Halloween Pictures

So they are a little late but here are the Halloween pics! :)

Yummy-ness!!!

Here are some of my favorite recipes as of late.

Favorite discovery of the month – homemade hot chocolate!! I have always used the mix – you know heat up the water or milk and stir in the dry chocolate mix. Easy – still good – but compared to my new hot chocolate I will never buy mix again!!

So here it is – my recipe. I actually made this one up! Believe me you will never want hot chocolate mix again!

1/3 boiling water

1/3 coco powder

A little less that 1/3 sugar

3 ½ cups of milk

1 cup mini marshmallows

Boil the water in a pot. Once is it boiling turn down the heat and add the coco powder and sugar, continue to stir, and bring to a soft boil. Once you have a thick chocolate mixture add the milk, stirring continually. One the milk is very hot – try not to boil – add the marshmallows and stir till the marshmallows are melted into the hot chocolate.

Pour into your favorite coffee cup and enjoy! I like to add more marshmallows and whipped cream to the top. To make it extra yummy stick a peppermint stick in!

Another delicious recipe is Chicken and Broccoli Casserole! Amazingly yummy, filling, and just plain satisfying!! This is an easy to make dinner after work – I recommend it!

10 ounce bag of frozen broccoli

10 ounces of reduced fat cream of chicken soup

1 cup of water

2 tablespoon smart butter

6 ounce of chicken flavored stuffing

2 cups chopped chicken

1/3 milk

Parmesan cheese

Heat over to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan combine broccoli, half of the soup, the water, and butter. Bring to a boil - cover and simmer till broccoli is soft.

Add stuffing and stir to moisten. Spread the mix in a ungreased 2-quart pan. Scatter chicken over stuffing - stir milk and remaining soup together and pour over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through.

Finally I have been wanting to make homemade pizza lately but cannot bring myself to eat the calories… yes I’m that person! So I discovered a great recipe in my Fitness

Magazine – I tweaked it to make it a little healthier. Instead of using a whole wheat pizza crust I used pita bread – Michael of course had his own two personal pizza dough crusts! J

1 12-inch 100% whole wheat pizza crust (or pita bread)
1 cup prepared tomato salsa
1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat 2 percent mozzarella
1 1/3 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small sweet red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (about 2/3 cup)
2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place crust on sheet and top with salsa, 1 cup mozzarella, beans, sliced red pepper, and scallions. Top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
2. Place pizza in oven and bake 8 to 10 minutes or until mozzarella is melted. Remove from oven and garnish with cilantro if desired. Cut into six slices and serve.

Oswald Chambers

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . . —Galatians 2:20

These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. Once I am at that point, there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ or understand what He meant when He said, “. . . for My sake” (Matthew 5:11). That is what makes a strong saint.

Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— “I have been crucified with Christ . . . .”

The passion of Christianity comes from deliberately signing away my own rights and becoming a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I will not begin to be a saint.

One student a year who hears God’s call would be sufficient for God to have called the Bible Training College into existence. This college has no value as an organization, not even academically. Its sole value for existence is for God to help Himself to lives. Will we allow Him to help Himself to us, or are we more concerned with our own ideas of what we are going to be?

Fall Festivities!

Awe fall… I love you! Michael asked if I would rather have the trees green all year round or the reds, yellows, and oranges of the trees right now… I would have to say I love the trees of fall. Of course come spring and summer I’ll be raving about how much I love the green sprouts! So I have come to the conclusion that I love seasons… though I don’t like the bitter cold of winter I have a soft spot for snow around Christmas time ( I mean who doesn’t). But for now I’m basking in the changing beautiful trees and the delicious smell of fall.

Our mums are not only surviving but they flourishing! YEY! Thanks to new pots and loyal watering they are ALIVE and absolutely beautiful! Take a gander…

We had a fun weekend of fall festivities! Apple picking and Hall-o-scream! Carters Mountain Orchard is just an amazing place – they have a huge selection of apples, gigantic monster pumpkins, and delicious apple food! Our favorite is the apple doughnuts and their apple cider (hot or cold)- now of course these two things are delicious separate but delicious x delicious when you dip the doughnut in apple cider!

So if you ever come across apple doughnuts and apply cider you MUST try them together! Now for the just plain apples – if you want to try the most fresh delicious apples you must pick them yourself! I’m amazed at how delicious they are!

Theme parks – we love them and at the end of the day we want to run to the car to rest our poor aching feet. Just going to a theme park won’t satisfy me anymore… I absolutely love when a park is decorated for a holiday – there is nothing like Ireland decorated with thousands of pumpkins! J Nearly 12 hours in the park – riding our favorite roller coasters, walking through haunted houses, and eat expensive foods – by the end of the day I literally couldn’t walk anymore! We got our money’s worth that is for sure! So our fall festivities are underway!

More to come about our Halloween Festivities! :) Here is a sneak peak!

Hamish And Andy - Personal Space Invaders

These guys are great! I literally just laughed out loud in my office when he is hiding behind a bush... watch this! haha

Ah relaxation...

There is so much joy in doing nothing on the weekend - no plans - just hanging out with Michael. This was our first weekend in a long time where we had no plans to hang out with anyone, do anything, or go anywhere. So we had a wonderful time watching movies, making delicious food, potting our mums, and just hanging out.

We have had to settle in to learning how to keep our plants alive. Andie Anderson from How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days would be appalled.

"Our love fern! You let it die!
- No, honey, it's just sleeping"

Our love... mums have persevered through this learning period and are now nicely potted and growing again. Thank goodness out love mum are not dead! I have decided that since I cannot have a puppy or a baby at this point in my life I will love my plants as such. :) A girl has to have something to take care of right... other than my husband of course!

Here is our beautiful back porch - thanks to Michael who potted our plants!
It's a very happy place to read and relax - we love to sit our there and have dinner! We are looking forward to the fall weather so we can do this more often. Bring on the fall weather God, we are so ready!

I find the most satisfaction in baking - I have learned that I am a great baker of delicious cupcakes and cake but there is still Michael's favorite that brings joy to our hearts - Apple Crisp. We usually only eat this during fall since apples are in season so I made the first apple crisp of the season on Saturday and it was delicious, like spoonful of fall.


The beginnings.



The next day....
Needless to say we love our apple crisp!