Our response

Spicy Orange Broccoli

3 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 TBSP minced shallot
peeled rind of 1 orange, chopped
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 large bunch broccoli (cut in florets)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sesame oil

Saute the first 5 ingredients, until the garlic and onion have softened.  Add broccoli to the pan and stir for 1 minute.  Add the orange juice, balsamic vinegar, and salt and cover.  Steam for 3 minutes.  Drizzle with the sesame oil and serve warm, or chill and serve cold.  I usually serve this with potato pancakes.


Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.  
If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use .
                                                                 - Emily Post

"Life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we respond to it."
                                                                 - Chuck Swindoll

In the spirit of the royal wedding come noon time tomorrow, I will post the true British scone recipe.  English scones are like American biscuits and even served in the round form, unlike our preconceived idea that they are triangular.  You could prepare this for breakfast in the morning, to be served with poached egg and fresh parsley.  It would be completely appropriate to serve alongside champagne mixed with pureed strawberries in order to toast the new Prince and Princess of Wales. Brilliant!

                    Westminster Abbey- The site of the royal wedding
1-2-3 Biscuits
Mix:
     2 cups flour
     1/2 tsp salt
     2/3 cup milk
Add all at once:
     2/3 cup milk
     1/3 cup oil
Stir until it forms a ball.  Knead ten times or until smooth.  Roll out and cut into rounds.
Bake 10-12 minutes in a 450 degree oven.


Little things


Little drops of water,
   Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
   And the pleasant land.

Little deeds of kindness,
   Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
   Like the heaven above.

        by Julia A. Carney

Bowl of Vegetables by Susan Branch, taken from "The Summer Book"


Gather at a picnic table set out a giant, wooden bowl or plate of grilled vegetables with an array of color and flavors.  Have a hot, crusty loaf of bread to serve alongside.  Roast all veggies in a 400 degree oven.

Include in your bowl:
     Rosemary potatoes and carrots (shake in zip-lock with oil and bake 30 min)
     Green beans (shake with oil, salt and pepper and bake 15 minutes)
     Red Pepper (brush with oil and place in oven whole, remove when blackened)
     Garlic (shake the bulb in oil and place in sealed aluminum foil, bake 30 minutes)
Sprinkle the veggies with Calamata olives and garnish with sprigs of rosemary.
Drizzle with Roasted Veggie Dressing.  Whisk together:
     1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
     2 crushed anchovies
     1 TBSP dijon mustard
     1 crushed clove of garlic
     1 TBSP minced parsley
     1 TBSP fresh rosemary leaves
     1/2 cup olive oil



     "Your cold mornings are filled with the heartache about the fact that although we are not at ease in this world, it is all we have, that it is ours but that it is full of strife, so that all we can call our own is strife; but even that is better than nothing at all, isn't it?  And as you split frost-laced wood with numb hands, rejoice that your uncertainty is God's will and His grace toward you and that that is beautiful, and part of a greater certainty... the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it."
                                      -Tinkers by Paul Harding, page 72

Do you ever feel alone?  Everyone has times of sadness.  We all ask the questions, Am the only one who feels this way? or, I wonder if things will get better?    Know that this life will certainly bring heartache, discontent, and a heap of problems, but know that Jesus promises to always be with us.  And that comfort may come from someone else who has more strength then you do right now.  Just ask.  I encourage you to talk to your family and your friends.  The definition of fellowship is a friendly association, especially with people who share one's interests.   We are all in this together, so let's be there for each other.  Many of you have been there for me and helped me through the hard times. Thanks.  

Stand Firm

Indian Spinach and Chickpeas

3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 TBSP curry powder
1 TBSP ground coriander
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup greek plain yogurt
3/4 cup half and half, or soy milk
2 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Heat the oil and saute the onions until translucent.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute.  Add the spices and cook until fragrant.  Add the yogurt, half and half, thawed spinach and its' liquid, and drained chickpeas.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until heated through.  This is a wonderful side dish or hearty enough to eat as a meal!

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
                       -Dr. Seuss

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm.  Let nothing move you.  Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
                      
                      - 1 Corinthians 15:58

Eat With Gladness

Couscous with Vegetables and Chickpeas

This is a recipe from North Africa, and was well loved by my family last night.  It is a spicy vegetable stew.  The several spices and flavors were warming on the snowy spring evening that we had.  And it was fun to talk to the kids about the types of food that children in North Africa eat.  We even broke out the globe!  Enjoy the flavors...

4 TBSP olive oil
2 large onions, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 TBSp peeled and minced ginger
1 large pinch of saffron threads, or 1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste
1 tsp ground coriander
3 whole cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 pound winter squash, trimmed and cut in chunks
2 medium zucchini, chunked
1 cup vegetable broth
2 cups cooked, or 1 can chickpeas
1/2 cup raisins or dried cherries
1 recipe of couscous, as directed

Place the olive oil in a large saucepan and heat.  Add the onions and bell pepper and pinches of salt and lots of pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender.  Add the ginger, saffron, cayenne, coriander, cloves, cinnamon and stir.  Add the carrots, squash, zucchini, and cup of stock.  Turn the heat to low, and cover until the mixture simmers steadily.  Cook until the carrots are tender, 30 minutes, adding more liquid if needed.  Add the chickpeas and the raisins and cook for another 10 minutes.  Serve over couscous.

     Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.... Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun- all your meaningless days.  
                                                                                         - Ecclesiastes 9:7-9

April

Honey Teriyaki Vegetables

2 tsp peanut oil
a bunch of radishes, trimmed, and halved
4 carrots, sliced diagonally
a bunch of scallions, halved crosswise
1 cup snowpeas, halved lengthwise
1 TBSP sesame seeds, toasted

Mix Dressing:
        1 TBSP honey
        2 TBSP teriyaki sauce
           freshly ground black pepper

Put the Oil in a wok and heat until hot.  Add the vegetables and 2 TBSP water and stir-fry for 3 minutes, until the veggies are just heated through but still crisp.  Transfer to a warming dish.  Reduce the heat in the wok and add the dressing until just warm.  Pour over the veggies and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  This is amazing with tofu, or a side of quinoa or couscous.  


Daffodils
by Mae Swenson

Yellow telephones
in a row in the garden
are ringing,
shrill with light.

Old-fashioned spring
brings earliest models out
each April the same,
naïve and classical.

Look into the yolk-
colored mouthpieces
alert with echoes.
Say hello to time.




It's funny that I post a poem about spring daffodils, when a big snowstorm is covering  northern Michigan!  My little girl was out in a spring dress this afternoon, biking around as the snowflakes began to fall.  She even had flip flops on!  I kindly, yet assertively, asked her to go get more clothes on.  She exclaimed with a big smile, But mom!  It is spring!  She made me think of how I should respond to the disappointments and struggles that can sometimes weigh me down.  There is a joy in me that should radiate outward,  despite what is going on around me.  And just like spring, the hope in my heart should burst forth.

Dying to Live

Baked Oatmeal (The family's favorite vegetarian breakfast)
Mix:  1 cup oil (I like canola because it is high in Omega-3's and cooks well)
          1 and 1/2 cups of brown or raw sugar (use anything but refined)
          4 eggs
          2 tsp vanilla
          2 cups milk
Add all at once:
          6 cups quick oats
          2 tsp salt
          1 tsp cinnamon
          4 tsp baking powder
Optional:
          Sprinkle the top with walnuts, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.  

Bake in a greased 9X13 pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  We love to serve this with  peaches, brown sugar, and warm milk.


     "Death and rebirth are constant in the Bible.  We are to let go, turn away, renounce, confess, repent and leave behind the old ways.  When we cling with white knuckles to our sins and our hostility, we're like a tree that won't let its leaves go.  There can't be a spring if we're stuck in the fall.  That's how life works when you're dying to live. "
                                                                                       -Rob Bell

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  
                                                                                       - 1 Peter 1:22-23

    Have you played with your kids lately?  I have noticed that my kids are growing up and starting to do there own thing.  This includes looking at peers and deciding what is "cool" and what is "not cool".  But you can help keep the "little" in your kids by playing with them.  Encourage arts and crafts such as making puppets,  coloring, or writing stories.  Create a skit  or a dance routine with them.  Think of a hobby that may interest them.  Playing with your kids helps you engage with your child and be creative yourself, so go play!


        

Sleep

Mostly Not Potato Salad


1 pound red-skinned potatoes, peel on, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
2 TBSP whole grain mustard
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
3 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp natural cane sugar
Sea Salt
1 leek, white and green parts trimmed and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped dill
6 small stalks celery, trimmed and diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
6 oz extra-firm tofu, diced
1 TBSP minced chives

Cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling water for 9-10 minutes.  For the last 30 seconds, add the green beans. Whisk the mustard, vinegar, 2 TBSP oil, sugar, and salt to taste in a bowl.  Add remaining oil to a large skillet and heat on med-high heat.  Add the leeks and dill and saute until golden, about 5 minutes.  Gently toss the potatoes, green beans, celery, cucumber, tofu, chives and half the leeks with the dressing in a bowl.  Top with remaining leeks and serve at room temperature, or chilled.  Great with spring grilling!

Do you allow yourself to receive enough sleep each night?  Research shows that people who do not receive enough sleep do not perform as well at normal activities of daily living than people who receive 7-9 hours per night.  Job performance, interpersonal relationships, and regular sleep cycles are all enhanced with adequate sleep.  Do yourself a favor and ensure enough sleep!  Regular exercise patterns and a healthy diet will help aid in a good sleep pattern as well.

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsSleep/


Exhaustion makes cowards of us all.
                          -Vince Lombardi

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
                                                                                                    - Matthew 11:28

More on Grace

                                                                                              

Grace comes to us only in the discovery of our total helplessness. We are like a caterpillar in a ring of fire. Deliverance can only come from above.  

                        - From Fear to Freedom, by Rose Marie Miller

                                                          

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; 

                                  -2 Corinthians 9:8


Listen to U2's song, GRACE... "it travels outside of Karma"

Broccoli and Pine Nut Pesto Pasta

6 ounces dries penne pasta, or 3 cups
8 oz of broccoli, cut into florets
2 TBSP pine nuts
3 TBSP olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 chile, seeded and finely chopped (or hot pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp)
1/2 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
fresh grated parmesan cheese


Cook the pasta al dente.  Cook the broccoli in boiling water until soft, about 10-12 minutes.  Meanwhile, heat a dry skillet until hot and toast the pine nuts, turning often, for 3-4 minutes.  They should be golden.  Heat the olive oil in a small pan and add the garlic and chile.  Gently cook for 2-3 minutes.  Drain the broccoli and crush coarsely with a fork.  To the drained pasta, add the broccoli, garlic and chile oil, and toasted pine nuts.  Squeeze in the juice from 1/2 lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.

Grace

Tomato Peanut Curry

1 TBSP oil

1 and 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 tsp salt

2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp ginger, grated

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 small bell pepper, minced

6 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded

2 cups tomato puree

3/4 cups natural peanut butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cumin

2 TBSP yellow curry

cayenne pepper, chopped cilantro, whole roasted peanuts (optional)

Melt oil and add onion, salt and mustard seeds for 10 minutes or the seeds begin to pop.  Add ginger, garlic, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and cook until boiling, then turn down the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes.  Serve hot over rice, garnish with cilantro.  

This meal is warm, delicious, and easy to make.  My entire family eats every last bite.  I always feel like my sinuses have a good work out eating tomato peanut curry so if you feel a spring-time cold coming on, start cooking!    The house also fills with an amazing fragrance.  

It seems as if all my bridges have been burned,

You say that's exactly how this grace thing works
It's not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive at the restart.  
                                          - Roll Away Your Stone, Mumford and Sons

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
                                          - Psalm 94:19

                                  Energy Boosting Sandwiches:
To a toasted whole wheat pita, add:
      Stewed lentils (Cook for 20 min or soft, add a little onion or coconut milk)
      Cherry tomatoes
      Greek yogurt
      A handful of fresh spinach
      Fresh mint
      1 TBSP Olive Oil

If you are unable to get the kids to eat this, toast some 7-grain bread and add almond butter, sliced apples, and honey.  Both sandwiches have 12 grams of protein, 8 grams of fiber, and 300 calories!

Let us avoid the kind of tolerance that keeps us silent when we believe we have a valuable message to share.  At the same time, may we discover a new kind of tolerance that allows and even encourages others to explore and respond to the truth.  
                                                                                                - Ed Stetzer

Delight

                    
                     Cinnamon-Carrot Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.                          

Mix dry ingredients:
     3/4 cup flour
     1/2 cup whole wheat flour
     2 TBSP wheat germ
     1 tsp cinnamon
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/8 tsp kosher salt

Beat wet ingredients:
    1/2 cup vegetable oil
    1/3 cup soy milk or buttermilk
    2 large eggs
    3/4 cup light brown sugar
    2 cups grated carrots (4-5 carrots)

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until all is incorporated together.  Pour into paper muffin cups.  Bake for 22 minutes, allow to cool in the muffin cups, in the pan for 15 minutes.



 In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
 Where you invest your love, you invest your life.


                                                  - from the song, Awake My Soul, by Mumford and Sons

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

                                                  - Psalm 37:4

Spring Break!

I am taking a week of Spring Break with my family.  I have spent the time reading, exercising, eating, and more reading!  I just finished Rob Bell's new book , Love Wins.  I highly recommend it to all of you. I love that Jesus can reveal himself all over the place in this great, big world!  I have been enjoying my kids, their dad, and everything that comes with a little break.  I encourage you to read, go back through the blog and try some of the recipes, and try to get outside and exercise as much as possible this week.

We all recited this at our weddings, but I needed to be reminded that love has a look.  This is what it is:

Love is patient,  love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres.  Love never fails. 
                                   
                                                                                                          - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Early Spring

Lines Written in Early Spring

I HEARD a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And 'tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:--

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature's holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

-William Wordsworth







Parsleyed Israeli Couscous




1 cup couscous

1 small cucumber, seeded and diced

8 green onions, finely chopped

1 cup fresh parsley

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 TBSP olive oil




Cook couscous as directed on package. Drain, then rinse under cold water and drain again. Transfer to a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is an excellent side dish for grilled items.







I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.

-Jeremiah 31:25