Meal Planning Monday

Monday: Spaghetti with Spinach Salad
Tuesday: Baked Spaghetti with spinach
Wednesday: Baked Potato Bar with Salad
Thursday: Carne Guisada and Corn Casserole with Red Pepper Salad
Friday: Leftovers from Thursday

Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate

In the last while I have taken a liking to chai lattes or frappes before bed during my son's final nighttime feeding. I find chai tea so comforting!

Instead of buying those expensive tetra packs of chai concentrate from the store, I decided to try and make my own version today! To my delight, it worked out great! And was SUPER EASY! I will definitely keep this one on hand. :)

Karina's Chai Tea Concentrate
1 1/2 C Water
1 1/2 C Milk (I use skim milk)
10 "Stash" Chai Tea bags
1/2 C Honey

Bring milk and water to a boil on the stove, while heating add honey. Once boiling, remove from heat and add tea bags. Steep for 5 minutes.

Remove tea bags and pour concentrate into an icecube tray and FREEZE, or store in your refrigerator without freezing.

To make, use 3 cubes per 8oz drink and add 1 cup of hot milk. Sweeten if you wish.

Karina's Chai Frappe Recipe
Banana
6 iced chai tea cubes
1 Cup Milk
1 TB Honey
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
Add ingredients to blender and blend to a smoothie consistency.
Makes about 2 servings.

I do not have cardamom spice on hand right now, so I haven't tried to make my own chai from scratch. That will be my next venture. For now, I favour "Stash" chai tea blend. It is spicy, and delicious!

What are your comfort teas? Do you make your own tea from scratch? I'd love to hear your recipes. Leave a comment.

Menu Planning Monday

Another menu plan from my kitchen to yours!

Monday: Deer Stir-Fry with Chow Mein Noodles
Tuesday: Waffles with fruit
Wednesday: Elk Steaks, Potatoes and Salad
Thursday: Pepperoni Pizza
Friday: Slow Cooked Moose & Potato Casserole and peas

The Lord is Near

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds.

Psalm 73:25-28NIV

Meal Planning Monday

Here is a list of this week's dinners. We are having our Thanksgiving dinner with family this afternoon.

Monday: Thanksgiving
Tuesday: Burgers & Fries
Wednesday: Meatloaf with Baked Rice and Peas
Thursday: Casserole from freezer
Friday: Thai Noodles with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce

Usually, I plan for hamburgers one night and then meatloaf the next day. Because I make my own patties from half of one package of ground moose or elk (I only need to form 4 burger patties for our small family), I have enough ground meat leftover to make a small meatloaf for the next dinner.

Pumpkins Are Here!

I bought our family a pumpkin this grocery shop and decided to cook it yesterday. I have cooked pumpkin once before where I gutted it and then quartered it and baked it on a pan.

This time I thought to try and roast it WHOLE. I just put it into the oven at about 375 degrees, smothered some olive oil on it, and roasted it until a butter knife slipped through the skin and into the flesh as easy as.... butter. :) I would guess my pumpkin was about 6 pounds, and it roasted for about 1.5 hours.

Whole pumpkin smothered in olive oil ready to be placed into the oven.

Pumpkin after it has been roasting for 1.5 hours.

Pureed pumpkin. After which I placed the puree into a colander and allowed the excess water to drain off.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

3/4 C White Sugar

1/4 C Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

3/4 C Pumpkin Puree

1/4 C Water

1 1/4 Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Ground Cloves

1 tsp Cinna

mon

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 C Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line with paper liners. Mix sugar, oil, eggs in a large bowl (you can use a stand mixer here, if you have one). Add pumpkin and water. In a different bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Add to wet mixture in batches to incorporate fully. Mix in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

Having Patience because of Faith in Future Grace

I have been slowly going through John Piper's book "Future Grace," and I mean slowly. I can really only read a couple paragraphs at a time and then have to soak it in for the rest of the day.
This morning in his chapter on patience, it hit home with me. Yesterday was a rather difficult day. After having my DH gone for a few days, I was so excited to have him home. I had missed him so much. My excitement toward him quickly faded, however, and turned into nagging and become stressed about how much I had to do. Needless to say, patience was nowhere to be seen in my heart towards him or my DD for that matter.

The gist of Piper's idea is this basically: if we were to trust that God was using all of our delays and detours in life for our good... such as a red light to prevent us from being in a car accident, or a telephone call in the middle of the night to awaken us to the smell of smoke in our house, perhaps we would be a bit more thankful for the hang-ups. Trusting in God's future grace.

He inserted a very interesting legend by Richard Wurmbrand that I had never heard before that illustrates a scenario that makes absolutely no sense to us humans... but was completely orchestrated by God.

A legend says that Moses once sat near a well in meditation. A wayfarer stopped
to drink from the well and when he did so his purse fell from his girdle into
the sand. The man departed. Shortly afterwards another man passed near the well,
saw the purse and picked it up. Later a third man stopped to assuage his thirst
and went to sleep in the shadow of the well. Meanwhile, the first man had
discovered that his purse was missing and assuming that he must have lost it at
the well, returned, awoke the sleeper (who of course knew nothing) and demanded
his money back. An argument followed, and irate, the first man slew the latter.
Where upon Moses said to God, "You see, therefore men do not believe you. There
is too much evil and injustice in the world. Why should the first man have lost
his purse and then become a murderer? Why should the second have gotten a purse
full of gold without having worked for it? The third was completely innocent.
Why was he slain?"
God answered, "The first man was a thief's son. The purse
contained money stolen by his father from the father of the second man, who
finding the purse only found what was due him. The third man was a murderer
whose crime had never been revealed and who received from the first the
punishment he deserved. In the future believe that there is sense and
righteousness in what transpires even when you do not understand."

God has promised to us over and over to do just and to be faithful to us. He has a plan, and we must have faith during situations that seem an inconvenience to us, or downright unjust. The key to patience is faith in the future grace of God's "glorious might" to transform all our interruptions to rewards.

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. -- 2 Chron. 16.9

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. -- Ps. 23.6

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. -- Ps. 84.11

I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. -- Jer. 32.40-41

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. -- Is. 64.4

God of the Impossible ~ Jud. 7:1-7

Judges 7:1-7 Gideon's Army is Chosen
Interesting how the message at church yesterday was about God doing the impossible and then this morning reading about Gideon's army going from 32,000 men to a mere 300, by God's plan.
It would have been impossible for Gideon and the Israelites to defeat their enemies with 300 men on their own strength--but God was fighting with them and wanted them to recognize His strength and might, not their own!

"The Lord said to Gideon, 'With the 300 men that lapped I will save you and give
the Midianites into your heands'" Jud. 7:7.

So God made a promsie to Gideon and then Gideon had a choice, do I trust and obey? or do I keep these men and attack?
If we are going to experience God's promises, we must have faith in Him and be obedient to His commands! His plan is just and perfect, and sometimes won't make sense to us.

Deut 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things
revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the
words of this law.

Meal Planning Monday

Being married to a hunter and with hunting season upon us now, I have an abundance of red-meat in my freezer (already). My meal plans will probably be comprised of mostly red-meat now....

Monday: Pasta with Ham, Sliced Apples, Salad, & Dinner Rolls
Tuesday: French Dip Sandwiches, Broccoli, & Pasta Salad
Wednesday: Mexican Corn Chowder, Dinner Rolls, Salad
Thursday: Beef Vegetable Stew, Crusty Bread, Salad
Friday: Roast Beef in Gravy with French Fries & Caesar Salad

Anyone interested in recipes to the above dinner menus can contact me. I have used some from Menus4Moms and some of my own.

Jesus is Here

John 3:1-21 "But whoever lives by the truth comes into the
light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done
through God." (vs 21)

All through the Bible, God takes the initiative in the salvation of man.
None of us who are saved have sought Him out; we've just responded to His
initiative. He made the first move. He chose to save us, and then we
chose to respond." (Charles Stanley--Early Light)

Jn 3:16 - God sent His Son

vs 17 - God sent His Son to save the world

It is easy to be deceived into thinking God doesn`t care about us, as we sinfully look to ourselves for answers, and thus FAIL. God cares about us so much He sent His only Son to take the punishment for our sins.

Lets stop sitting around waiting for Jesus to show up. Jesus is here. He`s been calling and waiting for us all along.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

--Matthew 7:7

New Favourite Breakfast!

When my DD started eating solid foods, I religiously fed her oatmeal, even though I could hardly stand the stuff myself. I figured it was the most inexpensive, yet most nutritious, breakfast I could offer her every morning. And the wonderful thing about it was, she never tired of it! In fact, it seemed to she loved it!

With the almost unbearably high price of commercial cereals on the market, I have decided to make oatmeal part of my breakfast routine as well. It is amazing how extravagant a simple of bowl of oatmeal can become! And to my surprise, I have come to love it too.

Our latest favourite variation of a simple bowl of oats is this:

1 serving cooked oatmeal (old fashioned oats is my personal favorite now)

1/4 serving of sunny boy (or Red River) cereal (I like to cook both oats and Red River in the same pot. The added texture of seeds (not to mention nutrition) makes it that much yummier)

1 tsp of butter or margarine

1 tsp of honey

1 dollop of plain low-fat yogurt

a few frozen blueberries (they quickly thaw once sprinkled on the oats)

1 tsp of unsalted sunflower seeds

I found this other fellow's blog about oatmeal, and he has some amazing oatmeal variations that I'm quite excited to try out as well! The blog website is: closetcooking.blogspot.com/2008/01/oatmeal.html

Do you have any favourite oatmeal variations to share? Let me know!

By the way, did you know instant oats are just old fashioned oats ground into smaller pieces so the water will absorb faster? I always buy the old fashioned oats (because I love using those in baking and when I make my own granola) and I grind up batches of it to use for instant oatmeal when we don't have time to boil it on the stovetop!

Thursday's Thanksgivings

The first half of the week has been so nice and sunny and warm! I am so thankful for this weather! My DD loves playing outside, and it's so nice to be able to play under sunny skies.

I am also thankful for traveling safety. My husband came back from a 10-day hunting trip with 10 other guys, and it involved traveling across the province. I am thankful the group was kept safe and especially that they were SUCCESSFUL :) He is away again this weekend for men's retreat with our church, and I am thankful he gets so excited about this time of year EVERY year! As much as I don't really like him gone, I am thankful God has put so many godly role models in his life, and he has this chance to spend time with them.

Storytime Wednesday

Today we went to our public library for storytime. It was the first time I had decided to take the kids to this little weekly community event. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many children and moms showed up for it! There were probably 20 children ranging in ages from 8 weeks (mine) to 4 years old.
Every week the story-lady has a theme for the three books she reads to the children, and she also brings her guitar and plays several songs. This week she had three puppets to tells stories with as well. I was amazed at how she captured their attention.
After the stories were over my DD was anxious to pick out some books to bring home.
It's been a very long time since we've visited the library, and after the success of this event, I think we will have to make it part of our weekly routine. DD seemed to enjoy it very much. DS just nursed and then sat and looked and listened too.

I thought I would also mention what novel I am currently reading. I was very good at this last year, but sort of fell off the wagon along the way somehow.