New Round of Recipes

Here are some new and old recipes that have been in the circulation lately.

Summer is so wonderful for grilling and this first one is super easy to prep, cook and clean up:

Grilled Fiesta Shrimp

• 2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, divided
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) preshredded Mexican-blend or cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup drained canned whole-kernel corn with sweet peppers (such as Green Giant)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

• 1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
• 2. Arrange shrimp in the center of a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Drizzle oil over shrimp; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning, tossing to coat. Top shrimp with cheese, corn, cilantro, and beans; sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning. Fold opposite ends of foil together; crimp to seal.
• 3. Place foil packet on prepared grill; cover and cook 15 minutes or until shrimp are done. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Another shrimp recipe comes from the good ole’ Pioneer Woman.  Here’s the link.  This one is so fresh, so good.

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 12 whole Jumbo Shrimp, Peeled, Deveined, Tails Left On
• 2 whole Zucchini, Sliced On A Slight Diagonal
• 2 ears Corn, Kernels Sliced Off
• 1/2 cup Grape Tomatoes, Sliced In Half Lengthwise
• Salt And Freshly Ground Pepper, To Taste
• Chopped Fresh Herbs, If Desired

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic. When oil/butter is hot, add shrimp and cook for 3 minutes. Remove to a plate. Do not clean skillet.

Add the rest of the butter and oil and heat over medium heat. Add zucchini slices in a single layer and cook for one minute, tossing once. Scoot the zucchini to the edges of the pan, then add corn kernels to the middle of the pan. Cook for one minute. Add grape tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss around, then add shrimp. Cook for an additional 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Serve on a big platter.

Hint: Much better after it’s been allowed to cool for a bit! Yummy and refreshing.

Here’s the direct link for mouth watering pictures and the PW humor

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/06/summer-stir-fry/

 

This one is from Chesed and has been a huge hit with many.  It really is a complete meal in itself, but if you wanted to, you could do a small salad or fruit for a side.

Turkey Chili Pot Pie

• 1 package(s) (8 1/2-ounce) cornbread or corn muffin mix
• 1 cup(s) frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 pound(s) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup(s) water
• 1 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
• 1 large (1-pound) onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound(s) lean ground turkey
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 clove(s) garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon(s) finely chopped pickled jalapeños
• 1 tablespoon(s) chili powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
• 2 can(s) no-salt-added fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 can(s) no-salt-added rinsed black beans, drained
• 1 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In medium bowl, prepare cornbread mix as label directs, but use only half of liquid specified. Fold corn into batter; set batter aside.
3. Place sweet potatoes and water in microwave-safe medium bowl. Cover with vented plastic wrap and microwave on High 5 minutes or until tender.
4. In deep 12-inch enamel-coated or well-seasoned plain cast-iron skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add onion and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Add turkey, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned, breaking up meat into small pieces. Add garlic, jalapeños, chili powder, cumin, and sweet potatoes with their liquid. Cook 1 minute, stirring.
5. Add tomatoes, beans, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Heat until bubbling, stirring occa­sionally. Dollop cornbread mixture over top, leaving 1-inch rim around edge. With spatula, spread mixture to cover most of surface.
6. Place skillet on foil-lined jelly-roll pan to catch any drips. Bake 22 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbling. Garnish with cilantro.

Optional:  I don’t have a cast iron skillet, so I just bake mine in a casserole dish and I’ve had no problems with it.  This is also great as leftovers.

I need to find some good watermelon recipes.  I’ve been loving that fruit this summer, probably have consumed 2 whole melons on my own.  Happy summer cooking!

A picture for all who visit this site for the rug rats 🙂

Susannah wearing my old dress made by my Mom.

Josiah loves to help me cook.

Birthday party at the farm

 

Picture This!

If anyone else out there is a fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the title of this post is a shout out to Mickey Mouse himself.  If you don’t watch Mickey’s Clubhouse, just sit back and enjoy the pictures.

Susie, the monster

Ready for Church

This girl would sleep in these boots if we let her.

Easter 2011

Easter 2011

Easter 2011

Eating Healthy

After spending the last two weeks sick, I’ve had a lot of time to think of blog posts, but not much motivation to execute them.  Now that I’m feeling better, I hope that I can catch everyone up on our latest happenings.

In one of my latest editions of Real Simple magazine, there was an article on “the 30 Healthiest foods…” and I was inspired by that article as well as one of our MOPS meetings on making healthy choices with foods.  It was like a light bulb went off and I realized, as the cook of this family I have the responsibility and honor to give my family the healthiest meals and snacks.  It’s not just looking at cooking as a duty, it is providing the best nutrients to my growing children, and keeping Jed and I from growing in the wrong direction.  We don’t have to eat as many processed foods if I would just plan better when it come to meal planning and grocery shopping.  This requires me to do more research on healthy foods and snacks, which I have really enjoyed.

So one week (when I was healthy) I cooked a meal each night that included at least one ingredient from the “Healthy Foods” list in the Real Simple article.  Here are two of the recipes that we really enjoyed:

Cajun Chicken Pasta

2 chicken breasts

4 t. cajun seasoning

4 T. butter

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

3 green onions (I just used 1/2 a white onion, chopped)

container of fresh sliced mushrooms

1 t. lemon pepper

2-3 cloves of crushed garlic

1 t. basil

1/2 box bow tie pasta

1 C. whipping cream (or half and half)

Coat chicken with cajun seasoning, cook with butter until white.  In separate pot, boil pasta according to box instructions.  Add vegetables and seasonings to chicken, saute.  After these are cooked, add in pasta and pour whipping cream over pasta and vegetables.  Cook on low heat until sauce is thickened.  Serve warm.

 

Chicken with Quinoa and Veggies

1 C. quinoa

2 C. chicken broth

4 T. olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 zucchini, diced

1 tomato, diced

4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

8 fresh basil leaves

1 T. lime juice

1.  Bring the quinoa and chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan; reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pan.  Simmer until the broth is absorbed, the quinoa is fluffy, and the white line is visible in the grain, about 12 minutes.

2.  Heat 2 T. olive oil in a skillet, cook and stir the garlic and onion until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the chicken breast strips and cook until the chicken is slightly pink in the middle, about 5 more minutes.  Remove the chicken meat and set aside.  Pour 2 more T. of olive oil in the skillet and cook and stir the zucchini and tomato until the zucchini is tender, 5-8 minutes.  Return chicken to skillet and sprinkle with feta cheese, basil leaves, and lime juice.  Cook until the chicken is fully cooked and hot, about 10 more minutes.  Serve over hot quinoa.

 

I was worried that Jed wouldn’t like the quinoa, but he did like it.  I don’t think he would eat it plain, but with the chicken mixture it was delicious.  I even gave the kids some of the quinoa, plain, and they really liked it.

 

 

Going someplace warmer

“But how can they call on Him they have not believed in?  And how can they believe without hearing about Him?”  Romans 10:14

Jed and I will be leaving this Saturday, January 22 with a team from our church to travel to West Africa for a mission trip.  We will be telling stories to the “B” group and helping them with their daily routine.  One day we will travel to a nearby village and story with them as well.  In the evenings we will have church and story with everyone as a group.  Words will be the way we tell these people about Jesus, some who have never even heard the name before.  This is an incredible opportunity and we are honored to get to be a part of this mission.  We will be gone from January 22-January 30.  Please pray for our team as we travel, tell the stories, pray for good health, and pray for those who will hear for the first time as well as those who are striving to grow in their faith.  Also pray for our two kids and our gracious babysitters who will be watching them for us while we are gone.  We look forward to sharing with y’all the great stories from the trip!  Thank you all in advance for your prayers.

15 Minutes per day in 2011

I was sitting in our study the other night staring at all the books lining the shelves of the bookcases and I was very bothered by the fact that I have read only a mere handful of the hundreds that we own.  My goal this year is to become more of a book reader and less of a blog reader.  John Piper has this encouraging word on reading (He is referencing D.A. Carson’s book A Call to Spiritual Reformation, which is 230 pages long), “If you read 15 minutes a day for one year (just 15 minutes, say just before supper, or just before bed), you will read 5,475 minutes in the year. Multiply that by 200 words a minute and you get 1,095,000 words that you would read in a year. Now the average book has about 360 words per page (that’s what Carson’s book has). So you would have read 360 words into 1,095,000, or 3,041 pages in one year. That’s 13 books the size of Carson’s book, or reading his in 21 days. All that in 15 minutes a day.”

Here is my current wish list for the year; however, I hope to add to it as I complete some reading.

Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper (I started this on last year, so I just need to finish it.)

Redeeming the Time by Leland Ryken

Radical by David Platt

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney (This is one I want to read again.)

The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

The Duties of Parents by J. C. Ryle

I’ll keep you posted on my reading.  If anyone has any good books they’ve read, please pass them along.  Hope y’all can find time each day to spend reading as well.  Best wishes for 2011!

 

Josiah and Susannah  wanted to say Hi to everyone:

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This weekend we trimmed one of our Christmas trees, illuminating our loft area and making memories as a family.  We all have Christmas traditions, and along with Christmas decorating, we send a Christmas card to family and friends.

Just a few Christmas card facts for you all:

*  The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843 and featured an illustration by John Callcott Horsley.  The picture, of a family with a small child drinking wine together, proved controversial.  (Don’t worry, we’re not using this idea for our family photo this year.)

*  In 1953, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first official White House card.

*  An estimated 1.9 billion Christmas cards get sent every year.  The only holiday that comes close to rivaling Christmas cards is Valentines day and that is 192 million cards.

Our family likes to send photo Christmas cards to our family and friends.  We have used Shutterfly in the past and are very excited to design our cards with them again this year because they have many colorful, unique and affordable options.  To view their holiday cards, click on this link:  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

If you aren’t really into sending Christmas cards, Shutterfly also offers an excellent selection of wall calendars that you can decorate with a plethora of your family photos for loved ones to enjoy all year long.  http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

Here are just a few of the cards that we are considering for our family card this year:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/with-glee-christmas-5×7-photo-card-5×7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards/holly-chocolate-christmas-5×7-photo-card-5×7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards/antique-ornaments-christmas-4×8-photo-card-4×8-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

If you will be sending a family Christmas card this year, be sure and visit Shutterfly to help make this process easy and affordable.  We look forward to sending and receiving cards from all of our friends and family, especially ones we don’t get to see all of the time. We hope y’all have a great season with family and friends celebrating Jesus, remembering all He has done and will do for us, and thanking Him for all the unbelievable blessings He has given us during 2010.

Autumn Adventures

We’ve had a very full past couple of months.  Lots of travel, fun, friends, family.  We got to travel with Jed to Louisville and while we were there we went on a date to the Josh Turner concert, (Thank you Lindsay!!) enjoyed the generous hospitality of the Maddox’s, hung out at Huber Farm with the Powell family and Lindsay Swartz, and got to attend Cody McNutt’s 30th surprise party.  We always have such a great time catching up with our Louisville friends.

Josh Turner concert

The whole gang at Huber's

Kind of obsessed with tractors.

The Jones family invited us out to play, let the kids ride the horse and enjoy a bon fire.  It was such a great evening.  We have really enjoyed getting to know this family.  The kids had one of the most fun-filled evenings of their lives.  They rode a horse, a donkey, saw a pig, a goat and a babydoll sheep.  Their daughter is just a year older than Josiah and they had a blast riding on the four-wheeler.  I think that if Josiah knew he could voice his desires for Christmas, this is what he would ask for.  Thankfully, he’s still unaware of the “Christmas list”.

Josiah's first horse ride

Tricia and Susannah on "Burrito"

Josiah, Susannah and Jed pose with "Rocky"

Susannah's first ride

Susannah has learned how to do the “cheese” smile when someone takes her picture.  I turned around the other day and the kids where both sitting at the desk reading and I was so glad the camera was laying on the desk.  When I am out with them, most everyone asks if they are twins.

Cheese!

Our neighborhood has a Fall Festival each October with food and a costume contest.  We dressed the kids up and just intended to stay for the food, but we had several people come up and take Josiah’s picture and tell us they thought he would win the contest.  We really needed to get back, but went ahead and stayed.  Josiah and Susannah were entered into the 0-4 yr old category, and by round of applause, Josiah made it into the top 3.  It was going to be close, there was a little boy dressed up as Indiana Jones and it was good.  But there was no mistaking it, Josiah was  the clear winner and I think all the cheers, screams and clapping scared him a bit.  We were so glad we ended up staying.  Good family memories.

The Cowboy with his horse

There were several hay bales and Josiah made sure and fed his horse at each one.

Tinkerbell is happy with a sucker

The winner with his gift certificate

We also enjoyed a visit from Gagee and DeDa.  They got to stay with us for a night and the kids spent every moment entertaining them.  We had such a blast getting to see them.  It had been way too long.

Gagee feeding Susannah her bedtime snack

Posing for a picture before saying good-bye.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

There are things I use on a daily basis that are my favorite things and I want to share them with you and maybe they can become part of your favorite things.

1.  Trader Joe’s Honey Mango Shave Cream.  This stuff is inexpensive, lasts a long time and smells so good!  It doesn’t dry out your skin like the other shave creams tend to do.  If you have a Trader Joe’s close by, you need to try this out!

2.  Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I use these things everywhere.  I have gotten scuffs and smudges off our walls, our washer and dryer.  Crayon marks off the floor, walls, toys.   And our cars had some paint dings on the doors and it even got those off!  I love these!  If they ever discontinue them I don’t know what I will do.

3.  The Shark Mop.  You’ve all seen the infomercial for this thing.  It only uses water, removes dirt and grime.  Well, I was a skeptic just like y’all, but my friend Katie had one and used it while I was at her house and I was sold.  Plus, we have more hardwood surfaces and when Susannah started crawling around everywhere I didn’t like knowing that she was probably picking up all the cleaning chemicals on her hands.  This thing only requires water and you can wash the cleaning pads in the washing machine.  They are sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond and if you use one of those 20% off coupons, you can get an even better deal.

4.  Continuing with cleaning products, my most recent discovery has been the Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel.  I received a free sample of these in the mail and not only did I like them, but Jed did as well.  They provide a pleasant odor to the bathroom and keep the toilet clean in between deep cleanings.  Look for a coupon and try them out!

5.  Several months ago, I decided it was time to give up cokes unless:  1.  I was eating Mexican.  2.  We were at Sonic for happy hour.  3.  Jed got a fountain drink for a movie night.  So I needed to find a replacement.  I’ve replaced my Dt. Coke with Canada Dry Green Tea Ginger Ale.  It’s refreshing, has a zing and it says it has antioxidants, therefore, it is healthy!

6.  My friend, Dani got me this lotion as a treat before Susannah was born.  Ulta Lavender Fields Body Cream.  I became a big fan.  And having a son with extreme skin sensitivities, our pediatrician said cream lotions are better than regular lotions because they contain less alcohol so I feel like I’m doing my skin a great favor by using this cream.

7.  Rainbow Sandals.  I bought a pair in 2004 and I wear them all the time, year round.  They are in serious need of replacement, but they are so worn in I don’t know if I can replace them.  The kids know that when we are about to leave the house they go find “Mommy’s flip flops” so that I’m ready to go.

8.  After Susannah was born I started doing Jillian Michael’s workouts.  My favorite of them all is the 30 day shred.  She drives Jed crazy, but I appreciate the results she brings me.  The workouts end up being about 20 minutes, but you are doing circuit training, so that helps it to not seem as painful.  You work at your own pace through the 3 different workouts and the last one is a killer!  But they are so good, especially if you don’t have a gym or don’t want to spend an hour or more working out.

And this post wouldn’t be complete without a pic of my favorite munchkins

Summer in Pictures, Part 2

D.C. Vacation

Coppenger Crew with FDR

Josiah with man's best friend

First Broadway Show, "West Side Story". Amazing!!

NYC @ night

Kiddos thrilled with their new souvenirs

Storytime with Shusha

Outside of the Arlington House (Robert E. Lee's old house)

Museum of American History

Susannah's first time in a swimming pool. A big hit!!

Susannah loving her birthday gift from GaGee.

Summer in Pictures, Part 1

Father's Day 2010

Susannah enjoying her 1st birthday cupcake, round 1

The end of round 1

While Jed was in STL for ICRS, his work crew went to a Cards game and I got to tag along. First trip to the new stadium!

Susannah's 1st Birthday, round 2. She is a big fan of sprinkles!