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Cobb Salad

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 25 September, 2014 No comment

Cobb Salad

Lets talk salad.

It’s so easy to make salad for dinner but a good, hearty salad that is filling and fulfilling may take a few extra minutes. Sometimes it takes the pressure of making a big ol’ meal and going back to basics.

Here is a simple but incredible Cobb Salad.

Ingredients:

1 lb cripsy cooked bacon
2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes
2 cups cubed ham
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup cheese, shredded
3 eggs, hard boiled
Homemade croutons
Blue cheese dressing

Wash and dry lettuce.

In 2 large bowls divide all the ingredients for two main dish salads. Equally portion out the toppings onto each salad.

Don’t forget to add fresh cracked pepper at the end.

Top with dressing and viola, you have an incredibly healthy, hearty salad that is bound to fill you up.

*Fresh tomatoes from the garden and real bacon verses bacon bits will make this salad that much better. (Please don’t buy bacon bits) Bacon isn’t meant to be preserved and sat on the shelf for 9 months.

Country Fried Chicken Double Dipped

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 24 September, 2014 No comment

Double Dipped Country Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken 10

Comfort food, ah ya!

Definitely had a craving for fried chicken but instead of frying it I opted to bake it. I did this because it actually is quicker and healthier without compromising the flavor.

I served this chicken with fresh corn, red mashed potatoes and homemade gravy.

My mouth is watering just reliving this experience.

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken, chopped largely
8 eggs, whisked
1 cup milk
2 lbs red potatoes
3 tbsp butter
3 cups plus 1/2 (reserve) milk or cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Breading:

2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar

Chop thawed chicken into large chunks and set aside.

Grease a 9×13 baking pan and set aside.

Fried Chicken

In a medium bowl combine eggs and 1 cup milk and whisk together.

In a separate medium bowl add the breading ingredients.

Dip your chicken in the egg batter and then into the breading.

Dip AGAIN back into the egg batter and again back into the breading for the double dipped effect. :)

Place into greased bake dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle.

Bring the potatoes to a boil and begin making the gravy.

For the gravy:

Once chicken is cooked, remove from pan and reserve the chicken remains and grease.

Spoon into a sauce pan and add 1-2 tbsp flour.

Coat batter with excess flour.

Add in 3 cups milk, (reserving the last half cup for the potatoes) heat through on med-low heat until it begins to thicken.

At this point check and see if you need more chicken flavor, if so add about 1 tbsp chicken better than bouillon and stir until melted.

If your gravy still is not thick enough, add a little gravy to a small cup and add in additional flour. Mix well until no lumps appear and dump back into gravy. (This will help prevent lumpy gravy)

Once the potatoes are soft, mash with a potato masher.

Add in 1/2 cup milk and butter.

Now you are ready to make your plate look pretty and fill your tummy.

Bring all your ingredients to the plate. Fried chicken, potatoes and corn.

Drizzle or lather in gravy.

I prefer the lathering of gravy.

Stylin’ Photo Shoot

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 23 September, 2014 No comment

He is the most handsome baby known to man.

And he is the most handsome babe known to man. :)

They are the cutest little twins I know. Daddy and me style.

I decided I would play around with my camera while we waited for the professional to show up and take our family photos. :)

Split Pea Soup

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 22 September, 2014 No comment

Split Pea Soup

I love soup and I love split pea. I made this recently on a morning that was chilly and gave a good excuse to have soup even while it’s still summer out.

Autumn meals are the best. Crock pots smelling the home, soups, stews, casseroles and stroganoff. You can’t get much better than some delicious comfort food. The battle of your mind shouldn’t be the calories they hold, but rather the fact that winter is coming and we must store our chipmunk weight up for the winter. And behold, Fall is a great way to get that started. :)

Ingredients:

1 hamhock
1 lb diced ham
2-3 cups split peas (I prefer my soup thicker)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 small onion, diced
3/4 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
6-8 cups water

In a crock pot add everything together and give a good stir.

How easy is that? That’s why I LOVE crock pots. They are simple, delicious and seriously can’t get any easier than dumping everything together!

Let it all simmer for 6-8 hours. Your house will smell wonderful and you will be ecstatic that dinner is already made!

Mixing quinoa, rice or couscous in with the soup for protein and to thicken it up, was the cure to getting him to eat soup.

He’s all fueled up from the Pea and off to play he goes! :)

Yummy!

Sloppy Joes-Bagel Style

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 20 September, 2014 No comment

Sloppy Joes-Bagel Style

I must give credit to my beautiful mama. She always has the best dinner ideas when I fail to let my mind come up with…well anything. I have many days where coming up with a dinner “idea” is challenging for me. Those are also the days I love to sleep in, lay in pj’s all day and watch romantic movies and not clean an item in my house. :)

Anyway, my mom brought this idea to the table and we devoured it. It was so delicious and a quick last minute option.

Sloppy Joes used to be my nemesis when I was younger. For some reason they scared me to death and looked like meat out of a can almost like spam. Who wants meat from a can with the name “sloppy”? You get my drift, I must have been caught up on the name for years. The name itself is entirely unappealing. Who want’s ‘Sloppy’ and a Joe in their dinner? Lets be real here, how did this name even come to fruition?

But through time, a lot of time, I sure learned that you can spice up the flavor and make it taste like a delicious spaghetti sandwich without the pasta. It is wonderfully flavored and easy eating, well not so much in the sense of the “sloppiness” but more in the full-flavor making it easy. Make sense? Good, lets move on.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Turkey
1 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Small Onion
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp Coriander
1/4 cup Water
1 Spoonful Brown Sugar
1 Can Tomato Sauce
1/3 Cup Ketchup
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard

In a large sauce pan begin cooking the turkey, minced garlic and onion. Add in chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic salt, coriander and water.

Allow to simmer until the meat is fully browned.

Once the meat is cooked, add in the tomato sauce and brown sugar.

Keep at a low simmer and add in mustard and ketchup.

Once everything is stirred in, allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Meanwhile butter your bagel and sprinkle with garlic salt. Toast in a toaster oven and top with Sloppy Joe mix. Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

You can also serve upon a non-freezer-burned Ciabatta roll.

Let’s set the mood.

Originally these sloppy joes were to be served upon a nice garlic toasted ciabatta roll. Once toasted and ready to devour, I about lost my cookies with one single bite that made it directly back out of my mouth and into the sink. I had not eaten cookies, but it was that bad, my tummy was about to lose cookies that hadn’t even been eat. Yes it was that bad. It was horrible, so horrible!

Out it came and on with the better idea to stack it with a bagel.

I’ll try not to disgust you with my loosing-of-the-cookies next time I experience a horrific taste in my mouth!

Individual Cherry Tarts

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 18 September, 2014 No comment

Individual Cherry Tarts

Bible study officially started up this week for FALL! I can’t believe Autumn is basically here. The school bus driving by all day long for preschool, kindergartners and regular all day school keeps the streets busy. The leaves turning and falling upon my garden. The crisp, cool mornings. FALL-IS-HERE.

I love the season of pumpkins, anything pumpkin that is makes me extremely excited and warm inside. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin scones, pumpkin pie, pumpkin lattes and MUCH more. I love pumpkin.

Though I love pumpkin because it means fall is in full force, today’s treats have nothing to do with pumpkins. They are tasty but not pumpkiny.

I made these for bible study brunch for the launch of our new season of life, digging deeper into the book of Ephesians. I love Ephesians and am excited to see what this season brings.

Lets get into the tarts!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup Unbleached Flour
2 2/3 cup Whole Wheat flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Butter, cold
3/4 cup buttermilk + 2 tbsp
3/4-1 cup frozen cherries
Sugar for topping (optional)

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp milk

In a stand mixer combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix together.

Cut butter into small cubes and toss with dry mixture until resemblance of small peas.

Add in Butter milk and mix well but be careful not to over mix.

Fold in Cherries and toss onto a floured surface.

cherry dough tart

Form into a log and cut diagonally forming a slight triangle.

Place on a cookie sheet and back at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Mix together the glaze and top on COOLED tarts.

Motives Of The Heart

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 16 September, 2014 No comment

Motives of the Heart

1 Corinthians 4:5
“…God will reveal what is hidden and the motives of our heart.”

Lord, I long to stand blameless before you with pure motives to live a life worthy of your calling. A life that influences others hearts and brings people to their knees in awe of who You are. Lord Jesus, I pray for a right mind as I bring up my child in the way he should go. I pray for my patience and that it would come from You. I pray that my teaching would reside deep within him that Jesus is Lord. I pray that I will always be the light of Christ when living in my marriage. I pray I would not cause my husband to stumble but grow deeper in his new-found love for You.

~Amen

Every day is a day battling our flesh and mind. Oh how easy it is for your thoughts to wander even while reading the Word of God. Take your minds captive, let God show us the steps for today.

Put your faith to the test. Stand in awe of Christ with a thankful heart. Find miracles in hardship. Find miracles in pain. Find miracles in the places we think can’t be reached; God is there.

Allow God to release you of the sins of this world.

Friends, you’ve heard me talk about this over and over again. Life is extremely distorted and burdensome to the world who knows not of Christ. Our family was faced with yet another “tragedy” this week. I use that word lightly because in the midst of fear, pain, tears and uncertainties, God is and was there! I’ve counted more than ten blessings in one nights tragedy that God was gracious towards, yes ten blessings. This blessings were no “little” blessings either, these were huge, massive, gigantic blessings that the Lord spared us from. His mighty hand rested gently upon His children. More importantly when this tragedy hit, the Lord was glorified three days later! The angels sang, the trumpets played and heaven praised as another child came to the foot of the cross begging for forgiveness and submitting their life to Christ. Through this tragedy, eternity sings and forever God is glorified. Can I get an amen?

Experiencing tragedy is a nightmare we long to avoid but God was ever so present in SO many ways. And I will step out an a limb and bring the uncomfortable to fruition that in every trial, tragedy, heartache and loss, GOD IS THERE. We must look for the blessings! I promise they are there even when you think there is no blessing to be found. The worst scenario possible still brings about God’s glory because God has already overcome evil. Victory already wins.

This heartache we experienced was a life altering situation BUT God longs to use this for His kingdom and bring others to Christ just as he did three days later. I pray for you in the midst of your tragedy whether big or small that God meets you there. I pray you don’t push it aside as God is longing for you to rest in His arms and allow Him to be the Potter, Maker, Chief and King of your burden.

No matter where you are in life, your face will never be hidden from the true Light!

Psalms 139:8 “If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.” Our face will never be hidden from His great light!

Do not hold onto lies, addictions, anger, resentment, bitterness and pride. God sees the worst and the best in us, we cannot hide from Him as we can attempt to hide from our spouse, family, friends and neighbors. He already knows your hearts contention so please release yourself to Christ and He will bring you strength; refreshing your soul of all that was not of Him!

Moment of Truth: Where we are broken, God is there. Where we are wounded, God is there. Where life is empty, God is there.

The Magical World of Narnia-In Our Backyard

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 15 September, 2014 No comment

Exploring In Our Very Own Backyard

My niece and sister have been frequenting our abode this summer and using our pool, picking blueberries and lots of fun walks to the river or through the forest. It’s amazing the beauty to be had with our “backyard,” you simply walk past the pool and enter the Chronicles of Narnia’s, a whole new destination closet leading somewhere entirely different. Isn’t that fabulous?

The heater got turned off in the pool leaving it to be an extra cool morning as well… Cooper opted out of getting in the water but chose to play and splash from the sidelines.

Mommy and Me time!
We entered the “closet” so to speak and the world opened up before our eyes.
They absolutely loved this magical rock where they could hide beneath it.
They grew sick of us telling them where to stand and to “smile,” so off we traveled across the path to the water that filled our eyes with a beautiful glow where the beaver lives.

We stumbled across the beavers home. A place where he has become very comfortable with all the runners that cross this path. He has lived here for quite some time but I personally have yet to see him. I’ve heard he comes out every morning and evening when it’s not too hot out.

We decided we would “wait” for him to show his little tail to us before continuing on in our journey of Narnia!

Waiting for the beaver…
I just love this little gal, she’s my favorite niece in the WHOLE world. Beyond precious!

And she enjoyed the world of Narnia being held in our backyard!

This tree has given it’s life to the Beaver…
“Could that be him?”

No beaver today…

Cooper found an awesome curly-que stick that would only be found through entering Narnia and handfuls of dirt to throw in the creek along our way home.

Stopping to play at the park in our neighborhood.
“Bye Park” Our journey is ending.

Definitely lunch time and nap time!

L eaving the world of Narnia was a good thing. These kids needed a nap and their minds needed a break! ;)

We had such a good time exploring the many things which lay within our own backyard. The kids love the pool, walks and water along the way. They tire with all the walking and take wonderful naps upon returning home! (Sigh)

So glorious to have time as family and to do fun things together!

Captive woman’s rescuer fought with kidnapper

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 12 September, 2014 No comment

We have some sick people in this world. This story shows the utter depravity of the human race. The fight to rule our own lives and the disaster it brings not only on oneself but to those around who are directly effected.

Life is a sticky mess without Christ. This displays yet again the deep need for a Savior. I pray for the woman who was kidnapped and I pray for the man who saved her that they both would be saved by the true Master of the World, Jesus Christ.

Friends, it is not that hard to slip up and make poor decisions, but the more you walk in the world, the more blind you become. Please take root and hold tightly to the Truth and don’t walk the line. Do not be tempted nor put yourself in positions that will cause great disaster by one false move.

Read article here: http://bit.ly/1CW2qTF

Thanks to KGW

Pray continuously to avoid horrible, life-altering consequences.

The Oregon Trail Ends Here

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 12 September, 2014 No comment

The Oregon Trail Ends Here

So unbeknownst to me, the end of the Oregon Trail ends literally in our backyard. Okay not quite but basically five minutes from our doorstep to the threshold of our historic east-west large wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. Or yet again, better known as our backyard.

I decided since we frequent Home Depot on an all too regular basis and pass this historic site every time we go there, that it was about time we stopped and journeyed around.

It’s a small stationed wagon that symbolizes the blood, sweat and tears that came from this journey and finally ending in Oregon City, OR.

The rugged wood…

Monuments along the path…

A little history you may not know.
Luckily Cooper is still so young, picking rocks was definitely a sweet spot on our journey.

This my friends was a long trek.

I’m not sure Cooper would have sufficed on this trek, but then again it is a different day and age. We are blessed to be born in the era we are.

Admiring the large wheel!

Hot and tired…he definitely was flushed and needed a break…(phew)

Break time over, lets grab the toys and get going.

Our journey back to the car…

They did a good job at portraying the blood, sweat and tears. This monument is worth seeing only because we live in Oregon and deserve to give history a “thank you” for what they have done for us thus far.