Cookbook: Roasted Potato Salad Dinner

This fun dish is really customizable, if you like something a little different, by all means, change it, but let me know what it ended up being:)

Prep Time: about 10 minutes
Cook Time: about 30 minutes

Ingredients:
6 small potatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pressed (alternately you can finely chop them)
6 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup frozen corn
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
salt, pepper, chili powder to taste

*Notes: Chop potatoes and zucchini in to roughly the same size piece for even cooking
You can also combine potatoes, zucchini, spices and half the oil, leaving to marinate.

Instructions:

1. Head olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add potatoes, zucchini, basil, lemon juice and spices; cover, simmering for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through. Stir as needed to avoid burning.
4. With 15 minutes remaining, add corn and stir.
5. With 5 minutes remaining, add chickpeas and stir.
6. Remove from heat when potatoes are cooked, stir and plate. 

I'll be playing with this a bit more, adding more veggies :) Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts
6 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		318.5
Total Fat		10.2 g
	Saturated Fat	1.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.3 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	6.9 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		285.6 mg
Potassium		996.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		50.8 g
	Dietary Fiber	8.2 g
	Sugars	2.3 g
Protein		7.9 g

Vitamin A	16.1 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	48.1 %
Vitamin C	69.8 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	6.1 %
Calcium	5.7 %
Copper	18.6 %
Folate	22.6 %
Iron	15.3 %
Magnesium	18.6 %
Manganese	43.3 %
Niacin	10.9 %
Pantothenic Acid	8.1 %
Phosphorus	19.2 %
Riboflavin	6.4 %
Selenium	4.3 %
Thiamin	12.3 %
Zinc	9.8 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

I use SparkRecipes to calculate the nutritional information.  

And everything changes...again

Things will always inevitably change. It's the one constant of life right?

I'm sitting at a StarBucks writing this as I try to get the curriculum out to my teachers...late.

I've left Yager Realty. Although it was a big and hard choice, after Brian and I prayed about it and talked about it, we came to the realization that this was the time for me to explore the things that I've been meaning to do. I'm going to be moving toward a certification in Christian Education Ministry. Brian is still at Yager Realty and he's also taken on some extra hours at Crazy Squirrel.

It's been a big change. I took the first week to clean the apartment and organize things that I had not had the time to do before. I've also had some time to get ministry stuff done for church, which has been nice, but that too has changed. Two amazing guys have stepped down from their positions at the church leaving some big holes for the team. We've had some meetings and it feels like we're all starting to move in the same direction, which is amazing.

God has big plans and I do not assume that I know them. I just know I feel His hand in all this and feel like there are big things coming :)

So, now I'm moving toward making more consistent habits. I'm not trying to make plans or lists anymore. I know my weaknesses ;) So...here's to hoping you read here a little more often...if you do read ;)

Coming up: A little more about what's going on with the Kid's ministry at church. We're making a lot of great program changes and really looking toward what will help the kids. It's a smaller version of what the church as a whole does. Also, more pictures and recipes coming your way. One will be right after this. It's a vegan meal. I'll be doing a virtual cookbook here to keep everything for when I print and do my actual cookbook binder :)

We'll talk more and more about things like gardening tips. I've got a few great pictures of my plants and I've started my compost container, so I'll put a tutorial up for that :)

You'll also start seeing more crafty stuff. Follow me on Pinterest to see the pictures there as well. :) 

Here we go!

Back in the saddle!

Alright! So, it's now February and the last post was January 11th (I checked :( ) It's a little bit of crazy realizing how often I don't get around to the important things.

Here we are, getting ready to start some new things. I'm going to ask for prayer in this blog. For those of you that read this and do not know me (which is probably most of my reading audience), we're going through an extreme time of change in our lives right now. Brian and I need the direction and loving guidance of our Father and we are asking our friends and family (and you that don't know us personally) to pray. We have some inklings as to what God wants for us, but we can't really be sure. :)

Also, I've got a list of blogs that I own you all on top of the Daily Dose that I need to get back on track with. That will start today after this post. Bear with me while I do all this :) I appreciate your reading my words and understand that this is a connection, a relationship between us :)

In our ladies group we have finished the one year (ok, for us it was more like year and a half) reading through the entire Bible. It was illuminating and such a complete blessing for me. The woman that I shared that journey with are amazing individuals and wonderful loving Sisters :) We're starting the Beth Moore study The Patriarchs. Just the intro video was amazing and gave me chills. Her passion for the women she's reaching is SO apparent. I'm looking forward to sharing this with the women I see on Tuesdays. Sisterhood is being built and women are being touched. LOVE IT!

So, back to it again. Thanks for sticking by. Enjoy the ride!

Wordless Wednesday - Life Always Changes

Learning To Trust Again - Micca Monda Campbell

God seems to talk to me at my worst. In the past two days I've been angry, hurt and felt burnt down. Never a good feeling. I didn't look at God and ask, "why me?" the way I normally would. Instead, I stewed in it. I ignored it. I even took it out on friends and B. It's been...bad. God brings me back to Him, reminding me of the character He's building in me, the fires I HAVE to go through. If I ask for Him to change me, don't I have to go through the things that will make that change happen?

Today the devotion centers around Mary, Martha and Lazarus and the following scripture:

“Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’” John 11:40

I see myself in the words that Micca uses about her own feelings of loss and hurt. Again, I didn't look at God and say, " I knew it!" I just kind of...threw a fit. Oh, I know what a fit looks like. If you work with the 3 to 5 year olds long enough, you get to see the masters of fit throwing. Now, they know better...but they still do it. They have enough independence to make up their mind, enough selfishness to think it'll work and enough indignation to make it good. I don't say these things in a mean way. It's just the way little kids are, they're still learning about those things. (Ok, we are all still learning).

I sat in my comfy chair, crossed my arms and huffed and puffed. Of course, the house didn't fall down and the issue was still there. I lashed out a bit and kicked and screamed (emotionally that is) Then I remembered the love of my Father. You know, that God that is all loving and does all things out of love and for our good? Yeah. So, I take my unhappy and sit with it and look at it. What am I really mad about? What do I need to do to be unmad? And what is God refining out of me? *grumble grumble grumble*

If I just believe, if I turn these things over to Him, I will see the glory of God. Just like Mary and Martha were hurt, they were down right angry with Jesus. He said He loved them and didn't come right away when He got word that Lazarus was sick! Oh, can you imagine the womanly seething that happened? But, then He shows up and raises Lazarus...showing the glory of God and doing it all with a loving and gentle hand. I would have felt really dumb at all my anger at that point. "oh...you had a plan! This was all for a good reason...well shoot." Yeah, this control freak would have walked away with her tail between her legs for sure!

God pulls us into His arms and does not let go while we walk through the valleys of life. He's there at the top of the mountain and walking through the muck in the valley. The events that made me mad, they're just one more of those times that I need to lean on my understanding that God is doing something. I don't need to or GET to know what.

Abba, thanks for loving me. Help me to lean on you and trust that what you're doing is what needs to be done, even if I don't really get what's happening. Amen.

What fires have you walked through lately ? :)

Mean Girls - Lynn Cowell

Of course, reading the title of this devotion I just had to laugh. All I could think of was the movie a certain actress was in and all the scenes of teenagers behaving like jungle animals. Yeah, I giggled.

Let's tuck in though and explore. k?

“But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Colossians 3:8

So, Lynn talks about how she was caught showing a spirit of judgement and how her teenage daughter called her out. Think back to the times you may have said something, off hand, that you didn't think was all that bad, but that would have made the person you said it about, uncomfortable.

I know I've done this. Looked at another woman and taken stock of her...from my own judgement. I make this judgement because it's what I've done with my friends, it's what I've been conditioned to think is ok to do. Why do we teach our children to judge? Why do we show them that it's ok to make nasty comments? Working with the little kids, we have rules about loving each other, every action that is not loving garners a warning and then a time out if it continues. One of the things that they're not allowed to do because it is not loving is make fun of other kids. It's behavior modification, fine, but it's also teaching them that they can not judge people by what they look like, wear or say. That's not loving and that's not what God wants from us.

So why do I do it as an adult? It looks like I need that reminder more often that it's not something I need to be doing. I do catch myself slipping sometimes. I've heard B tell me more than once to stop. How did we get to a point that it just became part of us? There's a very interesting woman that has a couple videos on TED.com. She's an activist for many causes, though I don't think our political values coincide, I know that much of what she says is so true about the way society has become. Morally, we're looking in the same direction. She has a video about how we have taken away our "girl cell" (as she called it), it's compassion, love, emotions and empathy (among other things) Being a man, boy or woman means NOT being a girl. The tender heart and almost naive love for everyone. We've been taught to be strong and not show our emotions, to judge people that do.

How do we change this? We start by giving those judgmental ways to God. We lay them at the cross and ask him to change us, not other people. Us. We allow ourselves to feel our emotions and the love we innately have for other human beings...even if that means we hurt more.

Abba, I'm so sorry for taking the mind you gave me and altering what you would have me be to fit into what the world says I should be. Help me to love without bounds, to accept without conditions. To see people, the way you see them. Amen.

Been a little hard on yourself?

My Squirrel Family

So, I mentioned this a little while ago and started to write and then didn't publish it and then started to write and then ended up writing a different post...maybe I'll get there this time.

The first thing you should know is that I am NOT talking about the little (or big) fuzzballs that live in the trees outside and go completely crazy to find nuts they can't remember where they buried. (Though some of my little family is relatively close to that explanation.)

B and I play a card game called Magic: The Gathering. Yes, we've been over this, I'm a nerd. I'll give you a moment to Google and then realize how MUCH of a nerd. Go ahead. I'll wait.

..........

Better? Moving on. Without getting too in to details that you may or may not now know, this game holds weekly tournaments on Friday nights. There are also some higher level events (we'll move on). Generally you find a store that has space and hosts the Friday night tournament. Most people that play these games have crazy store loyalty. You find a store, you like and you go there, and that's generally it. You may go to a regional qualifier at a different store, but you game at your store.

In 2010, around September, we found a little store in Clovis that hosted events and Friday Night Magic. Sweet deal! You may remember that we had a few things happen and that we ended up getting super busy, went to go by the store in Mayish...it was closed. Bummer!

Enter Auguts 2011, we run in to a guy that we played with at the now closed store. He's gaming at a store called Crazy Squirrel. No joke, that's the name of the store. I did ask him to repeat what he said and heard him right the first time. Crazy Squirrel Game Store. They sell anything that you could imagine, as long as it does not have a cord. :) All table top games. Board games of all kinds, card games, dice and chip games. Anything that you could play on a table. It's amazing. So many games I didn't even know existed, but are entirely too many hours of fun. I digress.

So, we start going to this store. The first people we meet and talk to are probably Jen and Scott (the owners) and Isaac. He's loud and talks a lot, however, he has a giant heart and hates conflict. You can imagine that we hit it off pretty well. We also ran in to Julian, whom we met at the other store, he was still playing the same kind of deck and was just as sweet and kind of timid as he had been before. We enveloped Frank (who is now our roommate) and Matt, loud and crazy and all over the place, and we wouldn't have him any other way. He's passionate about EVERYTHING he does. We also have Trisha and Morgan, they started playing again right about when we started going to the store. Remi, Isaac's cousin and Julian's girlfriend of a couple months now, also came in to our little circle of friends. A few more weeks and we also got Jocelyn and Zac, she is a lot like me and he is a lot like B. It's kind of crazy. He didn't talk much, he's starting to talk more :) Aaron came along a little after them. He's a lot like Morgan, it's kind of scary.

So, after a few weeks of going every Friday for the tournament and staying later than we should have playing OUTSIDE the store after it closed, we decided to start going to Denny's...tables and chairs and food (those are like the three nerd requirements). Denny's gets expensive though, so we started inviting people over to the apartment. Now, just about every weekend, we have our friends all in one place.

This is my Squirrel family and I love them. It's been weird not having them all in one place because of the holidays. I miss having them around all as a group. We plan events together (like our Secret Squirrel for Christmas :) And going to higher level events for the game we all play) I'm blessed to have them all in my life and to have found another family of friends.

There you have it...I should go in to more detail, but maybe you'll meet them in later blog posts. :)