Good in the Kitchen

This weekend I chose to have a rather Hobbit like existence. I stayed [mostly] in my house by myself reading and making delicious food.

The first delicious food that I made was Carrot/Pumpkin/Cinnamon Chip muffins. I love these and ever since having been given the super easy and Weight Watchers friendly recipe by my awesome roommate, I have enjoyed keeping them on hand.

The recipe:
- 1 box cake mix
(I chose carrot this time, but have done chocolate, vanilla, and spice. All have been yummy.)
- 1 can of pumpkin
- 1 cup of water

That's it. Blend it together, put in some chips if you like and bake at 350 for 18 or so minutes. Delish!

The second thing I crafted was pasta salad. I looked up some recipes to get some ideas, but mostly I just kept adding stuff to the bowl until it tasted and looked so fantastic I could hardly stand it.

 

Things I remember including in this deliciousness:

- 1 box garden rotini pasta

- cherry tomatoes halved

- sliced green peppers

- black olives sliced

- feta (anything with feta is delicious in my opinion)

- cucumber chunks

- roasted red peppers (my new favorite thing)

- Italian/Caesar dressing

- herb infused olive oil (thanks, Amy, for making me an olive oil snob)

- blackberry ginger balsamic vinegar (thanks, Lara)

 

I have no idea how much of each, I just know it was so so good. Also, if you have never tried herb infused olive oil or specialty balsamic vinegar, you are missing out. I was delighted to receive them as gifts this Christmas and have gladly been converted to an olive oil and vinegar snob.

 

The third thing I concocted was fabulous black bean hummus from the recipe given to me from my second mom, Karen Cattell. It calls for a food processor, which I do not have, but I used a blender. It worked enough, although I did end up wasting a bit of it that I could not get out.

 

The recipe:

- 1 can rinsed black beans

- 1 minced garlic clove (I am terrible at mincing)

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

- 1/2 tsp ground cumin (my favorite spice)

 

Just throw it in a mixing device and blend it up until it is an even consistency. I enjoy eating this with carrot sticks.

 

The last thing I made was the most satisfying of the creations as I have been thinking about and wanting to make them for some time. The pocket pita, how do they get that pocket in there anyway? I used a recipe I came across on Pinterest and it worked splendidly.

 

This link takes you to the blog containing the recipe:

Pita Recipe

There were only 4 ingredients: yeast, water, salt and flour. (I used whole wheat flour, so the consistency could come out different pending your flour choice.)

 

I was so excited that it actually worked I could hardly contain myself. They did turn out pretty crunchy, which was still good, but I might bake them a for a little less time next time. 

So in my opinion, as someone who has been labeled a thera-baker (one who bakes when under stress), it was a wonderfully refreshing weekend in the kitchen for me. Some of the deliciousness was consumed by wonderful friends at our pre-contra potluck Saturday, but much of it is still left to be enjoyed throughout this week.

And for your listening pleasure, follow this link to the song inspiration for this blog title:
Good in the Kitchen - Bearfoot

There Would Be No Story

One of my all time favorite quotes is from the 2003 live action version of Peter Pan. (there is a similar line in the book). As the parents rush upstairs to check on the children the Narrator says in a pleasantly English accent:

It would be delightful to report that they reached the nursery in time...

but then, there would be no story.

It seems that over the past few years talking about life and how it is a story has become a rather popular and trendy thing to do. (Maybe this has always been popular and I am just now noticing.)

As trendy as it may be, it is an idea that I genuinely appreciate.

How many times do we wish we had made it just in time, or that this small circumstance had been changed? How would these small changes affect the bigger story, the picture that is being painted by the lives we live?

Would anyone want to read your story? To watch your story? To live your story?

Can we change our stories? Are our stories meant to change us?

This line from Peter Pan, as simple as it may be, gives me a rush of adrenaline every time I think about it. As the narrator says the line, you see the parents run up the stairs and the children fly out the window. And so begins their adventure in Neverland.

How many adventures are we missing because we want to arrive safely rather than take that seemingly small detour into something else?

I don't know about you, but I want a story worth telling. It doesn't have to be full of drama and flashing lights. But I hope that someday I look back at my life and see that I did not tip toe to death safely. I rather hope that I will look back and see that I danced, skipped, laughed, cried and fell on my face as often as possible and that hopefully through my life others were inspired to do the same.

the good news

i am reading the book 'When Helping Hurts' in preparation for an upcoming trip. and it has been very eye opening and thought provoking and i am only on chapter 2!

in reading this morning i was reminded that this world, the one we call home, is broken. even among the things we find joy and beauty in, it is still ultimately broken.

but the good news is...Jesus came to restore it! He brought the Kingdom of God which is here now, but at the same time not yet (confusing i know) in order to bring restoration to God's creation.

Colossians 1.15-20 says:
¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Jesus came to reconcile. to make things new. to unbreak the broken.

that is the Good News. the Gospel.

not just going to heaven instead of hell. ALL will be restored to what God intended. this thought and anticipation gives me goosebumps.

can you imagine what things will be like when all is brought to full restoration?

a sunrise can bring me to tears because of its beauty on this broken messy world we live in. can you imagine what a perfect sunrise, just as God created it, will look like? seen through eyes that have perfect vision? i don't know that i can. but i can hardly wait to see it.

another verse that i brings this to light for me is 1 Corinthians 13.12.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 

we only know in part now. we only see in part now. we get sick, things die, we are selfish. but there is hope. hope that Jesus is restoring and will restore all that was lost.

 

in this i rest each day. come, Lord Jesus, and let us see what you are preparing!

pro.duc.tiv.ity

productivity was the name of the game today. i didn't intentionally name it that, it just happened.

 

start the day: 6:30 am.

yes, it is my day off. yes, i still got up at 6:30. i have an amazingly accurate and mostly helpful internal alarm clock. i always have. you can ask my parents. sometimes i do wish i could turn it off but today it was a great thing.

 

first things first, look at the list of things i made to do on my day off and see what could be knocked off the list first.

 

- fix rain boots. the heel came unattached after wearing them twice and they have been sitting unused for a year and half. with some shoe glue and some weights i marked that off before 7am. 

 

- update my travel journal. i would prefer to write in it while i am actually traveling, but sometimes i would rather enjoy the adventure. 2 trips to OH and the recent excursion to TN and AL are now documented.

 

- write a note to a friend. check.

 

- clean up craft closet. this could have put a wrench in the whole list. but it was actually rather quick and efficient. i was done with that before 9am!

 

i'm such a weirdo to be excited about doing things so early in the morning.

 

- next up, organize my desk. which led to under the bed, which led to the closet, which led to the extra closet. which led to me thinking i have too much stuff. so i got rid of some of it.

 

- post office. somewhere in the closet organization i paused to run to the post office to mail 2 packages.

 

- and the last thing before lunch was to sew a pillowcase for a friend.

 

- then pause, eat some lunch. unpause, back to productivity day 2013.

 

- make a hemp bracelet per the request of a bracelet owner that has a bracelet on it's last string.

 

- finish a book. any book i'm currently reading would do. i chose the shortest one. Help. Thanks. Wow. by Anne Lamott. it was good. thought provoking.

 

- and then i added some things to the list. sweep the floor, do the dishes, straighten the common areas. take out the trash.

 

- and last on the list: workout. and at 2:20 i took a nice stroll around camp for my daily activity since yesterday i did a real butt kicking workout. and that stroll led me around the lake to see the look up waterfall flowing strong after 3 days of rain.

 

i think my overly productive morning and afternoon were well worth catching the waterfall at its finest and relaxing and enjoying some good company this evening.

hooray for a productive day! i have needed to do some of the things i did today for weeks. i am so pleased to have them done.

the magic in the middle

from our childhood between my sisters and i there is a, let's say...legend. a legend about cookies. according to the sources that be [me, maggie, and sara] there was a night that someone ate 13 cookies in one sitting. that person may have been me, and i may have been about 9 years old. i know that they may have been rainbow chip cookies, the best of the keebler realm if you ask me. (i always ate around the m&ms and saved them for last.)

but the legend sometimes says they were magic middles.

what is a magic middle you ask?

well let me tell you.

they were the actual best cookie from the keebler realm, but have not been in production for most of my life.

the magic middle is a cookie that looks plain and boring from the outside. but just when your are expecting a dry crummy cookie, you bite into it and there is a deliciously fudgy middle.

the best way to eat these in my opinion was to nibble around the edge until you have eaten to the center. then twist the top and bottom apart and enjoy them fudge side down one at a time.

mmm. they were good.

a few weeks ago maggs and i were reminiscing about childhood and either the 13 cookie legend came up or the magic middles. one leading to the other.

i mildly forgot about this until i ran across an article about foods that are no more and there were the magic middles.

over the years, we have talked about how to make them on our own, but never succeeded.

then this article told me the secret that we had forgotten. they are shortbread cookies. not regular cookie. shortbread.

so that was that.

i looked up aunt betty's (aka betty crocker) shortbread recipe, which was a simple 3 ingredients (way less complicated than any i found online) and found some chocolate to put in the middle and started baking.

i tried 3 different chocolate option. hershey, which was not a success. dark chocolate chips, which was ok, and nutella, which worked well at first but didnt work that well after a few days.

although the chocolate options have not been the perfect option yet, i think we are very close to the re-creation. and this makes my taste buds so very happy.

2012 Reading Log

one goal i set for 2012 was to keep a reading log of all the books i finished reading. and according to this list i read 20 books in 2012. i think the goal for 2013 will be 24. in reviewing the list, i recall thoroughly enjoying most all of them. i think the top 3 for me are the last 3, but that could be because they are the freshest in my mind. (i also enjoyed the novel my mom wrote a whole lot)

 

(most of the books, some are out on loan)

2012 reading log by month completed:

One Amazing Thing, Chitra Divakarumi – January

Peace, Love, and Mashed Potatoes, Penny McGinnis – January

Leota’s Garden, Francine Rivers –February

Authentic Beauty, Leslie Ludy – February

Bad Girls of the Bible, Liz Curtis Higgs – April

Sister Freaks, Rebecca St. James – May

Craving Grave, Lisa Velthouse – June

Love Does, Bob Goff – July

Revelations of a Single Woman, Connally Gilliam – August

Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron Rolston – August

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster – August

Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller (re-read) – August

Is that Really You God?, Loren Cunningham  – September

Discipline: the glad surrender, Elisabeth Elliott – September

Pure Heart (re-read), Shellie R. Warren – September

Unveiled, Francine Rivers – September    

Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Bau,  - October

Sisterhood Everlasting, Ann Brashares – November

A Year of Biblical Womanhood, Rachel Held Evans – December

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien – December

here's to another year of being lost in someone else's world for a few hours a week! happy reading.