Garlic Orange Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients
For the Chicken:

• 3-4 chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil
• 1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. brown sugar
• 4 tbsp. orange juice

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Spray baking pan with cooking spray and place chicken in pan. In a small skillet, melt coconut oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute for a minute.  Then, add the brown sugar and the orange juice.  Pour sauce over chicken.  Bake, uncovered, in pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is done.  Set chicken aside.

For the Stir Fry:

• 2 cups of vegetables (we used fresh asparagus, broccoli, and a frozen veggie blend with carrots, peas, corn, and green beans.  You could use any vegetables you have on hand).  
• 2 cups of prepared rice of choice ( I used jasmine rice)
• Soy Sauce (to taste)
• Garlic and Onion Powder (to taste)
• 1/4 cup of Orange Juice

Saute veggies in pan with a little water and soy sauce.  Cover the skillet loosely with foil and let it cook on medium heat until vegetables are tender (about 8 minutes)
Add cooked rice and cooked chicken to skillet.
Add orange juice and any extra soy sauce, garlic and onion powder, etc.
Loosely cover and continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes on medium.

Marriage Assessment

When Scott and I had been married for a little over a year, we went to Richmond, VA for 8 weeks of training with the International Mission Board. After our 8 weeks of training were over, we would move overseas to serve as part-time missionaries for a year. 

While we were in training, a couple came and spoke to us about the importance of a strong marriage.  They shared with us that it is vital to take time away each year to assess your marriage, to talk about ways in which to improve your marriage and to take time to get away from everyday life.  They gave us a list of 20 questions: 10 questions were for the husband to complete and 10 questions were for the wife to complete.  Each year, you would make it your goal to take a trip together and spend time going over these questions. 

It sounded like a good idea at the time, so we filed the questions away.  Well, a year later, we pulled them out and went over them with each other.  It truly was an eye-opening experience.  As we went through the questions, we realized that we both had some unmet expectations and that we both had areas where we needed improvement.  The weekend was much-needed: we needed time to get away from the busyness of life and time to focus on our marriage and how we can be a better spouse.  We came home feeling re-energized and refreshed. 

I wish I could say that we have done this every single year, but that hasn't happened.  Life can get busy all too quickly and having small children at home makes it hard to find time to get away.  But, we want to make it our goal to take time away each year and answer the questions and spend some time away.  We are planning our weekend away right now, and I’m excited to have a little time away from everyday life. 

We have come up with our own set of questions that work best for us.  Feel free to use our questions, or come up with a set all on your own!  I hope and pray that God uses these questions to help draw you closer to your spouse and to our Heavenly Father.  

“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage…”

Hebrews 13:4

Feta Cheese Turkey Meat Loaf

I adapted this recipe from Food Network, Giada's recipe.

1 pound of ground turkey
1/2 cup bread crumbs (if making this gluten free, use 1/2 cup crushed gf rice crispies cereal)
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. ranch dressing seasoning packet
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. milk
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix all ingredients, except turkey.
After everything is mixed, gently add the turkey.
Coat the bottom of a loaf pan with olive oil.
Bake turkey for 45 minutes.

Note: A great place to buy ranch dressing seasoning packets without all the bad stuff is from penzey's spices.  See here. 

Potato Broccoli Egg Casserole

I wanted a casserole tonight and started pulling stuff out of my pantry to see what I could make.  This turned out pretty good.  It would be a good breakfast as well.

Ingredients:
6 potatoes, peeled cut into thin slices
1/2 cup water
1 cup of fresh broccoli, cut into small pieces
7 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain or greek yogurt
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. paprika

Directions:
Put the potatoes slices and 1/2 cup water in a microwaveable-safe bowl and cover.  Microwave for 9-10 minutes, or until tender.

Coat the bottom of a large dish with olive oil.  Put potatoes in bottom of dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Arrange broccoli on top of the potatoes.  Mix the eggs, milk, yogurt, cheeses, and spices together in a bowl and pour on top.  Bake, uncovered for 40 minutes.

Serves: 8

Serve with fresh fruit and bread. Yummy!

The Reality of the Holidays

 When I was a child, I remember thinking that there was nothing better than Christmastime!  It’s time for presents and music and sweet treats and church activities.  It’s time to celebrate the birth of Christ as we sing “Away in a Manger.” Nothing could possibly be wrong with the world! 

As I’ve gotten older, however, I have realized more and more that the holidays are not always filled with happiness.  I have watched two families from my former church lose their teenage sons and have a funeral right around Christmastime.  I know people are battling cancer and miscarriages and unknown diagnoses.  Christmastime may be filled with happiness for some people, but a lot of people are also hurting too. 

What can we do as Christians to lift up others who are suffering?  Or, what can we do when we are the ones going through a painful time?

The Importance of a Retreat

This past month we took 75 students from our youth group on a fall retreat.  We were up in the Tennessee mountains, away from everyday life.  We did not even have cell phone reception.  We spent time praying before we left for the retreat that it would be a life-changing time for our students: that God would open up their eyes to the things that they needed to change in their lives so that God could be their top priority.  I was so busy thinking about the small group of girls who I lead and helping my husband get things ready for the trip that I did not even realize how much I would need this retreat. 

 
Life is busy.  We have things in our lives that have to get done.  We have to work, take care of children, do the laundry, go to doctor appointments, take our children to ballet recitals and soccer practice…we have things in our lives that we must tend to each day.  While we should be spending time in God’s Word each day amidst all of these activities, sometimes it’s hard to focus like we should.  We all so desperately need some time to get away from it all, not just for a “date night”, but for a few days.  We need time to put our lives on pause and to hear from God. 
 
So, how do we do this and what does this look like?

Missing Out

 Sometimes we give ourselves too much credit. Have you ever felt like you weren't being obedient when God asked you to do something?  Maybe he prompted you to invite someone to church who you met at the grocery store, or maybe you felt like you were supposed to share the gospel with someone with whom you work.  We let our fears or our insecurities or our pride keep us from sharing that which we know we are supposed to share.  And then, we walk away feeling guilty because we could have made an impact on that person’s life.  We worry that they will not know the love of Christ because we did not share with them.  We are giving ourselves too much credit.  Yes, we will have to answer for our lack of obedience one day, but God will accomplish what He has set out to accomplish regardless of our cooperation.  But, oh we will miss out on so much if we choose to turn the other way. 

Every day we are presented with opportunities to share the love of Christ.  The question is: will we seize every opportunity and allow them to make us more like Christ?  Or, will we pass them up and miss out on the blessing of following Him?  God is bigger than me, and He is bigger than you, and if we don’t obey Him, then He will find someone else who will accomplish His task.

Matthew 25 offers a parable that Jesus shared.  Through this parable we see that Jesus expects us to be faithful to obey Him.  And if we don’t, we are the ones who are missing out.  By obeying Him, we will gain so much.  It might not be in the form of money or fame or success, but it may be in peace and joy and gratitude.  But if we don’t obey, then even what little we are clinging to will be taken from us:

That's Not My Job!

 “I would hope that the Christian businessman or woman, whether lowest on the corporate totem pole or the chief executive officer, would be distinguished from the rest not only by conscientious work but also by graciousness, by simple kindness, by an unassuming manliness or modest womanliness, and above all by a readiness to serve…even if that means serving coffee instead of serving on the committee you were itching to join.”

-Elisabeth Elliot, On Asking God Why

Nowadays, our churches offer so many options.  There are so many classes from which to choose.  If you don’t like one, you can change your mind and find another one. Whatever works for you is what you do! 

While options can be a good thing, sometimes I think Christians can fall into the trap of only doing what they want to do.  This can play a part in areas of service as well.  Sure, we will serve at church, but only where we want to serve. 

The Bible talks about how each believer has been given a spiritual gift. 

1 Peter 4:10 says: “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” 

He gave us these gifts so that we can serve each other.  But, sometimes it’s seems as if we use our spiritual gifts as a license not to serve.  For example, let’s say person A has the gift of “administration.” They might use the excuse that “it’s not their job to serve coffee at church because they should be used to do another task...a task they deem as more important.”  But, the fact of the matter is: person A just does not want to serve coffee.  God could, in fact, use someone with the gift of administration to serve coffee, as He could use another person with any other gift.  He didn't give us our spiritual gifts so that we could pick and choose what jobs we want to do with them.  He gave us our spiritual gifts so that we could better serve one another in whatever jobs are needed to be done. So, in whatever job we are doing, we can use our spiritual gift to serve each other.  Our gifts are not given to us to give us a way out, but to help us serve more effectively.