Lebanese Eggplant Stew

Last night we reinstated crockpot sunday. I absolutely love crockpot sunday.

Eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic and a ton of middle east-ish spices. Threw it all it, put it on low, and headed out to church. At this point I should mention that two of the boys joining us for dinner I had never met and therefore felt very uncertain about this particular stew. It sounded great on paper, but in practice it did not look or taste very good...I guess I was bound to get a bad recipe sometime :)

Anyways, we ate the random stew, laughed, got to know each other, drank tea and hung out in the kitchen while digging into the one and only Tillamuck Mudslide.

A great crockpot sunday night, which got me excited for the upcoming year, making new friends, getting new roommates and sharing more meals with them.

More Cilantro and Mushrooms

So the ingredients of the week have slowly become cilantro and mushrooms. First I needed cilantro to try the quinoa recipe, then while walking through the produce isle a box of mushrooms jumped out at me for a mere 88 cents. Who can pass that up?

Both ingredient have yet to let me down this week and they pulled through once again for the finale. Meg's been craving potatoes so today we got some potatoes and I sat down to figure out what to do with them. There's the typical (in our home at least) cut them up and broil them, then i came across an sauteed herb recipe which sounded good but was without the herb part of it. Finally I settled on this little guy.

Baked potatoes with beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, chile powder, cummin, and of course mushrooms and onions on top. We had some corn to use up so the potatoes were served with some corn on the cob and a salad.
Turned out pretty good and there is a ton of leftovers! I'm really liking having new ingredients and experimenting with them, wonder what next week will bring....

Mexican Black Bean Soup and Spanish Quinoa

It's great to be back in Seattle, in my own kitchen, with a roommate who encourages me to try new recipes :)

Last night was the return to the old faithful crockpot with some mexican black bean soup. My attempt to cook through the book has been slow and not so steady this summer, but I'm hoping to start back up more consistently.

So black bean soup it was. Complete with onions, mushrooms, cumin, chile powder, corn and cilantro. A couple hours on high and wah-lah-yummy easy soup.

Tonight we followed along with the whole bean/corn/cilantro theme and made some quinoa concoctions. Quinoa is kinda a forgotten part of my diet, I don't ever think to make it but when I do it's awesome. Tonight I made red quinoa and while that was cooking sauteed some onions and garlic. Added some beans, corn, lime juice, tomatoes and cilantro and bam its a colorful fiesta in the kitchen. It was pretty good if I do say so myself...

Up next is some more fun with cilantro and somehow using a bunch of mushrooms we seem to have acquired...Oh how I love a challenge...

ice cream, smores, milkshakes and more

The lake was wonderful as always. It never seems to let me down. One of the magical things about the lake is that all the "no sugar" rules of my life go out the window. There is absolutely no judgement if I want to eat ice cream everyday or have an extra smore just because...

One night the first week I was there the Sponseller's came over for smores and a little fire..

There's this little ice cream shop in town that has become the favorite over the years, so much so that it was at my sister's wedding. It's full of chocolate dipped things, candied apples, and of course, lots of ice cream. We got to go with the whole Sponseller clan the night before they left, which was entertaining as always :)

This particular night I got half "death by even more chocolate" and half "peanut butter cup" which is peanut butter ice cream, with chocolate PB cups mixed in. So good!

Another day we branched out and wandered down to Polly's sweet shop, which is just as adorable as it sounds. Megan and Alex wanted milkshakes so we ventured down the boardwalk and we pleasantly surprised with the fact that Polly's makes milkshakes out of any ice cream you want. I stuck to the traditional ice cream cone, which never lets you down :)

I just got home from arizona, which is a whole other blog post and am currently working on getting back into my crockpot cookbook. Stay tuned!

grand lake breakfasts

This morning Mom tried out a new recipe on the fam called "Carrot Cake Pancakes". It's precisely what it sounds like. Pancakes with carrrots and a bunch of spices that taste like a mix between muffins, cake, and pancakes. We usually don't all eat bfast together, but the lake seems create that sort of atmosphere. We sit at the bar and Mom rattles off every option-french toast, eggs, corn cakes, and today, pancakes. Tay, Dad and I sat at the bar passing butter, agave, syrup, and bananas, chatting and sitting the sunny spots of another lake day.

I love watching my mom try new things in the kitchen. She is the person who taught me to cook and love food, finding as much joy in experimenting with food as I do. Every now and then it's a flop, but most the time her intution and skill pulls through and her experiment turns into our new favorite meal. Today was no exception.


In other news-I am, as always, awestruck by the beauty that sits in front of me here at the lake. It seriously never gets old. I've been reading a lot and today the chapter I read was talking about how sometime to commune with God and feel close to Him we have to remove ourselves from the everyday hussle and bussle and be in awe of His creation. That's what the lake seems to do for me. The huge mountain in our backyard, the variety of animals scampering around, the sound of the water hitting the rocks, the lighting and thunder in the afternoons. It all points directly to Him, creates a grateful heart and reminds me of what a big God I have the priveledge of serving.

one month

One month from today, I'm hopping on a plane at SeaTac, meeting up with my parents in Texas and heading to Honduras. I came across Living Water International through a clean water campaign at church in the spring and really felt the Lord leading me to serve with them. I went online, saw when and where there were trips, prayed about it for a few weeks and signed up!

All of this happened back in March, so September felt like it would never come. Over the past few months I've gotten excited, then forgotten about it, remembered it and gotten excited all over again. And now, it's finally coming.

While my dad drills holes to produce a well, my mom and I are going to be on the "health and hygeine team". This means we teach the community leaders how to use the well once it is in place, the value of hand washing, basic nutrition knowledge and basic health knowledge. I'm pretty excited to be on this part of the team and get to interact with the different peolple as we teach them. Since hearing about LWI I have found myself saying, many times, "I've never found something that is so in-line with my passions, what I'm learning in school, what tugs at my heart and my career goals." And that still rings true.

If you think about it please be praying for me, my parents, the team and all the people that we will come in contact with. That we would not only be helpful and bring them clean water, but that they would see the love of Christ through us and be blessed by His work in Honduras.

One month and counting...

betcha can't guess what I'm gonna blog about...

I have no idea where my new obsession with blackberries came from, but fear not, it's going strong...I think it's a combo of I've never picked them before, they are free, and just the fact that it's summer. I spent the afternoon searching for berries throughout Magnolia and once again was not disappointed. Here are a few things I've learned and observed through this new fascination of mine...

Blackberry bushes have thorns. Lots of them. Wear shoes.

Don't get greedy, if you eat as much as you pick you will get a stomach ache, trust me I tried.

Bring someone tall with you to pick berries. They are helpful for the ones that look out of reach but soo good. It'll save you from climbing up that impossible black fence. Matt Van Deren, you'd be perfect for the job :)

Wash them before you eat them!! Or at least inspect them. I'm usually not a huge advocate for washing stuff, but I was driving home today, munching away on my freshly picked berries and out jumps this....yes, that is a worm.

Wild blackberries are much smaller than store bought. Sweeter too. Makes me wonder what they do to them.

In the summer months, keep a ziploc in your purse. It's served me well

Blackberries are great in anything. Pie, scones, ice cream, smoothies, cobbler, on top of yogurt. Seriously anything.

One ripe blackberry is worth 5 almost ripe ones. Be patient

And most importantly, always have a good answer about what you are doing when the neighbors walk by and give you funny looks...

more than just food.

Up until now, this blog has served solely as a place to share things that I've made, food I've eaten, and people we've had over for dinner. It's been on my heart lately that there is so much more to food and nutrition then just making scones that taste good or impressing the new friends with pasta. There so much more than just food...

I had the wonderful blessing this weekend of going down to portland to see my friend and first roommate. Joy was that random roommate that gets assigned, you look up on facebook and try to figure out before that awkward meeting in August when you all of a sudden live together. It could not have gone better and she has grown into someone that I love, have so much fun with and miss dearly when we are in different states.

This weekend we got to hang out, see her family, jump on the trampoline, play badminton (my first time), and sleep in the treehouse. Even though I don't see the Brennemans very often, they feel like family and I love all of them very much. Among the many conversations, I found joy and I talking about our futures. I relayed to her my dream of working with a non-profit doing nutrition in developing countries. We talked about how simple the concept of providing clean water is and yet how so many different places don't have that luxury. And all of a sudden, like a little slideshow in my mind, I remembered that exact conversation with her freshman year. We were sitting in our little white box of a room, getting to know each other and those exact words came out.

So I guess it's telling that I still have the same passion three years later. New city, new school, new roommate, new major and yet I still want to bring people clean water. I've been learning, finding out ways to help and waiting for God to use me. I guess I just need to keep waiting and see where that takes me :)