But the greatest of these is Love!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "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 record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." One of my favorite verses in the Bible, I think this would be an excellent way to start each day with a reminder not only of God's love, but what it means to show His love to others. Our first and greatest commandment is to love God, the second to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we truly took this verse to heart and consciously strove each day to embrace this type of love, how different would our daily lives and even our world look! My personal challenge is "love keeps no records of wrongs". Although I do not tend to hold grudges for very long, I do clearly remember hurtful (even if said in a joking manner) words and actions of others. Just the other day, we were eating leftovers for dinner, attempting to clear the fridge of the enchiladas that had haunted us for too long (a testament to my overestimation skills), when my husband looked at my plate and said, "Wow, you ate as much as I did!" Although he was joking, I enjoyed reminding him of this delightful comment. However, after I reminded him once again I stopped and told him (and myself in the process) "Love keeps no record of wrongs". It might need to be a daily or weekly reminder but that's what God's word is for right? For guiding and directing our lives, words, and actions. My husband, on the other hand, truly has the gift of keeping no record of wrongs. In the midst of one of those Eeyore days where a little black cloud hangs over you and you just don't know why, I admit I was not the nicest person to my sweet husband. After this mood wore off a bit and I apologized, his response was "I already forgot it happened." I will never forget that moment and that perfect example of showing God's love and truly reflecting the Son.

Continuing this theme of LOVE, we went to see "Crazy, Stupid Love" last night. Oh my goodness if you have not seen it already, cancel all plans and go tonight!! It was one of the best movies I've seen in a while (sorry Captain America, but you were a little cheesy). We walked out of the theater feeling like it was money well-spent, even if it was just $4 with a college student ID (luckily for me, I still have my OSU id and have not aged much since freshman year...or unluckily in that regard?) With all the money the movie industry has squeezed out of us, I have to say I do not feel any remorse for using my college id post-college. Take that Tinseltown!

Speaking of love when it comes to food, I have to share this lovely recipe with y'all....Lemon Loves! The name alone invokes all kinds of lovely thoughts and feelings, especially since I am an avid lemon fan. Seriously, anything lemon and you have me sold. I got this recipe from my mom, the wonderful lady from whom I inherited my love of lemon, and it has been a hit with everyone who has tried this absolutely delish dessert!

Lemon Loves

Crust:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

Mix ingredient in order listed. Bake in an 8" square pan for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove from oven and spread with the following filling mixture (mix in order listed)....

Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 Tbsp. lemon juice 

Return to oven and bake for 20 more minutes at 350 degrees. The top will be slightly golden brown.

When the cookie mixture is cold, spread with the following glaze....

Glaze:

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. butter

Looking at all of the butter, variety of sugars, and lemon juice, how could one not love lemon loves??? It is one of those desserts where I have to "even out" the pan every afternoon when I come home. Uh oh, that piece is uneven, I need to cut a little sliver to make it straight. Oops...my knife slipped, gotta even it out some more! Love!

Finally, I need to include one love of my husband.....beer. We're having a lazy Sunday, doing laundry and watching movies on tv the whole afternoon. When I don't have much to do, I like to whip up something with ingredients I already have. We recently inherited a plethora of leftover beer, leading me to the decision to make beer bread! This is the only kind of beer I like (except beer in a Mambo Margarita....that recipe is sure to make an appearance soon!). I just googled a recipe and found this one from honestfare.com. SO simple and so good if you like dense, hearty breads. Another love!

Beer Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tbsp. sugar

1 12-oz. can or bottle of beer (we had an abundance of Bud Light but you can use any)

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

2. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Sift well. 

3. Pour in beer and stir until a stiff batter is formed. Do not over-mix!

4. Scrape batter into your loaf pan and pour melted butter on top (I think I started to drool at this step)

4. Bake for 40 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. (I believe mine baked for 46 minutes)

Slap some butter on a thick slice and you are good to go show that bread some love:)

Newlywed Mistake #1: Wait for the Sun!

Lamentations 3:22-24 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'" Some days we just feel completely consumed by the things of this world, whether it be the stresses of job, school, or everyday life or even sins we battle constantly and seem to never overcome. However, we can stand strong and confident in the fact that the Lord's faithfulness never, ever fails. As each new day appears, His love, grace, and mercy still remains as strong and secure as ever. No matter what happens throughout our daily lives, God is our portion. His love is all-sustaining, all-consuming, all-cleansing. We will wait on Him.

Speaking of waiting, my husband and I learned our first life lesson as newlyweds during our honeymoon. We went to St. Lucia, the most beautiful island God ever created and the most gorgeous place I have ever been (or probably ever will go!) in my entire life. Here is just a glimpse of our trip:

It was one of those places where you just are amazed at God's handiwork and wonder how anyone could question His presence after seeing such a gorgeous creation! All in all the trip was perfect. Our room only had 3 walls and our view was actually the very first picture! A cool breeze blew constantly so there was no need for AC and the entire resort was open air. We ate at a 5-star restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the food was incredible! The waitstaff actually laughed at my over-the-top excitement about some of the food (plantains that grew down the hillside simmering in cinnamon, butter, and nutmeg served with homemade vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce....how could anyone NOT get super excited???) The employees were absolutely incredible at customer service and went out of their way to make our trip the best possible. In fact, I was told by a server (who had a beautiful Carribean accent) that she loved my voice...."like  Dolly Parton"......yeah. Dolly? Compliment or accident insult? I'll put it to a vote. In addition to eating and eating, oh and eating, we did a sunset sail, snorkeled, walked through a tropical botanical garden, visited a waterfall and sulphur springs, and just enjoyed God's majesty!

In the midst of having an amazing honeymoon, James and I learned a valuable life lesson/commited newlywed mistake #1. We did not pack any sunscreen because all of the bottles were too big to fit in our quart-size baggie for our carry-ons. Despite the fact that we could have bought a couple small bottles and filled them up with sunscreen we already had for a whopping total of 5 bucks, we decided to just buy some when we got to the resort. We knew it would be more expensive than Wally World but we thought eh, what the heck, I'm sure it won't be too bad. SO, day one, all giddy with excitement, we walked into the gift shop to purchase our necessary sunscreen. I expected it would be around ten dollars, a rip-off to me already. Nope....EIGHTEEN dollars later we walked out with the smallest bottle of sunscreen manufactured! Not only that....due to the rain that came in and out as well as the partly cloudy days throughout the trip, we did not use the sunscreen once! It is still unused with the price tag intact to document our one or two souvenirs.

Newlywed Life Lesson #1: Wait for the sun!

On a food note, we had a little get-together at our new duplex and I thought I'd share the menu with you! So tasty and SO easy....which is a common theme amongst my cooking:)

Spinach Artichoke Dip

This is a family recipe that is to-die-for!

1 10-oz. box of frozen chopped spinach

1 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 14.5-oz. can or frozen artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

4 oz. soft cream cheese

1 cup mayo

Salt, pepper

1 tsp. paprika

1. Defrost and squeeze spinach.

2. Mix 1 cup parmesan, spinach, artichokes, onion, garlic, cream cheese, mayo, salt and pepper.

3. Put in greased casserole dish and top with 1/3 cup parmesan and sprinkle with paprika.

4. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Cheesy Bread

I just googled and found this recipe..I believe on AllRecipes.com

8 oz. shredded Mozzarella

1 lb. shredded Cheddar

1/2 to 1 cup green onions, chopped

1/2 cup mayo

2 tbsp. sour cream (optional - I omitted)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

I added salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to the mix

1 to 2 loaves Ciabatta or French bread (I used the leftover Italian loaf from the Chicken Bruschetta so my slices were a little thinner since it was pre-cut)

1. Mix cheeses and green onion. Stir in mayo and sour cream.

2. In separate bowl, blend butter and garlic until smooth.

3. Add butter mix to cheese mix.

4. Slice bread...really however you want!

5. Preheat broiler. Spread mix on bread and broil for 3-5 minutes until nicely browned.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Another family recipe that soon became a staple!

6-8 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (or use roasted chickens)

1 cup cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

1-2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 to 1 1/2 sticks butter

Rice (I use the 90 second brown rice from good ol' Uncle Ben)

You will not believe how easy this dish is...

1. First layer: chicken

2. Second layer: chicken soup mixed with sour cream

3. Third layer: Ritz crackers with poppy seeds thrown in.

4. Fourth layer: Melted butter poured on top....yummmm

5. Bake in a 9x13 dish at 350 for about 30-35 minutes or until bubbly.

6. Serve over rice.

You will not believe how good this is until you try it for yourself!!

Heavenly hope, heavenly food!

1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet." Some days it seems we need our armor on the second we step out of bed. Like the 6:30 am wake up call I got from my place of employment asking me to sub! I definitely had to put on my armor of love to fend off negative thoughts about the ungodly time of day this call came! But we can be confident that this armor is readily available. We can enjoy the hope of salvation, faith, and love that comes freely flowing from our Father!


I attempted to be a creative cook in the kitchen and came up with this recipe as I was driving back and forth from the DPS (as explained in yesterday's rant!). I seriously am in love with this heavenly food and could probably eat it every night for dinner....maybe even lunch as well! I call it Pesto Alfredo Chicken Bruschetta - the bruschetta part comes from the fact that it is served on top of toasted bread...no other resemblance:) I want to be one of those cool bloggers who takes a pic of their finished product in the kitchen (or even of each step along the way), but unfortunately my camera has gone MIA. But trust me it looks, smells, and tastes HEAVENLY!

Pesto Alfredo Chicken Bruschetta

4 chicken tenderloins

Zucchini and squash (I believe I used about 1/2 of each, since that was all I had left in the fridge), cut thinly crosswise, then diced into small pieces

Olive oil

Salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano

Alfredo sauce (any jar of your favorite)

Pesto (again, whatever kind you prefer)

4 slices of Italian loaf bread

Butter

Parmesan cheese, shredded

I began by cooking the chicken in a skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper. When chicken is almost done, add zucchini and squash and cover the skillet. When chicken is cooked through, shred it on cutting board before adding back to the skillet. Add more salt and pepper if needed, along with rosemary and oregano. Once veggies are nicely sauteed, add the alfredo sauce. I added enough to make the chicken-veg mix moist but not too much to where it is sitting in a pool of sauce. Let it hang out on low heat while you butter the slices of the Italian loaf (I found one at Walmart pre-sliced...holla!). Toast the bread in another skillet or in the toaster until light brown. Spread a thin layer of pesto on each slice, followed by a nice helping of the chicken/veggie mix, and top with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!! This was SO good, although I was slightly ashamed at how rapidly I downed my helping...I have been attempting to develop the self-discipline of slower eating. Yet another area in which I must lean on the Lord for His help :)

Patience, Peace, and Potatoes

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:8

This verse just makes me smile every time I read it! God remains constant despite our inconsistency. Every morning, every moment, His love is present and vibrant. This is a prayer I need to pray throughout everyday, that He show me the way I should go....no matter how small the day's events may seem.

Speaking of day's events....let me tell you about our DPS adventure. This was the second trip to the DPS in an attempt to get a new license with my married name, new address, and new state. The first attempt failed due to the fact that we only had a copy of our marriage license, not the real deal. Got the real one in mail...yay....all set to go to the DPS! Woo hoo! Second attempt....had all the necessary paperwork, IDs, and documentation needed...except my Social Security Card. Oh wait...SS card is gone due to the fact that the lady at the social security office took my old one while I wait for 2 weeks for my new-married name-one. Drove home to retrieve the paper I got from the SS office saying I'm getting a new one, only to find out that my number is nowhere on that slip of paper. Back to the DPS in the middle of nowhere to get the husband. Fruitless day of errands. However, after becoming extremely frustrated I was determined to see the good in the situation. A lesson in patience? Sure, God, I'll take that one!

Speaking of frustrating situations, whenever I am taking myself way too seriously and am in a really bad mood, God always send something my way to show me how ridiculous I am acting. Example A. Upon returning to Texas after our awesome honeymoon, we discovered that the fridge had gone out sometime that week, leaving delightful mounds of science-project-esque moldy limes and other spoiled food. The next night, our AC went out and was out for 3 days before being fixed. 95 degrees is only pleasant on a beach with a constant breeze, an umbrella overhead, and a cabana boy who brings you a cold drink with the snap of a finger....NOT in a 2 bedroom apartment in Texas in July!!! Anyways, AC was eventually fixed, we were waiting on the fridge repair man that afternoon, and I was braving the crowds at  Walmart to stock up on food to cook our first homemade meal as a married couple. Thinking and believing our fridge would be fixed during my grocery run, I was extremely sad to hear that the repair man came, looked at the fridge, declared it broken, and left without doing a single thing. Well that just made the whole Walmart excursion even worse and I left in an incredibly foul mood. As I walked to my car in the parking lot I heard "Miss! Miss! Excuse me Miss!" called out and was soon followed by an energetic young man who spoke broken English. He ran to catch up to my cart and was pointing at my bag of sugar located under the cart. My thoughts immediately became, "Seriously buddy, don't talk to me right now. Yes, I know the sugar is there. Why do you care if the sugar bag is under the cart vs. in the cart. Kinda lame excuse to come up and talk and all I want to do was get home...blah...blah...blah". I (trying to be polite) said, "Yes, thanks I put it there" and walked away thinking all those things I mentioned earlier. WELL...I got to my car and discovered that my sugar bag had opened and I had been leaving a trail of Great Value Sugar from the door to the parking lot..excellent. I just shook my head at myself, laughed, and looked up to the sky to say thanks.

So after lessons of patience and peace I decided to come up with a tasty loaded baked potato dish for dinner. I made it up (but really it's not very creative) based on what we had in the fridge and it turned out delish! There are a few tweaks I'd make but I'll tell you the original game plan first for.....

Easy Cheesy BBQ Chicken Potatoes

4 small russet potatoes

Enough chicken for a nice big spoonful for each potato (I used 5 chicken tenderloins since that's what I had)

3 slices American cheese

2 slices bacon

Butter, salt, pepper, milk for mashing the potatoes

BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's...what more can I say?)

First I washed and scrubbed the potatoes, rubbed butter on the skins, sprinkled with salt and placed a 375 degree oven to cook for 35-40 minutes. Once done, I cut each potato in half long ways. Let the potatoes cool a bit then scoop out the insides, leaving an empty potato boat.  Mash the scooped out insides with a masher or hand mixer, adding butter, salt, pepper, and milk according to your taste and texture preferences.  Fill each potato boat with the mashed potatoes.  Cook the chicken with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a skillet and shred when done. Mix with a nice helping of BBQ sauce. Cook and crumble the bacon. Sprinkle the bacon on top of each filled potato boat and place 1/3 of a slice of American cheese on top of the bacon. Then place a scoop of the BBQ chicken on top of the cheese and place back in the oven until the cheese is melted. I broiled it at the very end for about a minute and a half to brown the cheese a bit. Tasty! And cute!

God, Crafts, and Food....what more does a girl need?

I've been going through an awesome daily devotional by Sarah Young called "Jesus Following". I had never heard of it before and now I want to tell everyone about it! I thought I'd share one of the verses from today's message. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." What a wonderful thought to hold onto as we go about our day today...no matter what happens, God can and will use those daily events for your good, because He loves you THAT much.

So this post is slightly random, but this summer has been so eventful I have many things to share! The first being some craft ideas....gotta love 'em! If you or someone you know is getting married and would like some DIY ideas then allow me to share some items I created for my own. These do not take too long, except for the personal note you will see in a moment. That was due to the fact that I had 250 guests, felt the need to layer 3 different kinds of paper, etc. For those I deemed it "the sweatshop" and would not stop working for the day until I had burned through another layer of skin on my fingertips with rubber cement and double stick tape (the latter is your best friend in the entire world when it comes to wedding crafts).

Table Numbers:

These were super easy and came out looking so elegant. Just take any color of paper for the base and cut it to be the size you desire. I used paper that was thicker than construction paper but not cardstock, since sometimes cardstock is difficult to get a nice sharp crease. You could also fold it to make shorter, wider table numbers (hot dog vs. hamburger...it's up to you). Using scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby (when it was half off of course) I cut the taupe patterned paper to cover the entire front. To save paper you could also just cut 2 pieces for the top and bottom. Then we printed out our table numbers on ivory cardstock with our home printer. My mom purchased a wedding font software she found randomly....turned out we used it ALL the time! Cut the ivory paper to the correct width and glue on top of the taupe paper. We found the rhinestones also at Hobby Lobby and secured those with a metal/glass glue along the bottom seam of the ivory paper. We tied a simple knot in ribbon from Hob Lob and secured that with double stick tape...voila!

Candles Galore:

These were so fun to make and simple as well! To cut cost, time, and effort I ended up only decorated the front candle out of a group of 3 (we had 3 groups of 3 on each table). I also only used these candles on half of my tables, the ones that had low centerpieces. Instantly my to-do list was cut in half! Anyways, I found these candles at...can you guess...Hobby Lobby. The votive already comes in the holder and they burn for a substantial amount of time. I cut and secured thin ivory ribbon around the center of the candle with double stick tape. I found it the easiest to put one piece in the center and then secure the overlapping end with another small piece of tape. I then cut a section of 3 rhinestones (they are all on string and it is so easy to just cut between the individual rhinestones to your desired length) and used that metal/glass glue to adhere them to the ribbon. Tip - lay them on their backs for the rhinestones to dry so they don't slide around.

 Girlie Gift Tags:

 These tags were made for my bridesmaids' and house party's gift bags. I downloaded the font from an amazing site online and discovered that some of the symbols such as the * and parentheses are cute little faces! Printed these out and backed them with wedding color paper. Hole punch and tie to bag with toule or other ribbon. Done!

Bar Signs:

Hob Lob came to the rescue with this craft as well! Print out your signature cocktail or any other drink, message, etc. on ivory cardstock. Back with wedding color paper. Secure the strip of rhinestones along the seam of the paper with the metal/glass glue (I cut the rhinestones to just fit inside the frame). Remove the glass in the picture frame bought at half price and set on the bar for a super easy way to alert guests of a tasty beverage! And you can use the frames after the wedding!

Alright, there was a promise of food in the title and here it is! I tried out a new recipe for Thai Chicken from Williams Sonoma's FoodMadeFast: weeknight cookbook. It was absolutely delish and is definitely a recipe we will have again. I made a few tweaks and got a great idea for another use for the chicken.

Thai Chicken Satay

2 large limes

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/3 cup chunky peanut butter

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon ginger, minced

3 cloves garlic, mined (I use the jar, so much easier)

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon asian sesame oil

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thick strips (I did bite-size pieces)

1 small head romaine lettuce, cored and shredded*

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced*

*This recipe has you serve the chicken with the lettuce and cucumbers. I served it over Uncle Ben's 90 second brown rice and it was SO good. And more substantial for the husband who does not like anything green...

Also, the recipe has you grill or broil the chicken on bamboo skewers. I just placed the chicken on a baking sheet and broiled it in our oven.

1. Grate 1 teaspoon zest from the limes and squeeze 1/4 cup juice.

2. In glass or ceramic bowl, whisk together the lime zest and juice, rice vinegar, and peanut butter until smooth (except for peanut pieces of course).

3. Stir in cilantro, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, and sesame oil. 

4. Reserve about 1//2 cup of this mixture in a separate bowl to use as sauce (next time, I would reserve more than that because the sauce is so delish).

5. Add the chicken to the marinade and turn to coat. Let stand at room temp for at least 10 minutes or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours.

6. My version of cooking: preheat a broiler (sidenote...this takes a long time since its a high temp...start preheating early!)

7. Spread out the chicken on a baking sheet and place under broiler.

8. Cook until seared on outside and opaque on inside, turning once halfway through (total cook time: 6 minutes)

9. Pop your 90 second rice into the microwave....thank you so much Uncle Ben.

10. When done, divide chicken among bowls of rice and top with the reserved sauce.

Enjoy!

This chicken is truly amazing. You get a wonderful lime flavor and a just a hint of the peanut butter. My very picky husband LOVED it. The chicken would be SO good to use in an Asian salad with lettuce, cucumber, shredded carrots, maybe even water chestnuts or crunchy Chinese noodles on top. And the marinade as the dressing. Just an idea for future dinner times!

Hello!

I suppose I should begin by introducing myself. I am a recent college graduate who recently moved, recently got married, and recently got a job! Needless to say, this has been the summer of transitions and life changes! I married my high school sweetheart in early July after doing the long-distance-relationship-thing for four long years. However, that time apart truly worked to grow, enhance, and solidify our relationship with each other as well as with God. There is no way we could have done it (or anything else for that matter!) without leaning on the Lord. I graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education and was just hired to be a three-year-old preschool teacher (now THAT was an interview arranged by a higher power for sure!....God is so good) so expect many teacher stories. My husband (that word still sounds strange to my ears in a wonderful way) swears I have ADD...I like to call it multitasking. I enjoy cooking, especially in recent years and luckily for the husband, my cooking skills have greatly improved. There is an infamous story where I became extremely frustrated after attempting to cook a grilled cheese...not realizing that the fan was on instead of the burner. That was then, this is now. This blog will be an eclectic assortment of random thoughts, cooking adventures, teaching ideas, newlywed lessons, and above all else, FAITH.