Enchilada Casserole

I forgot to take a photo of this dish but everyone really enoyjed it.  Plus, it was super easy.  We had some leftover steak so I slowcooked it until it was really tender and added it to the casserole.

Recipe:  Serves 6-8

1 jar salsa

1 bag baby spinach leaves

4 burrito size tortillas, cut into 3" wedges

1 can corn, drained well

1 can black beans, drained well

1/2 bag mexican blend cheese or cheddar

Preheat oven to 400*.  In 13x9 baking dish, spread a layer of salsa, just enough to cover the bottom.  Top with tortillas (cover salsa completely) and spread half of black beans and corn.  Layer with half the bag of spinach and top with salsa.  Repeat with tortillas, black beans, corn and spinah.  Top off with any leftover salsa and tortillas.  Bake for 30 mins.  Then add cheese and bake for an additional 10 mins.  Enjoy.

So You're Dead, Now What?

My garden has been doing really well, but we were having a problem with wild onions and weeds.  We had wanted to grow without pesticides.  I thought since we did not have any "fruit" yet I would go ahead and srapy for weeds.  However, I sprayed some of the plants (the bottle did say it was safe to use on flowers and vegetable plants), and by the time Nick came home--about two hours after I sprayed--all but two of my plants were dead!!!  I was so upset.  But...I did start over.  I had to get four more tomato plants, four more hot banana pepper plants, and plant more zucchini.  I guess I learned my lesson.  

Also, we planted sugar baby melons.  Yum!!

I haven't really fixed many great dinners lately.  I did try to make a "fall-apart" pork last night, but it didn't cook all the way through.  I ended up slicing some off and finishing it in the microwave.  The flavor was great, and I think I might try it again and just cook it slow all day.

If you would like to try it, check out the RV Cooking Show.  

Contemplations

I have been reading the new issue of Relevant Magazine, and it has caused me to do some thinking.

1) Sloth--One of the "Seven Deadly Sins".  Being a sloth is not equivalent to being a couch potato.  It is the attitude, knowingly or unknowingly, of apathy.  I am a sloth by this definition.  Yes I care about my husband and my church, but outside of that, I am pretty much apathetic towards most things.  Right now, my focus has been solely on me and how much longer I am going to be stuck in the "phase/chapter" of my life.  I am sick of it--the waiting, the passion waning, the slow death of my spirit, the general discontent, the compromising, the noise to fill time (and the noise that irritates).  I just want it to all be over so I can move on to a more exciting part of life.  We decided almost two years ago to join the Peace Corps and we are still stuck in Durham and now living with Nick's parents.  I have let my time in Durham slowly kill my spirit of giving, loving, caring, helping and serving.  I let go of most of my friendships stating they didn't care about me anymore, but it is mostly because I "feel" like everyone else gets to move on with their lives and I am stuck in the holding pattern.  I need to change.  God did not create me to be selfish.  He created me to care about others and show them His unconditional love.  I want to change and be empathetic and caring again.  It just feels like too much work to change now...

2) TOMS shoes--I have a chance to change the life of another.  Why am I not doing it?  I talk about social justice issues and how Christians need to become the leaders on these issues, but I am doing nothing about it myself.  For bewteen $44 and $98 I could get two awesome pairs of shoes--one for me, one for someone overseas to desititute to even own shoes.  Yet I spend probably 2-3 times this much just on food (grocery and dining out).  Really I need to cut back.  That next time I want to go out, why don't I just give the money to a great organization and help life change begin.

3) Prayer--I pray often, but mostly it is selfish praying.  I want to pray for others.  I need to pray for others.  The Apostle Paul writes over and over how he prays for others always.  He thanks God for the lives and ministries of fellow Christ Followers.  He prays for their needs to be met and for God to bless them for the work they are doing.  And all of this is while Paul sits on prison for preaching the same message.  I want to be able to pray for other unselfishly--just to thank God for using them and blessing their lives and leave it at that. 

These are just a few thoughts going on in this crazy mind God gave me.  Hopefully, getting them out here will provide with rest for tonight, but if not maybe new thoughts to aprk my new journey of life change will grow in my restlessness.  

New Garden

We decided to plant a garden this year.  We only had a small place but there were lots of weeds and monkey grass to remove.  It took two work days to clear out everything but finally got it done, and it looks great!

This is the garden before.

These are our zucchini plants.  I planted them last Wednesday, and they are sprouting already! There are four plants (only two growing yet).  Can't wait to harvest some of these and grill some kabobs!

This is the garden after the first half was cleared and planted.  I planted two Roma tomato plants (on the left), two Homestead tomato plants (on the back right), and two hot banana peppers (in the front).  I think it looks great.  We just need some rain!!

This is my cilantro planter.  I had six sprouts but three died because I left them in the sun too long one day--it was extremely hot that day.  I have three still living and planted five more.  Hopefully, there will be some new sprouts next week.

These are my other herbs.  All my chives (in the back) are doing great.  The parsley (in the middle) is good--I had one casuality with the hot weather.  The thyme (front to picture) is so-so.  Lost two plants and it is not growing that much.  I am patiently hoping it makes it.
 

Also, I have spearmint which is sprouting like crazy.  I will also be planting yellow squash next week, but we need more soil.  I really like gardening.  It is tons of hard preparation work but the outcome is a great reward!!

Top 5...

...salads!!

Crazy post, I know, but I love to eat salad. All of these are restaurant salads (some healthy and some not so)and hear goes...

5. Southwest Chicken Salad (McDonald's)

4. The Blue with buffalo chicken (Zaxby's)

3. 7-Pepper Steak Salad (Longhorn's)

2. Blue Cheese Wedge (Outback)

1. Spicy Chargrilled Chicken (Chick-fil-a)

One Week

Last week Nick and I participated in National Turn Off Your TV week.  It was pretty easy at first, but as the week went on we kind of got really irritated with the whole notion.  We are not the type of people to be dominated by television, but there just was not anything going on last week so it made it harder to fill our time.  We played games with the family, read a lot, went to the library, and took a trip out to the art museum and mall.  It was nice to have the silence and we definitely talked alot more to each other.  Also my mother-in-law and I went to lunch and checked out some local shops.  It was really nice to spend some time with her and just "girl talk"--something I get to do often.  

Overall, nothing profound came out of this experience, but there was more awareness of how we spend our time.  Sometimes we just need to turn off the t.v. and relax. 

Delicious Donuts

Nick and I made donuts and donut holes for breakfast.  And they were fantastic...and incredibly easy to make!!  i posted the recipe below if you want to try it out.

Recipe:

1 pkg. refridgerated pizza dough

2 tbsp. flour

1 to 1 1/2 cups oil

1/4 cup cinnamon sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2" cookie cutter

1/2" cookie cutter

Heat oil in 10" skillet on medium high heat.  On a clean counter, spread out flour and roll out pizza dough.  Thin dough to about 1/8" to 1/4".  Flour cookie cutters and cut all large circles first.  Then with smaller cutter, cut out the center of donuts.  When oil is heated, place donuts in and cook about 30-45 seconds each side.  Place on towel lined baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.*

For the cut out centers (aka donut holes), place holes in oil and cook for about 20 seconds each side.  Place some cinnamon or powdered sugar in a brown paper bag and place cooked holes inside.  Fold top of bag and shake well to evenly coat donut holes.*

Enjoy with a fresh cup of fair trade coffee or a tall glass of local farm milk.

*NOTE:  I made my donuts with cinnamon sugar and the holes with powdered sugar.  However, I think it might work better doing the opposite as the powdered sugar is a little to heavy for the donuts holes.