Lessons Learned August 28

Lessons I Learned this week.

Tomato pollen is killed in temperatures over 100+ degrees. I now know why we didn't get any fruit from our tomato plants this year.

Rob's grandma is a funny lady. I enjoyed having her here for the week.

Rob's mom has three dogs and it gets to be really loud when they are running back and forth on our hard floors, and they bark at everything. So for a week it is clippy-clop bark bark bark "Oh shut-up Ben, Tator, or Angel." clippity-clop bark bark.

Sue(Rob's mom) loves our kids, and they love her so it is always good to visit even though her dogs pee, pee, pee in the house.

Maybe I should have taken more pictures while they were here. I didn't think about it while we were visiting, and/or cooking.

A Prayer in Time of Need


Heavenly Father, in my present need, help me to believe that you are aware of my anxiety and will do what is best for me. Give me the strength to trust you and put the present and the future in your hands. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Shortly after saying this prayer while making breakfast my mother-in-law came and apologized to me for getting angry the night before. I know God heard my prayer and answered.

Sue has a better phone than I do. I showed her how to work the VZ Navigator function and a couple of other things. Now she loves it and is part of the reason she got mad at me in the first place.

We were going out to eat Mexican food because Great Grandma kept hinting around it all week. Rob drove us to a place we have been wanting to try. Sue used the VZ Navigator to locate Mexican restaurants and found one with a 5 star rating but we were at the restaurant and I said lets just go here. She got a bit mad and well I will leave it at that.

Turns out the Restaurant was good and on Tuesday's they serve 99 cent beer. Rob is ready to go back. We all enjoyed the food.

Over all I enjoyed company. Damian got to celebrate his birthday every night a different way. One night we had cake, the next Chucky Cheese where a kid can be a kid, the next night Mexican food, and the next day store time with Grandma.

I am glad that God loves us and listens to our hearts. In God I find it easier to forgive and let go of unpleasant moments and to be grateful for all the happy moments. I hope to continue to grow closer to God.

I hope that you have a beautiful week filled with love, laughter, and forgiveness.

Picture Perfect Meals

So here it is pictures of the meals last week. I borrowed the list from last week So I could post the photos in order. Turns out I may not have taken pictures every night and I changed a couple of menu items around. It is all relative I know and I think I have told you a time or two that the menu is more of a suggestion then a rule. For me most things tend to turn out as more of a suggestion instead of a rule. You know the old saying "Rules are meant to be broken"? Well I think if that rule should be broken it was a suggestion. Hard Rules, not hard, some rules are rules for a reason and shouldn't be broken. So here at my house the Rules are few but strict. I am off on a random road, mapped out by a sidetracked thought. I hope you don't mind to much. So here are the pictures and tomorrow you'll have a recipe. I promise.

  

Monday

Roast Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

Jamie Oliver

I didn't take a picture of this beautiful roasted chicken. I wish I had.

It was yummy, and was also the star of the chicken pot pie.

Tuesday

Chicken Pot Pie

Believe it or not I took a lot of pictures of this chicken pot pie. Part of the reason is I love, no adore pie crust all of the time regardless of filling. In this case it all worked out to a little bit of magic in my mouth.

 

Wednesday

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich.

Pioneer Woman

This sandwich was wonderful and is part of the reason that I will buy any and all of the Pioneer Woman's cookbooks from now until the last one. I know she is working on a second one. If only she would put more vegetable sides in the book. I guess I could stalk her blog http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and like her on facebook and she has a cooking show on food network (I hope they'll put her full episodes online. I don't have cable! Yikes). The only thing that would make this sandwich better is a lovely soft cheese like mozzarella, mushrooms, and maybe bell peppers. Let me tell you it does not need any of those things.

Thursday

Meatballs

Pioneer Woman

 Oh, did I mention the new Bread Cookbook? No, well expect more bread pictures. Yes it is made with a bread maker. Trust me 5-10 minutes of prep in the morning is worth it. I enjoy making bread by hand but with homeschooling two boys, working on my degree, and house work 10 minutes is worth the trade off. The house smells like fresh bread almost every day.

 This is pumpkin bread. Oh, yes I will be making more of this as it goes well with peanut butter and meatballs.

Friday

Potato and leek pizza

Pioneer Woman

This Pizza is now my new favorite. I will torture my boys with it from time to time considering we usually eat pizza once a week. It makes it easier to eat some of my more crazy meals, if there is at least one day guaranteed to be kid friendly.

Saturday

Lamb Stew

Jamie Oliver

Oops, I made this today

Instead I made, oh my I don't remember. Not a winner

Sunday

Meatloaf

I decided upon finding out that we had company coming to make it a later date. So instead we had Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower and cheese bake (i.e. Macaroni and Cheese)

 

Believe me there were plenty I didn't post. So what looks good to you? I will pick on tomorrow and post the recipe for recipe Tuesday.

 

I hope you are having something truly mouth watering for dinner tonight with people who help fill your life with love and laughter.

Meal plan Monday

This week I took way to many pictures of the dinners we had. It is a little silly because I am not a photographer but I do love to take them anyway. I have been know to take a dozen different pictures in a dozen different angles and different locations. It may seem like a lot but I really enjoy it. Taking pictures is a hobby I have loved for a long time. A love affair that I always come back to, sometimes it is oh so good and sometimes it is a blurred mess. Why am I talking about pictures of food instead of telling you the best meal of the week? Because it is easier today to ramble. Last night while we ate a yummy Macaroni and Cheese I asked the family what their favorite meal was this week and my husband like any man had to be reminded of the food. My kids claimed the Macaroni and Cheese was the best until I reminded them of all of the different suppers we had. I heard "oh yeah that was good," "That was really good too" "That was almost my favorite if only it had a little cheese" "Everything". They were no help in choosing the meal of the week. What is a girl to do? Post pictures of every meal and post the recipe to the best picture. Maybe you would like to help choose a winner, that would help me out. I will try to limit the pictures to no more then three or four a piece. No guarantees but I will try. So there are no pictures in this post, I am going to dive right into the menu. (One little thing my mother in law is coming so I might deviate from the plan a little. Maybe it will be easier to choose the winning meal next week. Only time will tell. In any case wish me luck.)

Meal Plan

Monday

Lamb Stew

Tuesday

Chili

Wednesday

Frittata

Thursday

Meatloaf

Friday

Chicken spaghetti

Saturday

Ground Beef wellington

w/buttered cabbage

Sunday

Chicken fried steak

with mashed potatoes

I hope that you have a wonderful week filled with Love, Laughter, and Delicious meals.

Lessons Learned August 21

August 21 Lessons learned this week

My husband has been home this week and I do love spending time with him, but more importantly when he is home I am on vacation.

With all the hard work my husband has been putting in we might get to eat from our garden this fall.

We are losing the battle against fire plight and our pear trees will have to be pulled out this fall when it is cool enough for my husband to dig them up. I really had big dreams for you little trees.

The black leaves are evidence of this debilitating disease.

It is in the lower branches and we can not prune it away with out cutting the tree down.

We have been fighting the drought, but as much as we are trying to keep the ground from cracking I found a small canyon growing near the fence at the back of the yard.

Dear God, please send us some rain. Amen

My husband put up a self in the Kitchen for my cook books, and bought me a little book stand. I know I am spoiled.

 This is not all of them. Really this self makes me very happy!

I might be a little over zealous when it comes to taking pictures of food. I will show you this weeks pictures in a whole other post. It is crazy!

Amaranth is a pretty grain, but it is hard to harvest.

My husband tries to steal all the window sills for his own purposes as soon as he thinks I am not looking.

This is our bedroom window.

He wants to take over the bathroom window too.

I do love my life even when it seems a bit chaotic. I am thankful for all of the blessings that we have received.

I hope you have a full week full of learning, love, and laughter.

Cooking is love

I know that I had motioned how I wanted to use my blog to share my journey to finding God and adding him to our daily lives. I know that I post mostly on menus, and recipes, and even lessons learned for the week. Today I wanted to focus on my love for cooking and why I put so much energy into sharing it with you. When I cook for the people I love I am giving them love. When I am in the kitchen mixing, chopping, kneading, stirring, baking, and tasting I am at peace. Although I am never absent from what is going on around me I allow my mind to wander in relief. I often spend the time chopping, dicing, mincing, or slicing onions with whatever worry that is there. By the time I am finished with the onion my soul is quieted by the simple task of cooking. In the peacefulness that surrounds my activity I can explore my theology, my relationship with God, what I believe God is. When I am quieted I can hear whispers of the truth as I brown the meat, or saute the vegetables. I am also very grateful for the love our small family is blessed with. I know with out a doubt that God loves us, and that God is everywhere we allow him to be.

I may not be rooted in a faith, but I do not find that a hindrance to my belief. It allows me to be open to thought and option without being trapped by what others believe is righteous. I believe that all thing that happen, happen for a reason, that it is all part of God's plan to teach us a lesson we need to learn in order to grow. That doesn't mean I want something bad to happen so that I can learn forgiveness, or grief, or any of the other lessons that come from a bad situation. I know that we are not alone as long as we are open to the idea, belief, possibility of the Love God has for each of us. I also Know with out a shadow of a doubt that some of the lessons we learn stem from love, joy, and gratefulness. I know because the biggest lesson I learned was how to love completely when I first held each of my sons. It was a sudden unexpected gift that calmed my anxious soul. I can love and deserve to be loved.

If you know me at all you know that some of my beliefs, or ideas can be a bit of a stretch. I hope that I do not but limits on my children. I believe that God does not want us to be boxed in to one idea because God is all ideas. No one religion is different from another God is there. He/She is the idea behind every religion and there may seem to be many but we can not all fit into the same idea and God made it easier to find him by giving us choice. Some people need to feel confined by the written word in the various books of the lord, others hope only for guidance. He enlisted the help of human men to write his word, and since he gave man the gift of free will we each interpret his words differently. The bible for instance has been rewritten to make it easier for people to read and understand. It is different from the original text but most of the meaning stays the same. It is a guidebook for lost travelers. We are all lost travelers trying to return home.

What moves me the most is the fact that Jesus came for the lost gentiles, me and people like me. I am a sinner unworthy of his love. Yet he came to earth for my sin, to forgive me, to set me free. This applies to you as well. We are not alone. One of the reasons that my family is choosing to become Catholic is because it is not about solidarity, meaning all about me, we pray together for each other. I do not know the faith completely so I can not comment on the whole picture, when I only have a small piece. I have a feeling some of the beliefs I have are not the same as the church such as birth control, and gay marriage and I am sure a few other things. I am unwilling to change my opinion that it is a human right to be married regardless of sexual orientation, I believe God made them and that makes them the same as me even where they are different. Love is love. I believe in birth control. I believe that God loves me for who I am regardless of my own ideas.

I am thankful for the life I lead and the life my husband and I are making for our children. I will continue to ask for guidance, and forgiveness. I hope that we are building a solid foundation for our children to become men on, that they will grow into strong, healthy, kind, good heart men. I trust the Lord will lead us.

I have to admit when I am cooking I don't always actively think about God, but it is a good time to bring him to our family. When I set the table with the meal it is filled with my love always. I was once told when I was a young girl that it will always turn out just right when you make it with love. So to me cooking is love. When or if you ever get the chance let me cook for you. I am happy to feed you and your family. So here it is if you are worried about your cooking abilities just remember that you are cooking for someone you love and loves you back. Regardless of how the meal turns out it will be perfect.

I hope that your day is filled with laughter, love, and a comforting meal with your loved ones.

Recipe Tuesday

I am going back to my roots this week with a hearty country meal complete with Sweet tea. My favorite meal this week was Beans and Cornbread. It is my Papa's favorite meal so I grew up eating it at their house. It is nice to sit at the kitchen table and make new memories while reminiscing about old memories. Although this is one of my childhood favorites I want to encourage you to go back to your roots and share a childhood memory with your children at dinner tonight. I can't say that all of my food memories are good ones. Let me tell you we ate plenty of tuna casseroles, and kielbasa sausage meals to scar me for life. We take the good with the bad. So let's focus on the wonderful times.

Recipe: Beans and Cornbread

Prep Time: 30 Minutes | Cook Time: 2 Hours | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• Bean Ingredients:
• 4 cups Pinto Beans
• 4 slices Thick Bacon (can Also Use Salt Pork, Or Ham Hock, Or Diced Ham)
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
• Cornbread Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Shortening
• 1 cup Yellow Corn Meal
• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

Preparation Instructions

BEANS: Rinse beans in cool water; pour into a pot, cover with water by 2 to 3 inches. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer 2 hours, or until beans are tender. Add water to pot as needed. Beans should have a thick broth. Toward end of cooking time, add salt and pepper and season to taste. Don’t over-salt. For a variety try adding chili powder, garlic or Tabasco. Serve in a bowl with cornbread. Can serve with small bowls of grated cheese, chopped onions, chopped fresh jalapenos, sour cream, and/or cilantro.
CORNBREAD: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat shortening in an iron skillet, muffin pan, or other baking pan. Combine corn meal, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, milk, and egg. Add baking powder and baking soda. Stir. Add ¼ cup melted shortening, stirring constantly. Pour into hot pan, smoothing surface with spatula. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Here is a link to The Pioneer Woman's Beans and Cornbread recipe. If you haven't visited her before she takes step by step photos. Plus she is a lot of fun to read. Enjoy
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/08/beans_and_cornb/

I topped the beans with Greek yogurt (it has replaced all the sour cream in our house. It is a healthier option and once you start you can never go back.), shredded cheddar cheese, red onions, and a dash of hot sauce. If you have a husband who loves beans but you don't love him after beano is handy to have before dinner.

We made honey butter to go on the cornbread. Cornbread is good crumbled into the heavenly beans but if you love bread on the side honey butter is a quick mix away. All you need is about 1/4 cup butter and 1/8 cup of honey mix together. If you use the real sticks of butter like me soften it in the microwave for 15 seconds or until you can easily mix it. Spread it on the cornbread thick.

Finally Sweet tea. We use Stevia to sweeten our tea. We also use fresh mint from the garden to flavor the tea. If you are up for a little Tea adventure try putting fresh peppermint (any flavor of mint will work) into the hot tea let it sit for a few minutes before adding ice or cold water. We often leave the mint leaves in the picture because it adds a pretty color in the clear glasses. Fresh stevia leaves taste just like the store bought processed stevia so you can sweeten with your Stevia leaves.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and your week is filled with love, laughter, and sweet smells of childhood memories floating from your kitchen.

A beautiful Article

Today one of my friends posted this article called We Need More Boring Christians. It was not about being boring. The article is talking about celebrating God in everyday life. Not all of us can travel the world spreading God's word. This is one of my favorite qoutes from the article:

Scripture calls us into radical service—but that does not allow others to eviscerate tedious, less “spiritually” glamorous tasks of their meaning in God’s Kingdom. Scripture also calls us to embrace the mundane and ordinary as holy and beautiful: “... aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). 

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/features/26398-we-need-boring-christians

I reccomend you read this article and maybe let yourself be inspired to be great at what it is you do in your daily life.

Menu Monday

Back from my menu hiatus. We went to Panama City the week before last and then last week the broken air conditioner we tried not to cook at all. So I was looking forward to getting back to the kitchen this week. Yesterday I made Beans and Cornbread and I felt like a country girl. It made me homesick as it is my grandfathers favorite meal (he is a real Texas cowboy). I am sure those beans tasted better to me then anything else could have. My grandparents live in Oregon which is where I call home even though I haven't lived there in ten long years. So to honor my Grandparents, my favorite meal last week Beans and corn bread.

Menu for the Week

Monday

Roast Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

Jamie Oliver

Tuesday

Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich.

Pioneer Woman

Thursday

Meatballs

Pioneer Woman

Friday

Potato and leek pizza

Pioneer Woman

Saturday

Lamb Stew

Jamie Oliver

Sunday

Meatloaf



I hope you week is filled with love, laughter, and yummy cooking smells.

14 August Lessons Learned

August 14 Lessons I learned this past week

Air Conditioning is a luxury and not a necessity. The boys and I sweated through most of the week in our P.J.'s or in underwear(the boys refused to get dressed). As much as I love central air it is a privilege and we will not die from being to hot to do anything useful.

I miss making out a two week menu. I like knowing we have the majority of our food until we get paid again. Rob wanted me to do shopping for one week at a time which is fine until he needs dirt, or hoses (and he always needs dirt and hoses).

Making meal plans based on what the farmers market is selling for the week is hard and often not very exciting. Ever tried to make meals made up of zucchini for more then once a week? I love zucchini but my family misses the different meals I would normally make. It is hard cooking only local food. So we are back to the frozen vegetables, and super market produce (it pains me), if what I need for the weeks vegetables are not available.

Grey's Anatomy  is an addiction! While we waited for the maintenance man to come and fix our Air Conditioner we (I) watched Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. I have not watched them all I think I have 26 more to watch but finally I stopped clod turkey and decided that I had had enough. I think it was crying for three hours straight at the very sad story line i.e. Izzy has cancer and George (my favorite) dies! So of course I spent time googling why T.R. Knight left the show. I hope he does something new for T.V. or a Movie so that I can visit him again. In case you don't know he is doing Broadway and he left because he felt like his character was disappearing from the show and never got a straight answer about his character. Izzy left because Katherine Heigl was a squeaky wheel, seriously I feel bad for Alex! I know I have problems but I stopped, I swear.

Yesterday I took the family to Lakeshore Learning Supplies. Rob who generally takes a backseat to all things learning fell in love with the store. Stopping and looking at everything often proclaiming that we need this, or Damian needs that. We bought posters, and a Book Record journal for Damian. We are planning on going back for more posters, workbooks, and games. But we can only do a little at a time. Not to worry about Damian's education along with workbooks he has a full online curriculum and he is a reader.

Boy Scouts or Cub scout uniforms are expensive. I have the feeling that in order to get Damian involved in things with other kids/boys his age we will continue to spend to much money! I hope he likes it.

There is another boy who is Home Schooled in Damian's Cub Scout Troop! God answers prayers for sure!

I hope your week is filled with Love and Laughter

7 August Lessons learned

August 7 Lessons learned this week.

We drove to Panama City, Florida for a lovely visit with friends that are family. It is a fourteen hour drive. So I packed the car with plenty of toys, and books to keep the boys busy on the long, long trip. Of all of the things I packed James only played with his puppy on the way there. Damian only read one book. Mostly the boys spent most of their trapped time dreaming of sandy beaches and Mimi.

On the way home which felt like twice the drive. James took out all of his toys and books unable to get comfortable and occupied. Damian read the same book.

Damian likes to know where we are so when we are driving, which we love Road trips, he will ask what state are we in, How much longer until we are in the next state, and How long have we been driving now. Although they seem like odd questions he knows where states are on the map and keeps a mental log of where he has been. He may never forget that Florida is next to Alabama, then Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, and finally Texas. He does the same thing when we drive to Oregon but we often take different routes depending on what we want to see on the way.

As nice as it is to get out of the house for a week it is always nicer to be home again.

We had a lot of fun in Panama City and we all enjoyed seeing great friends this week. It was filled with lots of love and  laughter. I can hardly wait to see them in April.

Recipe Tuesday

I know I am publishing my favorite recipes early this week but I have been thinking about it all week. This week is Egg week. A simple frittata and Egg in the Hole. Both easy and if you haven't tried either one yet today is a good day to do so.

I buy my eggs from a family farm. They are fresh when I get them and I go through 4 dozen eggs in two weeks. I love eggs, my kids love eggs, and I am a baker. I did not always love eggs. I used to find them disgusting that runny weirdness that we call store bought eggs. These are the eggs I grew up with. Then when we made the switch to store bought eggs I found out why you would name an egg dish Sunny Side Up. They are beautiful. Really. The yoke is thick it can be hard to break. The whites are clear and also kind of thick too. Really comparing store bought to farm fresh eggs should be a crime. If you can find a farm near you I encourage you to support a local farmer and find your love for eggs.

The Frittata

I browned the sausage and onion then added the spinach. If you are using fresh spinach it cooks down so use a lot. Then you use 6-8 eggs beaten with a little milk and salt and pepper and shredded cheese. Pour this egg mixture over the sausage mixture. Put some shredded cheese on top to make it pretty. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or when the eggs are firm. Serve hot. Easy.

I have made Frittatas with potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, mixed vegetables, broccolli, hamburger, corn, honestly I think you can make it with any number of ingrediants. For you recipe lovers out there here is a recipe from Allrecipes.com to help yout hrough your first Frittata

 American Frittata
Serves 8 ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 onions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 8 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup cubed ham
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft.
3. Stir in eggs, drained potatoes, ham, salt and pepper. Cook until eggs are firm on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Top frittata with shredded cheese and place in preheated oven until cheese is melted and eggs are completely firm, about 10 minutes.

Enjoy! I haven't tried this recipe yet.

Finally the  Egg in the Hole. I got it out of The Pioneer woman cooks.

You melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan. Cut a hole out of a piece of bread. Place the bread into the melted butter and after about 1 minute break an egg right into the hole. Don't forget to salt and pepper the egg.  After another minute or so flip the bread and egg over. Serve Hot. Yum!

I love making heart shaped holes and my boys love it too. So if you want to change it up and you have small cookie cutters experiment with your egg in the hole.

I hope your week is filled with Love and Laughter.

Menu Plan

Well Rob called home with a little surprise today. I do not have to cook this week. I will explain more in another post later. Last week went well. My favorite thing this week were egg dishes. So today you get a picture of Frittata with pan sausage and spinach. My kids declared me the Queen of Frittata and told me I need to go into business making them. I do not think I will follow this very sound advice but I will continue to make them.

Meal Plan Vacation! I hope It all works out in a nice way.