Lazy Sunday Mornings

There is one thing I love more than anything else and that is spending time with my family.  Lazy Sunday mornings are our favorite to have a big family meal together.  One of our favorite breakfasts is strawberry stuffed french toast.  Lauren and Justin love this one!

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

Ingredients:

Texas Toast

2 eggs

1Tbs cinnamon

2Tbs sugar

1tsp milk

butter

fresh strawberries (stems cut and strawberries diced)

8 oz cream cheese

syrup (warmed if you’d like)

 

Directions:

Mix together the eggs, cinnamon, sugar and milk.  Soak two pieces of bread in the mixture at once.  On a flat top griddle of in a pan put a small amount of butter on medium low heat.  Cook the bread soaked in the egg mixture until it is golden brown.  Place these pieces aside.  In another small bowl mix the strawberries and cream cheese.  Spread the cream cheese and strawberry mixture on one piece  and place another piece on top.  You can press the two pieces together in a panini press or place them on top of each other with a brick on top covered in aluminum foil.  Once the pieces have cooked together you have stuffed french toast.

Enjoy wth fresh orange juice and a side of bacon!

Have a great Sunday!

Religion

I was lucky enough to have had to take a Religious Studies class this semester with Professor Haas.  Those of you who know him understand what a great amount of knowledge this man posses.  The class had not nly peaked my interest due to the fact that we are looking at such a broad spectrum of religions around the world but also because it has enabled me to look deeper into my own religion and the beliefs which I hold.  It has become sort of a self-reflective class as well.  The culmination on the semester was met with a journal which we kept over the entirety of the semester.  As I was writing my last entry the other night I came to realize that maybe I don’t understand my own religion as well as I think I do.  Through other religions such as Mormonism, Catholicism and Lutheranism my beliefs have been challenged, in a good way of course.  I have begun to open up to possibility that maybe my religion is not the only right one, maybe there are others out there who are way ahead of my own, others that need to have their voices heard.  It has been a great semester in this class and I can always appreciate a class that challenges your own way of thinking.  Thank you Professor Haas!!

Get off the smack kids!

Everyday at work I see more and more young kids coming in with heroin overdoses.  What is going on in the streets today?  Where are these kids parents?  I don’t know if it is actually the parent’s fault but who else can I blame for these kids almost dying?  I know it is easy for me to preach I have a good job, I have a husband who I love very much and shares the responsiblity of raising our daughter with me and I am lucky enough to have a great support system throughout the family that Lauren can look up to whenever she needs help.  I guess I just wish all children grew up this way and had all of this too, but I am not nieve, I know most of them don’t.  But, even that sometimes is not enough to keep them out of the streets.  I just don’t know if there is any solution.  Anyone have suggestions?

Only the good die young..

In my profession it is understood that people die every day.  Some die before their time and others seems to live forever.  It is the ones that go too soon that seem the hardest.  While having a child die must be the most horrific thing ever, I have a harder time with the thirty or forty somethings.  The people who have begun to have a life but are suddenly cut short seem to be the ones robbed the most.  My heart goes out to those families who have lost a mother or father, son or daughter.  I can’t imagine the sadness that the children of these people must live with.  To know that your father will not be there in ten or fifteen years to walk you down the aisle on your wedding day must be heartwrentching.  There always seems like there is nothing to say as well.  When I am at work and someone passes away I tried to avoid eye contact.  Not because I dont’ care, I do, but simply because I don’t know what to say all I can do is avoid the subject.  What could possibly make the person feel any better?  I hope none of you ever have to deal with the unexpected loss of someone in your life time.

I hate politics

I am so tired of the campaign commercials and ads on TV for the upcoming presidential election.  I feel, when it comes to it is like choosing the lesser of the evils.  I really have no respect for politics, everything has gone down hill since Regan.  I hate walking into work and hearing the people discussing politics, I hate going to the doctor’s office and having my MD ask who I am going to vote for…..JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!  I am sorry if this post offends some, but I am merely trying to just present my views.  So…to all of those who are going to be voting, good luck and whatever decision the general public makes I will not complain because of the simple fact that I will not be voting.

Too busy to cook hambuger macaroni

Ok, here is a good recipe for those of you who are so busy that you don’t think you have time to cook for your family tonight!

Cheesy Hamburger Macaroni

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef ( I use ground chuck for this one because sirloin can dry out)

3 cans cream of cheddar soup mix

1 cup of milk

1 box of macaroni ( you can use elbows or whatever you like, I especially like bowtie for this one)

1 handfulof Velveta, cubed

1 handful diced onion

salt/pepper

bread crumbs (optional)

Directions:

Brown the ground beef with the onions, drain.  Bring a pot of water with a little salt to a boil.  Once the macaroni is slightly al dente drain it into the sink.  In a large bowl mix the soup mix and milk.  Stir in a little salt and pepper.  Pour the macaroni in the bottom of a large baking dish, sprayed with nonstick spray.  Sprinkle the ground beef and onion mixture over the macaroni.  Pour the cheddar cheese soup and milk mixture over the ground beef and macaroni.  Place the Velveta on top of the cheddar cheese soup mixture.  Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the Velveta and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the cheese melts and the bread crumbs brown.  This is a great casserol to serve with an easy mixed veg or tossed salad.

Have a nice dinner with your family tonight and enjoy being together!

It’s been awhile

As the end of the semester draws even closer I find myself scrambling to get more and more done every day.  My assignments, not only for this course, are keeping me up very late at night.  I can’t really blame anyone for this sudden scramble other than myself.  I am the Queen of Procrastination, and I love it!  Some of my best work has been created and completed under intense pressure to just get it done.  While I find writing such an easy task for me, I am utterly struggling to just make myself read.  I have found myself not reading my assignments very closely but rather skimming and taking notes on just the important and relevant material.  I was talking about this with one of my fellow classmates who happens to be in grad school and she was telling me that they actually encourage the students to skim rather than close read while they are in grad school.  So, in all actuality, I am actually doing things right.  I will be praying that the next few weeks pass by quickly, with little bumps in the road.  Since my eight year college career is ending I am actually sadden by the fact.  I don’t know what I will do without classes to come to and a full time job, I am sure I will adjust just fine.  So, good luck to all those who are just trying to finish up the semester, and congratulations of the upcoming graduates!

One precent of the United States is behind bars

I was catching up on the news, via internet as usual, and I came across the following headline on cnn.com.  The article preseents the evidence that more than one out of every one hundred Americans is in prison.  Now, more than one may mean, one and a half or one and three-quarters, either way…that is alot of people! 

“The nationwide figures, as of January 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails — a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.” (cnn.com- http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/28/prison.population.ap/index.html)

I knew that we had a problem in this country with people following the rules, but I didn’t think we had that much of a problem.  I know one hundred people, in fact I graduated with 76 people in my class…the year is not important.  But, that means that a person I graduated with may be in prison, which I am sure a lot more than one of them are!  I don’t know why this statistic blows my mind, but I saw it and I wanted the pleasure of sharing just how great our country is, as evident by this, with all of you!  Stay cool, stay in school and stay out of jail!

It’s funny the things God decides to take away….

I am writing this post against my better judgement, the only reason I am doing this is to avoid further confusion.  I am sure most of you have heard that I was pregnant.  Unfortunately we found out last Friday that the baby’s heart had stopped beating.  This was very sad news for my husband and I, but we believe everything happens for a reason and it is all part of God’s plan.  We are just so thankful to have our daughter Lauren and we know that God will bless us in the future with more children.  We do not ask for sympathy or pity, I just wanted everyone to know so I could avoid an uncomfortable conversation in the future when someone asks how I am doing or how the baby is doing, that’s all.

Recovery Soup

This a great chicken and rice soup for thsoe who are sick!!

Ingredients:

3-4 Bonelesss/Skinless Chicken breasts

2 boxes of chicken broth/stock

1 handful carrots

1 handful celery

1 handful onion

3 cups arborio rice

2 fresh bay leaves

5 black pepper corns

salt

Directions:

You can cook the chicken a number of ways for this soup- you can grill it, boil it or bake it, whatever is easiest for you.  In a large stock put put a couple swigs of olive oil over low heat.  Add the onions, you want to make sure the heat is low because you don’t want to saute them, just sweat them to release the juices.  The onions will start to look translucent, that is when you know they are done.  In the mean time you can par-boil your carrot and celery.  I have a Papered Cheft Micro-Croc that I love for this.  You can just use a pot of boiling water too.  You want to cook the veg long enough that it is soft but not mushy, about 10-13 minutes.  Add the two boxes of chicken stock to the stock pot with the onion, turn the heat up to medium-low.  Add your par-boiled veg minus the water you cooked them in.  Add a touch of salt and pepper.  You can also add the tops of the celery stalks- the small leafy parts, they have a lot of flavor in them and are very high in nutrients.  At this time aslo add your bay leaves and peppercorns.  If you don’t have pepper corns you can just add another pinch of pepper instead.  By the tine this all comes together your chicken should be done.  Cut the chicken into small chunks and add to the pot.  Next add your arborio rice.  If you don’t want to use arborio rice you can use regular minute rice- arborio just makes the soup thick and creamy.  Let all the ingredients simmer together for about 30 to 45 minutes, until the rice is tender.  Make sure you take out your fresh bay leaves before you spoon this out and serve!

Enjoy!!

PS- This soup can be very versitle too you can use noodles instead of rice and add or subtract any veg you want- bok choy and cabbage work really well in this soup also!