Monthly Archives: September 2009

Amazing Eggs

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The average cost of a dozen eggs this year is about $2.89. I can make four huge omelets (three eggs each) with a carton of eggs, meaning each one costs me about 80 cents if you account for a little shredded cheese and seasonings. That’s cheap!

In addition to the fact that they inexpensive, eggs are also nutrient dense. There are about 6.5 grams of protein in each egg. They also contain most vitamins, except for vitamin C.

Visit the Egg Nutrition Center for more egg facts.

Because eggs are so cheap and healthy, they have become a staple in our budget-conscious household. I have been looking for ways to incorporate eggs into our meals as an alternative to meat, which can really increase your grocery bill all by itself. The American Egg Board has some great recipe ideas on their website.

Occasionally to save money, I attempt to empty out my freezer, fridge and pantry rather than head to the store. This week I noticed I had bought another carton of eggs even though I already had some, so we’ve been eating a lot of eggs lately.

For lunch we enjoyed cheesy omelets. Mine was loaded up with ketchup because I love the combination of egg, ketchup and cheese. Odd? Maybe. But I love it! Breakfast for lunch is fun and yummy. Try it!

For dinner, I made egg salad. Because neither of us are fans of the yolk, I made the salad without the yolks and served it on light rye. I think it turned out great, though its color was not the usual yellow. The only thing I don’t like about egg salad is the smell of hard boiled egg.

What are some of your favorite egg recipes?

The Secret to LIKING Your Husband (Again)

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Ladies, if you’ve ever gritted your teeth in frustration and felt yourself growing increasingly irritated with your husband, whether it’s a bad habit, annoying behavior or a repeated “mistake,” I have the answer that will change your marriage. And no… I’m not going to call your husband and tell him to get his act together! I don’t have two tickets to Dr. Phil to give away. I’m not even going to teach you how to change him.

Have you ever read a verse from scripture, and suddenly it held new meaning that you’ve never thought of before? Suddenly it applied to something you have never been taught in church or read in a study guide? That happened to me this week. I was annoyed with my husband for some reason I can’t even remember. I was mentally ranting to myself. If you’re married, you know what I was thinking. Ugh, I wish he would… He keeps…. Why can’t he….

(We’ve all had those thoughts. I would bet money on it. If you’re reading this, and you’re married, and you have never thought those kind of thoughts about your husband, you are either in denial or you need to write a book because the rest of us want to know your secret.)

The verse was Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I believe it was the Holy Spirit that added the phrase about your husband to the end of that verse.

Now regardless of your religious beliefs and faith, this is a sometimes-difficult, yet ingenious way to change your marriage. If you fill your head with good thoughts about your husband, there’s no room to sulk about him, and you have essentially put on those rose color glasses again. Remember those? The ones you haven’t worn since you two were first dating? The ones that allowed you to look past his faults and spend hours writing love letters about everything from his smile to the way he holds his fork?

The next time you find yourself thinking, “Ugh, I wish he would…”. STOP. Pause. Start over. “I love the way he…” Don’t even wait for the opportunity to arise, be proactive by keeping a small daily journal of all the things you love about your husband. List past and present acts of service and love. List anything that is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent or worthy of praise. Your list might start out short, but it will grow as you learn to recognize these things in your spouse and in his actions. Before long, you will find yourself dwelling on these things like a newlywed, gushing all over again.

Related:

The Marriage Spoiler: The Problem with Complaining

Stuffed Croissants: Pizza Style!

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I’ve been on a stuffed-anything kick lately. It all started with the feta, mozzarella, turkey and spinach Stromboli that I made with my mom a few weeks ago. We used croissants instead of pizza dough and dipped them in warm marinara sauce.

A few days later, I made a breakfast variation of stuffed croissants, using cheddar, sausage and egg. I glazed them with maple syrup right out of the oven. They were heavenly!

Then I made pizza croissants, as shown above. (Tonight I made homemade hot pockets with mixed veggies and cheddar.)

I’m going to tell you how I made the pizza croissants, since they turned out pretty good. You can make these with pizza dough, but since I love croissants (just ask my sister), I love this version even more.

  1. Buy the ready-to-bake croissant dough in the canister to make things quick. 
  2. Layer with mozzarella and your favorite pizza toppings (sans the sauce) and roll them up. 
  3. Bake according to the package directions, adding a few minutes for the stuffing. 
  4. Allow them to sit for a couple minutes once you remove them from the oven and serve with warm marinara sauce. 

They are delectable and fast!

Quick Clean-Up Tip: As you can see from my photo, I always line my cookie sheets with aluminum foil to save myself from having to wash the pans every time I use them. As long as nothing runs off the side of the foil, all I have to do is crumple the foil and toss. Usually the pan is clean and ready for the next use!

I’m linking this recipe to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Thoughts on Hard Work

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“Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” — Leonardo Da Vinci

“She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.” — Proverbs 31:27

Out With the Old

I’ve never been very motivated when it comes to housework. I’m not talking about just cleaning, but all things pertaining to maintaining a household: paying bills, organizing, cooking, shopping (groceries), yard work, etc. When I got married and got my own place for the first time, I had to pick up the slack and take some initiative in the home department, otherwise there wasn’t going to be anything to eat or wear. I wasn’t very successful; many times the sink was overflowing with dishes and Eric had to throw shirt in the dryer to freshen it up before work. Those weren’t exactly my glory days as a wife, or even as a human being.



A New Motive

Near the end of my pregnancy I developed a longer list of reasons to keep my house in order. The first few weeks of my son’s life gave me an abundance of time to do things around the house, since he slept most of the day. As he grew, so did his demand for my attention, and I realized that I needed to develop a little more discipline in order to maintain my new habits. My free time all but disappeared for a while, and if I wanted to get anything done, I had to hustle during his naps and bedtime. I alternated between taking full advantage of my time and completely wasting it. I was either Martha Stewart or fodder for “Clean House.” No in-between.

A Second Chance

Recently I’ve been blessed with a whole lot more “free” time now that my son goes to bed at 7pm every night and enjoys rolling around my feet while I do things around the house. It’s given me a second chance to get back into some good habits. I have always felt like I wouldn’t enjoy life if I committed to keeping my house in order all the time, but today I realized that is just not true. Cleaning does not actually take up that much time if I just do it instead of dreading it and putting it off. Grocery shopping can be fun if I do it at the right time of day (first thing in the morning when Micah is easiest to entertain.) Yard work is a lot more fun than I expected. Putting away laundry is an opportunity to teach Micah about the names of different colors, since we have the entire spectrum hanging in our closet! Just about anything that needs to be done can be finished in less time than it takes to watch a meaningless reality show or browse everyone’s photos on Facebook.

Putting it into Practice

Today, I woke up and immediately showered and got dressed while Micah happily played on his Baby Einstein play gym. After changing his diaper and feeding him one more time, I packed him up in the car and drove to the grocery store. While I was there, I only bought healthy food. That is a huge accomplishment for me! I have a serious sweet tooth, but my reflection in the mirror this morning convinced me to temporarily sacrifice my indulgences and get rid of this extra 15 pounds once and for all! After I had all the groceries put away, I looked at the clock and was surprised to see that it was only 9:30. I had time to sit and enjoy a bowl of cereal (that I just bought) before Micah woke up from his car-induced slumber.

This afternoon, after unsuccessfully petitioning Eric to transplant our baby Silver Maples into the front yard, I did it myself. This is an even bigger accomplishment, because I have always protested yard work. Today I discovered that I actually like it. (Sort of like the kid who “hates” green beans until he tastes them while no one is looking.) When I came back inside, Micah was long overdue for a nap and I was extremely wiped out from working in the heat (in pants), so we both crashed. There was never a more rewarding nap! Ever! In the history of the universe, never did a woman wake up so refreshed and renewed! I couldn’t believe it was still Saturday afternoon. Micah woke up smiling a few minutes later.

Tonight, instead of watching TV, I turned it off and wrote out my Families blog in a spiral notebook. (I forgot how much I love writing by hand.) By the time Eric was done working on my PC, I had already completed my work and had the free time to spend with him instead.

I came to three conclusions today:

  1. I feel incredibly accomplished, energized and at peace when I work hard at home and keep busy until things are done. I have the privilege of enjoying my house and my time after everything is done.
  2. I don’t have to do everything in one day. If I pick two projects each day and commit to doing those well, that is enough to keep things in order throughout the week. If I try and do everything every day, I burn out and fall back into bad habits again.
  3. Every material thing worth having on this earth can only be earned through hard work. There are no shortcuts. (I finally submitted my will to this truth.)

No More LIP! (Laziness, Idleness, Procrastination)

Tonight, as I sat on the edge of our couch by the windows with a cup of blackberry tea, candles flickering on the sills and fresh air pouring in from the still night, I realized how good I felt. I normally don’t feel that way. As sad as it is, I’ve been deceived to think that relaxation is found in laying around the house in your pajamas. On the contrary, true relaxation can only be found at the end of one road: hard work. I think I’ve found the cure for my laziness. I don’t want to eat that idle bread anymore. (Especially because idleness and bread both make you fat.) I don’t want anymore LIP!

Roll Over, Micah!

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He is SO CLOSE to rolling all over the house. I watch these attempts with such anticipation and excitement, I feel like I am watching football. Will he make it? Almost! Almost! Awww. Not quite. The funny part is, I know he can do it because he rolled over when I wasn’t looking yesterday. I laid him on his back, turned around, and when I looked back he was on his belly. This afternoon he rolled onto his back from his tummy! He didn’t just roll: he pulled his legs up underneath him and pushed his butt up in the air like he was doing “down dog” with his face planted on the floor. Then he pushed with his left foot and flipped over onto his back. I was impressed. Watch Micah’s acrobatics (and fascination with his new “Cars” book) after the jump.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUTsMeumx1o&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1]

We Are Not Immune

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This past week was an adventure, to say the least. We’re pretty sure my husband contracted the swine flu (don’t worry, he’s recovered now.) When he went to the doctor they gave him a face mask, told him to stay home and said there was basically nothing else they could do for him. They didn’t even give him a blood test to confirm because so many people were coming into the clinic with the same symptoms.

My baby seemed to have a cold for a day or two. I was worried he had caught something from Eric, but all he had was a clear runny nose. It disappeared and he never seemed to notice. He was still as playful and happy as ever!

I came down with something, but I’m not sure if it’s a milder version of what Eric got or something completely different. Needless to say, we’ve been going through antibacterial stuff like crazy and on Sunday afternoon we disinfected the entire house. I am beginning to feel better. Mostly I’m just exhausted considering our dear little one woke up every hour, on the hour, last night. Not sure what THAT was all about, but considering he has been asleep now for three hours, I’m assuming it’s not going to be a repeat night tonight.

The moral of the story is… the swine flu is not as sensational as I suspected; a lot of people are getting it. But, it’s also not as bad as the media would like you to think. As the doctor told Eric, for most people, it’s a mild illness.

The Power of Prayer

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Tonight I am reminded of the incredible power of prayer. As I cried out to the Lord yesterday morning for help, I had no idea that so many things would begin to happen over the past 48 hours. Our life, like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, has had numerous sub-plots unfolding and intertwining over the past few years, building in intensity and drama, and reaching a point over the past few weeks that I felt it was all going to unravel at once. I was afraid to ask for it to all go away, as though it were too much to ask of God, who had already blessed us with so much. Who am I kidding? Who am I to stuff such a powerful and loving God into my small box, labeled “expectations.” But at my breaking point, with solutions so far out of reach that I could almost laugh at the thought of trying to fix this on my own, I finally said it….

God, I’m tired of praying small prayers. This is a big one…..

And I won’t go into detail about what I asked for, because you are the internet and this is much too private for you to hear, but suffice it to say that I was not only bold, but specific. I also confessed a lot of things that might have been preventing an answer (pride, lack of faith, etc.) I was also very confident that God would do something because he doesn’t throw you into these situations unless he has a great plan to get you out of them (all for His Glory, of course.)

Boy, it does appear that he has a FANTASTIC plan to get us out of these messes. So for the past 48 hours I have watched in amazement as things have been HAPPENING. Left and right, things appear to be turning around and it reaffirms that I am not serving a powerless God or an unloving or uncaring God. They may not be changing the way I planned, but God’s ways are always better than mine.

How fitting that the daily verse in my inbox this morning would read:

Deuteronomy 31:8–”The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (NIV)

The First of Many

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We found the cutest park near our neighborhood. With brand new equipment and plenty of space to play, I foresee many trips there in the future. Micah was mostly interested in grabbing at the various surfaces. He didn’t think much of the swings or slides. We’ll be back next summer, for sure. By then we won’t be able to get him off the swing or coax him from the slide. Playgrounds are just too much fun! I can’t wait!