Menu Plan Monday & Celebrating FAMILY

Happy Monday!! I hope you had a fabulous weekend! The highlight of ours was our niece's 6th birthday party yesterday. We have a large extended family, and it is always so fun to get together and celebrate each other. That's exactly how it feels, too! Everyone stops what they are doing, comes home from activities early or misses something else, because you are important enough to prioritize and celebrate. Everyone needs to know what that feels like, I think. In some tiny (or not-so-tiny) way, dinner is like that for me. I am celebrating my family. It's worth stopping what we are doing, leaving an activity immediately afterward, or even missing something else altogether, to get home for dinner. Our family is worth celebrating. Another day living in the same house is worth celebrating (for those days are fleeting, more than we realize!).

This is one of those weeks when we have something every evening. AND my husband will be traveling. AND at the end of it, two kids leave for a week and one comes home. Lots going on in our home! But if I prioritize and plan, one of those things going on is...dinner. :)

Here's what's cooking this week: fast and easy favorites!

Monday: Gingered Chicken Stir Fry

Tuesday: Panini's and Pasta (one of our favorite paninis is here.)

Wednesday: YOYO (you're on your own)

Thursday: Y'assa Wet (Ethiopian fish...quick and SO good)

Friday: Bar-B-Cups (A "send-off" favorite for my middle son, who leaves the next morning for a week of mission work in New Orleans. :)

To read more menus or to share yours, visit Laura at Organizing Junkie. Have a yummy week!

What's For Dinner? (And...What's Left Over?)

Happy Monday! I hope you had a refreshing weekend. I know I did! All my chicks were in the nest, so I had 5 place settings at my little kitchen table, and I didn't know where my cell phone was all weekend. No, it wasn't lost, it just wasn't right beside me like it always is when one of my family members is away. It was such a vacation for my mind! We enjoyed Ethiopian food on Friday night, butterscotch chip brownies, biscuits and gravy on Sunday morning...yum. The house smelled like home and felt like family.

You may notice that my menu board (pictured) looks backwards. That's because it is! The side I wrote on last week is turned around (and now says "Last" where the "This" used to be) and this week's menu is facing forward. It's handy! Because when we have lunches or YO YO nights and people are looking for leftovers, there's a handy list posted of what's left in the fridge, and if there's any question as to its age, we have something to go on! I like keeping my menu posted this way! Next week, I'll flip it around, erase the now-2-week-old menu and start over. Voila. I picked this one up at a cute boutique-y place a few years ago, but I just found this at Container Store which could work the same way with fun printed-out sheets of paper, or a pretty backdrop of scrapbook paper and dry-erase markers. Fun!

So, here's what we've got cookin' this week...

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday: Meatball subs & pasta salad

Wednesday: Ethiopian food night: Tibs, lentils, yebesele dinich (potatoes with cabbage)

Thursday: YOYO (you're on your own)

Friday: Crock Pot French Onion Soup, Caesar salad

For my friends who love Ethiopian cooking, I'll post the Tibs recipe with pics after I make it. :)

For more menus visit Laura at Organizing Junkie. I hope you have a yummy week in your kitchen with the people you love!

Menu Plan Monday & Coming HOME!

For years, I set four places at our table. Then, I began setting five after our adoption three years ago. Our family felt "complete." Our relatively small kitchen table was full. This year, my daughter headed off to college and we've been back to four and I don't like it. I'm still not used to it. Well, this Friday, for the first time this semester, I get to set five places again and BOY is this momma ever looking forward to it!

I asked my sweet daughter what she wanted and she said "Ethiopian food!" For some reason, university cafeterias aren't serving much Ethiopian food...not sure why! It is so yummy! At our house ET food is on Wednesday nights and Friday nights are soup night, so I've gladly switched it this week! Friday night will be 5 place settings and no flatware. :) The rest of the week is filled old faithful favorites, so there will be a fridge full of "familiar" in case she goes digging for leftovers while she's home. The weekend will go quickly. But I hope it feels slow...

So here is our week in food:

Monday: crock pot roast, potatoes, roasted carrots

Tuesday: Fish Fillets Italiano, pasta, spinach salad (<--a lower fat version)

Wednesday: Taco Soup

Thursday: YO YO ("you're on your own")

Friday: crock pot Doro Wat, chickpeas, fosoleay

For more recipe ideas and weekly menus or to share yours, visit Orgjunkie.com.

I hope you have a blessed week, filled with things that fuel your passion and keep you in touch with those you love!

Back To Reality and Monday's Menu

Well, we are back! My husband and I had a glorious, soul-wrecking, beautiful, exhausting, joyful, heart-wrenching, energizing, physically-draining week in Ethiopia last week. Notice how all the descriptors in the previous sentence seem to be at odds? That about sums it up. Conflicting emotions. All week long. One minute I would be joyfully dancing with children, singing songs in their language that I learned to sing with my own Ethiopian son at home, thinking "It just doesn't get any better than this!!" The next minute I was squatting down on a small stool on the side of a high mountain, praying with a husband and wife both infected with HIV, holding their small son whom they so desperately want to survive to raise, surrounded by the tents in which they and their "refugee" community live as outcasts from their families and communities. One minute I would be at a beautiful restaurant, enjoying the amazing food and absorbing the culture of that enchanting and ancient country, the next I would be looking out the car window at the street people who live huddled under a blanket and starving on the median of a busy street, or handing packets of my snack crackers and trail mix through my car window to a starving child, or mother with a hungry baby on her back. How? How am I supposed to feel?

We landed at the Frankfurt airport as we have this time of year on previous trips to Africa... straight from huts, orphans, poverty and need to holiday glitz, commercialism and excess. Once home, we drove our Suburban through the streets of our upper middle class subdivision, on our way to pick up our dogs from the kennel where they lived in more comfort than some of the people we had seen just hours before. As we turned out of our subdivision, the trees are already lit for the Christmas season, greenery and bows adorn the entrance...a reminder that one of my main tasks in the weeks ahead is to shop, spend and consume. How am I supposed to feel?

I used to feel extreme guilt. I used to question our whole life, geographical location and lifestyle. I used to come home and immediately feel like I was carrying a heavy weight. One thing I have never felt, and to which I feel a certain aversion, is the "Well, it just makes me realize how blessed I am" sentiment. While I absolutely believe in living a life of gratitude, I have never felt comfortable letting the stark contrast between my life and that of a mother in an African village lead me to (indirectly) thank the Lord that I somehow ended up with a better lot than her. But, how? How am I supposed to feel?

I don't believe I'm supposed to feel guilt or condemnation. That only pulls me down and doesn't edify or help anyone. I'm supposed to sift through my feelings, bring them to Jesus and let Him help me feel what He has placed in my heart to feel for HIS children. If any of those feelings bring conviction, that will pull me up... toward Him and His character. So that is what I'm doing this week. I used to question if we were supposed to leave this life here and plunk down in a hut there. Some are. We aren't. We can better leverage our skills and resources from here. I know we aren't supposed to live here unchanged by what we've experienced on our mission trips, but how does my giving up new cars and recreational decorating directly benefit that mom on the street in Africa? How do my tears translate into real hope for someone else? By action. Only action. Christ's love is demonstrated love. And I'm still on the journey to figuring out what that is. Some are called to leave it all and go there. Some of us are called to leave it short term, go there, come back here, save more money, go back there, on and on. I do believe it has blessed some of our ministry partners to know that we would continue to leave here and go there. Over and over. I actually had a full time vocational missionary tell me she thinks that's harder. In a way I think she's right.

Why am I sharing all of this in the same post as I'm going to do my usual "Monday Menu" post? Isn't that a bit odd? Well, yes and no. Mentally, I need to do what I always do. I've got to get back to my routine, of which planning menus is a part. I also want to keep it real. At least half of what I have planned this week is of the Stouffer's frozen variety. Many women wouldn't even post that on their blogs, but really? After what I've seen in recent days, and what we all know to be reality around the world, we would be ashamed or even dare to think that USDA-approved prepackaged food isn't good enough?

Another reason is that people "click on by" from the Monday Menu link that may never visit my blog any other time. And I want to tell them (you, if that's you!) a piece of our story.

Another reason is what I mentioned above: gratitude. Every mom with a blog could post a menu and feel like it is blog-worthy. Peanut butter sandwiches. Cereal. Cans of soup. Spaghettios. Macaroni and cheese. Frozen dinners. Chicken nuggets. Do you know what all of that has in common? It's God's provision!! Prepare it, post it and be thankful for it, giving Him the glory for providing it.

I have sooooo many more thoughts to post, as you might imagine, but I've already been on here too long, with a Monday's worth of school to put together and a week's worth of Africa to wash out of our clothes. I have missed my blog (no reliable internet there), I have missed my kids, I have missed my weenie dog, I have missed my bed. I have been physically ill and mentally drained. I am ready to tackle what God has for me here at home but I would pack it all up again tomorrow and go back if I could.

One gift I gave myself the week before we left is a planned menu and stocked freezer/pantry for when we returned. So here is what I have planned... by God's grace:

Monday: Stouffer's frozen chicken enchiladas, black beans, salad
Tuesday: Frozen lasagna, frozen garlic bread, bagged caesar salad, frozen peas
Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Ye Misr Wet (Hot Split Lentil Stew), Fosoleay (carrots and green beans)
Thursday: YO YO (you're on you're own)
Friday: Slow Cooked Corn Chowder, wheat rolls

For more menus, or to share yours (no matter what it is!!) visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

I will be sharing more of our week in Ethiopia in the coming days. Thank you to all who went along with us in spirit and lifted us up in prayer. I know some of us will be returning there together someday. God is good.

Eph. 3:20!!

Monday's Menu and Minte on the Mend

"...and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
Acts 14:17

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We FINALLY, after weeks of rain (which we desperately needed) had some very welcomed SUNSHINE. Oh how I loved having my windows open, moderate temperatures and sunshine and breezes going through my house! Last week my sweet son Minte had his first illness since he's been home with us (adopted from Ethiopia a little over a year ago.) Poor thing! So, I got a chance to get in touch with my inner "germaphobe" and not only disinfected everything I saw, but used the "down time" to deep clean, move furniture, clean baseboards, etc. It feels so good... and now he does, too. He was much better by Saturday. I feel like we are ready to have a clean, healthy start to our week. At least I hope so.

With the onset of flu season, and especially the H1N1 strain, I have been reinforcing the hand-washing at our house big time. Even older kids need to be reminded! (The main two who need reminding are 11 and 13 year old boys. Need I say more?) I put a big pump bottle of hand cleaner gel in the kitchen and every. single. time. they enter the kitchen they have to "scrub in." Even if they just washed their hands a few minutes earlier in the restroom... I want them in the habit of cleaning their hands upon entering the kitchen. I know, this may be the start of some OCD-like tendencies for them, which I sincerely hope not, but I need visual confirmation that they've cleaned their hands before they start rooting through the fridge or pantry or touching utensils and cups. Hopefully we are keeping the flu virus at bay!!

With his first US illness (which is amazing considering he's been here a year) he got the full treatment... a "nest" on the couch, movies, card games, read alouds, lots of gatorade and juices, popsicles, and nonstop Mommy-love. Last week I shared a soup recipe I had made up on the spot, and that inspired me this week with a sick one. So, I did it again. SO simple! I know I'm the last one on the MPM list almost every week, and probably the last one reading this who has ever made up their own soups, but I'll share what I did... SO fast, and so much healthier than premade canned soup (less sodium, for sure).

1 boneless chicken breast
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1 cup "rainbow rotini" (multi color spiral noodles)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

I just boiled the chicken until cooked, then removed the chicken to cool a bit on a plate. While the chicken was boiling I boiled the pasta. Once the chicken was removed from the pot I added the extra chicken broth for flavor, and also the vegetables. I brought those to a boil while I shredded the chicken I had removed. I added the shredded chicken back to the soup pot and added the pasta. He really liked it!

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday: Baked Pesto Chicken, Italian Pasta Stir Fry
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice, cornbread
Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Minchet Abishe (spicy beef) and Yeatakilt Wet (cabbage and potatoes)
Thursday: Southwestern Pumpkin Soup, crusty wheat rolls
Friday: Eating out at our church's fall festival

To share your menu or to see more menu plans and recipes (not to mention some wonderful organization tips from someone who really knows her stuff!) visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

Have a yummy week!

Soup On The Spot (And Menu-Monday-On-Tuesday)

Well we've sure had our share of rainy, cold weather lately. From looking at the radar, it seems like many of us have! Here are the kids on our annual trip to the State Fair of Texas in front of Big Tex. You can see the gray skies behind him, but the rain held off for a cool, crisp afternoon and evening of fun at the fair last week! In true form, I ate all of the disgustingly awesome fried food I could handle. I. Love. It. This is one time per year that I own up to my fried-food-loving tendencies, and give in to them. Filed in the "Oh Yes I Did" file this year: fried Snickers, fried Oreos, and (OHYESIDID)- Deep Fried Butter. It was actually like a really buttery biscuit ball. Oh, yummo. Add that to the funnel cake our family shared and the tamales I didn't share with anyone, and it was a veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord of gastrointestinal fun.

So, now you may not ever want to read my menus or try one of my recipes again. Ever.

But in case you still do, here's a soup I made up on Sunday! I know this may not earth-shattering to anyone but me but I've never started with just a boiling pot of water and just added ingredients before. It was lots of fun, and turned out yummy! Now that I'm feeling all chef-ish and creative, I thought I'd share! I'll even come up with a fun name:

Cyndi's Sunday Soup on the Spot

Ingredients:
chicken (whatever's left in the bag of frozen chicken... 1-3 breasts or 5 tenderloins)
1 cup (ish) frozen corn
1 15 oz. can red beans (drained)
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
2 tsp. powdered taco seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. minced onion
2 tsp. parsley flakes

(In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I just added the measurments above. I was just shaking, sprinkling and stirring, so I'm not sure how much of anything I really used. Except the cans.)

Boil chicken in a medium-sized pot. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove and shred. Add tomatoes, beans and corn and minced onions to chicken stock and stir until corn is cooked. Sprinkle in onion, garlic and parsley. Add shredded chicken back to soup and stir until warmed. Serve with crunched up tortilla chips and maybe a dollup of low-fat sour cream.



And now for Monday Menu: Tuesday Edition (which seems to be my new thing, LOL)

Monday: Hawaiian Meatballs, brown rice, stir fry
Tuesday: Out
Wednesday: Ethiopian night! Ye'Doro Wet (spicy chicken), Gommen (spicy collard greens)
Thursday: Baked Spaghetti Pie, green beans, garlic bread
Friday: Black Eye & Vegetable Chili (from Fix It and Forget It), cornbread

For more menus and some GREAT organization tips, visit Laura at orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy week!

Monday Menu and Simple Shortcuts

"...they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart."
Acts 2:46

Happy Monday! I know that many of you have kids who are starting school this week, so for those of you kicking off your school year I hope it's been an extra wonderful day. We start next week, so I'm busy finishing my planning for our homeschool year. I can't believe I've been doing it for 11 years. The time really flies by! Even though we often veer from the plan, it really helps to anchor everything with a plan, just like in the kitchen! I've been making those plans today while taking breaks to make a Coca Cola Cake and simmer some black beans, so I'm just now getting a chance for some afternoon coffee and some time to blog.

Last week I really enjoyed cooking from Fix It and Enjoy It Healthy Cookbook. We had the Summer Squash Salad and Sesame Broccoli as sides one night, and Tomato Barley soup (pictured below) another night. They were so good! I was surprised at how my family especially loved the two veggie dishes. We're not really very veggie. Go us!

During the weekend when we were reheating and enjoying the soup, I put a very SIMPLE panini sandwich with it. I've posted this recipe for Chicken Pesto Paninis on my menus over the past couple of years because it became an instant hit at our house. At first I made it just like the recipe suggested, using focaccia bread, diced chicken, bell pepper, etc. But as with all things in the kitchen I started looking for shortcuts and made it simpler and now it's one of my family's favorite quick meals! Last week I posted my shortcut recipe for the Easiest Bruschetta Ever, so with that in mind, I'm sharing my very simplified recipe for the Easiest Chicken Panini Ever. (I'm thinking I may follow with a series on The Easiest Ethiopian Recipes Ever, because I've really been simplifying some of my Ethiopian cooking and my family -especially my Ethiopian- really loves it!)

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The Easiest Chicken Panini Ever

Bread (fancy focaccia or wheat cut on the bias if you have it, sliced sandwich bread if you don't)
Pesto sauce (I use jarred Classico Basil)
Shaved or sliced chicken
Any type of cheese you prefer (usually shredded cheddar here)
George Foreman grill or panini grill (I use the GF!)

Spread a bit of pesto on both slices of bread, top with chicken and cheese. Spray the grill with some olive oil spray and preheat. Put the sandwich together and grill for approximately 4 minutes. So simple and so yummy!

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Here is our menu for the rest of the week:

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas, black beans, Mexican corn
Tuesday: Penne Rigate with Chicken, green beans, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Ethiopian night! Ye'Tibs Wet (spicy beef), Gommen (collard greens), injera bread
Thursday: YO YO- "You're On Your Own"
Friday: Out to eat

For more recipes and menu ideas, or to share yours visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. She's also got some GREAT organization tips each week.

I hope you've had a marvelous Monday and have a yummy week!

Menu Monday: Tuesday Edition and the Easiest Bruschetta Recipe Ever

I have blogged so infrequently in recent months. What is up?? Well, life. I know I say this all the time after I've gone through long periods without blogging, but sometimes you're too busy livin' the thing to blog about it. That's definitely been the case for us this spring and summer.

So, yes I know it's Tuesday, but I'm just going to have to blog like I Twitter and Facebook... when it pops into my mind and I can grab a few minutes. Which would be now.

I feel like I'm not ready for summer to be over, but VERY ready for a routine. Somehow the freedom of summer can get stressful for me as we flit from one activity to another. One way I have stayed "anchored" this summer is to continue with menu planning. Last summer I posted my reasons why it's even more beneficial to me to menu plan during the summer months. It truly has been a life saver for me as I feel so out of control some days! I regained some feeling of order during the early spring, once we had been home for a few months with our newly-adopted son. Once summer came I felt a bit disorganized once again, but my menu plan has helped greatly!

This week my husband has some outdoor projects he's working on after work, so we've been eating dinner later (as in, after the sun goes down.) I've tried to have an appetizer available when he comes in from the office at around 5:ish or so to tide everyone over until our 8:00-ish dinner. Tonight I remembered this Extremely Easy Bruschetta recipe I've used and my family loves. But I was in the midst of school planning and laundry folding and wanted to make it even easier. I'm the queen of shortcuts in the kitchen (and have found some wonderful ones in my Ethiopian cooking, which I hope to share in future weeks!) so if you are really into fresh ingredients this one may not be for you. But tonight it was either shortcut time or no appetizer at all. This one totally worked!

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Easiest Bruschetta Ever

1 can diced chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup (or so) frozen chopped onions (<--- LOVE keeping these on hand!)
1/2 tsp jarred minced garlic (available in the produce section)
kosher salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste
olive oil to taste

Dump the tomatoes into a strainer and rinse. While in the strainer put the onions in and run water over them to quick-thaw them. Once the water has drained out put them into a mixing bowl and add other ingredients and stir. Cover the mixing bowl and pop it into the fridge. This time I used the oven broiler to toast some Orowheat Whole Grain and Flax bread (See? Not even fancy French bread!). Once the bread was toasted I used the pizza cutter to cut each piece into fourths and then while it was hot I rubbed a bit of the jarred garlic over each piece. By that time the bruschetta was chilled (aided in part by the frozen-now-thawed onions) and voila! A quick, healthy and very fast appetizer!

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This week I'm utilizing a cook book I got a few weeks ago and am just now getting a chance to really try. I have been a fan of Fix It and Forget It (affectionately called "Fifi" in my menu planning binder) for years now. This one is the Fix It and Enjoy It Healthy Cookbook. Tuesday's side dishes and both of Friday's recipes are from that this week. Now that it's Tuesday night, I can report that both the sesame broccoli and the summer squash salad were wonderful! My family loved both of those! And we're not particularly veggie people, so that's saying a lot!

So, here's our menu for the week:

Monday: Crock Pot Chicken Tacos, black beans, corn casserole
Tuesday: Grilled pork chops, sesame broccoli, summer squash salad
Wednesday: YO-YO (You're on you're own!)
Thursday: Ethiopian food night: Ye' Assa Wet (spicy fish stew- SO good!), Ye be seleh Dinich (boiled potatos with peppers) eaten with injera bread
Friday: Tomato & Barley Soup, Tossed Chicken Salad

For more menus and some GREAT organizing tips and inspiration, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. I hope you're having a wonderful week!!

Monday? And May? Already?

Happy Monday! Another week is beginning, and it's hard to believe it's already MAY!! My goodness! April showers have continued on into May here. We have really needed the rain, but we have had some pretty heavy storms for the past few days. Thankfully, it held off just long enough for us to have Saturday's soccer games. Here is my cute hubby coaching our Eagles. It's blurry because I snapped it with my phone (Minte was already on the sideline having his water break.)

Luke's fun aunt and uncle were in town for a visit and came to watch the kids' games. It's fun this year because the cousins are all playing. Trapper and Minte are on Luke's team together, and Gracie plays on another team, so it's fun to all see each other at the soccer fields on Saturdays! Luke's aunt told me she reads the blog (which I didn't know!) so I wanted to be sure and post this fun picture of them with all the kids. :::waving::: Hi Aunt Annie! It was so good to see y'all this weekend!



Well I don't know about you but for me it is HARD to "get it together" right now! I think "spring has sprung" for me. I am r-e-a-d-y for s-u-m-m-e-r. Big time. Thankfully my laundry and menu planning schedules have kept me on track. You see, I don't have schedules because I am together, but because I'm NOT! It's really helping this week, too, as I'm going to be gone Friday and Saturday. So, this week I simply bumped the laundry schedule up a day so all the laundry will be done before Friday, and switched my usual Thursday leftover night with my usual Friday soup night. This is very, very helpful for me.

Speaking of helpful... I was SO happy last night when I was looking over this week's menu because of something I try to do each week that's a real time-saver for me: When buying the week's worth of groceries, I buy what I'll need for the following Monday as well. That's where menu planning comes in handy... the fact that I even know what we're having the following Monday! We had such a busy weekend I didn't get to the store (which is often the case). So it feels great on this slow-going, cloudy, sleepy Monday morning to know that I already have today's ingredient's ready for tonight's dinner. I've got time later today day to snag the rest of our groceries for the week, but tonight's taken care of.

This week for Menu Plan Monday, Laura asked us to share how we choose recipes. I like to try lots of new ones that I find on the internet as well as using my Allrecipes.com "Dinner Spinner" app on my phone. There are SO many great recipes out there, though... how to choose? Some of my reasons are similar to hers, but here are my "top 5" criteria:

• 45 minutes or less of prep/ cooking time, or a slow-cooker recipe. I either want to put it in the Crock Pot by mid/late morning and be done with it, or only need 45 minutes late in the afternoon/evening.
  
• Ingredients that are healthy or can be made lower fat by simply choosing lower fat/ reduced sodium soups, etc.
• The main ingredients are something I know everyone in our family likes. There may be a few new spices or a new way of preparing it, but the majority is made up of something most everyone is familiar with.
• The fewer ingredients the better. I don't look for "5 ingredient only" recipes exclusively, but when I see a mile-long list of what's needed, I keep on clickin'.
• Something economical, or that can be substituted with things I can buy more cheaply. Some recipes I choose call for expensive cuts of meat or really expensive fish. I will substitute something that fits our budget better. Usually that works out great. In fact, I'm not sure that's ever been a problem.

That's about it for my criteria. I don't usually do a whole week of "new"... I may try a couple of new things, but I make sure that at least 2 or 3 nights we have something familiar. Often by the time I make it to the kitchen to make dinner I need to be able to function on "auto pilot" (or "auto chef") so I don't want to have to think very much, LOL.

So, here's what's cooking at our house this week:

Monday: Chicken Tamale Casserole, black beans, salad
Tuesday: Hawaiian Meatballs (my kids LOVE this), rice, stir-fry veggies
Wednesday: Ye tekekle Encoulat be Misr (Ethiopian "Breakfast for Dinner"- Boiled Egg with Lentil Sauce), from "The Recipe of Love" now available here, injera from a nearby ET market
Thursday: Tomato Basil Soup (recipe here, scroll down to page 4), salad, garlic bread
Friday: YO-YO (You're on you're own)- Mom's at a homeschool convention. :)

To read -or share- more recipes, planning strategies, and ways to choose recipes, visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie! Have a wonderful first-week-of-May!

Menu Monday

Once upon a time, there was a mom of young children who hated cooking dinner. Well, not hated it, really, just didn't feel very "together" in that area. There were so many other demands on her time! When she went to the grocery store with her kids, she would put them in the kiddy cart (after getting a free cookie for each child from the bakery!) and quickly zip through the store, grabbing whatever struck her fancy or was on sale. She would drag it all home, shove it in fridge, freezer and pantry, already full of food but such a hodge-podge that none of it really made a recipe. Each day at about Oprah:30, she would go in the kitchen, systematically open the pantry, then the freezer, then the refrigerator, and wonder what was for dinner. Some evenings it came together. Other evenings, not so much. So, she would call a local restaurant (usually Chili's or On the Border), place an order and put it under her husband's name, then call her husband at work and tell him where to pick up dinner on the way home.

As a mom of young children, this mother was a member of a MOPS group in her area. In order to meet some of the other moms and to minister to them after they had new babies, she would occasionally sign up to bring a meal to them. Eventually her own family learned that if there was roast with all the trimmings, or a yummy casserole, or anything that took thought or planning, she must be taking dinner to someone else. Her husband would come in, smell something good, and ask half-jokingly, "Who are you taking dinner to tonight?" Of course, if she was going to go to the trouble to make it, she would always make extra for her family, so they began to enjoy their mom's newfound "food ministry", and it truly blessed all involved.

This mom began to realize the pattern... if she planned it out, bought the ingredients and tried hard enough, she could put a decent meal on the table. She just found her motivation in doing it for other people more than doing it for her own family. Something felt wrong about this. So she did the only thing she knew to do in situations like this: she prayed. She prayed that God would help her put order in this very important area of her life. She prayed that He would simply help her to want to cook for her family. She prayed for the energy she would need each day in the late afternoon to actually go into the kitchen and do it. She prayed that she would find recipes that were doable for her and that her young children would enjoy. She prayed that her family would no longer see her best efforts as always being for "other people."

As you have probably figured out, that mom was me. That was the beginning, years ago, of my venture into menu planning. I figured out that it was really no big deal, no harder than planning vacations, planning lessons for my Bible Study group, planning playdates with friends... or any of the other myriad of types of planning that was involved in mothering. It just took a few moments to look ahead, focus on this very important part of the day, make a list, stick to it at the store, and discipline myself in the late afternoon to get it done. It has blessed me as a mom tremendously to take the dinner hour seriously enough to put some forethought into it and prioritize it. God has taken my meager efforts and cooking skills and multiplied them into what my family has needed them to be. And all of this is to His glory, because I was not always like this! This has been His doing, completely! I shared this because I think it's easy to read someone's blog and assume they've always been this way, or think "Well, that's just how she is. That's not my gift." Though all gifts are from the Lord, and no one has a talent that God did not give them, I think for certain things like scrapbooking, wreath-making, or book writing we can say, "Good for her, but that's not for me." But as women we are all called to "look well to the ways of our households" according to Proverbs 31, and providing meals for our families is one of those ways. So, we would all do well to take this particular role seriously, and then God gets the glory for doing something that we couldn't or didn't do ourselves. The fewer skills or enthusiasm we bring to the table (pun intended) the more we know that God Himself has done it!

SO, by God's grace, here is my plan for the week:

Monday: A Happy Birthday dinner for my husband- his favorite chicken enchiladas, black beans, corn, and a German Chocolate cake
Tuesday: Ye-Assa We't (Spicy Fish Stew) from Exotic Ethiopian Cooking, injera, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Pesto Panini's (my simplified version with shaved chicken and done on the George Foreman grill), healthy/organic sweet potato fries and onion rings from Super Target, pasta salad
Thursday: YOYO (You're on your own... Everyone eats leftovers or makes something for themselves. I LOVE this night!)
Friday: Slow Cooked Corn Chowder, crusty wheat rolls

For more menu ideas or to share your own, visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. Have a wonderful week!

Monday Minte-isms and Menu

I hope you had a joyous Easter weekend! We sure did. By God's grace, it was just the weekend we needed it to be. We started it off Friday night with a wonderful Passover Seder meal with our Bible fellowship class, had a worshipful time at our church's service and then a relaxing time at home on Sunday. We very much needed some time at home, and God granted it to us yesterday. I feel renewed and refreshed and ready to take on the week! Here is a photo of my precious children in front of the sea of flowers on the stage at our church this weekend. (You can click the photo to make it bigger.) I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that Minte is with us this year. Last year at this point we were still on our journey to adopt a little baby girl, so this photo is a reminder of God's direction and His perfect will! (In case you are unfamiliar with our adoption story, or would like to learn more, click on the "our adoption" button in the sidebar. To read about how our journey to a baby girl led us to a 10 year old boy click on "a little background" below the picture.)

Minte (MIN-tay), our 10 year old Ethiopian son, has now been with us about 7 months. It has been such a fun journey so far! One of the most interesting and daily-evolving things has been his English language acquisition. I never knew it would be so fascinating (and funny!) to live with an English language learner! Fascinating because he is learning English at such a surprisingly fast pace. What a testimony to the intricate human mind, and to our great God who fashioned it so. Funny because, well, it just is. Transitioning an older, hurting, grieving child into the family can be hard some days. So, God sprinkles it with humor in various forms to cover more of it with joy and laughter. So, I thought I'd start off this Monday sharing a few "Minte-isms."

Here is how you should read them with the "proper" accent:

~All "r's" are rolled (I simply love this. It makes even the most ordinary word fun!)

~"a" sounds are pronounced "ah", so words like "asphalt" (what he calls the street) sound really cool. I think that word is the same in Amharic.

~short "i" is pronounced "ee" as in "beeg". "Mommy beeg lahves buna" was one of his first sentences to me. (Mommy big loves coffee. He figured me out right away. Of course, I was jet-lagged.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Again heart my peenie!" = an exclamation after about the 5th time he stubbed his pinkie toe one day

"Men-eh-nems" = M & M's

"Big crap" = pick it up. Seriously, that's how he pronounces it. It cracks me up too much to correct him.

"Off it" = turn off the TV or light, or delete a picture from the camera

"I'm a-stinking" = I'm thinking. Another variation is "Are you a-stinking what I'm a-stinking?"

"Little bit no loud please." = turn down the volume on the TV or radio

"hiney" = honey

"lift" = leaf

"lift" = elevator

"lift" = escalator

"upstairs" = anything on top of anything else

"downstairs" = anything underneath anything else

"tim-ah-tim" = tomato

"Come on!" = Could you please come here a moment, I require assistance.

"peejah mah" = pajamas

"off-side" = outside

"What eez zas my name?" = what is this called? For example: "Spider house what eez my name?" - his reading sheet had a picture of a web on it and he didn't know what it was called.

"Longa or short day?" = Is it cold or hot today, do I wear shorts or pants?

"Whatzat mean-say?" = What does that mean?

"Zees one" = this one

"Zas way" = that way

"heart" = hot or hurt, depending on the context. For example, "Ees really heart!" requires investigation...

"bucket" = pocket

"han" = hair or hand, depending on the context

"I have a cushion" = I have a question

"Cushion me zis" = answer this for me

"power" (often pronounced "powah") = gas, of the intestinal variety

"Powah ees cahming!!" means, well... get ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are many, many more. I hope I can remember more, because it's been non-stop for 7 months, and he comes up with new pronunciations and words daily. I love it!!!



Now, here's what's cooking at our house this week:

Monday: BBQ brisket, mashed potatoes, grean beans, wheat rolls
Tuesday: Roast Chicken Chimichangas, black beans, corn casserole
Wednesday: Honey Pecan Pork Chops, baked potatoes, peas, corn on the cob
Thursday: YOYO (You're on you're own... leftovers)
Friday: Avocado Soup with Chicken and Lime

I'm not making anything Ethiopian for dinner this week, but I made some Ethiopian Lentils over the weekend, and I'm pretty sure we'll be whipping up some spicy pasta for lunch one day. He beeg loved the African Chicken I made last week, even though that's a primarily west African dish.

For more menus, to post your own, or to get a helpful menu-planning template, visit Laura. I hope you have a great week!

Sunday Salmagundi

sal⋅ma⋅gun⋅di (noun): any mixture or miscellany

There's a new vocabulary word! (Well, at least it was new to me!) That's exactly what this post is. I don't seem to take as much time to blog as I have in the past... maybe I'll get to in the future. On this lazy, spring-breaky Sunday afternoon, Luke and the boys are having a "guys day" at an outdoor store and the gun club, and my sweet daughter is on a mission trip. So, I've finally got a few minutes to post some things. Since I go most days with a blog post brewing in my mind, most of which never make it to the screen, this will be a mishmash of miscellaneous "mini-posts." (Monday Menu is at the bottom.)

Half of My Heart

I am currently wearing half of this necklace. The other half is in Mexico with my daughter as she is on a mission trip this week. Back in 2004 when Luke and Bethany made their first trip to Ghana, we got the necklace. Since then, whoever goes takes half of it, and the other half stays here. Whether I go or stay, I wear it, but usually if Luke stays home, it hangs on the lamp by his side of the bed. Bethany used to wear it, but now she usually tucks it into her passport case. Of course, my favorite trips are when we ALL go, and the necklace stays at home, but due to finances and vacation time from work, that can't always be the case... When Luke traveled to Ethiopia in January, he took half of it with him in his backpack, while I wore the other half. When he came home from the trip, he put his half by my jewelry box in the little felt jewelry pouch, so I could put it away. I remember seeing it there... and then for some reason when I went to put it away later I couldn't find it. I was so sad! That half a necklace has been around the world and back so many times! I was so aggravated with myself, and I still have no idea where it is. One day last week, my sweet husband emailed me from work and told me to look behind a picture frame in our bedroom. There, tucked behind it, was a small James Avery box with a new Gen. 31:49 charm in it. He knew it was important to me, so that we could send half of it with our daughter this week. Isn't that sweet that he replaced it? I'm still praying that I find that original half, but my prayer was with Phil. 4:19 in mind... "my God shall supply all my needs." I prayed that if I needed it, I would find it and if I didn't find it, that I would be content without it. I had left it up to God, and He responded by prompting my cute husband to buy a new one. So, Luke took the opportunity to bless me, and I got a reminder that our Lord cares about even the smallest thing. A double blessing!

Mexico Mission

As I mentioned, our daughter is in Mexico this week. (I just realized a couple of days ago that this is her 10th international mission trip! Isn't God amazing??) She is with a dynamic team of top-notch students from our Awana Journey group. They are being led by some of the most gifted and Godly leaders I could ever imagine, and will be partnering with a wonderful church there. They will get the opportunity to participate in orphan care, some painting and construction, and community outreach. If you think about her, please pray for Bethany and the wonderful team she is with. God is poised to do a mighty work this week, and that is never without opposition. It has not been a "problem free" trip so far, so our prayers are definitely needed. It has been said that "The history of missions is the history of answered prayer." (S. Zwemer) I truly believe that to be true. Dick Eastman said, "In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer." There is simply no substitute for interceding for a lost world and those who are responsive to the call to go. May God receive all glory for the great things He will do this week in Mexico and all over the world, through the work of those who are on mission for Him and the prayers of those at home.

Heritage Day

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in our agency's "Heritage Day." It was such a fun event, where internationally and domestically adopted children and their families could come and experience a bit of the culture and food from their countries of origin. Our family was privileged to help out in the Ethiopia room, performing the puppet show we had done at Minte's orphanage on our adoption trip, the Ethiopian folktale, Silly Mammo. It was so fun to see the other families who are in the Ethiopia program, as well as meet some new families. I am so thankful for an agency who has events such as this to connect us with our child's culture, but also the adoption community. At the end, they had a wonderful Ethiopian praise and worship group sing, and also had a martial arts school perform... two things that are close to Minte's heart. (He just recently received his yellow belt in karate, and Kyle has his orange belt so far.) God is so faithful to provide opportunities like that!

Restoring Order

I have been really, really working to become more organized. I am not kidding when I have referred to being in a "fog" in the months surrounding this adoption. I already tend toward procrastination as it is, so when I get preoccupied things can really pile up. By God's grace, I have been able to restore order to several key areas of my life in recent weeks. First among them: school, which I feel has been a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants effort this year. Another is simply clutter control. Thankfully, that has gotten better lately. I really have felt like I wasn't "looking well to the ways of my household" (Prov. 31) in recent months, and I finally feel a sense that I'm on the other side of a very disorganized season. If you are having difficulty in this area, let me encourage you! I understand! Stick with a schedule and a routine, try not to "eat the bread of idleness" and keep working at it in the 1 Pet. 4:11 "strength God provides." It will get better.

Finally Free!

I've never been very "thrifty." I'm one to use a coupon for a box of cereal, but then go spend an inordinately large amount of money on a new purse. I go through seasons of saving, or at least not spending as much... then I go on a shopping spree. I'm just not very disciplined in that area. I've gotten better over the years, but it's been slow going. By no stretch am I dismissing it or saying "Well, that's just how I am." I've really had to rethink my spending habits and let God do a Romans 12:1-2 renewal of my mind in this area. I found that, as a homeschooler I sort of "baptized" my spending. I would channel my spendthrifty habits toward school. ("We need this. It's for the kids.") I have such a patient husband! Bethany is taking a Financial Peace University class this spring, and it's been really good for her. I wish I had learned those principles when I was in high school! By God's incredible grace, in recent weeks, we have been able to finally be in a position of having no debt except our mortgage. Yey!!! Many of you have lived this way for years, and to that I say a sincere, heartfelt "Good for you!" I mean it! In recent years we have just now "caught on" to God's vision for our finances, so when I say "by God's grace" I mean just that. We remain a one-career, homeschooling family living on an average "middle class" income, and it simply astounds me what God will do when you simply yield your spending to Him. I'm amazed. A friend we met at the Ethiopia Guest Home last September has a wonderful website full of great money-saving tips: The Penny-Wise Family. I encourage you to check it out! After our journey over the past several years, I can honestly say that nothing feels as good to buy as debt-free feels.

Bible Study

I recently finished the Bible study, Stepping Up. It had been awhile since I had done a Beth Moore study, and I really enjoyed it. (I know she's been called "emotionally charged" before, but sometimes I need that. At times I respond well to "emotionally charged" as long as it's theologically accurate, which this study was. In fact, recently I was listening to John Piper and realized he could be described as "emotionally charged", too. And really, is that always a bad thing?) I really enjoyed this particular study, as it focuses on the Psalms of Ascent, and I always l-o-v-e camping out in the Psalms. Whenever I need spiritual refreshment or for God to change my heart in key ways, turning me towards Himself, I always find myself in the Psalms. Next, I'm doing Mary Kassian's study Conversation Peace: The Power of Transformed Speech. Can you tell what God's dealing with me on now? LOL

Calling All Movers

We had fun last weekend going to see the Imagination Movers in concert. We had our first-ever Mom-Dad-Minte-only outing, and it was so fun! Our other two enjoyed one-on-one time with some other family members and Luke and I treated Minte to breakfast out and seeing some people from his favorite television show in real life! He was so excited! In fact, I have to say that I haven't seen him this visibly, demonstrably excited about anything since he's been home. It was so worth it to watch him light up like that. (If you don't know who in the world I'm talking about, either you don't have preschoolers or you don't have the Disney channel. A few months ago, I wouldn't have known either!) Our older kids have been so sweet to make sure Minte gets the opportunity to enjoy things for "younger" kids without being made fun of or made to feel it's "uncool." He didn't have these opportunities when he was preschool aged, and quite frankly, these songs/shows are at his pace language-wise. I have felt really strongly since before he came home that he would be allowed the opportunity to go through all of the "phases" my other two did. So, we watch Barney, play with play-doh, make snow cones, finger paint, read stories and do puppets... all of the things I did when they were younger. If you are adopting an older child, don't feel like you have to skip some of the "younger" activities. Many times they didn't do those things at 3 or 4 years of age, but the songs, concepts, and sensory experiences are still important and necessary. And, as God has a habit of doing, He worked it out so perfectly that we sat next to some precious family friends with whom we have traveled this adoption journey (we didn't plan it at all!) and the boys got to enjoy it together! Ephesians 3:20-21! More than we asked or imagined!



Ethiopian Cooking

Here's last week's Ethiopian dinner. It turned out great! I realize that those of you who haven't tried Ethiopian food may not think this looks very appetizing, but it is really good! This was a chicken stew, with hard boiled eggs in it (served with it, really). It was chicken, marinated in lime juice and red onion, then cooked with onion, spiced butter (spiced with ginger, basil and garlic... not just like the book but good enough!), olive oil, cardamom, nutmeg and turmeric, black pepper and sea salt.I served it with lentils, which are so healthy! Once the lentils had boiled, I added a splash of green Tabasco, a sprinkle of garlic and a dash of bere bere (Ethiopian chili powder). When Minte saw them he said, "Oh!! Minte's fay-borite!" I'm telling you, that response is worth the experimentation, cooking outside of my comfort zone, and leaving the windows open for 12 hours. He ate it for lunch the next two days, and there was none left for "leftover night." I'm posting this to inspire someone. If I can cook Ethiopian food, anyone can!

While I'm at the computer, here's our menu for this week:

Monday: "Minchet Abishe" (Hot Ground Beef Stew- made-a-bit-less-hot ;) and "Yeatakilt Wet" (Cabbage and potatoes) from TROL , with some injera I picked up yesterday
Tuesday: Broiled Tilapia Parmesan, green beans, steamed broccoli/cauliflower
Wednesday: fried chicken, potatoes, peas (judge me if you must, but we love it ;)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Savory Cheese Soup, salad, wheat rolls

This week's MPM is being hosted by Erin at 5 Dollar Dinners, so head on over there for some economical dinner ideas or to share your menu.

Well, that's a glimpse of our life lately. I hope you're getting a "spring break" of sorts, and experiencing the refreshment and renewal of a new season. Thank you so much for stopping by to catch up!

The Kitchen, the Heart of the Home

One evening last week when the boys burst in the door after karate, the house was filled with the aroma of the dinner I had been preparing. Minte (our son from Ethiopia who's been here about 6 months) stopped short, his face erupting into a big smile, and exclaimed "Mommy!! Ees smells a really-really Ee-tiopia!"

Mission accomplished. I loved it. That's what I was going for. You see, two things have the ability to touch a part of his soul we can't get to... Ethiopian praise/worship music and Ethiopian food. When I posted my menu I shared that I feel like I'm finally coming out of my "post-adoption fog" enough to begin incorporating more Ethiopian recipes. Up until now it's been limited to the spicy pasta he taught me to make, which we make together most Sunday evenings. By God's grace, I have grown to love cooking and trying new recipes, but I've been a bit intimidated at the thought of tackling more "ethnic" ones that I either (1) have never tasted so I have no idea whether it turned out right, or (2) have tasted, prepared by a native of that country or a professional chef, so I know mine won't be the same! However, this is important to me. It's worth trying.

I've always felt strongly about wanting my family to have positive memories of our family meals at home. I want them to come home from college or with their own families someday, looking forward to "mom's cooking." I love it when they follow their noses to the kitchen! For our newest son, I want his association with food in his new home to be another reminder of how much we love him... all of him. When he came home, he brought with him his culture and his food preferences. I don't want all of his Ethiopian food memories to be associated with being across the world or in a restaurant. I want some of those memories to lead his mind right back home...to his Texas home. It is often said that the kitchen is the heart of a home. Sometimes (more often than we might think!) "what's for dinner" is about something much bigger than just getting food on the table. It's about reaching our family's hearts.


So here it is, my maiden voyage into the world of Ethiopian cooking: "Alicha Yetakilit Wet Besiga." It certainly didn't turn out as beautiful as the picture in the book, but it tasted great! Steak, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and red onions, seasoned with garlic, ginger and turmeric. (For links to some of the Ethiopian cookbooks I have found, check my sidebar or visit this post. If you know of others, please share in the comments!)

Something else everyone loved last week was the black bean burritos. The filling was so good, my husband used some to make quesadillas on Thursday (YOYO, "you're on your own") night. It would even be a good dip, I think.



So, here's what cooking at our house this week:

Monday: "Ye'doro Alicha Wet" (Mild Chicken Stew with Hard Boiled Egg from TROL), green beans, lentils

Tuesday: Ham & Cheese Bowties, peas, carrots, garlic bread

Wednesday: Southwestern Fish Tacos, black beans, Spanish rice, corn casserole

Thursday: Leftover/ YOYO night

Friday: Tomato Basil Soup (recipe here, scroll down to page 4), salad, crusty wheat bread

For more menu plans, or to share your own, visit Laura. Have a yummy week!

Menu Monday

How on earth is it Monday again? Did last week fly by for you as it did for me? In my last post I noted that the wind has been gusting here, blowing March in like a lion. It sure blew the last week of February out quickly!

In last Monday's menu post, I mentioned using the Grocery Gadget app on my phone to plan my grocery list. It has still proven to be very handy! I was able to add to it all week long, and as I made my menu plan I simply clicked on the ingredients I would need. My list was complete for this coming week by last Friday. My sweet husband volunteered to go to the store for me on the spur of the moment Friday evening, and for one minute I had a "oh-no-my-list-is-in-my-phone" moment. But, with the touch of a button I was able to email my list to him, which he printed out in a matter of seconds and took to the store. Love. It.

Last week I took some time to plan my menu for March. Menu planning has become such a sanity-saver for me in recent years. It's a gift I give myself. (Which, in turn, ends up being a gift for my family!) I can bustle and blunder my way through the week ahead, with the myriad of decisions that await me each day, but at least one question has been answered already: What's for dinner? And that's a big question! Planning ahead has already settled a major issue I already know I'll face each day, so my feeble mind is freed up to tackle other things that will come up that I don't know about yet. I've posted before about the merits of menu planning, but I just thought I'd say it again today. It doesn't have to be complicated- soup, cereal, sandwiches or take-out - just write it down and it's officially a plan!

For this month's planning, I used another fun app on my phone, the Dinner Spinner. It was so fun! I've always been a fan of Allrecipes.com, and this made it even more handy for me. At least one recipe each week this month came from that app, so it was truly helpful! I've also incorporated an Ethiopian recipe per week, using recipes out of a book called The Recipe of Love by Aster Ketsela Belayneh. I haven't collected all of my Ethiopian spices yet, but some of what the recipes call for (like turmeric, cardamom, ginger and garlic) are readily available or I already had them on hand. After weeks of making spicy pasta together, Minte and I are ready to branch out! In a way, I feel like I am finally coming out of a six-month-long "post adoption fog" and I'm finding I'm ready to tackle some new recipes. So, I'm excited about this book and I love how the recipes are easy to read, with photos of each recipe (I'm very visual!).

Before I list our dinners, let me share my new favorite lunch: Kashi Black Bean Mango frozen entree along with Archer Farms Organic Blue Corn Flax Seed chips that I found at Super Target. Oh my word, it's like a yummy dip. One of the Kashi's lasts me for two days, so it's not even that expensive. It's quick and easy and really gives me energy for the afternoon.

So here's what's for dinner at our house this week:

Monday: Black Bean Burritos, Mexican rice, corn salad (I use Mexicorn instead of separate red and green bell peppers)

Tuesday: Lemon Pepper Tilapia, Linguine with Broccoli and Red Peppers

Wednesday: "Alicha Yetakilit Wet Besiga" (Mild Vegetable and Beef Combo from TROL)

Thursday: Leftovers/ YOYO (You're On Your Own)

Friday: Happy Birthday Audrey!! Out for pizza at my sweet niece's birthday party. Fun!

For more menu plans and recipes, or to share yours, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy week!