Super Easy Candied Pecans!

By Jamie

Candied Pecans are one of my favorite treats at Christmastime. Every year, I try to make them; key word TRY! They usually don't turn out very well. They are either sticky, or not crunchy enough or just too many steps and ingredients for me; I like simple. So I was thrilled when I came across a super easy recipe that actually made the best candied pecans I've ever made! Here it is! Enjoy!

Super Easy Candied Pecans

1 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of white sugar

Stir pecans and sugar in a small pot on medium heat until sugar turns into a dark syrup and coats pecans. Dump and spread pecans onto a cookie sheet to dry and cool. Store in any container or ziplock bag. That's it! You can do it!

P.S. I love adding these to my salad along with dried cranberries.

The Utimate Comfort Food: Belgium

by Jenny

Foodie Friday ~ Belgium

Honestly, I picked Belgium because I thought waffles sounded good this week. My hope was shattered when I found out that what we think of as Belgian waffles is not really Belgian waffles. Through our research, we found out that waffles vary with each region of Belgium and there's probably as many varieties as Red Robin burgers. Belgium has a lot of French and Flemish (Dutch) influence with some German as well. We selected the Liege waffle coming from the area of, you guessed it, Liege. They're also known as gaufres de chasse (hunting waffles) and are a richer, denser, sweeter waffle with sugary crystals that caramelize when cooked. My hope was restored when reading up on these. And they were A-Mazing. It's not a batter you scoop and drop on the waffle maker, it's a dough that you let rise and form into balls, then you cook the dough balls. They are rich, sweet, and it's hard to stop eating them. I would definitely call these a comfort food. They kids all loved them and we've already made a second batch.... Here's the recipe we ended up following The Best Waffle You'll Ever Eat. We decided to use this as a dessert and made some homemade whipped cream, and then add a few more recipes...

With the weather we've had lately nothing hits the spot like a warm hearty stew. And this stew was a perfect warming comfort food. It is made with Belgian ale and sweet onions so it has a sweet and savory combination. Here's the recipe for this delicious stew Carbonnade Beef and Beer_Stew.

With our stew and waffles, there was another dish we found we couldn't do without for Belgian food. Fries. I know, we all thought they were French fries but they are thought to have originated in Belgium. They seem very popular there in Belgium and they use a variety of sauces to dip-mayonnaise, ketchup, aioli, tartar sauce, curry ketchup...the list went on. We made a very garlicky aioli to dip our deep fried fries.

Belgian carrots topped off our recipes to cook for the day. They are sliced carrots with heavy cream, dried parsley, and nutmeg. Here's the recipe.

We had to have some Belgian beer and chocolate to finish everything off. A very rich and flavorful meal of foods that are sure to be the ultimate comfort foods- international style!

Vulnerability and a Four Letter Word...

A word will remind me. A smell. A song...of a time I felt so completely alone. And angry. And a failure.
There was a time I felt extremely and utterly vulnerable. And at the same time, hard as a rock. I remember running outside to the trees, dropping to my knees by a stream and crying to the heavens.  I remember feeling like I was crying to nothing, to emptiness. Other times like I was being cradled, just still lashing out. I felt in that desperate state many times. I blamed my circumstances. I blamed God. I blamed myself. I wasn't good enough. I messed everything up all of the time. Every relationship, situation, interaction. And later I owed it to my immaturity.
I grew up a little. Left a lot behind. Began a family. Started a new journey. Wanting to be someone different than I was. Or had turned out to be. Nature verses nurture...interesting thought when it comes to my life. I "decided" I was going to be better.
Over the next decade and a half, I would feel myself begin to dip down to that old state of mind and I would tell myself to stand tall, don't go down that road. I did slip many times into this weird mental state and retreat to my closet to hide (there was no mountain to cry to and with a house of kids I couldn't leave, the closet was my solace. Weird, I know). I would cry out and pray, trying to take it to God. To give it to God. I remember thinking, how am I suppose to give this God? I wish it was a tangible thing in my hand that I could just give over. Or throw at Him. I would try to be stoic. But I even failed at that. I think now in my stoic-ness, I was actually trying to not feel at all. I would think, and sometimes still do, why would God want such a crazy rollercoaster like me.
On and off, and a lot more recently, I have examined my life. My mental state.
Some observations...
I have thought I could fix it all.
I have hated my emotional-ness.
I have dwelt on my past and listed my "failures"...
God gave me one word.
LOVE
He's given it repeatedly too. He has shown it to me in His Word during my quiet time. Then in a message on Sunday. In a song I hear on the radio. Through one of my kids. A title of a book.
Okay, God, I get it. Well, kind of. I don't "get" it quite yet, I'm working on it. But I get the fact that you want me to focus on LOVE.
I don't even know where to begin with this simple four letter word and what I think God wants me to get. But I know the beginning of understanding your LOVE, is for me to begin to grasp how you love me. That's it. You simply love me. All of me. In my emotional-ness. My sadness. My rollercoaster-ness. When I've messed up. When I am trying. When I am not. When I feel in the depths of despair. When I think I know it all. When I feel so utterly alone. God, you want me to grasp this LOVE of yours so that I can turn around and love You. With ALL my heart, mind, and soul. God, I think you LOVE me with every fiber of your Being. I know you do.
This is a daily realization for me. And learning brokenness is a good thing. When I am broken, I leave the pieces for You to fix. You do a better job than I ever could.
There is a song that has touched me so deeply recently. I have prayed, sang, and cried these words...

I am broken at Your feet
Like an alabaster jar
Every piece of who I am
Laid before Your majesty

I will bow my life
At Your feet
At Your feet
My lips
So lost for words
Will kiss Your feet
Kiss Your feet

Oh the gravity of You
Draws my soul unto its knees
I will never be the same
I am lost and found in You

For me, it's not just the gravity of who God is, but the depth and gravity of His LOVE that draws my soul unto its knees.
That feeling of being alone, lost- I know You are with me, You have found me. And you LOVE me.

This picture is one of the mountains and waterfalls I would take refuge...I took this shot when I took my children to Colorado to bury my dad. And the song is Alabaster by Rend Collective Experiment.

It's All About the Gatsby

by Jenny

Foodie Friday ~ South Africa

 

We came about our pick this week a little differently than we have other weeks...We were watching a cooking show and saw The Gatsby Sandwich. With our mouths watering we decided to build a Foodie Friday around this infamous sandwich. It may look like what we know as a hoagie but don't be fooled, there is so much flavor packed in that bread. The Gatsby originated in Cape Town, South Africa. I read some place that they would take leftovers and pack them in a large roll to take to work. Then it became popular in fast food restaurants. The constant is meat, veggies, chips (fries), all on a large roll. The meat could be chicken, fish, and some even do bologna. South Africa has huge range of diverse influence in their cuisine. The flavor of the meat reminded me of Indian food. It is spicy with a hint of sweet. Now here's the recipe:

The Gatsby Sandwich

1 1/2 lbs. of beef steak or roast

3 tbl. masala (we found this in bulk at our local health food store, Mama Jeans, but have seen it at Indian food markets too.

3 large onions, thinly sliced

2 large soft baguettes

sliced tomato

shredded lettuce

chips (fries for us Americans- we used premade to save time but should be straight cut medium thickness

shredded cheddar cheese

 

First, cover your meat with the masala seasoning, rubbing in, then marinate in the fridge for the flavors to develop. Next put thinly sliced onions and meat in skillet to sear all sides and cook onions until their translucent. Then we cooked the meat and onions at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. As soon as the meat is done, start the French fries, I mean, chips. You will want to let the meat rest for about 10 minutes before slicing fairly thinly. While the meat is resting, the chips are cooking, you'll want to shred the cheese and lettuce, and slice the baguette lengthwise.

 

 

Assemble the sandwich with lettuce on the bottom, then tomato slices, the onions, then the meat. Pile on a generous amount of chips then sprinkle with cheese. Broil in the oven to melt the cheese.

 

      

 

This was truly an amazing sandwich. Very filling. Very flavorful. Very huge. You should've seen all of us trying to take a bite.

 Along with our Gatsby sandwich we fixed South African Samp and Beans. South African Samp and Beans is a traditional side dish known as Umngqusho by the Xhosa people. Samp is cracked hominy and this medley also includes black eyed peas, potato, tomato, onion, vegetable bouillon, and curry. It takes a long time but well worth the wait because of the complex flavors. These are not just plain beans! We found our recipe for Umngqusho on food.com. (I even added my photo there because they had none...)

 

 

 

And for dessert we had South African Koeksisters. They are divinely sweet and usually enjoyed during teatime. They are braided pastries that are deep fried and covered in an extremely sweet syrup.  The recipe followed said to make the syrup the night before but we made it first thing in the morning and it chilled for about six hours.  It's similar to a simple syrup recipe but is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. It includes lemon, 2 cinnamon sticks, and ginger, then is chilled.

You make the dough and then let it set for about 3 hours. When it was time to roll out and cut the dough, we kind of digressed from the recipe a bit. We made ours a little larger, I used a pizza cutter to quickly slice dough. Everyone joined in for the braiding, then we deep fried them. As soon as they left the fryer, they needed to be dipped in the syrup.

 

 

Oh.My.Goodness. I know I rave about a lot of our recipes but this one was spectacular. So sweet, with a hint of lemon and cinnamon and ginger. We probably had forty koeksisters and ate about twenty five of them that night! I was able to share a few with our neighbor and she loved them too!

 

We really enjoyed our South African cuisine experience. I love that it is something we do together as a family. I love that this is homeschool for my family. I can't think of a better way to learn Geography than to try the foods of other countries. And I love that we pray for each of these countries, their people, & missionaries that are there. It's gotten all of us to think outside of ourselves and world. God created a wondrous and diverse world and I'm loving exploring it with my family.

What Does Canada, Australia, Thailand, & the UK have in Common?

by Jenny

 Gabe's Birthday
Favorite Foodie Friday Foods

They represent some of Gabe's ALL TIME favorite foods!

Our son Gabe's birthday fell on a Friday this year so we decided to do something special and he picked some of his all time favorites from past Foodie Fridays for us all to cook up this week! One thing I realized through his picks- he is definitely not a vegetarian.
He picked three past main dishes from Australia, Thailand, & the UK Foodie Fridays. He wanted several desserts but we put the kibosh on the number of recipes (I mean, I love cooking with my kids but that doesn't mean I want to do it for 8 recipes and 3 days straight...) so he settled on Canadian Nanaimo Bars.





Look at that plate?! I mean, wow...that was some super yummy, artery clogging, special occasion foods!!! I don't necessarily recommend all of these things together but you MUST try these dishes! They are seriously all of our favorites so no one was sad by his selections.








Firecracker Shrimp~ When we were in Kansas City a while back we went to a Thai restaurant and Gabe got Firecracker Shrimp so on one of his first picks for countries he chose Thailand and we searched for a shrimp recipe. The firecracker shrimp recipe we follow can be found at Picture the Recipe. Why blog it all again when they've got suburb directions and great pictures! 
These shrimp are accompanied by a sweet & spicy chili sauce. We add a little less Sriracha than it calls for so that the girls will eat it too. We've made these several times- very easy but intense on great flavors!

Scotch Eggs~ Scotch Eggs are a lovely little dish that has everything you'd want wrapped up in a neat little fried bundle. We discovered them when we did the UK for our second ever Foodie Friday. They consist of a hard boiled egg, sausage wrapped around that, then rolled in bread crumbs, and last they're fried! This go around, we decided to add our own twist by adding bacon!
Ingredients:
6 hard boiled eggs
1 lb sausage
2 tbl finely chopped onion
1 tsp sage
1 tsp cumin
breadcrumbs or panko chips
1) Mix the sausage, onion, and spices together. 2) Take a peeled egg and wrap 1/6 of sausage mixture around egg. 3) Roll gently in the breadcrumbs. Deep fry for 1 1/2-2 minutes on each side. You want the sausage cooked all the way through but not to burn the coating. (If you want to add bacon like we did, you wrap a round a partially cooked piece of bacon around the egg, then the sausage.)

Australian Meat Pies~ This recipe we found from a fun website full of all things Aussie. One of the things we enjoyed the most about this site was the slang we learned. We had a blast trying to speak "Aussie" all day...All Down Under has the recipe. We've made this with the round steak this recipes calls for and it was great but this time around we gave ground beef a try and it was just as yummy!









Canadian Nanaimo Bars~ These bars are amazing! They are sweet and rich so a little piece goes a long way, you can find the recipe we follow here. The only change we made was increase the semi-sweet chocolate from 4 ounces to six! Who doesn't like more chocolate?!
I'm not usually a nut or coconut fan and the crust in these bars have both. We crushed the nuts very fine and used coconut flakes instead of shreds which I found super delish! I was surprised how much I really liked them! They have a creamy center and hardened semi-sweet chocolate top.

This Foodie Friday we took time to focus on Gabe and we prayed over him before we ate. I love how adventurous he is about eating all sorts of crazy things- he's discovered flavors I don't think he would have ever thought he would like! I think that speaks to his personality and maturing. But more than how he is about food I love how he is deep down. I'm so proud of the man he is growing up to be. I can see a deepening relationship with the Lord, his love for his sisters, and  how he cares for his friends. Our family is truly blessed by this boy!

My Finale to the Change 3 Challenge...

by Jenny

So now it's November 9th and I "ended" the Change 3 Challenge nine days ago and still haven't written an update. I say "ended" because I was so bad about the changes that last week and a half it's almost laughable.
If you haven't followed these Change 3 Challenge posts, here is my first~ Change 3 Challenge. Then I shared how I did after one full week in my Was I Successful in My 3 Challenges? and then the following week I shared my Two Weeks in~Change 3 Challenge. That was my last post. I could say I feel like I failed but I'm going to look on the bright side. I'm choosing to be positive.
In a nutshell, my three challenges were drinking more water, writing down what I eat, and only eating veggies or fruits between meals.
Overall, I would say I wasn't necessarily successful in these three challenges as far as accomplishing them more often than not. But I would say a lot of good came out of this challenge.
1. I am drinking a full glass of water everyday before I start all of my coffee to insure I'm getting more than I was...that also encourages me to drink more in between the coffee because I just refill my water bottle.
2. I really eliminated snacking between meals altogether which was helpful (honestly though...it went out the window when the trunk or treat candy came in the house...)
and lastly...
3. I've really begun to think and pray about the 'food issue' in my life. I really don't want to talk about this with anyone because if you read my first post I think I remember mentioning living in denial when it comes to my physical realm.... well, I'm coming to the realization that it really is something deeper for me. I rely on food when I'm stressed, when I'm sad, when I'm angry. I think the way others can rely on drugs or alcohol, I rely on food. And that's not healthy. So I'm working on this. And it's going to take some time. And more than this challenge can fix. But I'm super glad I did this because it got me thinking. Or maybe I'm not. I haven't decided yet.

"STUFFED" A Chilean Dinner...

by Jenny

Foodie Friday~Chile

Wow....I begin this post as I'm lounging on the couch totally stuffed from this dinner.
It. Was. Amazing. I really wish there was a way to post the smells that happen in my kitchen during Foodie Fridays too.                                                                 Evie's pick this week was Chile which has just about as much diversity as America. One of the reasons it's so diverse is because of their geographical makeup including mountains to ocean to the tip which is almost to Antarctica. The other huge influence is from other countries that have migrated there. Germany had a huge migration there and brought pork dishes and pastries like kuchen (which we had we did Germany, it's a super yummy apple cake). Their food is also greatly influenced by Italy and France with common dishes including omelets and prosciutto. Plus a bunch of other countries so you might've thought it's just Spanish influence but it's not. Their dishes are also regional; northern, central, and southern having their own typical dishes.

 

 

~Menu~

 

Pastel de Choclo

 

Avocado Quinoa Salad

 

Sopaipillas with Chancaca syrup

Evie picked Pastel de Choclo Sweetcorn Pie, which is layered pie from the central region. It's a beef mixture, then hard boiled egg, followed by olives and raisins, and topped with a sweet corn and basil mixture. I thought it sounded a bit odd with raisins and egg slices but I'm telling you- it really was an amazing combination! The raisins seemed to take on a different flavor, there was a definite sweet taste from the corn, and the basil and spices kept it from being overly sweet.  It's widely known in Chile but nothing really like it anywhere else. The closest thing it resembled to us was Gregg's grandma's Corn Pone Pie or chili con carne with cornbread. Everyone enjoyed it but Evie wasn't fond of the corn topping (she does not like potatoes- I think it was a similar texture). Oh, by the way, this dish is totally gluten free too.

Then she picked a lighter dish for a side and Chile is known for their produce like avocados. We found Avocado Quinoa Salad that fit the bill. It was full of flavor with avocados, tomatoes, & celery. (By the way, this dish is gluten free as long as you double check your chicken broth, some can have hidden gluten.)

Last, but by no means least, dessert: Sopaipillas con pasadas! This is not what we think of as a sopapilla. They are made with pumpkin and cut in circles that you poke with a fork so they don't really rise and puff. We made the 'sweet' version but there is a very delicious looking savory version as well. The only thing that changes is the sauce you pair it with. The thing I find delightful about this food is that they say they usually snack on them on rainy days. I love when food has a story or tradition behind it. The syrup used for the 'sweet' version is call chancaca syrup. Chancaca is a raw cane sugar that typically can be found in bricks. I read Jaggery is similar. We could not find either so our Chancaca syrup was made of 1 cup of sweetness- 3/4 cup brown sugar & 1/4 cup honey, water, orange rind, cinnamon, clove, and corn starch. After all the sugar and honey melted together then we added the corn starch. After you fry the sopaipillas up, you can pour, dip, or soak them in the amazingly sweet syrup. This syrup was what Gregg kept calling "Christmas in a bowl!" Every time you take a bite, you "ummm" out loud. I can't really describe it any better than Christmas in a bowl. The kids kept saying with each bite, "We should have these Christmas morning!" and "Ohhh, we should take these to Thanksgiving dinner!"  and "The next time we've got to take a dish somewhere, can we take these?!?" I would say that that is a successful recipe.

We thoroughly enjoyed and reveled in our Chilean dinner. We stuffed ourselves til there was no room left....but as I type this, the kids are asking for some of their candy from Trunk or Treat so I guess there's always more room for kids. It was interesting to read about their rich and diverse culture. I think you should definitely try one of the dishes! And if you do, let me know what you think! :)

We Made a Giant Tree

by Jenny

I've been working on Fruit of the Spirit ~ A Homeschool Study with my kids and we decided it would be fun to make a giant tree to hang all of our fruits on. If you wanted to do the study and wanted a tree on a smaller scale you could make one on posterboard, or make one just 2-D, I'm sure there's tons of tree clip art you could print as well.
I began my hunt for brown paper that would be long enough. I found this great roll of wrapping paper at Deals, a $1 store, that was brown on the back side and just had small white vine and flowers on the right side. This tree only took one roll of paper!

Supplies:

$1 roll of brown paper

clear packing tape

sticky tack

 

(It only cost me a dollar because I already had the sticky tack and tape...)
I began by cutting a piece about 4-5 feet long and crinkling it accordion style.

Then I cut down at different lengths to create limbs and roots from the bottom. I wrinkled each limb, twisting some and curving the ones on sides.

I used some scrap cardboard to fold a triangle to form a base for the back of the tree in the corner. I gathered the paper tighter in the middle to form a smaller trunk leave it wider at the base and top. I used packing tape to secure it to the trunk and then to the wall.

We decided to put the tree floating from the ground because of our very curious 18 month old who would love to rip down all our work.

After we got that part up there, I felt the top limbs just looked weird, all cut the same length so we created additional limbs. I cut the paper strips width-wise in about 6-12 inches and wrinkled those, cutting down to split them into two limbs at the top. Then I secured them behind the original with clear tape and sticky tack. (By the way, my tip for sticky tack is to warm it up with your hands before you use it, and mix a package of blue and white together for a sticky, non-oily combo.)

Adding some branches definitely helped but we wanted to have plenty of space to hang our fruit so I added some long skinny branches to go around the corner. We plan on having over 30 pieces of paper with verses on it so we definitely needed some long ones.

Now to add our Fruit...

If you end up making a giant tree, I'd love to see pictures or hear how you did yours!

Republic of Chad ~ Foodie Friday

by Jenny

This may look like just porridge, donuts, and a smoothie- but I assure you the flavors are very different!

This week was Gabe's pick and he chose Chad. Again, we didn't really know much about our country this week when we started {glad we're doing Foodie Friday, I've learned so much over the course of researching recipes!} but by the time we finished our meal, I know I learned a lot! Plus, as always, it makes an enjoyable addition to our homeschool!

 

Things I found interesting about Chad:

*They have been in engaged in civil wars on and off
*They have a large influence from France from about 1900 because they were under colonial rule under France from 1900 til about 1960...
*The lower third of the country is the most populated with the Sahara desert in top part of country and mostly nomadic people living up there
*39% of women live in a polygamist relationship
*The official business languages are French and Arabic but over 100 languages are spoken...and about 200 different ethic groups or tribes live there
*They are ranked as the 7th poorest country in the world
*Got their name from Lake Chad- Chad is a local word which means large expanse of water
*Millet is their staple and made into paste balls that are dipped in sauces

We chose to have a Chadian breakfast for something different and we have had a busy week with activities and projects so we needed our Friday evening free!

People living in Chad typically start their day with a hot breakfast cereal called La Bouillie. Each family adds their own flair to it like we do here! But their basic recipe is made with rice or wheat, a little millet or cornmeal, curdled milk, and natural peanut butter. The peanut butter is crushed peanuts- homemade. And it really changes the flavor, in a good way!  We wanted to try it different ways so we made two batches, a rice version, and a wheat version.
We also enjoyed a type of smoothie called Jus de Fruit with our La Bouillie. These drinks are usually served in a "milk bar" in the city. The thing that separates this from a typical smoothie is the cardamom. It had a nice flavor to the fruit!
The third dish we made were the Beignets Soufflés. They were definitely different than any other dough we made before. They have no yeast or baking powder or soda in it yet puff up great. They are very egg-y and you stir it hard to get air in the dough as you're adding the egg. The closest thing I can equate the flavor to is French toast. Very yummy!
We enjoyed our Chadian breakfast and prayed for the people of the Chad...they have many struggles in their country and women of that country have even more struggles...their mortality rate is high and so most of the country is young. Sometimes we encounter countries like this in our weekly adventure that can prompt difficult conversations...it's raw and real and we pray for them, and missionaries who are currently there. We know God loves all His people.

We found all of our recipes on a site all about Chad- "Welcome to Virtual Chad!" A good site with tons of information.

Two Weeks in~Change 3 Challenge

by Jenny

Well, another week has gone and past while I worked on my Change 3 Challenge. It's been so crazy lately and it all seemed to come to the surface Monday while attempting a full and complete homeschool day! So this post is a little behind....
We've had birthdays, anniversaries, weekend trips...now gearing up for more birthdays, a party that I'm pulling out all the stops to plan for my two gingers! (I can't wait to blog all about that! I love birthday parties!!) Oh, and another short overnight trip! It always seems that I think the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is busy but it really starts for me in September... With all that busyness, I guess we had fallen behind on our school.
We started the day with a speech about getting back to business and I had them grab their clipboards where they log their subjects, details, and hours. The kids hadn't logged anything for about 3 weeks! That means we hadn't written down anything...don't get me wrong- we've done stuff, just apparently not written it down. We decided to take a bit to log it, recall all that we did, and write down some totals for hours. In doing that, I realized that *certain (non-favorite) subjects had been neglected. I'm very proud of myself- I maintained composure and we prayed about it. We talked about the importance of those subjects and then started out fresh and packed in as much as we could do. Add in trying to get ready for our study group that meets on Tuesday, and that put me so behind that I couldn't post about my Change 3 Challenge!
Two weeks ago, I linked up with Amber at Adventures in Mindful Living {read what the Change 3 Challenge is} and created 3 of my own challenges! Here's my original- Change 3 Challenge then I posted after the first week...Was I Successful in My Challenges?
I had a more successful week in some areas and flopped in others! That seems to be the way it goes for me!
As far as the water goes- I made my goal of drinking 100 ounces everyday but one! Woohoo for me!
As far as writing down everything I eat- I only did it for 2 1/2 days...at one point I couldn't find my original paper, then I got sidetracked from writing it on another...I'm still not sure where half the week went so...who knows what my issue was- this was my major flop.
Then my last goal was to only snack on veggies or fruit and I'd say I was pretty successful for this one. Although I really wanted crackers so I just added it to lunch so it wouldn't be a 'snack' but I really didn't need them, so apparently I'm a cheater...
I'll be honest with you, I'm really trying to work through some of my underlying issues with food. I don't like to admit it to anyone, or frankly talk about anything related to food, weight, clothes, etc. because I guess I'd like to not acknowledge my issue or be in denial or something... just trying to type it out is super hard. God and I working on it. I'm trying to seek the Lord and not go to food when I'm stressed or sad. I suppose working on this with Him is really foundational to the success for my other goals. So pray for me, if you think of it.
I hope my week evens out and that I'm diligent in what God wants me to learn and wants me to teach my kids. If you're working on any challenges, how'd you do?

Fruit of the Spirit ~ A Homeschool Study

by Jenny

(UPDATE: this blog has changed from itsahodgepodgelifeforus to jennybrook journeys...still same info but if you notice some conflicting labels, that's why. Thanks for stopping by!)

You may remember awhile back I was in search of a Fruit of Spirit curriculum to do with the kiddos? Whew! What a first homeschool day! was the post of our first day and list of curriculum we're using this year where I hadn't really settled on what to do for Bible.

This study is a work in progress but I'd like to share with you as I find materials and resources for our study of the Fruit of the Spirit ~ A Homeschool Study.
Well, I searched high and low! A lot of them are made for preschoolers or early elementary with little kid crafts and more childish coloring sheets. They are great but my kids are older (13, 11, 9) and wanted to take them through Galatians 5:22 and how to apply it for themselves now! A fruit of the Spirit study is not just applicable for little kids! My other criteria was "free" so the search took awhile. I stumbled upon this blog post "Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study" by Confessions of a Homeschooler blogger Erica. (I love her blog and all the resources she makes available, if you're ever looking for a great homeschooling blogger.) She linked the downloadable and printable study. I printed it and decided it would be a good jumping off point. Her study only lasts 3 weeks and I want to stretch mine out. I want it to last at least til Christmas break.

So if you're going to do this study with me, first step is to print her study.

We spent a whole week on the first few days worth of her study with questions like- Who is the Holy Spirit? & How do we walk in the Spirit? it wasn't hard! We looked up additional scriptures for each study. I used those lessons as a guide to spark conversations... We talked about these qualities (love, joy, peace, etc) are produced by the Holy Spirit not by being a disciplined person who lives by the law. "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit..." Gal 5:25 We talked about the fact that these are the "fruit" of the Spirit meaning the fruit we produce by walking with the Spirit. They are different then the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Cor. 12 & 14. The gifts are just how they sound- gifts. We had a great side tracking conversation about Spiritual Gifts...love it! And they love to get me off topic. ;)

(NOTE: Somedays, I merely used her main question as a guide for our bible time and not the activities, applications, etc. Make sure you read through the lesson to see if you want to stay on her track or veer off with your own questions or verses...)

Over the course of this study I plan to:

• Make a tree for our home to display our "fruit"
• With each fruit, they will find their favorite verses that represent that fruit to hang on the tree
• Create art using lots of different mediums for each "fruit" study
• Have some games/activities to play regarding the fruit
• Pick a verse from each "fruit" we'd like to memorize as a family
• Talk about real ways we can practice the "fruit" to each other and others
• Read and learn about real, living people who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit

I'm really looking forward to learning alongside my children the fruit of the Spirit, growing together in walk with the Lord.

 

Look forward to my next post in this series where we make the tree for our fruit!

How to Get Kids to Journal

by Jenny

Trying to get a kid to journal can be harder than staying clean standing in a mud puddle...
but it is possible.

We are trying to journal for bible/quiet time. Some of the reasons of journaling or benefits we want our kids to experience are...

• keep a record of what scriptures they've read and be able to look back when they want to recall a certain verse
• learn to meditate on a certain scripture, pray over it, and ask God what He wants them to see
• it can be another way to talk to God, to communicate our thoughts, dreams, prayers...
• they could write a scripture down, then later in the future, He could bring to light knowledge about that scripture in a way they didn't see before
• journaling builds a good habit of spending quiet time with just you and God, reflecting...
• when Jesus was 12, he spent time in the temple listening and asking questions- this is a way for our kids to be like Jesus, listening to God through his Word and asking questions in their journal

Back story about journaling, our kids, learning about tweens, and our church:
     A few years back, my husband and I were at a church leadership conference and were introduced to a curriculum/concept called J12. At that same point my oldest was 10 and I had a heightened curiosity about tweens. I was already reading everything I could get my hands on and talking to other parents about this new stage I knew nothing about. (Another great resource that I love for tweens-specifically girls- is Dannah Gresh's Secret Keeper Girls.)
     Our church was also lacking in a class that was specifically designed for the tween. They felt too old to be with the first graders, and were too young to be lumped with the youth group. They have specific issues they're dealing with and are usually ready to have a deeper personal relationship with God than they've had in the past.
     So our journey began developing a tween specific program. We use just about everything J12 makes, because why reinvent the wheel when it's already chrome plated and super cool?! If you want some great tween resources, curriculum for groups, devotionals for your tween or a great journal, check out  j12.com. {Learn more about the J12 Strategy if you want.} I want you to know I in no way, shape, or form, was asked to recommend this stuff- I'm just super in love with it!!! Journaling is a key part of the J12 theory/curriculum so we made it key in our program at church. We've developed some incentives for journaling for our J12ers at church: after three weeks of journaling they get a t-shirt, three more weeks of journaling gets them a lanyard and a pin, and every three weeks after that, they select another pin to collect and/or trade. {Sound like a familiar concept[Disney World/land]? Again- why reinvent the wheel when kids are dedicated pin collectors/traders?!} Ok, enough back story....

When your kids say, "I don't know what to journal? How to journal? What am I suppose to write?... here's some ideas/methods to guide them.

The S.O.A.P. Method of journaling: it's a practical method that can be applied with any reading plan. Many bibles even have reading plans in the back or you could easily find one online. Here is a Bible Reading Plan with printables and broken down for different ages. Here is great reading plan- 90 days through the gospel of John with a printable as well. S.O.A.P. is an easy to remember acronym for Scripture, Observation, Application, & Prayer. You may want to walk your kiddos through the first one by helping them find a scripture to rewrite and focus on, write down something they observe or see in the verse, write down how they can apply that verse- how they'll be different because of what they've read, and finally write out a prayer.

There are other types of journaling besides focusing on a scripture or a different way to focus on scripture. You could present these options to them:

Journal about what God is doing in your life. Even when you don't understand what God's doing, how it will all turn out, or taking time to record the positives that you see God doing for you.

Write out your prayer. Sometimes in writing out our words to God, He gives us answers and insight while we're writing out our conversation to Him.

Write the verse out in your own words. When we have to think about something to put in our own words we really think about what it means.

Meditate on the verse. "Meditating" on scripture means to think on it, rethink on it, and think some more. Talk it out, add hand motions, use as many senses as you can while you contemplate His Word. The Hebrew meaning of meditate is to muse, commune, or speak. To ponder, analyze.

Journal with your art supplies! Sometimes it's easier for us to draw out or sketch what God wants us to see (especially littles whose fine motor skills are not quite as developed), sometimes Holy Spirit can give us a picture in our mind that may not make sense right away, but draw it anyway. When you write your verse out in your own words, add color! Doodles are fun! God's word for us is fun!

And remember these....
Incentives are great! I am amazed at how excited some of our J12 kids are to journal for the t-shirt and they can't wait to get their pins. Why not encourage them with something that would mean a lot to them? Maybe they want a new bible, a bible cover, a new book, computer time, a date with you....I'm sure they'd love to give you their own ideas!
Mom- you journal! I realized that if I wanted my kids to journal, I couldn't be a hypocrite. And I want all these benefits too! I have LOVED journaling with my kids. I have LOVED seeing what God has for me specifically. I like to draw and sketch while I journal. Sometimes I do the SOAP method, sometimes I write out a prayer...I like to vary it so why wouldn't my kids?

I hope this helps someone out there...I wanted to share some tips because I've been trying to get my kids to journal after our family bible time and on their own, encourage a group of tweens and their parents to journal, and journal on a more regular basis myself.
Oh, another idea I wanted to share is from a great friend of mine who is super into journaling (I think I've even heard her referred to as 'The Journal Nazi'...) and they have a family journal that they all write in- love that idea! She's been a huge encourager for me to journal again. :)

 Go forth and write!

Please share any tips for journaling in the comments below! I'd love to hear more ideas! Especially if I need to draw from them for my own kids! ;)

Was I Successful in My 3 Challenges?

by Jenny

Change 3 Challenge: One Week Down...

Last week I joined Amber at Adventures in Mindful Cooking & her Change 3 Challenge and came up with 3 of my own changes. Here's my Change 3 Challenge post if you wanna catch up.

My three were:
1. Drink 100oz of water daily!
2. Write down everything I eat!
3. Eat only veggies & fruits for snacks!

Well, I don't think I ever reached 100 ounces but everyday I got between 70-90 ounces which is more than what I was drinking but not quite to goal...some days I really had to push myself. I think last Tuesday, by dinner time, I had only had one glass of water! Then I chugged it all evening to try to catch up! Which resulted in a not so restful night's sleep.... Towards the end of the week, it definitely got easier!
The goal of mine, to write everything down, is because I've noticed for myself that if I have to acknowledge it by writing it down, I think twice about eating it. I've also done enough carb & calorie counting in my life to have a general idea of what I should be eating in a day. I also usually measure all of our food into exact serving sizes because my 11 year old had Type 1 Diabetes and is on a pump so we total her carbs and she enters those in the pump to calculate how much insulin to take. Since we're measuring her food, we just give everybody the same amount. My mindless snacking or second helpings is what gets me into trouble so I thought writing it down would help. I did okay with this goal most days but there was a couple busy days that I tried to play "catch up" by writing it down at night- defeats the purpose really.
My third goal went great for me! I cut out most snacking (since I didn't want to write it down!) and if I felt hungry I ate edamame (my new favorite snack), cherry tomatoes, snap peas, or carrots.
Overall, I don't feel down about not reaching all my goals everyday because I was successful more often that not! And that's something to be proud of for me!
This week is a new week and I'm going to try to do even better this week! Wish me luck, pray for me, ask me in person if you see me- How ya doing? I want the encouragement!

"Wats" for Dinner?! Ethiopian Food!



by Jenny

 

Ethiopia~Foodie Friday

 

Selem

(seh-LAHM) means hello in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. But many other languages are spoken there as well. That's just one of many things we learned this week!

 

When Gregg picked Ethiopia for this week, I had no idea about much of their country, let alone their food. In fact, Gregg and I embarrassingly thought Ethiopia was mostly dry and desert. It is very dry on the eastern side of the country but also is quite mountainous! They have quite a few 13-15,000 feet ranges! The other thing we found interesting is that 44% of the population are Orthodox Christian Church, 40% are Muslim, and 10% are Protestant. Back to the food...

 

Ethiopian Menu

Doro Wat

similar to stew; chicken with spices such as garam masala and fenugreek

Mesir Wat

red lentil stew with spices garam masala, turmeric, and tons of ginger

Ye'abesha Gomen

Ethiopian collard greens with ginger and green chilis

Ayib

creamy soft cheese, we made with cottage cheese and greek yogurt

Injera

a spongy sourdough flatbread, typically uses teff flour and ferments for 3 days, we used a quick recipe with buckwheat flour, baking soda, club soda, & vinegar

Dabo Kolo

spicy, crunchy snack made with cayenne pepper

 

We started the Doro Wat in the crockpot first thing in the morning and the smells were A-Mazing....the spices are things we don't normally cook with and creating a strong, sweet aroma. After the six hours, Gabe used the potato masher to shred the chicken and mash everything a bit.

 

The Dabo Kolo is a typically a snack and are quite addicting. You think they're plain little crunchy, slightly doughy on the inside then a kick of cayenne hits. You just want more. We cooked those next and they were fun to make too. They reminded us of feffernusse we made when we did Germany.

 

Gregg and Evie made the Ayib because it's not a cheese we can find here. They rinsed off cottage cheese and stirred it in greek yogurt with lime juice and we used it to top the Mesir Wat, like a sour cream. Yummy!

 

Gwyn and I had the job of making the Injera. It's a very bubbly spongy flatbread that Ethiopians use instead of utensils. They just rip off pieces and use it to pick up the stews. The batch gave us about 40 pieces! In a medium skillet, you scoop batter and spread it as thin as possible to stretch out to 6-8 inches. There was definitely an art to it and Gwyn and I got quite good at them after about the tenth one!

 

Next was the Mesir Wat, the red lentil stew that also has some amazing spices plus tomato paste, & garlic. Gregg started the collard greens last.

 

We found a great blog A Spicy Perspective  where she's done all the work to create Ethiopian recipes with ingredients we can find and she quickened the Injera recipe from three days of fermenting to like 10 minutes! We still wanted all the spices we could get our hands on- thank goodness for our local and totally awesome Mama Jean's market where we could buy the just the amount we needed of garam masala and fenegreek. I think I'm in love with those spices- man, they smell good!!

Here's her recipes for Doro Wat and Injera, and Mesir Wat and Ayib. Here's the recipe for Abesha Gomen.

 

Here's the recipe for Dabo Kolo:

In a 1-quart bowl:
Mix: 2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 cup oil
Knead together and add WATER, spoonful by spoonful, to form a stiff dough. Knead dough for 5 minutes longer.

Tear off a piece the size of a golf ball.
Roll it out with palms of hands on a lightly floured board into a long strip 1/2 inch thick.
Snip into 1/2-inch pieces with scissors.
Spread about a handful of the pieces on an ungreased 9-inch frying pan (or enough to cover bottom of pan). Cook over heat until uniformly light brown on all sides, stirring up once in a while as you go along.
Continue until all are light brown.

 

Ethiopian cuisine is family style eating with everyone eating from the stews and using the Injera to pick up their food. We had fun experiencing Ethiopian food what better way to teach Geography?! Homeschooling at it's best....love it! :)

 

                                     



Jamie's "Change 3 Challenge" Choices

OK, so it's my turn for the "Change 3 Challenge!"

As some of you may have noticed, Jenny and I have recently "linked up" with a fellow blogger and her blog, "Adventures in Mindful Cooking", and have accepted her "Change 3 Challenge." This challenge is about pin-pointing and focusing on just three things you want to  change for the better in your life. It started Oct. 1 and will last until Nov. 1. You can join in any time! The goal is to form new habits within that 30 days.

So I've come up with a list for myself which will be quite a challenge for me!

1. Stick to my schedule at least 3 days of the week.

I recently had to re-evaluate my days at home. I was feeling very stressed and overloaded with responsibilities every day, and I knew something had to change! After a few days of observing my stress, I came to the conclusion that my 10 year old, my 12 year old, and I could not be on the same schedule anymore. They have certain responsibilities they need to focus on themselves that I could not take on for them anymore; I have enough on my plate as it its, and they are old enough to "step up their game!" So as of now, they have their schedules while I have mine, and parts of our schedules overlap so we are still doing things together. Anyway, all that to say, if I can stick to my personal schedule, I will be focusing on the right things, on the right days, at the right times, and not stressing over everything, everyday, all the time! Whew! If I can do this at least 3 days a week, I am certain my stress level will lessen. This will be my most challenging challenge!


2. Exercise with my kids at least 3 days a week.

I have been pretty good to stick to an exercise routine for myself, but find that I am constantly harping on the kids to "do something active!" I have realized that I must come along side my children in order to form these healthy habits. They are eager to walk or ride bikes around the block, or play dance games on the X-Box, as long as I do it with them! So I have included 30 minutes of exercising together in our daily schedules. I know this will prove to be a challenge as well! I guess that is the point of this, right? LOL!

3. Lose 5 pounds this month.

WHY am I including this challenge?! (I'm talking to myself here.) WHY am I torturing myself with announcing this?!  I know it is going to be the HARDEST one and, I CERTAINLY do NOT want accountability here, people!!! BUT...I NEED to do this for my HEALTH! My high blood pressure is most likely due to my weight. It is possible hereditary, but I need to find out. I DO NOT want to be on prescription medication for hypertension for the rest of my life...especially with all this new Obamacare stuff. Who knows where that will leave me in the future! But that's a whole 'nother blog!! LOL!!

Ok, so there it is! My 3 scary challenges! Since today is Thursday, I am officially starting these changes this Monday. I am already working toward them, but I will start recording progress on Monday. I plan on blogging about this at the end of this month to let y'all know how I did! Wish me luck, or better yet, pray for me!!

Change 3 Challenge

Okay, here goes...asking for accountability is one of the hardest things I ever do. Because it means that someone may actually remind me of the things I want to change when I'm doing the things that won't help me get there.
Although, I know I don't have a lot of readers yet since beginning this blog in August, so how much accountability I'll get is questionable... ;)

I recently made it to a workshop at our church for leaders (my husband and I are the youth pastors, he even recently got hired full time so we've got that transition happening in our lives- so cool to have your passion be your job!) about helping people on your team release core passions and activate Kingdom dreams. There was a wheel with different categories such as Spiritual Life, Marriage, Family & Children, Financial Stewardship, and Physical Stewardship, among others. There were tons of questions to get you to identify and focus on your core personal values. It got me thinking how I value and place time around certain core values on the wheel but completely ignore others. To simplify it, sometimes I think of my life in realms: my spiritual, my mental, & my physical realm. I tend to focus on my mental realm by reading a lot, etc. I go through spurts of focusing on my spiritual realm. God and I are on a really awesome journey right now, He's showing me all sorts of greatness and in turn, I'm working in a lot of my journey with the kiddos during our homeschool bible time then they get to go have their own quiet time to see what God's got for them specifically. Well, the area I tend to neglect is my physical realm. In this workshop it is called "Physical Stewardship" and asks questions like...

• What is my personal definition of health?
• What words come to my mind when I think about describing the particular body God gave me?
• What do I tend to do to take care of myself physically?
• Looking back at my behavior patterns, how would I describe my way of dealing with:
• Rest
• Pain
• Medical attention
• Physical limitations
• Nutrition
• Physical appearance
• Stress

Can I just be honest here? I hate those questions! My way of dealing with those areas? What areas? What are you talking about? Take medication? Rest? Pay attention to my body? I don't know what you're talking about... I bury my head in the sand. My way of acknowledging is not acknowledging at all. It takes my husband hours to convince me to take Motrin for a headache. I really don't care about clothes and makeup as much as most of my female friends. I do however, try to eat fairly healthy (it's my serving sizes that are probably my major issue for my weight). I like to cook with whole foods, grains, and veggies. I try not to buy food with high fructose corn syrup, I drink good water and use non fluorinated toothpaste and deodorant with no antiperspirants. I guess I care a little bit about the inside of my body... Anyway, these questions got me thinking about my physical stewardship and how I take care of what God gave me.
Well, long story short (you're thinking, "This is short?! What would be long?!" If you only knew how I could ramble...) I'm gonna make some changes and I'd like your help to hold me accountable!
I've found this really cool momma with a cool blog who I'm going to attempt this 'linking up thing' with- Amber at Adventures in Mindful Cooking- and her Change 3 Challenge. It's simple: Change 3 things. I'm going to focus on the physical since that's the area I'm needing help in.
Here's my three:

1. Drink 100 ounces of water (I definitely don't drink nearly enough water!)
2. Write down everything I eat! (I always do better about not eating so much when I have to mark it down.)
3. Only eat fruits and veggies for any snacking I do during the day! (My hubby and I always have snack at night after we put the kiddos to bed, I'm going to keep that one!)

So here goes! To find out more about this challenge or join me, either on your blog, facebook, or twitter, click this link~Adventures In Mindful Cooking "Change 3 Challenge"
Check back with me next week to see how I did!
~Jenny