Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Adventures of 2010 #4

Hello,

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't posted more blogs about my adventures. I will answer.

I realized that two a week may be a bit excessive for our life. Since PJ works nights, I cook dinner once or twice a week - and it's usually rushed. Also, it gets a bit pricey - we have a very small budget for groceries.

The new format of our Adventures will have to change. I will post everytime I cook/bake/create something new - at whatever pace that may be!

I'll try to make something tonight out of ingredients I already have at home. We shall see...

Mrs. Scalf

Monday, February 8, 2010

Adventures of 2010 #3

Bonjour!!

It's a Snow Day in Memphis TN. Wow, I wasn't even expecting snow! I had my alarm set this morning for 5:00 AM to go to growth group at Nancy's. I had prepared everything for my day last night (packed lunch, picked out clothes, put together a gym bag, etc.) so when my alarm went off, I kept sleeping. Then at about 5:30 I went to stroll out of bed, but I noticed I had two text messages:
"Growth group is canceled due to the weather, enjoy your sleep ladies!" and
"Snow day at school today, let me know if you are going to come in or not"



Naturally, I went back to sleep.... until 10:30 (which gives me a disgusting 13 hours of sleep last night)

Mr.'s favorite breakfast meal is sausage gravy and biscuits and we just so happened to have all th necessary ingredients - so this is half of my Adventure of 2010 #3. The recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman and looks delightful! Keep posted for photos :D
_________________________________________________
I'm back. Now its Tuesday and yesterday morning I made the biscuits and sausage gravy. It was a disaster! The sausage I used didn't produce the amount of grease that the recipe called for and I accidently added old, expired milk. PJ thought it was gross... and it looked gross. ohhh, better luck next time! I still have to think of one more thing to make...

Twice-Baked Potatoes!! We have a plethera of wild game in our freezer from the Ryan Family (PJ's mom and stepdad) so I thawed some of the bratwurst (what a weird word to spell...) and fried them up. What better to go with brats than some cheezy, bacony, twice baked potatoes! I really wish I had a decent camera because the photo below does not testify to the tastyness of this side!


For Christmas I made my family's traditional Christmas cookies. One of my students requested some more of these cookes for Valentine's day, which was a great idea! However, since Christmas Cookies are a Christmas-only tradition (like sticky-buns!) I changed up the icing a bit. The heart cookies tasted more like Grandma Daniels' Christmas cookies, which I think is an acceptable variation for Valentine's Day! She loved them, especially the ones with purple icing :D



Looking for next week's adeventure!

Mrs. Scalf

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Dear Ree

Dear Pioneer Woman,

I really, really, really, really would love to have those beautiful French Ovens. Please pick me... pretty please!

Love,
Mrs. Scalf

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Adventures of 2010 #2

The first week of my new adventure was a complete success!
Chicken Parmigiana by The Pioneer Woman was DELIGHTFUL!! I mean... wow:
If I would have cared more about the above photo, I would have not tried a bite before I snapped this... and would have taken a warm, wet rag around the plate for a profession, clean look... But I was starving and the smell of garlic and melted cheese was going straight to my stomach and teasing me. So I tasted, snapped, then ate. And ate. And ate! The Mr. loved it, too (which is my ultimate goal).
And for dessert (which we didn't even get to eat until today because we were so stuffed from dinner), Veronica's Strawberry Chocolate Chip cookies.
YUMMY! Since you cannot find this recipe on The Pioneer Woman, here it is for your baking and eating pleasure: (and it will fulfil your deepest longing for sweet, delicious, goodies)
1 box Strawberry Cake Mix
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1 egg
6 oz chocolate chip cookies (I used milk chocolate, but I'm sure semi-sweet are great, too)
Mix the ingredients together, bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes (that's what the recipe says, but mine were done after 8 minutes). Unlike most cookies, you do not want these to turn golden brown, they need to be almost undercooked. I took mine out when I began to see golden brown on the bottom edges. They are nice and soft :D
Now, I'm going to enjoy a cookie if you don't mind...
Mrs. Scalf

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Example of Needing more Jesus on I-240

Yesterday I wrote about needing more Jesus. When driving anywhere in Memphis, in need LOTS of Jesus. For example, today I was merging onto I-240 and the lane next to me was also merging. I was in the left lane which, at this particular entrance ramp, meant that the other lane had to merge into my lane and then we all merge onto the high way. However, this morning there was a man who can't read merge signs and clearly doesn't know the rules of the road. He started racing me to beat me and pretty much ran me off the road because he didn't want to merge into my lane behind me... he wanted to be in front of me. So of course I blasted my horn like there was no tomorrow. And I wanted him to learn his lesson!

If in this moment I had more of Jesus in me and battled my fleshly anger, I would have graciously let him in front of me, regardless of his desire to beat me and run me off the road. The horn wouldn't have gone off, my rage wouldn't have lasted until I walked into work, and I wouldn't have been tempted to throw him the finger. (I didn't throw him the finger because that's just rude, not classy, and he would for sure think I didn't love Jesus...but oh did I want to!!)

See, I need more Jesus.

Thanks to a friend (you know who you are but I didn't know if you wanted me to put your name on the internet) for reading my blog! I think you are great... really great! And thank you for assuring me that black and brown can be worn together and look snazzy!

Chickin Parm for din din tonight so you know what that means... Adventures of 2010 #2 coming soon :D

Mrs. Scalf

Monday, February 1, 2010

Adventures of 2010 #1

I've got a great plan!

Since I have to wait until I go home so that my mother can teach me how to knit mittins and socks... I'll make cooking/baking my 2010 hobby.

I would like to try 1 new main course recipe and 1 other (side dish or dessert) recipe each week. This week I am making the Pioneer Woman's version of Chicken Parmigiana (my first time ever to cook with red wine!) and Veronica's Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies (YUMMMM) ! I'm also going to do my best to take photos of my adventures, however my camera doesn't do so hot when photographing food/anything indoors. Outside lighting is the best, though!

I love my new hobby!!

Mrs. Scalf

More Jesus

This is what it boils down to - EVERYONE NEEDS MORE JESUS.

My soul was hungry for some time with our Lord this weekend, and I ignored it, and ignored it, until I couldn't do one more thing until I read, thought, and prayed. I will be the first to admit that my time with the Lord is MINIMAL. But when I listened to the Holy Spirit telling me to get away with Him... i felt relaxed and so peaceful. It was EXACTLY what I needed. I'm trying to read through my Bible cover to cover and memorize James. I finished off 1st Samuel and am now moved into 2nd Samuel - the life of King David. I argued with God saying, "I'm in the Samuels.... what am I going to read in there that so great, anyway? I'm bored with it." But that wasn't the point because LIFE ISN'T ABOUT ME AND WHAT I WANT! Just reading God's Word was all I needed and He knew that...

And I need more of Him. Everyone does.... People will say things and I can't help but think, "you need more Jesus..." I will think things or reflect on my selfish week and think, "I need more JESUS!" We all need more Jesus.

I'm going through the Financial Peace videos by Dave Ramsey and at one point he talks about the necessity of discipline in order to gain wealth (or in my case be financially wise). He said no one enjoys discipline... if you do, you're kind of weird. But everyone enjoys what discipline produces. Which is TRUE. When I am disciplined in my diet and exercise I feel great and stay thin. Do I like training for half marathons? NO . Do I like going to the gym to lift after a long day at work? NO. But the product of a disciplined workout is worth it. In the same way, I do not necessarily enjoy sitting down and reading Samuel, but I LOVE what God does with it - the product of quality time with Him!

Discipline has been my biggest battle in my walk with the Lord.

Also... I made sticky buns again today and they were delicious. Although I spilled half of the buttery brown sugar mixture all over me while trying to carry them to my car... Other than that, they were a DELIGHT for sure. Here is the recipe in case you are itching for some:

1 frozen loaf of white bread (I think I used Pillsbury or Kroger brand, in the frozen bread section. It came in a package of 5 loaves.)

1 package non-instant vanilla pudding

5 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Thaw bread according to package directions. Place on a lightly floured surface and roll into roughly a 12x8 rectangle. Melt the butter and spread some across the rolled out dough. In a small bowl, combine pudding, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the butter. Roll up the dough (from long edge to long edge) and cut into 12 equal pieces. Place pieces into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan. Pour the remaining butter over the rolls. Cover and let rise. (I let rise over night in the refrigerater and they are ready to bake in the morning). Preheat oven to 350. Bake uncovered for 18-20 minutes or until the top of the rolls are golden brown. Finally, flip the rolls upside down onto a plate and ENJOY!


Next I will have Veronica's strawberry chocolate chip cookies... oh so approriate for Valentine's Day!

Mrs. Scalf