Monday, January 9, 2012

breakfast casserole

You may have noticed I like to save a penny here and there.  Some ideas work out great, like turning old sweaters or dress shirts into quilts.  Other ideas I wouldn't recommend, but they sure make for funny stories to recount.  
...Like, pulling out someone else's Taco Bell tacos out of the trash and eating them for lunch the next day {I mean, we were paying for grad school as we went, but was a 69 cent taco really too expensive?!}  
...OR, actually thinking a good way to save money on our honeymoon in Paris would be to stay in a convent.  AND, if it wasn't bad enough that I ever entertained that thought, how about the fact that we seriously went to a convent to meet with some nuns about the possibility of staying for there a few nights?!  {Fortunately, they didn't allow men overnight there anymore, so after considering a youth hostel, we decided to splurge for a $60 room - I mean, it was our honeymoon, right?}
...When we bought our first home, we were scandalized by the price of mail boxes.  So, Andy set out to build his own.  It was basically a smaller rendition of our house.  As soon as he set it out by the curb, the first snowplow to come along...Well, snowplow: 1, mail box: no longer.  Back to Lowe's to buy a $50 mailbox.


But really, here's some not-as-ridiculous ways to save:
-- Frozen orange juice.  I stopped buying OJ for awhile, because we go through it so fast.  Our family can drink a half-a-container in one sitting.  So, a friend suggested buying the frozen concentrate because it's cheaper.  I add the juice of one orange, and we would never know we are drinking anything less.  

-- Make a pack of green onions last a month.  This time of year, my green thumb gets that itch.  I tend to what I can indoors: stevia, rosemary, peppermint, thyme, sage all still growing strong.  But, who knew you could grow green onions indoors in 4 simple steps?  
1. Chop the green parts off of the onions {use in a recipe, like below}.
2. Place the white part, roots down in enough water to cover the root.
3. Put near a window.
4. Change the water everyday.
Watch them grow!
{I use organic green onions - not sure if what they spray on conventional ones would stop this from working.  Also, I discard them after awhile.  I've heard of people planting the roots then.  I'm just not there yet.}

And now, one of our new faves.

  Breakfast Casserole
{gluten-free, grain-free}
1 T. butter
5 mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup cottage cheese
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. black pepper
dash of hot pepper sauce (like sriracha)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a square baking dish or pie pan.  Melt butter in a skillet and saute mushrooms and onions until tender (3-4 minutes).  Place cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in a blender.  Pulse until combined.  Pour into the prepared baking dish.  Stir in mushrooms and onions.  Bake about 40 minutes, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  
Inspired by and adapted from: The Gluten-Free Bible









It's a Monday, all! 
A new day, another week, a fresh start, blank page, new mercies.
May we have open eyes.  To look for beauty.  To breathe as many thanks as possible.  To rise up.  And live this day to the fullest.  There will never be another like it.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. 
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday, January 6, 2012

11 years ago...

A page was turned as we stood on a stage in a room filled with loved ones.  Candles flickering, tulle draping, hearts bursting, cheeks aching from smiling so long and so wide {ok, maybe that was just me...}  Holding the hands of the one I love, looking into his olive eyes, I said:
With confidence that our heavenly Father has guided our lives to this day and will continue...before these witnesses, I, Sara Lynn, take you Andrew Paul, to be my husband.  Whether we’re sick or healthy, poor or prosperous, I promise to give you myself in a life-long union.  To love you unconditionally and continually, to respect and support your leadership (not only from behind, but by your side), to always be a tender comfort to you, to cherish and honor and pray for you faithfully. According to God’s Word and by the enablement of His Spirit, I am committed to be your “esposa” until death parts us or the Lord returns.

Wearing my best - a white, flowing gown facing a tuxedoed, prince charming, I don’t know that any bride can fully grasp her promises at that time.  While the past 11 years have been filled with hearty laughter and sweet romance, they have also had their share of what we used to call “detours” and “parenthesis” of life, until we learned it was simply...life.  I never imagined “in sickness” would include cleft palate, autism, emergency hernia surgerieS, celiac disease, thyroid cancer.  We never would have dreamed we’d live where we do, with as many plans as we had to put miles on our hiking boots.  I didn’t know how many conditions my love had on it or how hard it can be to apologize, or forgive.  

11 years later... The plates we bought off the clearance shelf on the way home from our honeymoon have all chipped.  I have given up on buying new glasses that inevitably break in a few months and now just drink out of mason jars.  Year 10 was a bit comical when all sorts of appliances went out too = the iron, toaster, vacuum, washer, crockpot…  I would be naive to think that a marriage is no less fragile than these dishes.  And, I'd be foolish to assume we could do this alone.  I can't help but sincerely thank those who stood with us on that day, those who walk with us today...Friends who keep it real...Examples of husbands before us loving their wives enough to work hard for their families, remain faithful, pursue closeness...Wives we watch honoring their husbands by choosing to respect, seeking peace and a gentle answer...Parents who jump at the chance to watch our boys for us to have a night away...My mom's reminders that Love comes from God...This bond of three, which is not easily broken.  

So, here we are... another year to celebrate, another glass raised, another chance to grasp hands, lock fingers, look into each others’ eyes and once again affirm I still do.    

  {His choice for dinner: Cambodian/Thai at The Lemongrass Cafe.  
My choice for lunch: Indian Buffet at Tamarind Flavor of India.  Both: GF and so delish!}
As wild as the road has been (and probably will be - evidenced below...  :)
I am so blessed to journey with you.  Happy Anniversary, my love.  


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

.:make do:. warm quilt

What do you get when you combine: watching Kung Fu Panda 2 with the boys this weekend and realizing we don't have a warm blanket big enough for all of us, cleaning out the closets, this sentimental mama not able to give up another baby quilt {but already a tote-full of ones saved}, thinking the days of me wearing lavender velvet pants are probably over, admiration for a grandma who used to make her quilts out of old dresses, it's 23 degrees out, and it's warmer upstairs where the sewing machine is.
Combine all those, and what do you get?

A quilt!  Of course...
Made from some sweaters that either shrunk or look to worn to wear, said lavender pants and baby quilt, an old robe, and a sheet {to back it with}.


I will get back to recipes soon.  Pinky-swear.  This baking without wheat, rice, oats, cocoa or beans has been a bit of a challenge.  I’ve been experimenting with teff, chickpea, coconut and almond flours and am loving what we’re finding.  So, I will share…
Until then, more cuddling under this blanket with my loves.
Oh yes.  Did I mention that one of my New Year's resolutions is to simplify?  Maybe after this quilt... :)

Saturday, December 31, 2011

twenty.eleven

Seems like it was yesterday that the thought of stepping into another year brought a stomach-full of butterflies.*  After a long December, we were singing with the counting crows: maybe this year will be better than the last.  But...if not, I asked the Lord to open my eyes, awaken my heart to joy.  Not happy-'cuz-life-is-good or happy-when-my-kids-behave.  Not happiness-found-in-escaping-to-anywhere-but-here or happy-from-a-pat-on-the-back. 
Joy that springs from a well deeper than circumstance. 
The joy that only He can give.  
Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 
~ Psalm 90.14
2011 came, 
and this is just a snapshot.  
{There is so much left out...memories we hold in our hearts but don't have on disk - lovely faces that grace our days, precious family, priceless friendships, warm exchanges in the hall, honest conversations, laughter and tears shared.}    

we hugged hard good-byes to loved ones...

 



we embraced hellos...


we shared our lives, our hearts, our journeys, our gluten-free cakes......

we faced our fears, cheering each other on in the process...




{below: before...}
we moved, gathered, celebrated...

{above: after!!!}
we discovered the wonder in the here, beauty in the now...





You know what I see looking back on this year?
He has given joy!

We often don’t enjoy the experience at hand because we’re so caught 
up with reaching out for the next one…The secret to awakening joy 
is being present with whatever part of life we’re tasting right now.
~ James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander

More to come, as we ring in the New Year tonight with some of our favorites.
Wishing you a Happy New Year, filled with joy that only He can give!