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What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

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Thirty minute meals have given Rachel Ray a name!  Who doesn’t like to have dinner on the table in a half an hour…especially on Sunday?  My meal yesterday wasn’t a do-ahead dish, but one that is ready in 30 minutes or less.  I fixed Chicken Piccata – a recipe I got from Ina Garten on The Food Network.  This chicken has a light lemon sauce that is so yummy on the chicken breasts, and also on the mashed potatoes I fixed with it!  Because the chicken breasts are pounded out nice and thin, they cook very quickly.  If you don’t make this for Sunday, you have to try it for a week night meal! 

I invited my MIL to join us yesterday. 

My menu:
Chicken Piccata
Mashed potatoes
Steamed Fresh Broccoli with lemon
Tossed Salad
Thin Mint Cookies and Coffee
(Bought my dessert from a little Girl Scout in my Sunday School class!)
I had a little problem with my electric skillet (which is now in the trash can),
but spite the extra-blackened browned outside, the chicken was still great!

Chicken Piccata

2 split (1 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 extra-large egg

1/2 tablespoon water

3/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

Good olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved

1/2 cup dry white wine (can use chicken broth)

Sliced lemon, for serving

Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix the flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the egg and 1/2 tablespoon of water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium to medium-low heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place them on the sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5 to 10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, wine, the reserved lemon halves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced in half, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine. Discard the lemon halves and serve 1 chicken breast on each plate. Spoon on the sauce and serve with a slice of lemon and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Broccoli – My favorite way to eat broccoli is to steam it.  I have a steaming pan and I only cook the broccoli for about 3-4 minutes.  Then I add a couple tablespoons of light butter, salt, and a tablespoon of lemon juice.  I like it better this way than with a cheese sauce.  It’s super good!  Sometimes I add almonds to it as well for a little crunch.

Do you have any 30-minute meals that you love?  What yummy things have you been cooking in your kitchen lately?

From my parsonage kitchen,

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Freshen Up Friday

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“Eat the rainbow!”  That was the advice from the dietitian at our ladies’ fellowship in February.  When you look down at your plate, it should be very colorful.  Those colors tell you you’re eating nutritious foods.  Green broccoli, yellow corn, red tomatoes, orange peppers, purple cabbage – each colorful food adds some other good thing into your diet!  If you look down and see white chicken, white potatoes and rice, the very lack of pigment will tell you need to add some other foods to your meal!

That simple piece of advice has helped me even with breakfast.  Don’t just eat one fruit – eat a yogurt and add strawberries and blueberries in it.  Drink a glass of orange juice.  For lunch, add a tomato, lettuce and avocado to your tortilla wrap.  Throw in a handful of grapes for dessert and look at the rainbow you’ve created!

So, freshen up your plate by making it as colorful as the rainbow!

Hope you’ll be in church Sunday!  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.  Hebrews 10:25

Be refreshed,

worry

Step Back

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…continued from Tuesday

Yesterday as my husband and I were returning home from our morning walk, I saw a couple pieces of trash in our front yard.  I crossed down into the driveway and over into the lawn to retrieve the fast food cup and what I thought was a piece of paper.  I gingerly picked up the trash and was headed to the trash can when my husband said, “Let me see that.”  Taking a closer look he said, “This is the empty package for synthetic drugs!” I would have never picked it up, had I known what it was! I had just recently learned that synthetic drugs are legal at this time, and they give the “buzz” that the real drugs give.    Sadly, it was called Mary’s Joy. It’s sad that people think a drug can give them joy.  I stared at it in disbelief.  How ironic that this synthetic drug had such a name!

My mind went to Mary in Luke 10 – the Mary from Bethany who had welcomed Jesus into her living room, but more importantly into her heart.  She had joy – real joy at Jesus’ feet as she worshipped Him and listened to Him teach on that day.   There is nothing synthetic about joy that Jesus Christ gives when we worship Him!  It is true, lasting and deep joy that the world cannot manufacture, nor can they take it away! 

The next step to being cured from worry and anxiety is making sure that our lives line up each day with what Christ wants us to do.  Therefore, we must take a step back.  We step back so we can get a better perspective.  We step back and ask :

  • Lord do I have the load in my wagon You want in there? In other words, am I doing only what you want me to do today?
  • Have I added a load that You didn’t intend for me to carry?
  • Am I carrying others’ loads? Johanna Weaver says, “Nothing is harder to bear than a burden we’re not called to carry.” Sometimes we get tired because we’re carrying things the Lord never intended for us to carry. 

If we’ve picked up someone else’s load, we need to put it down.   Also, if we see that the Lord has given us a load and we’ve neglected it, it’s time to obey and carry it.  Nothing is emptier than a life that doesn’t serve.  Because the Lord has done so much for us, we should want to serve Him!  We must be faithful and not set that ministry down for someone else to have to come along and pick up because of our negligence.  Johanna Weaver says, “20% of the church does 80% of the work.”  That wouldn’t happen if we each asked the Lord what He wants us to do and then did it!

We also need to ask:

  • Am I carrying my load in the correct order?  Too often we get things misplaced.  Instead of putting our worship of Christ first in our day, we run hither and yon, doing this and that, carrying boulders we weren’t supposed to carry yet.  Then at the end of the day we’re too exhausted to sit at Jesus’ feet.  If we would have put in worship in our day first, all our other steps would be directed by His hand.  All along the day we need to ask:  Lord, do you want me to do this now?  He will show you and He will order your day in such a way that you will not be worried or upset, like Martha was!

After asking all these good questions, we then need to adjust.  Reorder your priorities.  Remove what shouldn’t be in your life and add those things that should be, as the Lord has directed you.  You know what the result will be?  You’ll be cured!  Your anxieties will be lifted.  If an interruption comes in your day, you’ll see that it was ordered by the Lord.  There’s peace there, my friend!  The Lord Himself will help you carry the load He has given you.  His yoke is easy and His burden is light!

What truths have pricked your heart?  Are you doing a good thing that isn’t what God has called you to do?  Are you doing things instead of spending time at His feet first?  Is your load out of order?  Stop and confess this to the Lord now and feel the burden lift!

With love, 

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A Peek Inside the Parsonage

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It was a normal Sunday for us.  It consisted of:

  • Rising at 6:00 (for me – my husband was up before me; who knows what time? )
  • Leaving the house at 8:25 to be at the church for 8:30 pre-service prayer meeting
  • Head to Sunday school
  • Morning service
  • Teacher’s meeting after service
  • Lunch at home
  • Blogging for Monday’s post
  • Nap – Always on Sunday! =)
  • Head to church at 6:15 to practice special music for evening service
  • 6:30 evening service
  • 8:00 Business meeting
  • Fellowship with folks after service.  Talk, laugh, encourage, be encouraged…
  • 8:45 arrive home

Allison was home for this Sunday.  When we entered the door Sunday evening she looked at us and said, “No wonder you’re tired!”  We looked at each other bewildered.  Sure, we’re tired at the end of a Sunday, but aren’t most people our age after a full day?  We were no more tired this Sunday evening than any other time – as a matter of fact, we probably had more energy than previous weeks!

As I’ve thought about her comment, I’ve been reminded of the truth that God equips you for whatever He has called you to do.  When others shake their heads and wonder “how you do that!” it’s because they haven’t been called to do that ministry, job or task, and therefore don’t have the grace and enablement from the Lord to do it as you do.

Ministry is busy and it can be tiring, but God’s grace is abundant, as my husband preached about last week.  He energizes us at times when we are weak.  He gives wisdom when we cry out for it.  He takes our burden when we pray and give it to Him. 

Those inside the parsonage are grateful for the prayers of God’s people!  Praying church members are another means that keep us moving forward in the ministry to which the Lord has called us! Thank you, to all of you that uphold us before the Throne of Grace!

When God calls, He equips and enables.  Remind yourself of that for whatever the Lord has called you to do today.  Through Him, you can do all things! 

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13

From my parsonage windows,

worry

Take a Look Up!

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Polio is a disease that left many people crippled due to the virus entering their central nervous system and infecting and destroying motor neurons.  It led to muscle weakness and paralysis usually in the legs.  How wonderful when two vaccines were created that have nearly wiped out polio!  This cure has reduced worldwide incidences from an estimated 350,0000 cases in 1988 to 1,652 cases in 2007!  In these vaccines, a cure has been found!

Many Christians have a disease too!  It is a disease of worry and care – like that of Martha in Luke 10.  Jesus diagnosed her problem when she complained that her sister had left her alone to serve.  But He didn’t leave her in her sickened state- He offered her a cure…”do this one thing.”  The “one thing” was to worship Christ.  He invited her to sit at His feet.  When you and I do that, we take time for a cure from our worries, too.  To be cured, then, we must stop and

  1. Take a look up.

This will require that we remove our hands from what busies us – our work, our computer, our crafts, our texting, the path on which we were headed.  Stop and look up.  Stare into Christ’s face.  This is far more than a quick glance.  This is more than reading a little devotional thought we get each day on our iPhone.  This is worship. Mary was sitting at Jesus feet, therefore she had to look up as He taught, and as she worshipped Him. This is taking time to adore and reverence Christ.

However, the distractions that hinder us are many:

  • busyness
  • our surroundings
  • lack of heart
  • stray thoughts
  • feeling of being out of our comfort zone…Worship?  Really?

But there are cures for the distractions:

  • Find a place that’s perfect for you – Martha had to exchange the kitchen for the living room.  If you need to have your time of worship in another room so you won’t be distracted, do it! 
  • Play some quiet instrumental music (only if this will help you focus!)
  • Have good lighting for reading
  • Don’t be near a place where your work will call for your attention
  • Get a basket to hold all the needed items –
    • Bible
    • Study book
    • Journal
    • Pen
    • Highlighter
    • Kleenex
    • Note cards
  • Pray and tell the Lord you’re struggling – He already knows!
  • Keep a note pad nearby to write down your stray thoughts – “Pick up cleaning today!”
  • Set the alarm 15-30 minutes earlier so you can meet with God before the family interrupts you
    • Begin with prayer, asking God to speak to you
    • Read God’s Word in a systematic way – not randomly
    • Journal what God says as you read
    • Sit and listen.  Wait!

God doesn’t reveal Himself to the casual seeker.  Psalm 27:8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Your greatest influence is your walk with God.  It’s not what you do or how much you do! Your work will have no value if it’s not Spirit filled or Spirit led.   This first part of the cure will help your worries, because the load is now given to the Lord during your time of worship!

to be continued…

With love,


P.S. I had an error on my lasagna recipe yesterday…don’t use 2 noodles!  Nine are needed.  Sorry!