Peaceful Visit

I kissed my grandma last week, or at least it feels as though I did. We spent Christmas at Blake's grandmother's farm in Atwood, Kansas. This is very close to McCook, Nebraska- where my grandma Lehman is buried. So we took a little trip to McCook and I got to visit her grave.

I had only been to her grave once before. I was not even a year old, and it was the day she was buried. This grandmother I never got to know, I was able to know through her children. I got to know her through the pots and pans my parents used, through the old mason jars I used as vases, through the old blue spiral that had hand written recipes and clippings from the paper. I got to know her through stories and through pictures, and through the old quilts, hankies, and fabric scraps. She lived all around me through those things, and much more. I feel as though I know her well.

I haven't been able to kiss her on the cheek though, and that's made me feel sad before. When there is someone you feel like you know so well, you want to be able to do that.

When I visited her grave I left a rose. A rose that someone wore in my wedding. I'm not completely sure who though, it was just left in my car. I left it in my car because I just felt like I needed to. I gave her that rose because I wish she could have been there wearing a rose.

When we left, I felt like I had kissed her on the cheek. It was a peaceful feeling.

Cutting up a chicken isn't my talent.

I never have much been a fan of boiled chicken. I've learned that for casseroles it's better to boil or roast your chicken. So I've slowly been learning how to boil chicken. I know that sounds funny... but this stuff isn't coming to me like natural!

I started ordering my chicken from a local farm that hand processes their chicken and makes deliveries now and then. Do some research on how big companies like Tyson raise and process their chicken and you'll never what to eat it again. But I will not go into that right now. One of the more affordable ways to buy this chicken is to buy whole chickens. (The one I used today was only like $3.50... so it's really not any more expensive than the grocery store. Just throwing that out there) Whole chickens scare me though... they really do.

I needed to boil it and I didn't have all day so I decided I'd butcher it. I looked in my cookbooks and found some instructions.

Here is my chicken ready to go:

Here are my instructions:

Here is what happened:

As you can see:

A. I had no clue what I was doing.

B. I am no good at following directions (which my elementary teachers could confirm)

C. I made a mess of my chicken.

I threw it all in a pot with a chopped up onion and some water and we will see what happens. I'm sure it'll be fine... but I really don't know how to chop up a chicken.

Oh I have so much to learn!

Make Your Own Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

Do you know what's in a can of cream of mushroom soup? I don't know either. What I do know is that I feel better about using it when I make it myself. So here is my recipe. Please note that this is for condensed soup, like what you put in a casserole or something. Not something you just put in a bowl and eat by it's self.

Also, you'll notice I'm not using home aid stock. So this isn't quite as "pure" as it could be. I'm getting there I promise! Someday!

I've found that the most effect way to make this is to do large batches, so you don't waste your time! So here is a recipe for about 6 cans.

Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup:

2 sticks of butter

2 cups of flour

4 cups of chicken stock/broth

4 cups of milk

Salt & Pepper

2 cups of chopped mushrooms

Wash and chop up those mushrooms... how ever chopped you like them.

Next, slice the butter. That makes it melt faster! I know it's a lot of butter, but this is for six cans!

In a big soup pot, cook butter and mushrooms until the butter is melted and mushrooms are soft.

Add the flour and stir together. It'll become thick and gooey.... that's what you want!

Slowly add stock while stirring or whisking to avoid lumps. Bring to a boil and cook a few min. until it's thickened.

Add milk, salt, and pepper. The great part is you can control your salt! Stir until combined and thick. The goal is to get it the consistency of what you see in a can. If it's still a little to runny after 5 to 10 min of cooking, mix some cornstarch and water together and add to the soup. Cook for a few more min. Take off the heat and even chill for a while if needed.

This is about what you want it to look like.

After the soup has completely cooled or even chilled ladle into ziplock freezer bags in 1.25 cup portions. Freeze it! When you need to use one, simply put it in the fridge over night or during the day to let it thaw.

This is a good project for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It's way easier to have it made before you even think you need it than to try whipping it up when you need it.

Enjoy it!

Chicken Noodle Soup

One of the classic comforts of home is chicken noodle soup. It might come out of a can, it might be from scratch. One thing is certain- it's feels good to eat a big bowl of chicken noodle soup. This is a fairly quick soup to make and simple. This recipe will serve about 4, I didn't want to make very much, but double it if you have more mouths to feed!

Ingredients:

6 cups of low sodium chicken broth

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast

1 yellow onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 celery stalks, sliced

Dried thin egg noodles (how much is up to you)

3 TB finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Salt and ground pepper

Step One: Bring chicken broth to a simmer and add the chicken. Simmer until no pink remains. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a while (You can use that time to work on your veggies).

(Looking back, I should have cut the chicken breast in half so that it was completely covered by the broth. It took about 30 min for this breast to cook all the way through. If you cut it down the middle length wise, I suspect it'd take 12 or 15 min.)

Step 2: As chicken is simmering, prepare or finishing preparing the veggies.

If you like your soup with more broth, you'll want to omit some of the veggies AFTER they have cooked in the broth. You don't want to loose any of that wonderful flavor.

Step 3:

Transfer chicken to a cutting board. Return the broth to a simmer on medium-high heat and add the veggies. Simmer veggies about 10 min or until lightly soft.

Step 4:

Shred or cube chicken and chop parsley

Step 5:

Do your best to skim away any foam on the top of the soup. At this time you can remove some of the veggies if it's too much for your taste.

Step 6:

Add noodles and 3/4th of the parsley. Season will salt and pepper to your taste. Simmer until the noodles are tender, about 3-5 min depending on how many you use and what size pan you are using.

I used around 5 oz of noodles, which is a lot. You can use as few as 2 oz though.

Keep warm until ready to serve. Scoop into warm bowls and sprinkle with the remaining parsley. Curl up on the couch and watch a good movie!

Y'all Enjoy!

Thankful

Today has been a positive day, it really has. Which is a bit different because things have been a little tough this week. Having a very sore throat and loads of ear pressure doesn't help when I'm trying to write a huge bible paper I've been putting off all semester! After much hard work and 8 hours in the library so far this week I've written the bulk of my paper! The rest is a breeze. I've got to write my introduction and conclusion, then add footnotes and do my bibliography. That's it! So I'm taking a break to write some of things that made me very happy today despite feeling awful and sleepy.

1. Last night I slept on the couch, mostly because when I feel sick I become irritable and just the sound of breathing will take over my mind. I also couldn't sleep because I thinking about my throat hurting. I was watching "16 and Pregnant" on MTV until 3 in the morning. I was a sleepy camper. BUT here comes the good part. When Blake woke up he came and got me and walked me into the bed. He re-set my alarm to later time so I would get more sleep. That made me so happy :)

2. I got a Starbucks pumpkin spiced latte and a piece of pumpkin bread before my afternoon class.

3. I was able to get a book that I've already read approved for my book review for a class. That means I don't have to read a whole book next week!

4. At tutoring today this sweet kindergartner boy ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug and said "MS. KRISTIN!!!!!!" :)

5. Blake went and got me chick-fil-a for dinner.

6. I joked about wanting a brownie from there and he went BACK out and got me a brownie from there AND cookies from McDonalds so I would have something another time. Though I told him not to go out at all!

7. I've gotten a lot done on my paper

8. The weekend is coming soon

All these things have made my day feel positive even though I'm not feeling good. That's a "God thing". God is watching over me, and hearing my prayers. I'm so thankful for how He's blessing me.

Driving Peeves

This has nothing to do with being a wife or with cooking or with crafting.

It has everything to do with being a citizen and a driver. Can you relate to those two things? OK... good... now listen up.

There are a couple of driving rules that people forget about and when they do I loose my patience with them. I have to take deep breaths and think about Christmas music.

Always be sure you can see the tires of the car in front of you!

When people ride my tail it makes me want to drive slower not faster.... in fact it makes me want to drive in the center of both lanes really slow so that they can not pass by. (But don't worry I don't do that last thing)

When I'm stopped at red lights I like to leave a pretty good distance if I can. If someone should hit the car behind me and they hit me I would like to not hit the person in front of me, or at least not cause much damage.

Let me just say that I would like for the person behind me to be so respectful themselves. Many times they are. Many times they are not.

And when they are not... I scoot up a little bit. And then some people are rude and scoot up more... so that they are still on my tail. So I scoot up a bit more... and go figure they scoot up more. At this point I have my sunglasses off and am looking at them through my mirrors not hiding the fact that I'm annoyed with them. I scoot up a bit more... but I can't do this much more because then I'll loose too much space between the car in front of me. This just really works my nerves.

And if the person is a huge car it works my nerves even more... because I think about what that huge thing could do to my little car if they got a big hit.

Anyways... this morning there was some lady in a fancy smancy Lexus mini SUV who was doing this to me. So I decided to write about this and plead with anyone reading this to NOT drive like that. Leave some space between you and the car in front of you please!

My other biggest driving peeve is when people don't know how to merge. Oh my goodness does that one drive me crazy. I'll pull my horn out on that. Or when people pass every one up to cut. That makes me mad too. If I can I'll pull out to the middle to keep people from cutting. Yes I'm one of those people.... but if you've had 2 miles of warning signs it's time to get over. I love it when the huge 18 wheelers will block so people can't cut. That just makes me smile.

But anyways.... please be a respectful driver!

What are your driving peeves?

Kristin's Chili Corn Bake

This is a great fall meal! It's warm, hearty, and who doesn't love corn bread! It's also on the healthier side of things and if you substitute the ground beef for ground turkey it would be even healthier. If your pantry is well stocked this is also a CHEAP dinner! Woo hoo! If you don't use corn meal very often then just buy a package of JIFFY mix. One should be enough.

Here is what you need:

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups frozen corn

1 regular can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon low sodium Worcestershire sauce

Cheyenne pepper and crushed red pepper to taste (Start with 1/2 teaspoon of each, then add more as needed)

Cornbread toping (if not using a mix)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 generous tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup skim of low fat milk

1 TB of oil of choice (I like to use corn oil for corn bread)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease an 11x7 baking dish

2. In a large skillet, cook meat and onion over medium heat. Rub a couple of paper towels in the pan with spatula to pick up extra fat. Add beans, tomatoes, spices and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, uncovered for 5 min. Add corn and simmer about 3 to 4 min longer.

3. Transfer to the greased baking dish. For the topping, combine your dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately then add the wet to the dry ones. Stir just until combined, don't over mix. Spoon over the meat mixture.

4. Bake, uncovered for 14-18 min or until the filling is bubbly and a knife inserted into topping comes out clean. Let stand 5 min. before cutting.

Enjoy!!! Make some this week!

Cleaning a Non Self Cleaning Oven

Alright, now I'm gonna warn you about this post. It's sort of gross. It shows the more unglamorous side of mastering the kitchen. In fact- much of that is unglamorous. Anyways... I'm getting real with you.

When we first moved into our apartments I was a bit disgusted from the oven. I tried wiping it with Windex which did nothing... so I became comfortable with it. However, after a couple of spilled over pies and other dishes it was getting harder and harder to deal with. I tried baking soda which did nothing. Time went on. Smoke was coming up from the oven too often! On Sunday I made a chicken pot pie which spilled A LOT. I knew I wouldn't be able to use my oven again until I cleaned it. See take a look....

Take a look at the whole oven actually. It's all disgusting. I don't think it's ever been cleaned.

Take a better look at the pot pie spot. GROSS!

Now that your grossed out let me change the subject to food. Haha. On Monday I made some beef stew and thought, "mmm biscuits". So I whipped some up and had them rolled out and on the pan ready to go. Then I noticed smoke coming from my pre-heating oven. Lots of it. If our smoke alarm hadn't been ripped down from the last time I set it off it would have been beeping. So I had to trash my biscuits :-(

So I texted my mother in law and asked her how to clean an oven because I remembered her talking about it before. She told me about cleaning her oven when she first got married- said she used Easy-Off oven cleaner and a rough cleaning pad and scrubbed a lot.

So that's what I did. I woke up this morning and went to exercise then I headed to the grocery store. Came home and got to work.

Here is what I used:

Note: You have to use the rough stuff. I tried a regular sponge before... did nothing. I used all 3 of these today.

And of course some gloves... I love these things:

I sprayed it in the oven

Then closed the door let it work it's magic and ate breakfast (because I'm not quite as disgusted by these things anymore).

Then I put my gloves back on and got to work:

Over 2 hours later:

I know there are still some spots and it's not perfect but I worked HARD!

And then there was STILL cleaning to do... like all around the oven. And the floor because grease had gone everywhere. But I finally did it. I was very proud of myself.

I changed clothes and folded the clothes in the dryer. Put lots of lotion on my hands and made lunch for me and Blake. Then I went to class! Very productive morning!

Then I enjoyed using my clean oven tonight to make toast for our stew leftovers.

The joys :)

You know I'm loving every bit!

Cranberry Sauce

With fall in the air I think of one thing- food. OK I think about other things but food is a huge thought. Cooking is a huge thought. Cranberry sauce is one of my favorite holiday sides. I haven't always liked it... but once I tasted it I was hooked. This year I decided to make it all though fall... why just save it for holidays! I decided to share my recipe. So here it is:

Ingredients:

12 oz fresh cranberries

1.5 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 cup of water

.5 cup seedless raspberry jam

1. Mix cranberries, brown sugar, and water. Bring to boil on high heat, then reduce to medium high. Cook 8-10 min until mixture is thick and all of the cranberries have popped. Cool about 10 min.

2. Strain cranberry mixture, pressing berries to extract juice, toss the skins or leave some in. This whole step is completely optional. Stir jam into the juice. Let cool at least 30 min.

My favorite part is watching the cranberries pop!

And of course watching it thicken is fun too.

And when it's finished.... taking a bite. Just to taste.

And who says you have to serve it with turkey? Top chicken with it!

I hope you'll make your own cranberry sauce this season! It's so easy and so worth it!

Enjoy!

Dreamer

My ideal dream home is one that has a porch. Maybe even a wrap around porch. It's got a white swing and whicker chairs for lots of conversation as the sun sets. There are bushes of blue french hydrangeas lining the the porch. There is a cobble stone path to the mail box. You can see this better in the spring, but right now it's late fall or early winter.

There are trees... lots of trees. Old oak trees maybe? With a tire swing on one of them.

When you walk inside you hear laughter. Your instantly filled with the aroma of something sweet and the spice of cinnamon. There is warm apple pie on the counter and you help yourself. There is freshly brewed coffee next to it.

You take a seat at an old oak table with barley twisted legs. You look around and old old mason jars are all around the kitchen. Some might even have candles in them.

You walk into the living room and take a seat on a comfortable couch, pull up a knit throw, because this house lives where it's cold. You can hear the crackle from the fire place. I'll bring you some hot wassle if you want. There is some old big band music playing on a record player. The TV is hidden away in a solid oak entertainment center.... only used for foot ball games, movie nights, and the morning news.

When you look out the window (which is a straight shot from the couch) you might mountains that are covered in snow. You'll at least see snow covered trees.

The Sun is almost set.

You'll stay up into the evening playing cards and just talking. Talking about anything. You'll drink more wassle.

Everyone will finally decide to retire to bed.

You'll arise to the smell of fresh coffee and the smell of breakfast. Maybe it's jelly rolls made from scratch, or bacon and eggs. But there will be breakfast. Everyone will squeeze around the old oak table in the kitchen and say grace.

We'll go outside until our toes turn blue and we have to come inside. We'll unbundle and warm up by the fireside. Play an old record maybe? Have some soup?

We'll be out again later.

This house is away from the city. It's away from everything and everyone too busy to stop and enjoy life. It's less complicated of a place. It's beautiful.

Sure it's a little too much of a dream, but what's wrong with being a dreamer?

The Pot

I enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Houston. Lots of cooking, laughing, and enjoying each other. Blake wasn't able to come with me though and was doomed to a weekend of bachelorhood... which I think he somewhat enjoyed. What guy wouldn't love keeping the TV on ESPN all weekend long and eating velveta dip.

That's right... velveta dip. Call it what you want... Blake calls it Rotel dip. But no matter what you call it the velveta is what distinguishes it from all other. It is also what makes the mess to clean up. Blake made a pot of the stuff and reheated it on the stove all weekend long. Ignoring that the pot would eventually have to be cleaned.

The sticky mess was glued to the bottom of the pot. On Monday afternoon I filled the pot with water and did all the other dishes.... assuming and slightly hoping Blake would wash it.

Well that didn't happen. I looked in the sink today and the pot was in the sink... however Blake had taken the water out and refilled it again.

I contemplated on what to do. Should I wash it? Should I leave it for him?

I used the situation as an opportunity to make our marriage holy. Part of having a holy marriage is doing things for each other that we might not want to do all of the time. (Or so I've been taught) I didn't want to wash that pot... but then again Blake didn't want to leave for work this morning. Blake doesn't like having to eat hot dogs and sandwiches the last week of the month because I spent all the food money buying more natural foods. He wishes I'm sure that I was working and making more money to put in the pot. So because he allows me to stay home and be just a wife and student... letting me do all the cooking and crafty things I want to do.... I decided to wash his pot. I did it to help our marriage be a holy one.

I say all of this not to boast and say, "look at me". I say this to share a lesson I learned and put into practice. And one of my main points for this blog is for me to record my experiences as a newly wed. And that's exactly what I did!

Correction from last blog!

OK so I messed up in the last blog. Instead of a link to a song it was a link to a picture of my dream house. I was trying to add that but couldn't get it to work.

So needless to say please ignore my awful computer skills!

Here is a link to the song. I'm sorry you have to copy/paste it, I don't know how to turn it into a click link either!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfvFlUtFI8Y

Mayberry

I've got another song to share with y'all. I'll apologize ahead of time because it's a country song and I know not everyone enjoys that as much as me. (-:

I guess I was driving home from class on Friday when I heard this song. I immediately turned up the radio, turned off the AC and rolled my windows down. This song came out when I was maybe a freshman in high school... or maybe 8th grade I'm not sure but I've always loved this song.

It talks about such a simple time.... which none of the guys who sing it ever lived during so I don't know why they sing about it like they do. Never the less it makes me happy.

I joke and say we live in the country because I drive down a small street with lots of grass and trees. And once their was a dead deer on the road. So this song made me happy as I was driving to our "country apartment".

Sometimes it feels like this world

Is spinning faster

Than it did in the old days

So naturally, we have more

Natural disasters

From the strain of a fast pace

Sunday was a day of rest

Now it's one more day for progress

And we can't slow down 'cause

More is best

It's all an endless process

(Well) I miss Mayberry

Sitting on the porch drinking

Ice cold Cherry Coke

Where everything is black and white

Picking on a six string

Where people pass by and you call

Them by their first name

Watching the clouds roll by

Bye, bye

Sometimes I can hear this old

Earth shouting

Through the trees as the wind blows

That's when I climb up here on

This mountain

To look through God's window

Now I can't fly but I got two feet

That get me high up here

Above the noise and city streets

My worries disappear

(Well) I miss Mayberry

Sitting on the porch drinking

Ice cold Cherry Coke

Where everything is black and white

Picking on a six string

Where people pass by and you call

Them by their first name

Watching the clouds roll by

Bye, bye

Sometimes I dream I'm driving

Down an old dirt road

Not even listed on a map

I pass a dad and son carrying a

Fishing pole

But I always wake up every time I try

To turn back

(Well) I miss Mayberry

Sitting on the porch drinking

Ice cold Cherry Coke

Where everything is black and white

Picking on a six string

Where people pass by and you call

Them by their first name

Watching the clouds roll by

Bye, bye

Bye, bye

(I miss Mayberry, I miss Mayberry)

As always here is a link if you want to listen to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXw0RpWRZC4&feature=related

Till next time!

Hey y'all! Today I had full intentions of marinating chicken tenderloin strips and adding them to bow tie pasta with salad dressing. That simple. But as I was taking out my pans, my creative juices began to flow. I thought... "why don't I add some onion and garlic". And so it began. So I started to cook in the most unorganized fashion ever. I'm going to share with you my recipe for my newly founded "Santa Fe Chicken Pasta". Warning... I have no exact measurements it's all to your own taste. I also did some things out of order and will try to correct it best I can. Also... if you make this PLEASE use a stainless steel skillet or cast iron because it will taste so much better. I'll explain later.

First things first. Marinate that chicken for a couple hours. Longer the better, you know the drill! This is the dressing I used. This is my FAVORITE salad dressing brand. The flavor is Santa Fe blend... which gives hint to my title!

Next Cut up some red onion, tomato and then cut your chicken into bite size pieces (which I didn't do and in fact didn't cook my chicken all the way through and had to remove everything from my pan to recook)

Using a stainless steel or cast iron skillet (which I didn't do) heat up some butter and get your pan really hot. Throw the chicken on your pan and get it dark. As the pioneer women would say, "dark and butter go together". Remove chicken when it's cooked.

Here is my chicken which at the time wasn't cooked all the way.

Then add a bit more butter and add the onions and some minced garlic and get them going then add the tomato and cook a minute longer. Get them brown. I used a fun orange tomato from the farmer's market. So sweet! When they are soft and brown remove them from the pan.

Now, this is where I tell you why to use a cast iron or stainless pan. They hold more brown and juices from the chicken and veggies. Which is about to be loosened. There isn't quite as much goodness to work with when you use a non stick so once again... use what kind of pan???

OK... now add some cooking white wine and scrape up all the bits off the bottom of the pan. Then add some of the salad dressing you used to marinate the chicken with. Let it cook for a min. or so stirring. Now I know they say there isn't a point to cooking wine but when you don't know anything about real wine and can't afford the real stuff.... the cooking kind is good enough for me.

Next add some cream and keep stirring. Just add however much looks good to you. I realized my cream was frozen.... my fridge was turned up all the way from when I made jello salad on labor day. So I used half and half and milk instead. Don't know if you should do that but I was working fast and not thinking too much. Anyways... keep stirring it and let it thicken.

Then add the veggies and chicken

Then add the noodles which you've been cooking right??? Let them sit in the sauce all together for a while. Remove to a platter and sprinkle generously with chopped parsley.

Then enjoy!!!

I used a whole wheat pasta and it was delicious and hearty. The colors make it a warm and colorful fall meal.

Have a great week!!!!

Santa Fe Chicken Pasta

From K. Marie's Kitchen

Chicken tenderloin strips

A yummy salad dressing

Garlic

Red Onion

Tomato

Cooking white wine.... or the real stuff if you know enough about it to justify what it costs (I don't have knowledge or the funds)

Cream

Pasta of your choice

BUTTER!!! Real butter!

Fresh Parsley

1. Marinate chicken in dressing for several hours

2. Chop veggies and chicken

3. Heat butter on pan and cook chicken; Remove to plate

4. Add more butter and let it brown then add onions and garlic, a min later add tomatoes and cook until soft and browned; Remove to plate

5. Add cooking wine and scrape bits off bottom of pan then add some more dressing; cook for a min or so

6. Add cream and stir/ whisk it around till it thickens

7. Add veggies and chicken

8. Add cooked noodles and let sit on low heat for a couple min.

9. Remove to platter; top with parsley

a response to change

Stability. It's something I've always sought. Change has never been something I've adapted well to. I roll my eyes at updating apps on my iphone and there is nothing more annoying than computer pop ups telling me to update windows or itunes. When the weather changes I get sick and when the AC turns on and off I go from extremely cold to extremely hot. I dread my heart beat changing when I exercise and my favorite bed sheets will always be my Laura Ashly ones from the first grade.

Despite my fear of change, I know that change will usually bring good things. There are some exceptions to this though. For example, when furniture companies began to use shredded up "wood" instead of oak. That was a bad change. But for the most part change can bring about good.

When I was in high school I faced a very difficult change right after my freshman year. I left a school where I had an established identity and friends to a place where I knew no one. I remember lunch time during my first day. I talked on my cell phone to an old friend the entire time because I didn't want to meet anyone. I was so sad, but I found comfort in a song. I often visited a music teacher at my previous school. He knew how I felt and he helped me find peace by playing either his piano or guitar and leading me in praise songs. Those times melted away all of my fears of my new change. But one song in particular stood out, "When I Call on Jesus" by Nicole Mullen.

I'm happy to say I worked through my fears and made some good friends the remainder of my high school years. I never would have though, if I hadn't found peace in my Lord.

Change has struck through all of my years in college. Though a lot of it good, it's still not always easy. Time after time God leads me to the song. The song that helps me find peace.

I've recently been dealing with the stress of change. Change in how often I see and hang out with my friends, finding a new church home, wondering about my future and after graduation. It's taken in toll on me for sure. I waited to too long to call on my God to help me.

When I finally did, he brought me comfort and peace. He made me glad.

This past week I've been very happy. I know that's my God hearing me and comforting me. This song came to my mind once again and made me remember how great is the Father. He has always brought me out of my struggles with change... but I had to call on Him first.

So whatever your struggles might be, remember to call on Jesus. When you do, all things are possible.

Here is a link to the music video for my "go to song" for comfort. You'll have to ignore her 90's wardrobe and the cheesiness of the whole thing. It's really a good song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHSGP6U1Ws&ob=av2n

I'm so very ordinary

Nothing special on my own
I have never walked on water
I have never calmed a storm
Sometimes I'm hiding away
from the madness around me
Like a child who's afraid of the dark

CHORUS:
But when I call on Jesus
All things are possible
I can mount on wings like eagles and soar
When I call on Jesus
Mountains are gonna fall
'Cause He'll move heaven
and earth to come rescue me when I call

Weary brother
Broken daughter
Widowed, widowed lover
You're not alone
If you're tired and
scared of the madness around you
If you can't find the strength to carry on

CHORUS

Call Him in the mornin'
In the afternoon time
Late in the evenin'
He'll be there
When your heart is broken
And you feel discouraged
You can just remember that He said
He'll be there

good for the soul

Fall is my favorite season, and believe me I am on count down. There are 8 days of summer left! I'm trying my best to not pull out my fall sign by the front door... I might not make it. I'm also using self control to wait until actual fall to get a pumpkin spiced latte from Starbucks. This takes much work. I have been enjoying some comfort foods of fall though.

I had some extra time yesterday and so I made grilled sandwiches and apples for lunch.

Now, there are some things that I must have for grilled sandwiches. Mayo and butter. Those are a must.

I like real butter. Land of Lakes makes this whipped butter spread. It is real butter but it has a lot less fat because it's whipped. Like butter, you still need to set it out for 30 min or so before you eat your dinner or it's harder to spread. So see... it's still real.

Now, I remember the days where I loved miracle whip. Once I started eating Hellmann's I've never been able to go back. It's simple goodness. And low fat is even better : )

My sandwiches are simple. Honey Wheat bread, mayo, turkey, cheese and butter on the outside. That's how I like them.

I love my grill pan. I was looking at the apples on my table as I was cooking my sandwiches. I have this theory that I only by fruit for table decoration because all of it goes bad. My apples were beginning to get softer so I thought it would be good if I spiced it up and stuck it on the pan. I rubbed some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. The best trio ever. They were pretty good. Not like baked apples because they stay more crisp. But good none the less.

It was a yummy, comforting, warm, lunch.

For dinner today I made my daddy's tortilla soup (based off of his mom's). It is truly good for the soul. This stuff instantly makes me feel warm and happy because it reminds me of all the happy memories eating it at home with family and friends. We used to eat it so often I got sick of it, but when I came to college I missed it more than anything!

I made some buttermilk cornbread to go with it. YUM!

My corn mill is getting low. This container used to be full of it. I love making corn bread. I also love the OXO containers.

And here are the lemon poppy seed muffins I made for Blake's birthday if you didn't see them on facebook. They were good and we had fun. Heather came over after church and ate them with us.

Hope ya'll have good week! Enjoy the last few days of summer!