Christmas 2014

Yes, I know....it's spring and here I am, barely posting Christmas pics!  I was busy with planning a wedding and work but here I am.....finally able to rest and catch up on my fun blog!

Christmas was a very quiet and awesome holiday this year!  Darin and I spent it with his dad.  I made a roast and we had wine and watched movies!  It was so pleasant!

Daisy had her beautiful Christmas dress on and enjoyed having grandpa over.

I made some homemade hot chocolate and it was delish!

All in all, it was an awesome Christmas spent with my then fiance' and then future Father-In-Law!

Chicken Pot Pie from scratch

First you want to make your Pie Crust....the recipe calls for a store bought one but I prefer to make my own.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, chilled
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/3 cup ice water

Directions

1. Combine flour and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer. Cut butter or margarine or butter and shortening into tablespoon pieces; add it to the flour and butter. Use the paddle beater to cut the butter and flour together. Alternatively, this can be done by hand with a pastry blender.
2. With the mixer on low speed , or while stirring the mixture with a fork, pour in the cold water. When the dough starts to clump, and before it turns into a ball, stop stirring.
3. Lightly knead dough in the bowl until it forms a ball. Divide dough into two parts. Flatten each part into a disk, and chill for about 30 minutes before rolling.              

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside. 
3.               
4. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

 

Fire Crackers

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups canola oil
• 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (1 ounce) packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 (16 ounce) package Whole Wheat Saltine Crackers

Directions

1. Whisk the canola oil, crushed red pepper flakes, ranch dressing mix, and chili powder together in a bowl. 

2  Divide the saltine crackers evenly into a sealable container. Pour the oil mixture evenly over the crackers. Seal the dish and flip every 15 min with tongs for one - two hours to allow the oil mixture to run over the crackers and saturate.

 

3. Allow to sit overnight before serving.      

High Five For Friday~ Easter, Love, and Rest

High Five for Friday Number One:

High Five for Friday Number Two:

Good Friday service this afternoon was amazing!  Pastor Carl really gave an awesome message!

High Five for Friday Number Three:

I have a hot date to Church with my handsome husband tonight!  I love marriage!

High Five for Friday Number Four:

Tomorrow, I have Church and then a Hop Movie date with my girlfriends! I just love Easter!  I am hoping for some Easter candy too!

High Five for Friday Number Five:

The past two weeks have been exhausting and busy but I'm really glad that the busyness is coming to an end and I will be able to relax next week.  God is good!

There Is Beauty In Difficult Relationships

So, over the past few months I have really dealt with learning how to let difficult people go.  I have to say that I have not really had to face too many people who "dislike" me nor have I really had a lot of enemies in my lifetime, so learning how to deal with this topic and not let it effect me or the people in my life is an amazing blessing!  I am learning how to really dig deep inside of me and know who I am in Christ and know who I am as a beautiful Christian woman and where satan means it to hurt me (it has hurt but I haven't let it get to me like the enemy wants) God is using this opportunity to help me with my confidence.  

"When you have to turn and walk away from somebody, you walk straight into the arms of Jesus." Dr. Charles Stanley

So, true.  Remember, that Christ himself was persecuted both physically and verbally.  So, if we are to be an Image of Christ than we must use moments in life to build our character and form us more into His image.  If you are facing enemies, use the opportunity to dig deep down and know who we are no matter what somebody else says or how hurtful the rejection is.  Obedience to this is one of the most awesome things!  When we walk away from hurtful situations, we walk straight into the arms of Christ for His comfort!   

"The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Proverbs 18:21

Not only do difficult times with other people give us a chance to build up our character within but it also gives us a chance to really exemplify Christ in you outwardly.  If somebody has hurt you, frustrated you, upset you, we still have to show love.  Yes, it is hard when somebody "gets" to you but remember that a merciful person does not expose a person's faults just for their own personal gain.  It is a beautiful beautiful thing when we protect even our enemies and we don't talk bad about them.  I'm not going to lie, I have had moments of "slip" ups with allowing my frustrations to get the best of me.  So, do not fret if this has been a challenge for you.  There is forgiveness, redemption, purification, and the gift of change when we lay it all down at the foot of the cross.  

"A troublemaker plants seed of strife; gossip separates the best of friends." Proverbs 16:28

We have to also be careful with "venting".  Venting is most of the time really "gossip" and for some reason people seem to think "venting" is an excuse to talk badly about somebody else but it isn't.    Gossip is hurtful and a very sinful act of the tongue!  Remember, those seeds are planted and not just with the person you are talking about but for yourself.  Gossip hurts you as well, if not more!  You might not feel the repercussions right away but eventually you will. Gossip is a very very dangerous ground to walk on when it comes to the tongue.  If you need to talk to about the "issue" or how somebody else frustrates you, talk to God!  One of the things I have learned from the amazing women in my Church is that God is the BEST person to talk to because He knows the other person as well!  He can offer you peace by not only comforting you but also speaking grace into your heart for the other person.  He loves all of us and He understands all of our hearts and where we all are and why we do the things we do.  He can give us that grace, love, and peace towards the other person that we need in order to show the love that He commands us to show others, even our enemies. We NEED Him to help us with such a huge task because this is hard.  I mean, He invented friendships for a reason, right?  There is a fine line between "discussing" and "gossip" and trust me, I'm still learning this myself.

One of the other things the Bible has taught me is to never openly confront somebody in front of others where it can cause embarrassment.  Remember, we still have to love, even our enemies.  You go to your brother or sister privately and try and straighten out the issue just between you two.  If that doesn't work then you have a choice to take another brother with you, according to the Bible, or simply let it go.  In my most recent case, I chose to just let it go and let God.  We can't give up the power to control our own happiness and so in order to keep that control of your own life and happiness, you have to hand it over to God.  Let Him deal with it.  Perhaps there are things in your heart and the other person's heart that He needs to still work on.  No problem.  TRUST HIM!  He always fights for us and for peace!  

God has invested a lot of time into you, so don't lose your worth on how somebody else has treated you or what they say about you cause you then lose joy in your life.  Our worth and value are not in what we do or in what others think or say about us, our worth is in the fact that we are children of God.  Remember, whatever we sow, we reap and this includes our thoughts.  Our thoughts are seeds, so you must continue to think positive and good about yourself and about your life and about the amazing plans God has for you.  Protect your thoughts and wrap every thought in love.  We cannot harm another with our thoughts, we only harm ourselves! 

We can't change yesterday but we can be happy, courageous, and encouraging today.  We can start again by forgiving others and ourselves and declare today the first day of the rest of your life.  God gives us the gift of u-turns and new beginnings, so utilize these gifts!  There is nothing we have done that cannot be fixed by God.  The battle belongs to Him, so let Him fight it for you! God wants us to stop talking about the days of the past and look forward and embrace the new days ahead! 

If God Doesn't Demand Perfection, Neither Should We

So, lately I have been finding myself questioning how much grace I really do extend to others.  This morning I listened to a pod cast that totally spoke to my heart and helped me piece together some of my own behaviors.  It made me realize there are some things about myself that I need to change..... it was a total blanket of conviction that overcame me with the desire to change something.  It caused me to close my eyes and see the faces of people who I haven't given grace to lately.  I started asking myself all kinds of questions, "what kind of Christian am I if I can't just walk in love?", "what kind of Christian professes to love Christ but then turns around and doesn't love with all that I have to the people around me?", "what kind of Christian expects grace, mercy, and love from a God who so freely gives this to me yet not turn around and extend the same grace, mercy, and love to others?" 

Funny how God works and touches us.  The sermon was over judgement and the love God extends to us.  It really made me think about the questions I had been asking myself and I realized, the kind of Christian I had been lately was like many of the Christians we meet today.  I say this boldly and with a great amount of conviction and I'm sure I'll ruffle some feathers here, BUT almost every Christian today faces these same questions and same attitude.  Yet, some of them do NOTHING to change it.  We are known to walk around with our heads held high casting judgement and displaying an unforgiving heart towards others.  We walk around telling ourselves that our sin is "ok" because "it isn't as bad as hers or as ugly as his."  We walk around separating ourselves from the unlovable because we don't have time or the decency to LOVE them anyway.  We forget that we were once and might be again the "unlovable" and most of the time the unlovable ones are unlovable because they need love the MOST!  

"Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God." Romans 15:7

The truth is, we are all seen the same in God's eyes.  We are all seen with love, mercy, beauty, and glory.  We are all human and all prone to make mistakes, yet Christ died for all of us.  Not just one of us and certainly not just the one who says a little white lie yet down to hell you who "do worse".  Sin is sin, no matter how big or small and we are so blessed to serve a God who loved us so much He sent His only son to die for us.  So, if as Christians, we are to walk in His image, then why aren't we loving others the way we should?  Why aren't we extending the grace and mercy we are supposed to?  

If God can tolerate my mistakes, we should be able to tolerate other's mistakes.

They say the single most reason for atheism in today's society are "Christians".  Because we profess Him with our mouth yet turn around and live a different lifestyle and in a different way.  I fully believe this.  

What stand are you going to make, as a Christian, to make sure WE (CHRISTIANS) are not the REASON somebody turns away from Christ but turns TO HIM?  I encourage you to take a stand today and ask God for forgiveness and ask Him to increase your ability to love others the way HE wants us to!!!  I promise, you will feel an amazing transformation happen in your heart and in the world around you! 

Jesus wants unity in His followers.

Pizzaghetti

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
• 1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) package sliced pepperoni
• 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives
• 1 (8 ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain and transfer to a 7x11-inch baking dish.               

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 

3.  Stir spaghetti sauce into pasta until coated; add 2 to 3 layers of pepperoni, olives, and mushrooms on top of spaghetti. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.               

4.  Bake in the preheated oven until heated through, about 20 minutes; uncover and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and continue baking until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.    

Lasagna

Ingredients:

8 ounces lasagna noodles
1 pound lean ground beef
2/3 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
2 pounds ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano Cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup dried basil
1 clove garlic pressed
1 (8 ounce) package sliced pepperoni sausage
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain
3.  In large skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef until brown; drain.  In small saucepan, heat spaghetti sauce.

4.  In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, Romano, egg, basil, and garlic.

5. Coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce.  Place 3 or 4 noodles, overlapping edges, over sauce.  Spread half of ricotta mixture over noodles.  Cover ricotta with half of browned beef, half of pepperoni slices, and 1/4 of moxxarella cheese.  Repeat sauce, noodle, ricotta, meat and cheese layers.  Layer sauce and noodles again, and pour remaining sauce over all, being sure to cover the edges.  Top with remaining mozzarella.

6. Cover pan with foil and pierce foil 3 or 4 times with fork to ventilate.  Bake 45 minutes, remove foil, and bake 15 minutes more to brown the top.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.