Pear Cranberry Side Salad

We have lettuce salad as a side to our meals a lot. Sometimes it gets boring with lettuce, carrots, and ranch dressing. So I started experimenting with ingredients I'd had in salads at restaurants. Give this one a try. It's really refreshing.

Pear Cranberry Side Salad
for 1 serving

bowl of lettuce (we've used iceberg and romaine)
1/4 pear, cubed
1 tbsp dried cranberries
1 tbsp walnuts (can be toasted)
1/2 tbsp raspberry vinaigrette

You can change the amount of cranberries and walnuts to your liking and you can also add some feta or gogonzola cheese. Delicious!!

Job Description:Soul Sculptor for the King of the Universe

There's a time, about once a month, that I fret over what I'm doing at home with my boys. I bounce back and forth the thought that I should be working and earning a paycheck. That I should use the nursing degree I worked and studied so hard for. That I could be making a difference out in the world. I start to feel insignificant and like it doesn't matter. But it does matter. I know that deep in my heart but sometimes I let those negative thoughts control my attitude and I need time to refocus my passions.

I read a wonderful article form Holy Experience this afternoon about feeling just that...insignificant and how that is a lie from Satan:

"You are not a STAY at home anything. You are a woman on the move, a woman on journey. You are in perpetual spiritual pilgrimage. You are following your Master, your children traipsing behind. Everyday you are packing up and leaving behind one spiritual, emotional, physical time and space…..you are growing, your children are growing, your role in His Kingdom is growing….and at day’s end, you are somewhere very different. In a different heart space, in a different time space, in a different spiritual space. Take it seriously. You are not stagnantly staying anywhere. You are leading your children towards the Promise Land. Don’t get side-tracked, don’t laze about, don’t linger behind….God is moving before you, the Cloud is guiding you----Pack up and follow!"

I have to stop Satan from telling me that what I do is insignificant and that it doesn't matter...that I don't matter...that my boys don't matter. I have to take a stand for my boys' souls and become their warrior. And teach them how to fight for themselves so that they can fight for their families someday.

If you have a minute stop over and read the rest of the article here. It was a great encouragement to me today!

Gramma's Thanksgiving Stuffing

My husband's Gramma brought stuffing to our family Thanksgiving on Thursday. It was really yummy so I was surprised to find out the secret ingredient...StoveTop Stuffing! I know. I was really surprised! It was so good that I don't know why I would spend so much time making it from scratch. She did add some special touches to make it original and I never would have thought it came from a box. So here it is:

Gramma's Thanksgiving Stuffing

1 box StoveTop Chicken Stuffing, cooked according to directions
slice of white bread, toasted, cubed
slice of wheat bread, toasted, cubed
2 tbps hot water
1/4 cup butter (no substitutions)
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 small can of water chestnuts, roughly chopped

Place bread crumbs in a small bowl and moisten with water.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan add onion and celery and saute until done, do not let it brown. Add celery-onion mixture to stuffing and mix in water chestnuts and moistened bread crumbs. Put in casserole and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Thanks Gramma!!

Honey Nut Chicken Sticks

My husband's sister-in-law made delicious Honey Mustard Chicken Strips over the weekend so I decided it was time to share my favorite chicken strip recipe. I'm allergic to processed meat so we don't buy chicken nuggets frozen from the store, but I loved them as a kid and was really missing them. This is a great recipe for chicken strips/nuggets from Rachel Ray's Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats.

Honey Nut Chicken Sticks
4 Servings (if you make nuggets you can serve more)

2 lbs chicken tenders (I just take chicken breast and cut them into strips or nuggets)
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
a splash of milk
2 cups Honey Nut Corn Flakes (we use the generic brand of Honey Bunches of Oats)
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
2 tbsp grill seasoning, such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Season the chicken tenders with salt and pepper. Place the flour in a large, shallow dish. Coat the chicken in the flour. Beat the eggs and milk in a shallow dish. Combine the cereal, bread crumbs, paprika, poultry seasoning, grill seasoning, and vegetable oil in a food processor. Transfer the breading to a shallow dish.

Place a nonstick baking sheet near the chicken breading station. In batches, dip the flour-coated chicken into the egg mixture and then in the breading and place on the nonstick cookie sheet. When all the tenders have been coated, bake them for 15 minutes, or until evenly browned and cooked through. Cool enough to handle and serve, or pack up for a picnic! This chicken may be served hot or cold.


This recipe is a 30-minute meal, but the first few times you make it, it will probably take a little longer than 30 minutes.

Handmade Gifts

On Thursday afternoon, my husband's family had their $5 Christmas gift exchange. The little people are in one group and the adults in another. Our youngest son received a really cute sock monkey made by my husband's cousin. I knew she was taking the Handmade Pledge for Christmas this year so I was excited to see what we would get. We were pleasantly surprised and both of my sons enjoyed it. So here's to handmade gifts and the labor of love they truly are!!

Shop It To Me

I don't spend a lot of money on clothes. It is a necessity, yes, but not something I need to buy everyday. But I know there are those of you out there who love to shop and this is a great way to get some great bargains:

Shop It To Me

The way I describe it is an online catalog of clothing, shoes and accessories in the sizes, styles and brands that you choose. And everything is on sale or clearance! It's a great way to get some shopping done. You can sign up to receive the SaleMail everyday, twice a week, once a week...it's up to you. (Personally, I get mine twice a week.)

There's a bonus: if you get your friends to sign up you earn a $10 gift card from several different places. I didn't really believe that I was going to get a gift card in the mail for having my friends sign-up, but the other day I got a nice little card in the mail and there was my $10 card to Starbucks!! What a wonderful surprise!

I know what some of you are thinking: this is just a ploy to get my email address and I'm going to get a bunch of spam in my inbox. Nope! They have a great privacy policy. I actually got the information and signed-up under my sister-in-law, Beth. She's very cautious about info on the net so I knew I could trust her.

Shop It To Me also has a blog that's a great read. The author talks about fashion trends and what she has purchased through Shop It To Me.

Happy saving!!

Perfect Cake-Mix Cupcakes

Here's the cake-mix cupcake recipe from Hello, Cupcake.

You can use any standard cake mix, but avoid those with pudding in the mix and steer clear of lighter cake mixes such as angel food, since cupcake projects need a firm cake that will hold up when it's decorated. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can make a fair substitution by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to 1 cup whole milk. Let sit for 10 minutes to sour. (Actual buttermilk is better.)

1 box (18.25 oz) cake mix (French vanilla, devil's food, or yellow)
1 cup buttermilk (in place of the water called for on the box)
vegetable oil (the amount on the box)
4 large eggs (in place of the number called for on the box)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Follow the box instructions, putting all the ingredients in a large bowl and using the buttermilk in place of the water specified (the box will call fro more water than the amount of buttermilk you are using), using the amount of vegetable oil that is called for (typically, white or yellow cakes call for 1/3 cup; the chocolate cakes usually call for 1/2 cup), and adding the eggs. Beat with an electric mixer until moistened, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat until thick, 2 minutes longer.
3. Spoon half of the batter into a ziplock bag. Snip a 1/4-inch corner from the bag and fill the paper liners two-thirds full. Repeat with remaining batter. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the baking pans, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool completely.
   

First Birthdays

On Sunday we celebrated my youngest son's first birthday. It was a modest party with friends and family from our church. We served cupcakes, ice cream and pretzel rods.


My cupcake idea came from a book entitled Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. They have some really creative ideas for decorating cupcakes. And they have a great recipe in the back for vamping up your cupcakes from a box mix. They also have "from scratch" cupcake recipes and frosting recipes too. Just can't get enough of it!!