The Mustard Seed: The little seed with a big reputation

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“The Kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of  mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:  which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”—–Matthew 13:31-32

Who hasn’t seen a mustard seed presented at some point in a Sunday School lesson?  Truly, it is a remarkable concept that something so tiny has the potential to become something so large.  There are many applications in life to this parable.  I like to think about the story of David and Goliath even.  I get a swelling in my breast whenever I think about David’s faith that must have started as small as a grain of mustard seed but oh how it grew!

I also like to think about the humble beginnings of the life of Christ as he was born in a stable.  The influence of his life and teachings has affected the entire world over many centuries.  I could go on and on with a multitude of applications to the above parable.  However, I would like it if you would just pause a moment and think how this could relate to you personally as a covenant son or daughter.

fyi:  The name “mustard”, as well as the use of mustard as a condiment, came from the Romans, who added “must” (freshly pressed grape juice) to the spicy-hot powder from the ground-up seeds.

Source:  The New Era, February 2013

Broccoli & Cheese Quinoa

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I’m in LOVE with quinoa! It’s been so nice having something new and so versatile in my diet. Have you tried cooking with it yet? You really should give it a shot. My kids gobbled this right up. We served it with some chicken and carrots on the side. Made for a tasty dinner. Plus, it cooks up so quickly!

Broccoli & Cheese Quinoa

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions
1. Put quinoa, broth and broccoli to a pot and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered until the broth has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender,about 15-20 minutes.
2. Mix in the cheese, let it melt.
3. Enjoy!

Want some more Quinoa Recipes? Check these out…
Quinoa Primavera
Moni’s Quinoa Mac & Cheese

Nigella’s Breakfast Bars

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Mr. Blue Eyes’ parents gave us a Nigella Lawson cookbook a few years ago and there are some fabulous recipes in it. I mean, c’mon. It’s Nigella we’re talking about. These granola bars are so easy and so good that we eat them morning, noon, and night!

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2.5 Cups of Rolled Oats (not instant!)
1 Cup Shredded Coconut
1 Cup Dried Cranberries
1 Cup Mixed seeds* (Nigella suggests pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)
1 Cup Natural Unsalted Peanuts

1. Preheat the oven 250 degrees F and spray a 9×13″ pan.
2. Warm the Sweetened Condensed Milk in a sauce pan. Ms. Lawson suggests a Large one; I used a small one. Tomato, Tah-mah-toe.
3. In a Large mixing bowl, mix all the other ingredients together. Pour the warmed milk over the top and fold it over until everything is looking gooey and good!
4. Press the mixture into your greased pan. At Nigella’s suggestion I used a latex (or non-latex for all you latex-sensitive people) glove. Make sure you press down fairly firmly and pack it well. We had trouble with crumbling. Not that that makes it taste any less delicious!
5. Bake for 1 hour. After it’s cooled about 10 minutes, cut 4×4 length to width and remove from pan to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container. Makes 16.

*Notes:
1. We have used Unsalted Cashews (1/3 Cup); Salted, shelled pistachios–pictured above (1/3+ Cup); Sunflower Seeds (1/3- Cup). They turned out great!
2. When she says natural, unsalted, she means it. Unsalted just seems to turn out better.

Source: Nigella Express:130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast

Easy 7-layer Bean Dip

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This is my go-to recipe when I need to bring a side dish to a gathering and don’t have a lot of time.  This dip is little different than traditional 7-layer dip but I always get requests for the recipe and compliments when I bring it.
The Seven Layers:
1 Can of Refried Beans
1 1/2 Cups Plain Yogurt
1 Packet of Taco Seasoning
1 Bunch of Cilantro
1 Bunch Green Onions
3-4 Roma Tomatoes
Cheddar Cheese
Directions:
1-Spread the can of refried beans on the bottom of the serving dish.
2-Mix the packet of taco seasoning with the yogurt and spread on top of the beans.
3- Chop up the cilantro, tomatoes, and green onions and layer on top of the yogurt.
4-Sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese on top of the veggies.
5-Serve with tortilla chips.
The dip is really easy but also very tasty!

Chicken & Wild Rice

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My family really liked this. Its a recipe I found in my 4 ingredient cookbook.  I changed it up a bit,
and voila! It was SUPER simple and cooked itself! The mandarin oranges add just a bit of sweetness to this dish that really makes it great! By-the -way, this is pretty healthy.
 
 
Ingredients:
1 bag of chicken, boneless & skinless
1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice, original flavor
1 box of Uncle Ben’sWild Rice, Herb Roasted Chicken Flavor
1 big can of Mandarin Oranges   
salt
pepper
2 1/2 cups of water, according to rice directions
 
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Using a roasting pan, layer the bottom with both boxes of rice.  Then sprinkle one of the seasoning packets over the rice.  Cut all the fatty parts off of the chicken and cut each breast into thirds. Layer the chicken over the rice. Sprinkle the second seasoning packet over the chicken and the rice. Lightly sprinkle salt and over the entire dish.  Pour the can of mandarin oranges over the chicken. Spread them out a bit so all of the sweetness goes everywhere instead of on  just one spot of the dish. Add the water carefully. Cover your roasting pan with tinfoil if you don’t have a lid. Then bake for 2 hours.  So, put this on just before you go to get the kiddos from school and it will be ready for dinner!
 
original recipe from 4 Ingredient Cookbook.

Emergency Brownie!

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Have you ever had an overwhelming craving for a brownie but didn’t want the temptation of a whole pan of them?  Yes?  Then you have to try this microwave mug brownie.  Recipes for these are popping up on blogs all over the place.  This particular recipe is one of my 14-year-old son’s stand-by recipes.  He tells me that it’s gooey-er than a regular baked brownie but that it still hits the spot.  I can always tell when he’s been in the kitchen from the tell-tale brownie dregs in the mug on the counter.

If this particular mug brownie recipe doesn’t tickle your fancy you are sure to find a plethora of them online.  It took some trial and error before we found the ones that appealed to us the most.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch salt
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 Tbsp. milk

1.  In a microwaveable mug (or glass canning jar), stir the dry ingredients together.  Try to get out all the lumps.  Add the milk and oil and stir until well-combined.
2.  Microwave on HIGH for one minute.  After that, microwave for 10-15 seconds at a time until it springs back a bit but still has some gooey-ness on top.  My son says it typically won’t look done when it really is, and it easily burns if you cook it too long.  It took him a while to get the right time in our microwave…this time it took one minute and thirty seconds.

We love our brownies drizzled with a little warmed up peanut butter and a little ice cream or whipped topping.

Source:  Babble’s Family Kitchen

Find the Tender Mercies

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This picture just makes me laugh because it is so true! Sometimes you just have to pick yourself up and carry on! Life does not always turn out the way you plan, and you just have to figure out how to take the next step forward. And I’ve learned that you can be miserable and complain while you do it, or you can be positive and happy, but you are still going to have to do it! 

I have a good friend who was so excited to have her son come home from his mission this past week! He had been serving in Chile for two years, and they anxiously awaited his arrival home. They cleaned the house meticulously, and even rented a carpet cleaner and scrubbed all the carpet in the house. Finally the day of his arrival had come, and they were up early having breakfast, excited to go pick him up from the airport. In the middle of their breakfast they heard a funny noise coming from the bathroom and went to check it out. To their horror, they found both bathrooms overflowing with backed up sewage!!!! Within minutes a foul smelling black sludge covered the floor of every room in their home! 
Here’s the short version of the rest of the story – they had to immediately evacuate and find a new place to live! Most of their belongings were contaminated and had to be thrown out.They spent several days wearing face masks, heavy rubber boots, and rubber gloves as they sorted through their belongings seeing what they could possibly salvage (like pictures and artwork on the walls, items in the tops of closets, etc.) What a nightmare! Seeing their home like that, and helping them with the task of saving whatever they could, brought me to tears several times. How depressing and frustrating and horrible!
But my amazing friend and her family (including her son who arrived home to the disaster) just picked themselves up and carried on. They were even cheerful in the process, and so grateful for all the help they received, and thankful to their Heavenly Father for all of the tender mercies He had provided. TENDER MERCIES? Perhaps most people would not be able to see the tender mercies in this situation, but they did. They have a long list of them! They are actually still right in the middle of all of it, still trying to make heads or tails of everything, but a huge snow storm yesterday has haulted their efforts. I’m sure they saw that as a blessing too.
This is a good reminder to me of something I have told my children often, “You can do it kicking and screaming, or you can do it with a happy attitude. Either way, you are going to have to do it! And happy is such a better way!”
Photo Source: I could not find where this originated. I saw several sites that had it and gave permission for it to be shared. What a cute photo!

Olive Garden’s Pasta E Fagioli Soup

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Olive Garden’s Pasta E Fagioli Soup
  • 2 lbs. ground beef*
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 carrots, shredded
  • 1 c. celery, chopped
  • 2 (28 oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 (16 oz.) can red kidney beans, drained* 
  • 1 (16 oz.) can white kidney beans, drained 
  • 4 cups beef stock
  • 3 tsp. oregano
  • 2 tsp. pepper
  • 5 tsp. parsley
  • 1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
  • 1 (20 oz.) jar Prego traditional spaghetti sauce
  • 8 oz. pasta 

  •  Brown meat. Drain fat. Combine all ingredients (other then pasta) in a large crock-pot.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.  Add cooked pasta just before serving. 
  • *I usually make this without meat and it still tastes great!
  • *I have never had white kidney beans on hand when I have made this so I use another can of red kidney beans.
Source: www.favfamilyrecipes.com

Chopstick Tuna Casserole

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In case you don’t know this, I love retro.  I went back to the 60s for this recipe that my Mom used to make for us.  I don’t know how often we had it but when I was looking through some of her old recipes one day, I saw it and added it to my collection.  When we were compiling a family recipe book I included this one in it.  I don’t make it very often because M doesn’t like the word casserole and it has celery in it, which is actually one of my favorite parts, along with the cashews.  Well, there just isn’t any ingredient that isn’t good in this dish.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and guess what?  It’s low fat and healthy.  You can use the healthier version of Cream of Mushroom soup and it is still yummy.

Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
2 cups chow mein noodles
1 can tuna, drained and flaked
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup toasted cashews
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup water
Dash of pepper

1.  Combine soup and water in a medium bowl.
2.  Add 1 cup chow mein noodles, dash of pepper and remaining ingredients.  Toss lightly; turn into square baking dish.
3.  Sprinkle with remaining noodles.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Enjoy the aroma coming from your oven as this bakes.  Seriously.  Mouth watering.

Source:  Patricia D. Brew

Blond Marshmallow Brownies

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Ingredients:

1/2 c. butterscotch morsels
1/3 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 t. salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. semisweet chocolate morsels
1 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. pecans or walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1.  Combine butterscotch morsels and butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until morsels are melted.  Remove from heat.

2.  In a mixing bowl, stir flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add butterscotch mixture, beaten egg and vanilla and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips, mini marshmallows and nuts.

3.  Spread in a greased 9 inch square baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely and cut into squares.

Source:  Pillsbury Bake Off Contest via Melva Burke (Daily Reflector, June 19, 2002)

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