What's for Dinner?- Chicken Enchiladas

Last night for dinner we had GIANT chicken enchiladas. I used the 12 inch tortillas that I received from Bountiful Baskets.

Inside the enchilada is chicken, onions, red bell peppers, taco seasoning, chili powder, ground coriander, basil, refried beans, cilantro and cheese. I don't know the measurements.... I just tossed it in as I felt it needed. Then before baking, it was covered in enchilada sauce and cheese.

I do have to say, it turned out so good. But they're huge, so eating one was the most you can eat in a sitting, maybe not even that. But I do know that Michael took some leftovers for lunch today!

1 Kings

Wow! What an intense book of the Bible! There is so much time covered and so much information given that there were times that I felt like my brain turned to mush. This is one of those books that you have to take slow.

It starts off with David close to death and his son Adonijah set himself up as king. This is not the way it was suppose to be. You see, God had decided long before that Solomon would be king. So, David in his old age had to dethrone Adonijah and make Solomon king.

Solomon began with a heart for the Lord, and because of this God offered Solomon to ask for whatever her desired, and Solomon wanted wisdom (he sounds pretty wise to begin with to ask for wisdom.) The most famous story regarding Solomon using his wisdom and judgement was during an argument between to prostitutes over a baby. They both had bore a child each, but one of them died during the night causing them to fight over the one remaining child. Solomon said to cut the child in half with one girl saying she would rather the baby be cut in two so neither of them could have him and the other insisted that the child be given to the other to save his life. The compassionate mother received her child back.

Solomon was wise in all areas. He built the temple to the Lord that David had started. He also got along with surrounding kingdoms by marrying into the families of the rulers there. Solomon, I guess, was just as skanky as his father in this regard. Also, marrying into these families caused him to turn away from God and allow rituals and sacrifices to idols.

But moving on from Solomon because there is so much more to cover and it's already starting to get a little long...

There is a lot that happens. Israel is divided into two nations, Judah and Israel. But let's skip way ahead to Ahab and Jezebel. 1 Kings 16:29-31 says

"In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat,, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him."

In other words, he was bad news, and his wife was even worse. But you know, God is awesome and sent Elijah. Elijah was sent by God to tell the Israelites to turn from their evil ways, stop worshiping Baal and return to worshiping the Lord. My favorite story about Elijah happens on Mount Carmel. Elijah tells Ahab to provide his prophets of Baal (in which he sent 400) and they will have a contest, if you will. They will each provide an offering to their god and whoever answers by fire is the one true God. So Elijah let the prophets of Baal go first. They danced, the shouted, they praised, but nothing happened.

"At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surly he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."" -1 Kings 18:27

I had to add it in. They were getting absolutely no response. Elijah mocked them. They cut themselves. They bled to get their gods attention, but he did not answer.

Then it was Elijah's turn. He prepared is offering, soaked the alter in water and then prayed to God. God sent fire and burned up the offering and dried up the alter of all the water, proving whose god was God.

Now, back to Ahab. He wanted help from the King of Judah to attack Ramoth Gilead. Now, Jehoshaphat (the king of Judah) asked for prophets to be called forward and asked if they should go to war. Many prophets came and said that they should. Jehoshaphat asked if there was one more to be asked.

"The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." -1 Kings 22:8

This made me laugh out loud to read. And it was true. He did not prophesy anything good for Ahab. Instead, he sent Ahab into battle which ended his life.

To me, while reading 1 Kings, it shows how weak Ahab was as a person. In most of the things that he did Jezebel was behind the scenes telling him what to do. Leading the way, really, but we will see her death in 2 Kings, so stay tuned.

Bountiful Baskets

I should have written about this almost two weeks ago, but we have started ordering our produce through Bountiful Baskets Co-Op. and I must say... I love it!

We payed $15 and received enough produce to last our family of 4 two weeks and the included making a huge fruit salad that I took over to my moms house for everyone to enjoy (made only from the fruit I received from BB).

This is what we received on our first pick up:

Romaine Lettuce

Kale

English Cucumber

Cauliflower

6 Bananas

Canary Melon (this was delicious)

broccoli

Green Onions

5 red pears

5 Nectarines

12 plums

3 tomatoes

6 oz blackberries

I loved this because it got us out of our, apples, bananas, grapes, green beans and corn routine that we have been stuck in. I don't have to think about what to pick out at the grocery store. They choose it for me, I just go pick it up. It forces us to try new things and helps me experiment while cooking. I can't wait to see what I get at this Saturday's pick up!

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

From a movie standpoint it was great! It was entertaining and kept me focus, but it lacked so much of what the books have to offer. I know that if they had put in everything from the book that I would have liked to see in the movie it would have been about 8 hours long... but that would've been ok with me.

I'm sad to see it go. This is an end to something great. I think this is one of those series that really encourage kids to read and use their imaginations. And pretty much whatever makes kids read I am in support of.

What's for Dinner?- Homemade Pizza and Garlic Knots

Last night for dinner I made homemade pizza. This is a normal occurrence here. We make homemade pizza every couple of weeks. What made this week different was that I also made homemade garlic knots. Also, one of the pizzas was made with roasted garlic parmesan sauce, topped with cheese, chicken cooked in salt pepper and garlic, and fresh chopped tomatoes. This dinner was a hit with the kids and with Michael as well. Sidda and MJ also had a couple of friends over who enjoyed the garlic knots so much that they took some home with them. It was a great night!

Book Review: Is It Just Me?

Is It Just Me: or is it nuts out there? Is a book by Whoopi Goldberg. I really just expected more out of this book. It's more of just a book full of complaints about life in general. I don't think I ever even cracked a smile throughout reading it.

There could have been so much more to this book other than the constant whining. I think it was just Whoopi complaining about how people lack common sense, manners and basic personal hygiene. There were about 17 chapters devoted to how to act on a plane alone.

I don't know... I was just expecting more....

2nd Samuel

The biggest thing that I took away from 2nd Samuel is the only thing that made David great was that he always thirsted for God. In every situation he turned to God. Other than that, though, David was stupid. He was a very lustful man. His wanting of women almost ruined him completely.

We've all heard about his affair with Bathsheba. It resulted in her pregnancy and the caused the spiral of events that dug David into a hole. His fear of being found out for his discretion he ended up having her husband Uriah murdered "accidentally on purpose" by sending him out into battle where it was most fierce than having the other men back off, letting him fend for himself, resulting in his death. After Bathsheba mourned the death of her husband David took her for yet another wife. The child they bore together soon after birth.

You would think that he would have learned his lesson, right? No. But let's move on. I just want to quickly talk about Absalom (just because I find it humorous). This is what the Bible says:

"Now Absalom happened to meet David's men. He was riding his mule, and his mule went under the thick branches of a large oak. Absalom's head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going."

-2nd Samuel 18:9 NIV

I actually laughed out loud reading this. You can't make these things up, people! I thought it was funny and worth mentioning....

And now I give you a little clip from Veggie Tales.