Praise the Lord Tomato Soup!

I don't do recipes on my blog. But I won't say 'Never'. I am a decent enough cook but I would never go so far as to say my dishes are photo worthy and I don't invent new recipes, just keep the tried and true ones coming. I guess after 30 plus years of cranking out meatloaf and spaghetti, this old cook is a little weary. Add the challenge of cooking gluten free for the last 2 years and you can understand why a "4 Buck Cluck*" sale at the local grocery store is a deal too good to pass up!
(* 4 buck cluck = roasted whole chicken on sale for $4, pairs very well with some 2 buck chuck (wine) from Trader Joes )

That said.... a dear friend created her own cookbook of some very yummy gluten free dishes and gave me a copy. The first thing I experimented with from the cookbook was something I'd sampled from her kitchen and found so hearty and delightful that I was excited to re-create it in my own kitchen.

I love tomato soup. Coupled with a grilled cheese sandwich  it's the ultimate blues-buster on a chilly rainy winter day. It's comfort food. It's finger licking good. This delicious soup is so good I can understand why it's called "Praise the Lord!"

PRAISE THE LORD TOMATO SOUP
1 lb spicy ground Gluten Free sausage or sausage links (I used  GF spicy chicken sausage meatballs, diced)
1 box GF Pacific Natural Foods organic tomato soup
1 jar of (your favorite GF) marina sauce. 
1/4 cup (or more, LOL) Red Wine.
1-2 tsp oregeno and basil,
salt and pepper to taste.

in soup pan, brown the sausage. Add rest of ingredients, and simmer till hot. Do not boil. 

Options: 1 cup fresh or frozen corn can be added. 
Other variations include using roasted red pepper/tomato soup for a spicier taste. 
I served mine with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled with Pepper Jack grated cheese, (in lieu of the grilled cheese sandwich)

If you try this recipe, I'd love to know what you thought!

a post in which i mostly ramble...

how was the weekend.....??

Friday evening was the official beginning of our weekend and it was ~DATE NIGHT~ in our little world!! Love those times when hubby and I can escape even for just a couple of hours, grab a cup of special coffee and cozy up at a table in a corner of a great little coffee house and just TALK.

We are still processing things related to the mission trip and getting back into the groove of work. It's been good though. We also recently started up with our small group and it was awesome to reconnect with these special group of people. Verrrry Excited about our upcoming 6 week study. it's from Family Life Today and the study is called "Growing Together in Christ". We are planning as a small group to turn around and offer this study to other couples in our church and community. Again, VERY excited about the prospect!!

Even though I work Sat. mornings and hubby races off to his men's breakfast/bible study, the rest of my Saturday did feel like a weekend. I cozied up with books and a blanket for most of the afternoon, breaking up part of the day with a little cookie baking frenzy. Chocolate Chip Cookies, the best kind. We'll see if they last long enough to go into the carpenters lunches though!!

We slept in this morning, a rare thing, and then while praise music played softly in the background, we sat in companionably silence and worked on our small group study book assignments. Between laundry and spot cleaning, I have spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen prepping food for the week. I love to cook up a huge pot of rice because we eat a lot of it and it's great to just have it on hand to stir in to other things. I also baked up 2 dozen potatoes and when they cooled, I diced them and put into freezer bags. We had this ginormous bag of bakers sitting in the garage and too often those taters start growing arms and legs and threaten to take over the garage so I didn't want to let them go to waste. Having them pre-baked makes it super easy to fix hash browns for breakfast--something we both love. Lastly I put on a pot of black beans to soak and simmer. Not sure what I will do with the beans but they'll end up in something in the next day or two-- chicken tortilla soup maybe.

Just sitting here now, I am enjoying the aroma of the simmering beans and I know when I go to stir them again I will find them soft and beginning to split as they become more and more tender. I like to think I am like a little black bean as I soak in the music that still plays on the stereo and meditate on God's Words for me today. Getting softer and more pliable... taking on the flavors of Christ... allowing His love to wash over me, heal me, and strengthen me.

Happy Weekend~~ Here's to a Marvelous Monday!

Too Blessed to Be Stressed

You have heard haven't you that STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS?  Well I am in a baking-cooking mood this weekend so in addition to a little (8 lb) turkey that's going in the oven soon, accompanied by some acorn squash, roasted red potatoes and applesauce, I am also baking up a batch of gingerbread cookies to treat my hard working stressed out man.

Last Sunday we were blessed with the presence of some BIG HAIRY ANGELS who came and spent the day helping Bruce with firewood. Cutting, splitting, stacking-- the whole bit! Whoo Hoo! We heat entirely with wood heat so seeing the woodshed filling back up is both a comfort and a big sigh of relief! Today these good friends are coming back to join Bruce at another location where some really really big chunks (logs) of wood are waiting the same fate. They will get a lot done in a short amount of time I am sure.

It's a real sacrifice in my opinion to give up a Sunday afternoon to help us but these brothers in Christ just love to love! They actually intend to start a firewood ministry in our church to help out those who have no resource for firewood. What a great idea!

Anyway, last Sunday I wasn't feeling so grand and the cupboards were pretty bare so offering those guys a treat when they finished their work wasn't possible. This week we've had payday and shopping happen and I feel ready and able to bless in return.

In addition, I've been reading my blog from a year ago when we were challenged beyond belief with vehicle troubles. It was literally one thing after another, one day right after the other.  I was reminded as I was reading and questioning the What's and the Why's of it all, that sometimes life is just HARD. But in the grand scheme of things, it really is just a BLIP. It's not God punishing us or trying to teach us a lesson. It's just life as we know it here on earth. My job isn't to try and figure it all out, but to persevere in the face of it. To not lose faith. Yes, I admitted yesterday to feeling exhausted from being in crisis mode. That doesn't mean I failed somehow in my belief that God is faithful or providing for me. We all get tired and lose our way occasionally. Sometimes, as a blogger buddy said recently, we lose our SPARKLE.

But give me some down time, some prayer time, some creative writing time and I'll be back up and ready to shine. I have something infinitely better in my future so the things that happen around me are just that: things.


I am storing up treasures in HEAVEN that no earthy prize can ever compete or compare to.

Sits With Sunglasses

the poke in my eye with the sharp edge of a piece of paper has done nothing for my attitude the last couple of days. I can deal with a lot of things, including pain,  but ongoing pain, especially in the eye, is almost too much. thankfully our eyes tend to heal fast but I have found being outside, where moving air and light are strongest, is too much. Even starting at the computer screen adds strain to my poor eye. It's been an uncomfortable two days. I am sitting in the my house, wearing my sunglasses, administering eye drops every couple of hours and alternating Ibuprofen with Tylenol to try and manage the pain.

it's not working all that well.








On the lighter side of things, I did manage to be productive with a HUGE box of produce hubby brought home the other night. Beans and more beans stacked the bottom of the box, along with several over sized zucchini, some heads of romaine, a passel of carrots, rutabagas and onions and some snap peas to top it off. The first thing I did was sort it all out on my back deck. There were 3 types of beans so I sorted the yellow from the green and the re-sorted the yellow as there were skinny ones and fat/flat ones. From sorting came snipping, followed by washing. Finally they were ready to be blanched and frozen. I prefer freezing over canning and I don't have a pressure cooker anyway. But my freezer has limited space so it was a jigsaw puzzler's challenge to make it all fit!! Along with all the luscious berries and corn on the cob that has gone in in weeks previous, getting in my freezer is a little daunting. But we'll eat well this winter. And some of those berries will be coming out in the next few weeks for jam making. Yum!

I have not  heard anything from the Post Office. I debated contacting them and decided I would wait until Monday, which would make it exactly two weeks since I got my letter with the news of the job. I do recall the man who I met with saying that there was other paperwork shuffling that was taking place in another part of administration and there was no 'usual' time frame to quote me as to when I might hear more. But he seemed confident that I would hear something by that week's end.... and nothing happened. Meanwhile, I have enjoyed this week with no thought of going to work, other than wondering when it would happen.

This week had it's highlights, that is for certain. Monday was the lunch with the girls from high school-- still sighing with delight over that one. Not rushing anywhere all week has been a gift, even if we had monetary setbacks and stresses. Yes, even the pain in my eye cant compete with the peace of knowing God's in charge of ALL THINGS.

my sister and I at the Columbia River, fall of 2010

One more thing I want to mention to wrap up this week.....

A very fun thing I had had the pleasure to be a part of, is helping my SISTER create her own blog!! Using skype to connect and tutor her on blogging has been satisfying and I am just delighted with her launching out this way. You will find her theme of light quite illuminating, if you'll pardon the pun ;) I am sure she would welcome a visit so feel free to pop over to AniLouMinary and take a look.



Have a marvelous weekend friends!

Back to Normal???

~~what is normal anyway but a setting on your dryer?~~

Good Morning World!! What looked like *FROST* on the landscape this morning has quickly dissipated in favor of a sweet sunshiny sort of day. I treasure any sunny day that comes after Autumn Equinox. 

I've been so intent on logging every detail of our road trip that the things going on concurrent to my writing have faded into the background. Things like...

We started a new ALPHA course on Monday nights and have 9 people registered! Much smaller than last winter but we are actually kind of glad to have the size we do. We can take more time in our discussions and get to know everyone a little better.

Mom! Took her to the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday and she DOES NOT HAVE TO COME BACK TO SEE HIM!  She was pretty excited about that! She doesn't need to wear the boot-- which had actually been reduced to an air cast in recent weeks-- and she won't need to wear that either! Paperwork is being shuffled and we have an anticipated going home date of this weekend!!!  I think she is excited and yet a little nervous about being back in her own little apartment. After all she has had round the clock care for over 3 months-- almost 4 months! To be released and responsible for everything can feel a little intimidating to say the least. But we are doing everything we can to help ease her back into a *normal* routine.

One of those things is mealtrain.com This is a GREAT online resource for setting up meals for someone recovering from illness or surgery or a new mommy. I love the way you can see the calendar spread out for weeks at a time and who is bringing what when. Sure makes is easier to schedule and arrange. (I remember setting up something like this for my sister when she had baby #4 and it was a lot of work coordinating 4 weeks worth of meals-- on the phone for hours filling in the dates--wheew! This is super fast and super organized!! We like that!!!)

Mom doesn't know about the meal train service yet. Thought it would be a great surprise to present her with after we get her home. I have it set up for meals 3 x a week since it's just her and I am thinking a casserole or pot of soup will feed her for more than one meal. She can reheat or freeze left overs. 

The third thing this week was the start of a new school year... that's Dream Realization School. Yes, I graduated last spring. But I'm coming back this year as a table leader! Each class is divided into table groups of 5-7 with one person as the table leader, (or facilitator-- a much friendlier word) and that person prays for the people at her table, helps keep them on task during discussion time and reminds them of their homework and is sort of a liaison between student and teacher. I am excited about my role and have 5 beautiful young women under my care. They range in age from 17 to 32, some single, some married with kids. All with beautiful hearts for mission. We had a good chunk of time that first night to get to know each other a little bit and I can tell that our times together will be lively and challenging! There are some real thinkers and feelers in this group. 

I am also the BUS DRIVER! True, I no longer have my CDL as I never expected to find myself behind the wheel of a school bus again, but a 15 passenger van is totally within my control. It started with me encouraging Wendi to attend DRS. I met Wendi last year when we went to Macedonia together on the church mission trip. I see great potential in Wendi and know God wants to see her built up in the Word and Knowledge of Him. When she said she would love to attend DRS but had no way to get there, I said impulsively (but sincerely) "I'll drive you!!!" Well that quickly morphed into a car pool as several others from the Kendall Campus wanted to attend DRS too. AWEsome!! Pretty soon my car was too full. That's when Kate, our DRS director (my former boss) suggested I could use the church van and bring everyone to class. And if I was bringing everyone to class would I stay and be a table leader? 

We have 8 people from the Kendall Campus attending! In a class of, I think, 24, that is a huge percentage! Very exciting! For the first class-- Tuesday-- we didn't have the van thing worked out and Bruce ended up driving his van and me, the car, to get everyone down to Lynden. You have to understand that there is a bit of a distance between the Kendall- Peaceful Valley area where these folks live, and Lynden, where the church main campus/office and school, is being held. For a lot of these folks, gas for extra trips like this is a luxery and if you have to chose between staying home or using gas you need for getting to work, you'll stay home.

Wow, if that wasn't enough for this week, Bruce and I also launched a new small group! We met for the first time last night. Yah, I know. On Our Anniversary. Not good planning but we reasoned we'd truly celebrated all last week with the trip, if we delayed another week it would be October, and we wanted our small group study focus to correlate with the sermon series, which started 2 weeks ago. So we had 2 of the 3 couples we'd invited present. (the one couple missing had a family emergency at the last minute) We're going to do Crazy Love by Frances Chan, using the book and the DVD series to move us through the study. Excited about that and about this new small group. 

The motivation behind our starting this is simple. Bruce and I would have never developed into small group leaders or leaders of any sort, if someone else had not come along side of us and encouraged us and mentored us. We feel in this season of our life, it's time for us to do the same for someone else. So we prayed about it and asked God to speak to us about other couples in our church who had (untapped) leadership potential. 

And in the midst of the small group kick off, we did celebrate our anniversary. We shared a little bit of our love story with the group last night as our way of 'getting to know one another'. And looking at each other from across the room, knowing we were doing what God has called us to do as a couple, relying on each others strength in our areas of weakness, and seeing our oneness played out in a tangible way, well, I can't think of a better way to celebrate 15 years of marriage. 

So we have half the week behind us and still plenty to do before the week ends. 

Bruce is still moving forward with the mission trip to Japan. Looks like late October travel dates and we need to expedite his passport renewal process. Between that and a little annoying detail known as 'earning a living' there is homework and housework and winterizing the travel trailer. Oh and moving Mom home. Never a dull moment but I think that too ranks as *NORMAL*

The One Minute Muffin

1/4 cup of Flax Seed, ground
1 Tbsp butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder

using a coffee mug (8-12 oz size) melt the butter in the microwave (15-30 seconds)
add the flax seed, egg, sugar and baking powder. Mix really well making sure the egg is scrambled well into the mix.

Microwave for 1 minute. Pop out of the mug onto a plate and enjoy!

Variations: try adding nuts, raisins, dried fruit, chocolate chips, or other fun things to the mix before baking.

The texture is kind of souffle like, tasty and surprisingly filling! I fed my husband one of these for breakfast with a side of sausage, fruit and coffee and he felt satisfied and full!

(next time I make this I'll try to take pictures. It was after all morning and I was still sipping my coffee as I tried this out.)

And I Made Jam

in addition to a lovely trip down memory lane, jam was made today and it is delicious!!

~hulling and washing~

~important ingredients~

~Stir ~ Stir~ Stir~

~the finished product in assorted sizes~

~relaxing with a glass of wine and reminiscing about the good ol' days in the field~

Determined to Stay Healthy!!

Or Food on Friday--since we all seem to have themes on certain days ;)

I am fighting a cold or it's allergies but I am determined to NOT get sick. Airborne is great but I know I have been eating like a fool for awhile and combined with not being very active I can feel my backside spreading.... like butter in the hot sun....

Last night I had a very tasty concoction of POWER GREENS which was a mix of baby spinach, baby red and green swiss chard and baby tat soi (that's a new one for me). I cooked them over low heat in the frying pan, with some olive oil, crushed fresh garlic, coarse ground black pepper and a dash of salt. As the greens got soft, I sprinkled in some raisen/craisen mix and tossed it all together. Just before serving I sprinkled chopped almonds. It was super yummy and packed with nutrients. I felt powerful just eating it!
Next time I plan to try it with cooked crumbled up bacon and some parm. cheese. 

This morning I decided instead of skipping breakfast, or calling my coffee my breakfast (and then eating everything in sight around 2pm) I would make a nice healthy cocktail of....

1/2 banana and some fresh raspberries

2 scoops of Curves Protein Powder (vanilla)

a heaping scoop of my homemade yogurt (yum)

I chose SoyMilk but it could have easily been 2%

ice cubes in any protein drink are what really make the difference!

BLEND WELL

here's to good health! enjoy! (straw is optional)

Waaaaa!

It was a terrible horrible no good very bad day in the Burke kitchen.

First, the cinnamon rolls were a total bust. Even the spots full of butter and brown sugar and cinnamon taste sorta cardboardy. What a waste of good ingredients! I had been dreaming of cinnamon rolls for days.

Next, I plugged in my trusty faithful rice cooker... and 30 minutes later when I came back in the kitchen to put the main course in the oven, I discovered there was no heat being generated by the cooker. Well, I've had this thing for nearly 15 years (it was a wedding present) so I guess I knew it was going to the kitchen appliance graveyard at some point, but in the middle of trying to cook dinner? Come on....
I dumped the whole mess into a sauce pan and prayed I could remember how to cook rice the other way-- on the stove!

Then.... I opened the oven (which worked just fine and dandy earlier for the cinnamon rolls) that I had put on preheat some time before... and found the oven was cold and still. No friendly red coil to greet me, no blast of warm air to caress my cheek and steam up my glasses... ???!!! What is going on here?

Well, I fried up the fish in a frying pan and the rice did turn out fine on the stove.

But I was thinking... Bruce and I need to get married again so we can register for some new cookery!!
 

Then I stop and think about all I do have... and those who have so little.

Sure I was inconvenienced but it was minor really... I mean we still ate a very nice dinner. Who am I to complain?


Oh, my, sometimes I really hate it when I get convicted of my selfish, petty little ways.  sigh.



I guess this means the do-over wedding is off....

Week of (imposed) Vacation

I didn't ask for a vacation. It just fell into my lap. My boss is out of town all week leading a mission trip and she suggested I enjoy some down time while she was gone. I have email and phone messages to check on and respond to, but I can do it from home. So... this week stretches before me...

Yesterday was my first official day off... I slept in way way too late! But it was delicious. Bruce was not feeling so great the night before so he was ingesting his airborne and  laying low most of the day. I moved from the bed to the recliner, with coffee and books. Yes books. Knocked out TWO books in one day. I am a voracious reader but even for me, two very fat novels in one day is a record. Especially since my day started rather late. But I had no interruptions... just the magical sounds of rain trickling down my drain pipe, a crackling fire and a purring cat.  And  to make it even more decadent, I spent the entire day in my jammies!

In addition to reading all day, I decided no cooking either. Since hubby wasn't feeling well he had no appetite. So we both sort of fasted all day. Liquids, lots of liquids! Coffee, tea, juice, water, broth, more water....

This morning I woke up refreshed and renewed without the aid of an alarm clock, at 6 am. A day of vegging is rather good for one's self every now and again!

I had it in my head that I was going to attempt to make cinnamon rolls this week and today seemed like a good day for that. I say attempt because baking with yeast has always been a challenge for me. I did a lot of it when my kids were little and got pretty good at it but over the last few years I have failed miserably the few times I have tried to recapture the magic of dough rising. Too much time in between attempts has left me rusty and wary. Add to this, I was also going to try to make them with gluten free flour which would be a first....  well.... the dough was super sticky and finally I ran out of gluten free flour mix and it was still a big gummy mess! I had to choose: toss it out or add some 'real' flour to try and salvage the mess of dough stuck to my counter, my hands and my recipe book.
I chose to add flour and eventually got the ball of elastic dough  I was looking for. It's proofing now but I don't know how this is going to turn out. It doesn't smell like yeast dough... the gluten free flour mix has some interesting flour sources --like fava beans and sorghum -- and so it has a sort of 'off' smell. But I suppose if we fill the dough with enough butter sugar and spices, it will taste-- um-- tasty!! I hope...

So as I wait on the dough, I am alternating this day between writing a little, reading a little and working on a new jigsaw puzzle a little. The latter is not off to a good start either. I got the edges done but this cheap puzzle is so flimsy that each time I try to fit a piece, it pulls the other pieces loose. Grrrr.


I am hopeful that one day this week Bruce n I will "go play" --- a hike, a day trip-- I have no big ideas -- just a day for the 2 of us to escape. Also hoping to connect with a few gal-pals. And catch up on more books and blogging!

this one's gonna take some extra patience!

Nothing earth shattering or deep here.... It's just a week in the life of.....

Yummy Yogurt-- the Finished Product!

last night just before bedtime, I checked the yogurt. It had been fermenting almost 12 hours. It had set up nicely so into the fridge it went. This morning: finished product; chilled and ready to eat!

my favorite way to eat it is with a healthy helping of raspberry jam, and sometimes a little granola.

this tastes TOO GOOD to be GOOD FOR YOU! (but it is)

Toddy approves. ( he always gets to lick the bowl)

Yogurt Making 101

Today I am making homemade yogurt!  I got the recipe from my niece who got this recipe from Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krissoff.

start with 1/2 gallon on milk and a small container of starter yogurt. (I found a bargain on boxed milk at the Dollar Tree!) You can use whole or 2% or even nonfat. The yogurt needs to be plain yogurt with active cultures. No artificial flavors or pectin or powdered milk added!

heat the milk over med-high heat to 170 degrees, stirring occasionally.

while the milk is heating, preheat your jars with hot water

when your milk has reached 170, place it in an ice bath and lower the temp to 110 degrees.

add 2 Tablespoons of the starter yogurt to a bowl and spoon in a small amount of the now cooled milk, whisking it together

add the yogurt/milk into the rest of the milk and whisk it together.

pour the milk mix into the (emptied/pre-warmed) jars and tighten the lids securely

pack the jars in an insulated container. I add a couple of jars filled with warm water and pack newspaper around them. Basically you want the jars cozy.

set the container in a out of way space and let them sit for 8-10 hours (or overnight). Be careful not to jostle or disturb it. (the fermentation fairies greatly dislike being jostled or disturbed!)

Now, we just have to let it sit until it's done.... Toddy loves yogurt as much as I do so the waiting part is as hard for him as it is for me. LOL.

Tune in tomorrow when we see how our yogurt has turned out!