5 Spice Beef and Baked Crab Rangoon

Robbie and I were just talking the other day about how much we love, yet hate chinese food (well, the American version). So I was inspired to attempt some asian cuisine in this week's meal plan. The goal was delicious, a little more healthy, and not feeling hungry again an hour later. :)

Chinese 5 Spice Beef Kabobs

Okay, so the funny thing is that my beef was neither Chinese 5 spiced nor kabobbed. Robbie went grocery shopping and couldn't find the spice, even with the store's help. So I just grabbed 5 spices I thought would taste good together, ha! Onion powder, cumin, chili powder, ground ginger, and curry powder. I mixed a dash of all those together, then dry rubbed it on the beef sirloin strips. Next came a bath of low sodium soy sauce; and I let it sit until I was ready to pan sear it. Kabobs would've been cool except I forgot to write skewers on the grocery list.

After that I started my brown rice. I have never been able to cook brown rice properly...until tonight! Miraculously it turned out so fluffy and sweet. I guess the difference was I was so busy making the rangoons that I forgot about it. When I remembered, I just opened the lid and it was perfect. 1 1/2 cups of brown rice in 3 cups of water, for 45 min on the stovetop.

Baked Crab Rangoon

I put 8 oz of crab claw meat in a bowl with 2 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1 tsp ground ginger, and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper. Mix well. Next was about 3 sprigs of green onions, chopped. (fact: green onions are my favorite ingredient ever! I try to fit them in wherever I can) Then fold in one 8 oz bar of cream cheese.

Spoon mixture into a wonton wrapper and fold it up. I tried the fancy star shape you get at the restaurant, but it was taking forever. So I just sort of squished all the sides together. :) Place them on a baking sheet and throw them in the oven for about 10-15 min at 375 degrees.

While those were baking, I cooked up the beef strips over medium heat on the stove.

I couldn't have timed everything better. The rice, rangoons, and beef all finished cooking within minutes of each other. Another miracle! :)

The beef cooked up nice and tender, and as I said the rice was a divine intervention. My only reservation was the rangoon. I guess I'm just used to the sweet rangoons from our favorite place.

Don't get me wrong, they were tasty. But they were VERY savory instead of sweet.

Next time I think I'll try cream cheese and crab only. Oh and green onions.

Hey, it's still healthier than the fried ones!

First Mobile Post and Yummy Food!

Maybe my blogging frequency will increase now that I've downloaded the Blogger app! This could be fun! The only thing I don't like is that I can't put pictures between text...unless I just haven't figured out how to do it.

Whilst making dinner tonight I was inspired to blog about my Pinterest recipes. I know I'm nowhere near the first person to blog about recipes, documenting Pinterest inspired activities, or the combination of the two...but what the heck, right?

I don't know how people planned meals before Pinterest, ha! No worries I'm not abandoning my shelf of cook books yet.

Tonight's meal: Salmon and Asparagus

The recipe called for a cold oven bake. Which I've tried before with bacon, and its ridiculously tasty. Cold oven baking is when you put the food into a cold oven and then set the temp.

Aside from the fish and veggies, my ingredients were olive oil, butter, ground black pepper, ground sea salt, and fresh garlic.

I drizzled the olive oil, pepper, and salt on the salmon filets. Then I put it in the cold oven and set the temp to 400 degrees. Once it hit 400, it was about 25 minutes until they were done. My pictures show a couple test holes since I'm still learning how to tell when fish is done.

For the asparagus I chopped up a few cloves of garlic, added some tabs of butter, and some sea salt before tossing it in the oven with the fish. I guess it ended up cooking for about 25-30 minutes.

Turned out so yummy! The fish was flaky and sweet like candy. The asparagus was crunchy, yet softened with butter. An overall quick and easy weeknight fix!

30 within 30

I guess I'm a little late on making, let alone doing everything on, a "30 before 30" list.  But I'm inspired to at least write one out and go from there.  So I'll call mine "30 within 30" to give me a little wiggle room.  I just turned 29 about a month ago...so I'll wiggle it to completing before turning 31.  :) 

If checking off items from this list is like writing my college papers, then procrastinating will be my key to awesomeness.

I scribbled this down on paper first, just writing whatever popped into my head and not focusing on ranking.  Trying to rank what I want to do most and/or what's most important is nearly impossible.  Of course relationships take precedent over hobbies and the like, but I think that kinda goes without saying.

So without much further ado,  here's my list.

• Spend more quality time with Robbie.  Because babies, toddlers, working full time, and other general life responsibilities take up too much time.
• Take more pictures with my kids, family, and friends.  I'm always behind the camera.  And truthfully, I hate my picture taken.  But I know my boys would probably like having them as they grow.  I treasure all the photos I have of my Mom, especially ones of us together.
• Not be so addicted to my phone.  This is a bad one.  I'm terrible.  It's always close.  And I'm embarrassed to admit I'm on it sometimes while playing with Mav.  Yuck.
• Learn how to wear make up.  Robbie would disagree with this one.  He likes that I don't wear it and thinks I don't need it.  But I've never learned how to do it properly and I'm curious to know what looks good on me.  And it feels nice to get fancy every once in a while!
• Read my Bible and/or devotional more.  I miss being so submersed into the Word, and I can really feel when it's been too long.  I should be so familiar with God's Word that it's the first thing that comes to mind, every time, in all things.
• Run in some sort of organized race.  Between pregnancies, I was really getting set into a running routine.  I was losing weight and just generally feeling better.  I loved the feeling of making myself take one more step, going just a little further.  I'd like to aim towards a half marathon, but a 5 or 10k would be awesome too.
• Shoot more.  And get my conceal & carry license.  I love going shooting, especially with my Dad.  Haven't been in a while cause preggos can't be on the line.  I doubt if I'll actually ever carry, but it would be nice to have the option.  And it's my 2nd Amendment right.
• Get to know my neighbors.  It's sad.  We've been in our house over 5 years and I can't remember all of my immediate neighbor's names.  Granted, all of them are elderly and they aren't out of their houses much...but still not an excuse.
• Take a cooking class.  I love, love, love to cook.  It would be fun to take a technique class and learn more about the art of cooking.
• Connect and serve more at church.  I don't like that I don't know very many people at church and we've been attending for almost 2 years.  Having little ones makes it hard.  Gotta start small I suppose.
• Visit the giraffes at the Zoo as much as possible.  Maverick and Sawyer have been named "parents" of a giraffe at the Zoo in my Mom's memory; and many people have donated to the Zoo in my Mom's memory.  I want to take the boys to see the display of Grandma's name, and see "their" giraffe in person.  Also, being close to the giraffes makes my heart smile and warm memories of Mom flood my mind. :)
• Wear my hair down more, and fix it up more.  I guess this is in the same vein as make up.  99% of the time it's just up in a ponytail or bun.  It's just nice to learn how to make it pretty.
• Read more books.  Growing up I always had my nose in a book.  One of my most favorite birthday gifts I've ever received was the whole hardcover set of The Chronicles of Narnia.  I miss transporting myself into new places through text. 
• Follow Cardinals baseball more closely.  This one probably will make everyone laugh since it seems like I follow it obsessively.  I just want to fully geek out about it all.  Read up and memorize stats.  Follow the farm league to see who's coming up.  I want to be the little old granny at the ballpark who can school anyone, anytime, anywhere.
• Take the kids to more community events.  Especially now that Mav is old enough to get more involved and have fun.
• Go on vacation.  A real vacation.  I haven't been on one since our honeymoon to Chicago.  I want to go to Cardinals' spring training.  I would also love to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame again.  A beach is excellent too.
• Hang out and talk with my family more.  Because they are awesome, and I love them.  And I only get one family to spend time with.  I also want my boys to grow up knowing all of their family well.
• Get re-certified in Skywarn.  Besides baseball, my other most favorite thing is meteorology.  I was a certified storm spotter in college.  I miss going out and chasing storms, taking pictures.  It's been so long since I've used my spotter identification, I don't even know if it's good anymore.  Boo.
• Finish at least 1 home improvement project.  We bought our house well below the appraised value.  But the real price was having an ugly, outdated home.  We started so many projects at once to overhaul the ugliness...but haven't finished them in years.  Something about having kids...
• Write and send letters of encouragement.  I have done this a little in the past, and it was so great.  My Mom was so super awesome at it, and I can't tell you how many people shared with me at her visitation how she would always send them cards and letters.
• Plant flowers.  And keep them alive.  I've always been envious of yards with flowers, they look so pretty!  I've tried a few times to have flowers and I have the blackest thumb ever.  Makes me sad.  Maybe I should take a basic gardening class, ha!
• Hang out and talk with friends more.  I have the greatest friends ever, ever.  And I hate that we don't get to see them very often with everyone being so busy and such.  It's kinda cool now that our kids are getting old enough to entertain themselves, so us adults can actually interact! :)
• Organize my paper life.  It's bad.  I mean, I have a filing system that I started in college.  Yep, college...so it's overflowing.  I get all sorts of stuff in the mail, which goes to the kitchen table, which every few months gets filed into an overflowing filing cart.  Yikes.
• Write in my journal more.  I've kept a diary/journal since 4th grade, and I love that I have a whole shelf full of memories.  I usually find a few minutes late at night to write, and end up falling asleep--or currently being summoned by a crying baby--before finishing.  SO many things I don't want to forget, and be able to read about years from now.
• Wear more skirts and dresses.  They are so cute and comfy.  I have a ton that don't fit, but are too beautiful to let go.  Inspiration for getting back on my running routine!
• Sing more.  One thing that I miss is not singing in a church choir, but my church doesn't have one.  I have so many great memories of singing with my Mom.  She was the one who nudged me into singing in High School, and I ended up I guess being sort of good at it (according to my choir teacher).  But it's been so long!
• Improve punctuality.  Notice I didn't say stop being late, ha!!  Small steps.  Oh man, I used to be at least 10 minutes early to everything.  Now I'm lucky to be 10 minutes late.  Better planning needed!
• Read more comic books.  When Robbie was going through chemotherapy treatments, his buddies gave him a ton of comic books to read.  Unfortunately he was too nauseated to do anything.  I picked one up one day, and couldn't put them down.  Finished them all.  I'm craving some more.
• Renew my teaching certificate.  Having been in a non-certified position for 4 years now, my teaching certificate expired.  Fortunately all I have to do is take either a couple college courses, or attend so many professional development hours and I can renew it.  Actually, I think I want to expand my certification to Early Childhood since that's what I've been doing the past 4 years anyway; and hopefully move into a certified position once the boys are in school.
• Be more Christ-like to my family and friends.  I pray every day for my boys to accept Jesus, and grow up to be men of faith.  And I want them to see Christ in me; to see it every day of the week, in the good and bad.  I want to show Christ's love, and what He has done in my life to my friends and coworkers, without having to say one word.  To have the right attitude and perspective all the time, and show love to everyone all the time.  I know I'm far from perfect, and won't ever be; but I want to try my best. 

Navigating the Unexpected

We were sitting on the couch ready to bring in the New Year like most parents of young children--very quietly.  We had perfectly timed watching a movie on Netflix until just before midnight; then we switched on New Years Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest so that we could at least join the masses for the Big Countdown.

And then it hit me out of nowhere, unannounced.  Like it always does.

The burning weight in my throat.  The sting in my eyes.

As the clock was ticked down to 10 seconds left, I gasped an involuntary breath and held it.  2012 was mere moments from fading away, and I didn't want to let it go.  Panic gripped my mind.  I felt as long as I held my breath, I could somehow keep time frozen--in fact--rewind it.  As long as I held my breath, I had the power to keep a new year from starting. 

A new year that I have to start without my Mom.

And then I noticed that the clock was still ticking.  The world and the people in it were still moving.  As instantaneously as this grief swept me up in that moment, it was fleeting the next.  I exhaled.

This wasn't the first time an overwhelming wave of grief has hit me.  It's usually the most random, but normal every day things.  Ordering a Cherry Coke from Steak 'n' Shake.  Hearing a crack of thunder outside and expecting a phone call to chat about the weather.  Doing the laundry and seeing a shirt she bought one of the boys.  Hearing about a trade the Cardinals made, and wanting to discuss.  Dealing with a fussy baby, and wanting advice.

It can hit during the quiet of night before bed, or during the loudest of public events.

I've never grieved for someone I've loved so dearly, so strongly; my first best friend.  Learning how to navigate this journey has been difficult--but I truly feel the Lord guiding me.  I know that He has never left me, and He never will.  In my greatest hour of need, He is there.

For my birthday, my mother and father in law gave me a devotional book. It is called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.

It has been such a blessing to me, and I can already tell this will be a guide that I will read over and over in years to come.  On the inner dedication page, the author describes that her mother was her biggest encourager for writing this devotional.  Her mom kept the manuscript by her bed, and even had pages faxed daily to her while she lived far away.  Her mom died of cancer, and I can't help but feel a strong connection.  My mom instilled in me a great love for reading and writing, and always encouraged me in my creativity.

With "The Year of Firsts" ahead of me I know there are going to be many, many more moments of unexpected grief to come.  Some moments easier to deal with than others.  Some moments faster to deal with than others.  But I know that I won't face it alone.  Jesus will carry me.  I also have the greatest love from my husband, father, sisters, family, and friends.

Whatever is to come in 2013, I am so thankful that in spite of my imperfect self, the Father loves me more than I could ever love myself.  He knows me better than I could ever know myself.  He has had my life planned before time itself was created; and I trust that His plan is best...however difficult it may be sometimes to accept it.

Thanks for letting me express my heart.  I promise that I won't overwhelm this blog with such serious posts, but it does feel great to throw it out there.