Author: RefreshHer

Cooking · Dinner · Home making · main dish · Main entree · Side dish

(L)Oven Monday – “Grilled” Chicken Tenders that Taste Like Cracker Barrel’s

RefreshHerLeave a comment

Chicken Tenderloin 1a

I love it when a restaurant has healthy food that’s so good you don’t feel like you’re missing out when you choose to order wisely!  That’s how I feel about Cracker Barrel’s Grilled Chicken Tenders!  They’re so juicy and flavorful that every bite is like an indulgence.  Recently I found This Copycat recipe on Southern Plate that reminds me so much of that delicious entree!  They’re not really grilled, but they have the taste of it!  Let me show you how simple this recipe is!

“Grilled” Chicken Tenderloins

Ingredients
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips.
  • 1 cup zesty Italian dressing
  • 2 teaspoons lime juice
  • 3 teaspoons honey
Instructions:
  1. Place chicken in gallon ziplock bag. Combine all other ingredients and pour over. Seal and marinate for at least an hour. Doing this step the night before would make supper a breeze!
  2. Pour all ingredients into a large skillet and cook over medium heat until liquid evaporates and remaining marinade becomes thick and caramelized. This can take from 30-40 minutes.
  3. Coat each piece of chicken in marinade by rubbing it around on the bottom of the pan before removing it.

Here’s what it looked like about half way through the cooking process:

Chicken Tenderloin 3

I cooked my chicken in my electric skillet and it took about 30 minutes, so just keep an eye on the your pan to tell when it’s done.  This is so delicious!  I used the leftovers later in the week for wraps for our lunch and it was delicious cold!  This would be a great staple to keep in the freezer!

Chicken Tenderloin 1

 

If you need a super-simple and fast side to go with a meal, here’s something we love:

Canned Potatoes with Rosemary and Tomatoes

Canned potatoes, drained
1 Tbl. Butter
Grape Tomatoes, halved
Rosemary
Salt
Pepper

0523171749a

Melt butter in small skillet.  Cube the potatoes and add them to the skillet.  Let them get brown and a little “crispy.”  Add herbs and Grape tomatoes. Let cook until tomatoes are warm.

potatoes.jpg

This is a super-easy and yummy meal!  I hope you’ll put it on your menu and then let me know how you like it!

Chicken Tenderloin 2

Do you have a favorite Copycat recipe you make?

With love from my country kitchen,

Denise Signature 150 px

Christian Life · Family life · home · Motherhood · Parenting

Family Friday – The Most Godly Home

RefreshHer4 Comments

baby1a.jpg

This roller coaster of Foster parenting or (grand-parenting!) is not for the faint of heart!  You strap yourself in tight and keep your eyes Upward, knowing that a sovereign God will keep you safe and secure as you guide these little ones and pray about their future.

As I mentioned earlier, my daughter and son-in-law are foster parents to baby boys.  We don’t know what their future will be.  Who will be awarded their custody to care and provide for them all their lives?  Who will teach them of Christ?  Will anyone?  Will they be adopted by family?  Friends?  There are just so many painful questions.

One Sunday a friend left church and told me that she is praying about the future of these sweet little babies, and the way she is praying is this:

Let these children be given to the home
that will point them the most to Christ.

I told her that that was a perfect request!  That’s what we want for these little guys!

Later in the week, the babies were in my home.  I was caring for them.  And then my friend’s prayer request popped into my head.  It made me stop and ask myself, Is what I’m doing today providing right now so that this is the home that is pointing them the most to Christ?

What about you, Mom?  Pretend your child’s future was in the balance and someone was praying that request for your child.  Would YOU be awarded custody of them because of all you did yesterday to point them to the Lord?  Were your words so edifying and Word-filled that they couldn’t help but learn more of your God?  That’s a sobering thought, isn’t it?

That thought made me “get my act together” that day!  I sang Bible songs, I quoted Bible verses while I fed them their bottles.  I even told them Bible stories, even though their ears can hear, but their minds can’t understand.  I wanted my home to be the most godly place in their lives!  That should be any Christian parent’s ambition and joy – whether or not their future is in the balance.  One Day we will give account for how well we taught and trained the children the Lord gave us.

Why not strive today to make your home the most Godly place!

Refresh your child’s spiritual heart,

Denise Signature 150 px

Christian Life · God's character · Heaven · trials · trust

The Storm Will Pass

RefreshHer6 Comments

Backyard skya.jpg

An hour before I took the picture above, a real spring storm blew through our area. It blew in from a completely different direction than most storms. The winds were really whipping, causing debris, porch pillows and vegetation to blow and bow down.  Earlier in the day I had heard we were in for storms, but it seemed unlikely at the time, because it was lovely in the morning.  But sure to the prediction, they came in just as they said.  I was glad I had secured things outside, and I was especially glad that I was inside where it was safe and dry!

I went about the work I was doing, and kept an ear and eye on the outside, for safety sake.  It wasn’t long, though until I looked through the window and saw the clouds clearing.  Then I saw the sun hitting the backyard.  I stepped onto the back porch and everything was cool, refreshed, and though dripping with the drops of the precipitation, it was evident that the storm was over.

I know many people who are going through storms in their personal lives.  I would have to add, that the storm is in their personal Christian life.  It’s a storm sent by the Lord for His purposes.  As I watch, I see the pressures of the trial causing them to bow, just like the trees in my front yard bent as the wind pushed against its branches.  They are bowing with the ache and the pain of the trial, but they are not broken.  They are trusting the God of their life to do His work, and they are firmly planted on His Word, even when their hearts may want to waver or ask why.

We’ve all been warned that trials will come to us.  Maybe you’re one who is experiencing one right now. Perhaps your trial is just around the corner. It’s easy to get caught off guard because the “sun is shining” today and we can’t imagine that dark clouds may be ahead.  We must prepare now for the storm that will come.  Like my friends, we must anchor our hearts in the Scriptures.  We have to know God’s character because we know His Word.  His Truth will keep us from breaking.  Knowing the Sender of the storm will remind us that He is there with us. And though we may never know why God sends or allows difficulties to come our way,  we can be sure that they went through His sovereign hands before they touched our lives.

When we find ourselves in the storm, we need to also remember that they won’t last forever.  There will be an end.  If not here, for all eternity, there will only be peace.  We may feel like quitting and throwing in the towel, but we must endure so we can see the joy of the blessings of the storm. When I was waiting out the storm yesterday, it didn’t last for long, really.  I’ve been through worse spring tempests.  We need to remind ourselves of the truth that though it seems that this trial is going on forever, there is a day when it will be over.

Hopefully when the storm is over, we won’t forget the things we’ve learned.  The lessons will be like the water droplets on my roses – little reminders that the storm was there.  There will be a freshness, a newness, and even sunshine in our hearts afterwards if we prepare for the storm, endure the storm and remember the storm.  

It’s time to go sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.  The storm is over.  To my friends who are experiencing difficulties today, I say, your storm will pass and the sun will shine again and God’s presence will refresh your spirit through it all.  

This won’t last forever.

backyard sky.jpg

Are you going through a storm?  I’d love to pray for you.  Just leave a note asking for prayer – no need to share about the trial – God knows.

Lovingly,

Denise Signature 150 px

accessories · home · Home decor · Home making

Creating Vignettes in Your Home

RefreshHer2 Comments

vignette 2a

Last weekend when my daughter was here visiting, she took a picture of a vignette in my kitchen and posted it on Instagram.  As I looked at that photo, I realized that those little areas are really some of my favorite places in my home. Vignettes are  cozy little groupings that help tell my story, as I mentioned here.

Today I thought I’d walk you through my home and share some of those vignettes with you and then tell you how I go about creating those “visual stories.”

vignette 1

Using an odd number of items in a grouping is suggested by the experts (of which I am NOT!).  I just play with it until I like the way it looks.  Often that means doing and re-doing it!  You should also use items that are similar.  In this grouping, they are all items that are kitchen related – apples, tea pot, platter.

vignette 2

Different textures should be present – shiny candle holder, rough wood, silk leaves.

vignette 3

 

vignette 4

Pictures of family are part of my story that I like to include in my groupings.  When you look at the vignette above, you realize that without the fabric inside the tray, it would be all the same texture.  The cloth napkin softens it, as does the greenery.

vignette 5

Each part of my mantle has little vignettes that all work together.  They should be the same “theme” so they flow.

vignette 6

This is a shelf over the guest bed.  The setting for a grouping doesn’t just have to be a tabletop.  The top of the fridge, a bookshelf, or even a window ledge are all places where you can create a grouping.  Vary the height of the objects you use, as well as the depth.  Lining up everything in a row on that shelf wouldn’t have the same affect.

I love to change those vignettes all year long, but I try to keep in mind those key elements:

  • Use an odd number
  • Carry the theme
  • Vary texture
  • Vary Height and depth
  • Tell my story

I hope that inspires you to create some little areas in your home that create  homeyness and tell your story!

Denise Signature 150 px

 

 

Christian love · home · Love

My New Heroes

RefreshHer4 Comments

baby a.jpg

Have you ever wished you could be a hero?  It takes a lot to be one!

It takes sacrifice.

It takes self-denial.

It takes commitment.

Those I have always considered true heroes:

  • Men and women who have given their lives for the sake of the Gospel
  • Men and women who have given their lives for our country

However, recently I’ve come to understand that there is another group of people who rightfully belong in the category with heroes:

  • Men and women who have opened their hearts and their homes to love and care for a child (or children) in foster care (especially believers who reach out to show Christ’s love to these little ones!)

You see, I’ve had an up-close look at Foster Care because our daughter and son-in-law have become foster parents in the last few months!  (That makes me Gigi to these babies, and I love it!) To watch our daughter and son-in-law’s sacrifice, commitment and self-denial for the little ones in their care has been amazing. 

They attended many weeks of training classes, had home studies, were fingerprinted, checked and re-checked before they were ever considered eligible to welcome a child into their home.

They went from freedom to go and do whatever/whenever to caring for the demands of infants literally overnight – no nine months prep for their adjustment!

They took on not one, but two children.  The demands of two infants is incredible, and to take that on yourself for ones that aren’t your own flesh and blood shows true servanthood.

They have taken numerous 5-hour trips to take the babies to doctor’s appointments because of their physical needs.

They have had to rearrange their work schedules, put their personal vacations on hold, and cut back on outings, due to the needs of the babies.

They get much less sleep caring for infants!

They have to keep up with the system’s demands – attending more classes about foster parenting (while they’re caring for the children), getting the children to family visitations, which meet the birth parent’s time schedule more than their own.

They endure some who give demeaning looks/remarks towards them because they use WIC to purchase formula.  (Wow.  We don’t always know all the facts, do we?)

They are spoken “down” to by some of the medical staff because they’re “only the foster parent.”  They’ve spent more time with these children than the birth parents have.  Shouldn’t they be given an ear because they do understand their needs?

But spite all of that, they press on with the most loving parental hearts – kissing, hugging, talking and cooing to those little ones as though they were their own.  They don’t neglect to care for one need.  Their hearts cry when one has to be poked on at the doctor’s office.  They are sympathetic to the one who is sleepless in the middle of the night and they rock and sing songs of Jesus’ love, while their own sleepy eyes fight to stay awake.

I had the pleasure this week of helping care for the babies while our son-in-law was at a conference.  I watched with my own eyes the care and concern of these heroes who love with a love that reminds me of my great God who loved me when I was not yet His, and of how He sent His Son to adopt me and make me a part of His family.  God loves me.  These foster parents love these children with Christ’s love.  God loves these foster children!  This morning  I rejoiced as I read Psalm 10:14b –

Thou art the helper of the fatherless.

And what does God do for the believer who takes care of one of these children?

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
    and he will repay him for his deed

God will bless those who serve in this ministry!  I’m watching it happen in my own family.  It’s precious!

I have known others who have opened their homes, but until now I hadn’t seen it up really close.  I salute each one who sacrifices to give a child a safe, loving environment! Let’s be looking for ways to encourage and thank these heroes who have sacrificed so that a child can have a happy household in which to grow, live, to also hear about the Lord Jesus!

Whitney at Come Home for Comfort wrote a great post about how to support those who are foster parents.  I hope you’ll go here and check it out!

Also, did you know that President Trump has named May as National Foster Care Month?

While you are on Whitney’s site, will you scroll down and read the comment left by Elaine?  She shared her sweet testimony of being a foster mom for 17 years!  Wow!  Her story may encourage you to check into being a foster parent.  So many children are in need; maybe the Lord would have you open your home and become a hero in a child’s life!

God bless each of you foster parents!  I pray many children will come to know Christ because of your sacrifice!

Denise Signature 150 px