The Dinner Rut

   It came to my attention in the last month that I was in a dinner rut. Go through this scenario with me. You give your husband a list of the things you could make for dinner that night and he responds with, "Eh, we have those things all the time. What else ya got?".  So you go and pull out your recipe book, flip through it, and suddenly realize that those recipes are really all you have in there. That's okay though, that's what your Dinner Pinterest board is for, right? So you go and look on Pinterest at all the recipes you have pinned. Then another realization hits you. The recipes you have pinned are either breakfasts, desserts, or dinners that really aren't all that realistic for you to make. Now, if you can relate to this story, you either are, or have been, in the dinner rut.

   So, once I realized this I decided that I needed to fix the problem. The first thing I decided to do was ask several family and friends for one or two recipes. Okay, okay, that wasn't the first thing i did. First, I called my mom and said "How in the world did this happen???", and once I got that panic out, then I asked for people to share some recipes. Next, I searched Pinterest for some new recipes. Only this time, no restaurant copy cat recipes and nothings with a million and one ingredients. So, after all that, I ended up with ten to twelve new recipes.

   So far, both my husband and I have really liked all the new ones, and I thought I'd share a few of our favorites.

  - Baked Cheese Tortellini ( I halved the recipe because there is only two of us, and we still ended up with some leftovers.)
      You need: 2 bags of frozen cheese tortellini, 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, 1 jar of Alfredo sauce,     minced garlic, and mozzarella cheese for the topping.
      Directions:  Boil the tortellini for five minutes then in pour into a greased or sprayed 9x13. Next, combine both jars of sauce and minced garlic and pour over tortellini, tossing lightly. Top it with mozzarella and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
  *We ate this with salad and garlic bread.

 - Mexican Trash (I know, i know, the name doesn't sound very appealing, but trust me, it's really good)
     You need:  1 bag of Doritos, crushed. 2 cups of shredded chicken. 2 cups of mexican cheese. 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 can of Rotel, 1/2 cup of milk, and 1/2 cup of sour cream.
     Directions: Mix everything but the Doritos. In a greased 2 quart baking dish layer 1/2 bag of crushed Doritos, 1/2 chicken mixture. Repeat layering. Top with cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

 - Cheesy Sausage and Noodles
    You need: 1kielbasa, 1/4 cup diced onion, minced garlic, 2 cups chicken broth, 2 cups cheddar jack cheese, 1/2 cup milk, and 10 ounce can of diced tomatoes.
    Directions: Brown the meat, garlic, and onion in a pot. Then add all ingredients except for the cheese and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the cheese, then let sit for 15 minutes.

   Like I said, that's just a few of them. I haven't gotten through all of the new ones yet, but I am having fun adding to my recipe book.  So what's one of your favorite recipes?

Books and the Bus Driver

Well,  I'm twenty-nine weeks today.  Only eleven weeks of pregnancy left to go,  and we can't wait to meet our little girl!  With the time closing in,  we'll be having the baby shower in just a few weeks.  My mother in law is planning the shower,  and she shared a few of her ideas with me.  One that I'm pretty excited about is that she is going to ask everyone to bring a storybook instead of a card. 
 
   Thinking of that made me start to think of the stories my parents used to tell us as kids.  My mom used to read to us almost every night when we lived in Africa.  We went through the Little House on the Prairie series,  and then there was one series about a school teacher from a big city who came to teach in a small town.  We went through several books while we were there and it was always something us kids enjoyed. 

 All those good stories,  and yet the ones I remember the most are the ones my mother made up.  My mother is no ordinary story teller, she's a writer,  but the kind of writing she specializes in is more on the murder mystery and suspense side of things.  She could make a mystery out of anything.  For instance,  when I was in junior high my mother was a teacher at our school,  and so we had to leave very early every morning so she could go to teachers meetings and set up her class and all that good stuff.  Well,  every morning as we left our subdivision,  there would be a bus parked on the side of the road at the subdivision entrance.  The bus wasn't running,  it was just parked there and the driver was sitting inside.  And my mother,  being who she is,  would tell us that the driver had to stop there every morning to get rid of the dead bodies he had hidden on the bus.  She said that it was a good body dump spot because there was a drop off right there into a swampy area.   Now before you think "that is horrible!",  we were all old enough to know better.  None of us were traumatized or have an irrational fear of the bus driver.  I do have to say,  though,  the bus always seemed a little creepier after that. 

  There was also the time when my parents tried to convince us that they were aliens.  Do you remember those copper bracelets that people used to wear?  The ones that were supposed to draw out impurities,  but they just turned your wrist green.  Well,  my parents wore those for a while,  and one day we asked about the bracelets.  Instead of telling us what they were really for,  my parents told us that the bracelets were their alien communication devices.  Yes, you read it right.  Alien communication devices.  They spent the rest of the day beeping at each other and talking into their bracelets. 

  

Anyways,  we never lacked in entertainment as kids.  I wouldn't change it for anything.  Those stories are probably the reason that the only kind of books I like to read now are the ones with a really good suspenseful plot.  That's the only kind of good book.  I can't get through the lovey dovey ones.  They don't keep my attention long enough,  and let's just face it.  The guys in those books do not exist in real life.  So why read about it?

 So I figure my daughter should be raised on the same good stories I was; and with that in mind, my mother is currently working on her children's book entitled "I think my parents are aliens".  She might follow it up with "Do I have to ride the bus,  mommy?".  Because a good story never hurt anyone,  right?

Catching up

  Well, it's been a while since I've written. Last I wrote we were in Brazil. That was over a month ago, and obviously we are back the America. Our trip went very well and God did some amazing things in our lives.  Our lives have not slowed down, however,  not even a little bit since we've been back.

  Leading up to our trip to Brazil, I looked at it as a point to get through and once we got past that then things would slow down for a while..... I was WRONG!!!  I didn't think about the fact that it was basically the milestone to the next step in our lives. Getting through that trip just opened up the door to all we need to do to get back to Brazil. Like find a mission board to go out of, start deputation, learn the language.  Not to mention, we've got twelve weeks left before our little girl arrives!!! Which I can't wait for! But as all of you who are parents know, the time leading up to and forever thereafter having a child doesn't slow down at all.

  While all of this can be overwhelming, it is also very exciting. Like I said, God did some amazing things in our lives, and we absolutely can't wait to get back to Brazil and serve in the ministry He has called us to. I could ramble on and on about everything that has been happening, but instead I'll just post a few pics of our trip and leave it at that for today.

Zack and I looking out over the city of Formiga, Minas Gerais. 

 Zack preaching with and interrupter interpreter.

One of the many Catholic churches we saw. Catholicism is a very large part of the culture in Brazil.

Weekend open air market. Lots of fresh fruits, veggies, and freshly butchered meat.