In The Refiner's Fire

Kale Chips Honestly, when I was told these things were super yummy I was skeptical.  I don't care much for veggie chips or potato chips or any chips for that matter.  Fortunately, these were a totally different matter! Ingredients: Several Fresh Kale Leaves Olive Oil (or vegetable oil)  - I used olive oil in a mister Seasonings to Taste - we liked basic salt and pepper but others like chili powder, garlic powder, Cajun spices, cayenne pepper, etc. or a combination of these. Place kale in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a shallow baking pan.  Coat leaves lightly with oil. Turn and coat the other side.  Dust both sides with seasonings to taste. Bake at 400F for approximately 10 minutes, or until crispy. Note:  The recipes I read all had you toss the kale leaves in a bowl with the oil and seasonings. I found this gave a more even coverage of the oil and I used far less oil and spices using this method.  This recipe works best with very fresh kale

Wow. Last week was quite the week.  The biggest thing was, of course, John's Candidacy Hearing on Tuesday. I had been gone for the weekend last weekend, getting home late in the day on Sunday, and there were several other things that happened last week, too, that were emotionally taxing and physically tiring. By the time Wednesday rolled around, we were all totally exhausted.  I actually went to bed before my children did (and my children typically go to bed by 830pm) that night!  Can you believe that? Then I slept until my "regular" get up time on Thursday morning.  I think I need it because I went to bed at 930pm on Thursday too.   I'm feeling much better now and was ready to tackle a weekend where John was on a mini-mission trip/class thing the entire weekend (Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday).  Since I didn't write up goals for last week, I'll just go straight to this week: Work: * Notes for next unit for both classes. * Update class web

It's fall weather here - soup weather!  I love the chilly weather and the warmth that soups and stews provide.  Even better - I can pop them in the crock-pot before I leave in the morning and then we are ready to eat when we get home!  Love that.  Quick, easy, yummy dinner without the temptation of take out or pre-packaged food! Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, October 21:     Breakfast:  Cereal and Milk     Lunch: Waffles with Peaches     Snack: Popcorn     Dinner: Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup, French Bread, Sliced Apples Monday, October 22:    Breakfast: Chai Spiced Oatmeal    Lunch: Hot Lunch for Children, Leftovers for Adults    Snack: Yogurt    Dinner: Pan Fried Tilapia, Rice, Tossed Salad, Fruit Tuesday, October 23:    Breakfast: Oatmeal with Apples and Cinnamon    Lunch: Hot Lunch for Children, Leftovers for Adults    Snack: Yogurt    Dinner: Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash, French Bread, Fruit Wednesday, October 24:    Breakfast

ICEEs - this one's from summer - but we also bought some to celebrate John's Endorsement! YUM! My children loving and learning so much at their dance classes - started ballet this year too! Playing board games with my family or just with my husband for a date night.  Our new favorite is "221B Baker Street". Hot Vanilla for my chocolate disliking guys (yes, they're weird, but the hot vanilla is very good!) with cinnamon whipped cream.  Double YUM! This little guy absolutely loving to wash the dishes and vacuum. Who'd have guessed? This supper yummy tea!  YUUUUUMMMMM! A friend sent me this photo of the pipe cleaner dinosaurs she made with her daughter. And... My student's mid-term projects going very well - I'm so proud of them! The lovely large bunch of "Indian Corn" that one of my husband's Endorsement Committee members gave us after the hearing. Rain - finally!  And a whole day of it too

John was endorsed yesterday! Praise the Lord! It was a long, exhausting day but at 430pm Tuesday 10/16 he was endorsed to continue his journey to Ordination. We are so very thankful. Now, hopefully, we can take a deep breath and have things get back to something with a bit more routine. Thanks for your prayers - we definitely appreciate them! Lea Soli Deo Gloria. Always.

We've been busy here!  Why, you ask? John has his Candidacy Interview tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10am. What is that? It's an interview process where the Bishop's Office, the Seminary and the Ordination Council look at John's call story, his personal theology statement, his formal and informal education and his understanding of Lutheran Doctrine and decides whether he can continue on to Ordination with our national church body, the ELCA. If you feel lead, will you please say an extra prayer or two for him (and the rest of us) as he heads into this milestone?  We would SO appreciate it! Thank You I'm hoping to be back to a more regular blogging schedule later this week. God Bless, Lea Soli Deo Gloria. Always.

So, I'm not really sure you can call this a "recipe".  Maybe "cooking method" is a better description. Cooking Pizza in a Dutch Oven Normally we make homemade pizza once a week at our house - either Friday or Saturday most of the time.  On our camping trip this summer, I was looking for something other than grilled meat, sandwiches or hot dogs.  I stumbled across several people talking about cooking pizza on a campfire. I'd heard of cooking pizza on a gas grill (and actually done it) but this was different. My first idea was after finding a scouts cookbook that talked about English Muffin pizzas cooked in open tuna cams.  We've done those in the oven at home but they're not so much our thing.  We like our "real" pizza - large and cut into slices and loaded with vegetables. Then I stumbled across the idea of cooking pizza in a Dutch Oven.   We have a Dutch Oven and we could easily do this.   So here's the rec

Well, we're all still sick here.  John has bronchitis and he and I both have a sinus infection (joy!) and the kids are feeling okay but we're keeping an eye out for strep throat - someone in their class had that last week.   I'm officially ready to be done being sick this fall!  Thankfully John and I are almost better - we're hoping this is the week we lick all this. We're both on the tail end of antibiotics and actually feel much better than we have in a few weeks.  That's the good news! I did get some things done last week, but not many because of the sickies.  Here was my list from last week: Work: * Catch all grading up to current.  Made some progress but not much. * Write up project assignment for this unit in one class. * Write test for other class. * Start outlining next units for both classes. * Update web pages. School: * Cross 4 things off my dissertation to-do list.  I crossed off 1 thing last week. * Continue cleaning out my desk and bookcase at

It's October already.  How did that happen?  It's definitely fall here - our high was a whole whopping 52F today and over the weekend we topped out at 43F.  Brrrr.  I keep telling myself that at least we didn't get snow like northern Minnesota did!  I'm just not ready for that yet.  The leaves are almost done and we're ready for nice warm fall foods like chili, chicken noodle soup and roasts in the crock pot! Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, October 7:   Breakfast: Cereal and Milk   Lunch:  Baked Eggs, Cinnamon Biscuit Twists, Orange Wedges and Bananas   Snack: Popcorn   Dinner: Chicken Noodle Soup in the Crock Pot, Whole Wheat Bread, Apple Slices Monday, October 8:   Breakfast: Oatmeal with Almonds   Lunch: Cheerios, Yogurt, Applesauce and Cookies   Snack: Yogurt   Dinner:  Baked Salmon, Couscous, Tossed Salad, Apple-Banana-Grape Salad Tuesday, October 9:    Breakfast: Pumpkin Pecan Oatmeal    Lunch: Hot for Children, Leftove

Last week was a whirl-wind of taking care of my sick husband, trying to dig myself out of my giant pile of grading, having a ton of other "little" things happen (like getting stuck in traffic and being late to work) that just didn't help matters, and coming down with a huge amount of sinus drainage from the huge air pressure changes.  Add a stress migraine that arrived about 7am on Monday morning and didn't leave until about 8pm on Wednesday and it was definitely not the best week I've ever had.  Worship Sunday morning was a Service of Healing, which was exactly what I needed to get this week off to a good start!  It was lovely and so appreciated. Even though the rest of the day wasn't exactly restful, it was a nice way to release the tension and start the week on the right foot. I'm skipping the review since last week was chaos and I never got last week's goals posted anyway.  So here's this week's: Work: * Catch all grading up to curr

Brunch after church on Sunday Morning (last spring - hence the Easter decorations).  Fruit, sausage and strawberry braided bread. It's another busy week for us here!  This semester is just seeming to fly by - and being sick from the beginning hasn't helped at all!  We're all heading to the doctor this week so hopefully we can knock this thing off and get back to "normal". We're cooking fairly easy meals this week just to keep things easy around here. Sunday, September 30:    Breakfast: Cereal and Milk    Lunch: Leftovers    Snack: Popcorn    Dinner: Baked Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, Sliced Apples and Grapes Monday, October 1:   Breakfast: Oatmeal   Lunch: Apples with Peanut Butter, Yogurt, Carrot Sticks or Tomatoes, Oatmeal Cookie   Snack: Popcorn   Dinner: Cabbage Rolls, Apple-Grape-Melon Salad Tuesday, October 2:   Breakfast: "Pumpkin Pancakes" from the Freezer   Lunch: Leftovers for Adults, Hot Lunch for Kids   Snack: Yogur