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Smokey BBQ Rub

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 5 April, 2014 No comment

I made my own rub the other night and used it on Mahi and Pork loin in the past. It was fabulous. Click below for the Mahi and Pork recipes.

Ingredients:

2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tp garlic
2 tsp salt/pepper
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp backyard bbq (optional)
2 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp parsley
4 tbsp. EVOO

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl OR If making to keep on your spice rack, mix everything together EXCEPT garlic and EVOO until time of use.

*Mahi- Recipe

**Pork- Recipe

You can get little spice containers to make your own spices and have extra on hand. I do this for taco seasoning and Johnny Seasoning because mine don’t carry the MSG ingredients! :)

Concert of the Year!!!

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 4 April, 2014 No comment

Last night my sweet hubby and I went to a concert for a belated birthday present. My husband enjoys Kings of Leon so we took the opportunity to spend some time together and head out for some good music.

Neither of us have been to a concert for quite a few years. It was fascinating to me the whole essence of what a concert actually is. The thoughts raced through my head as we set in the perfect section overlooking the audience without anything blocking our view. We were on the edge of the second section that keeps us perched a smidgen higher giving us a our space with no one next to us.

As we got there a little late for the opening act it was incredible to me how many people hung out in the bars. Let me start by saying, I don’t think there is anything wrong with going to concerts and yes even going to concerts that aren’t Christian. I believe good music is good music. So with that, we walked in, found our seats and enjoyed the opening act. They turned the lights on between the two acts and we sat there for a good 45 minutes having a great conversation and people watching. We looked down upon a section that was very fascinating to me to watch. We immediately found a group that was beyond belligerent and were curious how the remaining time was going to play out. In particular, there was a gentleman that was roughly 6’4″, 250 pounds and extremely drunk, swaying from side to side, spilling his beer all over and stumbled to his seat now and again. His eyes remained closed most of the concert trying to stay awake.

Our neighbors to our right were a cute little family with two sons who sat in the row in front of mom and dad. They were probably in high school and the dad and mom tried to act interested with the music. It was pretty cute to see this family support their sons musical interests by getting separate seats but able to watch them and keep them from mischief. I told Michael we would do the same; it was a great idea.

A little bit higher than us was a couple that was on their first date. We had a calm section where the people acted in a way that was more “responsible” than the section below us. I use that term lightly but definitely could tell the difference between our “date-night” section and the party section below us.

While my husband and I people watched and enjoyed conversation before the main act came out to serenade us with their music we were fascinated by the reality of what a concert truly is. A large crowd joins together while a couple people sing for an hour and a half and play musical instruments. The concept was almost humorous to me reminding me of what life is and the pleasures people enjoy. Good music is always an enjoyment but I found it so fascinating that a group travels around to simply set up, sing, take down, travel to next location, repeat.

Even after all the fascination of people watching what really caught my attention was the amount of alcohol served at events such as this. As the night progressed we watched people become absolutely obliterated by this substance cementing to me that they will NOT remember the concert the following morning. I began to smell another substance floating through the air, the same section below decided to sneak-smoke marijuana which would in turn float up directly to myself and my husband. The occasional lighting up of this substance gave me an incredible headache. So, this very man who is 6’4″, 250 pounds, falling to the floor a couple times is now engaged in this substance. The couple directly behind him, was incredibly angry as I’m sure this is not what they purchased their tickets for.

As the night progressed my husband and I had a great time together! It was really fun and a good change in scenery. Although I am not that old, I am married with a child and these two people are my highest priorities in life. I struggle watching people try and escape life even in a environment that people are enjoying they still need the escape. The fact that people have to get drunk or high was a complete eye opener for me, not because I haven’t known this or seen this previously, but because I am now a mom and a wife living my life for Christ and not a substance.

Moment of Truth: My goal is to raise my son to the best of my ability with my husbands help to prevent my son from making stupid choices such as these later in life. Emphasizing the importance to not make bad decisions as life is incredibly short. Live life to the fullest! Seek peace, seek happiness and seek the Lord.

Homemade Combination Pizza

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 4 April, 2014 No comment

I made one of the best pizzas the other night. Michael and I loved it. It was not a deep dish pizza but kind of. The crust was thick and moist with great flavor.

I must convince you all to make your own crust especially this recipe as you can freeze it and have it on hand for those nights you don’t have time for dinner or simply want a movie night with pizza and popcorn.

Baking your own crust is extremely healthy compared to all the pizza crusts out there and restaurants that add multiple ingredients and chemicals to get a desired taste. My recipe is easy, healthy and flavorful. It even has a sweetness in it from the honey. Get my crust recipe here: Pizza-Crust

Ingredients:

Already made pizza-crust, uncooked
½ lb sausage
9 oz pepperoni
Red sauce (I used Trader Joes Basil Parmesan pasta sauce)
Chopped olives
Sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups cheese

Place risen pizza crust in a greased 9×13 pan. The dough should be firm enough that you can pick it up and mold it to the shape of your pan.

Top with red sauce.

Sprinkle sauce with 1 cup cheese and pepperoni.

Meanwhile cook sausage until fully cooked.

Spread on top of pepperoni.

Add olives, mushrooms and *onions.

*If you have a couple extra minutes sauté onions with 1 tsp sugar to caramelize and give added flavor. This simple step changes the taste entirely. :)

Bake at 425 for 18-20 minutes or until crust is fully cooked in the middle of the pan.

Enjoy with a good fresh salad to get your vegetable serving in for the day and to make yourself feel good about your dinner choice with your healthy crust.

Hiding

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 3 April, 2014 No comment

The tough part about sitting in the family room during the day or walking around our home, is the fact that we have so many windows. I love the natural lighting and we have so much of it I rarely turn lights on during the day. Unfortunately, the down side of all the windows is the salesmen that come to your door.

Today, I was sitting on the couch while throwing a Jamberry Nail party online as a gentleman knocked on the windowed door. I peered through the window as I hid behind our luscious plant trying to keep myself concealed. He walked towards the car to view the grave in our front yard, or shall I say the ditch we have that’s large enough to be a grave. Anyway, I popped around trying to stay out of site, I didn’t recognize him and simply hide until he walked away.

As I sat back down, I knew he had to of seen me when we walked up to our house, as my back was directly in the window. I hate “hiding” but also do not open the door to strangers when I am home alone with my son.

Thanks to torreyshannon.com

Knowing I was anything but hidden as the picture above displays I felt foolish yet remained in my home, not coming out. Sometimes I wonder how well we hide from life. What aspects do we wish we could run away from and hide, yet simply have no escape to truly be hidden?

I know that I sometimes wish I could hide out for a day or wish it away rather then face the events that lie ahead. Knowing that doesn’t work we still try but what exactly does this accomplish?

Although my reasons for hiding out in my house today were real, I was struck with the fact that even though our plant is large enough to hide behind, there are many gaps allowing my pink shirt to very prominently shine right on through. :)

Knowing I can’t avoid every sales person that tromps to our doorstep I do my best at “hiding” when possible. Luckily, we live in an area that’s not too high in traffic, but do get the occasional “walkers” through the neighborhood. I often wonder where they parked and what they are selling as they do not carry much of anything with them– and this gentleman had a wrench in his back pocket….maybe he thought he could be hired for the ditch out front….not too sure! We shall leave that up for speculation.

Moment of Truth: What are you hiding from today, while the world around remains watching you through the large plant not able to fully conceal you?

Pizza Crust

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 3 April, 2014 1 comment

No fail pizza dough. Easy to make and great to make extra and freeze for your next pizza night.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey (or sugar)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil (or vegetable)
3 cups bread flour (give or take ½ cup)

In a stand mixer add yeast and honey into warm water.

Let sit for 2-3 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam.

Pour in salt, oil and 2 cups flour, mix well. Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it, it doesn’t stick to your hands.

Needs more flour…

Mixture needs to be more firm

Knead for 6 minutes on medium speed. The dough should be smooth and eas to work with. And the bowl should be clean!

Lightly grease a large bowl & the dough so it doesn’t stick to the edges or get too dry and cover with tea towel, let it rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.

**If freezing the dough do so before letting it rise. Place into an airtight Ziploc bag. When you are ready to use it, take out of freezer and let it thaw at room temperature. Once thawed, place into a greased bowl and let rise. Can take a total of 6-8 hours.

Place dough in a greased 9×13 pan.

Great for cheesy garlic bread too!

Crust should be moldable and not sticky

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and top to your liking. Bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly brown and fully cooked.

Family Time

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 April, 2014 No comment

With the sun out and the little munchkin loving outside, we took a family stroll to get coffee and treats. My little man didn’t have lunch but sure did chow down on his cake pop and vanilla milk from Starbucks.

We enjoyed the sun, watched the water, and had good husband/wife conversations. My little man rolled in the grass, chased the ducks and simply laughed his little giggles away.

Michael happy for a ray of sunshine!

We enjoy the family time and great weather knowing it’s ultimately all that matters at the days end.
Concentrating on the fact that he can see himself in the camera!

Chasing the ducks!

Waving bye-bye as we head home. He enjoyed the ride to and from as this was the first time he has sat forward facing in the car seat! So much more to see!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 2 April, 2014 No comment

I still have 3-gallon size freezer bags full of our fresh blueberries from last summer. I’m quite surprised how many we still have left with how much I have used them for smoothies and baking. Needless to say, I will continue to use them the next couple months until we get fresh ones again So glad I haven’t had to use them sparingly as we literally had a small blueberry farm.

Cooper loves blueberries so much so that I keep checking the price at the store and refusing to buy a small pint for $3.99. I can’t seem to justify it when we have our own blueberries for free. About a month ago I bought a large container for a great deal, it seemed it was almost a steal as I haven’t seen that good of a deal since.

Anyway, I made coffee cake as I have been into my pastries lately that I probably have developed a permanent food baby; or shall I say 5 lbs that I wish I could blame on something other than simple carbs and coffee. I always crave carbs but lately it’s been almost my entire diet! (I need to refocus my health again)

Oh well! This is a great recipe! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup + 2 tbsp flour, divided
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup milk
1 cup frozen bluenerries
3 oz cream cheese

Topping:

3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cold butter

For batter: in a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg.

Mix well. Cream until well incorporated!

Combine 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt in creamed mixture.

Add milk, mix well.

Toss blueberries with remaining flour.

Add cream cheese and blueberries. Batter will be thick.

Transfer to a greased 8in square baking dish.

For topping: In a small bowl combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly.

Sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Serve warm with a good cup of coffee for all you coffee lovers. :)

Enjoy!

Weekly Checkup

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 1 April, 2014 No comment

This is my weekly check up 10 days and to brittle nails later. I have such week nails and stopped taking my vitamins for no reason at all and within that short amount of time, two nails broke. BUT the good news is these wraps helped keep them from breaking further and holding them together quite well. They are a “nail Band-Aid!” They help with brittle nails and holds them together.

Check out the first day:

Check out 10 days later with two broken nails that were held together by my beautiful “Band-Aid”:

Quiche Muffin Cups

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 1 April, 2014 No comment

I made these this morning as my sister and niece were coming over to visit and she always knows she can expect something to eat with her coffee.

So, since I had these on hand and they would leave leftovers for my husband to take to work tomorrow I happily made these real quick while Cooper was still asleep.

Ingredients:

12 eggs
¾ cup milk
1 tsp garlic salt
½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup chopped turkey
1 cup sliced mushrooms

In a large bowl add 12 eggs.

Add milk and begin whisking really well. (1-2 minutes)

Add salt, pepper and garlic salt.

Add shredded cheese.

Spoon a spoonful full of egg mixture to muffin cups filling 1/4 full.

Top with mushrooms and turkey.

Top muffins with remaining egg mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Serve warm and store in the fridge.

They are delicious and full of flavor. My niece loved them and ate 2 herself. (She’s 2 years old) My sister and I on the other hand ate more than I would like to share. :) BUT there are a couple left for my husband for tomorrows breakfast. ;)

Happiness

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 31 March, 2014 No comment

I keep hearing the phrase “I just want to be happy!” I’ve heard it and heard it and clearly have no words of wisdom to offer back. I can’t provide anyone’s happiness, I can’t make you happy let alone make myself happy. This phrase has hit me in a very peculiar way today…

I stand in the kitchen washing dishes and thinking aloud while praying in between my thoughts that are racing around wildly. I come to this realization that you can’t strive for happiness if you aren’t choosing to live in the happiness of today. You can hope and wish that the future will provide you happiness and your life will be full of happiness but in all reality, are you choosing to be happy in the present? These were my thoughts as I unloaded the dishwasher realizing most the dishes had not come clean. What does this mean for the person who simply wants to be happy? What does this look like while your mother-in-law is dying of cancer? What does this look like in the chaos of the day chasing tiny tots around? What does this look like in an unhappy marriage? What does this look like when finances simply aren’t there? Many of us relate to one of these issues, if not more.

I don’t have all the answers, I don’t have most the answers and in fact, lets be completely honest, I have NO answers. All I know is that I can’t wish happiness upon my future if I can’t accept the happiness of the day. Everyday, no matter how bad it is, has something to rejoice about. I can tell you this honestly as the last three years has been brutal. My husband and I have been in the fire in ALL aspects of life; marriage, job, kids, health, family, finances, friendships, house problems, faith and personal growth. Life is NOT easy and was never promised to be easy, yet we constantly pry for happiness without being thankful for the moment.

Although these past three years have been extremely difficult I still have a lot to be thankful for. My family is healthy, my marriage is still together, my son is an amazing boy, we have a job, we have finances, we have a house, we have one another, we have cars to drive and food to eat. These are only a few things but life can’t proceed without the basics; family and friends. If you have the basics, begin there.

One day, maybe our eyes will be opened to the pain Christ has spared us from. Yup, even in hardship I know God has spared us from even greater pain that the enemy longs to place upon me and my family. My husband said it today “we hit the edge of the cliff thinking there’s no where else to turn, you must jump. Just as you recognize that there is nothing left, God releases a little bit of hope. Enough to get you through the next minute, hour, and day. Just when life seems completely hopeless, God gives that small ray of hope.”

Thanks to theminimalist.com

Unfortunately, sin and evil are apart of this world which in turn brings about heartache and pain. Watching my mother-in-law battle for her life against the raging war of cancer has been extremely difficult. Her life is hanging on by a thread and yet she still smiles, she still jokes, and she still has positive talk flow from her lips. I don’t know how she does it! I do know God is faithful and for those watching her battle and fight everyday, I know God is working in our lives as well. What this looks like is incredibly unknown, but there are glimpses of hope, there are moments of happiness and there are moments of peace. So how then, do we obtain happiness when life is falling apart around us?

Dear friends, God is working and he is working in the lives of each of us on so many different levels. For example, I watch my broken husband hang on to the current relationship he has with his mother while years past seem wasted. Battling his mind of hurt and anger from heartache in his childhood that haunts him today while he faces his mom sick in bed. The compassion he feels for her is incredible, the sadness overflows his soul, yet years of pain still reside deep within. “I just want to be happy!” the phrase comes up again. How do people be happy with a life that is so hard and painful? Friends, Christ didn’t promise us happiness, he promised us hope and future! What more than can we ask for? We have our hope and happiness at our fingertips yet we hang extremely loosely as the questions flood our mind; fear and doubt set in. We don’t need all the answers we need to grasp tightly to the hope we have and live our lives full of the promises God has already given. These past three years have been beyond what I could ever imagine yet I still find myself learning that Christ is who He says he is. I have nothing to fear! Although I know this concept, I battle it everyday.

So, my dear friends, if you want the magic key to happiness my answer to you all is simply to live in the happiness of what you have been given today no matter the circumstances. Do NOT dwell on the pain, the heartache or the past! Live today with the glass half full rather than craving a future full of happiness, it’s here and ready for you today, not later. I tell you this from experience while I still learn each day to cling to the moments I am given. It’s not easy but it is possible.

Moment of Truth: Live in the now, rejoice in what you have!