Soup Without A Name

Our most favorite, most frequent, and most versatile soup is ... well I don't think it even has a name. Or if it does, I don't know it. It was inspired by the chicken soup you find in Mexican restaurants.

I could name it what it is: "Pour Some Good, Hot Chicken Stock Over Ingredients of Your Choice"

It all begins by making you own chicken stock. I do it almost weekly. The picture of a sizable stockpot peacefully simmering on my stove makes my homemaker heart glad. Here is a picture of the recipe that I use as a guide:

(You do need to add a good bit of salt to bring out the flavor and make the meat tasty.)

     
This is what it looks like when you put it all in a pot. In this picture I actually used the bones and leftovers from a roasted chicken. In this case you can make 2 meals out of one. If I use a whole bird I would take off all the meat after boiling and use it either in the soup or in chicken salad, chicken pot pie, or quiche.


       Now, as you might have noticed, I actually did put in the chicken feet. You may or may not have access to them and they are optional, as the recipe points out. The feet in this picture are blanched in hot water and skinned before I add them to the soup. Because of all the joints in the feet, they really add beneficial gelatin.



Then I like to pour our hot chicken broth over:


pieces of chicken meat
cooked rice
chopped avocado
chopped tomato
chopped parsley/cilantro
add soy sauce and chili garlic paste to taste.


I have also poured it over:

- leftover enchilada filling
- leftover fried rice
- sautéed mushrooms and onion with cooked noodles
- nothing. This is a good liquid meal for a fast or sickness.
Lots of nutrients and easy to digest.

Use the broth also in:

- baked potato soup
- chicken and dumplings
-any other soup that calls for chicken stock


Best of all, it is a crowd pleaser at my house!

Manja

FOOD!!

When I think about what about my life might be at all interesting or applicable to...anyone:)...I think food and cooking might be about it!  Increasingly, I find myself needing to fix food to bring somewhere or a snack to share, etc. so here are just a couple of my new favorites:

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

1 lb. sausage (or turkey sausage)

6 eggs

2 C. milk

1 tsp. mustard powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 bag of Marie Calendar's cheesy garlic (or whatever kind) croutons*

8 oz. grated cheddar cheese

Brown sausage and drain.  Beat eggs, milk, mustard powder and salt in a bowl.  Add cooked sausage, croutons and cheese.  Pour into 13x9 buttered baking dish and cover and chill 8 hrs-overnight.  Cover with foil and bake at 350°F (176 ° C...does anyone even need that?  If not, pretend I didn't do it!) for 45 minutes, reduce oven to 325°F (162°C) , remove foil, and bake an additional 30  minutes or until set.  Eat it.  

HOT CHEESY CORN DIP

2 Tbsp. butter

2 C. fresh corn (or canned, frozen)

1/2 C. diced onion

1/4 C. diced red bell pepper

2 green onions, sliced

1 jalapeno, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 C. mayonaise

1/2 C. shredded monterey jack cheese

1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

salt, pepper, cayenne for taste

In a cast iron skillet (or not...I just like that), melt 1 Tbsp (I use more ) of butter in pan and saute corn until it turns golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Take the corn out, and melt the rest of your butter, and add in onion and red bell peppers, cooking until fairly soft, about 5-10 minutes.  Add in green onion, jalapeno, and garlic and cook for a couple minutes, until fragrant.  Mix corn, pepper onion mixture, and the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl (reserve a little cheese for the top) and then pour into a small baking dish.  Top with additional cheese and bake in 350° oven for 10-20 minutes.  Serve with blue corn chips or tortilla chips or pita chips...or whatever you want!

Taking the focus off of me....at least trying to...

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather that we have been having here. For the third day in a row the temps have reached 50+ degrees! In January! This my friends in nothing but the grace of God flowing. I don't mind cold weather; I just don't like being cold. Actually, I can't stand being cold.

I have gotten back into the swing of reading for pleasure as well as reading to learn something. Normally, I read one book at a time, but for some reason, I am currently reading 5. Yep, 5 books. I guess you could go ahead and say 6 because I have to have the forward, introduction, and first chapter of another book read by Monday. Anyway, I was reading in Grow Together by Jeff Myers yesterday and the words jumped off the paper at me. He was talking about chronos and kairos. "Chronos: the quantitatative passing of time; minutes. Kairos; the qualitative value of time; moments.(Myers, pg. 95) Time passes=chronos. This can be measured and recorded. The potential of time=kairos. This can't be measured.

Move with me to page 97 and Myers says "Given the chronos and the kairos, the belief that I have little to offer is actually an affront to God. It assumes that God is limited by the resources we think exist, and it treats with contempt the value God brings to bear in his very-good world, teeming with life."

Wow, how many times do we say things like: I can't do that, I am not gifted in that area, those aren't my talents and so forth. Well, the minute I read that statement ....the Holy Spirit went.into action in my mind and allowed me to remember the date, time and place that I most recently stated, "I can't do that!"It was the first Saturday in December after enjoying a play with some friends. Step forward, mess up, repent and keep moving forward. I did end up doing what I was asked to do. This is another story for another time. I had actually been praying about it, but it came about in a different way than I thought it would happen. Me and me predetermined, limited expectations!!

It is not about me and what I think. My mind is too tiny to comprehend God and what He can do.

I am thankful for this correction. This must mean I don't focus on myself anymore, right? Wrong!

Today, I have been overwhelmed. By nature, I usually don't panic. I thrive under pressure. I enjoy a good challenge. But, not today. Oh, not today. I just can't deal with all that I need to do right now. My son graduates in 4 months. I am not ready. The portfolio is not done. Applications are not done. Questions are not answered. Thankfully,  my son is very calm about all of this! He knows God is in control and it will work out as it should.

Then it hit me. Do you see all the I's in the previous paragraph? Phew! There are just too many. This process is not about me and how quickly I can get the paperwork whipped out or about how fast Joel can fill out an application. This is about the Glory of God and how He is reflected through this process. Step forward, mess up, repent and keep moving forward.

As homeschoolers,  we typically do things differently and Joel's path through higher education will not be a exception to this. We know that his first few semesters are not going to be done the traditional route. So, I don't need to panic. Take a deep breath. Embrace the challenge. Love the process. The Lord knows where Joel will go and how Joel will get there. And it is perfectly ok that I know neither. It is not about me and what I haven't gotten accomplished. It is about Him and what He will accomplish through this process!

May we move forward together. Live, learn and lean on Him!

Lynne

Lastly, Jill:)

Our Christmas card photo 2014

Hello all! I’m Jill and I’m thrilled to add a few tidbits of info to our collective blog.  A little about me and my family:  I’m married to “the boy next door” (actually he lived down the street), my childhood sweetheart - Ronnie.  I met him in 2nd grade when my family moved off base (Barksdale AFB) and into a new school district. Of course, we were just acquaintance till high school, then bam - muscles!  We’ll celebrate 24 years of marriage this year - how did that happen?  I feel way too young to have been married for 24 years.;) 

Ronnie is an operations manager in the paper industry, so he’s super busy, but in his free time he loves to ride his mountain bike and go kayaking (kayaking is a recent interest, but he’s loving it!). Unfortunately, he also enjoys Japanese ninja movies, with subtitles. :-/

Josh, Dev & Jules

We have three kiddos: our son, Josh, and our two daughters, Devan and Jules.  Josh is 18 and a senior at a public school. He is knee deep in college/scholarship applications and interviews. He is a gifted writer, I'm sure he's written more words than he’s spoken. Not kidding. He also has a heart for orphans and spent a few weeks working at Hope House orphanage in China this past summer.  We pray he glorifies God with his talent and passion.  Our daughter Devan is 15 and a freshman at a university model high school, which means she goes to school 3 days and schools at home 2 days. It has been a wonderful fit for her personality. She has an artistic eye, takes beautifully creative photos and can braid hair like nobody’s business! Bringing up the rear is Jules, Julia Grace. Sweet Jules is 10 and I’m pretty sure she’s never said an unkind word about anyone - with the exception of me and my cooking. She's pretty outspoken about that and doesn’t hold back. Maybe she’ll be a food critic when she grows up. But she has great insight - her suggestion to add cumin to our homemade sweet potato chips was genius!:) Jules is a Classical Conversations homeschooler, this is our third year in CC and also Jules’ first year in the Essentials program.

So we are a blended family! We have blended pretty much every type of learning: public, private, homeschool and even semi private - the big kids (Josh and Dev) attended a lab school at one point. We’ve pretty much done it all.:) Homeschooling is my favorite, by far. There are few things that can compare to watching your children learn. Interestingly, I never thought I would, or could, homeschool. Forever thankful for friends that encouraged me to take that leap.  My iron obviously needed sharpening, and still does!:)

In the last few years, I have become an autodidact (yes, I’m a homeschooler too) of biblical health and nutrition. I’ve learned some fascinating things - all point to an amazing Creator. We ARE fearfully and wonderfully made!! My enthusiasm for the subject is hard to contain - this blog will be a welcome outlet. I've decided to call my additions: Things I Wish I'd Known Way Back When...:)

Manja's Family

Hi, I'm Manja. My husband, Seth, and I have 5 children. Our oldest, Moritz (no picture), is finishing up college and getting married this year. Then we have 3 more boys, Oskar (13), Maxwell (11), and George(8). Finally, our youngest, a girl, Nora (5).
Seth and I are from 2 different counties/cultures/continents. We met while studying abroad. I am thankful for my husband, his patient and forgiving love for me, his wisdom, and his bottomless barrel of entertaining humor. A great joy and strengthening for us in our marriage has been ministering to people together, learning about the same topics, and sharing our discoveries.

Homeschooling was something I discovered when my oldest son attended 2nd grade. I enjoy learning with and through my children and we love getting sidetracked (from our  oh so helpful schedule) by meaningful conversations or wrestling. Of course there are daily struggles with sin, but I am amazed at how God carries me through or even lifts me above the situation. Usually, I have no idea how to solve their quarrels and how to make them understand, but I am often not desperate (like I used to) and have a pleasant peace and sometimes I am even amused
by their

disagreements. I have found joy in praying for them and with them as the most powerful parenting tool. (Also, knitting, while sitting next to my child who learns to read relieves a lot of stress.)

Reading the other beautiful family introductions, I nodded in agreement with many of your pleasures and passions and found I am pretty similar.
I too, like to grow things in the garden. I have a small piece of my yard that gets enough sun in which I try to grow precious green things. Actually, this year I decided to grow a purple garden: purple beans, peas, cauliflower, ... George minds least helping in the garden. He is a hard worker. I had to coax the other boy's interest by giving them a crop to grow. So, Oskar produced a lot of spicy peppers last year and Max brought in the tomatoes and potatoes. I love food; growing, preparing, and eating it.

I too, like raising chickens. We also have rabbits; and turkeys and geese seasonally. Max takes care of the chickens and Oskar loves on the rabbits.

We too, prefer camping for our vacations. We love camping with a bunch of friends and learning to see more of God in his creation.

I find encouragement and inspiration in great books, old and new, written by great men. Most of them are not finished and are piling up in different parts of the house, but I read a piece of encouraging truth in one of these books, "Great books don't change lives, paragraphs do." And I hope to pass along some of these life changing morsels of truth as well as discoveries in above described interests.

I am already lifted up by your posts, and am looking forward to "struggling along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."                                            Love, Manja

"Wear the Crown"

Here is one of my favorite songs. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It is filled with Truth.

Lynne 

Not What My Hands Have Done

Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul 
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole 
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God 
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load 
These guilty hands are raised, filthy rags are all I bring 
And I have come to hide beneath Your wings 
These holy hands are raised, washed in the fountain of Your grace 
And now I wear Your righteousness. 

Thy work alone O Christ can ease this weight of sin 
Thy blood alone O Lamb of God can give me peace within 
Thy love to me O God not mine O Lord to thee 
Can rid me of this dark unrest and set my spirit free 
These guilty hands are raised, filthy rags are all I bring 
And I have come to hide beneath Your wings 
These holy hands are raised, washed in the fountain of Your grace 
And now I wear Your righteousness. 

Thy grace alone O God to me can pardon speak 
Thy power alone O Lamb of God can this sore bondage break 
No other work save Thine, no other blood will do 
No strength save that which is divine can bear me safely through 
These guilty hands are raised, filthy rags are all I bring 
And I have come to hide beneath Your wings 
These holy hands are raised, washed in the fountain of Your grace 
And now I wear Your righteousness. 

I praise the God of grace I trust His truth and might 
He calls me His I call Him mine my God, my joy, my light 
Tis He who saveth me and freely pardon gives 
I love because He loveth me I live because He lives 
These guilty hands are raised, filthy rags are all I bring 
And I have come to hide beneath Your wings 
These holy hands are raised, washed in the fountain of Your grace 
And now I wear Your righteousness.

                                                                   

credits

from Fragments of Grace, released 15 June 2011 
...... 

From the website:

http://cityhymns.com/track/holy-hands-2

Two Timothy Two Twenty Two

I have been thinking on and thinking on and mulling over and working on memorizing this verse this week, and I just love it!

"So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart"

I don't know if anyone else is like me in that I get caught up in the first part of a verse like this "so flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace" and I kind of start thinking about that and forget to keep going!  I really don't know why I do that?  Maybe it's these letters from Paul where his language and writing style are just so full that my brain can't take anymore truth and shuts off:)  But ANYWAY, the last part of this verse almost changes the whole meaning of this to me.  If I had stopped before I made it to the end, I would think that I should be doing these things personally (I mean, I should do that too), privately...kind of working out my own salvation on my own, apart from others to see the messiness and sinfulness and ugliness of some of that process, and then once I emerged triumphant, having successfully fled those passions and excelling at the fruits of the spirit...I could return to face my brothers and sisters in Christ.  And I mean, then I would really have something to be proud of!  I could impress others with my amazing "fleeing" skills, and they would ooh and aaah over my righteousness, faith, love and peace...

And there is a glimpse into the depth of my heart my friends.  If my little self can run to self righteousness and pride, then by golly, it...I will.  It is what I fall back on.  

But, wow, I want to suggest that I think Jesus is working in me and seeking to change this in me.  This has been a humbling last month or two or twelve...you get the picture.  But particularly these last couple months.  I have struggled.  Our family has struggled.  Our relationships in our family have struggled.  We have struggled with some of the relationships in our small community which meets here in Cartersville.  But you know, the second part of this verse is so key for me.  We are to flee the bad and pursue the good, but we are to do it "along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart".  Am I surrounded by believers in my family? Well, yes, some at least.  My husband for one. Am I surrounded by believers at church and in our small community here in Cartersville?  Well, yes.  So then these are some of the people that I can walk through life with, that I can work out my salvation with, that I can allow God to use to teach me, to admonish me, to instruct me, to encourage me, and even to mourn with and rejoice with me. 

I want to work the messy stuff out...the stuff that really humbles you...behind the scenes, out of sight of my fellow believers, but besides that not being the way that our relational God created us, it is not for any of our good and edification.  It isn't helpful to me or any of you.  To see someone lose it from the heaviness of burdens they have been carrying is good I guess (yea, that's me I'm talking about), because it reminds those are us that we are ALL in the same boat here.  No one can just breeze through this life even if it might look like that at times from the outside.  We need...I need...my sisters in Christ to carry my burdens and for me to help carry theirs.  We need...I need...our (my) sisters in Christ to speak truth to us (me) when we are caught believing and feeding on Satan's lies.  We need...I need...our (my) sisters in Christ to rejoice with us (me) and give thanks to the God of GRACE in our lives when we are high and fighting the good fight and feel like the Lord is reigning supreme in our lives!  We need...I need...our (my) sisters in Christ to encourage us (me) to flee what is bad and transient and what is folly, and pursue that which is holy, and right and pure and good.  

So, after all that, I hope that the whole overarching theme of this blog is to do just exactly what "two timothy two twenty two" says and walk through this life, pursuing what is good and fleeing what is not, together, being honest about the trials AND the joys, and seeking to rejoice and encourage and speak truth all together, as one little part of the body of Christ, in all different parts of the world:)


Update:  I just realized that we should probably sign our posts...so...Love, Lindsey

The Great Tree Fling.

isn't it great that Christmas falls right at the beginning of a new year completely? I don't know the specifics of how traditions and calendars and cultures morphed over the years, but whoever finally decided that it should land at the end of the year and there it shall stay, I salute you.

when I take the tree down, and yes, it's always just me...maybe next year I'll leave it up and see how long it stays.....the closest exit is the front door. I have a great time flinging the door wide and heaving it as far as I can into the front yard. then, I slam the door. there, my responsibility ends. I wait for the children to circle it, hone in on it and pick it's branches, make something with it....it's become, in my mind, sort of an Olympic sport. the Tree Put. the Great Tree Fling.

then I proceed to every room in the house (there aren't that many), and also fling things into trash bags, rubbermaids, clothes hampers. if I'm tired of looking at it, out it goes. if i received two new shirts, I lose two old. if I have to read that particular annoying book one more time, it's gone. if his bin of trucks is over flowing, he loses a couple. if the girls haven't caught on to me scooting certain items under their beds, those are included in the Great Stuff Gathering and Flinging Event.

and so, the new year begins a bit lighter, cleaner, and maybe picked up (temporarily).

and that part is easy. I really love simplifying every now and again, I think it matches our family's heartbeat.  but, what of selfishness? and anger....am I opening that door, flinging it far into my yard? do I want it gone that badly? or do I want to just sorta move it around, find a different place for it, bury it beneath some other stuff I don't need....and move on?

my prayer is that along with the Great Tree Fling, I search my heart....allow Him in to point out the stuff that has built up, created barriers, shadows, and dust....and repent. repent of patterns, repent of  thoughts, repent of idols.

and then, when that door is flung open, the Light will surely follow.