And the baking begins...

New goal: Learn to bake. From scratch. Yes, no more commerically prepared products.

Obstacles: 1. I've always been terrified of baking. 2. I don't have a stand mixer.

However, Andy and I are cutting the processed foods out of our diets, but that doesn't mean that we have to give up the occasional yummy baked good. And I happen to know an incredible baker (AKA my stepdad, Trent) who I'm sure would be more than willing to lend advice if asked. So...

Strategies for overcoming obstacles: 1. "the only way to finish is to start" (stolen from some t-shirt I saw on the internet) and 2. I have arms and hands and bowls and utensils and really I don't need another stinkin' kitchen appliance. But...maybe if I'm good and if our new apartment has enough counter space to house the thing, Santa or the Turkey fairy (my birthday is in November) will gift me a stand mixer later this year. Anyhow, I'm starting with these two recipes, both found on my new favorite website Smitten Kitchen, not to be confused with Smitten Kitten, which I will NOT hyperlink and which I accidentally typed in when I tried to go to Smitten KiTCHen and um, wow. NOT the site I was looking for...

My first two made-from-scratch cakes will be:

Strawberry Summer Cake and Blueberry Boy Bait

I'll probably start with the strawberry one because Andy loves strawberries more than blueberries. Also, I will be going to the land of blueberries in July (Michigan) and plan to come home with a trunk full of the berries. Thus, I will have the perfect excuse to bake the second cake.

I'll be sure to take pictures and share my trials and errors :-).

Jillian Michael's book

I just finished Jillian Michael's Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormons for a Hot and Healthy Body! and really enjoyed it. No, it doesn't give any new secrets for getting a "hot body". I've been reading diet and nutrition books for years now, so the basic - eat good food and exercise theme didn't blow my mind. What I did find very interesting, however, is the information on endocrine distruptors and all of the crazy stuff inside the things we live in and around, eat, drink, breathe, etc. In some ways the information was overwhelming and terrifying but in others, it was really interesting and informatives. For those interested in learning ways in which to live cleaner, greener, healthier, longer lives, check out the book!

Taco Bake

I created this (okay..."create" meaning I didn't utilize a recipe. I realize I am not the first to do this) last night and it was a HIT! So scrumptious that I am actually excited about the leftovers (I am known in my household as the leftover snob)!

1 lb ground turkey -prepared per instructions on back of taco seasoning packet
1 4 oz can green chilies - added to browned turkey
1 can fat free refried beans - "loosened" up and heated through with olive oil and garlic
About 6 hard taco shells
About 12 oz (I know...it's kind of a lot but I LOVE cheese)
Lettuce, salsa, sour cream - you know, the taco's usual suspects toppings

Once the meat is prepared and the beans are spreadable, I broke the taco shells in half and layered them on the bottom of a small casserole dish. Then half the meat, then half the beans, then half the cheese. Then another layer of shells, the rest of the meat, the rest of the beans, the rest of the cheese :-). Deliciously simple! Baked it in the oven for about 20 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt and the juices to soften the taco shells. Hot out of the oven I topped each serving with lettuce, salsa, and sour cream. It was delightful! And so, so easy. What more could you ask for in dinner - quick, simple, YUMMY! I didn't take any pictures but it was basically an orange colored casserole. :-)

We couldn't resist another move

Maybe we are going to become those people that move every few months just for kicks. I'm currently lining up boxes to move to our 6th apartment since May 2010 :-). I swear we're not running from the law!

A few weeks ago I posted about how we were going to start house shopping. About 1.5 weeks later, we stopped house shopping. Instead, we've weighed our options and decided that this is not the time for us to buy our first home. After some initial disappointment we quickly thanked God for His hand in our situation and decided to upgrade to a larger apartment within our current complex. While Andy, Spike, and I certainly love each other and while we certainly love the opportunity to turn our living room into the guest bedroom for when family and friends visit, a one bedroom is just a liiiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit too small for this family.

We never got around to decorating the apartment we live in now, so I'm excited to do that in the new one. Once we have everything in place I'll be sure to share a few pictures :-).

Wish us luck! I'm convinced this will be the best move yet, because we've hired movers! Yes, we're only going 0.5 miles down the road, but I'm telling you, it's going to be worth it. No more scrapped knuckles as we push furniture through doorways, or smashed feet as we drop boxes in the wrong places, or sore backs as we forget to lift with our knees, and most importantly, no raised voices shouting "it needs to go into the truck THIS way!" Hired movers = an investment in the longevity of our lovely, happy marriage!

Delicious Energy Bites - Try it!

I stumbled upon this recipe from Oh She Glows today and made it tonight and it is DELICIOUS! It was really pretty easy, though I had never made a "flax egg" before (flax seed and water mixed together - a vegan alternative to egg). The finished product was so delicious that I had a hard time wrapping them up for snacks at work. But, I managed!

Also, I learned an important lesson today. Wax paper and parchment paper do not act exactly the same in the oven. In fact, wax paper may catch fire in your oven. Luckily, I'll pulled it out before flames appeared...

Fruit and Nut Energy Bites (from Oh She Glows website)

Chewy, crunchy, delicate, and sweet. Packed with walnuts and dried fruit, these all natural energy bites will have you buzzing along in no time. They can easily be adapted with other dried fruits, nuts, and spices and would be perfect for outdoor Fall and Winter activities.

Adapted from Joy of Baking.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup whole-grain Kamut flour (or all-purpose, whole wheat, etc) - I used all purpose
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup Sucanat or light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts (can also use pecans, hazelnuts or almonds), chopped - I used almonds because that's what I had in the house
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries - I used raisins instead, because I had those around

12 Medjool dates (approx 1 cup chopped dates), pits removed and chopped (or figs, and/or prunes) - I didn't put any dates/figs/prunes in
1 cup dried apricots, cut into bite size pieces - I used cranberries instead
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water) - this is cool!
1 tbsp almond milk - I used regular milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions: Preheat oven to 325F. Line a square pan (8 or 9 inch) with parchment paper across both sides for easy lifting. In a small bowl mix together the flax egg and set aside.

Chop and toast the walnuts for 8-9 minutes at 325F. Remove from oven and set aside. Toasting the nuts really brings out the flavour so you don’t want to skip this step.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the walnuts and dried fruit. Make sure the nuts and dried fruit are all coated with the flour mixture.

Mix the vanilla into the flax egg after it has thickened up after about 10 minutes.

Add the flax egg mixture and the 1 tbsp almond milk to the fruit and nut mixture and mix well.

Spread into the pan, pressing with fingers to even it out. I used a pastry roller too.

Bake for about 33-35 minutes at 325For until golden in colour. Remove from pan and allow to cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Now transfer back into the pan and placein freezer to set for 10 minutes. Remove from pan once again and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Now slice the bites up with a sharp knife. Makes 16-20 bites depending on how large you make them. I made them smaller as they are very dense energy wise.

I love this recipe because it's so adaptable! Use whatever nuts you like, whatever dried fruit you have around or prefer, etc. It smells absolutely delicious when it's baking because of the cinnamon and vanilla and tastes absolutely divine! Because I was an idiot and thought I could use wax paper in the oven (hey, everyone is allowed a stupid moment now and then) I had to transfer it quickly (read: before a fire began/midway through baking) to another baking dish and didn't have a small one, so actually finished baking it on the jelly roll pan. It kept its form while baking but when I went to transfer it to the cooling rack it started to crumble. I did manage to get it back into the square pan to go in the freezer and then it regained its shape a bit and I was able to cut the bites into little squares when it was all said and done. Next time, I'll use parchment paper and the whole thing should be much easier! (Though all the crumblies sure did taste good as I "cleaned up" hehehe)

Humility and Marriage

I thought this article was really great. I love getting the Marriage Memos from FamilyLife and thought this one was especially good, so I wanted to share. I love my marriage and will do anything to fight for its success. However, I also continue to learn that marriage is an incredibly complicated thing that takes work. When Andy and I were preparing to marry, we were blessed to have people in our lives that were honest about the good things and the difficult things that come with marriage. Often I'm afraid that young couples aren't prepared or equipped to navigate all that comes along with marriage. I think it's incredibly important for young men and women thinking of getting married to really figure out what they are getting in to, so they can be well-prepared. In order for young couples to know what they are really getting in to, other, more experienced couples must be willing to be open and honest about their marriage. That's one of the reasons why I thought this article was so great. A woman who has been married for years and works for a Christian organization had the courage to disclose that not only are there arguments and "fights" in her marriage, but she and her husband argue about the same things over and over again. I admire the author's humility and am reassured that we aren' the only couple that experiences topic repeats when it comes to arguments.

"When Conflict Keeps Popping Up"

By Barbara Rainey

Do you know that unwinnable “Whack a Mole” game at your local kids’ pizza place—the one where the machine pops up plastic moles and your mission is to beat them back down as fast as they pop up? Conflicts in marriage are like that game; they keep popping up even when you don’t want to play anymore.Recently my husband and I were in another unwanted skirmish in our marriage. Same topic, same emotions, round gazillion! I’ve been disappointed many times that our issues are not resolved cleanly. They aren’t black and white.Over the decades of our marriage, our repeated disagreements have settled into several categories: parenting values, decision making, money, sex, and travel. Victory, a conditional one, was declared in only one of these: parenting, and that was simply because time ran out. The others demand ongoing engagement. Your own recurring marital battles may be over finances, in-laws, jobs, or other situations. No two marriages battle the same combination of issues. Yet there are similar patterns.The “we’re traveling too much” conflict was the one that caught us once again last week.My husband’s mother affectionately called her son a “road runner” after the cute cartoon character that was off in a flash everywhere he went. I thought it was sweet. I should have paid attention to the truth she was speaking. Not that it would have changed my decision to marry him. But his road-runner enthusiasm for travel, adventure, discovery, and conquering enemy territory has caused more ongoing stress and conflict in our marriage than any of the other areas I mentioned earlier. (By the way, I love to be home.)Our recent conflict began when I realized we were over-committed. Again. Somehow the schedule monster had eaten up more days than we realized and suddenly we were facing the enemy of miscommunication with no escape. Feelings of mistrust, lack of protection, lack of support, and anxiety resurfaced as we confronted the fact that I need more time at home than he does, but he needs me to go with him, and support him, and do life with him. Neither is wrong. It’s what we do with the clash of those colossal differences that matters.Like peeling an onionAt the core of this conflict, and at the core of any other recurring conflict, is fear. For me it’s fear that I am not really valued for what is important to me. If I perceive that Dennis is constantly scheduling us to the brink, pushing me to my limits, then I come to believe he hasn’t heard me, that he doesn’t get it, and therefore that he doesn’t love me. At the same time, if I refuse to adapt, to grow, to risk the stress of following him, then he perceives that I haven’t heard what he needs, that I don’t get it, and therefore I don’t really care about him as a person. Rather than declaring victory, it’s like peeling the layers of an onion. Each time we clash over this issue, and others, we are in different circumstances in our lives. I needed margins for different reasons 20 years ago when I was parenting full time. He needed my partnership for different reasons, too. Each conversation can peel another layer off our individual coverings so that we can see ourselves and our spouses more clearly than we did before. Our perceptions of ourselves and of each other are vastly flawed. We forget that most of the time.So while I don’t believe we declared victory this time, that we’ll never argue or disagree over travel ever again, I do believe we peeled away another layer. I see more clearly that I need to work on my attitude about following my husband, that I need to rejoice that my husband wants me with him, and that I should trust God with this situation that He has given me for my good.During a recent snow storm, our office building closed for the day. Dennis and I decided to enjoy every minute of the glittering snow-covered day, so we donned our winter gear and went hiking in the woods. On the way back, which was all uphill, I paused to catch my breath. As we stood there panting, my husband said to me, “I’m not going to push you anymore.” It had nothing to do with the travel issues, but I realized in that promise that he had heard my words to him. He allowed me to be who I was in that moment—needing a pause in the action when he didn’t. Next time you are chopping an onion, remember that those layers represent more than a pungent cooking ingredient. To the one who perseveres in marriage, each layer pulled back takes you closer to the heart. Though often accompanied by tears, as happens with onions, the progress made is satisfying. © Copyright 2011 by FamilyLife.

House Hunting Tips, Anyone?!

Andy and I are preparing to enter into the house hunting process. So far we have:

1. Gotten the mortgage pre-approval package from the bank
2. Looked at Realtor.com every week for three months
3. Spent Sunday mornings eating donuts while driving by properties
4. Asked colleagues about neighborhoods to avoid
5. Attended one open house

We continue to pray that God will lead us to the house He has chosen for us. We keep talking about making a list of what we want in a house, but we've yet to do that...maybe this weekend. Any other suggestions from our friends and family who have purchased homes is VERY welcomed!