All you who are weary and burdened....and craving a cookie!

Matthew 11:28-30: "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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I was reading the Bible the other morning, and although I was enjoying Colossians, I was really just craving some of Jesus' words in red. So I flipped to Matthew, picked a place rich with the teachings and stories of Jesus, and started reading. Doesn't this verse just evoke all kinds of wonderful feelings of relief and relaxation? After reading these words I could physically feel the tension leave my shoulders, unaware that there was stress even to begin with, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. Our God, the Creator and Master of everything, the King over all the earth, the glorious God who is in absolute control of every breath you and I take, is inviting us (sinners!) to come to Him so that we can be weary and burdened no longer. What an incredible invitation!! I think this verse is such a perfect example of the nature of Jesus and one to keep in mind when feeling the stress and weight of the world. Come to Him, give Him your worry (because He can always deal with it so much better than we can),and  feel your stress be replaced with His peace!

Clarisse and I had our second meeting yesterday morning for the second run of Week 1 of C25K. It actually went slightly better than the first and the Lord blessed us with some cloud cover, making it only 95 degrees at 7:00 in the morning. (Prayer request...rain, rain, and more rain!!! Open up those clouds Lord and pour down your glory...in the form of water please:) Ok that was a sidenote.) Several random things I noticed and pondered upon as I completed the alternating runs and recovery walks:

1. It is incredibly difficult to run past Shipley's in the morning with the mouth-watering aroma of freshly baked donuts wafting through the thick, humid air. I seriously considered slipping a couple dollars in my tennies and stopping by on my run. I can just see myself coming home licking donut icing off of my fingers and brushing sprinkles from my mouth while energetically proclaiming, "Woo, what a great workout!"....for my stomach :)

2. I could make a gourmet meal out of those items discarded on the road/sidewalks on the route of my run. One French's mustard bottle. Two packets of Kool-Aid powder. One Lunchable container. One large Budweiser can. Bon Appetit! P.S. Maybe this is a sign I should keep my head up while running, rather than searching the ground for treasures haha!

3. Clarisse asks questions yet she could care less about my answers. For example, toward the end of the run when the fish-flopping manner of my running becomes more pronounced, Clarisse asks me, "Are you ready for your next run?" in a slightly judgmental tone (my perception might also be due to the lack of oxygen to my brain), to which I answer "No." As soon as I wheeze my answer out, she answers, "Ok! Ready? (no) Begin!" as if she is graciously bestowing a precious gift upon this lowly girl. I suppose we are just going to have to work out our differences. All joking aside, thank you Lord for legs that work and the opportunity to run in freedom.

In other news, we have now finished season 3 of Mad Men. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

While watching said Mad Men, we both got in the cookie mood. Luckily this coincided with my baking mood so I made some good ol' snickerdoodles. These are great because you are very likely to already have all of the ingredients on hand.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 2/3 cups flour

2 1/2 tbsp. sugar mixed with 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine butter with sugar in large bowl. (I didn't soften mine enough in the microwave. I suggest making sure it's nice and soft.)

2. Add egg and beat until creamy.

3. Add baking powder, salt, and flour.

4. Stir until mixture forms thick dough.

5. Put cinnamon and sugar mixture in small bowl.

6. Form 1-inch balls of dough and roll in cinnamon-sugar mix.

7. Place on cookie sheet and use your hand to flatten slightly.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes and enjoy!

We tried this next recipe for the first time last night for dinner. I found it on another blog that I love "Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour". I have to admit I was slightly wary just because I'm not a huge casserole fan. I have distinct memories of unrecognizable vegetable/meat combos in some sauce from the Crockpot. (Don't get me wrong though...I love my Crockpot and I have a couple recipes I am  excited to try/share very soon!) At the same time, I am a huge broccoli-cheese-soup girl (although I try to limit how much I order it since it has about a week's worth of fat in it...but it's just so good!), which is what drew me toward this recipe. Oh my goodness, it was so good! Even my husband, who avoids everything green (the boy doesn't like cucumbers...who doesn't like cucumbers??), loved it!! Winner!

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli

I actually halved this recipe and had more than enough for the two of us.

3 chicken breasts

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 cup mayo

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded colby and mont. jack cheese

1 bag frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped

(I used the frozen broccoli like it called for and bought the cut kind. I gave it another chop but next time I think I'd use fresh broccoli and chop it pretty fine.)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook and shred chicken.

2. Chop broccoli.  

3. Mix all ingredients together (I started with the soup and mayo, added the cheese, then the broccoli and chicken.)
4. Transfer to a lightly greased casserole or baking dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Serve with rice! I used my fave...