Grace Realities 19
What’s Eatin’?
We have another short week on our hands. We just got back from looking for housing in the Atlanta area.
I love being married – because I can ask my husband what he wants to eat. How this helps me: he’ll be getting food he loves and he gives me ideas when I’m in a rut!
Wednesday: Bolognese Pasta and the great thing about this is it is in the freezer. I can just pull the sauce out and warm it up. We have another showing on our house and everything has to be spotless at all times!
Thursday: Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken and a Coconut Cream Pie from Sara Foster in NC.
Friday: Paula Deen’s Italian Chicken Casserole
Saturday: Brinner before a photo shoot of a sweet family in town. I love French Toast and rarely make it so I’ll be making it this week and serving it with some fruit! Our little will love it too. May not try him with syrup yet because it is so messy – but he will love the sweetness of it as well.
Sunday: Fajitas for our church’s mission fundraiser. I here there are 75 lbs of skirt steak marinating.
Eat This: Italian Sweet Pepper Quiche
In Wake Forest, North Carolina, a place I called home for 3.5 years in my twenties, sits a well-known favorite of the Olde English Tea Room. As you walk in the door, you are greeted with the fragrance of enough tea to make any tea-lover happy.
They had delicious cakes that friends of mine baked in the wee hours of the morning and the slower hours of the afternoon. Delicious chicken salad and a chicken and rice soup that I ate almost exclusively. And they had quiches.
I never tried theirs because I didn’t know what I was missing. I didn’t start eating quiche until a few years ago. Maybe its because I thought it wasn’t filling or was too dainty of food – I mean, I love macaroni and cheese and a good steak or burger. But, now I know better.
I created this quiche because of the presence of these sweet little peppers that were on sale at my grocery store. Oh goodness. Their sweetness, after cooking just a bit in some olive oil, tasted divine and simple in the pool of eggs and cream and cheese that they baked in. I went the simple route and used a store bought pie dough for the crust – but do what your heart – and your counter space limitation – tell you to do. Maybe you have a pie crust recipe from your grandmother that you use all that time – then by all means use it.
Italian Sweet Pepper Quiche
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Eggs
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Deliciously rich and sweet quiche perfect for any time of the day
Ingredients
- 1 unbaked pie crust
- 1 cup shredded Italian cheese (I use a 5 cheese blend)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 6 eggs (I use all natural Great Day Farm eggs)
- 7 sweet mini peppers, chopped, seeded
- olive oil
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bake the pie crust for about 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Chop the peppers and sauté until just soft in evoo. Season with salt and pepper.
- In a bowl, mix the eggs, cream, spices, and half of the cheese.
- When your pie crust is cooled, layer the rest of the cheese in the bottom.
- Then top the cheese with the peppers.
- Then dump in the egg mixture. If you are using a deep dish you will be able to fit all the mixture. If you aren’t then you’ll have a little left (just scramble it up in a pan and have a breakfast 1 and 2).
- Bake on a baking sheet for about 45 minutes or until no longer jiggly in the center of the quiche.
- Serve with a simple green salad or some fruit and a muffin.
W&BT: Found in Him (finale)
This is going down as a very engaging, life-changing book. It is that good. I’ve always loved the grace impetus that Elyse Fitzpatrick has in her writing – and this one is no different.
Here are my thoughts on the last two chapters.
One of the most hope-full sentences in the entire book is found in chapter 9 – “No matter how you’ve sinned or been sinned against – your identity is that of a beloved, pure bride.” Often in this world, we are categorized by our sin. Think of all the “self-help programs” or even in our churches when people know you have committed a sin – that’s what our minds shift to when we see that person in the hall or in Sunday School. Not so. This should not be. We should look at other Blood-bought Christians as Christ would – through His blood.
“We are truly alive. We are free and no longer enslaved to sin or the law.” (183) If this is true in our standing in front of a holy God – can it ever be true in the local church? How can we love each other even though we see their sin – they see our sin – how do we display Christ to ourselves and others?
“What would your life look like if you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were loved and that there was nothing you could do to spoil that reality?” Oh what glorious truth! How can we again live this out in the local church – in our small groups, in our play dates with other mommies, or in our ministry teams?
“I am free to serve my neighbor because I don’t need to demand to be loved – I have already been fully loved in Christ. I am free to serve my neighbor because I don’t need to be respected – Jesus knows exactly who I am.” – How much of our lives are lived in front of others, so others will see us, so that we can look good and climb ladders or get pats on the backs? This is not how the Christian life should be lived. We are who we are in Christ. Let us live there – in that reality – not keeping score or a list of things we have done. Good book on this topic: When People are Big and God is Small – by Ed Welch.
“Idolatry is crushed beneath true worship.” Oh how true. If we are focused on the gospel, sin will grow so faint (idolatry is sin).
Grace Realities 18
Eat This: Caesar Green Beans
One of my favorite things in the world of food is Caesar dressing. The tanginess and saltiness and creaminess just makes me salivate and want to dip everything I have in front of me – bread, croutons, crackers, vegetables, meat, salad (of course), in it. Just dump the contents of the bottle in a large bowl and let me dig in! I wanted to liven up some frozen green beans and thought this would be the perfect side dish. I could have easily eaten the whole dish!
Caesar Green Beans
Recipe Type: Side Dish
Cuisine: Vegetables
Author:
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Serves: 3-4
Green beans with a delicious sauce
Ingredients
- 1 bag frozen whole green beans
- 1 T unsalted butter
- 2 T Caesar salad dressing
- s/p to taste
- 1 T sliced toasted almonds
- 2 T freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook green beans according to directions package.
- Drain.
- In a pan, melt the butter. Stir in the dressing and green beans until all combined.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Top with almonds and cheese.
- Devour.
Grace Realities 17
What’s Eatin?
I am finally learning to be creative in what I cook. So, while I still love recipes – I am having fun playing with them and learning to add my own touches here and there. This week is full of those. Can’t wait to have people around our table this week.
Monday: Brinner. Eggs, grits, bacon, and lemon poppy seed cake with blueberry glaze (recipe to come).
Tuesday: Pulled out a cookbook by one of my favorite chefs – Tyler Florence – and am cooking from his Dinner at My Place book this week. Penne with Spicy Italian Sausage is going down.
Wednesday: A sweet pepper quiche with those lovely little peppers that were on sale this week at Kroger.
Thursday: We are having a date night with a gift card and to see a movie! Yay!!!!!
Friday: Stir fry chicken with some great delicious rice. Rice is cheap and easy!
Saturday: We are cooking together with a family who are friends of ours. We are doing taco night on a Saturday. I’m making Tyler’s Mexican beef tacos. And you know there will be guacamole if I have anything to do with it!
Sunday: Leftovers. I love not having to cook for Sunday lunch. And I am going to be making some brown sugar sandwich cookies with spiced cream cheese filling. So yummily!
Eat This: Banana Pancake Oats
This breakfast reminds of two of my favorite morning meals. Pancakes at Guglhupf in Durham, NC. And oats in the Bay Area of California with my Dad. Let me tell you about them.
There is a little bakery/café in the central part of Durham that I still crave their pancakes. Ask my husband: they serve the best most amazing, perfect textured pancakes EVER. I wish I could get their recipe. The pancake plate comes with apples, butter, and syrup. At most restaurants, I have to ask my server for my syrup because the pancakes just need help. I rarely have ever used all the syrup at Guglhupf. They don’t need any more. I can devour the plate and be completely satisfied by the rich goodness that I inhale on my fork. Then I want to go home and recreate them – but have yet been able to. My husband is sitting here beside me making up an ode de Guglhupf. Funny man I live life with.
The Bay Area of California. With so much going on – its a place I’ve only been to once but would love to explore more of – and most directly north of there in the wine country of Napa. But as I look at pictures of the Bridge and the Bay, it pulls me and calls me to travel there to explore all of its goodness. One such goodness is the breakfast I had. I don’t remember where we went, but the oats were amazing. This was really before I started eating oats on a regular basis. I grew up a Life Cereal girl. A whole tray of goodies came out with a big steaming bowl of oats. Bananas, raisins, syrup, brown sugar, all to create your own bowl of goodness. I thought to myself oatmeal could be fun!
Well, thinking about these two delicious breakfasts helped me create this mornings bowl of oats. Oats are a healthy and inexpensive way to feed your whole family in the morning. This recipe serve 2.5 (Eli doesn’t eat quite a whole bowl yet.)
Banana Pancake Oats
Recipe Type: Breakast
Cuisine: Oats
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3
Banans, brown sugar, oats, and syrup – yummy concoction for breakfast
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup whole oats
- 1 1/3 whole milk
- 1/4 cup water
- pinch of kosher salt
- 2 T brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon sugar
- 1/2 banana, pureed
- 1 banana
- Maple Syrup
- Chopped pecans, optional
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, bring the oats, milk, and water to a boil and let cook until done.
- Halfway through cooking, add in the salt, cinnamon sugar, brown sugar, and pureed banana.
- When done, spoon into bowls, top with sliced bananas and maple syrup. If desired, add chopped nuts.
Fit Friday: 5 Health Benefits of Drinking Water
Starbucks. Coke. Diet Coke. Cherry Zero. Milk. Juices. Green Smoothis. Kefir.
So many liquids to drink out there – and I’ve only named a few. But, what about the one thing that is free and good (at least in our ountry in most cities in America)?
My health fast in the month of March is for the remainder of the month, I will give up my Sonic runs and my unsweet tea and drink only water. So, why should we drink water? These are not scientific but just some thoughts:
1. Fills you up before a meal. So you don’t eat as many calories, so you lose weight.
2. Cleanses your body because drinking more makes you go to the bathroom more.
3. Makes your skin look healthier because you are flushing toxins from your body that usually cause acne.
4. Its free. Our wallet could use a break.
5. It tastes good. I like our water. Clean. Not filtered. Ice or no ice. Lemon, lime, or just plain! PS. If you don’t like your water, there are items like Brita or you can buy Aquafina or Fiji water if your budget allows. Those are my two favorite bottles of water.
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