Falling in Love with my Kitchen again

I love the kitchen. It wasn't always that way. When I got married, my family joked that I needed a cookbook just to boil water... and truth be told we ate a lot of hamburger helper that first year (we also worked opposite shifts, so meals weren't really worth the effort.

Then I improved thanks to Taste of Home subscriptions and other great cookbooks. But I still made every effort to follow recipes to a T... I'm a big rule follower and that spilled over into recipes, measurements and ingredients.

Then, enter the internet... and allrecipes.com and my recipe "box" grew exponentially. I began to love cooking and had a few go-to meals that I perfected! Over time I could even make the meal without the recipe in front of me and I even learned to tweak recipes for my own liking. *Gasp*

Then I had a baby and I wasn't working full time any more, so I actually had more time for experimenting in the kitchen. I found great satisfaction in a meal well done. And then I had three more kids, one right after another, and time in the kitchen was limited. And when I did take time in the kitchen, these little toddlers didn't seem to appreciate my effort... and sometimes hubby worked later than scheduled and the meal "perfect" at 5:30 was cold, slimy, or otherwise no good anymore.

Sad to say, my meal planning, trying new recipes, taking pride in my kitchen efforts ... dwindled and I lost my spirit for food (Not that I didn't eat, believe me, I LOVE FOOD) but I started picking the easy stuff, the prepared stuff, the horrible-for-you stuff.


Enter Bread and Wine via the (in)courage Bloom book club

I'm not saying  Bread and Wine changed all this for me. I had started to make improvements before I picked up this book. I have been meal planning a little better since my sister-in-law made me the awesome meal planner for my fridge. I have been working on increasing the fruits and veggies we eat and other healthier options. But it was mostly because of duty--it's what I SHOULD be doing.

But when I picked up Bread and Wine, it breathed life into my soul and gave me a craving for the soul part of cooking again. I got giddy when planning out a few new recipes. And grocery shopping was almost fun again as I searched for never-before-purchased items!  And then I tried the recipes, and OH MY WORD, I started drooling! :)

 I loved the Sweet Potato Fries with Sriracha Dipping Sauce... even though I had never heard of sriracha before I picked up this book!

and the Maple Balsamic Pork Tenderloin made me feel so sophisticated (although I over cooked it... and the glaze became thicker than Molasses and hardened on my plate. I'll do better next time).

and making your own Basic Vinaigrette... WHY didn't I try this sooner?!?! It beats store bought by a mile!!

and the Dark Chocolate Mousse... soo simple, soo rich, soo perfect with raspberries!!

Just last week I tried the Goat Cheese Biscuits, and was disappointed to find that all my freezer jam was still ... frozen! So I just ate them plain--still delightful! Just a perfect tang with a lot of salt, that will taste DELICIOUS with jam! I'm hoping that they reheat well, so that I can try them with jam in the morning! The strawberry jam is defrosting now!! (edit to add: they tasted okay reheated, but nobody else in my family raved about them, so I will have to have company before I make them again)

I have all the ingredients for Blueberry Crisp and the flourless brownies and the Enchiladas... so there will definitely be some more cooking going on around here!!

What I loved about this book is that it is so much more than food and recipes! I learned so much, just from the first few chapters and I haven't stopped learning and underlining (and tweeting) the good stuff!!

I have mostly been trying these recipes out on my husband and kids, but I am looking forward to inviting people into my home again and embracing life around the table.

Community Conversation: What is one of your go-to entertaining recipes? What is your favorite cookbook or food website?

PS. you can pick this book up at Amazon or Dayspring... and probably your local bookstore! (attempt at affiliate links present)

In Real Life Community

Do you remember junior high?

Maybe you had two groups of friends... your school friends and your church friends? and while you loved them both, you never really mixed them together. Your church friends didn't go to any of your school activities, never came to your sports events, never came to the school friend's birthday parties ... and your school friends? They didn't mix too well with your church friends. They had their own lives so you didn't invite them to the church, to special events, to youth activities.

No, that wasn't you? Maybe it was just me. Maybe I have a personality flaw.

Because it has happened to me again.

I have two great communities of friends that know nothing about each other.

I have my in real life friends. The ones I go to church with every Sunday. The ones whose kids go to school with my kids. The ones who call me on the phone and I don't mind chatting (even though I HATE the phone). The ones who have seen me freaking out over some child's latest mishap, the ones who have seen me cry. The ones (you know who you are) that MIGHT read this blog every time I share it on facebook, but NEVER comment.

And then there is my online community. I call them my twitter friends, my blog friends, my (in)courage friends, my Allume friends. The ones that up until this past October, I had never met in real life ... and some I still haven't met, YET! The ones that respond to my twitter updates, that love and encourage me across the miles. The ones that read my blog posts and cheer me on in writing, in child rearing, in crafting, in home-making. The ones who are friends, even if we have never talked on the phone (because I hate it so much). The ones who "get me."

I have an opportunity to combine these two communities!  It's called (in)RL! It's a weekend conference! It's right here in my home town (and in your hometown) and IT'S FREE!!

Mark the date on your Calendar! April 26-27, 2013!

I really felt God was directing me to reach out and host (or co-host) one of these local meet-ups, as part of my #GodsizedDreams to Create this year... to create connections and community!  And then I looked at the date and I wavered (there is a family conflict) ... would you pray with me, that all the details will work themselves out?

If you are one of my local in real life friends (or just a reader I've never met that happens to live in the Clarks Summit/Scranton PA area), would you consider joining us? I'm hoping to make it spectacular! I'm even planning some giveaways, free stuff ... and of course, there will be chocolate!

Go to this page to join the Clarks Summit (in)RL community!!

Please join me!!

Click here to visit the (in)RL page to register and find out more. Because:

1. It’s FREE!
2. Everyone who registers today and TODAY ONLY gets a copy of our (in)courage 365 Daybrightener while supplies last (US residents only).
3. Everyone who registers TODAY AND EVERY DAY gets a copy of our first eBook: Best of the Beach House 2012: A Collection of Your Favorite Posts from the Writers of (in)courage.

Top 10 favorites of in(RL)

Where do I begin?!?! and can I really only say 10 things about in(RL)?

Because of our family schedule I was not able to join an actual meet-up this weekend, but I made sure to watch every video on my own as I was able... some I watched twice! It was that incredible!! I also think that I might just have to purchase the conference DVD and study booklet ... it was that good!!  But for now I will just share a few notable moments for me!

  Points from "opening night"
1.  Deidre from Jumping Tandem... (not an exact quote here...) "My suitcase next to your suitcase and all our stuff overlapping. You have treasures, I have treasures!" I love this ... I love the idea of all our stuff overlapping!

2. Community is not being alone... Our strengths and weaknesses complement each other.  Words by Holley Gerth ... "I will raise my word-sword for all of you anytime you need it, sisters. "I will defend you with my words."   Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. Neither do good friends. 

3. Something that struck a nerve for me... "I taught her that I had no needs." and I am SO sorry, but I didn't write down who said this ... PHOOEY!!  "to be needy, touchable, broken can be a beautiful thing."

(using Dayspring's Message Blocks to decorate)

Starting out on Saturday morning (all by my lonesome)
4. Lisa-Jo spoke right to me!!  welcoming those who are watching "on the laptop, in your pjs, in your bedroom!"  EXACTLY where I was!! :) ... then she talked about those REAL LIFE friends who bring you Nutella on a bad day... and I HAVE ONE OF THOSE!!! :)

From the Social Media Love {thy neighbor} Stories
5. From The Mercy House video... It amazes me what "social media" can accomplish. I'm at a loss for words about the whole thing... and what God is doing.  ... oh and those lovely girls from Kenya singing worship to our God... simply beautiful!!

6. From When Women Pray ... "Prayer changes things; Prayer changes people" Oh I want to be changed!!  I never knew about this monthly prayer comments on in(courage). I am looking forward to joining in and praying for others and asking for prayer ... "Let's pray for you, this place is for God, this place is for each other."

(me, doing (in)RL ... all by myself)

7. on Doing it all...  "That's not what God created you for. If I'm not doing the thing He created me for, than no one's doing it!"  what do I need to quit doing ... or trying to do?!??!

8. from the (in)courage beginning... am I  the only slow one that didn't catch on that it was all about living IN COURAGE??  I understand that it is all about encouraging women and all, but I never got the whole idea of living in courage.

From the Favorite Posts...
9. Arianne ... My sacrifices aren't your sacrifices.  Sometimes sacrifices are right, necessary. They don't always look like sacrifices others make, but they're yours and they are good. Yes hard.

10. Ann Voskamp sharing about a letter she received ... "I promise I will never speak an unkind word to, or about you. I will never be jealous of you ... I will love you, I will pray for you."

And a Bonus Quote: Amber from The Runamuck "Live Fun and Live Hard" ... I want to do that!!


And another God moment... The smell of fresh cut grass wafted into my house just as Shannon began reading @gitzengirl's post. #inRL Tears... thankful for the reminder to not miss the moment!

and check out other people's recap of inRL here...

and although it's a few more than 10, I'm linking up to Top Ten Tuesday for the first time in a long time!!