Down-home Chicken Soup with Dumplings

As promised, when we have something yummy and wholesome to eat, I'll post the recipe.  Tonight after snow shoe hiking and sledding by moonlight, we came back, took out the leftover chicken and made this yummy low-fat soup.   I think one of the best parts of the soup was squeezing the lemon wedges over the top of it as we ate it.  It added just the right amount of tang.  Chicken soup and lemons?  Must be the best cure for a cold ever!

down-home  
Chicken Soup with Dumplings

Ingredients

• Chicken Soup Base (10 cups broth and 4 cups shredded chicken)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 ounce baby spinach, roughly chopped (1 cup)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring broth to a simmer over medium-high. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. With a fork, stir in buttermilk and spinach to form a dough.
   
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls on top of simmering broth. Cover and cook until dumplings are cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. Gently stir in chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook until chicken is warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
   

Cook's Note

Prepare the soup base, then refrigerate broth and shredded chicken in separate airtight containers, up to 3 days. If desired, freeze broth up to 3 months.

A Big Fear...A Bigger God

For quite some time a fear has gripped my heart.  It is an insidious fear that envelopes my heart with it's thin black arms and squeezes when triggered to do so.  Long ago, I made a decision to quit school and be a wife and Mom.  I surrendered my own independent path to the one of following my husband.

But then again, I surrendered all that I am and all that I have to my God, Yahweh, the Maker of heaven and earth.  And I kept trying to tell Him that I believed Him that He would take care of me.  Through the past few weeks, a few triggers here and there, and the study I have been going through, I have discovered that I have not surrendered it all to Him.  For me it is a physical act of confessing where I haven't trusted Him and turning it over to Him.  I have to physically say the words and confess my desire to live independently from Him.

In this case, it came to me that I was still worried about what I would do if something took Jeff away.  I rely on him for so much - and we live in a place that is difficult to live in.  Snow is here about nine months of the year, we have horses to stock hay for, and ranch work to do.  All of it is overwhelming if viewed through my eyes.

Then there is that matter of finances and managing them.  Jeff is an accountant and is a whiz with numbers and keeping track of them.  I am not.  I know God could enable me to do anything...like He did Moses, but this has made me realize I don't want to be Moses and I am scared to do what I would  need to do.  Oh, how heart wrenching it is to face the secret scares in one's life.

And then there was this little detail that we have moved so much and I have been a stay at home Mom for so long that I don't even know where I would get a job.  I know I wouldn't lose my house.  Insurance would pay for it.  But I do know I would have to have income and that I would need a job.  What can I do?  Reception work? Graphic design?  But I am not schooled in it.

So, here was the great revelation.  God doesn't need me to worry about that.  He told me not to worry and then He promised in Philippians that he would guard my heart and my mind, especially as I turn those worries over to Him.  Did I just read that beautiful seed of Scripture and eat it?  I needed to sow it in the ground, through prayer, much as a gardener does.  Then I need to watch Him bring a harvest.

Oh, Lord.  Why is it so hard to give over my life to You?  You are trustworthy.   You prove your ability to care for me over and over.  You are not fickle like people.  You will not allow my foot to slip.  You watch over me and never sleep.  You have promised.  And you are bigger than my fears.  I confess my doubt to You and give it up.  Please allow me to rest in your arms like a toddler rests in his Mama's arms when he is out of resources to keep going.  And help me to get rid of my desire to try to make it without you.  I do not really desire that.  I want you.  I want your Presence.  I cannot live without you.  Thank you for being bigger than my fears and for allowing me to cry out to you.  Guide me and direct me.

  

Lasagna Rolls

Found a new recipe that I know will be a hit at our house for quite some time.  We all loved it.  Usually lasagna is so rich and it sinks to the pit of my stomach and sits there like concrete.  But this dish is lighter and the portions are so easy.  It tasted good, looked good, and was easy to make.  All that adds up to heaven in a dish.  Enjoy!  (And sing a little Italian to go with it.)

Here's the directions: (click on them to make them bigger)

Learning Contentment

So, how does one learn to be content?  There is only one good answer...and one good way.  

The last few months, I have had to stay home.  I mean really stay home.  I was having tummy issues.  No, not those kinds of tummy issues.  The kind of tummy issues that just about knocked me to my knees.  Every single time I ate, my stomach felt like someone had hit me, hard.  I got nauseated, felt burning sensations, felt like I had been hit.  I can still reproduce the feeling if I eat fatty foods...which I now try to avoid at all costs.  (Because I did yesterday...ate fatty foods...and today, oh my, I am feeling like someone gave me a nice punch to my gut.)

The doctor who is helping me sort out all the tummy troubles, bless his heart, figures there are several things happening.  But he was kind enough to rule out cancer, and for that I am thankful.  I have stopped taking my acid reflux medication as it was making things worse; have taken anti-parasitical medication and now have more energy; and have had to remove most stress in my life (if that is possible!)  I have also been asked to not add anything new to my plate or pick up any old out-of-the-house activities for about six months.  The hope is that we will not have to remove my gall bladder and can reverse damage that an always-on-the-go lifestyle has wreaked on my digestive tract.

Needless to say, it can sometimes be hard to remain content and to stay where I know God wants me to stay.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I have plenty to do.  I am learning the fine art of reorganizing, or shall I say organizing, my home.  I am spending time home schooling my littlest.  I am helping teach my older boys a bible study and disciple them, and just be there for them. I am a welcoming committee of one to my wonderful man when he comes home. I am a prayer warrior for friends.  I am seeing incredible fruit just from doing that.  And it is good.

But then that temptation to be discontent washes over me.  I think it is a mighty battle within.  I went to church today and there was a ministry fair.  And to tell you the truth, I wanted to run around and sign up for all the ministries, just so I could tell others about the wonderful things God has been teaching me in my bible study time at home.

Oh, wait.   At home.  Where am I learning all this wonderful stuff?  Right where God has me.  At home.  Oh yeah.  (Pause here and contemplate this with me.)  

My Pastor talked of getting my game shirt on today and getting in the game.  I so badly wanted to throw on that shirt, and yell, "Put me in Coach!  I can do it!".  You see, I keep forgetting there is a time for everything -- a season.  And it is the off season for me right now.  It is the time when I am supposed to be training, and practicing.  God makes that pretty clear to me in my study.  But I keep looking forward to that big game.  I want to feel the three pointer slide off my fingers and swoosh through the rim.  I want to be part of the camaraderie of working hard side by side.

But then again, I remember what God says about obedience.  And once again, I am humbled.  My training is right here at home.  And there is only one way for me to learn to be content...and that is to be content right where God has me.  That is my training- my training for the big game.  Right now I am working on contentment.

Best Ever Blueberry Coffeecake

Oooo.  I just popped this recipe into the oven for the very first time and all I can say is I cannot wait to taste it.  I sampled the batter and it was the most amazing batter for coffeecake I have ever made.  Here's the recipe if you want to sample this little piece of heaven...I just know it is going to be good!
Best-Ever-Blueberry-Coffee-Cake

Expectation or Expectancy

I am discovering there is a difference between expectation and expectancy leadership.  And that realization makes all the difference in the world to me.  Let me explain.

I have loathed the expectation kind of leadership all of my life.  And I know I have a donkey kind of attitude when I see that kind of leadership.  (Seriously!  I would like to bray and kick the expectation leader between the eyes!)  Expectation leadership places a yoke around a person's neck.  Some one who uses expectation leadership expects one to get things done-- expects one to do what is right -- expects one to PERFORM.  Expectation leadership breeds performance based acceptance.  Sometimes I call it legalism.  Sometimes I call it snobbery.   And sometimes I even do it to myself -- you know, get down on myself for not being able to do what I think I should be able to do.  It always stems from self focus in whoever employs it...and is wholly undesirable.   

Expectancy leadership is a whole other brand of leadership.  I think it is the kind of leadership Christ used.  Certain people exemplify an expectancy kind of leadership.  Of course they expect you to show up.  Of course they expect you to get things done.  The difference is they do not condemn you when you are unable to do it all.  They make you feel welcome and they are genuinely happy you are there.  That kind of leadership makes you want to get stuff done.  Matt Jolley uses this kind of leadership.  I loved working for him and trusted him to do the right thing.  My husband, Jeff, also uses this kind of leadership.  I love being around him.

I finally realized this morning why there are certain people that I do not want to spend time with.  They have expectations for me.  They want me to fit into their mold of how they think I should be.  And they make me feel condemned when I cannot do what they think I should be doing.  But God broke the mold on each of us and gave each of us different talents and abilities.  No two of us are alike.  We may have some of the same talents, abilities, and gifts.  But we will never be alike.

Conversely, I realized that I have expectations for them.  I expect them to see things the way that I do.  I expect them to just enjoy me for who God made me to be. And, most humbling of all, I realized I condemn them if they put expectations on me. 

I want that to change in me.  I want to enjoy others for who they are.  I want to care for them and encourage them to keep looking to Christ and to keep walking the path Christ is leading them on.

I also want to know God so well, that when others try to put their expectation brand of leadership on me, and expect me to be what they think I should be, I can smile, encourage them, and pray they are open to allowing God to work in them as well. 

Lord, help me to utilize expectancy.  Help me to not make others feel condemned when they do not do what I "expect" them to do.   Give me your love for others, not my kind of love.  Remove the pride in my life that makes me think others have to act a certain way for me to care about them.  Lord, humble me.

Fortresses

As of late I have been studying the Beth Moore book, Breaking Free.  This week's chapter, "The Steadfast Mind," has dealt specifically with tearing down the areas in our minds that tend to keep us captive -- the fortresses if you will.  We all have them.  Sometimes we think we are not good enough, or maybe even sometimes we think too highly of ourselves.  Whatever they are, they are that deep inside spot that no one wants to reveal to anyone -- the spot that affects what we think and do and how we react to situations.  Beth Moore spent a lot of time talking about Second Corinthians 10:4-5 and how we get rid of those fortresses.  "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor 10:5 NIV) 

You're probably thinking what I thought at first.  "Huh?  What?  How do we do that?"  Well, without taking you through a whole week of study, let me just say Beth Moore does a terrific job of explaining it all.  The reason I write about this is because Jeff and I discussed all of what she was talking about in the study last night before going to sleep.  This morning we sat down to spend some time encouraging our boys, cracked open the devotional, Sparkling Gems from the Greek, and laughed out loud at the subject matter.  "Fortresses in Your Brain," was the title and the verse Rick Renner chose to talk about on December 1 was...you guessed it...Second Corinthians 10:4 (refer to the verses above).


We got an extra shot in the arm today, straight from God above.  I love how He does that.  "No really, Karen.  I want you to think about this.  I mean REALLY think about it.  Meditate on it.  Get what I am trying to tell you."  God is so good that way.  So, if you feel like a good read, here is what Rick Renner had to say about  Second Corinthians 10:4: