Cowboy Hat

Valentine's Day

Look what was waiting for me this morning! Sweets from my sweet husband for me and the kids! 

Behold my pile of goodies...

a sweet bulldog puppy V-Day card,
dark chocolate candy,
chocolate covered cookie dough candy,
the Hungry Girl cookbook,
and a new lens for my camera!

A picture of our Valentine's mess with my new fisheye lens... better pictures coming soon! I promise!

I hope your Valentine's Day made you feel as special and blessed as mine did!

Coconut Rice & Red Curry Shrimp

Made this as a "Something Different" dinner... wasn't too sure how it was going to turn out but it was great! I'm sure the calorie count isn't diet worthy. The curry sauce nutrition facts were in Thai so I can't read them. Next time I think I will sub some low fat coconut milk but I didn't have any handy.

Coconut rice:
I have a rice cooker so I measured out 3 scoops of rice and put it in the rice cooker.
I opened one 13.5 oz can of coconut milk and poured it in.
Then I used water to fill the liquid in the rice cooker to the "fill line" for 3 scoops.
Added a dash of salt and a dash of sugar and mixed it all up well.

Push the "Cook" button and wait for the yummy smells of coconut to fill the air!

If you don't have a rice cooker, you can follow this recipe here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/asian-coconut-rice/detail.aspx

While the rice is cooking, lets prepare the shrimp.

Red Curry Shrimp:
We bought already cooked and peeled 26-32 count per lb. large shrimp. Give them a quick rinse under cold water and set aside.

Chop up two medium yellow onions and sauté in medium sauce pan.

While the onions are sautéing, I opened two of these red curry sauce packets purchased from the local asian food store. Mixed in a small bowl with 1/2 - 1 cup of water.

Pour sauce in with onions and cook on low heat until onions are tender. You can cover for 5 - 10 minutes to speed the process up a little.

Mix in shrimp at the last minute and heat through. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp... unless you like the gummy kind.

Put a generous heap of coconut rice on a plate and top with red curry shrimp mixture. Garnish with chopped parsley (we were out) or whatever suits your tastebuds.

~ ENJOY! ~

Sweet & Sour Skewers

This is great to have your family make together! Simple, fun, and fast to make!

Originally a recipe from Kraft, but we changed it up to fit our family preferences. I've included a link to the original at the end of this post for your convenience.

What you need:

32 - 1" fully-cooked meatballs approx 1 lb -thawed

1 onion, cut into 1 inch squares

1 green pepper, cut into 1 inch squares

1 tomato, cut into 1 inch chunks

1/4 cup apricot jam

1/4 cup barbecue sauce

approx. 12 skewers

Start by soaking the skewers first if using the wood variety - you can pick these up at the local grocery store. 

Chop your veggies and assemble on skewers, alternating between veggies and meatballs. Try leaving a little room between the veggies and meatballs to let them cook evenly.

Heat the jam in microwave safe bowl for approx 15 seconds.

Mix the apricot jam and barbecue sauce in a small bowl and brush half of the mixture over the assembled skewers.

Ta-Da! Ready for the grill...

Grill on low flames until you have the right amount of charr and grill flavor. Or approx. 8 - 10 minutes, until the meatballs are heated through, turning occasionally.

Brush the remaining sauce onto the skewers during the last two minutes.

Remove from grill and serve warm with your favorite sides! (Kraft recommends grilled corn on the cob.)

Original recipe can be found here: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/sweet-sour-meatball-skewers-113530.aspx

James 2:17, 21-22, 24

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 
 

21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.  

24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

Do good deeds. This devotional reading makes me wonder if I do enough for others? Can they see Jesus living through me? Would I do something for a complete stranger that I would do for my own family? Most importantly, am I a good Christian example for my children to follow?


I often pray for God to open my heart and give me the courage to live and love others like Jesus loved us.

Super Bowl XLVI

Super Bowl Sunday Observations...

1. I have no idea what those referees are doing with those crazy hand signals.
2. The quality of the commercials are slowly declining.
3. Coke commercials might be better with real polar bears. (PETA comments countdown... 3-2-1-Go)
4. I really want to watch this SMASH show whatever it is...
5. Between chili after church and pizza and wings for dinner, I'm way over my daily calorie limit.
6. Madonna is super fit for a 50+ year old woman!
7. I want to draw with dry erase markers on my TV like the commenters.
8. Playing football hurts.
9. I love the M&M commercial.
10. Watching 101 slow motion replays of your split-second mistake is painful!
11. Awake looks intriguing...
12. Motorola could definitely make those headsets smaller.
13. Some people must be born with football DNA.
14. 57 seconds can be forever in football-time.

Chili + Cheese + Kraut Coneys

This was something we threw together quickly and the kids loved it. We had homemade (thanks to my awesome husband!) chili on hand but you can use whatever kind of chili you have handy. 

P.S. Sorry, as of the time of this writing - at my husband's request - we are not releasing the world famous, award winning "No Beans, Just Bud!" super secret Phelps family chili recipe.

Warm up chili and hotdogs... um, usually separately unless you're trying to cut down on the amount of dishes you have to wash later...

Eating healthy? Pick up some turkey dogs, low fat cheese, and low fat chili.

We added sauerkraut - Kosher brand straight from the jar...

Assemble the bun and hotdog, scoop on some chili, add some kraut, and finally top with a generous heap of cheese. My husband suggests adding diced onions and mustard if you like that sort of thing...

~~ENJOY!!

Praying & Believing

Genesis 22:1-14
Samuel 1:7-20

 Sometimes it's hard to trust God's plan for us. As humans we want to believe that we can control everything but that is just not the case. When you want one thing to happen and God pushes you in the other direction it is hard to follow him without question.

Abraham's faith is amazing. Can you imagine what he must have been feeling and thinking all the way up that mountain? It brings to heart the saying, "You can never really know a man unless you walk a mile in his shoes."

 Do we pray like Hannah? Do we bring everything to God? More than that, do we leave everything at the altar?

As I read these passages I realize that faith is work.

1. A constant effort to follow God's lead even if it's not down the path we choose for ourselves. 
2. A constant effort to pray earnestly and meaningfully and purposely... 
3. And then to leave it in God's hands and not carry it around as needless baggage as we try to live our lives. 

 I pray for courage to follow God's lead and strength to overcome my need to feel in control of this journey...

February Photo A Day

My sister-in-law found this on Pinterest for me... I really want to try it out, and YES I know I'm already behind!!! 

Adventures in Potty Training

Start children off on the way they should go,and even when they are old they will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Mommy, WHY do you want me to sit on this? WHAT is this???

Two year olds are funny... and they seem to find the strangest ways to remind us of the things we take for granted. We are in the Introduction phase of potty training and battening down the hatches for the long haul.

Is it a shoe? An anklet?

Did I mention that she only wants to sit on it until the diaper comes off... then she wants to run around the house bare booty!

OH I SEE!! It's a mask!! Silly Mommy!!

 This could be a long tough road ahead folks!

Luke 5:15-16

15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.


Love this devotional reading for tonight. This message totally resonates with me as I'm sitting here way past my bedtime to get a few minutes of "Me Time" in, knowing I'll pay for it when the alarm clock goes off in the morning. There doesn't seem like enough time in the day to put in a full day's work, come home and give all I have left to my family, and then find some time for me. Don't get me wrong, I realize I am extremely blessed and I love my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything! 


.........How do you "recharge your batteries"?


Parenting puts tremendous demands on our time and energy. These demands can start before our kids get up in the morning and last long after they've fallen asleep. In addition we often find ourselves meeting the needs of others in our family, people at work, and friends.

Jesus knows the extent of your weariness. Many people besieged Him when they discovered He could heal the sick and perform miracles. There was no end to the ingenious ways they devised just to touch Him or get His attention (see Luke 5:18-19). He recognized the huge demand for His time.

But, Jesus also knew the only way He could deal with the demand for His time was to spend time alone with His Father to rest, pray, and recharge His batteries. It wasn't selfish; it was the most loving thing He could do for His children. It gave Him the energy and strength to deal with their many issues.

Sometimes saying "no" to your kids so you can spend quality time with your Heavenly Father is the most loving thing you can do.

http://www.youversion.com/reading-plans/parenting-by-design-daily-devotional/9

Faithful February

faithful |ˈfāTHfəl|adjective1 loyal, constant, and steadfast   • (of an object) reliable2 (usu. as plural noun the faithful) having a strong belief in a particular religion3 true to the facts or the original

New month... and you know what that means!! Ok, maybe you don't so let me help you out... NEW THEME! This month I really want to do an Eat, Pray, Love Blog theme for my posts.

I'm going to try three things regularly this month...

1. Read my Bible
2. Take meaningful pictures
3. Write blog posts

Let me know what you think! Your comments (good or bad, but never ugly) are always welcome.