Fajitas and fights...

Tonight we had fajitas- a party indeed! 

However, this weekend has been so busy, we just crammed much into our days, early mornings and late nights. All was fun, but it took its toll on one of my kids. Then, at the flip of a switch, the tears came, and they came in torrents. Then fighting. Fighting with tears. Such a hard part of motherhood!

Thankfully, God is gracious. My husband came home at the perfect time. I know it's not so wonderful for him, but tonight, his peaceful nature was much needed to help our home regain calm. 

Now, I hear peaceful chattering, piano keys making beautiful music and the birds chirping outside.  It's almost as if that 30 minutes of our day didn't happen...I wish it didn't! But I'm thankful, that though it did, God reigned despite my human nature!

The fajitas were from a box! Oops...well, the tortillas, sauce and seasoning....the chicken was on sale today - woohoo! And the peppers were remaining from our 21 freezer meal prep from a few days ago. All mixed together was delicious!

Deep fried avocado

Um. Yum :)

I love avocados...but often have to eat them alone since my family does NOT love avocados...however if I can hide them in something, the chances are greater. 

I really have very non-picky eaters, this is one of the only foods that they do not like to eat, but they are so good for us! So...I make avocado hummus...and just tried this deep fried avocado...delish!

Missed a Monday for these sweets

My sister had a baby this weekend! So I'm an Aunt again :) 

This past Monday, rather than being at home cooking...I was snuggling and crafting...we did make Rice Krispies treats....if that counts as cooking!  I even let the kids be creative and 'shape' their treat...it  was a huge mess, but they seemed to love it, and clean up wasn't sooo bad. :)

The sweet babe is so snugly and fresh and big brother and sister love her to bits!

It was a precious time with my nieces and nephew and my sister and her man too :)

Meatballs

This is going to make my family happy for sure!  Meatballs- again, simple, easy, never been tried in my kitchen before.

This is pretty great, cooking on Mondays, trying new recipes and overcoming those thoughts of things being too hard...

Meatballs are super simple. I didn't have bread crumbs, but I had cornflake crumbs- which worked just fine!  All you do is mix the beef 2 lbs, with two beaten eggs, one cup of crumbs, garlic, pepper, two tsp soya sauce and 1/3 cup ketchup, roll onto a pan and bake at 350- tada! Mmm...now what to serve it with....likely whole grain brown rice, another new favourite :)

Happy cooking!

Brownies and a babe

Today is Sunday...a day of rest.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I love this scripture from Matthew 11. Sometimes I can get so overburdened with things going on in life. It is SO comforting to remember that God's got it. He is carrying this burden. I don't have to. I'm not alone.  I really need to LEARN more from Him!

...Sunday is also a day to celebrate during lent, and have some sugar! Mmm! I'm not huge into cake and pies and such, I do like candy...gum...sugar in my coffee...and such. I have really come to like coffee without sugar, and almost don't like it with sugar!

But, something I have been wanting over the last few weeks is brownies! 

Today presented the perfect opportunity.  We are a babysitting two this weekend, and this afternoon Tim took all the boys to the trailer for a work afternoon- likely movie for the boys, Rachel is at a friends, and the wee one is having a nap- brownie time!

I also happened to do some less than exciting essentials, which somehow seemed almost relaxing in my current situation- dishes and dinner prep.

Enjoying a time of quiet, a time of rest, a time to breathe...and smell, soon eat...brownies!

Perfect timing, I hear the babe stirring!

Burgers !

Mmm! I am so excited for tonight's dinner! Two 'new' challenges for me that I've always thought of making but never made - home made burgers, and burger buns!

We had some ground beef, and I've been wanting burgers! It. Makes me feel that spring really might come yet, even though it doesn't seem or feel like it!  So, I looked up some recipes on Pinterest and chose my favourite parts of different ones ...the result was super easy and super yummy.

I'm not sure why I've always thought some things were just too hard to make - like pasta, burgers, buns even...I've made my own bread for over ten years but have never made buns, except in mass amounts at the bakery last season, but still, they weren't a bun for a burger or sandwich, just a dinner roll.  

It's funny to me, thinking about this AFTER making a few of these 'hard' things, that it was really just my uneducated, not willing to try it, or even look into it- opinion.

I think too often this translates into other parts of my life. Some things just seem to hard, or unattainable, that I don't even want to try, or think about trying.  Or, in the other sense, I get too comfortable with what I know - and really, I think it is this aspect that helps the uneasiness grow.  

When I cracked a rib a month or so ago, at first I was so put off by having to rest, not being able to run, or move around much at all...but then, after a while, I got so comfortable doing not much of anything, it seemed like a chore to even just get out of bed.  

Thankfully, my rib is healing, but now it's my heart and emotions that need to heal as well and get back into things. I need to do these 'hard' things, that really aren't that bad, and enjoy the process, praising God for healing, and for the blessings He has given!

Back to the meal....

So I mixed together ground beef, some spices, soya sauce, Worcester sauce, egg...and voila!

Then I worked on a bun dough, let it rise while I went out for a couple of hours, shaped the buns and baked them!

I know I'm going to have some thrilled family with this meal! 

Try those hard things! Stretch your point of comfort, and in all things, give God thanks!

A taste of normal

This has been a ridiculously not normal, very emotional past week.

We are an approved foster home, waiting for placement. We have a crib and can take a baby from newborn up to an eight year old child. One, at most two children.

This last Tuesday we got a call late morning asking if we would take a 22 day old baby. By 1:30 p.m. We had a sweet little one in our home. What a whirlwind of changes over four days! Friday afternoon it was decided that baby would go back to be with mom.

So...we had a bit ofa. Breather on Saturday, and a lot of things changed in terms of our thoughts and routine for the last week.

All that to say...today, I needed some normal. I love to make bread, I've been making bread for years. A few months ago a friend introduced me to healthy bread in minutes - a fantastic way to make delicious sourdough bread quickly.  

The steps are super simple and the result is...well, so good that it disappears like a flash!

First, you get a bucket, something that fits nicely in your fridge, with room in it to mix your ingredients and for the to expand.  I do a half batch, because that's what fits in my bucket / fridge.  

I put in 3 3/4 cup of flour, 3/4 tbsp yeast, 1/2 tbsp salt, and 2 cups of warm water. Mix this until nothing is dry, out the lid on, pop a corner open and let it sit for two hours. That's it! 

At this point you can take some out, shape it, let it rest for 30 minutes and bake, or put it in the fridge for up to two weeks.

When I bake mine, I like to preheat the oven (450') with a stone in there, then bake my loaf for 30-35 minutes. 

Today, I thought I would try making little buns out of it, it worked well, they a bit of a funny shape, but they taste just as good!

Now, to make more, add the initial ingredients to what is left in the bucket, you don't clean it out in between. It actually helps the flavor to keep the dough in there and mix it up with the new!

I have also added other things to the dough, you can be creative....I've added honey, flax, whole wheat flour, it's nice with seeds on top....very versatile!

I highly recommend looking up healthy bread in five minutes a day- excellent book, great recipes...for a little bit of normal :)