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Simple Stuffing

Background on Simple Stuffing

For the last five days, I have been reading Remember God by Annie F. Downs. It is good. I believe that it is a combination of things that pulls the reader in: the style of writing, the rawness of emotions, and then the fact that it is written in story form. I can’t believe that I am already on page 130 after just a few days.

There are several things that resonated with me while reading this book. I am going to discuss two: I was deep into the story of her Job experience, where everything seemed to go wrong right before Thanksgiving. Why? Because that is exactly what happened to me this year. You can find that whole story here by listening to the podcast: Dancing in the Rain.

The second thing is when she talked about the sweet spot of her life at that time. I heard one particular message on the sweet spot about three years ago, and it still resonates now. Basically, our sweet spot is the spot where we push past our comfort zone into the pain and hard work, but right where God can use this pain and tension for his glory.

I made the recipe below for a Christmas Eve get-together that I had with some dear friends who are just like family to me. Have a blessed week!

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Activity: Making Simple Stuffing

Total Prepping and Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • cumin – two tablespoons
  • basil – two tablespoons
  • onion powder – two tablespoons
  • garlic powder – two tablespoons
  • minced garlic – two tablespoons
  • two zucchinis
  • two carrots
  • one onion
  • one piece of a celery stalk
  • two boxes of cornbread stuffing
  • 6 slices of honey wheat bread
  • 2 cups of broth

Directions:

  • Boil two cups of water with butter.
  • Saute the carrots, zucchini, and onions.
  • While the vegetables are sauteing, cut up six slices of bread into cubes.
  • Season with basil, and then place in the oven for 10 minutes.
  • Add the two boxes of cornbread stuffing mix and cubed bread cubes to the water.
  • Add the sauteed vegetables, celery, garlic, seasonings, and broth.
  • Throw it into a casserole pan at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

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Simple Beans and Zucchini Soup

Background on the Simple Beans and Zucchini Soup

I had a busy weekend.  However, it was a good kind of busy.  I got a chance to enjoy my mom and niece who were visiting.  I did plenty of cooking.  However, I also had a lot of down time.  Yesterday, I ended up watching a Hallmark movie that had a really good story line.

The main character’s sister, Alice, had died suddenly from heart issues.  Alice’s death prompted Lois to go back to her hometown first for the funeral, and then secondly, to take care of the affairs of her estate.  Instead of taking care of these things, and then going right back to her high-powered attorney job, she decided to stay for a while.

This visit was more than what she had bargained for.  All the memories from her sister’s car accident came to the forefront.  She also had to deal with the fact that she had become estranged from her sister over the years.  Alice’s friends knew more about her life than Lois did.

It took her awhile to reconcile the fact that the car accident that Alice was involved in was indeed not her fault, nor Peter’s.  Lois kept thinking that if she hadn’t been out with Peter, her boyfriend, then her sister wouldn’t have ended up disabled.

Towards the end of the movie, Lois discovered that Alice had birthed a child during her college years.  She was finally able to meet her niece and the adoptive parents, and find true forgiveness for herself and Peter.

In life, we are a lot like Lois, we think that “if only” we would have done or not done something, then things wouldn’t have turned out as they did.  It is part of the bargaining stage of grief.  However, Satan also uses it as a foothold to keep us stuck in life.  He wants us to pride ourselves into thinking that we are in control of all of life’s details.  The truth of the matter is that we are not.  God is.  We will not know all the reasons that he decides for things to be the way they are.

I love making bean concoctions.  The last one that I made can be found here.  Below is a recipe that I made a little over a week ago.

 

Activity:  Making Simple Beans and Zucchini Soup

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Total Prepping and Cooking Time:  35 Minutes

Ingredients:

  • cumin – 2 tablespoons
  • chili powder – 3 tablespoons
  • onion powder – 2 tablespoons
  • turmeric – 2 tablespoons
  • 2 zucchinis
  • 1 cup of brown rice
  • 2 cans of kidney beans
  • 1 can of pinto beans
  • 2 tablespoons of butter

Directions:

  • Boil one cup of brown rice.
  • Cut up two zucchinis into chunks.
  • While the brown rice is boiling, saute the zucchini.
  • Heat up the beans in a large pot, along with three cups of water.
  • Add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot.
  • Heat up the mixture for about 15 minutes.
  • Enjoy!

God bless,

 

Katina