New recipes

Well I apparently haven’t updated my recipes on here since week 5. I had a ‘resolution’ to make at least one new recipe per week starting at the beginning Of the year. I have stuck with it so far for all except maybe 1-2 weeks. And a lot of the weeks I made multiple new recipes so I think I can catch a break there…

The last couple of weeks I have made some yummy new delicacies so I’ll I ahead and put the links here for you 🙂

Last week I made an egg, potato, cheese, bacon breakfast casserole. This was actually a new recipe even though it was super basic because I’ve never made a savory breakfast casserole, ha! 1-because I don’t eat eggs. or bacon. 2-because I would MUCH rather have something sweet for breakfast (& lunch & dinner…) than savory. I’m just not a veggie for breakfast kind of girl. Why would I be when I could eat cinnamon rolls or pancakes or bagels or donuts instead?!
I also made a new cinnamon roll recipe. It wasn’t as good as pioneer woman’s but it was good and quick and I’ll probably make it again if I ever need cinnamon rolls quickly. I would rather have a plain-ish icing or the kind on PW’s but these called for a cream cheese icing so I went ahead and made it. It was good if you like SUPER sweet and sugary cinnamon rolls, I prefer them a little less sugary tasting than these. But again, still good and super easy. I definitely recommend putting the frosting on when they are sill warm…mine didn’t melt as much as hers did. And they were also ENORMOUS….

Last night I made chocolate salted caramel cupcakes. And they are to die for if you like caramel.

I used a chocolate cake from a box…because, let’s be honest, they’re always better. I subbed butter and milk though for the oil and water. Made them extremely light and fluffy. Then I made the caramel sauce and frosting from the site I linked to. I’ll definitely make it again. And I’ll make the caramel sauce to use as ice cream topping or to stir in my coffee. Or to eat with a spoon. I like to pipe my cupcake frosting but this frosting is to thin and light so you have to spread it but they won’t last long anyway so it really doesn’t matter.

Lastly, for dinner last night I made a garlic asparagus pasta that was really good and light, even though it wasn’t actually all that light since it had heavy cream and butter in it. I usually don’t make ANYTHING for meals with cream or much butter or cheese because hubby won’t eat it. He says it’s not healthy…I don’t know what that means. I need protein some place so I might as well pile up the cheese on my plate, right? Anyway I really liked this dish and he said I could make it again…just not very often 😉

Most of the recipes I make from Pinterest are on my ‘Success’ board also so they’re in one place. Some come from Facebook so I don’t have those anywhere except here and in my recipe book at home.
😎

New Recipes, Weeks 2-5

I am still making one new recipe per week since the first week of the year. Haven’t posted most of them though. So far they have all been yummy! 99% (if not 100%) of the dinners I make are ‘healthy.’ Warren won’t eat anything with cheese or cream so that automatically takes out a lot of recipes. And we don’t fry anything. If I can put cheese on mine, I usually do. There are usually a few nights a month where we just have fresh veggies for dinner (and usually roasted potatoes). Usually we rotate through broccoli, squash, fresh green beans, black eyed peas, asparagus. This is one of the millions of reasons I love my husband – he will eat meatless meals for me and enjoys lots of veggies (now he does…not so much when we first got married!). Onto my most recent recipes…most of which were found on Pinterest and will now be in my ‘Success’ folder…

Week 2 Recipes ~ Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken – This was another winner in Warren’s book. Like I said in the last post, he doesn’t like me to try new recipes, but so far so good!

Sweet Cornbread – I got so many compliments on this easy, and much better for you than store bought, cornbread.

Week 3 Recipe ~ Cookies & Cream Cake Bars – made these for my friends surprise 30th birthday. Everyone loved this but they are definitely best served warm…and with ice cream because they are pretty rich.

Week 4 Recipe ~ By Saturday of this week I hadn’t made anything new and we were going to a friend’s house that night so I decided to make something super easy that I had technically never made but my mom had. I just made a boxed angel food cake and cut it into pieces after it was made. Then in a trifle bowl, layer the cake, whipped cream or cool whip and cut up strawberries. Trifle Strawberry Shortcake type dessert. It’s really good and light so you don’t feel like you’re going to explode after eating it!

Week 5 Recipes ~ This week I have made a few things. I made these easy sugar cookies that we are going to decorate tomorrow night.

I also made some homemade lemonade. It was from AllRecipes & was only ok. It was made dissolving sugar into boiling water to make a syrup then mixing water, fresh squeezed lemon juice and the syrup. I also added some fresh cut up strawberries which I normally do any time I make lemonade. I want to find a better recipe next time I make it.

Tonight for dinner I made these Buffalo Chicken Taquitos. I meant to take a picture but we scarfed them down. I have started to eat a tiny bit of chicken lately. I still don’t prefer it and still consider myself a vegetarian but have recently eaten a little but of it. This was one of the times. It was hard to tell there was even chicken in mine with all the cheese and the saucy made it so creamy. Obviously warrens didn’t have cheese but you better believe mine did! I only used 2 chicken breasts for this and it made 5 taquitos, which was perfect. These will definitely be made again.

New recipe #1

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions but this year I decided to make one new recipe a week since I have a million pinned on Pinterest. Tonight was the first one. I didn’t count last week since it wasn’t a full week 😉

I made Garlic Brown Sugar chicken in the crock pot. It was delish. Warren is always skeptical of new recipes because he likes to eat what he knows he’ll like. He’s a creature of habit. But he liked this chicken. I made it with white rice and made him asparagus to go with it. The recipe is from Six Sisters Stuff and I haven’t ever made a recipe of theirs that didn’t turn out. Its a good foodie blog!

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

My thoughts on orphan care

Warren and I have decided to adopt. It’s not news to most of our friends and it’s something we have talked about for a while. I don’t know the timeline or when we will start our paperwork or how many (Warren says 1!) but I know that it is in our future at some point.

I know that it’s in our future because it was in god’s future to adopt us as His children. We were lost sinners condemned to Hell with no other option and God sent his only son to die a painful death so that he could adopt us as His children and we could live in Heaven with him. Was it easy for God to send his perfect only son to this wretched place? Obviously not. Was it the only way we would be saved? Yes.

Is it easy for parents to adopt or foster children or aren’t their own — Children who have been abused and neglected and unloved and who have no where but up to go because they are at the bottom of their world? No, of course it’s not easy to bring a child into your home who has no idea what love looks like. They will rebel, they will get angry, they will unravel. And you will love them anyway. Because that’s what God does for us. We are hopeless without Him. We are living in a bottomless pit without Him. We rebel and unravel as well and God still loves us. How could we not do that for these little children who have no where to go? Because seriously, we aren’t doing enough when if only 7% of Christians helped an orphan there would be no more orphan crisis. Can you imagine?! 7%!!??

God showed us the ultimate sacrifice by sending His son so we could be saved and we still sin and are so unworthy and unloving to God every day but His grace is so magnificent that he forgives us. He forgives us and keeps on loving even though we don’t deserve any of it. How could we ever say with a clear conscience that we can’t care for an orphan who has no one when Christ died for us and paid the ultimate price. These kids have no one and nothing. How dare we say I can’t help an orphan because of this…I can’t because of that…it’s too hard…I can’t afford it (there are many, many older kids who need just as much love and care and a family as babies). It’s really offensive when I hear people say “oh I couldn’t handle seeing kids like that…it’s too sad…it’s not for me…you’re stronger than I am…” No, people who adopt and foster are not stronger than you. Of course it’s sad, of course it’s hard, of course some times you want to quit (that doesn’t even have to do with biological or not). They adopt because it is what God has called us to do. To care for the oppressed. To take care of the orphans. You NEED God to adopt because it IS hard. That’s where trusting God and knowing he has a plan fits in. You have to trust. What’s the point if you can do everything on your own without God? When you are caring for orphans you can KNOW you are doing God’s work and of course he will be right there with you and never leave you or forsake you. The point of being a Christian is not to sit by and take care of our own families and only worry about ourselves and checking off our lists so that we feel good. I want the desire I have to help orphan(s) overwhelm and squash my human nature side of being scared or feeling like I can’t do it. I want that side to win. We need to figure out why God gave us all the things we have, and why were “lucky enough” to be the ones born in America and not in a third world country. I firmly believe that we have all that we have (like I said, top 2% of wealth in the world…seriously) so we can help those who don’t have things. We don’t have all this stuff for us to sit lazily around our homes and be content with getting more while we are doing nothin productive with it to help any one else. We need to get uncomfortable with where God leads us and have faith and confidence that HE IS the one leading us and go with it without looking back.

Hopefully I’m not offending anyone. These are just my current thoughts on orphan care and where I stand. I cannot live in good conscience knowing there are kids right in my own city that have no homes and no families and I’m not doing anything about it when I know God clearly tells me in His word what to do. I know that it won’t be easy and please don’t ever tell me (or anyone else) that I’m stronger than you because of fostering/adoption. I’m not. Trust me. I’m just as emotional as the next mom and it tears me up inside to think of all the children who have nothing and that I’m sitting here in the top 2% of wealth not doing a dang thing to help them. I don’t want to get to Heaven one day and have God ask me what I did to help all his orphaned children and me not have an answer. I want to do what I can and get so uncomfortable that I have no choice but to make God my driver and follow Him where he leads. And for me that’s adopting.

Halloween Party FOOD

We had a Halloween party Thursday night and I was pumped to make some themed snacks. I love making foods that coordinate with seasons/holidays because 1) it gives me a chance to finally use those Pinterest recipes and 2) it’s different than the normal cookie or dessert bars that I usually make.

I always go overboard on planning what to eat so I tried to keep it a little easier. I made finger food snacks and didn’t do a ton of each. I usually try to make enough of each food that every person gets at least one. But that is a TON of food and no body ever eats every single thing. So this time I made just enough and the only thing left over was a little bit of fruit and about 4 rice Krispy treats. Score!

This was my favorite thing I made. It was super easy, just a little time consuming washing and poking all the fruit. But it was definitely a hit!

These are the best rice krispy treats you will ever eat in your life. They are perfect every time and just the right amount of gooey (not super gooey like the nasty, overly sweetened store bought kind).

I also made Apple Teeth, Mummy Weenies, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crescents, & Candy Corn Pretzel Bites.

Full table. There were also Pinwheels at the request of my hubby & Pumpkin Spice Latte, a fall party staple. And we semi decorated the living room.

Seeking

I love my share group this year. I’m so excited to get started at our apartment complex to meet new people and show them Jesus’ love. I am nervous, no doubt, but know God is working in this and no matter what happens we will have succeeded just because we got out of our comfort zones to show Jesus to people and help them and love them. Thank you, God, for this opportunity.

I am also thankful that all (AAALLLLLLL) of our kids get to be a part of this. I think it’s so important for our kids to see us doing things that are out of our comfort zones, going OUT into the world, into our city to be Jesus and not sitting in our church buildings twice a week waiting for people to come to us (most people aren’t coming). Jesus says GO and make disciples. Not sit and wait for nonbelievers to come to you. It doesn’t make much sense if we are waiting for people who don’t believe to come to our building. We should be going to seek and help. They will know us by our love. The man on the side of the road who needs food. The people outside the store needing a ride (I called my hubby for that one!). The couple that needs help moving. The family that can’t afford dinner tonight. They will know Jesus by the things we DO. Not just our words (though that helps too, but sometimes it hurts).

I want Eisley to grow up loving the Lord. REALLY loving Him and seeking Him with all her heart in all circumstances. I want her to be fulfilled in Jesus, not always be searching for the friend or outfit or team sport that will make her happy. I want her to know she doesn’t need those thing. They aren’t what will make her HAPPY. Yes, sometimes they are nice things to have but THEY DON’T MATTER. I don’t want her to be searching for a boy or a job or a lifestyle for her happiness. I want her to know she is in the top percentage of wealth in the world. She has more than 95% of people on Earth. She didn’t earn any of it. She did (and will do) nothing to deserve any of it. It hers to give away, to help those in need, to sacrifice for others and sacrifice for Jesus. It is her job (an all of ours) to help those who are less fortunate than her; to show them Jesus by her actions. I don’t care if she gets married, has kids, becomes famous, as long as her hope, strength, foundation is in Jesus Christ and that she knows He is ALL she will ever need. I’m sure her Earthly self will want a husband, kids, and that is fine. But I pray they will not define her. I pray her and Warren do not define me.

Cinnamon Sugar Scones

Well, I have been working on my pictures for my Shutterfly book with Eisley’s one year old pictures from the year. It takes forever so I try to organize as much as I can on my computer in the folders before even going to the Website. I was finally done with all that. Eisley has had a stuffy nose this weekend so she went to bed at 630 tonight and I left to go to Starbucks to work on it. I only make one when I have a free code. I got my drink (a pumpkin chai latte – go get one now!) and when I tried to connect to the Internet IT WOULDN’T WORK!

I tried…I failed…I went up to the church building. I tried again…I failed again. I called my Pops and long story short (too late) I’m going to have pay the big bucks to get it fixed probs. Yippee. No shutterfly book for me for a while. 😭 So I came back home and since I had already had caffeine thinking I would be up late I had a bunch of energy ready to go. Warren was watching the K-State game so he wasn’t any help!

I obviously decided to bake.

I have been wanting to start making more of the things I have pinned on Pinterest. I don’t post difficult recipes and I don’t really get on Pinterest too much anymore so I need to start making myself useful again in the kitchen.

I made these Cinnamon Sugar Glazed Scones. They really were so delicious like the blog says. She said they were the best scones ever. Or something like that. And Warren rolled his eyes. But she was RIGHT! Scones are super easy to make. These have no sugar except for the 2 Tablespoons on top. They’re sweetened with honey. And I used half whole wheat flour/half unbleached AP. I also didn’t have any baking soda (who doesn’t have baking soda?!?) so I substituted baking powder (3 times amt of soda).
RECIPE!! RECIPE!! RECIPE!!

Ok, Warren does NOT like scones. He doesn’t think they’re gross he just doesn’t prefer them and doesn’t really like the texture (I think). He told me before he would taste it but wasn’t going to like it “so don’t get mad at me and think I don’t love you” or something like that. I gave him a bite and he said “oh I think I like that…I wouldn’t mind having one.” What?!? Surprise, surprise! So, seriously…best scones ever.

You’re welcome.

*Disclaimer: I am NOT a food photographer. Obvi.

Update 9/8/13: I stored the scones in the fridge and heated one up this morning. It was just as delish.
Also, Eisley kept calling it cake…so she clearly thought it was good.

Boring updates…

Well, it has been SUCH a busy summer! It might be slowing down soon. But I doubt it. Being a youth minister, warren would normally be done with all his busy stuff now and we would finally be getting back into a normal schedule but since he has finished ym, he is now beginning all of his college stuff. College is just now getting busy. What a bummer timing that transition was! They are remodeling the KFC building so that has taken a lot of time and the campus has a bunch of beginning of year events that happen that he needs to be a part of. So once school starts next week we {he} can hopefully settle down! I’m more than ready! I’m totally over him being gone every night of the week and all day! It makes for loooong days…for both of us.

We did take some time out though to go to Corpus alone for 4 days this week so that was super nice and relaxing. Beach, sun, massages, pool, dolphins, sun, reading. What else is there?! Eisley stayed at my parents house and I was a lot less anxious than I had anticipated. She did great. They went to a Rangers game, aquatic center, fed the ducks. She does awesome when she is somewhere different. She just never sleeps as much as she does in her own bed. She wakes up earlier in the mornings and her nap is shorter. Oh well, it means more sleep when she gets home! I think it’s so important to have those times when it’s just you and your spouse. Your life is chaotic and busy and filled with (a)kid(s). You will be with your hubby well after your kids have left so its important to keep up that connection with each other. I love going on trips with Warren. We did it a lot more before we had a kid but we still go out of town as much as we can now. We just bring Eisley along with us. People always said travel before kids because once you have them you won’t want to go anywhere. Not true for us. We make it a Priority to go out of town as much as we can because it has always been one of our favorite things to do together. We still go to Kansas every year, usually go to a beach every summer, and we’ll be going to Disneyworld several times while Eis is growing up.

Yes, we’re little kids…

It rained one morning so we found a covered spot and watched some dolphins

This is the only way Warren will lay out at the beach!

We had Eisley’s party about a month ago. It was a fun and relaxing weekend. We didn’t go all out like we did last year. I spent way too much time and money on it! It was fun and I had a blast planning it but not something for every year! So this year I just bought a couple chevron decorations at the store and made a cake and cookies and fruit. It was just our parents and my grandparents that came so it was very low key. She won’t remember it any way. MAYBE next year we will have another big-ish party with her friends. The friends we would invite she sees almost every week anyway at different play groups so its not like they don’t get to hang out. I’m not sure how we will do parties once she gets older – if we will have them or just do small ones or what. Whatever we do, I’m pretty much against friends bringing gifts. She is the only grand kid in our family right now and probably will be for a while. She has all the toys she could ever want! I don’t want her birthday to become about the gifts that her friends are getting her (or that we are getting her).

And on a final note, I put Eisley’s hair in pigtails today for the first time (since her hair has been long). I don’t think she will ever wear her hair down again. I am in love with them!

My baby is 2!

I can’t believe my Eisley Jensen is 2 today! She’s been going around today saying ‘happy birthday!” I have loved every (most) minute of being her mommy. She is such a relaxed and laid back kid, and I am so blessed and thankful for that. She has been laid back since the day I delivered her – 14 hour labor and no drugs. Painful, but totally worth it in my opinion. She is such a fun girly girl but still loves to dig in the dirt with sticks any chance she gets.

I can’t deny that I love dressing her up in fun clothes and shoes. I love having a little mini me who follows me everywhere. I love to have girls days out where we go shopping or just make grocery shopping a day trip. I love having this time to spend with just my girl and not have another child at the moment. She is such a joy and so much fun to hang out with. She is not a crier, she cries maybe once a week. She is getting more whiny though so we are definitely working on that. I can’t handle whining!

She can make pretty much all her animal noises and can count to 10 with some coaxing. She usually doesn’t sit long enough to get all the way to 10! She loves her baby dolls and carries them around and rocks them and sings “baby, baby.” We do have a potty for her but none of us are in any rush to use it. She will sit on it for a while but then gets off. I am very happy with our current situation (diapers) as I can for the most part control it and we don’t have to use yucky public restrooms quite yet!

She still doesn’t watch much tv. It just doesn’t keep her interested very long. She will watch it when we are on long trips but that’s about it for the most part. Occasionally when we’re at home she will watch Barney or Yo Gabba Gabba – anything with songs every couple minutes. She does great on trips and we take her with her where ever we go. We don’t not go on vacation just because we have a kid now. Warren ad I love love traveling so I think it’s something we will always make a priority.

I want Eisley to grow up knowing there’s people in our world and right around us who don’t get the same privileges she does and doesn’t have all the toys that she does and I want those people to be a priority in her life. I want her to be a giver and to learn to sacrifice things she has so that other people canhave things. Jesus is very clear that we are to sacrifice, not just give the ‘extra’ we may have.

I love you Eisley Jensen and can’t wait for these next few years with you, while cherishing these now.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

{I wrote this Monday night, but didn’t publish it until tonight}
Last night was the second night of our church’s VBS. Eisley’s favorite part is obviously the singing where she does all the movements to the songs (ish) and whines every time a song ends. She clearly knows the way around and already wants to be in the spotlight. Every time my friend pulls out her camera to take pictures, Eis says “cheeese” and stands in front of her cheesing hard. I don’t know where she gets this stuff!

Seriously, this is her most all of the time.

When we came home Warren wanted to watch Anchorman for some reason. I don’t know why the words “ok” came out of my mouth, but it happened and I regret it. [i do like watching movies with him though so its ok that I don’t always like them, he watches my ‘dumb‘ awesome movies with me] I like 95% of those guys’ movies, but I can’t handle that one. Warren loves it though, along with most other guys & I don’t get it, but that’s ok because I don’t need to when I like all my girly movies too.

BUT before all of that insued, I made homemade laundry detergent. We made a batch at MOPS at few months ago and it lasted me until just recently. Warren never noticed that I switched and the clothes smelled just as fresh as before. I had been wanting to make some for the last year but it was always easier to buy it. So I was thrilled when I got to make it there. They gave us the recipe so when I ran out this week I bought more ingredients. It cost me $8!! I usually pay at least that for a bottle of it that lasts me a month or two at the longest. It would have cost me $10 but I already had baking soda at home. This batch will last me at least 6 months easily. I wouldn’t be surprised if it lasted longer. ALSO, I still have over half the box of borax and over half the box of washing soda left so i don’t have to buy those again for probably a year! I don’t know where this recipe came from that MOPS gave us but you can find a ton of different varieties online.

4 cups borax
4 cups washing soda
1 cup baking soda
1 1/3 Zote soap bar (OR 1 bar of FelsNaptha soap)
A grater, large container to put it in, a LARGE bowl for mixing it all

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and grate the soap in it. You can put the grated soap in a food processor to blend it or just leave it grated. I always leave it grated because it works just the same and I want to make it as quick as possible. I filled a large mason jar then put the rest in a gallon ziplock bag.

Use just 1 Tablespoon per load. If its extra dirty, use two. Seriously, one tablespoon is all you need! Genius! I will never buy laundry soap again. You’re welcome!