I can either be…

posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Fat again or Fit 4 Life.
I do great during the week and I’ve done well – doing yoga, exercising, etc. Friday wasn’t good. Most Fridays aren’t – but that doesn’t mean it can slip into the rest of the wknd.
I have to make choice:
1. Be obedient and be fit and healthy with my body working the way God has designed for my body to work.
2. Enjoy oreos, too many baked lays, sugar cookies, hot chocolate just to mindlessly eat, give up on running to quick because of little things that aren’t going perfectly.
I want to:
1. Feel great
2. Be great
3. Look great – love those size 6 jeans!
4. Don’t want sagging skin
5. Invest in others
6. Be there for ministry later in life – and be healthy to do a great job at it.

God has given us a body that was created to be productive and glorify him.
Drinking unsweet tea right now – and doing pilates when I get off work at 930 tonight.
Tomorrow: work, vegetarian tea lunch, run out at a park (in the cold, am I crazy, push through), cooking legumes (I always feel fancy when I say that word in my head), babysitting for a dear family.
Sunday will run in the morning or do yoga before church (it might be snowing outside, so I may stick with the yoga).
Monday is a pilates class! 🙂

Menu Week: February 15

posted in: Uncategorized | 2

Post holiday, short week. Going to be good. Can’t wait. Here you go:
Leftovers: tuna whole wheat spaghetti
Monday: whole wheat pita pizzas (I’m making mine a mexican pizza!) and a salad for movie night
Tuesday: white chicken chili and homemade cheese toast for a manicure session
Wednesday: finish up leftovers, roasted winter vegetables with maple and ginger (recipe of the week)
Thursday: white chicken chili, roasted veggies, larabar and fruit at airport
Friday: breakfast at hotel, lunch and dinner are in Raleigh somewhere – you can bet it will be yummy!
Saturday: brunch at Flying Biscuit at Cameron Village (yum) – I know I’ll be having an egg white omelette! Dinner will be somewhere!
Sunday: all up for grabs – always an adventure!

I love the food of the Triangle. And you can bet I’ll be stopping by Trader Joes and Whole Foods (this one just because my parents don’t have one near them in Publix land and they always like to go).
Happy Cooking.

Question: What are your fave cities to travel to because of their eats?

Yoplait Giveaway

posted in: Uncategorized | 7

Smoothies are everywhere! Lyon in the Kitchen had one on his show the other day. Green Smoothies are all the health rage. Smoothie King is raking in the dough! So, wanna make your own at home?
Yoplait and My Blog Spark are giving you the chance for a “Free” smoothie. You get a coupon for a Yoplait Smoothie (found in freezer dessert section) and a single serve blender – I LOVED THIS this morning. Will definitely keep it.
You could either drink the whole thing, or actually have two servings. The one I chose, the Strawberry Mango Pineapple was a little sweet – but those are naturally sweet fruits too.
So, all you have to do is leave me a comment – what is your favorite smoothie? It can be homemade, green, take out, restaurant, whatever…
Let me know!

Valentines Day Approaching

posted in: sin, Women | 0

The more I live the more I see that this world is not about Christ. Ok – yes, I should know that, and I do. But, the closer I am with God – the more I am in His Word, serving Him, being shaped by Him, the more I am appalled by sin.
Being home the past two days has allowed for good times of reading and little TV watching – that was grand!
With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, I thought I would shoot this out there. How do you prepare for Valentine’s Day? Last night I made some Vday goodies to share tonight and tomorrow. I am babysitting for a couple on Saturday night so they can have a date. I am making brownies shaped in hearts for a potluck on Sunday. I really don’t think much about the fact that I am single on Vday, because I’ve only ever dated one person on Vday, and it didn’t rock my world…so…
I came across this on a blog I read (about fitness mostly, or well-being), and I wanted to counter her 5 points with Scripture. This is how you have to start looking at the world – a biblical worldview!
Noshtopia wrote this: How to have a good Valentine’s Day:
1. Be completely selfish. Phil 2.3: Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
This first one is so anti-biblical. I am reading Elyse Fitzpatrick’s Counsel from the Cross. The third chapter is all about LOVE. It doesn’t say anything about being selfish. I would counter Stephanie’s first point by saying on Vday – find something to do for others. I love babysitting for people around Vday (and I usually say I’ll do it for free) because I want to be encouraging their marriage.
2. Give Your Inner Voice a Day Off. Counter this with: Preach the Gospel To yourself every day. I actually agree with her point. She knows, as we all do, that if we are single we are usually hating life on Vday because our culture, especially our church culture, makes it miserable for you to be single. I think culture looks upon singleness as a good thing (for mostly wrong reasons). I have found it mostly difficult to be single in the church because most people are pressing you to get married, or women’s events are geared toward mothers or wives; not just women.
3. Get Glammed Up and Go Party. Counter this with: 1 Peter 3.3-4: Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. Do I think it is a bad thing to get dressed up and go out to eat, art show, somewhere fun – NO. I love doing it. But so much of our culture presses this issue, especially for single women. This Sunday night, I’m going out to eat with new friends who are coming to look at the seminary. Will I look pretty – as much as I can. But, I can’t find my worth in this – or try to use it as a flirtatious model for attracting men.
4. Make Love with Yourself. Counter: Hebrews 13.4: Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. This one appalled me more than any of the others. Where do I begin? Sexual activity is just for the marriage of a man and a woman for life. No where else. I was watching a repeat of “American Life” on ABC Family. The mother of one of the teenagers told the father (in front of the son) – “He’s just wanting to figure out if he wants oral sex from one or sex from the other?” For real, on ABC Family? What kind of family show is that? Well, don’t need to watch that anymore. Do I really need TV?
5. Write Down 5 Things You DO Have. Counter: And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. The Word tells us to be grateful for all the blessings we do have. God has been so gracious to us. And on this Valentine’s Day I am grateful for: new friends, new ministry opportunities, my family, friends who have loved me for a long time, the Word, provision.

So…how do you look at Valentine’s Day? What are your plans for the wknd?

My Favorite Things Salad

posted in: Vegetables | 0

Man, it was definitely a good eats at home time while snowed in! Love those little treasures God brings to us!
I’ve seen many recipes for eggs and asparagus – with the whole fried egg on top of steamed asparagus with the runny yolk. While this is great, it has more calories than I want to spend on it, so here is my version!

serves 1

Green leaf lettuce, chopped
1/2 bunch of asparagus, roasted (trimmed, zest of lemon, drizzle of evoo, s/p, 450 for about 20 minutes)
caramelized red onions
2 t ground flax seed
1 egg white cooked in microwave (in bowl, grease with pam, one egg white, cook for 45 seconds)
1 T crumbled feta
balsamic vinegar.

SO GOOD! I think roasted asparagus has to be some of the world’s BEST GOOD EATS!

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

posted in: Uncategorized | 0

I love this pan! 🙂 I got it at Joann’s fabrics and just like my spring pan, it makes decorated sugar cookies so easy! I need one for every holiday!

Sugar cookies:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt (I thought the batter was a little salty, so next time I might lower it to 3/4 tsp)

Cream, add dry. Spray pan cavities. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Let cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then remove gently with a butter knife. Let cool. Decorate. These would be perfect for kiddos to make! 🙂

Rolfe's Peanut Butter Truffles

posted in: chocolate | 3

Back in December, I did a 12 days of Christmas baking. My friend Brian posted a truffle recipe, he also shot me some variations. I used one of these variations yesterday for our Foster party tonight. Yum!

Here it is. Brian described it so well so I thought I would let him do it. I halved the recipe…

Chocolate by B – Peanut Butter

Ingredients:
1 ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
½ Cup Peanut Butter
3 eggs (whites)
12 oz (1 bag) White Chocolate Chips
24 oz (2 bags) Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Cover two cookie sheets with wax paper and set aside.

Cream sugar and peanut butter together (will develop a sandy texture). Blend in three egg whites, one at a time, making sure each is fully combined before adding the next. The mixture will resemble cake frosting at this stage. Melt the White Chocolate in a microwave (60 to 90 seconds, be sure to mix well after the first minute). Allow chocolate to cool slightly and then add to mixture. Combine thoroughly and quickly (chocolate will start to set) and spoon onto wax paper (like making small drop cookies). Place in freezer for ten to fifteen minutes to set firmly.

Melt Semi-sweet chocolate in a double boiler. Remove fillings from freezer, dip in melted chocolate and return to wax paper. When all the chocolates are dipped, return them to the freezer for another ten to fifteen minutes to allow the chocolate to set. They may then be moved to air-tight containers for storage or served. Allow them to warm to room temperature before serving.

Caramelized Red Onion and Feta Sandwich

posted in: vegetarian | 0

I think caramelized onions are some of the world’s most perfect foods! And today, on a snow day (we got 6 inches), it was amazing.

1/4 large red onion
1 tsp olive oil
splash of blush wine
water
2 T feta cheese
arthur thin – whole wheat
mustard

I sliced the onion, heated a little olive oil, got them going. Took about 20 minutes. Splash of wine and occassionally putting water in there. Topped it with feta and squirted a little mustard.
Tomorrow, I think I might make another one – maybe on a salad this time! My side dish was yummy homemade sweet potato baked fries.

Super Bowl Food

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Wow, it seems like the Super Bowl was so long ago! And it was only Sunday (2 whole days). It is amazing how fleeting things in life are that are totally not important!
I went over to a friend’s house and we both made some stuff we liked, but also picked conferences and made food for that team.
I had the NFC (Saints) and made bourbon chicken (it was sweeter than I wanted it to be, but I have leftovers). Lorrie had the AFC (Colts) and she had oreos (commercials) and Orville Redenbacher – because it is in IN.
The nachos and oreos were fave part for me.

Taste of a Chain Restaurant: Yang Kee Noodle

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Sunday was more than just a day for Super Bowl food (coming later). It was also a day with a neat family at my church and me to go to Yang Kee Noodle.
I would compare this to a Moe’s – for Asian food.
Many different options, gluten-free options, spicy, normal, salads, rice bowls, noodle bowls.
I had the general tso’s chicken. It was good and filling, though not as good as some others I have eaten in the past! Chicken was decently spicy (not enough to make your eyes water or sweat pour down your face) and not heavily fried (which I appreciated).
I didn’t think to ask for brown rice, so I ate half the white rice that was served with it.
For the price, I would rather have gone to PF Changs (my plate of General Tso’s was 899 I think).
But, it was quick with different options. And they didn’t rush you out because you wanted to sit and chat! 🙂 Refillable drinks were also a plus!
Would I go again – yes. Would it become a regular place of mine – probably not. Thankful for the provision of lunch!