Wednesday, March 24, 2010

My version of Pasta Carbonara with Fish

I usually just post my most delicious recipes under my facebook notes. but this one was so yummy, I wanted to blog it too.

It is essential to tell 4 year old before consumption that the fish is chicken. But you can whisper to your 1 year old that it is really fish and giggle silently.

My intent was to follow this recipe: http://www.ivillage.com/pasta-carbonara/3-r-85954?nlcid=wd|03-22-2010|

But I got tired of going back and forth to the computer and just started making up stuff on my own. It was delicious! ESPECIALLY the fish!! MMMMMMM

This recipe would be just as delicious without the tomato sauce. Just would need to add a little olive oil and few more spices as you toss the pasta with the other part. Or for less calories, use 1 1/2 cup of the leftover pasta water. But I always forget to reserve the pasta water, which is why I reached for the tomato sauce can to begin with. :O

1. Boil 1/2 whole wheat pasta and half regular linguine. Sprinkle in ginger powder and salt. (I always boil these separetly in case one takes longer to cook.) I like to do half whole wheat and half regualr pasta because then my kids don't seem to notice the super healthy whole grains that are mixed in with the "yummy refined take all the nutrients out" white pasta.

2. Fry 3 pieces of turkey bacon in enough olive oil. set aside.

3. in olive oil cook small chopped onion and some peas and carrots. Add in small can of tomato sauce and same can of water, and spice with salt, garlic salt, oregano, paprika, pepper. Crumble bacon into sauce.

4. Let simmer for few than add in egg, turn off heat and stir until you are confident the egg is cooked (few minutes)

**(I noticed when I added the egg and scrambled it in, that it gave the sauce a creamy feel, taste, and look to it without all the heaping amounts of calories that you would get from actually adding in cream. awesomeness!!) :)

5. Toss with drained pasta.

Fish:
First I put fish in little bit of milk and lemon juice. After about 15 minutes of that, I cleared off with water so it would thaw more. I added paprika, oregano, salt, garlic salt. Next I added this stuff made by Iron Chef in the bbq sauce section that is Sesame Oil and Garlic sauce. I just kinda lathered a little on the top of the fish, I did not drench it with it. It is a thick sauce. Then I covered the fish in Panko, which is a Japanese style of bread crumbs that is lower in calories than regular bread crumbs, stays crispier after cooking, and does not absorb as much oil. It is the stuff used to make tempura shrimp.

And last I just pan seared the fish in olive oil on each side until fish is flaky. Use a flat spatula to turn the fish because the panko on the fish comes off easy until it cooks a little.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Esther Bible Study - Week 1

Ok, so all this past week, I have been doing my nightly homework on my Esther bible study led by Beth Moore. All week covered all of chapter 1. So I got to know chapter 1 REALLY well. And let me tell ya - them old testament peeps were some scandalous dudes.

Chapter 1 of Esther summarized:

This guy named King Xerxes was king over the whole world except Greece. So he was a mighty man and a mighty man was he. He was only 35 during this chapter. And he was the richest, most powerful man alive, I do believe. But as you will soon see, this guy had some major issues. I don't think his mama showed him enough love when he was growin' up. And his daddy didn't take him fishin' I bet not even once.

So Mr. King decided to throw a 180 day party in his hometown. Yep, that's right. A 6 MONTH party. And he invited all his military guys, all the nobles, and all the leaders of the provinces (there were a 127 scattered around Persia and Media, which was King X's territory). So all these guys come and during the 6 months it say that King X showed off ALL his wealth and splendor and majesty. So basically, he pulled out all the stops and all the finest china. I mean this guy LAID IT OUT for 6 months straight.

Then after this 6 month "look how wonderful I am" party, he threw a sort of farewell party which lasted 7 days straight. This party was held in his garden. Which a garden back then was like a huge state park, with wild animals and waterfalls and such everywhere. It was big enough that his whole City of Susa (his hometown) from the LEAST to the GREATEST was invited.

And at this party, he held nothing back either. Literally. Nothing. In fact it was so lavish that everyone had their own golden goblet to drink wine out of. AND each goblet had it's own unique design. THAT my friends IS.IN.SANE.

And in this golden goblet of yours, you had unlimited wine. King X ordered the wine stewards to serve wine at request of the individual. There WAS NO LIMIT!! WOW! What a party, my friend. Interesting note on this fact is that kings in general never did this. People were not allowed to drink wine unless the king did it first or something along those lines. Anyways, the kings had a procedure and control over the wine and always practiced that control. So this may have shown that King X was not too sure of his authority. He may have been a little scared of telling people no. Or maybe he just loved to get drunk and wanted everyone else around him that way. Who knows.

So anyways, King X's party in the garden was the all male party. The women were hangin with Queen Vashti, in her castle. They had their own 7 day party. Can you IMAGINE, for 7 days partying with other women while their husbands got drunk out in the garden, acting like a fool I am sure. I bet there was some major men-bashing going on at that party!!

So on the 7th day, when King X was in "high spirits" or as we would say drunk as a skunk, or wasted, or totally blitzed....anyways, he was inebriated fo' sho' and he sent his homies (his 7 eunuchs, which were kinda like his assistants) to go fetch Queen Vashti. The king wanted her to come show off her beauty to all the men. I guess he had showed off everything else, and needed to make sure all the men knew his woman was lookin hot!

Well, Queen Vashti said no. She ain't' goin. Not gonna do it. No way Jose. We don't know why she says no. But my own personal theory is that after 7 days of hangin with her girls, she wasn't about to all sudden hop up to the beckon'in call of her man to go parade around in front of a bunch of drunk men. There was no way she was going to hurt her pride in front of all those men gawking at her. Plus all the women sneering and laughing at her as she left and talking about her while she was gone. Or maybe she was making a stance for her girls, showing them they could be independent people from their husbands. Maybe she was a revolutionists and a mentor to these ladies. Or maybe her and king x had a real relationship and maybe she was in control. We already see that King X can't even excercise his authority over wine. Who is to say he can over his own wife too? Maybe she figured telling him no wasn't that big a deal.

Well, King X got so mad. He burned with anger. He was so mad (and drunk) that he consulted his lawyers. They suggested a law be made so that no other women would get the idea that this sort of behaviour was accepted. So King X, with the help of his law team, made a decree that Queen V was never allowed in his presence again. AND that all men were the rulers over their households. This was hand delivered to every village in all the provinces, all in their own language so there would be no mistaking the contents of the law.

No one know what happened to Queen Vashti. The text does not say if she was killed or just exiled. It doesn't speak of her children. Did they stay or go with her?

Some irony to King Xerxes decree is that he ordered Queen Vashti to never be in his presence again when she didn't want to be there anyways. Another irony is that King Xerxes is making a decree for all men on an issue he can not even master himself....authority over his own house.

"The essence of oppression is punishing one bu hurting many". ~ who is being hurt because of King Xerxes decree which stems from his public humiliation? All the women in his provice who have husbands who will abuse his decree. Also King Xerxes and Queen Vashti's children. They either lost their mother or they lost their father. Either way, they were never the same again.

So this is the Chapter 1 of Esther. Tomorrow I will try and long on and write a blog about the stuff in between the lines and how it can be related to our lives. Cause that is some GOOD STUFF too!!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Esther (It's Tough Being a Woman) bible study by Beth Moore : INTRO (week 1)

So Beth Moore....W.O.W. That girlfriend be preachin'. LOVE her. Don't care that she is on DVD. She is so easy to listen to. So funny. So inspiring and real.

The bible study is an hour discussion and an hour DVD of Beth Moore. Then we have "homework" every week too.

Here are some great points Beth made in her talk today (I will try not to give the whole Megillah! lol):

1. The Book of Esther is unique because of it's total and complete absence of mentioning God's name. Instead of this being it's demise, this is it's lesson. God doesn't have to have His name ON IT to be IN IT.

2. God attends not only momentous events and people, but also to those that seem both mundane and trivial.

3. Nothing happens by chance. Coincidences are miracles in which God wants to remain anonymous! Nothing can happen to me by coincidence. God is in it!!

4. God will never leave me or forsake me. SO even during those times in life where I "don't feel Him" - HE IS THERE. Because His word claims it and His word is TRUTH. He will NEVER LEAVE ME OR FORSAKE ME.

5. God proclaims human responsibility. And so by doing that, it is possible that I can miss God's will in my life. BUT if I am seeking Him then God's will WILL find ME.

6. God will get His will for the world done with or without me. BUT God will not fulfill MY destiny without ME. So I need to SHOW UP!

Problems women face (according to random survey of 400 women):

1. Yielding (submitting)
2. Balancing life
3. Hormones

Weekly Scenario: It's tough being a woman in another woman's shadow.

Relevant Scripture:
Psalms 138:2
Romans 15:4
Hebrews 12:1
Ephesians 1:11
Philippians 2:13

New Year....New Me

It has been awhile. I just wanted to blog today because I started a bible study last night and I am going to another one this morning. This is a very new thing for me. I have gone to church for the last 6 years that does small groups instead of Sunday School. It is formed from the concept of the Holy Spirit revival from Acts where large groups of people met in the temple and small groups in other people's homes. Well, I have NEVER in all these 6 years, become a part of a small group out of fear and shyness.

Well, when Lucas was born, we had to switch churches. The church we had been attending for 5 years was an hour round trip. and with 3 kids, that was just too much. So we decided to try Real Life Fellowship, which is about ooooooo......1 mile from my house. lol. Maybe 2 miles. Anyways, LOVE LOVE this church. We miss our old church of course. Actually we miss it alot, but that is to be expected. But our new church WE LOVE!!! My mom has even started coming because she just loves the preaching. Well, as we all know....once mom gets involved, we can get hooked into stuff a little out of our comfort zone. lol.

So mom talked me into signing up for a small group. So I signed up for 3!!! One is a play group. The other is called First Place 4 Health. It is a healthy living bible study, with a food and exercise tracker journal, bible study, and a weekly weigh-in and talk. Then the other one is a study on Esther by Beth Moore.

I missed the play group this week because I was busy taking my animals to the vet and then completly forgot. But I am going to go next week.

Last night was the First Place 4 Health:

Since I am new to these bible studies, maybe I am not used to this. But the first like 45 minutes (maybe it wasn't that long, but it was close) was a DVD of other ladies talking at a bigger bible study. I got SUPER bored. I had fun once the live humans began talking. I tried to find bible studies that did not say they were DVD led. But maybe they all are. I will let you know more though. But the way the live human lady talked, normally there will not be any DVD - it was just the intro.

One thing the DVD woman said that really stuck with me was that "Food is for fuel, not for worship". I thought that was really cool way to train yourself. For example, I always put sugar on my fruit. Well, it really tastes good by itself, there is no need for sugar to fuel yourself.

I do not have any of the books yet. She gave us copies of the food tracker sheet. So everyday I am supposed to track on this sheet all that I eat, my exercise, and a daily scripture. She said once we get the books, we will have more of a food plan, but until next week, just to track.

I am going to the Esther study at 10am!! :)

So moral of this story.....VENTURE OUT THIS YEAR AND TRY SOMETHING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. YOU'LL BE HAPPY YOU DID!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

i think i may need a date night, fo sho....

1. the other day i was holding Lucas and actually felt his body temperature change. I looked at Joseph and said "oh Lord, Lucas is getting sick". Joseph looked at me like I was crazy...

By nightfall Lucas was running a 103.5 fever.

2. Today Lucas woke up from a nap and i saw that his hair had actually grown during the last 2 hours. I told Joseph this and he looked at me like I was crazy.

Lucas' hair is growing. I am with Lucas 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. I am actually around as his hair grows. It has to grow at some time....why not during his 2 hour nap...IT DID, I swear it did.

3. I am scared to move. When I move, Lucas remembers I am alive and cries for me.
***
When I worked, I was able to tell when a store was going to have a bad month before actually looking at the bottom line. I could tell before even hitting their income statement. I think I would mentally gather info throughout the month and know who was screwing labor over. If labor is out of control, a restaurant will NEVER make a profit.

I could tell you a "Future Partner", District Manager, or any other sort of higher up person, that they would never make it. I could call it WAY before the owners would ever even BEGIN TO THINK bad of that person.

Now I can tell you in an instant when one of my kids is up to no good. *I can tell you that Kamryn is the little miss temperamental but she will also help me in an instant when needed and leave me laughing in the process. *Summer Grace tattles on herself by saying "I love Kamryn and I will always be nice", which means she just terrorized Kam in some way. But she will also always ask for a hug in the most unexpected moments making your heart melt, and she is just such a little sweetheart. *I know exactly what every noise Lucas makes means. He can cry all day long and make me so impatient. But the moment he sleeps longer than expected, I miss him terribly and can't wait for the moment he awakes.

AND YES, each "talking" noise Lucas makes means something different, and I know them all. And I am in a continual growing stage with him. Right now we are in a communication stage. Last week, we were in a motor stage. Apparently he ditched the walking efforts for the "ba ba BA" sound.

So my point is....yes, I have a point......When I was working, I was on target with fact and my feelings. Now my work IS my kids for 24/7. So when I say their hair grew in the last 2 hours, then GUESS WHAT...IT DID. Cause all day I look at that head and so I know it!

When I say they are getting sick before they even have any symptoms....then GUESS WHAT!!!

THAT's RIGHT....cough cough

the power is with me.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

dear deer meat

so 2 nights ago joseph came home with this huge ice chest full of 2 hindquarters of deer meat. it is ALOT of meat. i mean, A.L.O.T....so my kitchen became this butchering arena which caused me to have some weird dreams but none-the-less very exciting and kind of festive.

i asked him if it was road kill. he said he is pretty sure it was not. a customer of his brought it to him. apparently the rich who accompany my husbands work only hunt for the thrill, not the food.

so when joseph found the gunshot wound, we all breathed a sigh of relief. definitely was not roadkill.

so that night, because i had no other idea what to do with it, i made deer meat chicken fried steak. it was ok. i salted, pepper, and garlic salt. then coated in milk and flour. fried in olive oil. the flavor tasted pretty wild, literally. the next day, it tasted alot better....cold and straight out of the fridge.

So now joe has it all cut up. we have some steaks, some roast and loin size pieces. Is a roast the same thing as a loin? Anyways, I have plans for making deer stew, grilled steaks, roast in the oven, and a loin that cooks all day in that stew pot thingy that for the life of me I can not think of the proper name right now. anyways it is that pot that you turn on and leave it all day to cook.

Anyone have any ideas? I need some dear deer recipes. :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

stay-at-home mom

since staying at home, i have loved every single second of it. even the crazy parts. i have had one huge issue though. i have felt this whole time like i am not doing enough and as if everyone around thinks i am not either. i even went so far this week as to keep a detailed list of everything i do during the day. it was long and it was alot. still i felt like i was falling short.

you know there are moments that i am just sitting on the floor playing with lucas. or i spend alot of time patting summer grace's head cause she is a puppy not a person. but when i signed up for being a stay-at-home mom, isn't that what i expected? isn't that what i wanted? if i was a daycare worker, that is what i would be doing with other people's kids. if my kids were in daycare, that is what their teachers would be doing with them.

but i am not taking care of someone elses kids and someone else is not taking care of my kids. it is my job 24 hours a day for 7 days a week to do what i do.....and i am glad for that....no i am more than glad. i am so blessed by God to be doing the ONE job i have always craved.

There are women in the bible who worked a business and still excelled at raising a family. Then there are women of the bible that excelled at just raising their family. Both women loved their families and both women did as God directed. I happen to fall in category #2. I can not raise kids well and work at the same time. I always feel guilty at work for not being at home with my kids. But i never felt guilty at home for being away from work.

the other day i dreamed about my old job. it was an awful dream. in the dream i had the same feelings of inadequacies, felt ridiculed, never lived up to the expected potential, had low self-confidence, and just a big ugly feeling inside. when i woke up, i carried that feeling with me for awhile. then i remembered to be thankful that i no longer have to work in that kind of environment. i truly think that the last 1 or 2 years that i worked, i was meant to be there for only 2 reasons. 1. to realize that i wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and 2. to make enough money in the needed time frame in order to get all mine and Joseph's debt paid off so i could stay at home.

we have a limited budget and we struggle alot with learning to live on this new tight budget. but i would not trade this job for a billion bucks. i want to stay at home with my kids. i want to imagine with them and teach them to count and all the letters of the alphabet and the different sounds they make. i want to be here when they get home from school. i want to make sure they stay out of too much trouble when they are teenagers.

i figured out today that i have been holding myself back from being fully happy with my new "job" by thinking i am not doing enough. i am doing plenty and i am doing exactly what i need to be doing to raise my family right. before i was a stay-at-home mom, i had such a high-end, demanding job. so now as i sit on the floor with lucas crawling all over me and summer grace showing me her new puppet show, and as I make sure kamryn gets her homework done and ask her about her day at school, I will remember that just because i am not working my brain to bits does not mean that i do not have, for me, the best and most important job in the world.

I do not have to make alot of dollars or finish a spreadsheet by 5pm or balance a budget to be important. my only job of being a mom to my 3 children is important enough for me.