A Peek Into My life This Week

2. Avocados.  Love these!  I eat them in salads, on tacos or fajitas, of course in guacamole, or whizzed into a dressing.  They’re also good for you!  The most economical place to get them is Sam’s.  I buy them for about $1 each.  Yum!!!

 3.  Fresh Flowers.  A sweet friend brought me this darling container and the flowers.  That was almost a week ago and they’re still fresh!  Most grocery stores sell bouquets for $5.  What a nice touch on the kitchen table!  I love the I Corinthians 10:31 verse on the jar!  (My friend said she found it at Lifeway!)

 4.  Cookbooks.  I could sit and read through cookbooks all afternoon.  Typically when I’m planning my menu, I have out two or three so I can find new things to try!  I always write on the page if we like it, or any changes I may  have made.  I found three of these books recently at Tuesday Morning (love that store!).  I got all three for under $30.  That’s a great price, since the real price is $25 each!

 5.  How cute are these adorable measuring cups?  I keep the 1/4 Cup one in the Granola container.  It makes a great little scoop!  A dear friend gave me these as a housewarming gift several months ago.  Any tool that’s not only functional, but also pretty makes cooking all the more fun!

 6.  Cream.  If we are running low on coffee creamers, we will risk snow, tornadoes, or hail storms to venture out and stock up!  My husband has been known to buy 5 or 6 jugs of the Peppermint Mocha at a time!  If you’re going to drink coffee, you might as well do it in style!

We are in the thick of wedding planning here at my house.  With Alli’s wedding a short 11 days away, the engaged couple is checking lists, running errands, securing last minute items, and getting excited about the big event around the corner!  There is no way that after all this preparation, that they have even a tiny inkling in their hearts that they want a divorce!  They are imagining, as every young couple, their “happily ever after” lives together!

No couple strives towards divorce, right?  Yet many marriages avoid doing the things that will keep them from it!  My husband is doing a series of posts on his blog this week about “How to Make Sure Your Marriage Will End in Divorce.”  His counsel yesterday was, “Do Not Pray Together.”  In my ears, I could hear many women asking the question that begs addressing:  “What do you do if the wife wants to pray together, but her husband won’t lead her in that way?”  Good question!

First:  Let’s start with the DON’T’s

On these beautiful spring days, I’m always thinking of grilling out.  Who doesn’t love a good ol’ hamburger cooked on the grill?  The new recipe I tried is made with turkey meat and has lots of yummy stuff added to give the meat super great flavor!  Combined with the burgers is a yogurt sauce that adds just enough kick to make you lick your fingers and smack your lips!!!  Then, I added a new side dish – a potato salad that is light and filled with fantastic ingredients!  

Ready?  Here it is:

SOUTHWEST TURKEY BURGERS WITH CHIPOTLE YOGURT SAUCE
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 3 hamburgers

INGREDIENTS
For the Chipotle Yogurt Sauce:
6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
3 chilis in adobo sauce, chopped plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (I use canned chipotle chilis in adobo sauce)
1 tablespoon lime juice, zest of ½ lime
Salt to taste

For the turkey burger patties:
2 tablespoon grapeseed or olive oil
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup fresh corn kernels
½ cup black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 pound ground turkey meat

For serving the hamburgers:
4 hamburger buns
1 avocado, mashed
Slices tomato
Chipotle yogurt sauce

To Prepare the Chipotle Yogurt Sauce:

INSTRUCTIONS:
Crack open a can of chipotle chilis in adobo sauce. Add one chili.
Add the chipotle chilis along with 1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine.

To Prepare the Southwest Turkey Burgers:
In a medium-sized skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the chopped onion. Saute until the onion begins to sweat, soften and becomes fragrant, about 8 minutes.
Add the jalapeno, garlic cloves, salt and cumin. Saute another 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the corn and sauté and sauté until corn kernels are plump and cooked, another 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the black beans and continue to cook, stirring consistently just until black beans are hot. Set the sauté pan aside and allow everything to cool to room temperature.
Once the sauté mixture has cooled, combine it with the ground turkey meat in a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix the meat and sautéed veggies together. Form three burger patties.
In a cast iron skillet (or regular skillet), heat 2 tablespoons of oil to medium-high heat.
Place burger patties on the hot skillet and allow them to cook until the sides firm up, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Flip the burgers and cook them on the other side until the burgers feel firm when poked and are cooked all the way through, another few minutes.

Toast the buns in the oven under your broiler.

Roughly chop or smash an avocado and distribute it between four buns.
Set patties on top of avocado, douse with chipotle yogurt sauce, add fresh tomato, red onion and lettuce to your burgers.

I found a potato salad recipe in my Cooking Light Cookbook that would be perfect to take on a picnic because it has no mayo in it.  The flavors and the ingredients are very similar to the turkey burger recipe I shared above, making it a great accompaniment to this meal!

Southwestern Potato Salad

Ingredients
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 pounds small red potatoes
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
Remove 1 chipotle chile from can. Chop chile to measure 2 teaspoons. Reserve remaining chiles and adobo sauce for another use.
Place potatoes in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool. Cut potatoes into 1/4-inch cubes. Place potatoes in a large bowl.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add corn; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add corn, celery, and next 5 ingredients (celery through jalapeño) to potatoes; toss gently.
Combine 2 teaspoons chopped chipotle chile, lime juice, oil, salt, and black pepper, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle the lime juice mixture over potato mixture, and toss gently. Cover and chill 1 to 24 hours.

Am I ever glad it’s grilling season again!  These new burgers will definitely be on my grilling rotation this summer!  Do you grill out?  What do you enjoy cooked outside?

With love from my country kitchen,

 Inexpensive Window Coverings

Back in October, I hung some curtains using cloth napkins attached to a tension rod using curtain clips (found at Lowe’s).  I love the idea of using the napkins because they’re so inexpensive and I can change them out seasonally. I loved this look for fall and winter… 

Curtains and blinds can be really pricey, so I’ve tried to come up with some creative and inexpensive ways to cover the windows.  Here’s the “shade” I made for the bedroom window…

Don’t mind the huge empty spot between the windows. We’re still deciding what to put there!

I wanted privacy at night, but something that would allow the light to pour in during the day.  This shade can be drawn up or let down.

 I basically just cut a piece of heavy cotton fabric ( a remnant I found) that fit inside the window, plus a few inches, then hemmed it all the way around.  A beginning sewer could do this!

 In the guest room I hung four panels of sheer curtains.  The extreme fullness gives the privacy necessary, but also keeps the sunshine from coming in during the day – something I didn’t like.  I love the light being able to peek in, so I decided I needed to add a tie back for this window. Sheers don’t come with tie backs, so I had to make something.   I decided on whimsical and shabby chic, and went with burlap.  The holes in the fabric make it possible to slip them over the straight pin that I nailed into the woodwork (I use straight pins for as much as possible so it makes littler holes!).

Okay, so the sun isn’t shining in because I failed to get a picture in the daylight, but you get the idea!

I made the roses by starting with the inside “bud” part of the flower and twisting it around, allowing it to “fluff” and make the petals.  It is pinned in the back of the flower, then hung onto the straight pin!

If you need to freshen up a window, but don’t have lots of money for shades, curtains, or tie backs, I hope this inspires you!  Spruce up your home with something you can easily make yourself for next to nothing!

Do you have any windows that need attention?  Have you done something creative that you should share with us?  I’d love to hear!

Don’t let anything keep you from being in a Bible preaching church Sunday so you can

Be refreshed,

It seems that a waitress was having a very difficult day.  All her customers were crabby and demanding. She complained to her boss that he was putting all the ornery people at her tables.  He told her he would change that.

“What I want you to do is, when I seat people at your tables, you look at each one of them and warmly say, ‘I like you!’ Then to the next,  ‘I like you!’ all the way around the table.”  She agreed and did as she was told.

A while later she came to her boss and said, “Thank you!  These people you’re giving me now are all so nice!”  

Of course, it wasn’t that he selected “nice” people for the waitress, it was her attitude towards them that had changed the whole situation!  When we treat others with kindness, it is often (though not always) returned.  Sometimes all people need is a Christlike attitude of love genuinely shown to them before they change too!