The Little Things ~ a midweek marriage moment

In Song of Solomon, we read "It's the Little Foxes that spoil the vines"...little things can make or break, can't they?

In our marriage, we never really went out on dates after the babies started coming, mostly because of babysitting issues. The whole problem of finding someone reliable and trustworthy to watch our kids, and the stress of a few bad experiences with babysitters (even and especially family member babysitters) was enough to make us not try it too often. Once we had to take our toddler daughter to the ER after one grandparent let her eat diaper creame (after all, she was happy playing with the tube....why take it from her?) or with the knowledge that one of my relatives took the kids to the bar (they called it a restaurant, despite the word "tavern" being in the title), and another time when another grandparent thought it ok to squeeze all five of my kids into her small car without seat belts (and got pulled over while doing so). I could go on and on, but I won't. I'm not even going to mention my kids being taught how to play poker using M & M's as chips ("they're learning their colors, honey!") or our nice Christian babysitter being caught on the couch with her boyfriend.

It probably then comes as no surprise that we pretty much left the idea of dating until a future date...the date at which children were able to watch themselves, and older siblings could babysit the younger ones. We've been enjoying this renewal in our relationship ever since, where we are able to get away for an hour or two alone.

One of the questions I have been emailed often is this: We're on a tight budget. How can we have a date night?

Well, I don't think you have to have some sort of formal date night...though you should make your relationship a priority. The emphasis should be on the relationship not on spending money.

Take last night for instance.

A friend of ours owns a window washing company, and my husband had to go up to Saginaw to do a few jobs on the side for him, and I needed a few things that I was putting off getting because of gas prices and time...so I went with him. I got dressed nicely (even though he was wearing work clothes), and I did my shopping while he worked, then spent the last little bit of time just sitting with him, watching him work, and finally we went out and split a sub while sitting in a park. Nothing too fancy, but I know he liked me first of all going with him, secondly dressing up a little bit instead of going out looking grungy (even though he was :-)), and then just sitting there watching him work while listening to my mp3 player in my phone, and taking silly pictures of us with our cell phones. He took the picture of me that I am now using as my profile picture :-) and I took this one of us:




Other times, we have taken a chess board, and played chess on the front porch (or in a park or cafe), and things like that. You don't need to go to a fancy restaurant every week...or even every year for that matter unless you are able.

October Stew (a month early)

pumpkins, as I have stated before, are not just for Jack-o-Lanterns...we love them in a variety of dishes, not as decor. Our favorite dish, besides of course Pumpkin Pie flavored icecream (coming soon on this blog) is October Stew.

Start by carving up the pumpkin...remove the lid, clean out the seeds, and carefully cut away most of the flesh. Be super careful if you plan to use the hollowed out pumpkin for a serving pot later at dinner time, otherwise you can cut away however which way you want.

Cut the pumpkin into cubes.


Brown about a pound or more of stewing beef with 1 t. of caraway seeds, 1 large onion, and a few small hot peppers (optional) in a small amount of olive or other oil.

Add some cubed pumpkin, and brown that with the meat.


Add about 2 pounds of potatoes, also cubed. You can also add whatever other vegetables you want.

Pour in a quart or so of diced tomatoes, or some fresh, peeled tomatoes from your garden.

Add a quart or two of beef stock.


Let this whole mixture simmer gently for about a half an hour or until the vegetables are soft but not falling apart.

To use the Pumpkin as a serving bowl, heat it in a 2ooF oven for about 15-20 minutes

Blessed Interruptions....blogging at TEACH today

I blogged today at TEACH Magazine's Publisher's Blog on the topic of blessed interruptions in our life...read on.

Joyful Momma at TEACH Magazine Today

Today is Monday and that means I'm blogging over at Lorrie Flem's Publisher's blog at TEACHmagazine.com, this time on the topic of permanent weight loss.

Haven't posted much lately because I've been shoulder-deep in canning tomatoes, salsa, apples, and so much more...but pictures and posts are coming soon.

Yippee I'm done!

Completing a job always feels good, doesn't it? Woo hoo.

This weekend, I finally finished editing my newest ebook, Joyful Momma's Guide to Cartoon Creations (Glory to God!) This book actually started out as hand drawn, photocopied pages I was sharing with my cartooning class at our homeschooling co-op last fall. I cleaned them up quite a bit, scanned them into the computer (or rather, paid a child a small pittance to scan them into the computer for mommy...) and added some additional, supplemental material to them.

This book covers both how to DRAW cartoons and cartoon characters, and also how to WRITE cartoons. You see, my two big talents growing up (and today) are writing and drawing, and these work well for cartooning, as both skills are necessary to be a good cartoonist. I also address publishing cartoons as well.

This book can be used from elementary age on up to learn the basics of drawing pretty much anything as a cartoon and writing for cartoons.

This premier week, the ebook is on sale for just $7.95, regularly $15.97
, until 9/10/08.

Sale at Values Driven Family

Value's Driven Family is having a great Ebook Extravaganza right now that you may want to check out! Click here to find out more.

Potato Curry

We found some gorgeous red potatoes on sale at Country View Bulk Foods, and so we bought a 10 lb bag. One thing that these potatoes are good for is stews, soups, and chutneys (russets can't really be used as they fall apart when cooked...though that makes them good for baked potatoes and mashed potatoes). On today's menu: a potato curry.

I began by slicing up 2 vidalia onions, and 2 lbs of stewing beef, both of which I browned in a heavy, high-sided skillet.



I then sliced up about 3-4 pounds of those red potatoes, skins on, and added them to the mix.



Next I added my spices: Curry powder, Garam marsala (a spice blend), ginger, salt, pepper, and red pepper. I also stirred in a jar of diced tomatoes, and I let it simmer until the potatoes and meat were cooked through.



As an accompaniment, instead of rice, I used couscous, which I find to be lighter, and a good side dish with a curry.


I garnished it with fresh herbs from my little herb box on my window sill.

Joyful Momma is at TEACH Magazine Today

Well, ladies, it's Monday and that means I'm bloggin' over at Lorrie's Publisher's blog at TEACH Magazine. Today I talk a bit about my methods for planning for the coming school year, and what works for our family. You can read more here, at TEACH.

Breakfast Casserole

Tabitha wrote,

I'm going to need to get the recipe for that breakfast casserole thing, I have the basic idea, but that's a scary way to make something new

Here's the recipe, Tabitha (and everyone!):

The NIGHT BEFORE:

Mix together 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup and 10-12 eggs. Season to taste (Ruth added Rosemary, parsley, oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper to the one she brought you).
Butter a 9 x 15 baking dish
Pour half a bag of cubed stuffing or a box of croutons...you are basically looking to cover the bottom of the baking dish.

Cook up some meat: sausage, bacon, etc. (your choice) We used turkey sausage (Italian flavored).

Put the crumbled meat or bacon over the croutons, and then pour on the egg/soup mixture. Add the chopped veggies of your choice (Ruth used onions, bell peppers, and green onions). Top with cheese.

Cover and put in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, preheat the oven to 350F and pop your casserole in there for about 45 minutes, or until the eggs are well set.

Using the Leftover Whole Grain Pilaf

Remember that whole grain pilaf I made with the grilled chicken the other night? Well, we had more than half of it leftover, and I wasn't sure what to do with it, since we ate all the chicken. I finally decided on repurposing the rice pilaf into something else entirely.

First, I had thawed some ground beef for spaghetti only to realize at the last minute that I had no spaghetti noodles to speak of, so I heated up my wok, browned (and drained) the ground beef, and seasoned it with a variety of oriental style seasonings, such as chinese five spices, sesame oil, a splash of rice vinegar, some lemon grass, and ginger.


I had a touch of that peanut sauce left over, and so I poured out the rest of the bottle in there, and added some teriyaki too.



Next, I mixed in the rice pilaf, and stirred it well, allowing it to gently simmer with the lid on, until it was fresh and new again. Garnish with sliced up green onions.

Grilled Chicken and Whole Grain Pilaf

Dinners for summer time seem to work best when we have simple things going on. Sometimes I can just be satisfied with nothing but corn on the cob, and why not? It's amazing!

We don't really grill too much, mostly because meat is expensive, and it doesn't seem to stretch as far as other things can and do. Still, I like to grill food...but today when I grilled this Thai peanut chicken, it decided to start raining so we actually cooked on the cast iron griddle--stove top style.

We just got some meat from our friends' amazing Amish meat market, "Heflings Amish Farm Market", where you will find great high quality meats as good prices (please pay them a visit, if you live in Greater Detroit Area). I ran out of freezer baggies like a total dunce, and so the leftover chicken breast that I couldn't bag up as individual breasts, I decided to cut, marinate and grill.


I started by cutting the double breasts in half, and then slicing into them somewhere in the middle on the side, to cut them in half thickness. Hefling's always has HUGE chicken breasts, and no one person could eat all that try as they might..ok, well maybe my teenage son could. Growing boy and all...

I mixed up a marinade using the leftovers of a bottle of Peanut Sauce...I poured in water to fill the bottle, gave it a good shake, and poured it over the chicken along with some oriental five spices (a spice blend), lemon grass, onion powder, garlic powder, and some teriyaki. I let that marinade while I prepped the rice pilaf.

The rice pilaf was started by melting 2T of butter in a large shallow pot, and saulting some minced onions, garlic and carrots in it, until lightly browned. I also added some fresh ginger. I then added 1 c. of brown rice, 1/2c. of wild rice, and another 1/2c. of wheat berries. I saulted these for about 2 minutes, and then poured on 4.25 cups of water with some chicken stock mix (also available from Heflings, by the way).



I brought it to a boil, then turned it down to a simmer, and covered it tightly, allowing it to simmer until all the water was gone and the grains were nice and soft but not mush. :-)

I preheated the griddle (since it was raining on my barbeque), and began to grill up the chicken on the griddle. Having that chicken cut in half also helped them to cook more evenly on the griddle. Raw in the middle steak = good, raw in the middle chicken = bad.

Oriental Salad

We had a get-together thingy at church recently, and I always struggle with knowing what to make. Maybe because I have weird food tastes? Hm, not sure. I don't do "potato salad" in the American style (with mayo)...and I don't like traditional pasta salad either...but no one seems to touch my potato salad when I make it nor my rotini pesto salad (maybe because it's green? hmmm)

This year, I decided to make Oriental Salad. It's pretty easy, and probably pretty healthy too.

Start by shredding a head of cabbage (any kind), and crunching up a bag of raman noodles (oriental flavor). Toss the two together.

Add in 1 sliced onion, 1 sliced red onion, a bag of slivered almonds, some sesame seeds, and shredded carrots.

For the sauce, I mixed in a wide mouth jar:

2T of sesame oil
the flavor packet from the Raman Noodle Soup
1/4c. of rice vinegar (it can be seasoned or unseasoned)
1/2 c. of oil of any sort.
2t of ginger
2t. of garlic
1/4c. of sugar

About an hour before dinner, I shook the dressing well, and poured it over the top of the salad, and tossed it well. With sitting the noodles (uncooked) soften a bit.


Yum!

Baking Cookies with Ruth

My daughter, Ruth, is an AWESOME baker...when it comes to chocolate chip cookies, she's the best...which is why this photo recipe tutorial thingy features her and not me...and of course, her recipe. She was making these cookies for a special get together with the youth group at church. I keep trying to get my daughter here to blog once a week on my blog, but this is as close as it gets so far...;)

Of course the second we started to bake cookies, we realized we were out of brown sugar...but no worries. If you have white sugar and molasses, you can make some brown sugar. Mix 2T. of molasses for every 1 c. of white sugar.


First we creamed together:

1 c. butter
1c. brown sugar
1c. white sugar

Next, we added 2 eggs and a splash of vanilla, and beat it well.

In a separate bowl, we mixed 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 2t. of baking soda, and a pinch of salt, then added it to the mixer, along with a bag of chocolate chips and of course some walnuts.

Using a mini ice-cream scooper, create cookies 1 inch apart on a baking stone or pan (stones seem to keep things from burning badly!) Bake for 25 minutes at 325 F for chewy cookies :-). Shorten the bake times for metal pans.




And, of course, share the beaters with your little sister.

Defeating Depression

One of the things that took me most by surprise when I had children was depression. I knew that the primary source of the problem had to be physical since it seemed to arrive like clockwork as soon as I conceived, as one of the first symptoms of pregnancy, and left as soon as I weaned my last child almost 10 years ago. As I struggled with my feelings in this regard, I also struggled to find a solution to the situation. On the one extreme were those who believed that "real Christians don't get depressed" (and a few even caused me to doubt my salvation), and on the other hand, were those who saw it as solely a medical issue needing little more than the right pill. While medicine does help some, I was not willing to risk my unborn and nursling's life by taking medications that couldn't be guaranteed to help me without negative side effects, after reading up on it more (I suggest, as does the writer of the book I mention below, that you don't discount medications if you need them, but that you do some research into the pros and cons). Instead, during this time, I began my love affair with the Psalms and Proverbs, my two favorite books of the Bible, and I did a lot of crying out to God.

During that dark period in my life, as I struggled with wanting a large family, but not wanting the emotional rollercoaster I seemed to be on with each pregnancy, God showed me so many good things in His word, and helped to sustain me. I can't say that I read the Bible enough and it all went away, nor can I say I always handled it well (understatement of the century), but I can say that I serve a faithful God, and a good God who does all things well. When I came out on the other side of that season, I saw how much God had done in my life to prune me for His glory.

Because of this issue in my own life, and running a website with resources for moms, I have kept my eyes peeled for a great book, audio, or program that would be a blessing to Christian women who value children, value family, and love the Lord who still struggle in this area. As I looked around, I found things that seem to fall on the one side or the other, but never in good balance until now.

Cynthia Carrier, of Values Driven Family, created a program that I feel does strike that Godly balance I've been looking for. Her package, "Defeating Depression: Cooperating with God to Experience Victory over Negative Emotions", is a biblically based examination of depression and other negative emotions, with practical helps and encouragement. Mrs. Carrier's Audio Seminar Package is packed with good things to bless and encourage you: a 45 minute MP3 audio, an ebook, a workbook/journal, 20 designed Scripture memory cards, Cindy Rushton's "Mommy Care Package" Audios, and some uplifting audios from OneVoice.

After reading Cindy's Ebook and listening to her audios, I was encouraged that finally someone got it right, and had created such a helpful resource, but I also wished I had this available to me when I first began struggling in this area myself as a first time mom. Though the ebook is small (just 15 pages of text), it is absolutely packed with meaty encouragement and uplifting, practical advice. Everything she says, I felt, was spot on for any momma struggling in this area.

Finnochio Del La Pomodoro

The title sounds fancy, but what it means is "Fennel with Tomato soup" ...one of our favorites.

What is fennel? It's a veggie that looks like this and is sometimes called "Anise" or "bulb Fennel" or even "Finocchio".


Start by soaking and cooking some chick peas (or thawing some chicken). Next, cut the tops off of the fennel, setting aside the feathery leaves for a later purpose.



Cut each bulb in half again, right through the root, and then carefully cut away the root end.


Slice two fennel bulbs, and slice 2 onions as well.


Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat, and add olive oil and orange zest (dried or fresh...also called orange peel). Add your fennel and onions, and brown them until lightly browned.

Stir in finely sliced chicken breast if you are using chicken, and let it brown.

Add 1 can of diced tomatoes, 3 quarts of chicken or veggie stock, and about 2 cups of cooked chick peas.

Simmer until chicken is cooked through if using chicken. Garnish with the fennel leaves.

Ode to my WhirlyPop

On a recent trip to Frankenmuth for the day, we walked though the Riverplace shopping center, and stopped in at the Popcorn Wagon, where something I had been looking for caught my eye: a shiny new Whirly Pop.

I like popcorn.

I like popcorn ALOT.

I do NOT like Microwave popcorn (ew). The only think it has going for it is the smell. Smells good but tastes, to me, like butter flavored cardboard.

A few years ago, I got a whirly pop for Christmas...and I use it every day, sometimes a few times a day, until It looked like this:


A quick cell phone call to my husband gave me permission to go in and buy it :-) woo hoo.

We made some kettle corn today in it...preheat the pot, and add 1/4 c. of oil, 1/4c. of sugar, and the popcorn (I used more like a half cup of popcorn...:-)), and a touch of salt. Amazing. As I type this I'm eating some...and making my keyboard all greasy! LOL.

Pesto, Pesto!

I always say this...I almost feel like I posted this before (maybe I have) but one of the benefits of growing herbs in you garden is to be able to eat things like Pesto salad in the summertime. Fresh Basil is one of the most amazing flavors in the world.

I start off by going out to the garden with scissors and a colandar...and I cut off several handfuls of basil, wash it well, pull off as many stems as I can, and process the leaves in a blender.

Added to that, I mix in some parmesan or romano cheese, some walnuts (traditionally, pine nuts are used but walnuts work just fine), a splash of lemon juice, and some olive oil. Salt to taste.

Cook up some pasta....rotini noodles work great, and gnocci works well too. Toss the cooked pasta with some pesto, diluted with olive oil if needed. You may want to chill it before serving.

Pesto also tastes good as a sauce on pizza in lieu of the traditional tomato sauce.

Yes, it's green. But it's good for you and tastes great too. :-)

Joyful Momma Blogs at TEACH Today!

Blogging again at TEACH Magazine today....this time on the topic of internet filters. Do ya got one? We do! Read more here.

Joyful Momma is blogging at TEACH Magazine today

It's Monday, and that means that I am blogging over at Lorrie's Publisher's blog at TEACH Magazine.com.

This week's topic is my totally terrific Tiramisu...with a photo tutorial on how to make it yourself.

Check it out:
http://www.teachmagazine.net/index.php?mact=Blog,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=103&cntnt01returnid=56

Even Bigger Sale

Now the sale is even bigger...because I need to call a plumber/septic repair person soon, and so I am having a bit of a fundraiser sale with which to do it! (very unglamorous).

Now EVERYTHING in the store is 20% off until next week Friday, in addition to the sale on Quiet Times in Loud Households previously announced.

Furthermore, I am discontinuing selling the Insight Tech Ed Books, so while supplies last, they are 40% off...so get your art books now for the coming school year...just $6 plus shipping and handling.

http://www.joyfulmomma.org/bookstore2/zc