Miscellany Monday

I like miscellaneous posts, because I don't much else to say these things other than jumbled up thoughts that somehow make up the story of my life right now.

How was your weekend? We went home to see my family, it was my brother's 25th birthday. It would also have been my Grandpa's 92nd birthday the same day. I've been thinking a lot about my grandparents lately. I think about their love for me as their youngest grandchild and how blessed I was to have them in my life. I get sad for 2.5 seconds until I remember where they are. Oh, for that day!

I bought this little gadget a couple weeks ago.

Source: slimmingeats.com via Rachael Kennedy Creative Hairdressing on Pinterest

And I haven't used it yet. I think today I will try it out! I was kind of bummed when it arrived because its from germany, and therefore there are no directions in English, no special recipes....I think I'll have to search the blogs of people that already own one.

That being said, Seth and I have gotten back on a low-carb diet. I feel less gross already. I also stopped craving sugar already! This diet is my favorite of all diets. Despite it's controversial history I totally believe that you can make low-carb a life-style and not just a few month long diet.

Eating on a low calorie diet however, makes me want to rip my hair out.

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Our church had a guest preacher yesterday, a man named Justin Anderson who is soon launching a church in San Francisco called Redemption Church. His message blew me away. Going back through it in my mind makes me realize how though a sermon can have a similar message of one you've heard before, its all about the delivery. I was broken by the end of it, in the very best way possible. Broken over how I have tried to fit Jesus into all of the broken areas of my life and that simply doesn't work because He offers us a NEW life. He also illustrated the danger of preaching a reduced Gospel, when we reduce the Gospel to solely being about the cross, we miss the beginning half of THE story. The story that God has been writing throughout human history and why we needed Jesus to come and redeem it. We miss the beauty of the grand story of Jesus coming to rescue the world, Jesus didn't just come for me, He came to be the answer to the WORLD.

It made me realize that my struggle with dissatisfaction lately might be linked to the endless focus on MY sin. I'm now going to refocus on the larger picture of God coming to redeem the world. That is such an easier message to preach to friends and family who don't know the Lord. I'm beyond excited about what God is doing in me, in us.

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Last monday I decided to go out on a proverbial limb, a big limb for me to even consider. I bought some soil, some pots, and some seeds and decided that I was going to grow some vegetables.

Yep.

In a couple months we will (hopefully) have homegrown zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and onions. I could have done garlic too, but our town produces enough of that already *snort*.

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This is my last week of working full time at my current job. I am thankful to have had this experience, and grateful that they are letting me stay on part time, but beyond thrilled to finally start substitute teaching.

The last few months have been draining, frustrating, and tough -- but full of growth.  I felt stuck in my job because of our financial situation, because of our health insurance situation, because of my experience ( or lack their of). God has opened the door and allowed it all to work out perfectly, isn't it awesome when He does that?!

Last week I stressed about health care after I learned that part time at my job means 32 hours a week -- I mean, come on. That meant that Seth and I would be dropped on March 31st. That also means that we would have to get private health care for both of us -- which they say is easy when you're "young and healthy"....not exactly true. We found out last week though, that my mom will be able to put me back on her health insurance, and for me being the more risky and injury prone spouse we couldn't have been more excited!! Now all I have to do is get insurance for my husband who goes to the doctor once every 5 years. Easy peasy. 

I'm excited for this new chapter. I'm overjoyed that I get to spend more time at home, cooking meals, getting chores done, having a normal sense of life again. Maybe I'll read a book, or do a puzzle, or craft! 

Happy Monday friends!

Raspberry Cream Tart...Or you can just call it "Heaven"

Happy Pinter-test kitchen!

I still haven't been doing a lot of pinning lately, but after pinning this recipe and glancing around at what I've been missing, I'm determined to get back on there and find some inspiration! Particularly dinner inspiration, we've been in a funk of taco night and grilled chicken because I'm too lazy to do anything fancier. 

Anyways, I'm really excited to share with you today the most amazing tarte I've ever made. I think it might be the only tarte I've ever made, but I promise it is the BEST.

Seth and I are part of a wonderful little Neighborhood Group at our church. We meet in our leaders coffee shop, we each bring a part of a meal, and we meet and talk about the sermon and what God is doing in our lives.

The food themes have been pretty basic over the past couple months: Southern, Breakfast for Dinner, Mexican...and I thought we needed some excitement. On Sunday afternoon after church, I saw one of the girls in our neighborhood group and grabbed her to ask what the food theme was because I hadn't heard yet. She told me that there wasn't one decided so I quickly thought..lets do "Food that starts with the letter....R!" We started dreaming up all of the random things we could make.

People were a little befuddled about my letter choice, my husband says "Why not Q?".

But we heard exciting things like ravioli, raddish, rotisserie chicken, rolls, and rice! It was surely going to be interesting. I decided on something "raspberry", and obviously that needed to be a dessert. So off to the internet I went to find something perfect.

I found this yummy tart on the first link I clicked: I was sold right away.

At first I was a little intimidated, I mean, that crust looks homemade, and what the heck is a tar pan? This wannabe housewife did not know that there was such thing as a tart pan.

I did have a pie pan though, a really cute red pie pan that I hadn't used yet. It wasn't quite 11 inches like the recipe called for, I believe mine is about 9 inches, it turned out delicious anyways.

Here is what you'll need:

1 16.5 oz roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

2 3-ounce package cream cheese -- I don't know what country they make packages of cream cheese that small, I grabbed an 8 ounce package and did just fined.

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups fresh red raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries

2 teaspoons sugar

powdered sugar

1. Press cookie dough slices into bottom and fluted sides of a greased 11-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Do not prick. (Or, press onto bottom of greased 12-inch pizza pan.) Bake in a 350 degrees F oven 20 minutes or until light brown. Remove from oven; set aside. 

Notice how I bolded the word greased? Yea, I forgot to do that, and we were scraping the pieces out of the pan all night because they were stuck. I will make sure I do that next time so we have clean cut pieces!

 1.5 Eat extra cookie dough because your pan might be too small. 

1.8 Marvel at the giant cookie you now have in front of you, and try not to eat it. 

2. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup sugar, egg, lemon peel, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until combined. Pour cheese mixture over warm crust and spread evenly.

I finally had the chance to use my zester that my MIL bought me. It worked really well! I'm not sure if this counts as "finely shredded" but there weren't any large pieces of lemon zest in the final product so I consider it a success!

This was also my first time using my kitchen-aid  I don't think I can ever go back to stirring something with a fork (my usual method)!

2.5 Try really hard not to eat the filling before you put it inside the giant cookie, I mean crust. 

3. Place the 2 cups raspberries in a single layer on top of cheese mixture. Sprinkle raspberries with 2 teaspoons sugar. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes more or until or until cheese mixture is set. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 30 minutes before serving. 

Tada!

4. Just before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Garnish with additional fresh berries, if you like. Makes 8 servings.

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You guys......

I normally don't have a lot of faith in what I cook, but holy smokes, this tarte is to die for.

The texture of the cream cheese filling mixed with the cookie dough..it is M-O-I-S-T perfection. 

It was completely gone before we left neighborhood group.

I licked the knife.

I licked my fingers which scraped the knife.

It is embarrassingly good. 

Now its your turn to make this delicious treat!

Thanks, Jess for this fun opportunity! I wouldn't have love handles without it :)

Oh, PS -- Seth and I have been married for 6 months today. Wahoo! It's gone by so fast :)

The Big Cornbread Debate: PinterTest Kitchen

This month I haven't been doing a lot of pinning. I'm not sure why, I guess the desire comes and goes or that I've been doing a bunch of other junk on the computer.  

So, this months PinterTest kitchen doesn't necessarily come from Pinterest, but AllRecipes.com which might be the birthplace of all the best recipes on Pinterest anyways. I know the old fashioned way to go is to try things from cookbooks and cooks magazines (my mama's favorite), but I just am too afraid to waste a whole meal on a recipe that I don't trust and that I haven't read reviews about! I guess thats a product of this technological generation, I Google EVERYTHING, I check reviews for EVERYTHING!

So for our Neighborhood Group at church, each week we are supposed to bring something that goes along with the food theme. This weekend the food theme was Southern, so I chose cornbread. Having never made cornbread I consulted Seth for if he had a preference on what kind. Let me preface this by saying that Seth is picky about nothing, except dijon mustard. Seth likes everything, every freaking thing....BUT when I told him about the cornbread he says..."Well, Cornbread might be something I'm kind of picky about"

My mind almost blew up. And then in the midst of my shock that there was something he was actually picky about...I came up with a challenge.  Let's see if I can find a recipe that he actually likes thats homemade, I figured the box recipes rendered a more dry consistency so I decided to try a boxed cornbread and a recipe that I found online.  Of course I searched high and low on AllRecipes.com knowing that whatever I chose had to have rave reviews, and had to be m.o.i.s.t. 

Side note: I HATE that word with every fiber of my being. I don't like spelling it, I don't like hearing it, I surely cannot say it out loud. But how else do you describe a good piece of cornbread?

I digress. 

I really wanted to try three different recipes to see which was best. But, Monday being my only day off to do anything productive I was only able to try one...and honestly, how fancy can cornbread get? Apparently very fancy judging by the amount of recipes you can find online.

I started with the Trader Joes boxed brand:

The instructions were simple enough. You just need a little oil, 1 egg and some milk.

The ingredients had little bits of corn in it which added a nice touch when you bit in.

The bread came out very flat, almost like a cake. 

This recipe was quick and easy. 45 minutes in the oven and bam!

The recipe I chose from All Recipes had to have great reviews, I wanted to do more searching...but I'll be honest I was already at the grocery store and had a long list of things to do that day. But this recipe had almost 5 stars and a ton of reviews!

The recipe I got from All Recipes.com is this:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Mix egg, sour cream, milk, and butter in a small bowl. Fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened; pour into prepared baking dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.

Another very easy recipe, nothing out of the ordinary. I really thought the sour cream would take it over the top. I think the trick is not in the fancy stuff, its just making sure that it is m.o.i.s.t enough!

I wish I had taken a picture of the second one...it pretty much looked the same as the first but it had a little more character, it rose more in the center and looked more home baked.

Off to group we went. 

I prefaced our friends with the situation and that they had to try both to get the full effect.

I specifically watched Seth's face when he was eating both ones...

and then he slyly smiled at me half way through and told me he liked the boxed one better.

I was stunned!

I definitely liked the home baked one so much better, it had more flavor and texture and the boxed one tasted like a corny cupcake. The rest of our group agreed thats the homemade one was better..

But Seth actually liked the boxed one! He said it was because it was more m.o.i.s.t...

but I tell you it lacked in the flavor department, even with the extra bits of corn. 

Morale of that story?

Keep cornmeal on hand at home, and I bet you can make a better cornbread with these ingredients and at a faster cooking time than bothering with the store recipe. Maybe next time I would add more sour cream to make a little m.o.i.s.t-er?

Or maybe I'll keep testing out all of these recipes to find something that can make BM happy! Maybe something with cheese in it perhaps.

Happy Pintertesting friends,

perhaps I could find a good recipe there :)

Crock-tober: Crockpot Pumpkin Chili

Yes, you read that correctly.

PUMPKIN chili.

Today I'm really really really excited to eat pumpkin chili,  and I've never even heard of it until this morning.  Which means I don't really have good pictures of yummy looking chili, but I promise to update later.

All I know is that there is a whole can of pumpkin and a good amount of pumpkin pie spice.

You see, I'm very very new to this whole crock pot thing. I've never seen my mother use one, ever. So the only things I've made in it were these AMAZING ribs, courtesy of Mel's blog post last Crock-tober.  I also made beef stew last weekend, it was very yummy too. All that being said, I think I'll stick with this whole crockpot trend!

Here is the pumpkin:

And here is a crap load of beans and tomatoes.

Also, it doesn't have that much meat. I just decided to buy a lot more than the recipe called for so we could eat it later :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Pound Ground Beef

1/2 Teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 Teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce with garlic and onions ** I couldn't find this 

2 (14.5 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes 

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

2 Teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 Teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

PHEW. That is a lot of cans.

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; cook and stir the beef in the skillet until crumbly and no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in the red pepper flakes, garlic, and onion; continue cooking until the beef has browned and the onion has softened and turned translucent. Add the green and red bell pepper and cook 5 minutes more.

2. While the beef is cooking, combine the kidney beans, black beans, Great Northern beans, tomato sauce, tomato sauce with garlic and onions, petite diced tomatoes, fire roasted diced tomatoes, and pumpkin puree in a large slow cooker. Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Stir in the ground beef mixture.

3. Cook on Low until the chili is hot, 1 to 2 hours.

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I will be updating later today after we try it.

I can't wait!

I wish it cooked longer so I could get started on it right now...

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UPDATE:

GO MAKE THIS CHILI NOW!!!

Ok, this recipe really lived up to the AllRecipe.com Reviews, it was super super super good.

Seth was eating it out of the crockpot late last night and proclaimed

"This chili is awesome!"

When Seth uses the word "awesome" you know it's good.

On our wedding day, when I got to the end of the aisle and saw him for the first time, he told me... "you look awesome!"

That to me, was better than him telling me I looked beautiful..and if you know Seth, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

I would chop the onion a little less finely next time, just because I like a chunkier onion. 

And you could always add more spice, without the red pepper flakes it had close to no spice -- just how I like it!

Thanks Mel, for posting such a fun link up! I'm already enjoying reading other peoples favorite crock pot recipes :)

God Bless the U.S!

Having a holiday in the middle of the week is nice in theory, but it totally screws you up. Can I get an amen? As a kid, it used to not bother me but now I totally see why my mom hates it! 

When Kim and Katy announced their link up for the 4th I was instantly excited. An excuse to craft, is my favorite kind of excuse to make!  This link up was a good excuse to get my food craft on, when I normally prefer fabric and hot glue crafts. I even wore a festive shirt, we are entering a whole new level of patriotism folks.

I spent the 4th with some friends, BBQing and climbing on rooftops to watch the fireworks. It was a fun day and I'm glad I got to contribute to the fun by making festive treats. Here was my original inspiration:

I couldn't choose my favorite so I went for all three. I'm not a huge fan of candy melts, but they were the best option for the project and I didn't have any complaints on the flavor.  They were all easy to make, minus the sprinkles ending up everywhere!

Here was some of the process:


The set up before it got destroyed in the candy melting mess

I loved mixing the sparkles. I originally thought I would keep them separate but I eventually just got messy and swirled them around with my hands. 

The crazy red and purple fingers that followed my baking extravaganza. My nails are stilly slightly tinted pink! 

Drying! The one thing that candy melts do better than regular chocolate is stick and dry. Usually when you dip something and lay it on wax paper, it loses its shape -- but the melted candy stuck right to the pretzel in this case!

Here's what I ended up with:

Patriotic Mallows: Some dipped in candy melts with sprinkles, some dipped in plain sprinkles (dip in water to make them stick). Loved them, so easy to make!

Patriotic pretzels. Also a big hit. 

The whole getup: 

I displayed the pretzels in a short glass so they didn't get completely stuck. 

I made the strawberries last minute...I prefer chocolate covered ones, but you can't deny the cuteness of red white and blue strawberries. 

At the BBQ: I tried to get Seth to take a nice picture with me...he wouldn't close his mouth!

Ok, that's better. 

Erin (our hostess) and her mom made this adorable jello. I wish I liked coconut, it made the jello hard to eat because I was trying hard to avoid the coconut part but I loved the concept! 

My friend David and I. Love his festive glasses. 

Silly boy. We started sending creepy pictures to some of my friends in Washington, apparently I wasn't informed about this one. I'd share with you one of our best, but you might not want to come back after that.

After the BBQ we went back to Seth's neighborhood where the fireworks are only a few blocks away. We all climbed up onto the roof and watched the show.  It was pretty neat watching it from a rooftop, I felt like I was a kid again being all dangerous! 

 I decided not to go outside for the late night VN brothers homemade fireworks show, the potential of getting arrested was just a wee bit high.  Instead I tried to go get pie with friends, which was a really bad idea...because when Seth lives in the town where the fireworks are and thousands of people try to escape at once out of the ONE entrance into the city...things get crazy. 

Anyways, it was a low key kinda holiday, just how I like it. Don't hate me but I kinda love holidays that I'm not obligated to be with family all day!

One last thing..

The 4th of July holds a special place in my history nerd little heart. And I hope it does for you too, Americans.

Besides all of the fun crafts, friends, and fireworks there is a MUCH greater meaning that comes with the Fourth of July. 

In the rush of celebrations, take time to consider the weighty decision that the members of the Second Continental Congress made 236 years ago, as they explained their motivation:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

They laid out the injustices forced upon them by the king of England and declared at the end that as free and independent states, they would have the power to wage war and seek peace, make alliance and establish commerce.

"With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," those brave men concluded.

July 4 should not be a day dedicated to the right to enjoy explosives, but instead as a day when citizens remember the greatness that is possible by pledging to each other to work together to continue to create this great nation.

So thank a service member and thank the Lord for the wonderful country we live in and the freedom that we've been granted.


God Bless the U.S!

Oh and P.S

Wondering about this gem?

 Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about my latest craft obsession.