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 :)

Monday's menu

So, I've decided to do a theme of sorts and share my menu, just for the day, on Mondays. I am on cooking for Monday, so, it might help me cook, and write! BONUS!

Since it's March Break, the kids are off, today I have Matthew home, the other two are with Grandma! So, Matthew and I decided to make some fresh pasta. We were inspired by Master Chef- we have been inspired before with failed results, and with fantastic results! So we were ready for the pasta challenge...!

We got all of our ingredients...all three of them! This was a bit of a shock to us...clearly we are not very serious pasta people, we had no idea how to make it, or what was in it! Just flour, egg and water. The recipe we used said to knead the dough, so Matthew was more than excited to get his hands in there and mix it around!

Once I got his hands untied I got the mixture into a smooth ball and we covered it in plastic wrap to sit 'for at least 30 minutes'. We didn't know it would be so fast up to this point so ours sat for ... A few hours!

Next came the rolling out and shaping of the pasta. We were conflicted with how we were going to make our meal. I was thinking an easy option would be fettuccine type noodles, Matthew wanted to try a ravioli....so we did both! And he won the meat sauce option- I often don't think of meat, but Tim will be thankful Matthew was here for the consult!

Lots of rolling and cutting later and we had some pasta looking dough in front of us!  All we had left was to bring the water to a boil, drop our noodles in for a couple of minutes and voila! Dinner!

It was very very yummy! We were really surprised with how easy it was! But if we do this again, which I imagine we will- we will roll our dough thinner and make sure to have cheese on hand for the filling. 

Overall, t'was an excellent experience with my boy, and a very delicious outcome!

Seasons

I'm reading this fabulous, fabulous book by Mark Buchanan called Spiritual Rhythm Being with Jesus Every Season of your Soul.

Did I mention it is FABULOUS!

 Anyhow, it has been such a ...seasonal book for me, in just pointing out different things we go through in life, and really how God is such a massive part of all these 'seasons' and what our part is in them.

It is really so well written, at least for me, so encouraging, even in winter seasons of the soul, and truly pointing to Jesus.

It's inspiring to me to look to Jesus when things are good, when they are tough, when they are bad, and when they are easy.  

I have been wanting to gobble this book up, but have been forced to pause as challenges are given to look at my life and make some changes.

I highly recommend this book :)

Seize the moment !

Last night the kids and I went to kingston to meet Tim at his break for a work conference.  We had to wait in the parking lot for about ten minutes and the boys asked if they could jump and climb the snow piles.  They ask this....often....! Usually it's not really a good idea beacause of where the parking lot is, the amount of cars and traffic...or we aren't staying long enough and aren't just going to leave them out there while we get what we came for! However, last night, there was time!

 So they went, 

they climbed, 

they jumped,

 they laughed!

I was watching them, smiling, and really just appreciating the moment that we had, the freedom that we have, the good health, the close relationships we have.  Just counting my blessings.  Then I thought, this would probably be even MORE enjoyable if I went out there too! So I did! I didn't..jump....per se.. But I climbed, I laughed, and seized the moment with my boys.  

As Ecclesiastes 3 says, there is a time for everything. This time I have now, I need to make best use of, to enjoy my kids, to grow, to learn, to laugh, to cry, but to really BE with them.

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.