Baked Zucchini Fries

I got this recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything and it was DELICIOUS! Mine didn't look quite like this and we didn't eat them with marinara sauce, though, just straight. Yum.

Baked Zucchini Fries

3 med zucchini sliced into 3" x 1/2" sticks
1 lg egg white
1/3 c seasoned bread crumbs
2 TBS grated Romano cheese
cooking spray
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt
pepper

Heat to 425.

Beat egg whites in a bowl. In a ziploc bag mix bread crumbs, cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Spray cooking sheet and set aside.

Dip zucchini in egg. Place in bag, a handful at a time, and shake well. Place in a single layer on the cooking sheet. Spray more cooking spray on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with marinara.

Smokey Sweet Potato Burgers with Roasted Garlic Cream and Avocado

For someone who has such a Pinterest addiction, I don't make a ton of new recipes from it. Well today we were trying to come up with dinner ideas. Hm.... 

"Hey how about ___________?" 

"Nope."

"Well what about ___________?" 

"Eh, nah." 

"Okay, well ______?" 

"I don't think so." 

Okay.... Let's break out Pinterest. I saw this recipe from How Sweet It Is and decided it looked amazing. Now, it's probably surprising if you know my family. We are very much carnivorous. :-D But we ate an entirely vegetarian meal. And it was DELICIOUS! This recipe says it makes 4, but I think it could easily make 6 burgers. 

Smokey Sweet Potato Burgers with Roasted Garlic Cream and Avocado

2 c coarsely mashed sweet potatoes

1 c cannellini beans (drained and rinsed if canned)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 c panko bread crumbs (could be substituted for something else if needing gluten free - oatmeal?)

1/3 c oat or whole wheat flour

1 large egg, beaten

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp cumin

2-3 TBS olive oil

1 avocado, sliced

2 bulbs roast garlic (Jessica, at How Sweet It Is, has a great tutorial here.)

2/3 c plain greek yogurt or sour cream

1 tsp syrup

extra salt and pepper for seasoning cream

whole wheat buns

Pierce potatoes all over with a fork and place on a paper towel. Microwave for 10 minutes. Scoop out potato. In a large bowl, mash beans then add sweet potato. Add spices, salt and pepper, minced garlic, egg, panko, and flour. Mix together until combined, then refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. 

While mixture is chilling, combine yogurt/cream with 2 bulbs (squeezed out) garlic, syrup, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Remove mixture from fridge and form into patties. Place on the skillet once hot. DO NOT MOVE until they are fully cooked and golden on one side. This takes about 5-6 minutes. Add more oil if needed when you flip them. Flip them gently. 

Toast buns, if desired, and assemble by topping burgers with roasted garlic cream and avocado slices.

Pumpkin Tapioca Pudding

It's Fall! Hooray! And that means yummy food! Hooray again! One of my favorite things in the Fall is soup. Last Fall I invented a yummy, yummy soup. I decided that I wanted to make some of that today. I walked out to the garden and got a butternut squash and made my soup. But this soup, as with most recipes, doesn't require the entire squash. So what do you do with the rest of the squash? You don't want to let it go bad. You may or may not be aware of this, but butternut squash is a good substitute for pumpkin. I make a pie using butternut squash and it is, in my opinion, better than pumpkin. It has an amazing flavor and lighter texture. On a whim I looked up recipes for pumpkin tapioca. The only one I could find involved coconut  milk, which I am allergic to. And it was missing a few things so I ended up completely redoing it and basically making up my own recipe. It made a nice Fall twist on a traditional food. Also, as you may have concluded, there's no pumpkin in this (though you could use pumpkin). Pumpkin Tapioca is just easier to say and sounds more appetizing than Butternut Squash Tapioca. So here you go.

Pumpkin (Butternut Squash) Tapioca Pudding

• 3 c milk
• 1/3 c sugar
• 1/3 c tapioca
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 med butternut squash, peeled, cubed, boiled, and mashed
• ground cinnamon

Heat milk, sugar, tapioca, and egg to rolling boil. Add vanilla. Mix in mashed pumpkin/squash and a little cinnamon. Allow to cool and serve topped with cinnamon.

An Apple a Day, Day 1, part 2

Ok, so what else to do with apples? APPLE BUTTER! Yum!

My friend, Ann Marie, gave me her recipe for crock pot apple butter. My house smells amazing right now. It is very easy to do!

Ann Marie's Apple Butter

5 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

2 TBS lemon juice

1/2 c sugar - little less if sweet apples (I used 1/4 c because I had Stayman apples which are very sweet)

1/2 c brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

Toss apples with lemon juice. Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on high, covered for 2 hours. Uncover and cook on low until it is easily mashed. Mash with potato masher (for slightly chunky) or blend with immersion blender (for smooth). Makes about 1quart. 

I doubled this and canned it in jelly jars. Enjoy!

An Apple A Day, Day 1, part 1

A few days ago a little boy I babysit and I went apple picking. I got a little overenthusiastic about picking said apples and came home with half a bushel of apples! YUM! But.... what am I going to do with all these apples? Well the first thing was one very yummy breakfast. I got this recipe from Tracy McKay at Dandelion Mama. It was so simple and so delicious! Tracy said to top it with powdered sugar and syrup, but my brother and I both ate ours without syrup and think the syrup is totally unnecessary. It is delicious and sweet enough without it!

Dandelion Mama's Apple Pancake of Yumminess (German Apple Pancake)

1/2 stick butter
2 large, firm apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 c milk
1/2 c flour
4 large eggs
3 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450. In a cast iron skillet, melt butter. Add apple slices and cook until they are starting to turn color a little bit. This takes about 5 minutes. While the apples cook combine milk, flour, eggs, sugar, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. When apples have finished cooking, sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar over them then pour the batter over the apples. Place skillet in oven and cook for 10-12 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Syrup optional.

This is absolutely delicious and because of the eggs it held us both pretty well, which surprised us given all the carbs! Not saying it's good for you but it sure is good!

^ Almost done

^ Sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar

^ All ready for the oven

^ Fresh from the oven

^Oh my word, yum!

Abba

My favorite name for God is Abba, which is Hebrew for father. I love the imagery of that name. As the Father, God fills every role of our earthly fathers and then some. As His child taking baby steps and learning to walk in His ways, we sometimes stumble and fall. We sit and cry until our Daddy picks us up, brushes off our little bums, wipes the tears away, takes our hand and helps us walk again. And when we disobey, he disciplines us. When we don't get our way and we stand there screaming at Him and stomping our little feet, much in the way petulant two year olds are prone to do, He patiently waits until we get it out of our systems and again, lovingly disciplines us, though yes, that discipline sometimes hurts. I love the idea that we can crawl up into God's lap and excitedly tell Him all about our day or pour out our hearts and hurts and bury our faces in His shoulder and cry it all out. He fixes what's broken and takes care of the boo boos. He picks us up and carries us when we're to tired to keep going. He puts us up on His shoulders to help us see things from His perspective. He teaches and models. He provides and protects. He puts Himself between His children and those who would seek to harm them (aka Satan). He brings s into a family where we are loved and served and where we, in turn, love and serve. He gives us an identity. He desires our ultimate good and delights in blessing us. There is so so so much more than these things, but how blessed are we to have an eternal Heavenly Father who loves us as children unconditionally?

The Bridge, The Redemption

Today I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Antietam Battlefield in Maryland and spend a number of hours sitting next to and standing on Burnside's Bridge. This place stirs in my soul and brings me a sense of peace unlike any other place I've been. When I'm overwhelmed, this is where I yearn to go. It doesn't make sense to many people but I think I was able to write down a way to explain it a little. So here is a little of what I journaled today.

(taken Jan 2011)

Why do I love this place? Why is it that the site of the bloodiest exchange in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War is the place where I find the most peace? Leslie even said to me, "Don't think for a second that it escaped my notice that your 'peaceful place' is smack dab in the middle of a war zone." I laughed but she had a point. I'd thought of that myself before. It hadn't escaped my notice either. So why does this place stir so strongly in my soul? Why do I feel such an overwhelming sense of God's presence and peace?

It's redeemed.

Well, it is inasmuch as a place can be redeemed. Men fought here and died here. Bodies littered the field, the hill and the bridge. The river and its banks were stained red with the blood of these men, these soldiers. Its history is horrific.

Yet I sit here, leaning against the very sycamore tree that stood here all those years ago. I am enjoying the cool shelter and shade it provides. The birds are singing so many different beautiful songs in the trees all around me. Swallows swoop in and out of their nests under the bridge. A fawn plays in the field next to me. The river rolls lazily by, no more concerned by the girl sitting quietly on its bank than by the three tour buses of military college students that descend all at once and leave as suddenly. Occasionally a fish plops in the water or a bird splashes on its surface. Still it continues; gently, quietly, steadily around the pilings and on downstream. There is the moist, earthy smell of the cool, muddy bank on which I sit blended with the scents of grasses, weeds, and stone. The bridge itself, though many years have passed, stands still. It has witnessed the passing of time, the years have left their marks, added the color of moss and worn the stone, but still it stands. As it is summer, the plants are lush, full, and green. Insects buzz and chirp. Birds soar and sing.

So while, yes, this is a place of death, it is also a place of life. God in His infinite grace allows creation to continue though man fought and died here. The world He has created continues to grow, flourish, and live much in the same way it always has, though there are scars and wounds there. And we, as humans, obsessed with identity, have given this place the definition, "battlefield: bloody, violent, broken, horrible." History has value, it absolutely does. I find great joy and treasure in learning our story as humans. But to me, the past it just part of it. The true legacy of this place is the life it has born witness to through the death and the future ahead.

Perhaps part of my love for this place is that I identify with it; that I can see in its waters my own reflection, a reflection of my soul. My heart and my soul have a history which is still being written to an extent. I am a battlefield as Satan and my flesh battle against the Lord and my redeemed soul. Like this bridge, I am a place of death and blood as I am redeemed by the death and blood of Christ and daily witness to the death of myself, the death of my selfish fleshly desires, and the death of my will to leave a place for God's. Yes, there is death, but there is life in me also. Again, God in His infinite grace daily preserves my life, as I have been reminded of quite a few times in the last week or so. He brings growth and regeneration to my heart and soul. With time, He brings spiritual maturity and wisdom. And I bear witness to it all and hopefully those who know me bear witness to God's glory and work in my life as well. And who knows? Perhaps God occasionally uses me as the channel to bring someone His perfect peace just as this bridge, though mortar and stone, not flesh and blood, has done for me.

There is such great peace in redemption. God placed it on my heart to read the book of Ruth today. I've read it before, I know the story, but every time I read it, it provides new insights in to the glory of God. Redemption is a theme that runs strongly throughout the entire book. It is in the context of a kinsman redeemer. In a time when widowed women had little to no way of providing for themselves and in a time when the producing of sons was crucial to the survival of the people, the family, and the women specifically (as it was the sons who provided for their widowed mothers), those widows were protected and provided for through the custom of kinsmen redeemers. The kinsman redeemer was a relative of the deceased husband, usually an unmarried brother, who would "redeem" or purchase the right to be married to the widow and provide for her as well as produce sons with her  to take the name of her dead husband, preserving their line and name. Ruth's redemption came from Boaz and through their union the father of the line of David and ultimately Jesus was born. Jesus, the one who ultimately provided the redemption of the entirety of God's people. Jesus, THE Redeemer.

One verse that really struck me was the second half of Ruth 2:12. The whole verse says,
"The Lord repay your for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!"


What an image! God the Redeemer who protects, provides and is the source of refuge. And how cool that this is the passage I was led to as I sat here contemplating my redemption and the redemption of this place of peace for me?

"He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul."

^ the view from my seat under the tree

^ Looking up through the leaves

^ Walking across the bridge

^ my little spot (taken by Leslie Combs)

 (taken by Leslie Combs)

 (taken by Leslie Combs)