Home Is Where The Heart Is

    They say "Home is where the heart is," but I'm not sure my heart knows where home really is. I have just come "home" from a wonderful summer at well..."home"?
     This past summer Steven and I worked with Child Evangelism Fellowship in Altoona, Pennsylvania. I can't even begin to describe what a huge blessing it was to be able to work in the ministry again in my hometown. It was wonderful to go to our home church and to fellowship with our family and long-time friends. I want to thank all of you who have prayed for us faithfully-we have been incredibly blessed!
    Now I am "home" in Chicago where God has seen fit to place us for the time being. I prayed all summer that God would prepare for coming back and that he would give me His peace that passes all understanding and though my heart yearns for Good ol' Pennsylvania, I find myself at peace here.
    But really my home is not in this world at all-I am an alien to this land and therefore wherever God wants me is where my heart will find it's home.

Days Like These...

    These past few days have been absolutely gorgeous! A little bit on the excruciatingly hot side, but never the less very beautiful. Days of summer always remind me of all that I am thankful for (though I always have something to be thankful for). Its all that good ol' vitamin D that makes people happy and brings out the best in them. So here I have compiled a list of all the things that days like these make me thankful for:


On Days Like These...


...I am thankful to be close to family, laughing and appreciating each others company.


...I am thankful for all the nature that is around me (being apart from it for so long makes me appreciate it so much more).


...I am thankful for swimming pools and the sweet relief they provide in the heat. This morning I woke up so incredibly hot that I ran down the stairs and jumped in the pool.


...I am thankful for delicious lemonade that seems to complete the summery atmosphere. ( I made some blueberry lemonade yesterday and it was quite delicious)

Blueberry Lemonade

Blueberry Lemonade

Ingredients: 1/2 cup blueberries, water, 1 cup lemon juice,and 1/2 cup sugar (I used sugar in the raw)

Directions: 

1)In a blender combine the blueberries and about a cup of water *blend*.

2)Strain the blueberry/water mixture through a sieve and into a pitcher.

3)Pour in lemon juice and sugar.

4) Fill the rest of up with water.

5) Stir.

...I am thankful for yummy summer foods! (Yesterday I made some fried green tomato's).

Fried Green Tomato's

Ingredients: 3 green tomato's, 2 eggs, 1 cup masa (or 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup corn meal), season salt, Mediterranean seasoning to taste, and olive oil for frying.

Directions:

1)Cut the tomato's into thin slices and season them with salt. Let them sit for about five minutes.

2)Cover the bottom of a frying pan with oil and heat on the stove.

3) while the oil is heating mix your masa and Mediterranean seasoning together and crack your eggs into a bowl.

4) Dip your tomato's in the egg and then in the masa mixture.

5) Plop them into your pan with the oil and cook until brown on both sides.

6) Sprinkle some season salt on top.

...I am thankful for iced coffee/frappuccino's! I usually have coffee every morning, but this morning was way too hot for a hot drink, so I made my self a little frappuccino.It was soooooooo creamy and yummy. 

You can see all the cream collected
on the top! Mmm...

 Frappuccino

Ingredients: Milk, espresso, grandma's molasses, and ice.

Directions: 

1)Brew espresso (or coffee however you usually do)

2)Fill the bottom of a blender about an inch or two.

3)Pour in your espresso (or coffee)

4) Put in as much ice as you want according to how icy you want it.

5) Blend.

...Most of all, I am thankful for a God who has blessed me with far more than I need.

Blessings Abounding

    I have been neglecting the online world as of late. That by itself is a bit of a blessing. I have been so busy working with Child Evangelism Fellowship, spending time with family, friends, and Steven, that I don't give much thought to hopping on the computer every once in a while.
    Since my arrival in Pennsylvania about a month or so ago, I have been working hard alongside Steven to set up 5-Day clubs (where we go into people's homes,backyards, parks, day cares, and community centers to teach the children about God), recruit teenagers to teach the clubs, work our way through mounds of paperwork, and then finally train the teenagers (Christian Youth In Action or CYIAer's) to teach the clubs.
    Steven and I just got back from the first week of training with the CYIAer's. We taught two classes, evaluated our CYIAer's, and spent time building team unity by getting to know them. We have been blessed this year with some incredible and wonderful people with a love for God and a desire to see children come to know Jesus as their Savior. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their lives this summer and to see what God has in store for each of them.
    Monday starts our second week of training where our CYIAer's will get to experience teaching a 5-Day Club for the first time. I ask that you would pray for our group as they endeavor on this mission for the children. Pray that hearts will be touched, lives will be changed, and also that fun will be had! We are looking forward to what God has in store for us this summer!

Salmon Cakes

    Well I don't have a whole lot to say about this particular dinner other than it's simple and healthy. I've made salmon cakes many many times, but since we started cutting certain foods out of our diet I had to modify the recipe a bit.

Ingredients:
*2 Cans of Salmon
*Half an avocado
*1 tsp.Garlic Powder
*1 tsp.Season Salt
*1 tbs. Basil
*Olive oil for frying

Directions:

    The canned salmon I used had bones in it, so you have to dig through it to get all of them out. Once you have separated the meat from the bones put the meat in a medium sized bowl and combined it with the avocado, garlic powder, season salt, and basil. You may have to use your hands to mix everything together in order for the avocado to mix in. Now cover the bottom of your frying pan with olive oil-while your waiting for this to heat up make your mixture into patties or cakes, whatever you prefer to call them. When the oil is hot just drop your  cakes into the pan. Cook until they are brown on both sides then your finished! I like to drizzle honey mustard on top of mine. Simply mix some mustard and honey together until it turns into a brownish color and drizzle it on top.


    Along with the salmon cakes we had a salad made with field greens, mushrooms, cherry tomato's, sweet peppers, and then covered with the same honey mustard we used for the salmon cakes.

Happy Mother's Day

        When I was younger I always wanted a little sister. I have no idea what put that desire in my head. I would have had to share clothes and a room and a mother daughter relationship. Yeah, that definitely sounds selfish, but lets just say God knew what he was doing.
    A favorite past time for my mom and I was to sit and drink tea together while talking for hours and hours. She has passed on many words of wisdom to me through the years, has been there to listen to all of my joys and sorrows, has been a shoulder to cry on, and a great friend. There were many time where we would start laughing together about something and end up turning red and shedding tears, then my dad or brothers would walk in and we would get the "OK, it's now confirmed you are both crazy" face.
    I love my mom so very much and am so appreciative of all the work that she has put into me. The people around you shape who you are and I am simply a reflection of my mother. I know I've said it many times, but I do indeed hope that I can do as good a job with my children someday.

                                          Thanks Mom!

Yummy Stuffed Peppers

    Today was my last day of work at Panera for the summer! Did I mention I'm headed back to Pennsylvania for the summer to work with Child Evangelism Fellowship? I'm so excited! I feel like i'm back in high school and this is my last day of school for the summer-yeah, it's a great feeling.
    Anyway, since today was my last day and Steven and I are both done with work and school, I decided to make a favorite of ours. Sometime last year I started experimenting with peppers and different stuffing's. They always turned out really good, so I guess anything that includes peppers is going to be a winner.
    Today my choice ingredients included:
-Mini Sweet Peppers
-Avocado
-Guacamole
-Mushrooms
-Onion
-Garlic and Herb Goat's Cheese

Directions
    First I chopped up a whole yellow onion and a handful of mushrooms. Then I poured some olive oil in a frying pan and let it heat up. Once it was heated I added the mushrooms and onions. I added a few spices to it like garlic powder, Italian season, and seasoning salt. While that was cooking I took a bunch of the peppers and started chopping off the tops and washing out the insides. Once all this was done I took a small spoon and scooped some of the goat cheese into the pepper. If your peppers are small like mine were you may have to use your finger to push it down to the bottom (so make sure your hands are clean!). Then I mixed my mushrooms and onions with some guacamole and avocado and a tiny bit of the goats cheese. Mix this all together and shove it into the pepper as well. Once they are finished you just lay them out on a cookie sheet and pop them in the oven until they pepper starts to soften. Yummy and simple!

Yummy Salmon

    Dinner this evening was a bit different then the bread and vegetables we have been having the past week or so. We decided to mix things up a bit and have some fish! For the past few months Panera has been selling a salad and a sandwich that had salmon on it-so it has been a bit of recent food obsession. Squeeze a little bit of lemon on it along with some salt and pepper-yum!
    Dinner this evening:
- Salmon with lemon and lime squeezed over it along with salt and pepper.

-Salad with mixed greens, yellow onion, pepperonicini peppers, cherry tomato's, cucumber, and for a dressing I topped it with guacamole, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Very delicious!

Baked Sweet Potato's

     
    I love sweet potato's! I'm not talking about just plain baked sweet potato's (which I didn't know people actually ate until a few years ago). I grew up eating sweet potato's smothered in butter and brown sugar, then topped off with a mountain of marshmallows. Those are the kind of sweet potato's that send my taste buds soaring.
    However, in my pursuit of a healthier lifestyle this sugary treat just doesn't fit. So, my quest was to find a way to get the same great taste with ingredients that my body will love as well. I became inspired while looking at nut butter the other day. I thought they would make a great topping for sweet potato's. Our Whole Foods carries little packets of different nut butters for $.99 so I got a few. I was still trying to figure out how to get the same great brown sugary taste when I came across some Agave Nectar which is a healthier sugar alternative. I purchased the Amber Agave Nectar which in taste resembles brown sugar. Problems solved!
    All I did was cover my sweet potato's in foil and put them in the oven until they were nice and soft. When they were ready we opened them up and covered them in nut butter and agave nectar for a really enjoyable dinner!

Yumm!

A Day of Liquids

    Here we are at day five of the detox! As I mentioned before Steven and I are spending the weekend consuming only liquids in order to cleanse our intestines. Upon waking up this morning we gulped down a couple glasses of delicious green juice.

Green Juice

*Cucumber

* Broccoli

*Pear

*Lemon

*Banana

*Strawberry

*Ice

*Honey

After juicing all the fruits and veggies I threw it in the blender with some ice and honey.

    We spent most of the afternoon donating plasma which at times can be quite draining, so after getting home it was time for some more liquids. Steven and I were craving different things so we made our own drinks.

Steven's drink: Strawberry, kiwi, banana, almond milk, cucumber, and mango. He threw all of this stuff through the blender and ended up with a nice icy treat.

My drink: Banana, strawberry, 82% chocolate, Stevia, almond milk, and ice. I also tossed all of my ingredients through the blender. Yum!

    For dinner we had some homemade creamy tomato soup.

Creamy Tomato Soup

*1 Onion

*1 Pepper

*4 Roma Tomatos

*Almond Milk

*3 cloves of garlic

*Italian seasoning

*Basil

*Salt

*Pepper flakes

*Olive Oil

Directions:

    First I covered the bottom of a pot with olive oil and heated it up. I chopped up the onion and pepper and put them in until with turned soft and slightly brown. After a few minutes I chopped up the tomatoes and put those in as well. I let these ingredients sit for a few minutes stirring them around every once in a while. After a little while it looked like the picture to the right.

    After my vegetables were nice and soft I added the almond milk (enough that makes it look like soup). Now I added my spices in generous amounts and covered it to let it simmer.

    After everything was nice and cooked I put it through the blender to make it "creamy" tomato soup. To top it off I drizzled some olive oil and pepper flakes on the top. It was a very yummy and filling soup!

   

Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate!

For desert I made some dark chocolate hot chocolate. I put the almond milk in a saucepan with an 82% cocoa chocolate bar, honey, and cinnamon. 

Detox: Day 2,3 &4

    Whoops, I guess I haven't been home at all these past few days except to sleep. Today is day four and I feel great! Here is a quick recap of the past few days:

Day 2: Wednesday
Morning- Every morning we have started off with a glass of juice. This day it consisted of cucumber, orange, celery, kiwi, green pepper, and lemon. To make it a little bit sweeter I added just a little bit of Stevia. Fresh juice is such a great way to start the day!


Lunch- When lunch time came around I met Steven down town and we headed to Whole Foods for a bit of lunch. My salad consisted of spinach, field greens, fresh kale, shredded zucchini, peas, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, mushrooms, olive oil, vinegar, and finally organic salsa. Steven on the other hand likes his salads on the plain side and just had the spinach, field greens and salsa. It was a great refreshing midday meal.


Afternoon Snack- Soon after lunch we walked to Trader Joe's  for some
non-dairy-coconut based "ice cream". I am now incredibly addicted to this product.
I didn't have time to eat dinner this day because of my work schedule.

Day 3: Thursday

Morning- Once again we had juice for breakfast. This day it consisted of carrot, celery, lemon, creamed coconut, and a little bit of Stevia. After juicing these things I threw them in the blender with ice.

Lunch-I met Steven downtown after his class and we headed to Subway for some veggie delight subs! We got them on 9-Grain Wheat with no cheese, all of the vegetables, salt&pepper, oregano, olive oil, and mustard.

Chocolate bar made from Stevia

Afternoon Snack- More chocolate! The book suggest eating 72% and above chocolate. I was looking at chocolate in Whole Foods and there was a man talking to some people about a particular chocolate bar, then he turned to me and started talking about it. To make a long story short, he was trying to promote this new chocolate bar that is made from Stevia. It's 160 calories for half a bar and it's great for diabetics. He gave me a coupon for a free bar! Who doesn't love free chocolate (especially since the regular price was 4.39). I just realized I've probably eaten more chocolate this past week then I do in months at a time. It's been great! I also got an 82% chocolate bar from Trader Joe's.

Dinner-For dinner we had some Mediterranean Veggie sandwiches from Panera Bread. We modified them a little bit to suit our detox diet: we got them on the whole grain bread with no cilantro hummus and no feta cheese.

Day 4: Today! (Friday)
Morning- This morning we had some carrot and celery juice blended with 82% chocolate bars, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. They were very delicious and refreshing!
Lunch- For lunch we had some whole grain bread from Panera Bread with some avocado, tomato, and salt&pepper on top.
Dinner-For dinner we had some Mediterranean Veggie sandwiches modified the same way as before except this time on whole grain bagels. Along with this we had some creamy tomato soup. Yum!

Starting tomorrow we are going into an all juice stage. Saturday and Sunday we will be drinking juice all day long in place of solid foods in order to give our intestines a chance to do some spring cleaning!

Detox: Day 1

    When I still lived with my parents, every once in a while my mom would have us all go on a detox diet for a day or too to get rid of all the impurities in our bodies. I've been married for almost two years now and haven't done any detoxing since. Needless to say, I think my body is in need of a good cleansing.
    I started reading a book I found online called The Raw Detox Diet. The book isn't only about cleansing your body for a couple days, but making a lifestyle out of clean food choices. The book evaluates what level of healthy eating you are at and shows you where to go from there.

    Yesterday was day 1 and Steven and I started the morning off with some juice made with carrots, grapefruit, kiwi, celery and cucumber, made right home with our juicer. Along with that we scarfed down a banana. According to the book it takes 30 min. for fruit to be digested (except for banana's which take 45. min.) These items are not to be combined with any other food group described in the book, so we had to make sure we waited at least 45. min till our next meal.
    For lunch we had some avocado (which can be combined with anything) spread over some whole grain bread. Believe it or not, I had actually never tried this before. It was absolutely delicious! This meal takes 4 hours to digest.

    For dinner we had some whole wheat organic pasta with organic marinara sauce. According to the book, the goal is to eventually reach a lifestyle of only raw foods, so pasta would eventually be eliminated.






Oh also, chocolate is one of those foods that can be combined with anything. So, with our lunch and dinner we devoured some 72% cocoa Dark chocolate. Soooooooooooo good!



During the day we drank water which I let sit over night in the fridge with lemons, limes, and mint leaves. This helps to flush toxins out of the body.
 
    Not only was I concentrating on what I was putting into my body, but I also dry brushed my skin. According to the book we lose 2-5 pounds of toxins through our skin everyday, but if it's blocked with dead skin cells and debris, it can't get out. After this I took a ginger bath which also helps to eliminate toxins in the body.

Today is detox: Day 2! We shall see what happens.

27 (cheap) Dresses

   Ok, so maybe I didn't buy quite that many dresses, but it's a good movie and therefore makes a good title. I never realized how much I was spoiled growing up until I got out on my own and was no longer in close proximity to the money tree that I thought grew in the back yard. Every season, of every year, my parents would take me clothes shopping. It wasn't even cheap clothes shopping since I refused to buy clothes at thrift stores because they all smelled like other people.
    I guess the pressures of life finally smacked a smidgen of sense into me-the Salvation Army is now my best friend! However, I haven't quite been able to give up the whole shopping for clothes every season......every year thing. So this past weekend Steven and I went to the Salvation Army to select pieces for my summer wardrobe.  I found a lot of cute stuff and left the store a very happy girl.
    Steven, my oh so wonderful husband decided to document my shopping finds in the form of a movie (he's so fun and creative).

Memories of Music

     Growing up one of my favorite things to do was to ride around with my dad when he would run errands. We both liked the same things most of the time and one of those things happened to be music. I can remember watching the volume knob turn further and further to the right and feeling the music vibrate through my body. We'd be driving down the road bobbing our heads to the beat and singing our favorite parts of the songs.
    One of the most frequently played artists on our errand runs, was Steven Curtis Chapman. Ever since I was little we've been listening to this music, but I never really stopped to think about the inspiration of these songs. They were good songs, but I never realized just how deep they went.
    Recently I started reading Choosing to SEE, by Mary Beth Chapman. The book is about her life and the joys and hardships that she has encountered along with her family, including the death of one of her adopted children. The great thing about the book is that as she is describing the events of their lives she puts the song lyrics that were inspired by these events. It gives new meaning to the songs that I've been listening to for forever.
    I've been reading the book while riding the train to and from work everyday, and I've been finding it difficult to keep myself from crying at the events of her life. She is so real, open, and honest about how she has felt through everything. It has definitely made me want to read some more biographies! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Thumbs up for sure!

 

Jamba Juice

    Yesterday evening I decided I wanted to find a Jamba Juice close by and try it out. I have been wanting to try it for quite some time, but never really wanted to spend the money for it. Anyway, I probably stood in front of their menu board for like 15 minutes trying to figure out what I wanted. To be honest I was also trying to find something that didn't have a weird name that I would have to say out loud. For instance, I was envisioning myself at the register saying "Hello, I'll have the mango-a-go-go-go". Come on people, can't we just call it the mango smoothie?
    Finally, after changing my mind about 5 times and getting in and out of line just as many, I found myself at the register asking for the Pomegranate-Pick-Me-Up. Not such a bad name...it was better than Razzmatazz or Strawberry Surf Rider. Anyway, it was delicious and I wanted more. I thought to myself, hey, I can make this stuff myself! I forgot I had a juicer of my own hiding in the back of one of my cupboards.
    This morning after my workout, I went to Aldi to scope out their fruits and vegetables. I left with quite a heavy bag, which prompted me to take the bus. Once I got home, I whipped out my juicer and started shoving stuff into it until I had a nice cup full of orange liquid. I ended up juicing some oranges, cucumbers, mango, and carrots. After juicing them, I sent them through the blender with some ice, for a nice icy treat.

Remember that Dunkin Donuts coffee from yesterday? Well, I saved the cup and washed it out.
Makes a perfect traveling cup for my juice.

Good Morning

   

Oh Happy Day!

 Despite the fact that I am not a morning person, I love mornings. How that works out I am not entirely sure. Perhaps my dislike of it comes from the fact that any time I get up early I start getting a cold, and in turn makes me grumpy. However, mornings like today are lovely, but short. I got up after nine, walked down to Planet Fitness for a nice invigorating workout and then skipped down to the closest Dunkin Donuts for some coffee.
     I think coffee has to be one of my favorite parts of the morning. Not black coffee though-I'm not sure I could ever be one of those kinds of people. I need a little bit of sugar in my life. Today I indulged in an iced coconut coffee  (with cream and sugar of course). The sun is shining, I've had a good workout, and my coffee has been drunk: Oh happy day.

     I love Frank Sinatra. This is definitely good coffee music. And as a side note, someday I would like to get a good espresso machine that makes good foam so I can do awesome foam art.

Pineapple Chicken

    Warm juicy pineapple cooked with peppers and onions, poured over crispy Barbecued  chicken and sprinkled with sesame seeds=Bliss. This wonderful meal worth daydreaming over was what Steven and I had for dinner this evening. It was rather hard to have any conversation because I was caught up with the flavors that were swirling around in my mouth.

The recipe is as follows:

-2 Chicken thighs
-Half a pineapple
-Half a yellow onion (chopped)
-1 green bell pepper (chopped)
-Soy sauce
-Olive oil
-Barbecue sauce
-Sesame seeds

    First I covered my chicken thighs with the barbecue sauce and put them in the oven at medium heat for about an hour (or until it's done). While that was cooking I combined  my onion, peppers, and pineapple in a frying pan. I put it on the stove at medium heat. While mixing them around I poured in a bit of olive oil (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan). Next, I poured in a bit of soy sauce (not a lot, just enough to give everything a bit of a brown color). While continuing to mix everything around I sprinkled in the sesame seeds. Once everything in the pan was cooked and starting to brown I put the stove on low heat and let it sit there until the chicken was done. Finally, once the chicken is done you put it on the plate and pour the contents of the frying pan on time and then sprinkle some more sesame seeds on top of that. Then your done and it is absolutely delicious!

Twas certainly a nice meal to settle down with at the end of a very long work day
(which involved having to get up at 3:00 AM in order to get to work by 5:00AM) 

New Frames

    Two and half years and two prescriptions later (whoops), I decided it was probably time for a new pair of glasses. I guess I probably waited so long because glasses are EXPENSIVE! However, insurance is a wonderful thing and made it all possible. 
      I love the place where I got my glasses and exam (Custom Eyes). Despite the city surroundings they felt like such a small town cozy place. I went in and the lady at the desk talked to me for a little bit and helped me decide which frames I should get by giving me good honest feedback. Anyway, I love the glasses I got. I've realized that the bigger frames, which are in style, are actually a bajillion times more practical than the small frames. I can actually see what's around me instead of staring at the top of my frames all the time!

Yes, there is a bit of a glare on the glasses, but I wasn't going to spend
an extra $50 just for anti-glare glasses...I usually wear contacts anyway.

I took these pictures outside our apartment on the roofish area because there is
no natural light in our apartment.

The end.

Carrot Snack

    Two posts in one day? Is this acceptable? In light of the fact that I'm not a very consistent poster I'll say yes. So, I was hungry, craving something sweet, and unwilling to sit down with any junk food. A few months when my family came to visit, my mom brought some dehydrated green beans to share. They were slightly sweet and very delicious.
    Well, I didn't have green beans or the patience to wait for any to dehydrate, but I went with the idea of sweet vegetables. I chopped up some baby carrots lengthwise, covered then in honey, olive oil, salt, and flax seeds. I popped them in the over and waited for the carrots to get a bit softer. It turned out to be a very delicious snack. The carrots were soft, but the flax seeds made it crunchy, and of course the honey made it sweet, and the salt increased it's flavor.

Happy Belated Easter!

    Despite the fact that Easter was two weeks ago, I say it's better late than never, and I am going to go ahead and write about my Easter. Our weekend celebration started off by celebrating Passover with some friends. No, we aren't Jewish, but you certainly don't have to be Jewish to remember and celebrate what God has done. I spent my entire Saturday bustling around the kitchen in preparation for our delicious meal, consisting of: Turkey, rosemary roasted potatoes, Mediterranean seasoned green beans, Chicken soup with matzo balls, applesauce, and for desert I made some chocolate filled macaroons. While in the kitchen that day I also made some baseball sized peanut butter eggs (which I have neglected to take pictures of) and some Easter Bread for Sunday morning.
    Of course no Easter celebration is complete without some egg decorating! Steven and I spent a lovely couple of hours decorating our 14 little eggs.

Here's a few of our eggs inserted into the Easter Bread.

My cute little grasshopper egg.

Winking eye

On the reversed side is the open eye.

Our lovely colors.

Strawberry! Yum!

Cracked egg.

Pikachu!

Reversed side: Pikachu tail!

Steven admiring our handiwork.

Steven's masterpieces.

     Easter day we celebrated our risen savior at Emanuel Bible church, we gobbled up our Easter bread and feasted on Passover leftovers.

                              Happy Easter Everyone!

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