Gourmet from Scraps

Last night I planned to eat watermelon for dinner.  Cut one up before church, ate until I was full, went to church.  When church let out I had to pee, then I was hungry.  Dango watermelon!  It didn't last long. Decided pretty late that I was hungry, but remembered I have extremely limited groceries in the house. Searched the cabinets and the fridge and the freezer, this is what I came up with:

Please ignore the ring on the counter...

Greek-style Green pasta with spinach

From the pantry:  Green spaghetti (made with spinach) and lots of garlic

From the fridge:  kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, last of the pesto, pine nuts

From the freezer:  salmon fillet

Boom!  Gourmet dinner in less than 20 minutes made from either staple ingredients or things leftover from other recipes.  Be creative in the kitchen.  That is one of my most favorite places to be creative.  I like crafty stuff but I'd rather be cooking any day.

What are your favorite kitchen creations lately?

Fiesta Rice and Beans

Last night I finally broke down and cooked something.  I don't always eat dinner when I'm home by myself, but last night I got hungry.  I've been home by myself a lot this summer.  Princess is living it up this summer and spending nights with anyone but her momma and hubs is still out of town.  I haven't been buying groceries much either.  Luckily, I'm pretty good at working with what I've got on hand.  I read a recipe on some website (don't remember which one now) and used it as inspiration.  Here's what I came up with:

April's Fiesta Rice and Beans

1 cup brown rice
2 bell peppers (I had a red and a green)
1 jalapeno
1 onion (I had a vidalia, use what you have)
2 cans kidney beans (I had a dark red and a light red)
2 cloves of garlic
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
fat pinch of chili powder
fat pinch of cumin
fat pinch of salt-n-pep
Saute diced peppers, garlic and onion in a little olive oil.  Add rice and 2 cups water.  Simmer for 45 minutes or until the rice is tender, stir it once in a while so it doesn't stick to the pan.  When water is absorbed, add kidney beans, spices, tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Eat.

Boom.  One pot meal, easy clean up, super healthy.  Squeeze on a little lime juice, top with cilantro from the garden (I would have had to drive to mom's garden across town to get the cilantro so I skipped it this time).  I have an avocado in the kitchen that is going to go bad if I don't eat it soon, but forgot it was there until I had already got to work this morning.  Had enough left over to take for lunch today and eat for dinner tonight.  This is how I cook.  If only my family saw this as a whole meal, too!  Hubs would want to know what kind of meat I was serving with this side dish and Princess would pick all the onions out.  Not sure when she got so picky, but I don't like it.

What are you having for lunch today? 

God Loves the Man in Sweatpants and Loafers

I had a revelation today:  Blanket prayers probably aren't what God is interested in.  Hear me out.

Like with diet and exercise, sometimes we get this all or nothing mentality.  When we don't succeed with the all, we get down on ourselves and eat an entire pizza.  What's the point in trying, I'm just going to fail, right?  Maybe you eat cake or peanut M&Ms, whatever, but I bet you know what I'm talking about.  Why would we think our prayer life and Christian walk would be any different.  Let me use one that I know I'm guilty of: 'God please help me to see when I'm being judgmental and help me to stop being judgmental.  Judging isn't my job, you will do a much better job than I ever could.  Besides, who am I to cast a stone?'  Then I'm gung hoe... until the next time I see someone doing something I'm not sure they should do and the judgment kicks in, then the guilt, then the shame, then I give up because I failed.  Sound familiar?  What if, just like a healthy lifestyle, we take it in steps.  Maybe start with 'God, I know it's not my place to judge, You instruct us to love, not to judge.  Please help me to stop trying to judge people for the way they dress (or the way the speak, or the way they handle situations, etc).  Help me to love people for who they are, even if they are wearing their ragged jeans to Sunday morning service.  Help me to lovingly guide them to You though my testimony.'

Start with the thing I know I'm doing right now that He doesn't approve of , work on one thing at a time.  Eventually I'll be closer to living the life Jesus would want me to be living, right?  One step at a time.  One day at a time.  I know our days are numbered and we don't know the day or the hour when Jesus will return for us or when our time on this Earth will end.  If we spend what time we have trying to build a better relationship with God and loving His people, it will all be for the good and not wasted.  God loves His people and since he knew each of us while we were in our mother's wombs and even before, we are ALL His people.

Sin is sin is sin and God hates it all.  He doesn't hate the sinner, but he does hate the sin.  He says that over and over in the Bible.  It doesn't matter if it's murder, adultery, a lie, a lustful thought, judgement, hatefulness, or any other sin out there (trust me, we are all guilty of many every.single.day).  Each sin is equal in God's eyes and He hates them all equally.  We will never be perfect, but thankfully, we don't have to be.  God's Love and God's Mercy are good.  We are forgiven because Jesus died for us and we are washed clean.  We only have to ask forgiveness and it is given.  This is Good News!  We Christians should be sharing this with everyone we meet!  It is selfish of us to not share.  I know we are probably concerned about what people will think about us, we will be those crazy Jesus Freaks.  What we should be concerned about is what does God think?!  He is the one we should live for.  Any souls we win for God are just that, for His glory  We need to tell them the Truth.  What they do with it is up to them, but we HAVE to share it.

I'm writing this for myself more than anyone.  God has been trying to talk to me for a while.  I answer with 'God, please tell me what it is I need to know' followed by 'Oh, I better get to that thing I am supposed to do'.  I rarely stop and just be still and wait for an answer.  Always to busy doing the next thing I need to get done and never leaving time for God.  I am going to dedicate the next couple weeks of my life to getting closer to God.  I cut off the satellite television in my house (husband isn't crazy about that one).  Husband and Princess will both be gone during the week and I'll have quite time to just reflect and sit quietly with God.  I don't post as much in this blog as I should anyway, but don't be surprised if I'm M.I.A. for a little while or if I post more of my revelations with you.  This could go either way, be patient with me.  Maybe God will tell me something you need to hear too...

Side note with for this post:  1) The punctuation ?! is called an interrobang.  Now ya know.  

Inspirational advice I heard recently:  If you don't know what God wants from you, go back and do the last thing He told you to do.

What has God done in your life lately?

Rum and Gardening

Spent the weekend at the lake and I didn't get as many pictures as I should have.  Brother-in-law bought a kayak for this summer and let me try it out to see if I actually want one for myself.  I loved it!  I am going to start looking for one on craigslist or Facebook or something.  Do you have a kayak you want to give sell me?

Hubs got a tiller attachment for the weedeater and used it to work the dirt in my flower beds.  Sadly spring is almost over and I hadn't started on my flower beds yet.

I did have a few plants in the bed that are still doing well.  This is amazing considering how brown my thumb is.



If anyone can identify these plants for me, I would love to know what they are.  The little purple one was a gift from Grandma, she said it's purple cabbage.  I hope that means I will get to eat it soon.  I call the fern Fern, but if you know what purple plant with her is, I'd like to know.  The other green plant was a gift from Neighbors.  No idea why people would gift plants to me, I have a REALLY brown thumb.

 

LOTS of grass roots pulled from the beds





My new friend, I call him Big Worm

  Got me a half-price slushy drink at Happy Hour.  Took it home to add my own touch, touch of rum that is. Mmm.  Lemonberry slush with guava rum, a refreshing drink to go with my gardening.

Neighbors had some seed they wanted to plant in one of my beds.  I told them a while back they could.  Turns out the seeds were for sweet corn and okra...  I put the seed in the ground, but I don't think I have ever successfully grown anything from a seed so wish me luck. 

How does your garden grow?

Keep Calm and Okie On

So the title isn't original, I stole it.  It's also my Facebook profile picture because it's appropriate today.  Today, as I'm sure you have heard, was a terrible day for the state of Oklahoma.  Not only were there tornadoes in the state again today, but they struck a couple elementary schools while school was in.  This is even more horrifying to most of us because so many young people lost their lives.  Princess asked me today why God would let there be tornadoes and let them hurt people.  I don't really have an answer for this.  I told her God has a plan.  We don't know God's plan and he doesn't owe us any explanation.  We just have to keep the faith and show His love to our neighbors. 

Verses that I hope will be helpful:

Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Isaiah 41:10 - So do not fear, for I am with you;

Matthew 5:4 - Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matthew 11:28 - 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest'

John 16:33 - 'I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.'

I hope you find peace and trust in God even in times like these.  Pray for all those effected and show love to your neighbors.  If you want to help in the relief efforts pray first then check with the American Red Cross, Salvation Army or some other reputable organizations.  There will be scammers, so please be careful.

Welcome to Springtime in Oklahoma

Oklahoma is notorious for trailer parks being blown away by tornadoes this time of year.  This past weekend was no exception.  I visited the hubs this weekend because he was going to have to work and wouldn't be coming home to see me.  Princess went out of town with some family so I didn't want to stay home by myself.  When I dropped him off on Sunday it was warm and sunshiney.  He called me about 5 miles down the road to tell me not to stop for anything, keep driving home because there was a huge storm hitting where I had just left him.  It happens that quick.  No storm, beautiful day to tornado in no time. Blam!  He found shelter in a parking garage, but the garage and the hospital it serves were in the direct path of the tornado.  He was shaken, but physically unharmed.  Thank God.  He was sad that his cell phone was dead and he couldn't get any video.  As far as I have seen so far, there were no fatalities in his area.  There were injuries and a single fatality so far reported in a town not far from there, though.  Pray for those who lost homes and family this weekend and let's pray for a mild tornado season this year.  We've all seen how devastating it can be.




Fun store along Historic Route 66 called Pops.  They had hundreds of different types of soda in glass bottles.  The burgers smelled amazing, but hubs told me I had to drive straight home so I didn't try one.




Looking a little ragged and ready to get home.




Sister, Mother and I decided to try watermelon 'ritas and not think about storms.
Pretty good use of an early watermelon that wasn't great by itself.



I've always refused to get into a storm shelter because I'm more scared of it than the storm.  What's your take on fraidy holes?

Vegan Pancakes from Mars

I have been dying to try a recipe I found on Pinterest for vegan pancakes.  They are made with no sugar, eggs, or milk.  This sounds like an adventure to me!  I didn't get pics of the process because I was to excited to eat them.  Here is how it went:

I had used all the dark chocolate chips in the trail mix I made last week so I subbed some frozen blueberries.  Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.  The mixture turned out pretty thick and didn't pour.  I scooped the mixture into my skillet, but put them to close and they turned into a big blob of pancake.  To save it, I scooped it all into a baking dish and just baked at  350 for about 15 minutes and had one big pancake pie.  The house smelled really good, like baking bread or something.  Ok, so I don't really know what my house would smell like if I were baking bread as I can't remember ever doing such...  Anywho, this is what the finished product looked like. 

Not pretty, but tasted good.  A little maple syrup over the top and voila! Dinner.  I like to have breakfast for dinner, don't you?

I got up a midnight last night because I couldn't sleep.  I realized I didn't have anything for lunch today.  I found another recipe on Pinterest for curried quinoa and had all the ingredients to make it.  I got a big bag of Vidalia onions over the weekend so I diced and cooked one first, then added my quinoa and water.  Boil, reduce, simmer, add seasonings and cover for about 15 minutes.  I added a can of chickpeas because I love them, but the dish wasn't very colorful, so I added a can of kidney beans, too.  It tasted pretty darn good for lunch today.  If I had had any greens I would have cooked them and added them, but I haven't been to the grocery or farmer's market in weeks so I was just working with what I had. 

Come to think of it, I ate like a vegan all day!  Banana for breakfast, curried quinoa for lunch, and veeg pancakes for dinner!  That's pretty good.  I'm not a vegan, or a vegetarian for that matter, but I try and I hope to be a vegetarian someday.  I like cheese, though, and yogurt and honey and lots of other non-vegan things, so I will probably never be vegan.  I just want to try to make an impact in my carbon footprint.  I drive a sports car and don't get 40mpg so I try to make up for it in the food I eat.