Two very different things I’ve enjoyed lately…

I love ice cream.  And just when I thought I could not love it any more, I discovered Blue Bell favorites on a stick…covered in chocolate.  Dee-licious!  The mint chocolate chip is the only one that I have tried, and since it’s a single serving of perfection, I haven’t felt a need to try any other flavor.  But you might like to!

.

On a completely different subject, we have been reading to Abigail (and to each other) from the Jesus Storybook Bible.  It’s really good!  Sometimes I keep reading to myself even after we have finished the story for the day.  The pictures are charming, and the overall format is very similar to most Bible story books, but what really makes this version stand out is the way that it points out how every Old Testament story is pointing to Jesus.  How theologically sophisticated our little girl is going to be!  For example, here is the conclusion to the story of the Ten Commandments:

“‘God promises to always look after you,’ Moses said. ‘Will you love him and keep these rules?’

‘We can do it! Yes! We promise!’

But they were wrong.  They couldn’t do it.  No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t keep God’s rules all the time.

God knew they couldn’t.  And he wanted them to know it, too.

Only one person could keep all the rules.  And many years later God would send Him–to stand in their place and be perfect for them.

Because the rules couldn’t save them.

Only God could save them.”

.

Check out both of these great products!  Pure sweetness for the taste buds and for the soul!

 

Not such a fashion low, after all

As you all know, I was really resisting the idea of buying…and even worse, wearing maternity pants.  It was not just the pride of being able to say that my normal pants fit, but it was the pride of wearing pants that had a button and zipper rather than an elastic waist!  Who wears elastic waisted pants, after all?  Grandmas, toddlers, and no one in between.

So it was with a heavy heart that I caved at Target the other day.  I hid the offending pants between a few other clothing items that I had no intention of buying and scurried off to the dressing rooms hoping that I would not see anyone that I knew.

Prepared to surrender all of my dignity, I unhooked the pants from their hanger…and I pulled them on…and…aaaaahhhhhh.

WHY DOESN”T EVERYONE WEAR ELASTIC WAISTED PANTS?

They are so comfortable!  And my shirt covers the elastic, so no one even sees it!  (I’m displaying the waist for this picture only, so that you can all see that this is not a hoax, despite my sensational claims).  What sadistic person has made us all believe that we must wear pants that button and zip?

You can tell from the picture how happy I look, and how my self-esteem is blossoming.  I haven’t felt this way in blue jeans in years!  You won’t see me squirming around on the floor trying to get these on, even if they are fresh out of the dryer.  I can’t say that for any of my normal pairs of jeans, even before I was pregnant.  THESE jeans love me for who I am, even on those days when I can’t resist another piece of cake or a bowl of ice cream. These jeans don’t give me any trouble when I am in a hurry to use the restroom.  These jeans are nurturing and supportive, rather than confining and judging.

You’re all going to want to join me in this revolution…even you, my flat-tummied, pre-baby friends.  There’s no going back!

 

Another Winner from ATK

If you ever have the chance to read the Little House books as an adult, you will probably notice, as I did, that the true heroine of those stories is Carolyn Ingalls, a.k.a. “Ma.” While Laura happily chats on about dinner on the trail, the homey little dugout, or the fun games of Kitty in the Corner while Pa is lost out in the snowstorm, it becomes striking how much work Ma has done behind the scene to make life so sweet. The cooking of meals over campfires and iron stoves was particularly impressive to me in my most recent read of LHOP, and I think of that often as I’m throwing a frozen pizza in the oven or heating up my pre-cooked pot roast from HEB. What would it be like to have to think of what’s for dinner as soon as the lunch dishes were finished?

Well, I like to think I got a little taste of pioneer living last night, when I tried my hand at making chili for the first time. I’m still part of my “Lunch Bunch” at school, and when my turn to cook comes up, it’s a nice excuse to try something new.

Anyway, on to the hardship. 1. My garlic press is lost, so I had to finely mince six cloves of garlic by hand with my microplane grater (ouch on the fingertips!). 2. I had to close my eyes while cutting up two onions because I was tearing up so bad. This is no small feat, I assure you! (I ended up grating them on my regular cheese grater, which was a perfect solution- great flavor but no oniony chunks to pick out of the finished dish) 3. The recipe had to cook for TWO HOURS! Not even counting the 45 minutes of prep and initial browning/sauteeing. And, since I have a gas stove in the new house, this means that I was cooking over an open flame for most of the night. When I topped it off with my homemade johnnycake (Jiffy-mix cornbread), I felt like quite the pioneeress.

Now, one teeny advantage I may have had was that I had the luxury of buying my dinner at Chick-fil-A on the way home from the grocery store, since I was hungry before I even started cooking. And it was a good thing, too, because the chili wasn’t finished until 10:30! But it made a delicious lunch for the group today, and I’m reheating the whole pot to feed to my Office-watching family tonight.

Here is my yummy recipe- the actual hands-on part of the cooking is very easy–courtesty of America’s Test Kitchen:

Simple Chili with Kidney Beans

Ingredients

2	tablespoons vegetable oil or corn oil
2	medium onions , chopped fine (about 2 cups)
1	red bell pepper , cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6	medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
1/4	cup chili powder
1	tablespoon ground cumin
2	teaspoons ground coriander
1	teaspoon red pepper flakes
1	teaspoon dried oregano
1/2	teaspoon cayenne pepper
2	pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
2	(15-ounce) cans red kidney beans , drained and rinsed
	1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes , with juice
	1 can (28 ounces) tomato puree
	Table salt
2	limes , cut into wedges

Instructions

1. 1. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed nonreactive Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano, and cayenne; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add half the beef; cook, breaking up pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink and just beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add remaining beef and cook, breaking up pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. 2. Add beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove cover and continue to simmer 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally (if chili begins to stick to bottom of pot, stir in 1/2 cup water and continue to simmer), until beef is tender and chili is dark, rich, and slightly thickened. Adjust seasoning with additional salt. Serve with lime wedges and condiments if desired.

 

A Word of Political Commentary…

Sarah Palin is awesome. And if you didn’t see her little daughter steal the show last night, you missed the funniest moment of the whole election.

 

Good news/Bad news

The good news:  America’s Test Kitchen is the greatest cooking show I’ve ever seen.  It’s actually a show where the recipes look good AND easy to make.  They’re recipes for normal people- one skillet meals, steak for less than $6 a pound, or 30 minute meals that actually take 30 minutes to prepare.  After being inspired by the “Tex-Mex” themed episode, I tried my hand at the black bean quesadillas and fresh chunky salsa…and not only were the ingredients all affordable and easy to find in my local H-E-B, the end product was actually DELICIOUS.  As the cherry on top, I had it all cooked, eaten, and cleaned up in an hour.

The bad news:  ATK says that it is broadcasted on “public television.”  But I don’t know which channel or what time it comes on.  Also, although they advertise that all of their recipes and episodes are accessible through their website (www.americastestkitchen.com), you have to pay for a subscription.

The slightly redeeming news:  You can buy seasons of the show for $29.95, and that includes a hardcover, high-quality cookbook featuring the recipes and product reviews from those episodes.  So, I’m putting it on my Christmas list.

 

Scrapbooking for Cheaters

I overheard some advice one time (not intended for me) that has really stuck with me. One busy lady was saying to another that she needed to pick one or two things to be really awesome at, and to settle for “good” in the rest of her responsibilities. In other words, since it’s impossible to do a million things with perfect excellence, you should be intentional about which projects get your best time and energy. In a similar spirit, one of my monthly magazines has a regular column called “Good (enough) Housekeeping,” that is full of shortcut tips for jobs that just don’t need to be done at 100%.

There are several things that I do that I love enough to do really well. Keeping up with my photos is not one of them, which is kind of surprising because I’m incredibly sentimental about my memories. I’ve got a few traditional photo albums, and I have basic captions written for most of the pictures. Every picture I’ve taken since getting married is still stored on my hard drive, neatly filed in digital folders.

Wisdom tells me that this should be good enough, but I’ve suffered from scrapbooking guilt. I love the idea of personalized books, printed paper, decoratively trimmed edges, and lengthy, reflective captions for each page. But I haven’t been able to bring myself to actually devote the money, time, and energy into starting scrapbooking as a hobby. The idea is overwhelming, and I know that I won’t follow through even if I do ever start.

Well, I think I’ve found a solution: Good (enough) scrapbooking through online photo books. One of my fourth grade moms made one of these for my end-of-the-year gift, and it’s a beautiful and sweet collection of photos as well as the students’ favorite memories and moments from the year, which this mom had them write while I was in Phoenix. I looked online and discovered that these books look pretty easy to make and , even including printing and shipping costs, are relatively inexpensive.

These books seem to include what I like about scrapbooks- lots of room to personalize with written reflections and multiple photos all decoratively arranged on each page- while avoiding some of the inconveniences- font is neater than my actual handwriting, it can be assembled on the computer without any expensive software, and the final product is a perfect size to store neatly on a bookshelf or out on a coffee table.

I do realize that most things that seem too good to be true usually are, but this seems to be a great compromise for me. If you’ve had a different experience with this sort of thing, please let me know!

 

Unique just like everyone else

I always thought I was such a sophisticated, proper person.  Turns out I’m just a white cliche, and you probably are too.

 

I Love My Heeb

Two times now, H-E-B has saved my life. Several weeks ago, I accidentally picked up some chicken that was past its expiration date. I hate grocery shopping and go through the store as quickly as humanly possible, so I didn’t notice that the chicken smelled less-than-fresh. However, my attentive teenaged cashier noticed, and sent the bag boy to fetch me some fresh meat. He brought back two trays of chicken worth more than what I had already paid, and they told me not to worry about the difference. So not only did we get to eat an extra .05 pound of chicken for dinner, we were also spared an untimely death or an expensive hospital stay.

So Wednesday I went shopping again. In my mad rush to complete the chore, I picked up a dented can of green beans. I actually noticed the dent in the checkout line as I put my items on the conveyor belt, and the thought of death by botulism-induced respiratory failure crossed my mind, but as I weighed my options, carrying home potential death-in-a-can seemed less of a hassle than returning the can to the shelf when I was so close to checking out.

However, for the second time, an attentive cashier came to the rescue. “I need you to go get this lady a new can of green beans!” he commissioned a nearby employee. “Never sell a dented can to a customer!” This last command was loud enough to be instructive to the cashiers in nearby lanes as well.

So I finished checking out and the errand boy had not returned with my non-dented can of green beans. I told the bag boy not to worry about it. I wasn’t going to wait around for a can of beans that cost less than a dollar. I briskly headed out to my car.

I had just gotten the trunk opened up when I heard footsteps and panting breaths behind me. It was the bag boy, chasing after me with my can of green beans! He handed them to me, unloaded the rest of my groceries, and took my basket back to the store, saving me the trip.

You don’t get service like that just anywhere! Here, Everything really is Better!

 

Derek Webb, again

It’s been a year since we saw Derek Webb at Common Grounds, so the timing seemed about right for us when our friends Josh and Abbey invited us to go hear him when he came through Dallas last night.

This is now my fourth time to see Derek Webb as a solo act, and I’m still not disappointed, although the long show did get us home at 2 AM on the night of “spring forward.” He rocks! Enjoy some timely thoughts, just like I did last night.

I’m so tired of these mortal men
with their hands on their wallets and their hearts full of sin
scared of their enemies, scared of their friends
and always running for re-election
so come to DC if it be thy will
because we’ve never had a savior on Capitol Hill

You can always trust the devil or a politician
to be the devil or a politician
but beyond that friends you’d best beware
‘cause at the Pentagon bar they’re an inseparable pair
and as long as the lobbyists are paying their bills
we’ll never have a savior on Capitol Hill

All of our problems gonna disappear
when we can whisper right in that President’s ear
he could walk right across the reflection pool
in his combat boots and ten thousand dollar suit

You can render unto Caesar everything that’s his
you can trust in his power to come to your defense
it’s the way of the world, the way of the gun
it’s the trading of an evil for a lesser one
so don’t hold your breath or your vote until
you think you’ve finally found a savior up on Capitol Hill

(from the album The Ringing Bell- check it out)

 

Iowa Schmiowa

Although for all of our sake, I usually refrain from political commentary on this light-hearted and rarely controversial blog site, I decided to make an exception today due to the fact that we are in an election year and today was the very important first step in the process of electing a new American President. I am going to give you…wait for it…the official Cum Grano Salis position on all things political.

1. All political candidates are liars and flatterers. The few candidates who may actually posess principles will more than likely be corrupted by the intoxication of power within a month of taking office, and if, by some fluke, they actually try to accomplish anything they had promised to do, they will be thwarted by Congress and the bureaucratic red tape of the American political system.

2. Any Republican loser who wins the nomination would be less horrible than Hillary Clinton.

3. Of the Republican losers, Mike Huckabee is my least favorite because he taking advantage of evangelicals. I am equally unimpressed with evangelicals who are going along with it.

Now you can forego all political commentary between now and November and vote for the guy with the nicest tie on Election Day.