Food Quote of the Week
What do you do with PAIN?
Life is a sweet journey – for the most part! I’ve been amazingly graced with a really great life.
But, what do you do when life hands you pain? As a believer in the sovereign plan of God and also the fact that God does all things good and for our good – this year has been a tough year to stand firm on that.
This past year has handed me a lot of pain. We are just a year out from one of the most hurtful conversations in my life. In each of these hurtful conversations I took away good and hard lessons.
Of the hardest conversations in my life, one of those conversations earned distrust. One of those conversations earned freedom. And the last of these conversations earned seclusion and doubt and tears.
So, how do you work with pain in your life?
1. First, I couldn’t blog about it. Blogging is one way I think through what is in my head. But, when I know others read my blog – there are some things that I can’t talk about on it. Instead, I chose basically two people in my life to pour out everything to: a pastor’s wife that I knew faced similiar pain in ministry and the other one was my husband. Both of these people shared wisdom with me and hours, whether on the phone or laying on the couch. My husband was a champ during the months that followed this initial conversation and the tears each night for literally months on end that would stream down my face.
2. Know where your trust is? I used to be a very trusting person. That was until people in my life that I trusted let me down. Then, I don’t trust as much. I really think i’ve come to know that God is the only person I can trust 100% of the time. He is the only person who has never sinned and can’t sin – so that means he can’t let me down. And God will never let me down. At some point, every single person in your life will let you down. Its a fact of sin nature. You will let others down. I will let others down. But, God stands.
3. My introvert self became more introverted. Some people would never mark me as an introvert – but I truly am. I thrive on quiet time during the day, on my boys taking their naps, on my panera time each week, on my laying in bed with a book or social media time. I need to recharge. And part of that being an introvert is usually yourself can’t hurt you. But, others hurt me. (and believe me I know I’ve hurt other people). I’d rather stick with the friends I have who are tremendous and leave it at that.
4. I’ve let go of things that we must agree on to be friends. There are only a few BIG things in life that are worth battling over – those mountains you might say. Don’t let battles rage and hurt fly over the little things. Really. You may not see eye to eye with someone and its ok. Love anyway.
5. Learning to love. Reading Ryken’s book this past year and now going through Goff’s Love Does has been a tremendous thought process for me. Loving is hard. It took MONTHS to even be able to look some people in the eye after this recent hurt. Loving others is one of the hardest things to do. Oh, its easy to love people when they are lovable. But, grace and mercy and a generous love is needed when people are not lovable.
6. I know some of you who many know me think I always take everything even keeled and am pretty much a laid back person. But, as my husband will tell you, I am an emotional and passionate person. Tears flow with friends as they share news of hurt with me. After last summer, I didn’t think I would ever be able to cry any more tears.
“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” – Psalm 56.8 It gives great comfort to know that the Psalmist was not a stranger to tears. We see him often bringing his heartfelt and tearful please to the Lord. This give me great confidence in knowing that I can do the same thing with the same Savior!
7. But, more tears will come. This year has been one of one hurt after another. And I know that pain is a part of life…so we will start the cycle over again.
How do you handle the pain that life deals you? How do you let God work on your heart with the hope of the Gospel?
Vanilla Lime Watermelon Salad
And summer is slowly coming to an end. Zoo Atlanta is less crowded during the day. More school buses are always on the streets around town. Malls are less jam packed with kids.
School may have started, but summer fruits are still thriving. This past weekend I went over to Alabama to visit with some family and I got treated to two farm-grown watermelons. One had yellow flesh and one had the typical red flesh. Both were beautiful and sweet.
So, I paired them both with some balsamic and olive oil! What? That doesn’t go with watermelon. It does if you have some specialty balsamic and olive oil from Oli & Ve in Roswell. I paired this for a tasting there and knew that I would be purchasing both. That tasted amazing together.
Vanilla Lime Watermelon Salad
Recipe Type: Salad
Cuisine: Fruit Salad
Author:
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
Fresh summer fruit that is simply dressed – perfect.
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow flesh watermelon, cubed and seeded
- 1 cup red flesh watermelon, cubed and seeded
- 2 tsp vanilla balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp persian lime olive oil
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put watermelon in a bowl. Combine the oil and vinegar together. Drizzle over top of the fruit. Season with salt and pepper. Eat!
- I like this served room temperature. Would be a great side dish to a pork or tacos or fish
This Week in the Charming South Kitchen
Budget living is not fun, but it is wise. I could spend so much on groceries. Even though when we lived in Little Rock, there was a grocery tax, the cost of food here in ATL is still more. So, we are examining our budget and our needs – especially as our two littles go through growth spurts and eat a lot!
So, we get a little creative – or maybe a little boring when we get to the last week of the month, especially one with 5 full weekends and 31 days! And this week also brings with it a date night to the Braves game – can’t wait to try some stadium food – any suggestions?
Vegetable Slow-Cooker Lasagna (this is cooking right now and will get the recipe up to y’all soon)
Grown-up Green Eggs and Ham (recipe coming later this week as well)
Trader Joe’s Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage
Zucchini and carrot muffins (combined, not separate)
Something savory and something sweet with some watermelon I’m getting today – haven’t decided what
My friend Tasya took the above photo and I got the idea for labels from my friend Shannon.
Vanilla Lime Pound Cake
For this week’s edition of Sundays in the South, I am featuring I recipe I finished up this morning.
I am definitely from the South. And if there is any dessert that is commonplace in the South, especially the Deep South, it is pound cake. Unfortunately, pound cake might rank right up there in my just-never-asked-for-desserts. Unless you are this one particular pound cake found at a tiny bakery in a tiny town off I-40 in North Carolina.
Ketchie Creek Bakery serves an amazing Five Flavor Pound Cake with a rich and smooth buttercream which I would take over most any dessert in the world. You get a huge piece and need to split it with about 4 friends, but man, it just melts in your mouth.
But, this pound cake features two of those flavors…lime and vanilla. I made it today for our family reunion and my Dad’s comment “Its dense and moist.” Exactly what a pound cake should be.
I tweaked How Sweet Eats recipe of this – I thought it was too lime-y, so the recipe you see below makes that adjustment. Also, I didn’t have a vanilla bean, so I upped the amount of vanilla. The end result was still tangy and smooth.
Vanilla Lime Pound Cake
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Pound Cake
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8-10
Tart and warm…a Southern vanilla lime pound cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
- 3 eggs
- 3 T whole milk
- 1 1/2 T REAL vanilla extract or paste (don’t use imitation as this is a huge taste of your pound cake)
- 1 T lime zest
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- For the glaze:
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 T heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- juice of two limes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Put parchment paper in a loaf pan and spray with cooking spray.
- Mix dry ingredients. Sugar in this recipe is a dry ingredient. Reminds me to always read directions before starting a new dish.
- Mix wet ingredients and combine with dry.
- Bake for about 60 minutes or until done.
- Let the cake cool.
- Mix the glaze, adjusting the sugar and lime juice to your consistency liking. Drizzle on top of the cake.
- Slixe, share, and enjoy.
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