My favorite recipes - Meet Denny and Penny Hinds, St. John

Jana Mathia | Feb 10, 20110

Prior to coming to St. John in November 2008, Pastor Denny Hinds and his wife Penny were preparing to serve a mission in Cambodia. They had the required funding, language classes and service hours, but had to cancel due to family issues. Cambodia’s loss became St. John’s gain when Denny became the pastor at Christian Life Assembly Church.

“Long way from Cambodia,” Penny remarked.

Denny had wanted to be a pastor his whole life, but it wasn’t until 1991 his dream was fulfilled. He served three years in the Army in Louisiana then he managed a Cenex co-op and volunteered at their local church.

He then decided to go into ministry part-time, cutting his income in half. It was cut in half again when he took his ministry full-time and started pastoring in Marysville.

“We really enjoy it, and life should be doing what you enjoy,” he said.

The Hinds moved from Marysville to Eureka, Mont., then to McCleary, serving as pastor of churches in each place. He was the pastor in McCleary for 10 years before making the decision to go to Cambodia. While they prepared for the trip, they lived in Marysville.

“He defiantly lives what he preaches,” Penny remarked, recalling an incident in his congregation 10 years ago. A woman there had kidney failure. When Denny found out he had the same blood type, he donated one of his kidneys to her.

After moving to St. John, Denny rolled up his sleeves and went to work. Within a few months of the move, he and other volunteers started working to build a new sanctuary. The old sanctuary was very small and unsuitable for weddings and funerals. The new sanctuary, which is expected to be completed this summer, will have seating for at least 200 and bathrooms accessible for the handicapped.

On top of his pastor duties, programs and classes, Denny is also remodeling a house and serves as an on-call bus driver.

Penny kept busy as a stay-at-home mom. She home schooled their three children until they reached eighth grade. Once all the children were in high school, Penny went back to school to become a nurse and graduated in 2002.

“It’s what God told me to do,” she said. Penny remarked that she didn’t like needles when she decided to become a nurse.

“It’s better to be on this side of the needle,” she said.

Their children are all adults now. The eldest, Doni, followed them to St. John. Their son Scott and his wife Samantha live in Bremerton while the youngest, Aimee, lives in Marysville.

Penny works at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center. She also works at Community Pride assisted living in St. John and gets to spend plenty of time as grandma, watching her four-year-old granddaughter, Erin.

The house they are remodeling is a five-year-project, Denny said. He has had plenty of practice with remodeling projects. In McCleary he did a lot of remodeling and additions to their home. When they moved to St. John, they bought a house that had already been remodeled, but found another project near-by.

They support the community in any way they can from attending sports events to helping anyone in need. About six weeks ago they started a project at church call The Kingdom Assignment. Anyone who wants to participate is given $50 from the church to do something for the community. Denny noted a number of projects are now in the works.

In the spring, they plan to randomly select 10 percent of the 280 homes in St. John and do some kind of service for that house. The plan is to have those 28 households pay the good deed forward by recommending another house for the service.

“The goal is to do something for everyone in the community,” Denny said.

Recipes:

Blueberry Pie

1 scant cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

2 (9-inch) unbaked pie shells

3 cups blueberries, washed and drained

1 cup chopped apples

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

6 Tbsp. water

Butter

Mix 1/2 of sugar and flour in bottom of pie shells. Add berries and apples, remaining flour and sugar, salt, lemon juice and water. Dot with butter. Add top pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.

*May use frozen blueberries, omit water.

Omelet in a bag

1 qt. size freezer bag per person

2 lg. eggs per person

Variety of add-ins

Write each person’s name on a freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack two eggs into each person’s beg. Seal, shake, then add as many of the following ingredients as desired: shredded cheese, diced peppers, mushrooms, onions, ham, cooked bacon, tomato, ect. Shake bags again to mix. Get as much air out of the bag as possible and zip it closed.

Place bags into large pot of boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6 to 8 omelets in a large pot. (Use second pot for more bags cooking at same time.) Remove bags carefully from water and the omelet will roll out easily.

Crumpets

3 Tbsp. warm water

1 pkg. yeast

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 cup milk

4 Tbsp. butter, divided

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup flour

1 egg

Combine water, yeast and sugar. Let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Heat milk, 1 tbsp. butter and salt in a saucepan over low heat just until warm. Add to yeast mixture. Add 1 cup flour to yeast mixture and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Beat in egg. Add remaining flour and beat until smooth. Cover batter with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Stir down batter and let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt remaining butter in saucepan over low heat. Skim off foam and discard milky solids from bottom of saucepan. Brush bottom of a skillet with melted butter. Brush insides of four crumpet rings or 3-inch round cookie cutters with butter and place rings in skillet. Heat skillet over medium heat. Spoon about 2 tbsp. batter into each ring. Cook until batter begins to bubble on top and is lightly browned on bottom, about 2 minutes. Remove rings. Turn English Crumpets over. Cook until lightly browned on bottom and done in centers. Can be served warm or split and toasted before serving.