2/11 New Recipes

Cayenne-Rubbed Chicken with Avocado Salsa
Everyday Food Jan/Feb 2008 p. 24

Cucumber-Carrot Bites
Everyday Food Jan/Feb 2008 p. 60

1/2 English cucumber, cut crosswise into 8 rounds
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 med carrot, coarsely grated
3 tbsp reduced-fat sour cream
2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
1/2 tsp white vinegar

1. Using a melon baller or teaspoon, scoop out a small portion from the center of each cucumber round (without going all the way through); season cucumber cups with salt and pepper.
2. In a small bowl, mix together carrot, sour cream, scallion whites, and vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture evenly among cucumber cups; garnish with scallion greens.

I served this with brown rice.

M really liked this. I made it before I made the chicken dish so it was our appetizer. He thought it even tasted like it had some kind of meat on it. It was a very quick and yummy appetizer.

It seems like I picked up an Everyday Food magazine several years ago but was not impressed with it at all. I got the most recent magazine and have found several recipes that I want to try. The only wish I have is that it listed the nutritional information. I could figure it out by adding up the information for all the ingredients, but right now that seems like a lot of work.

Enjoy!

Health Update

I keep forgetting to give an update on my mother-in-law's health. She is feeling much better - and has hope. She has a new doctor and is currently receiving treatment in St Louis. Her doctor is optimistic about the new treatment. She is receiving blood transfusions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and has a chemo treatment on Thursday. So she is at the hospital 4 days each week. Recently, her antibodies have started attacking the new blood. The doctor has started her on a treatment and if all goes as hoped, her bones will begin to make new blood and to hold it longer than a couple of days. After a couple more weeks, they will know more about how her body is responding to the treatment. I think everyone is cautiously optimistic right now, but this is definitely better than her previous doctor's prognosis. We are all thrilled! Please continue to pray for her and the rest of M's family.

Where I live…

This life of following Jesus is an interesting one. I find that I can get so caught up in my job, housework, cooking, cleaning up the house, doing laundry and playing with the dog. Just about anything can be a distraction for me – distracting me from doing what really matters. I think that keeping the house clean and cooking meals is being a good steward of what God has entrusted to me. However, there are far more important things than that…steeping myself in the Word, spending intimate time in prayer, sharing real life with my husband. Yet I spend most of my time doing those things that are not eternally significant. As I sit at my desk each day listening to my iPod, I hear song after song that reminds me of Kingdom things. I know the best is yet to come…on that day when I see Jesus face to face. That should be what I look most forward to. And I do look forward to that…but then I’m distracted again and think about the things I still want to experience on this earth. I am a living dichotomy.

What is even worse about all this is I have recently come to know all kinds of people who are really struggling with situations I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy…death, infertility, miscarriages, illness. If nothing else, my thankfulness should drive me to my knees to know my Creator as well as to intercede for those who are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. My faithfulness should not be dependent on my circumstances or feelings…I should just be faithful. God chose me as His child. My life should daily be laid down for His purposes and glory.

I am in the midst of these thoughts and how I can change my daily life around these thoughts.

Forest Adventure

M and I live about 4 miles south of a forest. It is seriously the strangest thing because where we live there are absolutely no trees. Yet if you drive 4 miles up the road, you are in a forest. I don't understand. I guess it's the same thing with the mountains. We live on the plains, but if we drive 25 miles west, there are mountains.

M mentioned recently that we should drive up to this forest and let Max run around. It sounded like a great idea. Today we went to the forest. We got snow Thursday night, but at our house it was just a dusting. In the forest, there were places where the snow was a couple of feet deep. Before we even got out of the car, we got stuck...even in our new all wheel drive car in the post below. M got the car un-stuck while Max and I got out of the car to run around. It was nuts! So we walked around in the forest for a while. It was a bit of a workout because our feet would sink so far into the snow. It would have been a great place to use snow shoes. We'll have to try that again sometime. Here are pictures I took during our forest adventure. We had a great time, and Max has been passed out the last hour and a half since we've been home.

Max's week in review

• Max really likes his beds. He has one in 3 different rooms - one is in his crate, one is downstairs, and one is upstairs. If we give him a treat or he is tired, he will go to his bed and lay down. It's kind of fun that he knows that place is just for him.
• He likes to eat ice! It is a messy treat because he starts slobbering all over the place. I think it's funny that this is such a treat because it's just frozen water.
• If one of us is in the bathroom with the door closed, Max will either sit outside the door or he will start putting his nose against the door or his paw under the door. It reminds me of a comedic routine I have heard from Bill Engvall.
• He does a similar thing when one of us is in the shower. He will lay outside the door of the shower and wait.
• When Max gets really excited, he runs around and bucks. He runs around so fast that he runs into the wall or the couch or the end of the bed.
• We have a morning routine...when we first get out of bed, one of us lets Max outside. Then he is SO excited to have his breakfast. When he's done eating, he comes in our bedroom and generally lets out a huge belch. Then he jumps on the bed. He has no idea that he weighs as much as he does and that it is painful when he walks on us or sits on our heads. When we are ready to leave for work, Max runs in his crate (probably because we still give him treats then). He is a very sweet puppy dog!

2007 in Review

2007 turned out to be a pretty big and eventful year for us.

• We moved into our first house in January. It is hard to believe we have been here over a year now. I am embarrassed to say we still don't have anything hanging on the walls yet. I just haven't wanted to put holes in our hole-free walls yet. That must happen soon.


• In October, we got our first pet (other than the fish we had when we lived in Austin). I can't believe I lived most of my life without a dog. Max has been a lot of work at times, but he is so sweet and fun.


• The last day of the year, we bought a car. This is my very first brand new car. It had only 16 miles when M drove it off the lot. We figured we needed some sort of 4 wheel drive vehicle so that we can drive into the mountains with less trouble than before. Our cars have lasted longer than anyone probably thought possible. We have been so blessed to have been without a car payment for most of our marriage. M has been driving a 1998 Honda Accord he bought while in college. It has around 195,000 miles on it and is still going pretty strong. I drive a 1996 Saturn SL2 (the green planet) that I got my last year of college. It has a little over 185,000 miles on it. It gets the best gas mileage. When I was driving 45 miles to work each day on the highway, I could get between 36 and 40 miles per gallon. The dealership did not want either of our cars so we are going to try to fix M's car up just a bit and sell it. We expect that we could get something out of his and almost nothing out of mine. I hope that works out. Isn't the new car pretty?

The week of doctor visits

I also went to the dentist this week for my 6 month cleaning. Thankfully, this time the dental hygenist did not ask me how often I have been flossing. M and I always talk about what a silly question that is. I don't want to lie about it, but I also don't want to admit to not flossing when I know I should be. I had a really nice dental hygenist this time around that did not give me too hard of a time. I am thankful for that!

I went to the eye doctor for my annual exam today. I have been going to the eye doctor since I was 8 or 9 years old. And I have been wearing contacts for 17 years. It is really weird to be aware of something I have been doing for 17 years. That kind of makes me feel a bit old. Anyway, I went to a new eye doctor today. I am used to having the glaucoma test and then another test where you stick your face into this box-type machine and click a button when you see a dot. However, today I think I had an additional 4 or 5 tests. It was very interesting and weird. I always get a kick out of the eye doctor asking, "Which is better...1...or 2...1...or 2." I always have a small nervous feeling that I am picking the wrong number. Does anyone else feel this way?

When I was a kid, I looked up to my brother and always wanted to do what he did. Probably when I was in first grade he got contacts. So of course, I wanted to get contacts. At that time, I didn't even wear glasses. I had a scarf that had belonged to my grandmother. This was a satiny scarf with clear sequins on it. I decided I could pretend to be wearing a contact if I took one of the sequins and put it in my eye. I must not have been a smart kid because who would think this was a good idea? I did put it in my eye, and my mom spent I don't know how long trying to get it out of my eye. I guess my eye was not scratched, but that must have been a miracle because sequins are not designed to be put on the eyeball.

Max on TV

Did you see the commercial with Max on it during the Super Bowl? That dog was HUGE, but he looked a lot like Max...even had a red collar. You can watch the commercial at the following site. http://sports.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads?videoId=2065931

This picture was taken of Max yesterday (please ignore my horrible posture).

• He now weighs in at 59.8 pounds.
• This week during a walk, Max found a dead bird that he carried around for a little bit. It was disgusting.
• He must find every piece of trash during our walks. He also found a pair of socks and underwear this week.
• When M rubs behind his ears, Max gives a gutteral groan. It's his signature "purr."
• Max has an alien living in him that we are seeing way too often these days. I'm hoping we'll see less of that thing once he's neutered, but I'm not sure how all that works.
• He has definitely been back to his normal self. I think he just got used to different surroundings, other dogs, and being away from home.

M and I had a good weekend. We started out Saturday morning with a breakfast buffet. M loves buffets. After we got home, we filed our tax return. Last year, we paid a large amount. Thankfully, this year we're getting some back. I know the best thing to do is to get as close to $0 as possible, but I really enjoy getting a sum of money back. It is nice to have that out of the way. It seems like the last couple of years we have put it off a ridiculous amount of time. Our neighbors came over last night to eat dinner and watch a movie. We had a nice time talking about our city and how M and our neighbor should run for city council. It was an entertaining conversation. Then tonight we went to a Super Bowl party. Neither of us were really that into the game until the end of the 4th quarter. I'm glad we stayed to the end. Congratulations Giants!