Thanksgiving Pics

Some pics of our Thanksgiving celebration with the MacPhales and Youells in West Virginia. Fun times!

Joy and Chris with Granny

The younger Youells

With Jeff and Rita

Joy and Chris outside by the fire with Papaw

Mamaw

Papaw - the self-proclaimed lord of the manor

Recipes.6 Crab Chowder

This is to die for and much less fattening than traditional chowder (although it still should be eaten in moderation)

Crab Chowder

3 cloves of garlic
1 med. size yellow onion
1 tsp. chives
1 tsp. capers
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper
1 T. of white vinegar
1 can of chicken broth

2 strips of bacon
2 cups of crab meat (or imitation crab meat)
1/4 cup of buttermilk
2 cups of half and half

Putting it together:
Start out with the first set of ingredients in a med-heat pot, until the onions are soft (the key to this step is the vinegar, to make it briny and the chicken broth, to cut the fat).

Once this is compiled, i usually put in my cornbread.

(Cornbread: 1 beaten egg, 1/4 cup butter or crisco, 1 & 3/4 cup buttermilk, 2 cups of cornmeal in greased breadpan on 450 for 25 min.)

Then, fry up minced bacon... roughly chop crabmeat, slowly add dairy to the soup mixture.

The most important key to the cooking process: do not scald the milk... heat at low-med. heat for 30-40 min. until heated through.

Serve up with cornbread.

It must work because I got a great date night out of it!

Making Cookies! + Recipes.5

COOKIES!

After a wonderful day of errands and time together, we put Horton Hears a Who! and then Speed Racer on and did some serious cookie-making. :)

All of the cookies were made after mixing the initial dough =

Basic cookie dough:

2 1/2 cups self-rising white flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

(mix dry ingredients)

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1/2 cup Crisco

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup Condensed milk

(I know, it's not healthy... but it's Christmas!) :)

The two super-basic recipes (the sugar cookies for decorating) are regular and chocolate. The regular just gets a tsp. of cinnamon and nutmeg with the dry ingredients. The chocolate gets 1/2 cup of cocoa in the wet ingredients. Yum. We cut the regular as Christmas trees and the chocolate as stars and decorated them!

(I made my own icing out of confectioner's sugar, melted butter, and food coloring)

#2: Peppermint Cookies

Basic sugar cookie recipe but with 2 1/2 tsp. of Peppermint extract in the wet ingredients and 2 cups of crushed Starlite mints (the red and white, round hard candies) in the dry ingredients. The melt beautifully and become a gooey, peppermint cookie. Sooooooo delish

#3: Reese's Pieces PB Cookies

Basic recipe gets 1 cup of peanut butter in the wet ingredients and 2 1/2 cups of Reese's pieces in the dry! Chris can't have chocolate so these are a good M&M cookie or even chocolate chip cookie alternative.

Recipes.4

A little za. It's Chris's favorite food in the world so I try to give him a treat every so often. ;)

Spicy Thai Pizza

The absolute best sauce in the world is: Kikkoman's Thai Style Chili Sauce. You may not have to go to an Asian grocer to get it... it's in our Asian section of the regular grocery store. They key is not skimping out on the dough prep. As long as you're in and out of the house enough to keep an eye on your rising, it shouldn't be too big a deal.

1st: dough. Here's my tip for dough: if you're gonna make it, make a lot. You can fridge it or freeze it or make breadsticks... it's so affordable and you may not always be in the mood to make it, so have it ready.

5 cups of flour
2 packets of quick yeast
2 teaspoons of salt
2 T of oil
2 cups of warm water

Melt the salt and yeast in the warm water for a couple of min.s
Knead it all up.
Let it to go through 2 rising cycles (35-45 min. each)
Knead it out and pull it.

2nd step: Sauce and cheese

Mince 4 garlic cloves and put them in oil, whisking with salt and pepper (you can use egg-white also, it's just more fattening)
1 cup of ricotta cheese
2 cups of mozerella cheese
Thai chili sauce

3rd step: Assemble and bake

Brush the whole round with the oil/garlic mix
Spread the ricotta with a spatula
Spread the chili sauce evenly
Top it with the mozerella, evenly

Cook on 400 for about 20 min.

Yum! Plums would probably be a good accompaniment.

Recipes.3

I'm behind! I've made a few good dishes in the last little bit. This one was for when we had Kendall and Luke over! Fun times! :)

Fried Chinese Dumplings and Asian-Style Stuffing

Those are the two main components to this dish, so I'll detail them one at a time. Both recipes are a little bit labor-intensive but can be done over the course of a couple of days. - you can freeze the dough, refrigerate the filling, puree the beets, etc. in advance. Simplifies it.

Fried Chinese Dumplings

1st: the dough - just a basic flat-bread dough.

2 1/2 cups of white flour
1 stick of cold butter
1/2 cup of cold water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cloves

You probably already know how to do this... just roll it out and punch out rounds with a cup - about 3". Now you can refrigerate this for a while. Just bring it back to room temp before you fry them up.

2nd: the filling - chicken-based

2 chicken breasts
2 cups chk stock
1 small white onion
2 stalks of celery
2 small potatoes
1 stalk of leek
3 cloves garlic, minced
About an inch of ginger, broken off, skin and minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper

Chop everything into similar sizes (so it cooks at the same rate)
Combine everything in a pot and boil softly until everything is tender. Put everything into a food processer and blend it until it's a rough puree. You can also refrigerate this for as long as you need to.

3rd: Assemble.

Take the round circle, scoop a small spoonful of filling into the center, fold over until the edges match. With a fork, mash the dough closed so you have a pretty half-moon with ripples on the edges.
You can also refrigerate and save these.

4th: Fry it up!

Heat about a quart of oil until it jumps when you toss a drop of water into it.
With a wire-netted spoon, lower the dumplings down and fry through. When they're light-brown, put them onto a paper towel to cool. When the rounds are done and your dumplings are cooked, they can be kept warm in an oven for quite a while.


Asian Style Stuffing

Buy a package of regular stuffing (the kind where you just add water and boom, you're set)
1 can of beets
1 frozen package of broccoli, thawed
1/2 can of coconut milk
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 T of maple syrup
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. clove
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1st step: prepare the stuffing normally. Steam the beets, roughly chopped, and broccoli in 1 cup of water with the brown sugar and seasonings. After the veggis are cooked through, blend them up in a food processer.

2nd: in a glass casserole dish, empty a first layer of stuffing with a spatula. Then, spread the pureed veggies on top. Finish with the coconut milk and syrup and put it into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
This stuffing becomes a beautiful purple color and is super flavorful.

Last but not least: have dinner!

To plate: put 4 dumplings on a plate and spoon a T of Thai chili sauce on top; spoon the stuffing on the side.

I served this with a bowl of easy soup: chicken broth, green onions (the whole thing), garlic, salt and pepper.

Recipes.2

Shepherd's Pie and Soup for Dinner

We had this the other night and it is one of the cheapest meals! It's pretty easy to make and I add a good twist to it (ricotta cheese). The soup is NOT labor intensive so don't be scared about the blending portion - it literally only takes a second.
Also, I make these kinds of meals (the pie) in glass casserole dishes and save them for the week to heat up as leftovers. It's cheaper per portion to make more at one go.

Enjoy!

(For dinner at 7)

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb. ground beef (don't sub. turkey - it changes the whole flavor)
6 brown potatoes
1 clove of garlic
8 oz. ricotta cheese
2 egg whites
3 T butter or margarine
1 t each of oregano, basil, and thyme (or an Italian Mix)
1 t each of salt and white pepper (you don't want the black flecks)

5:00pm - fill a pot with water, roughly chop your potatoes, leaving the skins on, and drop them in. Keep at a low boil until they're soft.
5:30 - drain the potatoes and immediately mash in a bowl, with butter, salt, pepper, minced garlic, egg whites, and ricotta cheese. Set aside (the more they cool the firmer they'll be when you assemble the dish for baking)
5:45 - brown the ground beef in a frying pan (with a little oil) and season halfway through with the oregano, basil, and thyme (don't add this too early or it will burn).
6:00 - assemble the pie: spread an even layer of beef and top it with an even layer of the potatoes. Put it in the oven at 425 for about 45 min.


Onion and Leek Soup

4 cloves of garlic
6 stalks of leek
1 big yellow onion (the white ones are too spicy)
16 oz. chicken stock
1 t. each of salt and white pepper

This is the most flavorful soup ever! And there aren't a ton of ingredients. In case you don't know, leeks are in the onion family... they look like celery with white stalks and dark green leaves up top.

6:00 - after you put the pie in, start the soup. Put the chicken stock on medium heat. Chop the stalks of the leek, putting the tops aside (you can use them for another dish - but be careful because they're bitter). Chop the onion. Chop the garlic. Dump it all in the pot and let it boil until everything is soft.
6:30 - All of the ingredients should have cooked through. Next, dump the whole mixture into a blender and blend it through until it's a puree. Put it back into the pot and let it simmer until it's time to serve.

(If you want to, you can ladle a spoonful of the soup onto the top of the pie in the oven - it will crust nicely)

7:00 - Eat! When we had this meal, I served it with broccoli and bread for the soup.

Recipes.1

I've wanted to post recipes for a while. I don't follow recipes but I do make them up and it may be my husband's graciousness, but I think that they are at least edible. Cooking is something very personable and every woman - however feminist - should at least have a few dishes under her belt... so...

If you want to eat dinner by 7pm, follow these simple instructions:

Salmon for Dinner

1 lb. of fresh salmon
4 T of olive oil
1 & 1/2 T minced fresh garlic
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 t sot sauce
2 t salt
1 t fresh ground pepper
2 baked potatos
1 package french cut frozen green beans

1st step:
5:30pm: put potatoes, wrapped in foil and perforated by forks, in 350 degree oven.

2nd step:
6:15pm: heat frying pan searing hot (high) with olive oil
-Add minced T of garlic and ginger for approx. 2 min.'s
6:17pm: Add salmon for 5 min.; flip halfway through and re-season other side
6:22pm: Put salmon in pan with oil and dash with soy sauce - put in oven at 350 degrees

3rd step:
6:30pm: heat 1/2 T of garlic in 1 cup of water - once warm add small package of french-cut green beans; heat till warm through

4th step:
7:00pm: remove baked potatoes and season with pat of butter and salt; plate green beans with dash of salt; add 1/d lb. salmon, baked through, to plate with skin (instruct your husband to not eat the skin part).

;)

Halloween

(Chris and I were tweedledee and tweedledum)

We had our first party in our new home! :) Happy Halloween!

Fall!

A nice fall day at the park with my honey. :) Fall is here!

S.H.E.

Buy ‘SHE’ jewelry this Christmas!

SHE is a Christian non-profit-Foundation dedicated to helping Thai women and girls escape the sex industry in Thailand through our jewelry making programme.



Visit our online store at www.shethailand.org for an easy Christmas shopping experience that will change a life. All the money from the sale of the jewelry in our on-line store goes straight back into the programme.

Not only will you receive quality jewelry made from shell, pearls, swarovski crystal and semi precious stones but also……
Free!
Hand made satin jewelry bag.
Hand made saa paper gift card Inc’ ministry details.

Gift delivery and wrapping service.
Hand written personal message service

We hope you enjoy our jewelry as much as our girls enjoyed making it!

SHE is part of the New Life Foundation in Phuket, Thailand.
This is an awesome ministry that I worked with in Thailand! These girls are often underage, forced from their homes (either by kidnapping or their own families) into prostitution in Thailand. People from all over the world hire their services while they vacation with their families and friends on the beautiful islands of Thailand. Mark & Sharon Biddell are the couple who have begun S.H.E. as a money-making alternative, bringing the girls out of the bars through friendship, sharing Christ with them, and offering them healing and new lives. Any way that they can be supported would be awesome! What great gifts for Christmas... order some gorgeous, handmade Thai jewelry and support this awesome cause.

Here's me helping Gae make jewelry! (don't worry, I didn't make any that you will buy) ;)

Here's a blog post from my ministry time there in Phuket:


Aug 12, 2007

Where's the designated driver, here?
Friday night at the Joy Bar-(that's it's name). Halfway along the strip, the brazen girls yell at the passers by and join the frivolities...drinks, games, bright lights... so much fun!


A thick girl with pouty lips grasps our hands and hugs and kisses us for coming back to see her. I pull her aside and she cries in my shoulder.


A slight girl with a black and white dress finishes off the bottle of whiskey. We laugh raucously as a replacement bottle is brought. She dances at the pole and knocks another shot back. Then she collapses in my arms and says, "I have to drink so much because I am so sad on the inside but I have to be happy on the outside." I pass her a tissue and she goes and sits on his lap.


The one with the angular facial features pulls out a game and tells me about her son, pausing only to make eye contact with the old Aussie man at the other bar. The short, fat one comes by and kisses her breast.


Oh, this is such a fun, sexy place... no rules... just fun!But then the slight girl is back to throw up in the sink. She pulls my head close: "why doesn't he want to sleep with me?" Her out of place tears keep falling.


He has been a woman since s/he was little... I can barely have a good conversation because she keeps catching her reflection in the mirror. We laugh as she compares our chest sizes. She thinks I'm fat and that's funny too. It's all funny. Then she whips around, grabs my face in her two large hands and asks earnestly, "am I pretty?"


She's too sick to go on. I chase her unsteady,weaving steps down the road. "Will you be okay? Let me get you a motorbike. No, don't drive. Be safe. You are beautiful. You are special."


So, are we having fun yet?







Come on.

Labor Day

Downtown Louisville & a picnic by the Ohio river :)

Happy

So I've been married for almost 3 months. I'm sure that's not long enough to make any sweeping generalizations or pass on the seasoned wisdom of experience... but I do have some observations.

I was telling Chris that I wish people heard more about good marriages. When we became engaged, the doomsday talk began. I can't count on both hands the number of people who shared their personal experiences and summarized marriage thusly: "it is so hard... be prepared... it's the hardest thing you will ever do." Not to mention the comedic material that features dysfunctional marriages: immature men and insecure, overbearing women.

Now, as a caveat let me say that I do think that this is a separate issue from discussions of (a) gender roles, (b) gender identity, (c) roles in marriage, or (d) portrayals of gender in the media.

There is something acutely distinct about the function of a marriage from a personal, experiential standpoint.

And let me say this: marriage is NOT the hardest thing that we've ever done; marriage is fun and enjoyable; marriage is not any harder or more complicated than "normal" godliness. The characteristics that denote godliness are the same that it takes to be married.

In my marriage, we do not fight... ever. I always wondered: what do married people fight about? If you're a considerate roommate, a good communicator, and a selfless person, marriage is a joy.

LIFE is hard... marriage doesn't compound the stress but provides you with a partner to help you grow and learn and love better.

We stay awake late at night laughing and making jokes... we divide the chores... we go to the gym and out to dinner... we watch TV and do normal life stuff... along with the unconditional love and acceptance as well as the promise of someone always being there.

I don't understand petty squabbles about food or fun or housekeeping.

I do the laundry, he does the dishes. I work a long day and come home to a candle-lit house and him waiting with ice cream. He scratches my back and I rub his. We talk and worry about money... but blame for bad decisions is shared and good ones are enjoyed. We laugh. We talk seriously about life and God. We humbly accept the fact that we both have flaws and are willing to be seen and confronted in those flaws by each other.

We comparmentalize: this is a roommate moment, this is a friend moment, I need a ___ right now, will you be that to me? And being married means adjusting my mood for the moment to accomodate him and be what he needs.

We deeply respect each other. I would never yell at someone in my family - so why would I yell at him? Who you are in life, it would seem, is who you will be as a spouse.

And I will say this: it is hard to be a happily married person.

Nobody wants to hear about people who are married and love it. Nobody wants to hear that it's easy and pleasant and fun. Nobody. Why?

I love and am loved by my Bucky.