Celebrating New Life on Good Friday

Peaking out from under the recent snowfall, I noticed when we returned from our trip to New York City, that the bulbs we planted in our empty front flower bed in the fall had begun popping through the soil.  Every day, as I see these beautiful, vibrant blooms opening up one by one, I am reminded of the new life that I have in Christ.  How perfect that God planned for spring, the season that we celebrate Easter and the death and resurrection of Christ, to be the season that we are surrounded by new life in His creation as well.  I adore this time of year when the snow melts, the grass is greener, flowers begin blooming after the cold winter, and signs of life are all around us, replacing the death and cold of winter with warmth and life.  It is a sweet reminder of the life that I have been freely given in Christ. John 11:25-26

Why is this Friday so good?  When Jesus said "It is finished," He was saying, I've "Paid in Full" the penalty for us all.  Because Christ loved us, He who was perfect and without sin, paid for our sins so that we could have new life in Him.  Are you celebrating new life this Easter weekend?

 

"Oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the grave!"   

 

Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound
Amazing Love
Now flowing down
From hands and feet
That were nailed to the tree
As Grace flows down and covers me 

(Grace Flows Down, Christy Nockels)

I am reminded of these lyrics today that we sang during our wedding ceremony.  You can listen here.
 

I also wanted to share the wonderful ideas I found on Faithful Provisions for celebrating the true meaning of Easter with children in creative ways.  If you don't yet have plans to talk about the death and resurrection of our Savior with your little ones this Easter weekend, you still have time to check out these two activities that are a perfect way to share in this holiday as a family.  They are planned out for you, including recipes, scripture to read together, and conversation prompters.  Get in the kitchen tomorrow and make Empty Tomb Cookies or Resurrection Rolls together!  Because we desire to have meaningful family traditions some day with our own children, I have these activities bookmarked for the day when we have a family of our own.

I would love for you leave comments or link to posts where you have shared about special traditions that you have in your family to teach your children about the death and resurrection of Christ.  How do you mark Easter weekend with your children?

Amy + Adam = In Love

A friend of ours from our Campus Crusade for Christ staff team here in Denver recently got engaged, and on Monday, Truman and I did an engagement shoot for them at Wash Park near downtown.  Amy and Adam are a fun-loving, vibrant and adventurous couple, and we wanted to capture that in their photos.  They were such good sports and we had a lot of fun at their shoot.  Here are a few of my favorites:

 

I have loved having a hobby that Truman and I can share in and enjoy together, especially a creative one.  I have always appreciated good photos (and preserving them in scrapbooks), and with his interest in photography (that existed before there was an "us") and quest to continue to develop new skills, we've discovered we make a good team.  His technical knowledge combined with my creative eye and directing skills is a perfect combination.

It has been a lot of fun and a blessing to us to be able to use photography to bless others.  As much as we've enjoyed these photo shoots for friends, I'm sure there will be more in the months to come! 

P.S. More NYC photos are on the way!  But, my sorting and editing got sidetracked by this fun project.  Coming up at the end of this week, I'll share a special Food for Friday post, featuring our favorite spots to get our eat on and the restaurants you shouldn't miss if you ever find yourself in the Big Apple!

Food For Friday: Chicken & Asparagus Crepes

Ever since the summer in college that I spent in Greece, I've loved crepes.  Savory crepes, dessert crepes, any crepes.  When we got married, I registered for a crepe pan and I'm so glad I did.  Having the right tools in the kitchen makes a big difference in the ease of cooking from scratch, and a crepe pan makes homemade crepes easy.  These chicken and asparagus crepes are creamy and flavorful, and the savory crepes are just the right consistency, not stiff, but not chewy. 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.

Savory Crepes:

Ingredients:

3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon butter, melted

In a small bowl, combine flour and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, egg, egg yolk, and butter.  Gradually add flour mixture to milk mixture, whisking until smooth.

Heat a crepe pan or 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon 2 1/2 tablespoons of batter into skillet; cook for 30 to 45 seconds, until lightly browned.  Loosen crepe with a spatula, and carefully flip over.  Cook for 30 to 45 seconds; transfer to plate.  Repeat with remaining batter, stacking crepes on a plate.

Filling:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

1 can cream of chicken soup (can also substitute cream of mushroom soup)

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon white cooking wine

1/4 cup shredded fontina cheese

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

8 asparagus spears, steamed until crisp-tender

Savory Crepes, recipe follows

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (I used diced slices because I had cheese left from another recipe)

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent and tender.  Stir in the cream of chicken soup, white wine, fontina cheese and chicken.  Cook until cheese is melted.

Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture down the center of each crepe. Place 2 asparagus spears over chicken mixture. Fold edges of crepe over filling, and place, seam side up, in prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup Swiss cheese over crepes. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crepes are hot.

(Adapted from a Food Network Recipe)

Fun in the Big Apple

What we've been up to.....

More photos coming soon!

Food For Friday: Peanut Butter Fudge Cake from Bakerella

When I first saw this recipe on Bakerella, I just knew I had to try it.  I love peanut butter cups and chocolate, so the rich chocolate and peanut butter of this dessert sounded delicious.  It did not disappoint!  The only change I made to the recipe was in adding the icing.  Rather than spreading the ganache icing on the sides of the cake, I allowed it to drip over the sides for a different look.
 

Ingredients:

1 box Duncan Hine's devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2  cup vegetable oil
2 cups chopped Reese's peanut butter cups (about 8 ounces), plus more to garnish
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.  Trace the pan on wax paper and cut out a round to fit into the bottom of each pan.  Lay wax paper circle in the bottom and coat paper with another layer of nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.

Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto wire racks, peel off the wax paper, and cool completely.

Place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and whisk until smooth.

Put 1 cake layer on the serving dish or cake plate. Pour 1 cup frosting on top; spread evenly with a spatula. Top with remaining cake layer.  If your cakes are really rounded on top, you may need to trim top off with a serrated knife to flatten.  Pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and with a spatula, allowing extra to run down the sides.  Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Garnish with chopped candy, if desired.

*Note, the 1 hour refrigeration step is important to keep the top layer from sliding off the bottom layer, especially if you are going to travel with the cake!
You can also use 2 six inch pans, and make 8 cupcakes, with the batter.  Use 2 cups of batter in each 6 inch pan, and fill 8 cupcake liners 3/4 full.

Food For Friday: Sesame Chicken & Noodles

I saw this recipe in a magazine and ripped out the page to try it.  I am always on the lookout for new dishes with Asian flavors.  For the noodles, you can use Nobu noodles or whole wheat spaghetti, but I would definitely recommend using the Nobu noodles, even if it means finding your local Asian market.  They have a great flavor and texture and add a lot to this dish.  I would recommend these noodles if you are in the mood to make a Chinese take-out style dinner at home.  It has a good nutty sesame flavor, but don't expect the sauce to be like Chinese take-out sesame chicken.

 (This recipe was adapted from Better Homes & Gardens.) 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 tsp. Asian garlic chili sauce (This adds quite a spicy kick!  If you don't like it spicy, or are going to serve it to kids, I would definitely recommend trying 1 tsp. and adding more to your taste.)
3 large cooked chicken breasts, chopped into bite size strips
12 oz. dried udon noodles or whole wheat spaghetti (*see note)
3 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 medium sweet red or yellow peppers
1 cup broccoli, chopped 
fresh cilantro
sprinkling of sesame seeds

Chop 3 large chicken breasts into bite size strips.  Saute until cooked through and lightly browned.

In a medium bowl, stir together rice vinegar, green onions, honey, soy sauce, ginger & garlic-chili sauce.  Add cooked chicken & stir to coat.  Set aside to allow flavors to meld.  Steam broccoli.

Meanwhile, cook noodles in boiling water about 8 minutes until just tender.  Drain noodles well & return to pan.  Drizzle with the toasted sesame oil and toss well to coat.  Add the chicken mixture & broccoli and toss to combine.  Heat through.

Put into serving bowls.  Top with pepper strips and fresh cilantro & sprinkle with sesame seeds.

*Note:  We purchased Japanese Udon Noodles from our local Asian market.  I have not found them in any of our chain grocery stores.  This package came with pre-bundled noodles.  I used 3 bundles for this recipe.  There is also a Chinese version of Udon Noodles, but I have not tried them, so I can't tell you how similar they are.

Coupon Caddy Love

I have had it on my creative to-do list to make myself a coupon caddy for almost 3 months now!  I thought it was such a great idea that I ended up making a few as gifts before I got around to sewing one to keep.  I came across this fabric at JoAnn's while looking for fabric for another project and absolutely loved everything about it.

I finished sewing my coupon caddy a couple of weekends ago and got to use for the first time on my grocery shopping trip last week.  I loved it!  It easily attaches with a velcro strap on each end.  There is now a spot for my pen to check items off my list, my calculator for when I need to price check for the best deal, scissors if I need to cut a coupon or two, and pockets to sort the coupons I pulled when writing my list from the ones for products I have already put in my cart so they are ready at check-out. 

I followed this tutorial on Blue Cricket Design after seeing Beckie's version on Infarrantly Creative.  I think the 4th time was the charm for me as far as ease of sewing (and not sticking myself multiple times) because each time I figured out a few tricks that helped during the next round.  I would say I am a beginner to barely intermediate sewer, and there were a few parts of this pattern that were a little bit difficult for me.  I want to share a few of my tips in case any of you want to make a coupon caddy of your own!

 (close-up of the back of the strap)

I found that staples to hold the layers together were hard for me to remove without snagging the fabric.  I really wanted a way to hold the 3 layers together that didn't involve pins and would keep the fabric in place while I stitched on the binding around the edges.  I looked at fusible interfacing, but the double sided fusible was so thick I was worried about my machine sewing through it, especially on the corners which were already thick.  Enter Sulky.  It's a temporary adhesive that the JoAnn's clerk recommended and it worked like a charm.  After I cut out the 3 pieces, I just sprayed each side of the interfacing one at a time and smoothed the fabric on.  It did a great job of holding the 3 pieces together while I worked.

Binding tape.  This was the most frustrating part for me.  The sides were easy, but the corners gave me fits!  At first, I didn't understand from the tutorial that you are supposed to sew it on in one big piece, folding the corners, but instead tried to cut the piece for each side and tuck the raw edges under.  Can you say headache?  It is SO much easier when you sew the binding on in one continuous piece!  I would definitely recommend searching "binding tape corner tutorials" on you tube and watching a few videos to get a rough idea of how to work with binding tape if you haven't ever done it before.  A lot of the examples were for quilting, and were more complicated than I was looking for, so I didn't follow them exactly.  But, they gave me a great starting place to play around and figure out how to fold the corners on my own.  (If anyone is interested in a few more photos of how I folded the corners, I would be happy to take some!  Just leave me a comment.)  I didn't pin the binding tape all the way around before sewing because that was a recipe for sticking myself with pins as I maneuvered the caddy, so I just tried to pin 2 sides ahead of where I was sewing at all times.  This was enough that I had room to work and get the corners folded well without being too close to where the needle was in the fabric, but not so far ahead that I was sticking myself as I turned the fabric to sew.

 (close-up of the folded corner after the binding tape is sewn on)

If you use coupons regularly, I would definitely recommend sewing a coupon caddy!  I can imagine that it would be even more helpful if you often have kids with you at the store that you are trying to manage while also pulling out coupons and referencing your list.  The few opportunities that I've had to mine so far, I have been thrilled with how much more organized and easy it is to shop with coupons when I have this cute addition on my cart!