What's for Dinner?- Sausage and Potatoes

Some days we just need a quick and easy meal for dinner. Sometimes we just don't plan out our meals or what we had planned will take more energy than we're willing to dole out.

On Monday, we were busy. I was getting ready to leave in less than an hour, the kids were doing homework and Michael was tired from being a parent volunteer for both Sidda and MJ's classes. It makes for a busy long day.

We really didn't have a dinner planned but we needed something fast. So I opened the 'fridge and saw some smoked sausage, and DING I had an idea.

I started by washing up a chopping 4 potatoes and one onion.

Next, I heated up a little olive oil in a large skillet. After it had warmed up a couple of minutes I added the potatoes and onions. Be sure to add salt to your potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are soft to your preferred texture. If you let them cook a little longer at little higher heat they can get crispy.

 While the potatoes are cooking, chop your sausage into bite size pieces.

Add it to the pan and cook until heated through.

We served it up with a side of scrambled eggs for the kids and fried eggs for the adults. 

Including chopping, this meal took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. It's would also make a delicious breakfast.

So, tell me, what is your favorite go to meal when you are short on time or energy?

What's for Dinner?- Oven Fried Chicken Drumsticks

The other night I make some chicken drumstick goodness.

We were getting ready for the Super Bowl and we had planned on having sandwiches and chips.  A really easy night.  But Michael was in the mood for a little something more.  He wanted at least something to be hot.

So, it's Pinterest to the rescue!  I found this recipe at foodloverr.com

I changed it up a bit but the end result was marvelous!

For my seasonings I used garlic salt, cajon seasoning, oregano and pepper.  Loaded that up with some flour in a freezer bag.  I threw the drumsticks in a shook it all together.  Put some butter in a couple of 9X13 dishes and put in all in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.  I flipped them and cooked for another 30 minutes (they were really big drumsticks) and flipped one more time for 10 minutes.

The end result was delicious, moist chicken drumsticks that added just what we needed to watch some football!

What a sad blurry picture.  It was a last minute after thought to take a quick picture.

Michael approved!

Book Review: The Walking Dead- Compendium One

Michael finally got me to start watching The Walking Dead with him.  The show is interesting and dramatic.  It has you hooked the minute you begin watching.

Well, since we've been watching it I decided to get Michael the comic for Christmas.  But instead of buying each one individually I went ahead and got The Walking Dead: Compendium One. It has issues 1-48 of the comic in it.

Michael sped through it and almost didn't put it down.  I can't remember the last time he read something so fast.  So I thought that I would give it a read.....

And let me tell you.....

source

I couldn't put it down either.  It just sucks you in.  There are some parts that I absolutely HATED seeing.  There are somethings I could have gone my whole life without ever thinking about.  But at the same time it was just fascinating.

Personally, I like the TV show better.  It's way mild in comparison to the comic.  Much more my speed.  But if you enjoy the show and want to get a taste of the original, pick it up and give it a shot.

Be warned, it is GRAPHIC and INTENSE.  And do not bother getting attached to anyone.  No one is safe.  Even if you've seen the show.... even if you think you know... don't get to like ANYONE.  You'll thank me for it.

What's for Dinner?- Chicken and Chorizo Soup (in the slow cooker)

I don't know if you know this... but it has been super cold outside the last few days.  Brrrrr...  And when it gets cold it soup time.  My favorite kind of soup to make is Chicken and Chorizo soup.  To me this soup is somewhere between a soup, a chili and a stew depending on how I make it.

I first found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it was pretty good.  I don't think I've ever made it exactly as it says because I like to mix things up a bit.  But here is how I like to make my soup.

Chicken and Chorizo Soup (in the slow cooker)

1 chopped onion

1 lb chorizo (we used deer chorizo)

1-2 lbs chicken (depends how much I want to use)

1-2 Tbsp Worcestershire

galic salt to taste

chili powder to taste

cumin to taste 

(I use quite a bit of the seasonings.  I like my food to have some flavor)

minced garlic

2 cans diced tomatoes

2 cans corn

1 can black beans, rinsed (optional, I only add this sometimes)

2-3 cups of water or chicken broth (depending on how soupy you want it.)

1/2-1 cup of milk or cream (depending on how creamy you want it)

sour cream and shredded cheese to serve with.

I chopped up my onion.  I love onions.  They bring such goodness and flavor to other foods!

Throw the chorizo and onions in a pan and cook together until the chorizo is brown and the onions are soft. I added a pinch of salt while sauteing.  Drain.

Add chicken to the crock pot.  As you can see mine was still very much frozen.  It went in fine and tasted great when it cooked.

Add on the garlic salt and garlic and seasonings.

Add in corn, tomatoes, beans, chorizo, water/ broth (I typically use water with bullion cubes) and milk.  Cook of low for 8 hours or more.  Shred your chicken and stir.

I almost forgot to get a picture of the soup!  This isn't the best picture.  This is Michael's bowl and it was halfway gone.  Oops.  Top with sour cream and shredded cheese and enjoy.  We usually have cheese quesadillas on the side.  Yum!

I had friends over to share in our soup and this batch fed 5 adults, 5 kids and a baby with a little left over.  It makes a ton.  It also makes great leftovers.

What's for Dinner?: Veggie Pizza My Way

One of my favorite things to do with Sidda is to make homemade pizza.  She loves helping with sauce and the toppings.  I love making a delicious pizza crust that my whole family likes.

We always make 3 pizzas whenever we have pizza night.  A cheese for Sidda and Anya, a pepperoni for MJ and a third one for Michael and me that's not so basic.  Lately, we have been making veggie pizza.  This is more than your average peppers, mushrooms and onions pizza.  It's so much for and I love it!

I put a little oil in a pan and saute some stir-fry frozen veggies.  In the bag there are green beans, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, celery and red peppers.  Then I added some frozen pearl onions (these are super tasty!).  And finally I added some spinach.  I let it saute until the veggies were crisp.

On the pizza crust I put some marinara sauce, then the sauteed veggies followed by some pizza cheese.  We put the veggies under the cheese because it helps keep them from following off while eating it.  Put in a 500 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is crisp.  This time we added a couple of pepperonis to the tops too.

Don't let the picture deceive you.  The veggies are under the cheese!

What's for Dinner?- Mini Pizza on Bagels

Well, it's more of a what's for lunch than what for dinner post.  But it's ok.  It's food and it's good.  Michael and I had some meatball subs the other night and had some leftover marinara sauce that I wanted to use up before it wen to waste.  I also had on hand some mini bagels and pizza cheese.  So mini pizzas it is!  Yay!  They were super easy to put together and went over great with the kids and the husband too.

Just split the bagels on a baking sheet, through on some sauce and cheese.  Heat in the oven at 350 for about 10-15 minutes- until the cheese has melted and the bagels toasted.  Enjoy!

150 Days of Psalms: Psalm 1

I haven't written anything Bible related in well over a year.  I was reading through the Bible from Genesis on, trying to write my thoughts as finished each book.  But after I got through Song of Songs I kind of just stopped.

It's not that I stopped reading my Bible.  I read it every single day.  I just stopped going through the books as they are placed in the Bible.  I also only read a chapter a day (unless I'm studying something specific).  I have accountability in my reading daily with Michael.  He reads the same chapter each day on his own.  We take notes on what we read and talk about it later.  We typically discuss it before we go to bed each night but occasionally do it earlier in the day.

We started this on January 1, 2012 and have continued daily.  We read through the NT one chapter at a time.  It took around 9 months to do so.  We hopped from book to book mixing things up to try to keep it interesting.  It helped a lot because I have many time read through the Gospels one after another by separating therm out I didn't get burned out so quickly.

We have since moved to the OT.  And today we are starting Psalms.  At a chapter a day you're talking five months of Psalm reading.  Maybe you would be ok with this.  Maybe daily Psalm reading makes you all giddy inside.  Well, pin a rose on your nose, because this is not the case with me.  Psalms is my least favorite book in the entire Bible.  I don't get them.  They go right over my head.  When I read them last I tried to attack the book and just get through it.  It was not fun or enjoyable.

My goal this time around is to enjoy reading it.  To reset my current opinion and not dread when it's time to read a Psalm.  So my plan is to do my daily reading and post about it.  Hence, 150 Days of Psalms.

So, here we go.... Day 1-Psalm 1. (you can read the Psalm by clicking on the link)

Ok, let's jump right in.  We are blessed if we do not walk in wickedness.  Why wouldn't you want to be blessed?  Well, in order to not walk in wickedness we need to delight in the laws of God.  Seems simple enough, right?  Wrong.  I like to be in control.  Laws are rules, rules take the control away from me.  But I want to be blessed!  Oh the conflict!

I'm getting better at the control thing, though.  I find that not following the rules leads to lots of drama.  I detest drama... so not worth the trouble.  I'd rather follow God, love Jesus, follow his simple command of "Love God and Love others" and be blessed.  When you're wicked things are much more complicated.  Drama comes and makes you crazy!  So let's be blessed!

Book Review: The Mark of Athena

I actually finished reading The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan back in January.  I've just been so busy preparing for the baby that I just never sat down and wrote my review of it.

Can I tell you that I absolutely loved it!?  I get a huge kick out of this series that Riordan has put together.  I started reading the Percy Jackson series years ago and have followed it along ever since.

The Mark of Athena is his best work yet.  The 7 of the prophecy have finally all joined forces in an attempt to save the world.  There was so much more than the past books had to offer.  There is a lot of wit and humor and action that I have come to expect, but this book was just more.  I think what helped seal a lot of it for me was getting to be in on Annabeth's point of view.  This is an angle we've never gotten to see before, since Percy Jackson and the Olympians was all from Percy's first person perspective and in The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune Annabeth was hardly present in.

Annabeth is the daughter of Athena. She is smart and logical and really thinks things out.  She is crazy about Percy, her boyfriend, who she has just been reunited with.  But the trouble is that even though she finally has what she has been looking for for month, Percy, she now has a new task that has been given to her by Athena.  She can't tell anyone about it.  It can cause a lot of problems what she has to do and she is scared of losing what she just got back.  We get to see a lot of how Annabeth thinks and the fears she faces.

The other highlight for me was Leo.  I think out of everyone Leo is my favorite.  The son of Hephaestus he is creative and useful.  He is also just down right funny.  Leo keeps the story rolling with his one liners and comments.  But he is also just and awesome character.

One of the best thing about this series is how much my kids love it.  After I finish reading the book I get the audio version and we all listen to it together as a family.  Sidda and MJ and even Michael really enjoy hearing the story.  And I'm sure as soon as Anya is big enough she will enjoy this family time that we have together as well.

I can't wait to see what happens in The House of Hades.

Book Review: Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?

That's right.... I've already finished my first baby/pregnancy centered book.  Do Chocolate Lovers have Sweeter Babies? by Jena Pincott.

This is one of those books that you pick up and can't put down.  It's full of information about the process from conception to birth and the months after.  It is not written in typical pregnancy book format, but instead it is laced with the authors thoughts, questions, troubles and triumphs.  I love the way that Pincott presented the information, though some of it went right over my head. (I'm not to sciencey)  But I did my best to follow along.

Some interesting parts:

The author insists that her husband will breastfeed there daughter.  It cracks me up!  Her husband says it's never going to happen.  It's because there have been cases in the world where men have had to pick up the slack because they mother is no longer around, the food is scarce and the baby is hungry.  The men would actually start lactating.  Medically it is possible, they have all the equipment necessary, just in smaller portions that what women usually have.  What they lack is the hormones that are needed to make it happen.  But their bodies are capable of producing these hormones in extreme situations. (I do not think this is something that Michael would ever consider and it kind of grosses me out.)

Will the foods that we eat the most of during pregnancy be a favorite food of the baby?  The studies show that it could really go either way, some will love and other hate.

White people tend to have longer pregnancies than other races as a whole.  According to the studies it seems that white children take their time to show their faces somewhere between 39-41 weeks.  Where children of other races may only need 37-38 weeks.  And if the baby is of mixed race it depends on the race of the father for gestation time.

And for the chocolate:  People who eat chocolate on a regular basis tend to have kids who have a better disposition.  They are calmer.  It could be because those who ate the chocolate tended to have less stress than those who didn't, and constant stress is not good on the baby.


I do recommend this book for others.  There is so much information and written in an easy to follow manner.

The Parable of the Lost Son

I've been very blessed that Michael and I have started a new way of doing a daily devotional together.  We've tried many different ways like reading a devotional book, or reading out loud together.  These things last for a week or a few days but then usually fall to the wayside as life gets in the way.  But now we found a way to do some Bible studying together that really works for us and we have kept it going every single day since January 1st.  What we do is we pick a book of the Bible and each day on our own we read a chapter of the current book we are on.  We right down our thoughts and questions in a notebook and each night we come together with what we have read and discuss it.  Some nights it leads to long discussions and other nights are simply an over view of what we read that night.

We are currently going through Luke with a plan to follow it up with Acts.  About a week ago we read through chapter 15 which contains The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Lost Son.  Now I've read through these many times and have always gotten the gist of what they were about but never really dove deeply into these parables before.  All three parables have the same principle to it, when the lost are returned to God there is a celebration in heaven when people return to God.  This is a wonderful thing and it hit me that God celebrated me.  What a concept?!  God celebrated me!  This thought brings me such incredible joy.  God has so many people that love him, but when I can to him he celebrated my coming into his family.

But I always had a problem with the parable of the Lost Son.  If you need a refresher here it is.  This Parable is found in Luke 15: 11-32

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

   ¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

   ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

   “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

   ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

   ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

   ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

   ²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

   ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Now, in the past when I have read through this I have identified not with the lost son, but instead with the older son.  My thought was, why are you celebrating this stupid kid who ran off, took your stuff and did awful things and not the son who stayed with you, took care of your things and loved you?  This bitterness affected the way I viewed my life as well.  There were times that I would think to myself, how can they love God, call themselves a Christian with how they behave?  I was judging where I had no right, but this is not what we are talking about now.

This last time that I read it through, after the son returns and the father holds a celebration for him and the older son questions the father saying "I've done everything you've ever asked of me but you never gave me the things you are giving him who wasted your resources and ran off!  Why?"  But the fathers response is what really hit me, "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.'"  His celebration of the lost son has nothing to do with his love for the other.  He always belonged to the father, he had his love, care and protection.  The father does not love him less because of his celebration of the other, he is just showing his happiness of the return of the lost, because he could not reach him before.

When we have family members that we have not seen or heard of in a long time to we not become excited to see them and celebrate?  Some celebrate with hugs and kisses and tears and others celebrate this with parties and big family get togethers.  But those who are always around, the big celebration isn't needed because they were always there.  They receive a daily celebration of love because they are present to get it.  I get the love from God because I am daily blessed to be in his presence.  I get to have his love, grace and mercy each and every single day.  There are many out there who do not have this covering because they choose to remain lost, but when they come to God they will receive the celebration to say "welcome to the family" and get the love they have been missing out on because they just wouldn't come home.

Proverbs

Oh, Proverbs.  One of the more enjoyable books of the Bible in my opinion.  To me, they are like little fortune cookies of wisdom.  They are straight forward, tell it to your face snippets of awesomeness.  (I probably use all forms of awesome too much, but hey, it's what I do.)  So, I'm just going to go through a couple of the proverbs that have caught my attention through my reading this time and comment on them a bit.

"Listen, my son, to your father's

instruction

and do not forsake your

mother's teaching.

They will be a garland to grace

your head

and a chain to adorn your

neck."

     -Proverbs 1:8-9

Ok, so your parents aren't completely stupid like you thought.  They can be a great resource to you because they have been right where you are now.  They were young once, have grown and do know what they're talking about.  Their knowledge can help you make better decisions as you go through life.

"For a lack of guidance a nations falls,

but many advisers make victory sure"

-Proverbs 11:14

I am not political by any means, but this caught my attention because it seems like we as a nation are failing.  We do not have wise people leading our way and those who are in charge can not seem to work together for the good of us because we are looking in the wrong places.

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,

but he who hates correction is stupid"

-Proverbs 12:1

I probably only likes this one because I love it when the Bible calls people stupid, because we are stupid.  In my experience to grow and know more you have to be disciplined in your learning and when correction is needed embrace it because it makes you better in the end.

"Gray hair is a crown of splendor,

it is attained by a righteous life"

-Proverbs 16:31

This one made me think of Michael and all that gray hair that he has.  He must have been noticed as righteous early in life since he was already starting to gray when I met him when he was fifteen years old.

Proverbs is an great book to look into.  It keeps everything simple and easy to follow and I think is also a good starting off point if new to Bible reading because it's not super intimidating when you begin.

Rolled Page Letter Bookends

Way back in October I made a rolled page letter A (which you can see here) with the intention of hanging it in my front doorway to add some character to an empty wall area.  But, the letter was too small to really make the space look nice, so I had another idea.  I went ahead and made a Z to go with my A and will be adding a wood block to the back to keep them stable and created my own unique bookends.

This make me very excited because I have been searching for bookends to help display our collection of foreign language Bibles.  I wanted something that looked nice and never really found anything I liked and I really wanted to get them out of the bookshelf and out in the open.

Our collection includes:

•  Polish prayer book
•  Hebrew NT
•  2 Indian Bibles but two different languages
• Thiruviviliam
• Hindi 
• French Bible
• Spanish Bible
• Korean Bible
• Japanese Bible
• Bulgarian Bible

We've been blessed by friends and family that while they have traveled have known about our collection and have brought us back Bibles from the countries they visited.  A couple of the Bibles we found in used book stores and the Japanese Bible was a Christmas present to Michael from my parents (it took them a couple of months to track one down).  I get excited anytime we receive or find a new one to add and hope to add more to the rest very soon.

The Secret of NIMH

Do you remember The Secret of NIMH? I have to say that this was truly one of my favorite cartoons growing up. I really couldn't tell you why I was so drawn to a cartoon movie about a mouse, some hyper intelligent rats, a crow and cat. But this movie is magical.

Last night as we were sitting down to try and decide what to watch together as a family we came across this on Netflix and immediately Michael and I were ready to watch. More so than Sidda and MJ were. This was a movie of our childhood and we wanted to share it with our children. And watching it last night, it was as good as I remember.

There are so many movies and TV shows that you remember as a kid only to view them as an adult and see how truly terrible they were. The Secret of NIMH is not one of those movies. I loved watching it again. It was brilliant!