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.