The Sun is Out...

And today we went to several great garage sales. We found a baby carrier, bouncer, tub, and a Boppy pillow, all of which I had been going to register for. Hooray!
And today, for the first time ever, I had two complete strangers ask when I was due. I finally look pregnant (not just like I've been hitting on the donuts too often)! 'bout time, because Thursday marked seven months. So far, things have seemed to go by very quickly. It's hard to believe that, in a just a couple more months, little Sean will be here to meet us!

:-)

Today I found these adorable tea towels, sold by the British company To Dry For.










I dare you not to giggle.

Easy Crock-Pot Gumbo with Brown Rice

Here I am without a camera again. Oh well, pictures or not, a girl's gotta eat. Last month, I had gumbo for the first time ever at Cafe Max, and it was so good! Since I didn't want to pay $10 a quart every time I was craving yummy soup, I decided to come up with my own approximation of the recipe. I use brown rice instead of the traditional white, because I think it has better flavor, and I like to think the the rice I am eating is at least somewhat nutritious.

Easy Crock-Pot Gumbo
serves 4-6
2 chicken breasts
1 can tomato sauce
1 can cut okra, drained
2 3oz andoulle sausages, sliced
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
brown rice (I use Lundberg), prepared as directed, to serve 2-3 (1/2 cup dry)


Several hours before meal, place chicken breasts in crock pot with tomato sauce. Check in approx. 2 hrs, shred chicken with a fork. Add sausage, okra, and oregano. Let these all cook together for 1 hr (you can use this time to make your rice, if you like). Add cooked rice, salt & pepper to taste.

This makes a nice, hearty stew. You could also add diced bell pepper and/or cocktail shrimp to make it extra yummy!

Lemon & Thyme Game Hens

I guess I need to start taking pictures of the food I make before we gobble it up. ;-)
Anyway, here is the recipe I made last night. It is so good- perfectly juicy and mild herb and citrus flavors.

Lemon Thyme Game Hens

time: prep=15 min, cook=1-1 1/4 hrs.
serves: 2- adjust by adding more birdies

2 Cornish game hens (thawed if previously frozen)
1 medium or large lemon
2 generous tablespoons thyme
olive oil for basting
a baking dish with at least "1 sides- this makes lots of juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut lemon in half, then divide one of the halves. Stuff the quarters into the body cavity of each game hen, then sprinkle most of the thyme in. Slice remaining lemon fairly thin. Using your fingers, gently separate the bird's skin from body; do not remove, but rather leave a "pocket." Carefully slide lemon slices into pocket, sprinkle hen with remaining thyme. Spritz or baste hens with oil, and bake for 1hr. (1hr. 15-20min. if you birds are bigger than 1lb. 2oz.) Remove from oven when juices run clear when pierced. Let rest 5min. and carve.

2/3

In a few days, I will be "officially" in the third trimester of my pregnancy. It really has gone by so fast, and I can't believe that, in three months (+/-) we'll get to meet Sean for the first time.
So far, I've had excellent luck finding maternity jeans, and still am wearing non-maternity shirts. I have yet to get a dress that fits well, so for church I just go with separates.
I've begun planning a shower with my Mom, which will probably be in late July.
Overall, things seem to be going smoothly.

Lazy Cooking

Count me in!
I've read quite a few recipes for oven-fried chicken that require dredging in flour, cornflakes, etc., but here is my recipe for the easiest oven-fried chicken ever. We eat this a couple times a month, and it always turns out moist and flavorful. It's also easy to cook some potatoes with the chicken, or have green beans or salad for a side.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, one per person
small dish of milk
bowl of finely crushed potato chips- any flavor works, I've used original, sour cream & onion, and BBQ, all with great results
Pan suitable for number of chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut each chicken breast in half, dip each half in milk, then press in chip crumbs to coat on both sides. Arrange in pan, and bake for 30 minutes.

Couldn't be easier, and gets rave reviews from Ridge every time. Almost makes me feel guilty...

Home Again

We are home now, and had such a lovely time in Spokane & Moscow!
Ridge and I left early on Thursday morning, and arrived in Spokane shortly after lunch. We discovered that, in spite of Ridge's dread hatred of city traffic, we make a pretty good team of pilot & navigator (Megan might be surprised to learn that I am actually gaining a sense of direction. Inside joke.). We had a great time at Riverfront Park, and afterward went to Riverfront Square, which I think is the very most wonderful mall in the world. I'm not much of a mall girl, but who can resist Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic, and criss-crossing escalators? Not I. And Ridge was mighty impressed by the three-story theater, too.
Then we set off to find the Lincoln Center, which it turns out, Google maps gave us directions to a statue of Abraham Lincoln, not the hall where Fernando Ortega would be playing. After a frantic call to my parents for help, we finally found it in the nick of time. After all these years, we got to see him in person, and for the cherry on top, he sang his version of "Great is Thy Faithfulness," which was the recessional at our wedding. We were tickled, and I think Sean liked it, too. :-) He's gotten very active of late.
In Moscow, we had a wonderful time with Rayia, Jonathan, Titus, and Adeline. In the course of our stay, we attended a really neat Renaissance fair in the park. It was far from authentic, but had lots of fun activities for kids. That night, we went out with Rayia & Jonathan to Nectar. It's a little restaurant with a limited seasonal menu, but soooooooooo yummy! Ridge & I split the Gruyere mac n' cheese & the nectar salad. Mmmm....
Sunday marked one year since the first day of our courtship, so we went out alone to walk around downtown Moscow, where we got hot bagel sandwiches and ice cream. Here I go about food again! We also got to attend Adeline's ballet recital, and that was fun!
So, now we are home again, and there are dishes and laundry and such to attend to, but we now have fond memories of a lovely vacation!

Favorite Strawberry Shortcakes

I hope you all had a blessed Easter! I know we did. Church was wonderful, and then we had a fantastic time celebrating with our family and friends.
And now I want to post the yummiest shortcake recipe I think I've ever tried. I brought a triple batch of these to Ransom and Jessica's on Sunday. (from MarthaStewart.com)
By the way, check out Ridge's YouTube channel. I have a link to it on my sidebar, and he is trying to get as many views on his movies as possible. :-)

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 pounds (6 cups) strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and quartered
• 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, toss strawberries with 3/4 cup sugar; let sit to bring out their juices.

2. In a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and the salt until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal but with some pea-size bits of butter remaining, 10 to 12 times. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup cream and the eggs; pour over flour mixture, and pulse until some large clumps begin to form, 25 to 30 times.

3. Using a half-cup measuring cup, gently pack dough, invert, and then tap out onto a baking sheet. Repeat to form 8 biscuits. Bake until lightly golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes.

4. Beat remaining 1 1/2 cups cream and 2 tablespoons sugar with the vanilla until soft peaks form.

5. Slice biscuits in half horizontally. Spoon strawberries and their liquid over bottom halves. Spoon whipped cream on strawberries, and replace top halves of biscuits.

I Want It All (with a dash of everything)

Pretty, isn't it?
If you are like most females, looking at lovely pictures and building imaginary dwellings of fine draperies, flooring, furnishings, and landscaping, is a pastime that can eventually become all-consuming. Certainly, looking at creative uses of furniture, fabric, and color, especially when contemplating a real project, like building or renovating a room/house, can be profitable. However, a real tendency is to start a cause-and-effect cycle that can breed discontent. We can easily slip from appreciating the loveliness to wishing we had something like it, and before we know it, we are finding every little thing that's wrong (or at least perceived as wrong) with our own houses and possessions.
And there lies the real problem (besides God's command forbidding covetousness). We follow an ideal that I strongly believe is God's best for families; and that is the single-income family. I rely on my husband for shelter and daily provision, and if, no matter how warm and well-fed I am, I persist in dreaming of what is not mine, imagine what a burden I could place on him! There is nothing wrong in having color and style preferences, but if I continually mention this or that wonderful thing I cannot have, the man who works 10 hour shifts most weekdays for my welfare is left feeling inferior to my expectations and unable to give me what I really want. What a horrible way to make anyone feel! In Ephesians, men are instructed to love their wives, (and wives to reverence their husbands) and Ridge has shown that he loves me very much. That's really all I need.
Life is full of opportunities to acquire lovely possessions, but if we blow our chances with relationships, it's hard to go back.

Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have : for he hath said , I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Wordle

After seeing my cousin Aaron's Wordle, I had to go make one myself. I think it's hilarious that the word "little" made it front and centerClick the image to see it more clearly