Homemade Tortilla Chips for Shrimp Nachos

It's Sunday and we usually like to experiment! We have been curious about making our own tortilla chips. Being the Mexican food lovers that we are, we are always looking for how to make cleaner, lower calorie Tex-Mex. We had some tortillas, some leftover shrimp that we needed to use before it went bad and some cheese. Jacob looked up how to make your own tortilla chips, and stumbled across this recipe on Food Network. We've had really good success with their recipes before so we decided to try!

Ingredients:

• 6 inch tortillas (each tortilla makes 6 chips...we used 5 for the 2 of us and it was definitely enough)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cover baking sheet with foil. Cut your tortillas into 6ths.
2. Brush both sides of each tortilla with vegetable oil. 2 tablespoons was just about perfect for our 5 tortillas, so pour accordingly!

3. Salt your chips. Place in the oven for 5 minutes. Turn baking sheet around and cook for 3-4 more minutes.

**Watch your chips very carefully! It actually took us 2 tries to make chips because they burned to a crisp the first time (we baked them for 6 minutes + 6 minutes). The second time we were paranoid so we did 5 minutes + 3 minutes. The chips could have been a little crispier and still been good, so I'd watch carefully and leave in the oven for 5 minutes + 4 minutes. They looked like this:

To use up our shrimp, we cooked it in 2 tbsp. olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and cilantro. When our chips were finished, we sprinkled with fat free shredded cheddar cheese and 2% milk Mexican blend cheese (I used about 1/4 cup of each on my 12 chips). We then placed one of our shrimp in the middle of each cheesy chip and placed back in the oven for 2 minutes. Then we had this...

They were amazing! We ate them with guacamole and loved them! We didn't feel gross like we usually do when we eat tex-mex or nachos. We may never buy chips again! :)

Healthy Junk Food

If I had to describe this week in one phrase, it would he "healthy junk food." Jacob and I are junk food lovers at heart. Although we are MUCH healthier now than this time a year ago, we still crave pizza, chicken fingers, french fries and sweets. Our proudest cooking accomplishments are always when we find a clean and healthy way to eat our favorite junk foods.This week was a win in that area! On Sunday night, we ate Spicy Curried Chicken Fingers from Food Network's healthy section.

I know what you're probably thinking... "Curry? GROSS." But there is so little of it in this that it just adds a little spice!

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon curry
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cups panko
• 3 chicken breasts cut into 1-inch strips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray (we also put down foil first for easier cleanup)
2. Whisk eggs, mustard, curry and cumin in a shallow bowl. Place the Panko in a seperate bowl.
3. Dip the chicken strips in the egg mixture, letting the extra roll off, the coat with the Panko.
4. Place chicken on baking sheet, coating with cooking spray.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn chicken and respray with cooking spray, then bake 10 more minutes!

Mmm! It was good! Then today, Jacob and I had healthy burgers and fries. Our burgers were MorningStar Farms Spicy Black Bean Burgers, which are my absolute obsession! We eat them on whole wheat sandwich thins with mustard! Our fries were adapted from Skinny Taste's Baked Seasoned Fries. Overall we liked them, but I do have a few pointers from our experience!

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 2 medium potatoes, washed and dried
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tablepoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 tablespoon thyme
• 1/2 tablespoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1.2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with foil for easy clean up (always a plus!) Lightly coat with cooking spray.
2. Cut each potato width wise, then into about 1/4 inch slices. Place in large bowl.

3. Add oil and toss well. Then add all spices, ensuring that your fries are all coated.
4. Place in a single layer (This is VERY important) on baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp, turning once halfway through.

We kind of ended up piling our fries on the baking sheet, as our potatoes ended up making a lot of fries. So, some were crispy and some were crunchy. Making sure the fries are in a single layer is very important. They had an AWESOME flavor. Another one of our favorite fry substitutes is Smashed Potatoes. They are basically the same idea, but they take quite a bit longer to make!

Hope you enjoy binging on junk food healthily! :)

Monday Munchies: Shrimp Quesadillas with Tomato Avocado Salsa

Hello! We have been eating really well this week... lots of good recipes! Tonight was made some AWESOME low-fat quesadillas. I know what you're thinking...the thought of quesadillas isn't low fat...but these weren't bad for you and they tasted delicious! We also made our own salsa!

Our recipe was adapted from Skinnytaste with ingredients we could find at our local Super Target!

Ingredients:

Salsa

• 1 medium avocado, diced
• 3/4 regular sized can of plain, diced tomatoes
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Quesadillas

• 16 large shrimp
• cumin
• garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup fat free cheddar cheese
• 4 wheat/high fiber tortillas (we used Mission Artisan Style Corn-Wheat Tortillas... we are kind of obsessed with them)
• olive oil spray

1. For salsa... pour 3/4 can of tomatoes in bowl. Mix in diced avocado and red onion with a spoon. Then mix in lemon juice and chopped cilantro. Place aside (and try not to snack on it while you cook like I did! :))
2. Spray cooking spray in can. Season shrimp with cumin, garlic, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until cooked through (2-3 minutes). Set aside.
3. Spray more cooking spray in pan (this is imperative for the quesadilla). Place tortilla in pan. Add 1/4 cup of cheese, 8 shrimp and salsa. Cook over medium heat until cheese is melted.

   4. Place second tortilla over shrimp and goodies. To turn the quesadilla, lift off of pan with spatchula. Place plate on top of uncooked tortilla. Flip plate to bottom and slide back onto pan (I added more cooking spray...I really didnt want them to stick). Cook for 2-3 more minutes until tortilla is brown.

We used the additional salsa to dip our quesadillas in! So yummy!

Let me know if you try it/what you think! We LOVED them! :)

Caliente Low-Fat Chipotle Buttermilk Ranch

Facebook and I have a love/hate relationship. Sometimes, I feel trapped by facebook. I don't like finding out things I should hear face-to-face from there. But, sometimes I think it's fun to catch up with old friends. It was one of those good experiences that led to this revamped salad recipe.

A few weeks ago, after I posted our Lime Chicken Taco recipe, a friend from high school posted on my wall that she had tried putting the chicken on a salad and really liked it. Jacob and I thought this sounded like a good idea, so we wanted to try it.

I also thought it would be fun to try to make my own Chipotle Ranch dressing to go on the salad! So, I adapted a recipe for Low-Fat Buttermilk Ranch from Skinnytaste. I like the idea of making my own dressing because that way I know EXACTLY what's in it and strange processed ingredients don't sneak in!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup fat free sour cream
• 3/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup light mayo
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• dash of pepper
• dash of cumin
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 1-1/2 cups low fat buttermilk
• 1 chipotle chile from a can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

Directions:

1. Combine sour cream, Greek yogurt, mayo, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, salt, pepper, cumin and chile in blender. Blend for about 1 minute, until the pepper is ground and combined into the other ingredients.
2. Add buttermilk and balsamic vinegar and blend again for about 30 seconds.

I will warn you that this recipe made a ton of dressing, so I shared it with several friends. Also, it is REALLY spicy. Next time I may try only using half of the pepper. It has really good flavor and consistency, though. It went well with the salad-- the salad even made Jacob full, which is hard to do! :)

Enjoy!

Picture of Purpose

I love art. Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso...even modern art, such as Pollock, has a soft spot in my heart. My mother instilled this love in me at an early age. When I was in elementary school, my mom would take me on a mother/daughter date to whatever was on exhibit at the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth. I listened with excitement and anticipation as the docent discussed minute details, imperfections and hidings of paintings both old and new. I soaked up symbolism and color like a sponge. We also were fortunate enough to have art docents at our school. One of my favorite works, and one that was most fascinating to me, was "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges-Pierre Seurat. Seurat employs a technique called pointillism, where he painted millions upon billions of tiny dots of very distinct and contrasted colors. The human eye miraculously blends these hundreds of colors together to form a single hue of distinctive color. Each dot was meticulously placed, each color carefully chosen  for a purpose: to blend and manufacture a masterpiece.

Purpose is an interesting concept. To me, it answers the question "why?" it is the reason you're running down the road of life that you've chosen or been placed on. The dictionary defines purpose as "1. the reason for which something exists or is done/made 2. An intended or desired result or aim 3. determination; resoluteness." The bible has many things to say about purpose. I love the way Paul describes it in Ephesians 1:3-10:

Spiritual Blessings in Christ
³  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵  he predestined us^[a] for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹  making known^[b] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

God's ultimate purpose is salvation, as Christ came to save us all. (Romans 3:23 ESV, Romans 11:32 ESV)

Specifically, too, Christ has given each believer unique gifts to "be His hands and His feet." As Paul writes in Romans 12:4-8:

⁴ For as in one body we have many members,^[a] and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,^[b] with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Verses 5b-6 have really been on my heart recently. The Holy Spirit has been relentlessly revealing to me the importance of us using what's been gifted to us, as the "body" both literally and spiritually speaking, cannot functions properly without each part doing what it's been created to do.

I've been focusing on ways to wrap my human mind around a God-sized purpose. The best way God has shown me is by thinking of life as "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." We are each one dot. One minuscule yet undeniably and incredibly important part of this enormous painting was can't yet fully see (1 Corinthians 13:12). Sure, we see those dots around us- we know their colors, if they're changing, what they're doing, but only the Master, the Designer, the omniscient Artist can see, and create, the masterpiece. Each of us dots has a purpose- to be the color He painted us, the color He created us to be. Whether it's red, yellow, green, magenta, cerulean, a color similar or different to those around us, in being this color, we fulfill our place, our purpose, in the Master's Masterpiece. Sure, sometimes we tint ourselves another color, we see others and turn into their color, a color we were never intended to be, but our Master painter is faithful and good to repaint us back to the color we intended. He is the Perfect Painter, which we also were never intended to be. We must surrender our control to Him, as He is flawless and faithful to paint us in the way we were intended. We must continue to have faith when it becomes difficult to not change color, trusting that He can see the whole picture and that, one day, we will see it, too.

I'm thankful to be part of the masterpiece. I pray that I fulfill my purpose in His masterpiece instead of trying to fit Him into my own.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust!!!

After being traumatized by cauliflower as children (thanks, Yvonne and Cynthia for trying to teach us to be healthy! :)), Jacob and I bought our first head of cauliflower as adults to try a new culinary quest this week-- Cauliflower Pizza Crust!

Jacob (and I) loves pizza. I try to avoid flour. This seemed like a good compromise to me! As I mentioned last night, Jacob made me promise that we would order regular pizza if this wasn't good! I had been excited all day, and finally late this afternoon I embarked on the Cauliflower Crust journey.

Our crust was found on pinterest and taken from Recipe Girl. I liked it because it had cheese in it, and I knew a cheesy crust was more likely to get Jacob to eat it! :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Large head cauliflower (which makes about 2 cups of shredded cauliflower)
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon onion salt (or onion powder + salt if you're me and realized in the process of all of this that you didn't actually have onion salt :))

1. Shred the cauliflower into small crumbles. We used a cheese grater. I grated half of it and my hand got tired to Jacob took over. On Recipe Girl, she says you can use a food processor, but we don't currently have one of those. This took about 15 minutes, but wasn't too bad! Again, you'll need about 2 cups of cauliflower crumbles. It took us about 1/2 of our head of cauliflower. Transfer the crumbles to a bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. Then let cool.

2.   Preheat the oven to 450. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray-- this is very important or the middle of the crust will stick!
3.  In a medium bowl, combine the microwaved cauliflower crumbles with mozzarella, egg, oregano, garlic and onion salt. Mix well-- we just used a spoon and they mixed really easily.
4.  Pat the crust onto your pizza pan or cookie sheet. We made ours fairly thin. Spray the top lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Ours only took 10 but I've had friends who had a hard time getting the middle cooked through!

5. After your crust is cooked, you can add any toppings like a regular pizza. We used pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella! Then we baked the pizza (still at 450) for 4 more minutes (since the crust was just out of the oven it didn't take much longer).

We let the pizza cool, then cut it and ate it. The crust was soft, so we needed a knife and fork to eat it. It was pretty good! We gave it about 3 out of 5 stars! Jacob liked it so we did not have to order another dinner!

We also made a pro/con list about the crust:
PRO:

• It saved a lot of calories-- at about 84 calories for 1/6 of crust, it cuts your crust calories in half!
• It didn't taste like cauliflower-- we don't like that taste, so this was good for us
• The pizza cooked SUPER fast because the crust was already hot. Total cook time for us for the crust and our pizza was 14 minutes!

CON:

• It took a little while to make-- about an hour from grating cauliflower to eating. We spend a little more time cooking in the summer, but during the school year I'm only in for 30 minute or less meals!
• The texture was soft- I think I had envisioned a crunchy crust and I think that might have tasted better. We are looking for a crispy alternative.
• We don't think it would have reheated well-- it just seemed like it would have been a soggy, cheesy mess! We didn't have a lot left over but we just threw it away.

Overall, it was definitely a success! I will keep you all updated on our continued quest to improve the Cauliflower Crust! Hope you enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken (shockingly not from pinterest)

Hello friends! This week has been busy for us with birthdays/family meals, time with friends and a wedding! So, we are only able to cook 2 meals at home this week. Tonight we cooked Sweet and Sour Chicken from Food Network. We are always on the hunt for healthier asian food recipes, as it is one of Jacob's favorite type of foods. This was our first food network recipe, but we will definitely be trying more! Jacob thinks it's better than Pei Wei...it involves quite a few obscure ingredients, but it tastes wonderful!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (the website calls for reduced sodium... we had an unfortunate homemade fried rice experience with reduced sodium soy sauce so we use the regular kind :))
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 4 teaspoons oil (the recipe calls for peanut oil...super targets in plano/the colony don't carry it...so we use oilve oil and add peanuts)
• 2-4 chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• mixed bell peppers cut into 1-inch strips (the first time we made this we cut them up, this time we used frozen)
• brown rice (we still love Uncle Ben's Ready Rice)
• chopped peanuts (to make your oil peanutty and for garnish)

1. In a small bowl, mix honey, chili-garlic cause, vinegar, soy sauce, orange juice and corn starch. Set aside for later.
2. Coat the chicken with 2 teaspoons of oil and heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook for about 2 mintues. The high heat will help to brown it and make it look more like sweet and sour chicken since it isn't fried :) Transfer partially cooked chicken to a plate and reserve the pan.
3. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the pan. Add in peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are crisp tender.This is usually when we add some peanuts
4. Stir in the reserved chicken. Whisk the sauce and add it to the pan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cauce is thickened and the chicken is tender.
5. Serve over rick and sprinkle with peanuts if desired.

Tomorrow we are trying the much anticipated cauliflower pizza crust. I had a friend try it earlier this week and she gave me a few tips. I also had to promise that we could order pizza if it wasn't good. SO if just a picture of Papa John's or Pizza Hut is posted, y'all will all know what happened! :)

I'm thankful to serve an omnipotent God. I'm thankful to serve a God full of love and grace, a God full of justice and conviction- a God who loves us too much to let us wallow in lives of sin. A God who isn't afraid and knows it isn't right to not let us know when our lives are out of sync with him. A God who isn't afraid to to yell "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY" or physically move us to where He wants us so He can work and be glorified. I especially love it when His perfect timing is so that only He, and not us, can receive the glory for his blessings.

We experienced just that this past week. Jacob and I went on the ultimate road trip (see previous post for details on that! :)). We had talked and planned for months, while still leaving enough room for spontaneity, as any road trip should have! We were even so excited that we left a night early. We though this was all us being spontaneous, but God had a bigger plan.

In January, God really put it on our hearts to serve. We had both served in the church and in our respective Bible Study classes before we were married, and suddenly not serving just didn't feel right. I felt as if I was taking and not giving, eating and not exercising, stealing without paying. I also had my fair share of moments where I tried to take God's job into my own hands and find places. God so kindly and gently closed doors, whispering to me, "Wait on Me, my child."

On our drive (which wouldn't have been "on the drive" if we had left when WE planned), Jacob received an email. God was dropping the perfect opportunity into our laps-- delivering it to our doorstep at His perfect time. As we though through, talked through and most importantly prayed through the opportunity, we saw how God had been preparing our hearts for this very time since before we were dating. We were overwhelmed by His sovereignty and grateful for an opportunity for Him to be glorified through us. We were in awe.

But, God wasn't done yet. That's one of the most astounding things about God-- While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and while we deserve nothing, His blessings never seem to run dry. His plans for HIS glory are bigger and better than we could ever begin to fathom. When our plan is a small hole we dig with our hands, God's plan is the Grand  Canyon.

We had also been looking for somewhere to live, as our lease at our current apartment is almost up. Although it wasn't something we had been good about in the past, we brought that request to God and asked that He provide a place of us to live. We knew of a house that was up for lease, but after talking with the owners, we didn't think it was going to work out. We continued praying that God would provide a place for us to live. On the way home from Vegas, God delivered the house that we had written off and didn't think could work. Again, God proved Himself and provided in a way that He would be so magnificently glorified. We know it is exactly where God wants us and are excited to see how He can use us in our new home!

I think that's the most wonderful and overwhelming part about God's plans- He is glorified despite us. Humans sin, we mess up, we are not dependable. But God and His purposes are sovereign. He reigns and redeems even our mistakes so that He is always glorified, so His character is always proven and true. I'm so thankful to serve a God like that.

Vegas Vacation

Jacob and I were blessed to go on a really fun ROADTRIP last week to LAS VEGAS! We had planned to leave on Saturday to drive to the Grand Canyon and spend the night, spend Sunday morning at the Grand Canyon and get into Vegas that day, stay until Friday morning and take Friday/Saturday to drive back to Dallas. We got really excited at 6 on Friday night and decided to start our jouney early! We packed and were on the roady by 6:30! We drove off into the sunset for our vacation!

We got up bright and early to drive to Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon, where neither of us had been before!

We got to Vegas on Sunday night and just explored our hotel and the strip.

On Monday we layed out at the pool and saw Murray, Celebrity Magician at the Tropicana. We were on the 1st row, like 3 feet from the magic! We could see some of his secrets, but we are still talking about where some of the items disappeared to!

On Tuesday we saw Spiderman and ate Burgers and Barbeque at Excaliber! Our feet were tired of walking so we needed a rest!

On Wednesday, we learned how to play Craps, ate at the Monte Carlo buffet for the second time and saw Cirque de Soleil's Ka. This was probably our favorite day, so it gets 2 pictures.

 Below is the stage for "ka."

On Thursday we went to Old Downtown Vegas for the Freemont Street Experience.

Then we drove for a really, Really, REALLY long time back to Texas!

We had a great time getting away and making lots of memories! Hooray for our first married vacation and roadtrip!

Smashing Smashed Potatoes

After our Vegas Vacation last week (look for that in our next post), we are trying to eat healthier! We revisited a recipe for smashed potatoes. They satisfy my craving for french fries but are much healthier because they are baked.

Our recipe is adapted from Caramel Potatoes recipe! It's not super exact but it's never turned out poorly! :)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs (or desired amount) of small red potatoes- we usually buy the bag and if they are too big I cut them in half or quarters
• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• garlic powder
• rosemary
• salt & pepper

1. Scrub the potatoes (and cut them if necessary) and lay on a foil lined baking tray. Add 3/4 cup of water to the potatoes and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at 500 degrees.
2. When the potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool- I usually let them cool for about 30 minutes because they are really hot!
3. Toss the potatoes in a medium bowl with 3 tablespoons of olive oil until completely coated. Lay the potatoes back on the lined baking sheet.
4. Take a cup and "smash" the potatoes until they are about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. This is harder than it looks-- Jacob always has to do this job!
5. Drizzle the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil on the potatoes. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, garlic powder and rosemary.
6. Place your potatoes back in your 500 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until crispy brown. They are kind of caramelized when you take them out and they are DELICIOUS!

Enjoy! :)

An Old Favorite Recipe: Lime Chicken Tacos

One of our summer goals was to explore recipes that did not use our favorite appliance- the slow cooker. This week, I'm bust working all day at a camp through my school district. So, we decided to bust out an old favorite in our slow cooker. These Lime Chicken Tacos were the first thing we cooked together after we got married (or, let's be honest, ever), and they are still our very favorite dish. They are adapted from pinterest and from a recipe from Taste of Home. We have added our own little twists to it, though.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 cup black bean and corn salsa (we really like the Market Pantry kind. I could probably eat my weight in it)
• tortillas (I like corn, Jacob likes flour)
• shredded cheese and guacamole to top

1. Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Combine lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is tender.
2. Shred chicken in slow cooker. Add salsa.
3. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve on tortillas with desired garnishes.

We hope that you enjoy as much as we have! :)

Favorite Recipe of the Week!

As we are cooking at home more (and branching out from our beloved slow cooker) this summer, we have decided to post our favorite recipe each week!

This week, our favorite recipe as been Kung Pao chicken! Mmm!

We adapted a recipe from blogchef.net that we found on pinterest. Here is the recipe:

• 2 chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch by 1 inch squares)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped onions
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts (we added some extra to the top because we are addicted and obsessed with peanuts)

1. Combine chicken and cornstarch in a small bowl and toss to coat. Heat sesame oil in large pan over medium heat. Add chicken and stir-fry for 8-10 minutes or until cooked. Remove and set aside.
2. Add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes and powdered ginger to the pan and stir fry for 15 seconds. I also had to add a little more sesame oil because my pan was pretty dry at this point! :)
3. Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Mix wekk and add sauce to the pan.
4. Return chicken to the pan and coat with sauce. Stir in roasted peanuts and let simmer for 2-3 minutes to make sure chicken in coated. The recipe said to top with green onions We chose to top with peanuts!

We also ate ours with Uncle Ben's Ready Rice- Jasmine. We are really obsessed with these rice pouches since we live in an apartment and have a small stove that makes it difficult to have more than 2 pans going. The rice is also perfect and quick. This one is a little higher in calories than we like (it has 250 calories per cup), but we really like the sweet flavor when we make Asian dishes.

This little experiment went really well! The chicken had good flavor with a little kick to it, so it paired well with the sweeter rice! Hope you enjoy! :)

Always Enough

Plenty. Adequate. Sufficient. Enough.

We live in a society where enough is a seldom used term. We always desire something extra, something more. Just one more Kate Spade purse. Just that other pair of Toms (especially since my first pair is so comfortable). Just one extra shot of espresso in my latte, because what is 50 more cents in my already $5 latte. What's a few extra dollars or cents, calories or sugar. Society pushes, and we continue to plead for more.

But, what about when this craving of "more, this never being enough implodes not only from our wallets and debit cards, but also into us, our schedules, activities, plans, desires and dreams. Just one more work out class. One more club to help with after work. One more way to make and save a little extra money to buy a house. Even one more Bible study or place to serve. Even when good things continue to beg for "more" it can leave you exhausted, burned out and, unfortunately, complacent about the things, people and relationships that matter most.

I am terrible at saying no. I first started to struggle with this about a year and a half ago. I realized one days how many glasses of water I felt like I strategically balanced on a tray...I was a girlfriend, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a mentee, a table group leader, a bible study leader, a Sunday School member, and a speech pathologist by day. As each of these roles began to demand more and more of me, I felt as if my well held up glasses of water were out of room on my tray...they felt as if they were overflowing and were about to drown me. I felt as if I was a tiny speck of a person standing helplessly on a beach, looking up in fear as a towering tidal wave encased me. I was fighting to keep my head above water. What can we4 do-- what options do we have when we literally cannot be enough.

After weeks of coping any and every way I could conjure up- with lethargy and apathy, exhaustion and giving all I had to every activity I partook in, something, or Someone intervened- the only one who is more than enough for all of us. The Holy Spirit brought to my heart a conviction-- that all of my time, my schedule, my commitments were God's. Just like all of our money is God's in the first place, so he is the only one fit to have control of it, all of our time is also God's, and he desires to reign over our planners, Outlook calendars and iPhones, too. Christ is enough for all of us. He took all of those fragile and full glasses of water, all of those responsibilities and roles. Now, I know that as I trust more fully in Him and know that He is all I need, that I am enough, as long as I give him control and rely fully on His strength. As God and His purposes for me govern my time, my energy, my roles. I know that I have- and am plenty. As He was and is enough to cover and redeem my sins, He is also enough as I relinquish control of the reigns of my life to Him.

Thankful to serve a God who gladly yearns to control and comfort, despite my attempts to be enough.

Why

Hi! I'm Kristin and the guy in the picture next to me is my husband, Jacob. We got married on October 1, 2011. Outside of the day we both asked Jesus Christ to be our personal savior, it was the happiest day of our lives! We've been wanting to start a blog for a while now (particularly me:)) but have been putting it off! I wanted to write a short post as to why I want to start blogging again.

1. We want to share what we are doing with our friends and family around us. Since it's summer and I'm off of work, we are going to try a lot of experimental recipes and we want to tell some of our culinary tales on here. We also just want to update on what is going on with us or share funny stories (because there are a lot!:))

2. I've felt led for a long time to share what Christ is doing in my life and teaching me via blog. I used to blog when I was in college/grad school (kdup26.blogspot.com), but fell away from it as the busyness of life after college/newly wed life kicked in. I feel as if writing is a hobby that God has really blessed me with. I enjoy visualizing Christ's teachings like a series of paintings in my head and then writing how He's teaching me down. If I could do anything else in the world besides be a speech pathologist, I'd be a writer. Very few things make me feel more alive and as if I am fulfilling God's purpose for me than writing.

Right now, God's teaching me a lot about trust. He's strengthing my faith through times of doubt, both in myself and at times in Him. He's teaching me about how good He really is...how full of light and my immense need for that in a body and world filled with darkness. He's also teaching me about purpose. I feel that God has blessed me with spiritual gifts of encouragement, joy and love. I feel as if I oozed one of those three things as a high school student and college student. God allowed those gifts to flow easily wtih me. As life has changed, like a river who's path has been interrupted, those have been things that I've had to strive more for. Through that struggle, God has been showing me how much I rely and need Him in my heart and mind always.

My goal is to post 2 times a week. So we will see how that goes! :) Thanks for reading!