I saw the sign...

Today, as I was driving back from the gym, I came to a corner in Holyoke where a man was holding up a sign that had what looked like an old school cd player that he was holding onto the back. Now it's 23 degrees outside and I had no desire to roll down my window to hear what was being said but the sign said "TRUST JESUS" in huge red letters. I smiled and nodded which is my usual way of acknowledging such things. Perhaps it is my way of saying, "Yup, ok, I know this Jesus. We're down" and also probably a little bit of  "Really, a sign? Is this necessary?".  and an annoyed sprinkle of  "You do realize you very well may cause an accident with this distraction, right?"

But what do I know? I suppose God can use whoever He wants to say whatever He wants to say. Perhaps some person was having one of those mornings we all have where nothing seems to go right, and we begin wallowing and pitying ourselves down this road of believing there is nothing bigger than ourselves and our little world. Maybe, just maybe? that kind of sign is just the reminder they need to turn their eyes back to the One who made it all.

But if you don't believe in Jesus at all...or life isn't so simple (and really, when is it?) does that sign change from a gentle love tap of our Savior into a taunting condemnation? Because to me, seeing this huge sign when in the midst of life and its twists and turns, could make one want to shout, "OKAY! How does one even DO that?"

And isn't that the real question...of the faithful, of the searching, of the clinging on by just a thread? I do believe, help me in my unbelief.

Trust-- that is an action packed word. And I love Jesus from the tips of my toes on up. But trust, that doesn't come easy. I've learned however, it doesn't come with a choice either. I either believe that my God is good, know that He is Sovereign even when I don't understand why things are going the way that they are, or I don't. And that place of I don't believe is way too dark and lonely for me to want to go near.

I have been struck by the comparision of my faith walk to a river as of late. I have been teaching a pretty cool unit on rivers to my second graders and the aerial shots are cool to see...how so many little tributaries gather together to form the larger river which is always flowing, always reaching toward the mouth, where it opens into the sea and becomes swallowed up in something more. Driving over the bridge next to my house and seeing the water in the Connecticut frozen mid movement was significant as well. Fire is so destructive...burning and laying waste to things in it's path...but ice...ice is scary too, because that river had been flowing, moving, reaching, when the cold came and froze it mid-stream. The river didn't freeze smoothly, it looked as though there were a fight between the elements and it froze all the way down in upward chunks of life frozen mid stage. It will be interesting to watch that river thaw in the springtime...

Because I think that's been my life...thawing. I used to be all fire...passionate, feeling, throwing caution to the wind. And in God's blessed way of making me mature, thankfully with time has come temperance. But part of me got frozen in a four year winter of ice. Lately, I have been learning that I have been created to love a certain way, and that even when I know it will cause me pain, I would rather love my friends and family the way we all want to be loved...and that I need to trust that even if it does hurt me, Jesus is big enough to handle that too. I carve out time to meet with the girls because I know it is needed. Even if I am tired and achy and at the end of me, I know that I can do it and I should do it. I love my friends who don't understand the biggest parts of me because maybe they are searching for someone to understand the deepest parts of them. I love my selfish friends and family who don't even know they are selfish even if they don't know how to apologize in a meaningful way. I know I have been all of those people to someone else somewhere along the road...the selfish friend, the misunderstanding one, the one who needs advice. And I know, that I have been loved the way I so want to love. It hasn't been an easy month. Old demons that I thought had long been conquered came a haunting, and lots of running to Jesus was needed. There were a lot of secret tears, and a lot of wanting to let the cold freeze up my journey. But I'm still fighting, still moving.

So I suppose one little sign can do something. It made me write this...

Trust Jesus. 

So simple...and yet...

Souper Duper

This is my second re-make of this amazing soup. The first time I made it, I took it to school to share with my co-teacher, who in her very New Haven Italian girl way said, "That soup is bangin!'". It still makes me laugh right out loud.

Today, I had the amazing blessing of being able to shop at Whole Foods with freedom from financial worry. I received the most thoughtful gifts from my classroom, one in the form of a substantial giftcard to Whole Foods. I fancied myself a Top Chef contestant as I browsed the choicest of shiitake mushrooms for this soup, and then had my choice of which manchega cheese I thought would go best without regard to it's cost. I chose the sheep's milk one from New Jersey, only because the one from Spain was more aged and that tends to bother my migraine sensitive head. I also was able to purchase all the GF flours and ingredients I will need for my January challenge to myself (more on that later)...

This soup was as wonderful as I remembered. My friend added the salad as his addition to the dinner with two kinds of craisins (pomegranate and cherry), as well as dried strawberries. We topped it with Brianna's poppyseed dressing, which if you haven't tried it, is the very best kind there is.

The soup comes out a combination of creamy and chunky, with the cheese just sticking to your spoon the further through the soup you go. This recipe is from my favorite soup book Super Duper Soups by Michael Van Straten. The book talks of the healing qualities of ingredients, this soup especially good for it's immunity boosting shiitake and mood-enhancing combination of mushrooms and cheese. Mmmm.....Super Duper!

Merry...Hannukah?

I have been thinking about latkes ever since we talked about Hannukah in school way back at the beginning of the month. Now, I have never eaten an official latke, but my mother can make a mean potato pancake and I have a sneaking suspicion they are veeery similar.

I have had some sweet potatoes hanging out in the house ready to be eaten so when my friend Kat said she could come for lunch today, I knew just what to make. This recipe called for some added shredded zuchinni, onion, Mrs. Dash, GF flour and egg substitute. I finally got the use the remainder of the fresh parsley my brother grew in his garden this summer! The recipe can be found here: http://www.recipe4living.com/recipe/sweet_potato_latkes_2.htm

They might look a little burnt in the picture but they didn't taste that way at all. Since the sweet potatoes make the pancakes a little extra sweet, I preferred them with the sour cream rather than the applesauce. It was a nice lunch with a sweet friend. Shout outs to Lauren too for my new serving dish!

Ocean Arrows

I can't think of anything that calms my soul more and makes me remember exactly who I am than the ocean. Just the sight of it makes my whole being just want to be still. I drove a friend who has a little bit of the winter blues to the ocean yesterday, and even if it was 20 degrees, I think oceans and their wide open spaces are exactly what tired souls need.

After that, we went to Arrows Restaurant in Ogunquit, ME. http://www.arrowsrestaurant.com/index.cfm
The restaurant is set in an old farmhouse about two miles from Ogunquit center and is one of chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier's 3 restaurants. When we arrived, we could see a chef pacing back and forth in the kitchen. When we started to walk to the front entrance, he came outside to offer us carmelized onion and bacon pizza slices. I, of course, didn't partake but as I said, it was 20 degrees out so that was a very sweet gesture.Many magazines have written about this magical place, and now I understand why. They seat you facing the their gardens where they grow a great majority of the food that they make. In the winter it is lit with just the right amount of lights and large hanging ornaments, and hay bale presents...understated enough that it is really beautiful. From the floor of the restaurant (which I think is an open porch in the summer) grows a thin birch tree whose branches snake through the rafters of the wooden porch. Chef Clark Frasier came over to introduce himself shortly after our seating.

They were serving their Bon Appetit Christmas Menu which looked something like this:

* House Made Prosuitto with pomegranate, persimmon, baby greens, and pistachios.

If I remember correctly, I saw a persimmon in the store a while back and it was a very beautiful fruit. I wanted to buy it but never had eaten one and didn't want to guess how to use it. This dish was beautifully arranged with sliced persimmon at the front of the dish, in the middle was thinly sliced prosuitto, and in the back was some baby greens. Sprinkled across the dish were pomegranate seeds and baked perhaps? pistachios. I like to savor my food so I ate very slowly...

* Grilled brochette of sea scallops, fresh bay leaves, and orange saffron aioli

This was my absolute favorite dish of the night. I normally am not a huge fan of scallops after a run in with some very sandy ones and frozen ones in my time, but these made a believer out of me! They came side by side on a stick with bay leaves, and dried fruit (apricot maybe?) between the scallops. They were topped with the orange saffron aoili and a piece of fresh mandarin orange. I think what I loved the most was the smoky grilled flavor of the scallops.

* Risotto with White Truffle Gratin

Mine was risotto, my friend had a fun little soufle shaped dish of pasta with breading topping it. Each of ours had the white truffle gratin flavor that I am fairly certain my friend loved the most since I lost them somewhere was their face turned into "Mmm. don't talk, I'm savoring right now"

* Roasted loin of beef with foie gras and cherry and red grape sauce

The cherry and red grape sauce was my favorite part of this dish...candied flavor without being overly sweet. I have a hard time with red meat that isn't cooked to grey anyway, so I was thankful it was dark so that I didn't see it's color. I did eat half of it, so I was proud. In the future, I think I will gain some confidence and let the chefs know that I have some personal wellness issues with red meat. I tried the foie gras on top even though a month ago at Wd-50 http://www.wd-50.com/, as I  enjoyed the aerated foie gras I ate there, my throat closed a little afterwards. The same happened again last night so I won't be eating that again. I think the foie was intended to be a little gorgonzola typed tangy to offset the sweet. For red meat lovers like my friend, the dish was lovely.

* Tapioca "caviar" service with blini, candied fruits, toasted pecans, cinnamon, mint, honey, and creme fraiche

Mine was a slightly adapted version of this as blinis are small little pancakes, but in their place I had two cute little cups of gelato, one maple and one cinnamon pecan. The dish was so beautiful that I spent a few moments savoring the visual effect before I started eating. I loved the candied fruits, and the pecans were toasted with just a little kick to them. My friend and I had had a conversation last week about what exactly creme fraiche is so it was fun to get to taste it's creamy texture that is slightly cream cheese sweet and yet, not so sweet all at once. I loved my cinnamon gelato even though I had a hard time placing its flavor at first until my friend identified it for me.

All in all, a lovely evening, at a lovely place. As I got into my car, I realized that I had sand on my heels from the ocean...and it made me laugh.

Birthday Christmas Dates

I remember being a little girl and loving to sit in the dark living room with our Christmas tree as the only light in the room. It was a funny thing because it was actually the only time of year we used our "living room". It didn't often see so much living. We had a den for that. The living room occasionally turned into a dance parlor with Dad or the place where you could find the record player and play such favorites as Bill Cosby's Himself,  Rainbow Bright's Adventure, orCCR (oddly enough..just as I typed this a group is singing "Down on the Corner" on the TV). But at Christmas, it was the room where the lights painted a mosaic on the ceiling. It reminded me of impressionism, the colors making soft patterns of peace. I still love Christmas trees, even though mine needs to be fake due to the pine allergy, but I try to put it up as early as possible and take it down ridiculously close to Valentine's Day.

This season has been filled with busyness and Christmassy festivities. There will be another fun filled night tomorrow as my friend has a Christmas Cookie exchange party for her birthday :). I decided I would try and go both gluten and sugar free with my recipe and even though I baked it for the time I was instructed, they were a little black on the bottom. Regardless, they are mighty tasty. I think I may try again another time with a few less baking minutes and I think they will be perfect.

Banana Date Cookies

The cookies are a mix of 1/2 cup chopped dates, 2/3 cup chopped pecans, 3 mashed bananas, 1/2 C olive oil, 2 cups GF oatmeal, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. You make little balls and flatten them a bit and bake for (a little less than!) 20 minutes at 375 degrees :) Try them..they are like banana bread--but better!

Spinacia oleracea

As I drove home from work today, I was thinking about how much I cook things with spinach in them. It may not look like that here on the blog since I don't blog every single little meal I eat, but like Popeye, I sure do love my spinach. Remember a few years ago when the stores pulled all the spinach off the shelf due to an ecoli outbreak? That was a real sad time for food in my house. Thus week's spinach dish was a Tuscan Bean Soup. It was such a filling meal and it only took 20 minutes to make! I do think I may have crossed over from Tuscany to Provence with the herbs I used to make it though, but it was delicious nonetheless. The key to keeping the spinach from getting all wilty and stringy was to cook it in some olive oil in a separate pan and then crack some black pepper on it and add it to the soup right before serving. As to the bread in that picture--it is the newest line of products from Udi's which is rapidly winning first place in my heart for the best gluten free products ever. This bread is whole grain GF bread. Fantastic. I even ate a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast this morning, and another bowl of Tuscan Bean Soup for lunch...

Castles & Fairytales

"The best Auntie ever." That's the comment I received accompanied with a great big hug from a 4 year old cutie last Saturday. *love* I didn't even plan it but the blue frosting actually perfectly matched the blue in her princess dress to go along with her "knights and princesses" theme. Don't tell my niece that I am not actually related to her, but rather that she is my best friend's daughter because she gets highly offended! It doesn't matter one ounce to me how I came to be an auntie because that little girl stole my heart with the first glimpse of her adorable face 4 years ago. Because of that I really wanted her cake to be special...the problem was, due to a crazy busy life, I didn't start her cake until 7pm the night before...

Thankfully, I had a sous chef on hand to help with frosting mixing, tasting, and dyeing and anything else I needed. And it turns out, I needed someone to save the day. Enter the fairytale...

                                           How Kurt Saved the Day

It was 10 pm on a cold and wintry evening. The teacher princess was exhausted and wanted to sleep. She only had the top layer of the castle cake to finish and then sleep would wrap her in its sweet cocoon. She was pleased with how the bottom layer had turned out even if the cake had popped up and rounded off so that it made the cake a little more whimsical than she had envisioned. The little pan she had baked the top layer in was a tad too big around to put the ice cream cone turrets where they needed to be. She knew she would need to cut the final layer and stack it, and she was nervous how it would happen. The quiet knight stepped in and wielded the big scary knife blade that made the princess a little queasy. He frosted between the layers and stacked them onto the cake. He even offered to eat off the evil glutenous crumbs that had escaped. The princess began frosting and soon encountered a terrible dilemma. Because the cake sides were now the spongy inside of the cake, little pieces of cake were getting into her beautiful pale blue frosting. Tears welled up in the princess' eyes, irrationality and panic overtaking her at the late hour. What was she to do? The knight began to throw out ideas, and the princess became more panicked with each passing moment. Then he was quiet. When he spoke again the princess could see the bright bulb of superb ideas flashing over his head. He would build reinforcement walls with graham crackers and stick them on with frosting so that the princess could work her frosting charms. The princess was skeptical, but as he carefully measured each new wall, she could see that he was a secret genius knight. In the end, the cake came out a little round and imperfect, but it was just the kind of whimsical magic that little 4 year old princesses adore. And the teacher princess, the little princess, and the dark knight lived happily ever after. (at least as far as cakes go!)

.

Under Pressure

Grace under pressure. That was the prayer of my heart this summer--to exhibit grace in the midst of turmoil. I felt as though I was making some progress, although I feel for me--often times if I am overwhelmed or full up and feeling irrational and tearful, I retreat, sit alone, cry through my tears until Jesus reminds me softly that He is there.

I am still unsure what to do when I have to talk to people in the middle of the pressure...whatever it is. I don't want to return to that place where I stuff my emotions...it took so long to rid my broken heart of that well meaning voice so long ago who said "Whatever you do today, hold it together for your friend, cry later." I fear, dear world, that I am an extremist, and I took that to it's fullest. I think there was a span of three years where I shed nary a tear. For a girl created like me, that is no good at all.

That said, I can circumvent the overwhelmed  stage if I am well-rested & feeling well. I don't quite know how to do that when I am overtired, achy, and not feeling well. And if some huge looming bill is in store, I'm done for in the first half hour until I can be still enough where Jesus can remind me that He is, in fact, Sovereign.

Yesterday was one of those days I feel like I failed at grace under pressure from start to finish.

I think the point is...the grace-giver was providing all the grace yesterday. Thankfully, His mercies are new every morning.

A Real Simple Thanksgiving

Yesterday was a Thanksgiving filled with the warmth and love that I often associate with Christmases long past. I didn't want it to end so I even slept at Mom & Dad's last night so I could maintain the magic as long as possible. It was an unexpected sweetness which I have learned in life are by far the best kinds of days. Nothing spectacular happened...nothing amazing...I was just reminded of how much I love my family.

As to the real simple side of things, I remember a Chicago day long ago when I was introduced to the magazine Real Simple. I had a roommate during Mission Year who had it delivered to our apartment. When the roomies questioned her about it's contents her reply was "Well, it's real. Real simple. You know?" (Which we, of course, did not know). I think that's what drew me to it years later when I had long returned to New England...I was amused by the house joke, but as I opened it's pages I discovered the awesomeness that is that magazine. It has amazing recipes (which of course are my favorite part of it!) but they also have organization and practical fashion tips and things. So, when I got my free trial November issue in the mail I had my sticky notes ready to pick out my contributions to Thanksgiving dinner.

My appetizer was stuffed mushrooms with spinach, garlic, gruyere cheese, and gluten-free breadcrumbs. I was going to take a picture but they were a hot commodity and I didn't snap one in time!

My side was sweet potatoes with parmesan cheese, toasted pecans and thyme. Mmmm...

Dessert was a flourless chocolate torte. It was so rich and yummy, I made sure to leave that one at my parent's house in order to save myself from the overindulgence :) photo of torte courtesy of my beautiful photographer cousin Missy Boudreau

All in all, a very real and simply warm Thanksgiving.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/stuffed-mushrooms-spinach-00000000044913/index.html

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sweet-potatoes-pecans-00000000044529/index.html

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/flourless-chocolate-cake-00000000044848/index.html

Leftovers and frosting guns....

A big bowl o'rice--

That's what I was left with after my grandmother's birthday party this weekend. A big mixing bowl full of wild and basmati rice. So naturally, this week's challenge: How many ways can you use rice without getting bored or spending more money?

This is the account rice meal Number 1:                 Coconut Rice and Beans

            I took some coconut oil and cooked up some green onions, minced garlic, and baby bella mushrooms. Then I added a drained can of black beans and cooked for about 5 minutes or so, seasoning with garlic powder, sesame seeds, and Mrs. Dash.

In another pan, I added a half a can of light coconut milk, and added the already cooked rice, cooking until the liquid had been absorbed into the rice.

I served it along with some blue corn tortilla chips and mango peach salsa.

I know it doesn't look like much, but it was good hearty comfort food and my guests seemed pleased!

For Dessert:   GF Pumpkin Cupcakes!!


You may remember me speaking of the little accordian frosters I had used to decorate the cake for the baby shower. Well, they had an unfortunate accident last week involving an accidental knock into the sink, running water, and the garbage disposal. :( When I went to Pampered Chef to buy some new ones...I saw something even better:

a frosting gun with interchangable, removable tips!!!

Naturally, I couldn't wait to use it, so in addition the rice I brought to Grandma's birthday, I also brought pumpkin cupcakes. The cupcakes were super easy. I just used some GF yellow cake mix ( I bought mine at Ocean State Job Lot really cheap), and replaced the water with a can of pumpkin. The frosting is your basic cream cheese and powdered sugar. I know it looks like I used all the same tips here, but I tried out different star shapes, and experimented with the little basket weave. I'm sure I will get better at it over time, but I was so excited about how these came out that I saved a few and served them for dessert last night!

Peter, peter, pumpkin eater

That squirrel (we'll call him Peter) was at it again. I think that was the start of it. I had bought a pumpkin to decorate for my sister-in-law's baby shower and I had it for less than a week before the brazen little beast found it and started nibbling away. He ate my chives last summer, he's taken to eating my wooden rocker chair, and now--the pumpkin. Peter isn't afraid of anything. I'll go out there and shoo him away, and I can almost hear the expletives in his little brain, "yeah ok lady...." My dog Jake really wants to get him, and often will wait at the sliding glass door just hoping for a chance. One of these days, I might "forget" to leave the glass closed and let Jake take care of business.

But anyway, back to the pumpkin. He ate a half-dollar sized surface nibble out of the pumpkin and was working his way onto the stem. That stupid pumpkin had cost me $10 and believe me when I say I wasn't about to let the squirrel have it! That's when I decided I would cut off the piece he had eaten and cook up the rest. No one warned me what I was in for. Two and a half hours later, as I hunched over the floor (since I had to move there since after the first hour at the counter, I knew there had to be a better plan) I was still cutting and peeling and dicing. Above is a photo of the cutting mid-stage.

I consoled myself with the delicous pumpkin seeds I would soon have and woke up Sunday to make them bright and early. I was still in some endo pain, but figured what better than pumpkin seeds to make it all better? I love them salty, but not super salty so I decided a teaspoon of brown sugar mixed with 3/4 tsp of salt might do the trick. It did. They came out wonderful and I enjoyed eating every bite of my pumpkin seed breakfast.

Until...the nausea began. I kid you not, pumpkin seeds can do some damage to the esophagus. I didn't know a cyst had ruptured making me ill. Had I known this, I think pumpkin seeds would have been the last thing I'd have eaten. Despite this, maybe I'll try my recipe again sometime. They were good going down at least.

I decided I'd lay off the pumpkin for a few days and the cubed pieces sat in my fridge. Last night, when I realized I needed something for lunch today I decided I wou.ld make the Pumpkin Leek soup (http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pumpkin-leek-soup-10000001664015/index.html)   I'd had my eye on for a while. I had to read the recipe carefully since I have never cooked leeks before since I probably would have cut up the green part. Apparently you use the white and light green parts. The soup made a tasty lunch and I think those little leek pieces have a little bit of a spicy kick.

As exciting as this pumpkin adventure has been, I think next time I might just sacrifice my pumpkin to Peter and use the can.

Comfort food

Sometimes, there's nothing in the world better than some simple comfort food. That is usually synonymous with warm and cheesy if you are a mouse like me. Today I had 10 parent conferences...by the end, I'm not even sure what I was saying so I am really glad I had prepared good notes for myself! I dragged myself home around 5:45 and wanted some comfort food right quick so I thought back to my childhood favorites, and settled on the tuna melt. In order to make a tuna melt just right, you must season the tuna just so (my favorites are celery salt and onion powder and a little chopped up celery), toast the bread alone once, and then re-toast it with the tuna and American cheese. It's pretty rare that I have gluten-free bread on hand since I don't eat it often enough to encourage myself to bake it, but a friend gave me some on Sunday so I was excited to get to use it. As I took the first bite my insides sighed "Ahh", and for a few moments all was right with the world once more...I am finishing my night curled up with a good book, decaf chai, and a blanket.  He provides such sweet rest for the weary...

Keen- wha?

After explaining to my guests that quinoa (keenwa) is actually the thing we all think at first is kwee-no-a and it is a grain--we sat down to eat the meal I had prepared in advance last night. I'm a newbie to quinoa myself, and since the little bag of it has been sitting in my cabinet for months, I thought it was high time to put it to use. I can't take credit for this recipe, but I can attest that it is pretty great. It had a pretty light and summery taste, but the thing I learned about quinoa tonight is that it makes you FULL! I also learned that quinoa looks weird. I have a fairly old camera with not alot of tricks so all the close-ups I tried to take came out all blurry but quinoa ends up looking like little risotto balls with curly-cue hairs. Fear not, it does not in any way taste hair-like! It's flavor is a little like brown rice, but less nutty than brown rice can be. This recipe here has some grated carrots, apples, green onions, and dried cranberries with a homemade apple honey mustard dressing. I let it sit overnight, and I think it was a hit because people went back for more. The verdict: I will definitely be trying quinoa again!
The recipe can be found at http://www.cookingquinoa.net/. The one I made is called Tangy Quinoa Salad with Cider Vinagrette. Thanks Wendy!!

Flavors of life

Tuesday was a night of flavors. Tasting, truly tasting, all of the different things food has to offer. I had a lot of leftover pesto beans & rice that I had cooked up in the crockpot for the baby shower, so I wanted to use that up for dinner. With it, I decided that I would look up some chicken marinades on allrecipe.com and see what I could find, and what I saw was a yummy sounding blend of worcestershire sauce, GF soy sauce, dry mustard, lemon juice, red wine vinegar (except I didn't have that so I used some rose wine I had in the fridge), and parsley. I put it in a bag Monday night and let it soak until I returned home from work with Val on Tuesday night. The website reccommended that I grill it, but I once had an incident involving lighting a grill, a boom, and some singed eyebrows so needless to say that was out of the question. I do have a trusty old George Foreman leftover from college, and I was hungry so out it came. In 10 minutes we had dinner. I was hoping for an allright dinner at best, but when I took a bite of the chicken I had one thought: "Why have I never marinaded chicken before?" I mean, I've added things like olive oil and spices, but never such a wonderful mix of flavors that leave each bite a mystery. Fantastic. I do think though that this marinade might be well suited for chicken wings so look for that in the future.

I haven't been feeling well, and didn't want to stand and make dessert, so I stopped on the way home at Flayvors in Hadley to see if I could pick up a pint of Pumpkin Icecream. I really do think that one of the best things about fall is everything in the world comes in pumpkin. I also splurged for a pumpkin latte this week as well!

I took Val back to campus, and we decided that since it was mid-terms for her and a painful week for me, we would give ourselves a project. We dressed up my dog Jake in his Halloween costume, and took him for a walk around the green to see how many people would look and say how cute he is. Sadly, only one girl really looked at him and smiled so I dropped by my friend Kurt's on the way home because I knew he would appreciate my efforts. And really...how cute is that dog? You can't help but smile. Perhaps I shouldn't admit how many times I've put that costume on him this week, but some weeks need more comedic relief than others!

What this life will hold

I listened today to my best college friend's voice on an album that is being released by another friend that belongs to her church, the sister church plant to the one I am a part of. I'm not sure what it was--or if it is that I am exceedingly melancholy today  but I thought back to less than ten years ago as we sat side by side and wondered what this life would hold. She had dreams to be a worship leader, and with a husband and 3 kids, she is a worship leader, it just looks a bit different from her dream back then. But we are still young, and listening to her voice today I was struck again with the question "What will this life hold?"  For me, I pray it will hold joy, laughter, travel, and someday tiny baby hands. Dreams take time. God's timing isn't our timing. But He is good. Always good. That I know for sure.

Yay Babies!!

This weekend was the long planned for and awaited baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law. They are having twin boys so my Mom and I planned the theme to be "Two Peas in a Pod". The invitations had them, and the party favors were little peas in a pod candles. To go with it all, I decorated the GF carrot cake my Mom baked with cream cheese frosting to match our theme! I made sure one baby had brown eyes like my brother, and one had green eyes like my sister-in-law. The twins are fraternal so I suppose it's possible....

As to the decorating, here is what I learned about working with cream cheese frosting: Cream cheese frosting is difficult to mix. On top of that, it gets soft very easily so when you are mixing colors you should make little batches at a time. Also, if you are decorating with little stars like I filled in the pea pod, you should only put little bits of frosting at a time in your squeezer. (I have these wonderful little accordian like frosters from Pampered Chef). If you use too much, the frosting becomes soup-like, and that makes for some poor frosting. Second, you should always make more frosting than you think you should make, especially when you have more than three colors to mix. Third, there is no food coloring I can think of that makes brown, but cocoa powder does the trick! Decorating just makes me smile :).

In addition to decorating the cake, I made some spinach and artichoke dip, as well as plated some brie and grapes. It looked so beautiful, I felt inspired to take a picture.

       Spinach & Artichoke Dip
1/2 package of thawed frozen spinach
4 oz of chopped artichoke hearts
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (I used the finely shredded--it works better)
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup parmesan              Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes

That's Amore!

I was thinking back the other day to life before Trader Joe's arrived in Western MA. As I traveled the neatly arranged rows, searching well-known corners for my favorites, I knew life just got a tiny bit more sunshine when T.J. blew into town. I mean, where else can you take two staples like those on the left (which cost less than $5) and turn them into this:

Polenta Pizza Pie

All you need is one roll of polenta broken up and softened with a bit of water, mixed with a cup of that delicious vodka sauce, and some cheese and you have the basis for a gluten free favorite!

I added some spinach, mushrooms, and eggplant ( I cooked the mushrooms and eggplant in a little garlic first), and bake it for 20 minutes. The result...happy people!



Tabby

I spent a lovely Tuesday night with the people I like to refer to as "my girls". I in no way have ownership of them, but I have been meeting with them each for over a year to talk about life, love, and Jesus and they have a very special place in my heart. They will very often be the guests who eat my Tuesday night dinners. As much as I love Trader Joe's, I love these two so much more!

Val

Weekend Wining

 This weekend was full of fun. On Saturday, I looked out the window and saw how beautiful it was and decided it was time for a fall adventure. I decided to head out to a local winery called Pioneer Valley Vineyards in Hatfield, MA. I love fruit wines so I had a good time tasting them all--for free! The woman (who I believe was one of the owners) was so sweet and friendly.  I finally settled on these three. Yes...you do see tomato wine. I don't think I will be drinking just a glass of it, but I thought it would be nice to cook with, as it has a very light, basily flavor.

I came home and baked a Swedish apple pie while sipping a glass of blackberry wine. That apple pie only took two apples since the apples I picked a few weeks ago were as big as a shotput! All you do is slice up some apples and fill them 2/3 of the way in the pie pan and sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar. On the stovetop melt 3/4 cup butter and add 1 cup GF flour, sugar, and one egg and pour it over the top. Bake for 40 minutes and you see the delicious goodness below!

 The day finished with a celebratory tea & cider date with my friend Jenny, listening to a man play some folky fun at the Thirsty Mind coffee shop. It was the first weekend I felt well in a long time so I'm sure I had a rediculous smile on my face the whole weekend long. It reminded me that migraines and pain aren't the only things life has in store and that joy always comes in the morning...

of witch's brew & worship

Today I woke up to the sound of wind chimes singing, the very loud snoring of my little animal, and the deep feeling of peace in my spirit. I needed to make a new batch of the tea that I use to help my endometriosis that my Mom refers to it as the "witch's brew" (if there's anyone out there who needs the recipe--I am happy to share) I really do feel like that as I make it--measuring out all the herbs and brewing them up. Today I took it to a new level and doubled the batch to last me a week, so with my pot looking a bit like a modern day cauldron I chuckled to myself as I began the process. While it brewed, I turned on my cd player--not something I often do, and listened to Rich Mullins sing his beautiful songs. That inspired me to unbury my djembe and play along. So with the last few heart-aching notes and the earthy smell of tea in the air, I am content. It was a new day today. A new day indeed.

Familiar faces

With a new job about a month underway, and a struggle with migraines and mahem that defined September, it was so nice to see the familiar face of my old work girlfriend Kat last night. I was between paychecks so I was limited to whatever food I had in the fridge and the cabinet. Also, I didn't get home until about 45 minutes before my guest would arrive so that's how I came to this quick meal-in-a-pan plan. Due to all the chopping, I'm pretty sure I made my dog's night since he gets everything I drop on accident, and I'm not the neatest girl in the world. In the (hormone-free)turkey burger: chopped asparagus, shiitake mushrooms, red onion, and garlic sauteed in a little organic Smart Balance-- served with some shredded sharp cheddar on top, because, let's face it--cheddar makes everything better :). In the pan went some eggplant, baby potatoes, red onion, white mushroom, snap peas, carrots, and spinach with some olive oil and balsamic. I learned the lesson that potatoes should be cooked a bit ahead of time ( I used the microwave to cook them a bit when I realized they were taking forever and believe me when I say it wasn't fun picking them all out of the mix)...though they weren't my favorite part of the dish in the end anyway. Ah well. Live and learn. I was so excited to find my friend happy and smiling, and it was such a nice middle of the week break!

Hello blog world

Many years ago, on a college weekend retreat, I had a vision of what I hoped to be like as a young single woman. (Perhaps I knew then that this marriage thing might take some time for me!) I always envisioned that I'd live in a city, on the second floor, and up a spiral staircase where women would come for tea and comfort. I don't think it's a particularly odd vision, but I stopped recently and looked at my life. I do live in a city (albeit a small one right on the edge of suburbia), I do live on that second floor, and oddly enough there even is that spiral staircase. So that's what this blog is about...learning to come to the table and be that mission minded woman I longed to be, and the recipes, friends, tears, and laughter that happen along the way as I learn what it is to know I'm loved by Jesus and learning to love in return.