first day but exceptional on the second and third, if you can bear to wait.
To store: Leave the banana bread in the pan, uncovered. Once cut, press a piece of foil against the cut side of the remaining loaf but leave the top uncovered — you worked hard for that crunchy top and should not sacrifice it to humidity. It keeps for five days at room temperature, possibly a week in the fridge, but it vanishes in two to three days, max, so you, like us, might never find out.
This recipe is from the Food Network and the comment section was full of rave reviews.
The Best Banana Bread
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing pan
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (see Cook’s Note)
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 soft, very ripe, darkly speckled medium bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter one 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
Whisk together the flour, pecans, granulated sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, brown sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl; stir in the mashed bananas. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combined (it’s OK if there are some lumps).
Pour the batter into the buttered pan and lightly tap the pan on the counter to evenly distribute the batter. Bake until browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out completely clean, about 1 hour. Let the bread cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Cook’s Note
To make this banana bread nut-free, just leave out the pecans and follow the rest of the recipe as written. When measuring flour, we spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off excess. (Scooping directly from the bag compacts the flour, resulting in dry baked goods.)
Ann’s note – I like adding blueberries to my banana bread – adds a nice burst of flavor.