It's Gratituesday!

What I am most thankful for is My Savior and Lord! He gave his life as a sacrifice for my sins and forgives over and over. He is with me all the time in good and bad. I can trust him for everything and someday I get to live with him in heaven. Thank you, Lord, for making it possible for me to spend eternity with You! Nothing in this life is more important to me than living for God. Matthew 6:33 "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."

Recipe of the Week! Whole Wheat Carrot Biscuits for babies

So I decided to find some baby food recipes to experiment with since Shrade has now decided to eat! I found this Homemade Baby Food blog that posted this easy and yummy treat. I made this for Shrade and he loves them. This is good for babies under a year because it does not have eggs.

Here's the recipe:

2 oz (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
2 oz (1/2 cup) all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
6 oz (3/4 cup) cooked, mashed carrots
2 to 4 fl oz (1/4 to 1/2 cup) milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375 deg F (180 deg C).
Mix the flour, baking powder and brown sugar together in a bowl.
Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.
Mix in the mashed carrots, then add enough of the milk to form a soft dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/2 inch, then cut with a cookie cutter into circles (I used hearts).
Grease a baking sheet and place the biscuits on it, at least one inch apart.
Bake until golden (around 10-15 mins).

It's Gratituesday!

I HAVE to share this story because it is the amazing way how God has worked in our life. I call it the Reversal of Destiny:

On Thursday, my last Bible study on Esther, we had a sharing session. I didn't think anything of it and was not planning to share at all. But as I got to thinking about the amazing story of Esther and what I had learned through it, God prompted me to share my "Reversal of Destiny" story. So here it is... (This may not be new to some):

In April 2006, my husband had a back injury that put him out of work for 2 years. We had been married almost 2 years and in that time he had been looking for a full time job that would allow me to stay home when we had children. I was currently working as a Kindergarten teacher at Cascade Christian School. After Jeremy's injury, he was unable to work and stayed home for a year taking care of his back. During this time we started getting compensation from L&I. It wasn't much, but enough. We kept praying and praying for his back to heal. In June 2007, Jeremy started a work retraining program at Clover Park Technical College for Environmental Science. He was an awesome student. Halfway through the program he started again to look for work. His back was better- PTL! He still has to be careful, but he felt he could find a job with his limitations. He had several interviews, but God wasn't ready to give him a job. In March 2008 we found out that we were pregnant. A flood of fears entered my heart as I thought, "If my husband does not have a job, I will have to leave my baby in daycare and work." We always wanted for me stay home if we had children. Meanwhile, the compensation that we were receiving from L&I would come to an end in June 2008 when Jeremy finished school (which by the way, was paid for through the worker retraining- PTL!). Jeremy continued to pursue job leads. We focused on God and the plans he had for us. We trusted Him to help us through our seemingly declining circumstances. One afternoon, Jeremy was waiting to hear back about a job he had interviewed for. The phone call came and he was hired by McFarland Cascade Lumber Co. THAT SAME DAY we received our last check from L&I. The LORD IS GOOD! I was let out of my contract with Cascade, and we had our beautiful baby boy on THANKSGIVING!!! Not only that, in our declining economy, Jeremy was recently given a 10% raise, a potential for bonuses and 2 days off a week. I cannot believe the way God "reversed our destiny." I am now at home with our precious baby boy. I remarked to Jeremy last night that it feels strange not to get paid for doing a job anymore. He told me that I am making an investment by being home with our son. So, the Lord can reverse your destiny, He did for us.

Recipe of the Week- Sloppy Cornbread!

So I found this easy and yummy recipe on Laura's Heavenly Homemakers blog. I suggest you look at her site. It is amazing! She makes this Sloppy Cornbread with sloppy joe mix and cornbread on top. (I actually only made half a recipe for just the two of us and I put it in a pie plate).

Sloppy Joes

2 lbs ground meat (beef, turkey, venison and lamb)
2 T. minced onion
1 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon worchestershire sauce
sea salt to taste

Brown meat and onion together. Add remaining ingredients, stirring well. Allow mixture to simmer in the skillet for a few minutes.

Double this recipe for cornbread:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 eggs
2 T. honey
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk (I used milk)

Spread sloppy joe mix in 9x13 pan and pour cornbread mix on top. Cook at 400 for 20-30 min until cornbread is done.

Have a Happy Friday! Only 2 weeks until my son turns one year old. :)

It's Gratituesday! Thank you, God, for family.

Every Tuesday this month I am going to post something I am grateful for in honor of Thanksgiving. Last week I said that I was thankful for my son. If you know the story of the birth of our baby you will know what a life changing experience that was. So this week I want to say thanks to God for my family. I have a mom, dad, grandma, and sister who I have grown up with all my life. My dad was in the Navy and we moved around quite a bit, but I always knew that we were together no matter what. We grew close to each other in all those years. When my dad finally retired, my grandma moved up to where we lived. It was so exciting to finally have her close. Now, I have so much extended family that I love- my husband (been through thick and thin in our 5 short years together), his parents, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. I am so thankful for all of these people who have made my life special!

Recipes of the week- Garlic Lime Chicken and Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

Dinner, dessert and a movie!

It's time for dinner! Today it's Garlic Lime Chicken (sorry, I'm not much for presentation). I got this from the FlyLady website. Leanne Ely has a column called Food for Thought. She's the Dinner Diva and has lots of fabulous recipes.
Garlic Lime Chicken
Serves 6
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can eliminate if too spicy for you)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons lime juice
In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts. (Do this lightly!)

In a skillet heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken and add lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve with remaining sauce drizzled over the top.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Steamed broccoli, baked potatoes and steamed baby carrots.
VEGETARIANS: This recipe works very well with Boca Chikin patties. Cooking time is less.

How about dessert? Here's a healthy one- Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread. I got this one off my favorite website: Finding Joy in My Kitchen.
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

1/4 C butter, softened
3/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C water
1 3/4 C applesauce
1 C flour
1/2 C wheat flour
1 1/2 C oats (I used Old Fashioned)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp.baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1-2 T brown sugar (for sprinkling on the top)

Cream together the butter and sugar. Then, add the applesauce. To the creamed mixture, add the oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Pour into a greased bundt pan (or 2 loaf pans). Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of the dough. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for ~5 minutes in the pan, and then remove to a wire cooling rack.

Let's relax with a movie! So this week, the moon has been so bright and beautiful. I thought a perfect movie to watch after eating this meal is Apollo 13. I love this movie because it is a true story and has one of my favorite actors in it: Tom Hanks.

Gratituesday!

I'm linked to Laura's Heavenly Homemaker's website where every Tuesday is Gratituesday. This month I am going to post something I'm thankful for right here at the Knowlton Nest. What I'm grateful for is my son. Last year at this time we were eagerly anticipating the birth of our first child. We chose not find out the gender so we nicknamed our baby- Baby Blessing. When Shrade Joseph Knowlton arrived on Thanksgiving day we were thrilled with this blessing from God born on my favorite holiday. I choose to be thankful everyday for blessings in my life. Thank you, Lord, for Shrade! We love him so much!