Part of letting go...

You'll have to excuse me, I am about to do something I have never done before;

but maybe it's necessary every now and then, to let go & try not to control everything. 

 

Lately I feel like everything has been crazy busy,

I've been running here & there,

editing like a mad women!

As of last week I had five shoots to edit

& added another Saturday.

I've made progress on that...

Once I finished one, two others were completed.

I love photography,

but I hate the stress of deadlines;

especially when people keep bothering me about it.

As much as I would love it,

photography is not my main job

& I only have so much time.

Before going to South Africa

& since coming back I have been under a lot of pressure.

Some of it is brought upon by my own doing

& the expectations I seem to have for myself.

Which makes that pressure totally unnessessary.

 

 

When one puts so much expectation on oneself,

guilt is inevitable.

I need to practice being more of a "Mary" then a "Martha"

(Luke 10:38-42)

{I've been listening to a sermon series on the book of Luke,  by Mark Driscoll} 

Martha is a doer, a full schedule, active, planner, Type A, task orientated, all about the presents for Jesus rather then Mary who is concerned with the presence of Jesus.

Mary is contemplative, word based, Type B, relational, full heart.

Don't get me wrong, the Bible says "...but be ye doers of the Word not hearers only."

so there is something to be said about accomplishing things,

but when you run & run & run for God but never have time with the Lord,

you might as well be a hearer only & you (I am included) decieve yourself.

This has been something God has been teaching me for some time!

Since returning from Africa God has been pointing things out in my life that He is working on. For awhile I was so focused on "these things I have to work on" but as I was talking with a friend, I felt discouraged, my friend suggested that I look at it as things God is developing in me. God has been developing a lot, it's rough!

If you try to be both a "Mary" & "Martha" you are exhausted, a "Martha's" day begins early in the morning & goes until sundown, trying to squeeze a "Mary" moment (prayerful time with the Lord) it's not worth anything.

Lord, give me a "Mary's heart" & "Martha's hands",

help me to let go of the unimportant & get my priorities in order.

 

I've also been reading (yes, reading! btw if you didn't know, I rarely read anything but the Bible. Not that nothing else is worth reading, I just don't have time.)I

've been reading "Radical" by David Platt,

if you haven't read it, go find it and read it.

This book will wreck your life & your view of "the church".

But I'll get into that & what it says at a later time...

but seriously, go read it!

____________

 

One thing I have made time for, other then editing, is cooking/baking with my dear friend Heather.

She was in Mozambique all summer so our days of cooking & baking took a 3 month sabatical.

Since she came back we have had 3 days together of baking & cooking gooness.

We've made Blueberry cupcakes with lemond curd,

pumpkin cinnamon rolls, lettuce wraps. We tried making a spinach/tomato orzo soup, it was more like an orzo dish with no broth...oops!

 

This week we made baked apples with an oatmeal, struesel topping.

&

Spinach/feta bake.

_______

 

| BAKED APPLES |

 

The baked apples were so easy.

This is how it goes...

Large Apples  (I used Gala appples)

*We cut the apples in half & used a small ice cream scoop to take out the core/stem & make a "bowl" for the topping to go in.

*for the topping I mixed butter, oatmeal, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, ginger & all spice together. (I didn't have quite enough butter so I added some EVOO)

I used the small ice cream scoop to scoop the topping onto the apples,

then baked them @ 350 for about 35 min.

 

They came out so great! Tastes like apple crisp, with more apple. 

 

| Spinach & Feta Bake | 

 

This was so good!

 

1st step: Lightly coat a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray.

2nd step: In medium sauce pan cook onion & garlic in hot oil until onion is tender.

 3rd step: combine 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup crumbled feta, 1 egg in a bowl & mix it all together.

4th step: combined cooked onions to the mixture of cottage cheese, feta & egg.

5th step: cook spinach in light oil and garlic (we used about12-18 oz of fresh spinach)

6th step: when spinach is cooked combine with the cottage cheese, feta, egg & onion mixture. Mix together & put in 9-inch pie plate.

7th step: mix bread crumbs and parmesan cheese together & sprinkle on top.

8th step: bake @ 350 for 30-35 min.

Makes about 6 servings.

 

I am not usually a leftovers fan, but for this I was!

Enjoy.

 

__________

 

*By the way, the thing I did that I have never done before is...

posting photos without editing them.

The photos in the post are 100% unedited, straight from the camera.

(That is so scary to me...)

Honestly, the photos look good {breathe} part of letting go....

On My Plate No. 010

I made this the other day, Oh.My.Goodness...

YUM!

This sandwich was so, so, so good!

I got the idea from this recipe, which I have made before, and loved. 

However, I didn't have all the ingredients for that so I improvised.

What I used:

• Mini sub buns
• Leftover ham from Easter dinner {so good}
• Mexican shredded cheese {because it was what I had, I would have preferred swiss/cheddar/mozeralla}
• Canned pineapple chunks
• Red onion slices

For the Sauce:

• Honey mustard dressing
• Mustard
• Garlic
• Melted butter

{*Sorry I don't know the exact measurements, I just squeezed, poured & dumped until it felt right. Even if you don't like mustard it's ok the butter kind of masks the mustard taste depending how much of each you put in.}

1. take the buns seprate the bottoms from the tops

2. place the bottom of the buns in a oven safe pan.

3. put all the ingredients on.

4. place the top bun on.

5. Pour the sauce over the top, make sure some settles in the bottom of the pan.

6. Add some pineapple & onion to the top.

7. Cover with foil and bake for about 10 min at 350

8. Remove foil and broil for like 5ish minutes.

9. EAT!!!!

Make this, it is so delicious I want some more!

On My Plate No. 009

These are actually from a couple weeks ago but I don't think I ever posted them,

so here it is..

Pasta with butter, parmesan cheese, broccoli & mozerella.

Chicken sandwich on an onion bun with mozerella, tomato & spinach

No links to these, just created these in a joint effort with my cooking/baking buddy Heather.

Oh My Cupcake!

Guess what?

I made cupcakes,

the frosting is out of this world!

Mocha Espresso Cupcakes,

some with filling & some without.

dawning java

{dawning java}

pretty much the morning coffee, first coffee of the day, virtual coffee.

I love what amy @ Lucky No.13 does on Tuesdays.

Virtual coffee, a time where she shares her heart or just what is going on in her life...

as though you are sitting down for coffee with her.

Now me being me, I love the idea but I don't want to steal her great idea,

so I came up with my twist.

So here it goes, installment #1 of "dawning java"

My coffee today was plan, folgers, coffee but since I can't handle plain, black coffee I always reach for creamer. My usual is Almond Joy, but today I opted for "fat free, skinny white chocolate mocha" and a drop or {three} of soy milk....

oh.my.lanta!!! 

That coffee was the BOMB!

Starts off the day right (wells sort of starts off)

[BTW...by the time I had my coffee today, I had already ben up for a couple of hours, been to the gym, started laundry &

started my breakfast of..

.:Baked oatmeal:.

This is the recipe I used, but I didn't have nuts so that didn't get it nor did I have chocolate chips.

Nuts aren't my fav, the only nut I might put in would be almonds. I also added apples, it was pretty tasty!]

Ok enough of getting side tracked...

If we were really having coffee I would probably tell you about my day, since I am writing this at almost 11PM this is what you get.

 I did some cleaning & took some photos.

Finally folded & put away clean laundry.

I have been trying some new things with photography.

on Saturday I took some photos in Flint

( & in my opinion)

I thought they were pretty snazzy!

I use my long lense,

look straight into the sun,

make sure the ISO is at lowest,

& the F/stop is like 1/22

& the shutter speed was 1/4000.

I think shooting the sky in these settings

 make it a tad more interesting.

I would probably tell you of my struggles

& ask what yours are.

What is God doing in your life?

I know God is teaching my about humility

& contentment...

Why is it when someone who struggles with those things,

especially in the area of contentment,

people always say..

"be content"

I want to raise my hand & sweetly say

"Um..excuse, that doesn't really help me.

Be content, how do you be content?"

I would love your thoughts on this.

I know contentment isn't being happy about everything,

sometimes I just really need that encouragment.

Be encouraged dear one,

I am seeking Jesus & His heart for me.



On My Plate No. 007

Chicken Salad Wraps

Didn't stick much to the recipe,

used a lot of veggies,

whole wheat tortillas.

all the yummy veggies!

Tomato soup (from a can), pretty good!

Smoothies...banana, strawberry, milk, pineapple, yogurt.

My friend and I try to get together each week to cook/bake and chat.

Today we sat on the porch, so lovely sitting in the sun!

This fantastic creation is

Reese's Peanut Butter Bars,

Oh my lanta!!! so so so good!

The weather has been crazy beautiful for the last few days. 

today the temp came to 80!

Today was crazy, at work I was the night-shift manager, 

I am sort of in training even though I have been night-shift manager twice.

Today the phone would not stop ringing and it was so hot in the office.

Things went well regardless, glory!

God is good

& big

& He loves me!

That is all for now.

On My Plate No. 005

Spinach & Onion Quick Bread 

This bread is so good & pretty easy to make.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies 

On My Plate No.004

Find recipe here

Find recipe here

Cookies

day #9

(My mini paper tree)

This morning I did a bit of shopping with my sister, I found two ornaments for my mom. They are snazzy. One a silver 16th note with bells & the other looks like a sock monkey but it has a blue "M" (for MI Wolverines), the body is gray. It goes with the tree decor & its for U of M.

I am made molasses cookies while watching Home Alone 2, reminds me of my childhood (the movie part). When I was a child, Home Alone was on TV all the time during the Christmas season & I hated it because I watched it all the time. The last few years I have been wanting to watch it but couldn't find it anywhere, just Home Alone 3 or 4. I still can't find the original one as a stand alone, it's always in a boxed set...oh well.

I love Christmas time & all the activities that come with it. The last few years I have felt as though I have missed out on so much because I was always working or had things to do. This year my schedule is very different. I made a list {you can see it by scrolling down, it should be near the bottom right, entitled "Things to do before Christmas"}, so far I haven't really done a complete thing yet. I would also like to have something for each letter of the aLpHaBeT.

Mmmm, molasses cookies! I love these!

(Recipe at end of post)

*

I just have to say, God is good. Everyday He is showing my that His timing is right. Currently God is doing some great things, they may be small for some people but for me it's a big deal. I'll post on that when the timing is right. ;)

For now what I can say is that everything that God does is for my benefit.

Prep Time:
10 Min

Cook Time:
10 Min

Ready In:
1 Hr 20 Min

Servings (Help)

USMetricCalculate

Original Recipe Yield 5 dozen

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup margarine, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted margarine, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 120 | Total Fat: 4.7g | Cholesterol: 7mg

(Recipe from allrecipes.com)