Indian Tomato Curry with Chick Peas and Potatoes
Last Friday was the 3rd night of our Daniel diet…we had been enjoying a few days of eating whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, fruits, vegetables and lots of water! On the first night we had mediterranean food, the second night we had veggie burgers, roasted vegetables and potato wedges, but my favorite was the Indian food night. Bekah found some fantastic vegetarian recipes online to try. She was busy sorting and unpacking so I took the recipes she found and adapted them for our delicious Indian food dinner. We tried a Crock Pot dish called Bombay Potatoes meet Chickpea Tomato Curry and a Pan-Tossed Vegetable dish with South Indian flavors.
Here is our version of Indian Tomato Curry with Chick Peas and Potatoes:
Ingredients
3 (15 oz) cans of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained (we used fresh garbanzo beans that we soaked and cooked in our Crock Pot the day before)
7-8 large Yukon Gold potatoes, skins on, washed and diced (10 cups at least)
3 (15 oz) cans petite-cut diced tomatoes, undrained
2 ½ cups tomato or V-8 juice
1 ½ Tablespoons olive oil
2-3 large onions chopped (at least 3 cups)
6 cloves garlic smashed or minced
1-2 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2-3 Tablespoons curry powder
1-2 Tablespoons chili powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoons sea salt
In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, add all ingredients and stir until well mixed. Cook on low for 10 hours. Stir every few hours. (You can add 2 cups of cooked chicken an hour before your cooking time ends if you want an alternative to a vegetarian meal). Since we were trying the Daniel diet we serve our meal with brown rice and the pan-tossed …
Easy Chicken Parmesan Casserole With Homemade Sauce
I found a great dinner recipe this week on Pinterest (of course) from the blog, “Thriving Home.” It was so simple I had to try it!
You can find the original recipe here.
Easy Chicken Parmesan Casserole with Homemade Sauce
Ingredients for Chicken Parmesan Casserole:
- about 4 cups of diced, cooked chicken
- 1 serving of Growing Weisser “Pizza Sauce with Pizzaz“
- 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- about 1 cup panko or whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- fresh, chopped herbs (parsley, basil, oregano, etc) or 1 tsp each dried herbs
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease an 8×8 casserole dish with cooking spray.
3. Layer the chicken in the bottom. Dump in the pizza sauce and mix with the chicken. Next, top with cheese until all the chicken is covered.
4. In a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, olive oil, herbs and a dash of salt and pepper together.
5. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden on top and bubbling on the sides.
7. Serve on top of your favorite pasta or rice.
The sauce will need to cook for 1 hour, so be sure to allow for that time in your planning and preparing. This sauce can be made ahead of time and stored for up to 1-2 weeks in a mason jar in the refrigerator.
Both the sauce and the casserole were so easy to make I will definitely be making this again. I ate my serving on a bed of spinach and the rest of the family ate theirs with pasta. I would also try this with noddles made from zucchini.
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Organize your Brain
Do you sometimes feel like this??? Our brains are flooded with thoughts, ideas, emotions, stress, tasks, details, and responsibilities. Most of the time we feel like we are on overload. Brain overload is a real thing. And I think I suffer from this disease. I am realizing I need to figure out how to energize my brains to help it function, but also how to relax my brain. If my brain is constantly firing on all cylinders, trying to do five million things at once, I will not be able to function at maximum capacity. And I cannot continue to try to live this way. So here are some tips I have been thinking through and trying to incorporate into my own life.
How to keep your brain at full productivity:
1. Find some time to let your brain rest
2. Find ways you like to recharge (Read, listen to music, pray, exercise, spend time with people)
3. De-clutter your life
4. Turn off your phone
5. Pay attention to when you are able to be most productive
6. Find your routines.
7. Record things so you remember them. Record what works for you. What doesn’t work for you. Record the process of how you got from here to there.
8. Focus on blessings. Think about what you are thankful for.
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Establishing Family When Your Family Is Not Around
My husband and I arrived back in the states a few days ago after living in the Caribbean for two years. Although we are glad to be back and excited for the next step in this medical school journey, there are also a lot of things we will miss about our life in Grenada- the beaches, the warmth, the beauty…but most of all we will miss our Grenadian family! When you live on a small island where most of the people you interact with are in the same life experience as you, you are bound to make friends. But, we were blessed with so much more than just friendship! Our core group of friends really became our family! We celebrated holidays together, we were in Bible studies and book groups together, we laughed with one another, and we cried! We encouraged one another on our “I hate Grenada” days and we prayed for each other! These friendships were definitely evidence in my life of God’s abundant faithfulness! It still has not fully sunk in that our little family will no longer be on the island together, but I am excited to see where we end up meeting up next! Because when we all left Grenada, I said my “See you later”s, not “Goodbye”s!
If you are in a time of your life of many unknowns or you have just moved to a new place or you are just feeling lonely, keep your eyes open to the friendships God is giving you! See God working in your life through the encouragement of friendships and be a light in those friends’ lives, as well! And, always remember to be the kind of friend to others that you would want to have in your life!
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The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day…Week…Month…Year…
It doesn’t really matter the circumstances or the specifics…I am sure we have all had what seems to be the MOST terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day…week…month…year…or season in our life. We most likely felt like we were the only one undergoing such difficulties. It is so hard to keep a positive perspective during a horrible situation, especially when things seem to go from bad to worse. It is even harder to remember that trials are allowed by God in our life to refine our character. So how are we to respond in the midst of a really terrible day filled with frustration, anger, disappointment, hurt, fear…..the list of things that make up a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” is endless.
It is hard to keep our cool and be kind when we have been unjustly wronged and inconvenienced. It is almost impossible to see the bright side when we are terribly disappointed in someone or when something doesn’t go as we planned. Harder still is knowing how to respond to the news of the death of a friend or relative. And when those situations produce a season of hurt, disappointment and pain that seems to last forever, we find it nearly impossible to cope at times.
I have been in a season of polar opposite emotions…from mountain top experiences of EXCITEMENT in our growing family, to deep loss and SADNESS. I have experienced the loss of two dear friends in the past few weeks right on the heals of loosing my dad and my favorite uncle. Yet during this same season, I have been blessed with two new sons-in-law and many beautiful grandchildren. All around me friends are experiencing both of these types of joys and sorrows and yet we are finding ways to carry on. …
Read MoreSweet Success
This past weekend we moved Ellie into her new bed: A big girl toddler bed. We were nervous about the transition since Ellie is such a great sleeper. Nevertheless, we have a new baby on the way in October and only two cribs. It was always the plan to eventually put Ellie and Hanna in the same room, we have just been putting it off.
The transition has been really smooth so far and I thought it would be fun to share what we did. I don’t think of this as advice, just sharing a fun success in our house.
We had a nice time rearranging the room as the girls made a mess of things around us. They of course thought it was quite fun to throw all the books on the ground and sit on them. Once we found the right set up, we introduced Ellie to her new bed. It immediately became the new “trampoline!” I tried not to make too big a deal of it and instead focused on teaching Hanna how to get off the bed safely. She picked it right up and has been doing great.
At bedtime, I wanted things to be as normal as possible. We stuck to our routine until it was time to talk about the bed…
Do you ever have those rare parenting moments when you actually come up with a good idea? Well, today just happened to be my day. We had gone to a birthday party earlier and Ellie was talking all day about presents. I thought this would come in handy to put a small reward system in place for Ellie’s new bed. I decided to tell Ellie that each time she slept in her bed and stayed in bed until I got her she would …
Read MoreGround Turkey Sloppy Joes
I love ground turkey… but some people think it gets boring. So I have been challenging myself to find new recipes and try them out to switch it up and spice it up! Here’s one I actually really liked.
Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1½ cups)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup spinach finely chopped
- 1 cup chopped bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)
- 1 (20-ounce) container lean ground turkey (93/7) (such as Jennie-O)
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted crusted tomatoes
- 1 large zucchini, grated
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar works
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flake
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Topping
- 1 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
- 8 whole wheat hamburger buns, split
- BBQ sauce if needed
- In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil on medium high heat.
- Add in onion, spinach, peppers, and garlic. Saute until onion is just softened, about 4 minutes.
- Crumble in turkey. Cook until ground turkey turns light brown
- Add tomato paste and stir around. Make sure it spreads throughout
- Next, stir in crushed tomatoes, grated zucchini, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper, salt, and pepper.
- Bring to a low boil; cover and reduce heat- simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Spoon ¾ cup turkey mixture onto each bun half; top with 2 tablespoons cheese.
- Enjoy open-faced or top with the other half of the bun.
DIY Rice Filled Hot/Cold Pack
I am sure most of you have had the experience of feeling stiff and sore at the end of a long day, or after a hard workout. Your neck is holding the stress of the day and your shoulders just need a good massage….but you don’t have the time to stop for a massage…this is when it is wonderful to have a handy Rice Filled Hot/Cold Pack. There were many DIY hot/cold pack ideas on the web and this one was easy to customize. In under an hour and for less than $5 you can have a solution to your aching neck and shoulders.
Here’s what you need:
¼ yard of soft Cotton Fabric
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Scissors
Funnel
Uncooked rice (I used 2 ½ -3 cups)
Essential Oil (I used an essential oil called Balance that is a combination of spruce, rosewood, frankincense and blue tansy)
Here are the easy steps to make your DIY Rice Filled Heat Pack:
1. Cut your fabric into two strips about 16″ x 8″. Place fabric right sides together, pin and sew ⅝ seam around 3 edges, leaving one long edge not sewn. On the one long edge that has not been sewn, mark off 2 inch segments with a pin every 2 inches. Sew on this 4th side between every other pinned off section. Your result will be a fourth side that has 2 inch gaps that will be used to fill the four sections of your heating pack.
2. Trim corners, turn your bag right-side out and use a pencil or chop stick to push out the corners from the inside. Iron.
3. Measure and mark your bag into 4 equal sections at the edge of each of the gaps. Start sewing these dividing lines from the top of the …
Read MoreSummertime Scheduling for Success
When my girls were growing up, I was one of those moms that was completely excited for SUMMER VACATION!!!! I cherished all the time we would have together during the summer. Although our girls were very involved in community sports and church activities during the summer, we loved the more relaxed schedule. We filled our days with a balanced combination of creative projects like learning new skills like cooking, sewing, crafting, gardening and unstructured outdoor fun with friends swimming and having barbecues and sleepovers. Summer was a time to use the local resources for educational opportunities. We joined the summer reading programs, and looked for art, music and dance classes available in our community. The opportunities are endless but it does take some planning. The other day I heard a wonderful program on the local Christian radio station that was giving tips for summertime survival, so I thought I would summarize a few of the points.
Some great encouragement for all of us as we begin to plan for a successful summer:
DAILY PAUSE-Take time each day to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. Spend some time listening to the birds, looking at the clouds, smelling the flowers that are blooming. You can easily do this in your own back yard or at the park or just schedule in a regular time to go on a walk each day and practice using your 5 senses to discover the world around you. A daily pause can also be practiced in the form of an informal check-in with each one of your children. Around the breakfast table as you go over your schedule for the day you can make sure to connect with each child. A daily pause might work better for your family in the evening around the dinner table …
Read MoreWormies by jana Passion Perspective Recap and Giveaway Winner
Monday: Get to Know Jana and Her Wormies!
Tuesday: Learn more about Jana’s Journey of Her Wormy Business!
Wednesday: Read about Jana’s Passion Perspective Interview and her faith has played a part of the journey of developing her Wormy business!
Thursday: Real Reviews from Real Moms on why Wormies are so great for their kids!
And the winner is…
KIM RAY!!! You won a WORMY!!
And guess what…We have another winner…
ALINA SHAPOVAL!!! You won a WIGGLE WORMY!!!
You will be receiving an email soon with directions on how to customize your wormy or wiggle wormy!! We hope you all enjoyed our Wormies by Jana Passion Perspective!
If you did not win our Wormies by Jana Giveaway, you can go order your customized Wormy and/or Wiggle Wormy here!
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