Summertime Chicken Soup

This recipe is one of my absolute favorite meals! It is a version of Rachael Ray's Lemon Chicken Tortellini Soup. I call it Summertime Chicken Soup because if it were fall or winter, I think I would want good ol' chicken soup, but the fresh lemon zest and juice make this bright & refreshing, perfect for warm weather. It has been so soothing for my springtime allergies.

Here's what you need:

Summertime Chicken Soup

Preferred cooking oil (I use extra virgin olive oil.)

Salt & pepper

1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs (if you don't like dark meat, of course you could use tenders or breasts.)

Small package of refrigerated tortellini (I've used frozen before... It's just not as good.) 

32 oz. chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you're going vegetarian)

2 cups water

1 lemon (grate the peel from the whole lemon)

2 cups fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped

Optional ingredients: 1 cup frozen peas, 1 package fresh sliced mushrooms, chopped asparagus, chopped fresh mint

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown on both sides until golden. Remove the chicken from the pot to cool on a plate.

Pour broth and water into pot, increasing heat to bring to a boil.

Cook tortellini according to the package directions.

Shred chicken while pasta cooks.

If you are adding mushrooms or asparagus, add them in the last 4 minutes of the pasta cooking time.

Remove the pot from the heat, add in the grated lemon peel and squeeze all of the juice from the lemon. Stir in the spinach (and peas, eetc., if using), and add the shredded chicken.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with warm French or Italian bread.

I know you will enjoy this one!
 

You Can Do It!

I have been thinking about blogging a lot lately, but just haven't made the time to do so. I truly enjoy "journaling" the happenings of our family. It is refreshing to reflect on what God has done in our family's life. This is another reason why I love keeping a prayer journal. If you don't have one, start one. You will love reading back over your prayers and seeing God's providence over your life.

On to the update....

We have had more showings on our house recently, so I have been using my free time (ha!) to clean. I got to do a couple of deep cleaning things that have been on my mental list:
1. Do a self-clean cycle on my oven. It gets used a lot (you know how I love baking!), so it was pretty scary, but it is shiny and pretty inside!
2. Shampoo the carpet in the kids' rooms. So much spit up and throw-up happens in those two rooms... enough said.
I also accomplished the dreaded changing of the season closet swap right before we had a cold spell! Life is so funny sometimes!

The kids are sick right now; one with an ear infection and one with something viral. I am coming down with something as I type... so I guess you could call us the Sickly Family Mills. :(
This is not good because for some reason I let my running buddy talk me into training for another half marathon that I only have five weeks left to train for! I need to stay healthy!

Speaking of staying healthy, I want to brag on Ben. If you know Ben, you know that he is a naturally athletic guy; strength and endurance come easily to him. But he is human, and humans need consistent exercise to maintain a state of physical health. Ben works a long day, and most days comes home right after work and immediately helps me get the kids to the table, fed, bathed, p.j.'ed, read to and tucked-in, all (usually) by 8:00. At this point, you parents know you're next to exhausted, not just physically, but mentally too. We usually spend the rest our our evening cleaning the kitchen, taking care of miscellaneous household chores and unwinding by reading together and/or going through our memory verses, or playing guitar and singing. But if you try to call Ben around 12:00 in the afternoon the next day, he probably won't answer. He will most likely be out running around doing pull-up's on tree limbs, push-ups on sidewalks and whatever else he and his work friends can come up with to challenge each other! I really admire their commitment to exercising. And I am thankful that Ben works in an environment that encourages that lifestyle. If you care about something enough, you will make time for it.

Segue alert!
With that last sentence in mind, I want to update you on my New Year post. I had challenged myself to start getting up earlier in order to make time for being in God's Word every day. Not tooting my own horn here, but I do want to encourage you and say, it can be done, and if you truly care, you will make time. I have been getting up between 6:00 & 6:30 most mornings to have some quiet time with The Lord. It has not been easy, and I have had to forgo some exercise time, but I know that God will bless through the sacrifice. I have no secret for success, but my two personal "biggie" motivators that get me out of bed are 1. I set my coffee maker to brew automatically at 6:00 a.m. And 2. I do not ever calculate how much/how little sleep I will/won't be getting. I truly look forward to this time each day.

Make time for exercise... it's good for you!

Make time for The Lord. You and your family will be blessed by it!

Super-Addictive "Snack Bites"

This is a recipe that I adpated to make more friendly for my kids and my pantry. Warning: it's hard to eat just one!

 

Snack Bites

 

1- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats

1/2 cup nut butter of choice (almond is our favorite in this recipe, but peanut is good too)

1/3-1/2 cup raisins (eyeball it)

1/2 cup ground flaxseed (wheat germ would work too)

1/4-1/3 cup honey (eyeball it)

1 tsp. vanilla

secret ingredient: 1 heaping tbsp. Nutella :)

 

optional ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips for the raisins

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (reduce oat content by equal amount)

 

1. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Let your kids help you. My three-year-old loves to help me make these. I measure, he dumps, and he stirs.

 

2. Roll into 1-1 1/2" balls.

 

3. Place in covered, sealed container. Refrigerate for at least an hour before eating.

 

4. Store no more than a week.

 

These snack bites are easy to pack for on-the-go. We hope you enjoy!

Green

Spring is coming!
Creation is in anticipation.
Birds chirp a pep-talk to the plants
Grow grow grow
The old life is gone
A new life has begun
Resurrection
Easter!
Salvation is here!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Flax Muffins

Satisfying, healthy snack or breakfast for your whole family.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons pure maple syrup or maple flavored agave nectar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil (I used EVOO)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup flaxseed mill or wheat bran / germ

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*

Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper liners

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt

In separate bowl, beat together eggs, maple agave, sugar, oil, and milk

Stir egg mixture into flour mixture

Fold in the berries and flaxseed mill

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown

adapted from Lucinda Quinn's Mad Hungry

An Old Habit I'll Never Break

If  you've read a few of my posts, you've most likely seen me mention scripture memory. Of all of the habits that I have tried to pick up, it's one that I have actually stuck with, and I'll tell you why: it has truly changed my life. Psalm 119:9-11 says,

"How can a young man (or woman) keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wonder from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

The results of "hiding God's word in my heart" have been amazing! Almost immediately after I memorized the first passage, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, God started using it to gently remind me not to complain about temporal circumstances. God has also revealed to me the importance of confessing my faults not only to Him, but to a trusted believer, and then asking for prayer to overcome the sin (James 5:16). Silently meditating through all of our passages got Ben through his first marathon in April, and one verse in particular stood out to him:

Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize?  So run to win!  All athletes are disciplined in their training.  They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.  So I run with purpose in every step.  I am not just shadowboxing.  I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.  Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Through developing this habit, God has changed my heart, resulting in a changed thought process. When conflicts arise, when stress hits me in the stomach, when my friends are hurting, when my toddler is disobeying, I have the wisdom of God stored inside to direct me. I've been re-programmed.

My idle time is spent differently. Couch time does not always involve TV watching- instead we will "quiz" each other; and car rides have definitely become more interesting. Even Rush, our 3-year-old has started memorizing verses. Here's where I got his plan.

Speaking of re-programming, our pastor issued a challenge to our church yesterday morning (the last Sunday of  2012) to read one chapter of the Bible a day for all of 2013. In his sermon about the importance of knowing God's Word, he explained that being in God's word as a habit will re-program our minds. I can attest to that this is absolutely true! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (one of our memorized passages) says:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 I feel trained and equipped more than ever! But there is still so much more for me to learn! I am so, so thankful for the blessing of God's Holy Word, and I cannot wait to see what I learn from it in 2013! I urge you to join me in memorizing one verse or passage per week and reading one chapter a day this new year. If you need a reading plan, visit our church website. You will also find a link to our pastor's blog where he will be sharing his thoughts on each day's reading.

I pray that 2013 is a year full of new wisdom for you as you make every effort to get to know Him more and more!

Staying Centered

Worldliness

I have started reading the book that I mentioned earlier this month called Worldliness. So far, it is great, very straightforward and convicting, and also easy to read. I am looking forward to what the Lord might reveal to me as I study this book.

This time of year it is near impossible to not get sucked into a "worldly" or materialistic mindset. I admit that there were moments when I was shopping for gifts in which I started shopping for myself! I love buying & giving gifts for our family. We are very blessed in that we do not deal with any of the "expecting a nice gift" from our family members, and we only give gifts to our immediate family members. (Sometimes we will decide to play a white elephant game with my aunts, uncles and cousins, but that's only every few years.) Considering what I have heard some of my friends and acquaintances complaining about with being obligated to buy a gift for every single person down to Great-Aunt Carol's son from Minnesota whom you only see at Christmas, we, as a family, have it easy. I think that having less to buy makes it easier for us to keep focused on what the True Meaning of Christmas is. I realize that this sounds very cliche and "Sunday School-ish," but as we have whittled down our list of people-to-buy-for and what-to-buy over the years, I know that it is true. Maybe if I planned ahead better, I could buy for all of our cousins and their children and all of our aunts and uncles and still remember why Christmas even happens, but I am not so sure. Of course, this is only my personal experience. I am not at all suggesting that you do not acknowledge Christ's birthday if you buy gifts for every person that you come in contact with; this is just what has become necessary in my life in order to not slip into a worldly celebration of a Holy holiday.

We had a fun opportunity this year to read the daily Christmas (Advent) devotional called A Meaningful Christmas Devotional. Along with a short and simple daily reading, which we did at breakfast,there is a coordinating handmade ornament to help your child better understand the topic for the day. The ornaments were made by 24 different women (including myself), as each was assigned a specific day's topic and instructions to make 24 copies of the ornaments. The ornaments were shared at a meeting where we received the devotional book. It was a great experience for our family, and another way that we were able to keep Christ at the center of Christmas. Rush asked every morning, "Are we going to read the yellow book, Daddy?" If you think you might be interested in doing this devotional, you can go to the Facebook page for more info.

Running

I completed my first half-marathon on December 9th! The Lord protected me during the race- no pain and no fatigue! I am currently training toward my second coming up on February 9.

New Book

Ben and I started reading another book together- Sheet Music. It's one that I have read before, but Ben has not. I will not go into any details, except to say, if you're not married, you shouldn't read it. (There are a couple of chapters that the author suggests for engaged couples close to the wedding date.) Anyway, it's about sexual intimacy within marriage, and how great a gift from God it is. I think that any married couple would benefit from reading it. But I must warn you: it will make you blush. ;)