In the Kitchen

As promised so many moons ago, some recipes from our Valentines day dinner.

Chicken Stroganoff

1 pound fresh mushrooms sliced ( I used canned)

1 large onion chopped

2 tbls butter

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up

1/4 c browning sauce

1 1/3 c beef broth divided

1 c white wine or additional beef broth

2 tblsp ketchup

2 garlic cloves minced

1 tsp salt

3 tblsp all purpose flour

1 c sour cream

6 c cooked egg noodles

In large nonstick skillet, saute mushrooms and onion in butter til tender. Remove and set aside. In the same skillet, cook the chicken with browning sauce until browned. ( this made us laugh because after you put the browning sauce on it looks browned.. ) Add 1 c broth, wine or add. broth, ketchup, garlic, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15m.

Combine flour and remaining 1/3c broth until smooth; stir into chicken mixture. Add reserved mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat to low. Stir in sour cream and heat through (do not boil). Serve over noodles.

Mile High Lime Pie

1 can (14oz) sweet condensed milk

1 c sour cream

1/3 c plus 2 tblsp lime juice

5 drops green food coloring (optional)

8oz frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 8inch graham cracker crust

In a bowl, combine the milk, sour cream, lime juice, and food coloring. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into crust. Refrigerate at least 12 hours.

There you have it.

Be Blessed!

In themes...

Last year I noticed a theme in my life. God was teaching me about righteousness. There are two verses that really stood out to me during that time period.

Genesis 15:6, "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."

Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Now, I'm no great Biblical scholar by any means, but I wanted to just focus on something God taught me with those verses.

The first verse was when Abram and God were talking and God was telling Abram to look toward the sky. To see all the stars. God was promising Abram that his descendants would compare in number to the stars in the sky. Abram was childless at this point. But he still believed that God would do what He said He would do. He believed in the LORD and it was counted to him for righteousness.

I have to believe that God is who He say He is, and will do what He says He will do. I have to believe in the Lord.

It's easy to say that as a Christian, of course I believe in God. But then I have to put that faith in action and let God be God in my life.

Which brings me to the next verse. Matt. 6:33.

This verse was an assurance that God has everything under control. He know our needs. He even knows our wants. The only thing we need to do is seek after God and His righteousness. That's brought me to my new theme for this year. Eyes on Jesus. Thoughts on Jesus. Heart on Jesus. I am reorganizing my WHOLE life to focus on Jesus.

Paul Washer has helped. My preacher has helped. I have already started questioning some of the shows and movies I watch. The thoughts I think. The way I respond to others. It's an amazing journey when you try to line up every minute of your life with Jesus.

Soon, I will post about guarding our minds. My next post will be some recipes I promised. I'm so excited about the journey God has me on right now. Journaling it here helps me to lock some of it down to track my growth and maturity. If a year from now I am still listening to the same bad advice or watching the same television programs I will know that I am not on the right track.

I am no theologian or Biblical scholar. Just someone hungering and thirsting for righteousness. :)

Be Blessed!

When the doubts creep in...

I have been listening to Paul Washer on Sermon Audio lately. I have enjoyed his straight forward style of preaching. I have also enjoyed the fact that he does not apologize for preaching God's word.

A while back I struggled with some doubts in my Christian life. Looking back it was during a time when I was living a lot like the world, focusing on things of the world. I always thought it was the enemy trying to destroy me. In some ways it probably was. But for the most part I now think I was having those doubts because I was not living a Christ like life. After hearing Paul Washer's shocking message I believe that to be true.

Matthew 7:13-24, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

If you have time. Go to Sermon Audio and listen to Paul Washer's shocking message on Matt 7. I will be blogging more on this subject in the coming days.

Be blessed.

Around the house...

We have had a busy time of it this weekend. My absolutely fabulous husband pulled up the carpet in our great room. Even though we are living on concrete right now it's just so nice to be rid of the yucky stained carpet. I cleared our hallway and dining room. How nice. We had all of our craft stuff in the dining room which really closed it up. Now I have a 4 drawer dresser to hold table linens and a shelf to hold homeschool paper and books. Its so comfortable in there now. Our hallway was packed with all the stuff from the great room from when we started pulling up carpet a few weeks ago. Now its all moved back into place and the craft cabinets are lined up neatly in the hallway.

Our Valentine's day was fantastic. My mom and brother came over and we had Surprise Stroganoff. The surprise? It was made with chicken with looked and tasted like beef. YUM! I will post the recipe sometime this week. We also had corn and Mile High Lime Pie. That was made with cool whip and food coloring and sweetened condensed milk. Roy made fun of me the whole time because I NEVER use those ingredients anymore. But I figure once every now and then won't kill us and it was so yummy.

Last night after the kids were in bed and Roy was paying some bills, I started cleaning out the cabinets. Due to a little bug problem we had I am rewashing all of my pans and serving bowls. I am almost done with that. I'm also organizing where we store them a little better. I have to do some more cleaning up around the Great Room and the Play Room, but all in all the main areas of my house are company ready. Did you hear that? I want to cry. I can't remember the last time the main areas of my house have been company ready. Just ignore the concrete and don't open the bedroom doors. :)]

Be Blessed.

Niiiiiiiiiiice....

I just logged into my bank account and saw my first emergency savings sitting in my savings account. What a great feeling. Check out Dave Ramsey to find out how to achieve financial peace.
Mr. Ramsey advises you to put $1,000 into that savings account before you do anything. That way as you pay off debt if an emergency arises you don't have everything fall apart around you. What great, sensible advice!


Ladies, let me tell you, there is nothing better than knowing that we are being resourceful with our loving man's hard earned money. Throwing it away is a slap in the face to him.
This is one way I can express my appreciation to that man of mine!

Be Blessed!

Celebrating Love

Last year we celebrated Valentine's Day in a big way. The kids and I made cards for each other and our guests. I found some table linens on sale and picked up a red table cloth and a red and gold runner. I had heart confetti and flowers. I made meatloaf and shaped it into a heart. We had red and white food and chocolate brownies. Some of our friends and family joined us. It was a great time.
This year it will be scaled down some but it will still be a celebration of our family.

What better way to celebrate the "day of love" then with family? Showering your love on them.

We should do it all year long, but I don't think there is anything wrong with being reminded to fancy it up a bit one day a year.

I am going to sit down today and plan our Valentine's Day celebration. I'm so excited. :)

Our Marriage Verses

Last night Roy and I sat and talked for a long while. As we read through the Bible together a few times I found a few verses that I'd marked as "The Perfect Marriage". We read through those verses and we decided that they would be our Marriage Verses.

Philippians 2:1-4, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."

What better expression of love then esteeming your partner better than yourself? If every day I put Roy before myself and he puts me before himself what kind of Holy marriage could we have?

I plan to write the verse out and mount it in our bedroom as well as with our family vision statement.

We might not always be successful in following the verse, but if we strive for it daily our marriage will still be better and stronger.

Be Blessed!

Slow Fade

Here is the video for Slow Fade that I referenced in my earlier post.

Slow Fade

Here is the video for Slow Fade that I referenced in my earlier post.

Protecting Our Marriages

With all the devastation around me lately I have been more proactive in finding ways to protect my marriage. Here are some of the things I have been doing lately.

1. Pray for your husband. Even when your mad at him. Even when you don't think he knows what he's doing. Even when your so fed up you could scream. A few years ago I started going to God anytime I was mad at my husband. I would start at one and list every fault I could come up with. Ya know what happened? God worked on my heart and started showing me my faults. Ouch. And see I said all the hurtful things I wanted to say to Roy to God. I did not tear down my husband's trust and confidence by uttering hateful hurtful words to him, because I'd already told God. God made me see those things weren't true. Once you utter the words to your husband you can't take them back. I used to be a knock down drag out fighter. Now our fights are so infrequent we are both surprised when they happen.

2. Pray with your husband. How could your marriage go astray if you are kneeling beside him and going to your Creator together every night? Praying together is probably the best thing you could ever do for your marriage. If your husband does not want to pray with you then don't nag. Go to God and tell GOD how you desire a closer relationship with your husband through prayer. Can God not change your husband's heart and desire? What if it's not right away? God's timing is not our timing.

3. Abstain from ALL appearances of evil. There is a song out right now that our Preacher has referenced many times in the last few weeks. It's called Slow Fade. I think it's by Casting Crowns. You can hear it in the movie Fireproof. Basically it says that you don't fall in one day. Its a series of decisions and choices that you make. Choosing to form a relationship online with another man. Choosing to go to coffee with a man "just to talk". Choosing a job where you as a married woman are away for days at a time on business trips. Choosing to give the guy at the store your cell phone number. Choosing to compare the man your talking to, to your husband and thinking he is so much better than the man you married. I beg you to say "NO!" shout it, say it out loud. Make it known. "NO! I will not make this choice. As innocent as it may seem now! NO!" A rule my husband and I have other than to not be alone with a member of the opposite sex is to view all of our experiences with the opposite sex asking one question. "Is this something I would feel comfortable with my husband/wife doing?" Would my husband be comfortable with me having dinner with another man alone? If not then should he have dinner with another woman alone? Would I be comfortable with my wife giving marriage advice to another man? Then should I be comfortable giving marriage advice to another woman? This question has saved us from many would be sticky situations.

4. Love him. Even when you don't want to. I have become convinced in the last 8 years of marriage that love is a choice I make. It's not a feeling. When my husband makes me so mad I can't see straight I have a choice. Either I let that bitterness in and start a slow fade away from my marriage or I throw on my happy face and decide that I love him for better or for worse. This just happens to be the worse. LOL Choices, choices, choices.

5. One last thing. No, God does not want you to end your marriage because you are not happy! I am so tired of hearing, "Well, surely God is releasing me because I am so miserable!" Who cares? Can I ask again, Was Jesus happy on the cross? Was it a painful, trying time for Him? If Jesus can endure all of that suffering then who are we to balk about not being happy! God knew all about your marriage before you did. If He was going to release you from it because one day you weren't going to be happy why would he have put you in that marriage to begin with?

Love on those men. Thank God for them. Lift them up! I am hearing about more and more Christian marriages being struck down today. The enemy is attacking and hard. Be on the defensive. Guard your marriage for all it's worth. Come against the lies of the enemy. Believe in the one True God who loves you. Who created you. Who knew your name before your were thought of. Pray!!!!