Thankful.

Thank you for mercy that saves all.

Thank you for grace that heals all.

Thank you for love that binds all.

Thank you for forgiveness that cleanses all.

Thank you for strength that carries all.

Thank you for beauty that inspires all.

Thank you for the Spirit that fills all.

Thank you for the Truth that brings light to all.

Thank you for the Word that guides all.

Thank you for Your Son who died for all.

I love Thanksgiving's reminder to take nothing for granted. I am so thankful for God and all that He has done, all that He will do, and for all the blessings He has poured out. I am so thankful for my husband and the fact that our four long years of long distance are finally over!! I am so thankful for our wonderful families and friends. I am so thankful that we live in a country where we experience abundance and freedoms that are completely unknown to so many people around the world. I am so thankful for the children that God has given me to have (some) influence in the early years of their lives, while they are influencing my life and my teaching in return. Above all else, I am SO thankful that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Amen.

With just two days of school this week, and a few less kids than usual, my thankfulness increased tremendously! As did my attitude (especially Tuesday afternoon) of "it's the break-whatever you want-go for it". You want to glue, cut, paint, draw, and water color all at the same time? Go for it! You want to listen to the same Disney song over and over? Why not? I also lost my voice on Thursday (from yelling at the children....just kidding) so that kinda made things a little challenging. We made hand print turkeys out of paper and gave each kid 3 paper feathers on which we wrote what they were thankful for. Oh my goodness. Some of my top favorites were: "I thank God for my hands." "I thank God for the ABC's". "I thank God for salad and horses". "I thank God for pants" (this one was said by my little cowboy who wears jeans and boots everyday. Even when it was 120 degrees in the beginning of the year. Oh so fitting.) "I thank God for napkins." "I thank God for mac-n-cheese." And my all-time favorite....."I thank God for not letting the cat throw up in my garage." Love it! I also walked away with some priceless conversations in the last few hours of the day. One of my sweet little girls (she's like the dog from "Up" who has a very limited attention span, but in a lap dog form since she would rather hang out in my lap for the entire duration of our outdoor time) and I had the following conversation as I sat down to the table while they water-colored:

Her: "Why you sittin' at the table Ms. Sawah?" I'm usually in constant motion or down on the floor with them.

Me: "Because I want to."

Her: "Because you love us?"

Yes. Exactly!

Another priceless conversation occurred between me and my little old man (I swear this kid has the soul of a forty-year-old already) while he was on the potty. It's some of our best conversation time.

Him: "Hey, um Ms. Sawah?"

Me: "Yes?"

Him: "When my papa gets here, can you show him that huge, HUGE booger on that Kleenex?"

Me: "Didn't you throw your Kleenex in the trash?"

Him: "Yeah! Yeah!"

Me: "Well, we leave trash inside the trash can?"

Him: "But can you show him when he gets here?"

Me: "How about I let you show him if he wants to see it?"

Him: "Ok!"

Oh these children.

I just have one recipe for you this week and it hails from Ms. Paula Deen. I can't really stand her on TV but I find her quite compatible in website-form. I made these cookies for my kids as a little Thanksgiving treat, and packaged them up all cute with some of that sparkly wreath ribbon I'm obsessed with and made a little tag with some scrapbook paper. They turned out super cute and delicious! I think I once again ate my weight in the batter. There goes the idea to cut back a little bit to fill up on Thanksgiving haha!

Monster Cookies

From: pauladeen.com

1/4 cup raisins, optional (I omitted)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&Ms

1 stick butter, softened

1 12-oz. jar creamy peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In large bowl, combine eggs and sugars and mix well.

3. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well.

4. Stir in chocolate chips, M&Ms, baking soda, and oatmeal.

5. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake! Let stand 3 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

This is like the perfect combo of all the best cookies....oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter cookies, all rolled up in one! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving holiday! Enjoy!

You're hot then you're cold!

Psalm 73:23-26 "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength and my portion forever." I read this verse this morning and I absolutely love it! I just love the rich promises within these words. God will, without a doubt, guide us throughout each and every day with his all-knowing, all-loving counsel. And we can eagerly await the wonderful glory that will come! This verse also made me stop and think about my level of spiritual maturity and my own relationship with Christ in truly desiring absolutely nothing else other than Christ on this earth. Are there things keeping us back from fully and solely wanting Him? God's word reminds us that the things of this earth fade and shatter but that God stands forever. He is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. Nothing else can compare!

You might notice a theme among these recipes. We got a taste of cooler weather and it left me wanting more! So I decided that warm, cool-weather food will most definitely make our fall stick around for a while! Well, my plan didn't exactly work out, thank you very much fickle Texas weather! But that didn't stop us from enjoying some yummy food!

Chili
From: pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb ground sirloin (I used ground beef)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 jalapenos, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 (15 oz.) can black beans

1 (15 oz) can pinto beans

1 (10 oz) can Rotel

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil over medium high heat. Add beef and cook for 7-10 minutes.

2. Add onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and jalapenos and cook on medium-low heat for 5 minutes.

3. Add beans (don't drain) and Rotel. Bring to a simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes covered, stirring often.

4. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

The most difficult part of this whole meal (other than keeping your balance and not slipping in the puddles of drool brought forth by the wonderful aroma in your kitchen) is chopping...and there's not very much of that! Just let it simmer away and you are in for a treat! I love the pinto and black beans in this chili..it gives it more of a tex-mex taste, which who doesn't love?? I topped ours with lots of cheese and served it with honey cornbread muffins (click on this link and it will take you to the post with that recipe...you might have to scroll down a bit). 

We got another little teasing taste of fall weather last week so I was all over anything warm on Pinterest. Unfortunately, by the time I made this meal, our cool fall weather had left. Nevertheless we enjoyed this absolutely delicious soup and turned the A/C down a little bit. Think of the perfect marriage between broccoli cheese soup and potato soup. Now throw in some added veggies and there you have it! And the best part is, this soup is uber-creamy but does not contain any heavy whipping cream (perhaps it's the ten pounds of cheese that does it.....)

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

From: luluthebaker.blogspot.com

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

1 Tbsp minced garlic

4 cups chicken broth

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 heaping cups shredded cheddar

1. Melt butter in large soup pot.

2. Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.

3. Add garlic and saute 1-2 more minutes.

4. Add chicken broth and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender.

5. Mix flour with water and add, simmer until slightly thickened.

6. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through.

7. Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.

I topped ours with pepper and a sprinkle of dried rosemary. O.M.Good!! I've been eating the leftovers every day for lunch for the past 2 days and could probably eat it at every meal. Add it to your recipe book for this winter!

I found this next recipe on Pinterest as well when we were craving something sweet but didn't have any dessert in the house (a first for us...ha). I'm not gonna lie. The thing that most attracted me to this recipe on Pinterest is the words "no bake". Those words are almost as delicious in my mouth as these bites!! The best part is you can truly add whatever you want (or whatever you happen to have on hand in my case) to these puppies. The second time I made them (2 days after the first batch) I added a little bit of dark chocolate chips and slivered almonds just for kicks. So simple and so addicting!!

No-Bake Energy Bites 

(aka Granola Balls according to my husband)

From: smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes (omitted...didn't have and not a huge fan)

1/2 cup ground flaxseed (again, I omitted)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

I added: a handful of slivered almonds and a sprinkle of dark chocolate chips

1. Mix peanut butter, honey, and oatmeal together in bowl.

2. Add your mix-ins (chocolate chips, flaxseed, etc.) and stir until well mixed.

3. Add vanilla, stir.

4. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes then roll into small balls and enjoy!!

So I might have omitted the parts that are good for you (except for the oatmeal) haha but these have definitely become a staple! A delicious dessert where I don't have to get out the hand mixer or use kitchen equipment whatsoever?? I'm sold :)

We tried this new dish, yet another Pinterest find, last night and OMG so fast and so yummy! And for a guy who claims to not like Asian dishes (not that mine is super authentic), my husband loved it!! The recipe says to serve it cold but I served mine hot and added chicken and stir-fried veggies.

Spicy Thai Noodles

From: asmallsnippet.blogspot.com

1 box linguine or angel hair pasta

(Of course I wouldn't check to see how much linguine I had left so I used a mixture of whole wheat linguine and egg noodles)

1-2 Tbsp crushed red pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sesame oil

6 Tbsp honey

6 Tbsp soy sauce

Green onions, cilantro, peanuts, toasted sesame seeds for topping

**For my halved version I added one chicken breast (cooked and shredded) and a handful each of chopped broccoli and carrots.

1. Boil noodles, drain.

2. Chop green onions, cilantro (I omitted), and peanuts.

3. Heat both oils and red pepper over medium heat in small pan.

4. Strain out pepper and reserve oil.

5. To oil, whisk in honey and soy sauce.

6. If adding veggies, stir fry over medium high heat in skillet.

7. Toss sauce (and any add-ins) with noodles.

8. Refrigerate and serve cold, or serve immediately warm.

9. Before serving, top with green onions, cilantro, peanuts, and sesame seeds.

Just the right combo of spicy from the red pepper and sweet from the honey. We are definitely having this again!! And the best part is, I'm taking the leftovers to work for lunch and trying it out cold. I added some chopped napa cabbage to make it into a cold asian pasta salad. Looking forward to naptime!!

So this past weekend I made a trek to the wonderful world of Hobby Lobby's discounted Christmas decor and had to majorly practice my prioritizing and "just say no" skills. After putting the majority of the items in my cart back, debating, putting back in, debating some more, then taking them out again (I looked insane, muttering to myself and furiously adding up numbers on my list), I decided to sacrifice some of the decorative items to put that money toward a Christmas tree! I did, however, get some goods to make a Christmas wreath for our front door! I stopped at the Dollar Tree to get a few extras as well. Thus commenced the sweatshop! Not only did James get to sit and watch football, he also got to watch his insane wife shed hundreds of tiny twigs all over the living room rug, furiously poke and twist wire, acquire scratches up and down her legs, and cackle with delight at the finished product! Unfortunately I have to wait until after Thanksgiving to hang my new obsession on our door (don't make me start my "Give Thanksgiving a Chance!!!" tirade - poor James had to bear the brunt of that one in Walmart as their Christmas trees show up way too early), but I am in love! And the best part about it.....less than 20 bucks spent baby!!!

Grapevine wreath.......$4.99 

(sadly, wreaths weren't on sale - but still pretty cheap!)

2 red berry picks.......$1.27

2 garland picks.......$1.99

Letter "S".......$2.99

Ribbon.......$5.00

(I'm obsessed with this sparkly ribbon and will have to fight the urge to put a bow on everything in our apartment this holiday season....poor James.)

Ornaments.......$2.00

(You can get a tube of 7 ornaments for a buck at the Dollar Tree! Granted, they are plastic but they did the trick!)

Give me something good to eat!

Psalm 116:7 "Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you." In the hustle, bustle, and sometimes chaos of life it can be so easy to forget this simple yet forever constant fact - the Lord has been good to you. He is with you in every situation, circumstance, trial, trouble, and joy of daily life. How is he good? He sent His holy and perfect son to die on the cross in our rightful place for our sins, forever removing every stain and blemish by his powerful blood and presenting us white as snow to his Father. Be at rest today and always. The Lord has been oh-so-good to you.

To celebrate Halloween without directly celebrating Halloween at school, we learned about owls, bats, spiders and other nocturnal things this week, in addition to having a fall party.  The kids were obsessed with the giant books showing all kinds of creepy, crawly photographs. We made our own spiders out of styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes. After reading a book about how spiders had 8 eyes and 8 legs, we set to work creating our own. 8 tiny googly eyes plus 8 pipe cleaner pieces plus paint plus glue equals one giant mess! One of the other teachers commented that my little cowboy looked like he just got done working on a car with all the black paint smeared down his button-down and jeans. But hey, learning is often messy, especially with this age! The spiders turned out so cute...legs and eyes literally poking out all over the place. If we wanted to be super anatomically correct we would have used two styrofoam balls per kid since we learned that spiders' bodies have two parts but they say hindsight is 20/20. The kids also made owls on construction paper. They dipped their palms in paint and (were supposed to) put their fingers all together to make the body (palm is head, fingers at bottom are talons...you see where I'm headed?) We need to work on our understanding of positional words I think since the more I told them to put their fingers together the farther they strained to get their little fingers as far apart as possible haha! Then they dipped their hands in paint again and, with fingers intentionally spread this time, made the wings. Then came the GIANT googly eyes and a paper beak. Then finally, glue and feathers of all different crazy colors. It was hilarious. One of my boys literally but one feather on each wing and one on the body and called it a day. One of my girls put so many feathers on hers you couldn't even see the ginormous eyes. My favorites had to be the ones that glued everything, feathers, eyes, and beak, in the space around the painted body. So cute!!

We went to a little Halloween get-together with a group of my husband's friends and I volunteered to be the sweets-provider. I got this recipe from my aunt, tweaked it slightly most wonderful, most moist (moistest?) dessert that rocked our worlds. Wait for it......Reese's Pieces Cupcakes!! I'll give you a sneak peak at what will get you drooling with three little words...peanut butter buttercream. My aunt's original recipe was for peanut butter cup cupcakes but I was out of some of the ingredients so I improvised. Is your mouth watering in anticipation yet?? And yes, this cupcake is also known as the "death to all diets" but they say it's all about moderation. Therefore, have your cupcake and engulf it too :)

Reese's Pieces Cupcakes

1 package devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup water

Peanut butter Buttercream Frosting:

3 sticks butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp vanilla

2 lbs. confectioner's sugar, sifted

6-8 Tbsp. heavy cream (if using milk, amount will be less)

*I used milk, can't remember how much but I just added it until I got the consistency I wanted. It might have been about 3 tablespoons.

NOTE ABOUT FROSTING: WILL MAKE A TON. THIS IS NOT A TEST. 

I had so much frosting left over that I made a whole 'nother batch the very next day and took all 24 new cupcakes to work. Moral of the story: halve the frosting recipe :)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with liners or spray with cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, beat together cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla, and water. Beat for two minutes on medium speed until well combined.

3. Distribute batter evenly between muffin tins (mine made 27 cupcakes total), about 3 tablespoons of batter per muffin well. 

4. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until top of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.

5. Remove cupcakes and allow to fully cool on wire rack before frosting.

For frosting:

1. Cream butter and peanut butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn mixer to low and slowly add in confectioner's sugar, continuing to mix until well blended.

2. Add vanilla and milk. Blend on low until moistened. Add additional milk if needed until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

I apologize for the low quality of this photo, and the subsequent lack of phots of the following meals. My poor camera has reached the end of it's time with me. R.I.P. Sony.

I found this next recipe on my new obsession....PINTEREST! It came from a blog (crockpot365.blogspot.com) where a woman used her crockpot every day for a year! Now that is true commitment. And a great resource for us crockpot users (there's just something about coming home to a meal magically cooked and ready by a small, shiny machine). It's almost like having my own Rosey.

Crockpot Tamale Pie

Cornbread topping:

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk 

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

Tamale filling:

1 can drained and rinsed black beans

1 can fire roasted tomatoes (I used a can of Rotel)

1 can drained corn

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup shredded cheese

**You can add browned meat of your choice if you so desire. I was in a hurry before work so I omitted it and you really didn't miss it!

1. Spray crockpot with cooking spray.

2. Add in filling ingredients (including cheese) and stir well to distribute spices.

3. In a separate bowl, combine ingredients for cornbread topping.

4. Pour batter over filling, spreading with a spatula.

5. Cover and cook on low for 4-7 hours or on high for 2-4.

Sad story about the cook time: I turned it on before I left for work and just happened to get off late that day. The edges of my poor tamale pie were burned black!! And the rest of the cornbread topping was a little darker than I would have preferred. But we made do and just add from the middle outward. On her blog, the woman said hers was ready at hour 6 so I would definitely NOT recommend cooking it for 8 and a half hours!! But oh man, tougher cornbread texture aside this meal was SO good and SO easy!! We are going to have it again on a weekend when I can better control the cook time.

The Lord provided us with a nice little taste of cold fall weather this week so we were definitely in the mood for warm food. I got this recipe off of Pinterest as well, originally from howto-simplify.com. When they say simple they mean it! So easy to prepare and so flavorful. I took the leftovers to work and was in heaven...could even ignore the havoc that was being wrecked by the small children surrounding me. Actually I had to fend for my chili as they all wanted to stir it for me haha!

White Chicken Chili

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 c. cooked chicken, shredded

2 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained

1 can (4 oz.) green chilies

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 box (32 oz.) chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice from 1 lime

1. In large pot, saute the onion in olive oil.

2. Add chicken, beans, corn, green chilies (with juice from can), cumin, and oregano. Stir to combine, then add chicken broth.

3. Bring to a boil and simmer 20-30 minutes to allow broth to reduce. Add salt, pepper, and lime juice.

4. Top with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, avocado, or tortilla chips.

I chose to top ours with a tiny bit of sour cream mixed in, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and a very light sprinkle of chili powder. O.M.G. Such a yummy comfort food with just the right amount of spice. Y'all have to try this one!! It will be a keeper I guarantee :)