1 Dec 2010

Pomegranate White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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Oh, bring on the holiday season. I love baking for things during the holidays…trying new festive recipes that get out of my kitchen in a hurry. These will be gone tomorrow! 🙂 And I did much better on tasting them than the buttercream sessions earlier in the week.

I found this recipe on :

Pomegranate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup pomegranate arils

Cream butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture. Fold in oats and white chocolate. Fold in (gently) the arils. They will pop, but you want them to pop in your mouth, not in the dough.
Spoon onto sprayed cookie sheets and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
Enjoy the pop of tart and the creamy goodness of white chocolate and the chew of oats. These are definitely a holiday winner!

30 Nov 2010

Operation Christmas Child 2010

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I remember when Mom and I used to do Angel Tree from the Lakeland Square Mall. I’ve now not done much of anything in that realm for Christmas for many years, although I would give to other organizations or missions endeavors. This year, I wanted to do an OCC box. So, I did, and delivered it to my local CFA who was giving away free sanctified chicken sandwiches with the drop-off of each box. It was fun shopping for my Girl, 10-14 with my friend, Tina.
I also had the opportunity to take a charter bus trek down to the Queen City and serve at the distribution center for OCC. They do have a well-oiled machine going there. We were given a short tutorial and then put right to work, not to miss much of our 6 hour shift. I got to work alongside friends and packed boxes that were going to Sudan and Malowi (sp?).
Coolest part of the day: Many of you know I’m writing curriculum for churches that will eventually be translated for the nations. So exciting. The first lesson we wrote was on the tower of Babel and one of the games was a Jenga tournament. One of my proofers said that people in other countires may not have Jenga games so I better have a alternate game they could do. Well, I just so happened to open a box and it had a jenga game inside. I was so excited. Right before I passed the box off to the next person, we stopped to pray over these boxes. I rested my two little hands on this one box and prayed for the child who would receive this box and wondered if God would ever allow them to study the story of the Tower of Babel and be able to play the Jenga game. So cool.
Here are some thoughts:
1. We are such a material culture. I thought much about this as I was searching the boxes for “unapproved” items. There were some boxes that were half empty and I thought, man I wouldn’t like to get that box. There were some that were full of school supplies and underwear, again, I would not be happy with that box. It tooks some cool toys, candy, notebooks, etc that made me smile at the box. I’m sure these children that get these boxes will be ecstatic just to get the box.
2. We are greedy. There were some pretty cool toys in some of those boxes. Can I find some of those toys?

If you are packing an OCC box this year (still) or will pack one in the future, please help your packers by remembering these helpful hints:
1. Follow the instructions. They come with every box or you can find them on the internet.
2. Don’t pack chocolate (except Tootsie Rolls, and I haven’t figured out if those are chocolate or not).
3. Any other type of candy is fine – PLEASE SEND IT. But, if you do, please put it in a baggy. That way, when we open it, it won’t go flying everywhere.
4. Don’t put liquids in the boxes. Liquids will be removed. If you want to give them hygiene stuff, send bars of soap, preferably not Irish Springs, wow – those bars are really strong!
5. Don’t put stuff with all English writing on it. Most of these boxes are going to places where the first language is not English. How would you feel if you got a book in Chinese and you don’t speak it and have no way to learn it?
6. Mix up the box some. Add some “helpful, useful” stuff in it (socks, udnerwear, notebooks, pencils, etC) and then also include fun stuff (toys, candy, etc). Wouldn’t you want your Christmas presents to be the same way.
7. Don’t wrap the box in a rubberband. We’ll just take off the rubberband and throw it away.
8. Don’t send your unwanted toys and used items. We’ll take them out. Would you want to get a bunch of dirty, used toys under your Christmas tree, probably not (unless you are a thrift store snob)!
9. Please pack a box. Make it a family mission opportunity. Pray for the children who might receive it. Have your children fill a box for a child the same age as they are. How fun it will be!

Give this season. It is definitely better to give than to receive.

29 Nov 2010

Much and Link Love (November 29)

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Well, I don’t feel like November really happened – its already over. Gracious so much happened this month – but did anything? I feel like this month just kinda scooted by and here we are in the last month of 2010 and about to start 2011.
1. Loved wearing flannels during Thanksgiving dinner. Just my parents and I – so after running, the flannels came on. It was great. I did set the table real nice though.
2. It was good having my parents here, sad to see them leave, sort of a lonely feeling, don’t know quite how to explain it.
3. I do not relish the thought of going into another winter season single. Yes, I love being single, we all know that, but winter is somehow different: holiday parties, Christmas Eve and Day, New Years, birthday, valentines day. Just seems like it would be better with a significant other – but not worth settling.
4. More dreams coming true for people – love watching it. God is so gracious to us. He is the ultimate Dream fulfiller!
5. I ran an 8k. 64.21 – beating my previous time of an 8k by 3 minutes, but man, I gotta run more and get a run/walk split down that I can keep and practice and improve.
6. Doing some fun reading: Kitchen Confidential by Bourdain and Eat Pray Love by Gilbert. Good reads. And yes, I take notes even in fun reading.
7. Heard a line today in an Andrew Peterson song that went something like this: Your payment was more than all our lambs we sacrificed. We can never do enough to earn God’s love or salvation – it is all grace.

1. A friend of mine who is a pastor here in Raleigh wrote this about how to prepare for Sunday morning worship.
2. I need to make these since I now have a whole box of sweet potatoes to eat before they go bad, or I get sick of the box. Can’t wait to experiment. If you have any ideas – please pass them along!
3. I made these for Thanksgiving, very yummy. I have a few leftovers. Will be enjoying this week, too!
4. Do you have a love/hate relationship with your grocery store?
5. My friend, Dana, speaks on Christmas traditions in a Christian home. You will want to check back as this is a series…
6. My lovely and creative friend, Christine, made these to hang in their home. Art doesn’t have to be expensive.
7. Girls Gone Wise on single women using protection (read on to answer all your questions)…

28 Nov 2010

Taste of Raleigh: Bogart's American Grill

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This will be one of my fave restaurants in Raleigh, with good food and better music, ambience, and a wonderful martini that Mom and I shared…it was a good foodie night.
What we had the day after Thanksgiving:
Roasted pear salad with pomegranite dressing
Beef Tips risotto
14 oz ribeye
collards
sweet potato chips
Strawberry martini and margaritas

The strawberry martini and sweet potato fries were my fave. I finished up the collards yesterday. The decor was set in Humphrey Bogart style which was my favorite part. Will be spending one dinner of my bday week here with some girl friends. It will be a fun night!

28 Nov 2010

Taste of Boone: Troy's 105 Diner

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I love diners. I love the Dam Diner in Oklawaha, FL. I love Floyd’s Diner near in High Springs, Florida near the Suwannee River. And, now, Boone is home to Troy’s 105 Diner, fabulous waitress, cheap, delicious food, and elvis on the walls. Good stuff.
We had the bacon bbq burger (complete with an onion ring piled high on it), and the veggie platter (2 mac and cheeses bc we both wanted some, green beans, corn, and a biscuit). All very good. And all eaten (well, some of the fries were left). Hiking works up an appetite.

28 Nov 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

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Another big holiday has come and gone. This year was spent running an 8k, wearing flannel pjs, setting off the smoke detector, doing crafts with my mom, and watching movies with my Dad. We enjoyed good food in NC.
Here we go:
Parmesan-Crust Pork Center-Cut Pork Chops
Tri-color couscous (because I burnt the roasted sweet potatoes
Cranberry Walnut Rulls (my fave part of the whole day)
Balsamic Glazed Slow-Cooker Carrots
Red Cabbage and Apples
Pumpkin Dip and Graham Crackers
Cold White

28 Nov 2010

Taste of Valle Crucis: The Ham Shoppe

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Tucked in between Blowing Rock, Boone, and Linville Falls, is a quaint little cafe (restaurant is further down the road) and dessertery that serves big sandwiches, and big everything else.
My friend, Tracy, recommended this place to me, she didn’t even know if it was still there.
Friendly employees, well-packed on the weekends, and fast service. Fresh baked bread, too.

28 Nov 2010

Overnight Maple Cranberry Steel-Cut Oats

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This has been, and will be, my breakfast. My friend, Tasya, gave me the recipe, so I made it while my parents were here, and am still enjoying it. I doubled the recipe because I have a 6 qt crockpot, but for all you 2-4 qt crockpot peeps, this recipe is as is.

1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats (Irish oats, McCann’s, etc)
4 3/4 cups water
3/4 cup maple syrup (not pancake syrup, this is much less flavorful and more watery than real maple syrup)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c dried cranberries
1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt

Stir together in crockpot, turn on low for 6-7 hours. Enjoy. I topped mine with cool whip and/or milk. Other additives would be walnuts, chopped dried apples, dried pears…

25 Nov 2010

Grateful FX – Thanksgiving 2010

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My friend, Jennifer, over at Cornerstone Church of Knoxville (fabulous Sovereign Grace church, if I had to live in Volunteer country – this is where I would go) asked me to guest post for their singles’ blog for Thanksgiving. Here it is: enjoy!

Thanksgiving. Publix commercials of big turkeys perfectly roasted and stuffed with bounty from gardens (or the grocery store). Football games and parades on television. Long-lost relatives offering much advice on the state of our dating lives (or the lack there of). Most of us cook or eat way too much food only to nap on the couch and eat more for dinner. Unfortunately, the “thankful” part is a two-minute grace that we say before the meal. Really? Is that was Thanksgiving boils down to? Don’t we have so much more to be thankful for in our lives than turkey, cranberry sauce, and pecan pie (and the correct pronunciation can be debated by all southerners).

Colossians 3 is a reminder of what our lives should look like in response to the gospel of God in Christ. We can’t live out the end of Colossians 3 unless we start at the beginning of the chapter. Paul exhorts the Colossian believers with this: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-4) If we claim Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we should be dead to the things of self and flesh. This includes but is not limited to: quarreling (which occurs in most American homes at ALL holidays), ungratefulness (are you really going to argue about who gets the last crescent roll or the turkey leg), and bitterness (are we bitter that we aren’t married YET and may even still be eating at the kiddie table?) Oh, that our hearts may be changed because of the Gospel.

Colossians 3:16 tells us how we should live our lives in light of being raised with Christ. Hint: the gospel should compel us to live like this: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” This doesn’t mean that we have to break out in songs as we pass each other on the street, in the church, or in our homes. But, the gospel should set the tone for our hearts and our lips. The Gospel has provided us so much. We were dead; but, God. God showed his immeasurable goodness and grace to us by sending His Son to save ungrateful people who cared nothing for the things of God. We now have the opportunity to sit and dine with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, with the Bread of Life, with the Living Water.

As we sit down to the Thanksgiving table with family and friends this November, let us remember that we deserve death. We don’t even deserve a turkey, or ham, or stuffing, or a home, or anything. But, in God’s kindness we can sit and dine with friends and family and have way more than we ever should have. Let our hearts and minds and lips reflect the goodness of our precious and abundantly-giving gracious Father who saved us in Christ.

24 Nov 2010

Living the Gospel: Marriage, Adoption, and the Rest of Life

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This is me thinking aloud…
There are some focuses right now in Christianity/churches that focus on being living, breathing examples of the gospel. These focuses are biblical and needed, and true. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these emphasises. One is marriage and the other is adoption. Marriage, for some (and I don’t believe this view is right) allows you to better display the gospel than being single. I think it may give a you different way of displaying the gospel, but not better. I am, in my singleness, just as much a portrait of the gospel of Christ as if I were me, only married. Adoption, many times I here (and rightly so), is “living the gospel”. You are, yes, praise the Lord. But, again, like marriage – adoption isn’t the only way to “live the gospel.”
With so much emphasis on both marriage and adoption – which single people can’t do either of (obviously we aren’t married and not many adoption agencies will let a single person adopt a baby) – are we not living out the gospel. This post isn’t just for singles, it is for everyone.

Marriage is a great way to live out the gospel. I love the Ephesians 5 passage where clearly it says that marriage proclaims the mystery of Christ and His church. We are the Bride of Christ. I love the picture of Abraham and God in Genesis 15 about God walking through the sacrificial blood. His promise kept. I pray that your marriage is an amazing mirror of God, Christ, the Spirit – and the Church. I pray that husbands will sanctify their wives, and wives would respect, honor, and submit to their husbands. This is unique and special and privileged way to portray the gospel.

Adoption. This is probably the newest “fad” to hit the church. I don’t use fad in a bad way, but why has this emphasis not been in the church before the last 5 years? Have we been ignoring the commands of “true religion” in the Bible for over 2000 years. I hope it isn’t a fad. I hope the trend of seeing adoption come to life in American families, and families all over continues long after I’m gone. I wonder if you see Italian Christians adopting American children. I wonder if the trend of adoption is an American Western Christianity thing right now. To some people, if you haven’t adopted, then you just aren’t living in obedience. At least that is what it seems like. But, there are other ways to live out the command of true religion – to take care of the orphans – without actually adopting. You can give to mission trips that support orphanages, you can donate to families who are trying to raise support to adopt their own babies. It seems the trend now in my emails, blogs, facebook updates from across the world – hey, give to me, we’re adopting. Family of believers? Hopefully, mostly, being the body of Christ. There are girls out there who don’t want to have their own children because adoption is better. Motherhood is great, and if God allows you to have children, please do. If God calls you to adopt, please do. But, one is not better than the other. I hope this isn’t a passing trend in American Christianity, much like the WWJD bracelets and FAITH Evangelism strategy.

Now, what about for the rest of us. I hope I do get to live out the gospel in a marriage one day – but I’m not going to settle for an average marriage. I want the most God-glorifying marriage I can possibly have. one that will be hard, but joyful. I know marriage is hard – not perfect – just God-glorifying.
If God impresses on our hearts to adopt, then I will (hopefully, walking in obedience), but until then I can give to missions to orphanages and support those adopting. I can love on those adopted children.
But, I can live out the gospel every day too. I can give grace where grace is needed. I can live in the love that Christ offered me at the Cross. I can do my work diligently. I can submit to authority. I can…. the list goes on. I am Christ’s friend – obey my commands (John 15.14).
Marriage and adoption is not a better picture of the gospel. We can live out the gospel without doing these specific things (being married, adopting an international child). But, these two ways and living daily life in the grace of God are wonderful ways to live out the gospel.
“What about the practical stuff? Surely there comes a time when we move on from the gospel just a little, so we can focus on the everyday issues of our relationships with other people. This is tempting to believe, but it’s just not true. Regardless of your relationship to others, whether you’re single or married, a husband or a wife, a father, a mother, or a grandparent, your faithfulness and effectiveness in your relationship are directly tied to your understanding of the cross.” – CJ Mahaney