Baked Tortilla Chips

Starting in May, I will be a participant in a research project that will be looking at the effects of adding fiber as well as exercise to a person's diet, and whether increasing the amount of fiber eaten will cause weight loss. This project is being co-conducted by a student here at the college, as partial completion of her degree requirements. SO------living right here, and feeling like it would be a "good thing" to help this student out, I agreed to be one of her guinea pigs--I mean, her research participants. She needed almost 100 people to participate, and I figured what do I have to lose, except a little extra weight! And you know how it is--I am often more willing to do something for someone else, than I am to stick with it for myself! So I have committed to following this paticular fiber-filled diet for eight weeks, as well as go through health assessments pre and post the eight week period.

So on that note, I have been gearing up my mind as well as getting some recipes ready, so I will already know foods I can make and eat right from the start. Hense, the following recipe for Baked Tortilla Chips. Corn Tortillas are a whole grain food, unlike refined white flour tortillas, and when you make the chips by baking you avoid lots of unhealthy oils and fats that are usually added when comercial chips are made. In addition to that, my family ALL loves these, so you won't be stuck with a food that is "healthy" but "yucky"!

By the way, if anyone is interested in learning more about the fiber diet I will be on, the entire book this research project is based on is available to read on-line for free. Just go to http://www.fullplatediet.com/

Baked Tortilla Chips

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5-7 minutes

12 soft corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut each tortilla into eight wedges (I stacked them in a pile of 6 high, and cut through the stack at one time). Lay them on a dry baking sheet in a single layer. If wanted, you can LIGHTLY spray with an olive oil spray, and then sprinkle a tiny bit of salt or garlic powder. Bake for 5-7 minutes, or until crisp. Watch them carefully so they don't burn. Store in an airtight container, or do what we do and eat them all immediately! These are great for salsas, bean dips, or haystacks.

God is Love

" 'God is love' is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass.

The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs,

the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air,

the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green----

all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God

and to His desire to make His children happy........

Through the things of nature, and through the deepest and most tender ties human hearts can know,

God has sought to reveal Himself to us.

But these are only sample of the fullness of His love.

Though all these evidences have been given,

the enemy of good has blinded the eyes of human beings,

so that we look at God with fear--seeing Him as severe and unforgiving.

Satan led men to conceive of God as a being whose main thing is stern justice--one who is a severe judge, or a harsh, exacting creditor.

He has pictured the Creator as a person who is watching with a scrutinizing eye to find any trace of error or mistake in a human being, so that he can visit a punishment of judgement upon them.

It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinate love of God,

that Jesus came to live among us."

Steps to Christ, by Ellen G. White, p. 10

I hope you have enjoyed having a peek of what I found on my Sabbath afternoon walk--

as our family walked around on the beautful school campus where my hubby works! :D If earth has this much loveliness, how much more beautiful will heaven be, where Jesus is preparing a special home for each one of us. Come soon, Lord Jesus!

Garden Report

This morning was so beautiful I grabbed my camera and decided it was time to do a little "Garden Report". Our dogwood trees, by the far the most beautiful thing in our yard right now, I cannot claim any credit for. They have been here in this yard a long time before we lived here. They are old and knarled, and when the wind blows I wonder how some of them can still stand--but they seem to hang on!
I thought the view of the blossoms from underneath the tree was paticularly lovely. I would like to spend the whole day here, gazing up at the sky......

Of course, the view from the top of the blossoms is also beautiful.

Our little home from the road. It's hard to tell, but there are two rows of Rosborough blackberries planted here on the right side of the photo. Then next to the driveway there are two almond and three peach trees. Far side of the driveway are three apple trees. These are all pretty small, as we only put them in a year ago, and the deer came last summer and made a meal of our fruit trees. :( The larger trees in the front yard are all dogwoods.

Two beautiful baby peaches trying to grow. We'll see if they drop off or hang on, and whether the deer eat them!

Rosborough blackberry buds about to open.

Closer view of the Rosborough row. They are only around 1 1/2 feet tall. This variety grew much larger for us when we planted them in Texas. Maybe after some more time they will grow larger.....on the other hand, everything IS always larger in Texas..... ;)

Blueberries-to-be---we planted six bushes last summer. Still small, but alive! They are planted just to the right of the carport.

A row of Doyle, thornless blackberries--thanks to my garden friend Sylvia who sent them to us! The paperwork that came with them SAID they would put out these incredible long canes, but I wasn't really sure I believed it. HOW could a blackberry put out 40 feet canes????? "Oh ye of little faith".....well, I haven't measured ours, so I don't know that the canes are 40 feet, but I can say they are well over 20 anyway, on our first plant that has been in for two years now. I'm not sure how we would have built a trellis large enough for them even if we HAD believed the papers! So in the mean time, they are just sort of curving around in loops--but they seem happy in spite of us! And the rest in the row should be catching up with the first plant soon.

Ceicle (sp?) Brunner rose, just about to open. I brought this as a tiny plant in a pot when we moved. I had "thought" it was the bush variety of this rose, but guess what??? I think it's the climbing variety instead, and it is way overgrowing the small garden trellis we just stuck in back of it. Ah well. Good problem to have. I hadn't even noticed when I was taking the picture that I have aphids--looks like I need some hungry ladybugs around here!

Our little swing in the back yard. Property line ends at the wire fence just behind the swing, so you are mostly looking into our neighbor's back yard. But the wire fence behind the iris' on the left is not the property line--our yard goes back into the woods probably half an acre more. I have daffodils planted back in the woods. Was wondering if I could get azaleas growing back in the woods. I think they would like it there, but just don't know if they could survive on rainfall only for water. I am NOT liking the idea of hand carrying buckets of water to them, and a hose would never reach. So whatever I plant back in there has got to make it on it's own.

Our little garden spot in the back yard, to the left of the house when you are facing the front of the house. So far, we just have two garden beds put in--and as busy as I am I should be wise and leave it at two for now. I am planting one bed for butterflies--both flowers, as well as food for the larva to eat. In previous years, I greatly enjoyed collecting Black Swallowtail caterpillars and bringing them into the house to finish growing. They get protected from hungry birds, and we get the fun of watching them and learning from them. Wonderful homeschool project, though I think it's something that I enjoy more than my kids!!! Anyway, so the bed on the left in the photo is for the butterflies, and I will grow Morning Glories up that side of the trellis. The bed on the right side will be for a few veggies that we squeeze in, and we will grow beans and cucumbers up the trellis. The big leafy square area is where we put tomatoes, and a couple squashes.

Rue that I grew last year from seed I collected from my plant in my Texas yard. I was very happy to be able to grow it here by seed, as I had purchased the original plant at Wild Seed Farms in Texas, and I have not seen it for sale anywhere else. This is probably the favorite food of the Black Swallowtail caterpillars that come to my yard, followed next by the parsley. This plant survived our Tennessee winter, for which I was very happy as I was too busy to collect more seed and grow it inside again this spring, like I had last year. So it was nice of it to cooperate and not die back, inspite of several snows.

Baby lavender plant just planted yesterday--again, for attracting visiting butterflies.

Well, that's about it for my little yard tour of this morning--hope you enjoyed it! :D

"Wish" Washer

For Christmas this past year, my husband bought me a wonderful new dishwasher. He will often tease me and call it my "wish" washer. I "wished" for a new one for a long time, since the old dishwasher would often turn cups over and fill them with dirty water, spit ground up food all over dishes, and quite often an item would come out of the dishwasher more soiled than it had gone in! At last--I have my new "wish" washer, and I have been enjoying it tremendously, especially as I have had a lot of company lately.

As I was cleaning my kitchen this week, I once again thought of how thankful I was for the time and labor my "wish" washer saves me. My mind wandered to what a literal interpretation of that name would be--a WISHwasher. Do "I" have any wishes that need to be washed and cleaned?

Jesus showed that He was not afraid to do manual work, when He washed His disciple's feet (John 13:5), and then taught that the foot washing represented a mini-baptism. (John 13:10)

David prayed for God to wash him, and had faith that then he would be "whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7

Isaiah delivered the message that "though your heart is crimson with sin, it can be washed as white as snow. Though it is stained the deepest red, it can be made as white as wool." Isaiah 1:18

Paul appealed to people, asking them "So what are you waiting for? Come and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the Lord to save you." Acts 22:16

And finally, Jesus has promised a blessing on "those who have washed their robes in my blood and lived by my commandments. This is what gives them the right to the Tree of Life and to enter through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14

Houses, dishes, wishes, hearts. They all need to be cleaned. May I turn my heart--and the wishes that spring out of it--over to the only One who can truely wash me whiter than snow.

Pasta with Garlicky Roasted Broccoli

I found this really great pasta recipe a couple days ago while brousing through a magazine. What really caught my eye was that the original recipe was calling for whole wheat pasta--not some substitute that "I" may come up with to make the dish healthier, but it was actually written that way! Anyway, so I thought I would try it, though I was pretty sure that not all of my family members would think it was wonderful. My husband for one is a person who prefers his veggies NOT mixed in with other food--I think he likes to eat them first and get it over with! But I thought I would try it anyway, as I had all the ingredients in the house, and I am glad I did. Every single family member thought it was great--or perhaps they were just all very hungry, so anything would taste good! Anyway, I thought I would share it here and I hope some of you like it just as well. One thing I will say is that because the whole wheat pasta is brown in color, it is nice if you have a bright, pretty dish to serve it up in. Otherwise it can look a little blah....

Pasta with garlicky Roasted Broccoli
Makes 6 servings
Prep 10 minutes
Roast at 400 for 13 minutes
Cook 10 minutes

6 cups fresh broccoli florets (I only had frozen, so I very lightly defrosted and then used it)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper (I usually stay away from pepper, so I left this out)
3 T. olive oil
12 ounces whole-wheat rotini pasta
1/2 cup chicken broth (I used imitation chicken broth)
2 T. butter (I left this out, but put in one additonal T. olive oil)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (This would be yummy, but I need to avoid dairy so left this out as well)

1) Heat oven to 400. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2) Combine broccoli, garlic, walnuts, salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and stir until coated Place broccoli mixture on a large rimmed baking sheet and roast at 400 for 13 minutes, stirring twice.

3) Cook pasta following package drections, about 10 miutes. Drain and return to pot.

4) Add broccoli mixture to pasta pot and stir in broth, butter and Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Enjoy! :D

Happy (?) April Fool's Day!

Happy (?) April Fool's Day! When I woke up this morning and remembered what day it was, immediately to my mind came the memories of being in school and trying to play tricks on each other. From long term memories, the words "Happy April Fool's Day" almost bubbled out of my mouth as I greeted my family. Almost. I squished those words back inside, as I thought about fools, and what it really means to be a "fool".

Do you want to be a fool? I know I don't! The Bible has quite a lot to say about fools, so I thought today would be a very appropriate time to take a quick look in the concordance and see what I could find. There are MANY more references to a fool than I expected to find, but I did start to notice a repeating theme among several of the verses:

1)Where a fool puts their trust--

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'...." Psalm 14:1
"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice." Proverbs 12:15
"He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe." Proverbs 28:26

2)How a fool uses their mouth--

"It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel." Proverbs 20:3
"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." Proverbs 29:11
"The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin." Proverbs 10:8
"He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool." Proverbs 10:18

3)How a fool acts--

"A wise man fears the Lord and shuns evil,but a fool is hotheaded and reckless." Proverbs 14:16
"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." Proverbs 26:11
"Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?" Proverbs 17:16

Hummmmm.......sounds to me like there is nothing "Happy" about being a fool. May God grant me His wisdom, and then grant me the "stick-to-it-ness" to act and do and be all that HE wants me to be--which is certainally NOT a fool!