Fasting, Slippers and Sewing

Have I mentioned we are fasting this month?  We are participating in a 21 day fast and devotional with our church.  It's completely voluntary, and for us, we felt called to do it.  So, after much thought and prayer, we are fasting eating out.  No restaurants, no drive thru's, nothing to eat or drink that isn't made at home.  We are on day 10 and honestly a little surprised at how well we're doing.  Hubby has been tempted more than I have, which is funny because I'm usually the one that brings up going out.  But finding something new to cook every day has been a fun adventure!  Since I love to cook, this is my kind of fun.  And, no excuses for not cooking!

The other day I made breaded pork chops in the oven.  Now, I grew up in Texas and pork chops fried / grilled / broiled or any other way is a staple around here.  My favorite has always been fried pork chops, fried potatoes and some kind of green veggie.  Mmmm...  My point is, I made this new recipe and it was amazing!  I used boneless chops this time, but these could be made with bone in as well.  I found the recipe here, which is my favorite recipe website.  There just isn't much you can't find on there.  Here is one of the BEST pork chop recipes I've found ~

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Famous Pork Chops

By: HAULBUR

"My family loves these and they fall apart when you cut them with your fork."
 
Ingredients


1 cup crushed butter crackers
garlic salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
3 eggs, beaten
4 pork chops
1/2 cup butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a shallow bowl combine crushed crackers, garlic salt and pepper; mix well. In a separate bowl beat eggs.

Dip your pork chops in the egg batter and then in the cracker mixture. Place the pork chops in a casserole dish. Place chunks of the butter around the pork chops. Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

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Wow, were they really yummy.  I didn't measure the butter.  I just spread it around the pan all around the pork chops.  I only needed 2 eggs, and I had 6 chops.  If you get a chance, try this recipe!

And, speaking of recipes...  I have a new snack I absolutely LOVE.  This is another recipe from the same place.  It's super easy~

8 oz cream cheese, softened
5 oz jar of green olives
garlic salt to taste

I put this in the Cuisinart and it comes you great.  I read it's not good to use a mixer because it whips it too much.  But I got the exact consistency I wanted with my food processor.  Oh, and if you choose to mix by hand, be sure to chop the olives up really well.  I serve it with Pepperidge Farm crackers, the ones that come 4 different crackers in a box.  This one is added to my official "football snacks" recipe collection.  Maybe sometime soon I'll share that collection with you.  :-)

Today, we've spent hanging out at home.  We have Addi here with us, she's our youngest grandchild.  She was 20 months this week.  Wow, I can't believe she is almost 2 years old!  Otherwise, my agenda included making honey pancakes for breakfast, a recipe I found here.  And starting beef tips in gravy for dinner in the crockpot.  That recipe was more, what do I have in the pantry I can throw together?

The beef tips I had some smallchuck beef steaks in the freezer so I cut them in to chunks, threw in the crockpot with a can of cream of mushroom soup, an envelope of dry onion soup, a can of milk and an envelope of brown gravy mix.  I'll cook it all day and possibly add a little more liquid depending on how the gravy comes out.  I will make egg noodles to serve it over, with some asparagus I got from a friend. 

But that wasn't even what I'd planned to share.  I was sitting here surfing the net when I realized my feet were cold.  So I got out a couple of skeins of yarn I had from other projects and promptly crocheted myself these:

I am so happy with them!  They were super easy and made up super quick.  :-)  Now, my feet are warm and cozy while I work on sewing up some Valentine's Day dresses for my granddaughters.  For a fairly lazy day, it's turned out to be pretty productive!

I hope you had a good Sunday.  Sleeping in this morning made me very thankful for Saturday services at our church.  I hope you stay warm and cozy.  Blessing to ya'll!

Living the Blessed Life!

~ Jesi
"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."  ~ Mark 11:24

New Year Resolutions

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19

Do you ever ask yourself why we "make" New Year Resolutions?  Most of us do it, and they are usually things we want to change about ourselves for the new year.  Maybe we are going to workout more, or eat less, or spend more time with our families.  Or maybe it's to make more money or spend less money, get on a budget...  It's as if the calendar year changing gives us all a fresh start. 

But - as is our nature I guess, we also tend to break our resolutions before the end of January.  We get motivated, start that direction and then life gets in our way.  We too easily fall back in to our old habits.  Not everyone is this way, of course, but I'll step out and say that a large majority of those who make the resolutions never see them to the end of the year.  Personally, I have countless failed resolutions over the years. 

So for me, I am not making any resolutions this year.  I have a lot of hope and excitement about the coming year.  But that is based only on my anticipation of what Father is going to do with and for us this year.   I have hope that I will be a healthier person, but that's my hope no matter what day of the year it is.  We were really good at running and working out for a while and let up over the fall.  We've recently renewed our gym membership and are going to start working out again.  This was something we did not because of the new year, but because we both have gained weight and want to stay healthy for our grandchildren. 

I try to renew my commitment to living a faithful life true to my Father on a daily basis.  I look for the Holy Spirit to guide me each day, as a new day with new hopes and dreams.  "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24  (Or as we like to say, "I will CHOOSE to rejoice and be glad in it!")  This is not something that has any bearing on a calendar day.  It has to do with my commitment to my Father.

I hope that whatever resolutions you choose this year, that you are blessed abundantly and that you use this time not to dwell on the past year but to anticipate what is coming in the future - the streams in the wastelands.

Living the Blessed Life,

~ Jessica

New Year's Eve Adventures

A lot has been said lately about this decade ending and a new one beginning.  I have seen many of my friends say what a bad decade it's been.  Discussions are going on around all the tragedies and dismay that resulted over the last 10 years.  It can be pretty depressing if you get caught up in all of it.

Personally, I don't see it this way at all.

I recall a country that went from being complacent and self centered to standing together as we mourned the loss of so many on 9/11.  Remember how the fireman and policeman were brought back up to the level of respect they deserved?  Or how strangers began to speak and we were reminded to stop and spend time with family and friends?  As tragic as that time was for our country, there were a lot of good things that came from that time as well.

I saw more monetary wealth than I imagined in my life at the beginning of the decade and by 2005, it was all gone.  For many reasons, but the result is I've found I am richer now in my life than I've ever been.    I've lost many "things" over the lasts 10 years, and I've seen heartache in that time.  But for me, I'm thankful for the experience of the decade and looking forward to a blessed new year.

Speaking of...  I read a blog recently that questioned Bishop TD Jakes motives for making the statement that 2010 will be a prosperous year.  The comments on that blog were attacking to say the least.  This blog was listed on a "christian" blog site.  I have to say here, because I can, that I was completely disappointed in the response to the article.  The article itself was only stating facts and questioning other's thoughts on it.  But the responses were not only judgemental and condeming, but made based on perceptions and none of them had any valid points.  I'm sad that those "christians" were so quick to judge and condemn.  In fact, I'm curious as to who determined that prosperous was only monetary?  And by the way, do we live in the world's economy or God's?  There was also discussion that the economy wasn't that bad anyway.  There was one person who stated that it only meant we had to cancel movie channels and boo hoo if we did.  I'm glad that person is blessed enough that they didn't have to give up more than their movie channels, but it's very naive to think that's all that others had to give up.  I've seen families that became homeless, people who lost homes, cars, jobs, and businesses because of this world's economy.  I don't know a lot about Bishop Jakes personally - but I do know that it's not my place to question his heart.  And I'm thankful for the expectation that this next year will be prosperous and for the blessings my Father has promised me as His child! 

OK...  I feel MUCH better now! 

What are your plans for tonight?  Please be safe!  We are hanging out with 3 grandbabies and two sons tonight.  :-)  Looks like we'll be going to an early movie and then dinner, and home for fun and games.  It's a great way to bring in a New Year and the new decade!  We really have no plans for tomorrow, which is funny becaue we usually have some kind of meal planned with the family.  This holiday we have spent a lot of time just hanging out with the grandbabies.  We play games, the Wii, watch movies, or just play with them.  It's been a nice and relaxing week.  Life is good.

Living the Blessed Life....

Jessica