Huber's Farm, Indiana

This past Saturday, Matt and I decided to go for a beautiful drive out to Huber's Family Farm in Southern Indiana.  The drive was absolutely breathtaking because of all the amazing colors that the leaves are changing to.

Once we got to Huber's Farm we were surprised to see so many people there, I guess that it is a pretty popular place to go in the Fall considering they have U-pick apples and U-pick pumpkins.  There apples are so so so good.  We bought a Honey Crisp Apple and it was absolutely amazing!

They also make there own cheese, so being a cheese lover, I just had to try some of their sharp cheddar which went perfect with the apple.  

After looking around their little farmer's market, we decided to head over to their orchards and winery.  The first thing that we noticed about this part of the farm, is that there were so many people again.  Then we began to smell the most wonderful smell...homemade donuts.  We found where they were selling homemade pumpkin spice, and apple cider donuts for a dollar a piece.  Warm donuts are so good, especially when it is 50 degrees outside.  

Next to the donut stand was a very unique display of gourds.  I can remember every Thanksgiving my mom would get out her Thanksgiving decorations, and there would always be this basket of dried warty guards.  I always liked looking at and feeling these strange gourds when I was little, and seeing that stand of funny looking gourds brought back a lot of good fall memories.  

Matt and I decided that we would both pick out a small pumpkin to take home, and we decided on buying pie pumpkins so that I could make homemade pumpkin pie from scratch.  

We had a great time visiting Huber's Farm which reminded us a lot of Bate's Nut Farm back home in California.  Not only was the farm itself beautiful, but the drive there and back was so colorful and relaxing.  

As for our life here at Southern Seminary, things have been going well.  God has definitely been testing us in many ways lately.  But, it seems like He does that when you commit to training yourself to serving Him.  One of the biggest tests that He gives us here is to trust Him to take care of our finances.  He always does, but this does not mean that I don't ever worry about where the money is going to come from.  He is an amazing provider, and I pray that I will learn to trust Him more.  Last Monday I told you about my car breaking down, well, it's okay now.  We took it to the mechanic and we found out that the catalytic converter is completely broken now.  In California, this would be a problem because of the pollution regulations, but here in Kentucky they say that as long as you have a catalytic converter in your car, broken or working, it's fine.  So, I have about another year or so, before I have to get the exhaust system worked on.  Sometimes God answers our problems in very mysterious ways. :)   Pray for Matt because he has a big paper due in just a few weeks.  It is different writing a paper at the Seminary level compared to the Bachelor's level, so pray that he will be able to understand and properly use all of the writing guidelines.  Thank you all so much for your prayers, and your patience in reading my very long blog posts. :)  We miss you all, and we wish you all a happy Autumn.  

Very Versatile Cookie Batter

Matt really likes to be able to have fresh cookies every day.  There are a few problems with this though, number 1 it's time consuming to make cookies every day, and number 2 cookies just aren't very healthy.  So I have become determined to find a way to make it easy to make fresh cookies every day that are at least somewhat healthy.  After going through many cookie recipes here is what I have come up with, and yes, they are "Matt" approved.  I just love cooking and baking for Matt, he does so many special things for me and cooking is one of the special things that I can do for him.  So for all of you out there who like baking for your man, here is a very versatile cookie recipe.

Marvelous Make Ahead Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-puprose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp seasoning of your choice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc.) You don't have to use seasoning.
1 large egg
3/4 packed brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla, or any other flavoring that goes with the cookie you are making. (almond, rum, etc.)
1/2 cup oats, quick-cooking or old-fashioned (not instant)
1/2 cup of your favorite baking chips (chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, etc.)
1/3 cup dried fruit of your choice (cherries, blueberries, raisins, craisins, etc.)
1/4 chopped nuts of your choice (almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc.)  These are optional as well.

Preparation 

1. Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 375 degrees.

2.  Whisk flour, wheat germ, baking soda, salt and your seasoning choice in a small bowl.  Whisk egg, brown sugar, oil and your chosen flavoring in a large bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; stir to combine.  Add oats, baking chips of your choice, and the dried fruit of your choice; stir just to combine.  Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto an un-greased baking sheet ( I line mine with parchment paper), 1 1/2 inches apart.  (You don't have to worry about these cookies spreading  too much.

3.  Bake the cookies until puffed and barely golden around the edges, switching the pan back to front halfway through the 8 to 10 minutes.  Cool on the pan for 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  (I don't have a wire rack right now, so I cut up brown paper bags and just let the cookies cool on the bag, it works just fine.)

Now, when I make this cookie dough batter, I only cook six cookies at a time, so they are fresh every day.  I do this by scooping out all the dough with a cookie dough scooper into a casserole dish lined with parchment paper.  Be sure that the scoops of cookie dough do not touch each other in the dish, but they can be pretty close.  Next I cover up the dish with the cookie dough in it, and place it in the freezer.  The next day, the cookie dough balls will be frozen, and I place them all in a ziploc bag.  When I want to bake cookies for the day, I simply take them out of the freezer, and place however many frozen cookie dough balls that I want to make on to the cookie sheet and bake them.  They bake perfect both before they are frozen and after they are frozen.  This is an amazing cookie dough recipe and it saves me so much time, and it makes Matt very happy.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it is very versatile.  You can pretty much create your own cookie by switching up what I like to call the add-ins (seasonings, flavorings, baking chips, dried fruits and nuts.) So far I have made it with dried blueberries, white chocolate chips, and almond extract for one cookie and mini semisweet chocolate chips, dried cherries, vanilla extract, and chopped almonds for another cookie.  The flavor possibilities seem endless with this basic somewhat healthy cookie batter.

Oh, if any of you are interested, here are the approximate nutritional values for this cookie.  (approximate because you will be creating your own flavors with different add-ins.)

Per Cookie:  115 Calories; 4 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 2 g Mono; 9 mg Cholesterol; 17 g Carbohydrates; 2 g Protein; 1 g Fiber; 84 mg Sodium; 38 mg Potassium

Feeling Like a Kid Again

Have I told you all that I love love love teaching preschool.  I think I like it the most because you get to be so hands on with the kids.  Whatever they do, you get to do to.  I have always loved to do crafts, and now I get to do crafts every day and I get paid to do it.  I have an amazing job.  Well, all this to say, because I work with 4 year olds all day I sometimes come up with some pretty crazy ideas for our date nights.  This last date night Matt and I decided to stay at home to try to "conserve" some money.  So, I rant to Pinterest as quickly as my little fingers could take me.  After looking at several good ideas for date nights at home this is what I settled on:  Making pizza together completely form scratch, paining on miniature canvases with acrylic paints, building a really cool fort together and watching the Lorax movie inside the fort, and making homemade peanut butter glazed popcorn.   I know some husbands would think all of these are crazy ideas for a date night, but not my husband, he's amazing, and he's really a big kid at heart, so when I told him about my ideas for date night, he was just as excited as I was.  He was really excited about getting to build a fort inside.  He planned all week long how he was going to build the fort.  Well, I decided to show you all how are date night went through a journey of pictures.  I hope you all enjoy!  Also, I pray that this post will encourage all of you married couples out there to go and do something fun and crazy with your spouses.  It doesn't have to cost a lot of money and it can be so memorable.

First we decided to paint our miniature fall paintings.  Aren't those little tiny canvases and easels just so cute.  We had so much fun doing this.  I have to admit, I cheated a bit though.  I watched a 12 minute tutorial on You Tube on how to paint an aspen forrest with acrylics.  Matt did a great job on his painting especially considering that he didn't cheat like me and just painted on his own.  We had so much fun with this project.  

While our first coat of paint was drying on our canvases we made the pizza dough.  I found a recipe by Paula Dean from Food Network.  I don't like mixing dough but Matt didn't mind at all.  The dough came out simply amazing.  If you would like to use this recipe for pizza dough, click here.  

After we finished making the dough, we left it to rise and continued painting.  As you can see, Matt took his painting very seriously.  It's so fun to be able to do crafts together.  

I really liked painting as well, as you can see, my side of the table is so much more messy than Matt's.  We are definitely opposites in this area.  He likes everything to stay neat and clean, and me, well, it would be nice for everything to stay neat and clean, but it usually looks like a tornado has touched down wherever I have been. :) 

Here's my aspen forrest.  

Here's Matt's Kentucky autumn countryside.  

And...Here's our finished Autumn paintings side by side.  Mrs. Smith's painting classes paid off for us.  We had so much fun, and we were both so glad that we had already taken painting before with Mrs. Smith.  It made our project so much more enjoyable since we kind of knew what we were doing. :)

Time for dinner.  We both made our own personal sized pizzas.  We had a pizza at a local pizzeria here in Kentucky called the loaded backed potato.  We loved this pizza, and I searched the internet for a recipe that seemed similar to the loaded baked potato pizza.  I found a close match on Pinterest.  Click here if you are interested in making this pizza for yourself.  The pizza was delicious beyond words, and we had so much fun making it together.  

Here's the pizza before the oven....

... And here's the pizza after the oven.  Just look at all that yummy goodness.  

After we finished eating our amazing pizza, Matt began working on making our fort.   It looks kind of crazy from this angle.  Notice all the Seminary books being put to good use as a counterweight to hold our fort down. :)

Here's an inside view of our fort loaded with pillows for watching our movie.

And... here's the inside view of our fort with my computer in the background that we use to watch our movies on.  Yes... that's a hospital bedside table the laptop is sitting on.  That table has been such a versatile piece of furniture that we picked up at a thrift store in California.  It gets used as a desk, a computer holder, a breakfast in bed table, kitchen counter, and much more.   In our fort we watched the Lorax movie.  Yep, I know it's a little kids movie, but hey it went with the theme of the night:  "We're all just kids at heart."  

While watching our movie we snacked on homemade peanut butter popcorn.  It was pretty good, but it was really sweet.  If you're interested in the recipe, click here.  

Seminary life is very busy, and it is often hard to find time to be with each other, but Matt and I have determined to make every moment that we are with each other count.  We have such great times together.  I love being married to my best friend.  I hope that this post will inspire many of you to plan a stay at home date night with your spouse.  They're really fun!!!

On a side note, Seminary life has been going well.  Matt is doing good in his classes, but he can always use your prayers, especially for his Greek class.  My car just died on me today in the middle on an intersection.  I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I just let it keep rolling through the intersection.  After rolling through the intersection I wondered where I would have enough momentum to roll next,  and then I saw it,  "The Golden Arches."  Whew, I had just enjoy momentum to roll into a McDonald's parking lot.  I pulled the keys out of the ignition, waited a few minutes and then started the car again.  It started right up but I was real nervous about driving it.  So, to make a long story short, I believe that my catalytic converter is gone, so it's off to the mechanics for me tomorrow.  Please pray that I'll be able to get  a good deal on this expensive part.  But, I'm praising God that He didn't let me car die in the middle of the intersection, that would have been horrible.  Besides this, everything is going well, we miss you all so much.  Until next time, have a great week! 

Goodbye to Nasty Microwave Burritos

Matt and I have decided to eat healthier since we have been gaining weight like crazy since we moved to Kentucky.  There is just so much good food here, but most of it is not really good for you if you know what I mean.  Cooking for both of us presents somewhat of a challenge because Matt works at nights, so he needs a dinner that he can take and microwave.  It seems like most microwave meals are not very good to eat or very good for you.  So, I have been on a mission to create my own healthy microwavable burrito.  As of yesterday, I believe that I have finally struck gold with my black bean, chicken, and quinoa burrito topped with Costco's mango peach salsa and light sour cream.  I have even figured out how to make a bunch of these yummy burritos freeze them, and microwave them for an amazing and healthy dinner for me and Matt.  Not only is this meal healthy, it is very economical as well.  So, without further ado, here is the recipe.  (The pictures are not my own but they are from a site where I learned some valuable information on how to freeze and reheat homemade burritos.

Ingredients

Quinoa:

2 cups of uncooked white quinoa (I bought mine at Trader Joe's, but Costco also sells it.)
4 cups of water
1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp of lime juice (I used the bottled kind, but you could certainly use it from fresh limes.)
Salt to taste

Black Beans:

6 cans of reduced sodium black beans (I used Bush's brand)
1 cup of water
1 sweet onion diced
4 cloves of garlic diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup cilantro
1 packet Sazon Goya Con Azafran seasoning (this is an amazing seasoning from the Mexican food aisle. If you can't find it, you can substitute a teaspoon of paprika, and a teaspoon of chile powder.)
2 tbsp lime juice (I used the bottled kind again, but you could certainly use it from fresh limes.)
Salt and Pepper to Taste



Additional Fillings:

1 Costco rotisserie Chicken skin removed and shredded
1 2 cup package of shredded Kraft sharp cheddar cheese
1 2 cup package of shredded Kraft mozzarella with a hint of cream cheese


8 inch flour tortillas (You can use whole wheat tortillas if you like.  They are better for you, but they are also more expensive.  I bought ours from Costco, you get a lot for a really good deal.)
Aluminum foil


Toppings:
Reduced Fat Sour Cream
Costco's  Peach Mango Salsa (This is so yummy and it really makes the burrito taste great!)

Optional Toppings
Chopped Tomatos
Chopped Romaine Lettuce
Whatever Creative Item that you can come up with. :) (As long as it's healthy.)

Cooking, Assembly, Storage and Reheating Process:

Place the 2 cups of quinoa with the 4 cups of water in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Once the quinoa and water have come to a boil, cover and let simmer on low for 15 - 20 minutes.  Always check to make sure you are not burning up your quinoa, once the water is gone, it is done.  

Now, mix in the 1/4 cup cilantro, 2 tbsp of lime juice and salt with the quinoa.  That's it, your quinoa is done.  Just set this aside, and now you can work on your black beans.

Rinse all six cans of black beans thoroughly.  Add the 2 tbsp of olive oil to a large pot.  Once the oil is hot add your chopped onion and minced garlic.  Cook this until the onions become translucent (about 5 - 10 minutes).  Now you can add your six cans of rinsed black beans, your cup of water and your Sazon Goya seasoning.  Bring this all to a boil and then allow to simmer for 20 - 25 minutes uncovered.  After your pot of beans is done simmering add the 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro and the 2 tbsp of lime juice,  along with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir all of these ingredients together and than remove from the flame and now you are ready to assemble your burritos.  

In order to assemble your burritos, first place 6 of your tortillas in a slightly damp tea towel and microwave them for 1 minute and 45 seconds.  This will allow the tortillas to be more pliable.  For a more traditional approach you can cook your tortillas on the stove if you like, but this takes a lot of time.  While the tortillas are warming in the microwave tear off six sheets of aluminum foil.  You will use these sheets to wrap your burrito in for the freezer.  Now, take a warm tortilla, place it on a sheet of foil and put a scoop of black beans down, and then a scoop of quinoa, then about 5 pieces of your shredded rotisserie chicken topped with a little sprinkle of sharp cheddar and a little sprinkle of mozzarella.  Now you can roll your tortilla around your filling.  If you don't know how to roll a burrito,  click here to view a video tutorial from you tube.   Once your burrito has been rolled up, wrap the foil around it and place it in your freezer.  Repeat this process until you have no more items to fill your tortillas with.  

This recipe will make about 50 8-inch burritos.  This is enough for Matt and I for a month.  Yay!!!!  When you are ready to eat your burrito, simply take it out of the foil and wrap a damp paper towel around it.  Place it on a plate and microwave it on high for 3 minutes.  When it is done add a dollop of sour cream and a side of Costco's peach mango salsa.  This burrito tastes so amazing, you would never guess that you were eating something healthy and that had been microwaved.  I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I have enjoyed creating it.  Happy cooking. :) 

I'm not sure how long these burritos will last in the freezer, but I probably wouldn't keep them longer than a month.  I don't think that ours will last longer than a month. :) 

And Time Keeps Flying....

Wow, where is the time going?  I just want to take a hold of each day and say "wait, slow down!" But as we all know, life just seems to go faster and faster the older we get.  This past week was fall break for Matt and his seminary classes.  It was definitely a much needed fall break for him.  He was able to get so much done and spend quite a bit of time studying Greek with one of his class mates.  He also completely finished one of his online classes about the Southern Baptist Cooperative.  He was so thankful that God allowed him to get so much done last week.

It is definitely fall here right now!  The weather has changed so drastically.  It's so cold that I had to go find my winter jacket the other day.  It is kind of strange that it is already cold here, and it's still so hot over in California.  We sure are enjoying all the beautiful colors of fall over here.  Every day the trees look so different as they change from the golds, to oranges, to crimson reds.  Wow, God sure is busy with His "paintbrush" over here.

Yesterday, Sunday, we were invited over to our pastor's house in Campbellsburg, Kentucky.  As I walked in their door I suddenly realized that this was the first time that I had been in a real house since I left home.  It sure did feel good to be in a nice cozy home with family all around.  It definitely made me homesick for all of my family and friends back home.  We sure do miss you all.

This past Saturday, Matt surprised me and took me to the St. James Court Art Fair in Old Town Louisville.  There were so many different artists and different forms of art there.  We had a great time.  Matt even bought me a really interesting vase made by a potter from Athens, Georgia.  Matt is so good to me as he is always trying to surprise me with fun things in what little time he has off.  Praise God that I have been blessed with such an amazing and Godly husband.  All I can say is that he was definitely worth the wait a million times over.

Here are some of the pictures from our trip to the St. James Court Art Fair.  Until next time, please continue to pray for God to strengthen our hearts and minds as we train to serve Him.

Here I am in front of the fountain in the center of the art show. 

Here is one of the intersections where the art show is set up. 

There are many homes that are well over 100 years old in Old Town Louisville. 

Here is a picture of the vase Matt bought me.

Here is a close up of the vase that Matt bought me. 

Yay Date Day!!!

This past Saturday we went on a date day to the Hoosier National Forrest in Indiana.  We had an amazing time and took some photos to share with you all.  I turned the photos into a movie for you all to watch.  I hope you all enjoy.  :)