7QT - October - The Month That Would Not Stop

Well hello there, Internet Friend! Is it already mid-November? Not yet? That's good. Come in and sit down (you don't want to be outside right now anyway) and have a cuppa. Let's catch up!

I'm actually really glad to say that I survived October - there was just Soooo much going on. And most of it was really good! I picked out some of the highlights to share, and included a zillion few pictures as well because that's what we're really here for, right? But of course, since this is a 7QT, precedence says that I will not be able to fill all 7 takes with things from October. Thus, a few things from November fall in here too.

1. I got remarried!

...to the same man. :)

Ain't he good looking?

We celebrated 10 years together this October and decided to have our marriage blessed by the Church to observe the occasion. In Church terms this is called a "convalidation ceremony" since the legal marriage already took place, and this was to make it a sacramental marriage.

I didn't expect to be quite so emotional this time around... but as I was in the back waiting for the ceremony to start, our lovely musician started to sing Ave Maria and I was overcome. 10 years has brought a lot of meaning to the words, "in sickness and in health, in good times and bad" - but time and again, God has proven faithful, and we in turn strive to emulate that faithfulness.

And yes, my guys wore kilts... how could they not? My husband and the Fire baby wore a McKenzie and the Little Dude wore Royal Purple because there was absolutely no other way that he would have worn a kilt unless it was his favorite color. We do what we gotta do (to get the pictures that we want)!

2. Fire Baby turned 1!

His birth last year rather eclipsed *our* anniversary (the nerve of that kid!), so this year our anniversary kinda overshadowed his birthday. But only a little! Cause this little man is cute, and we hadn't had quite enough cake yet.

3. On a related note, you may have heard that Northern California is on fire again... it is just awful. The fires this year are actually quite far away from us, but the smoke these past few days has been as bad as it was when the fires were actually *here* (which must speak to how bad the fires are up north!) All of this smoke and ash is getting lots of folks worried about what it is we're breathing in, and how it will affect us - so when I heard about the B-SAFE study out of UC Davis, I had to sign up. I am 99% sure that last year's fires had a direct impact on why the cute guy above arrived when he did, so I definitely wanted to make my contribution to science. It was kinda fun! I filled out pages and pages of questionnaires on the pregnancy, the birth and post-birth; and a nurse came to our home to get bio-samples from me and the little guy. Since our wee girl says she wants to be a "scientific researcher" when she grows up, I thought she would be interested in watching the nurse at work. And she was... until the needles came out. But even then, she was quite fascinated with how many vials I had to fill, and why the blood was flowing into them, etc, etc... I'm pretty sure after that visit I got to check the "science" box for our homeschool day. (Plus, they tell me I'll get a Target gift card as compensation for my time, so win-win!)

4. October was also the month-of-many-visitors! My parents and father-in-law came for Wedding 2.0, as did some dear friends.

This lovely friend was also pregnant at our first wedding!

And I also got to meet an internet friend, IRL - though our visit was so short it almost didn't get documented! (Consider this the documentation, because the pictures are on her phone 😂 ) Megan, I hope we'll get to see each other again - long enough to let the kids out of the car and play a bit! ;)

5. And of course, October is the month of pumpkins and trick-or-treating! This was the first year that I can confidently say that the kids had a full understanding of the holiday -- they were sooo excited to go trick-or-treating! The girl because she wanted the Switch Witch to bring her an amazing Lego set (keep dreaming hon) and the boy because, well, "I don't want toys. I want candy." He's a straight shooter, that one.

He's Elsa and she's a "Kittywings Mail Carrier". I'm their mother!

6. Ok, well, she didn't have to dream for too long - since she turned 6 less than a week later and got the Lego set of her dreams (mostly).

She also got a cake with Daring Do on it. (And Daddy says making that happen was was the best $30 he's ever spent. 😏 )  I'd love to wax philosophical about how my baby girl is 6, but truth be told, that may have to wait for another day when I have a bit more energy. These 7 Quick Takes are hardly ever quick!

7. And they hardly ever stay on theme! So for my parting take, I offer you a suggestion for this Friday's feast of St Margaret of Scotland. Typically I've made a steak pie for the day, but since this year her feast day is on a Friday (and we abstain from meat on Fridays) we're going with a classic Scottish dish: the Macaroni Cheese pie. I know what you're thinking: noodles in a pie crust? With cheese? But like other Scottish delicacies (i.e, the deep fried Mars bar, haggis, and chip butties) you can't knock it till you try it. And don't forget to say your grace after the meal when you're done! (h/t Kendra Tierney) That's what St Margaret would have wanted.

Head over to Kelly's for more 7QTs (and possibly some better recipes and/or laughs) 😄

Get Ready for Lent, cuz Surprise! It's here!

I'm approaching Lent with a strange mixture of (happy) anticipation and dread this year. I think it might be because last year's Lent, even though it was the first time I had really ever observed it, seemed to go so well. Now that we're doing this a second time around, I wonder if I'll be able to rise to the occasion.

Ha ha. Pride. You nasty bugger you. Well, at least now we know one thing I'll need to be confessing this year...

(This was going to be a post for JEI, but since it looks like that may not be happening anymore, will you consider saying a prayer for Alicia and her family? This post is offered for her.)

What has worked for you or your family to make Lent meaningful?

Last year, on each Friday of Lent I packed a picnic lunch and took the kids to our church to do our own little Stations of the Cross. We would look at the picture for each station, I would explain what was going on/say a prayer to go with the station and then move on. By the end the wee girl was able to identify almost all the people in the pictures, so I think that was meaningful? I certainly gained an appreciation/awe for all that Jesus endured out of love for us. I'm going to try and do it again, but since this year the little dude is well...2 instead of 1 and *far* more mobile, I'm wondering how it might go down. Ah well, it's church right? He couldn't get into that much trouble could he? #famouslastwords

This year we're also going to try Nancy's Jesus Tree. The little girl is *still* talking about how she misses her Jesse tree - though I'm quite sure that's just because she misses the lights - so we'll see how this one goes over. (And if you read my last post - we're doing the paper one people! Definitely not the felt one. Though if anyone wants to go ahead and make me a set of those I would totally be on board with accepting it. :) )

What’s your go-to meatless meal?

Honestly? Taco night with refried beans instead of meat (we love these (not an affiliate link. Just FYI)) and then fish nuggets with broccoli. But I do have a few other easy meals, like this Sweet Potatoes with Beans and Greens or the Red Lentil Coconut Curry with Spinach below (it's easy! Promise! The ingredients list just looks long because of all the spices.)  Should you be interested, you can also find a list of all my "Friday Abstaining" meals here.

Print Recipe

Wild Rice Bowl with Red Lentil-Coconut Curry and Spinach

Source: thekitchn.com

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup wild rice (or brown, I use brown)
• 2 tablespoons ghee (or butter or coconut oil)
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger (or a 1/4 tsp dried ginger, if using add with other spices)
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste (like this one)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon cayenne powder (optional)
• 3 ¹⁄₂ cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves tightly packed
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can coconut milk
• ¹⁄₂ cup Greek yogurt
• ¹⁄₄ cup cilantro leaves (lightly packed) to garnish

Directions

1. Prepare the wild rice according to the package instructions. Most wild rice takes about 45 minutes to become tender; you can also make it a few days ahead so it's ready when you need it.
2. While the rice is cooking, heat the ghee in a large saucepan with tall sides over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and cook until lightly golden and soft. Add in the minced garlic and ginger, and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the red lentils, red curry paste, tomato paste, and spices, and cook until fragrant. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.
3. Once the lentils and broth reach a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft. Before serving, fold in the fresh spinach leaves, and pour in the coconut milk. At this point, taste the curry and adjust the seasoning according to your liking; add more salt or cayenne, if needed.
4. To serve, divide the wild rice equally into 4 bowls. Top each bowl with the curry, a dollop of yogurt, and fresh cilantro leaves. Serve immediately.

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Do you count Sundays as being part of Lent?

I'll have to defer to Kendra of Catholic All Year for this one, as I had no idea this was even a question! I just figured that your fast continued on Sunday because, well, it's still Lent. But nope. Read all about it here. (Really! It's quite informative)

What will you be doing for Lent this year?

Easter, Divine Mercy and Våffeldagen - a Seven Quick Takes

Happy Easter to you all!

- 1 -

I love that we will get to say this for 50 days! Prior to starting to live along with the liturgical calendar I was only aware of the church celebrating Easter for - oh, I don't know - maybe a week or so after the actual date. But now this will be the first year where we try and hold space for the season for all 50 days. One of the ways that I've considered doing this is by greeting fellow believers with "Happy Easter!" all Eastertide long. So far, it doesn't sound too weird to anyone I've wished it to this week, but I'm thinking that next week I might start to get some strange looks... that is if I don't chicken out by then.

- 2 -

In any case, Easter was lovely! So much so that my children decided they would rather look at the beautiful church than the camera...

We had my sister and her family over, as well as another guest, but it still wasn't enough to take care of The Ham. Once again, I overbought (though not in the same way as I did at Thanksgiving - a story for another time) and brought home a ham that could feed 10-12 people. Which wouldn't be too bad if we were feeding 10-12 people. But, really, we were feeding 5 (the kids hardly made a dent here). Oops. So that got me looking for ways to use the ham...

- 3 -

And while poking around the internet looking for hamspiration I came across this tremendously yummy looking recipe for Monte Cristo waffles...

Yummmmmmm...... (photo from The Kitchn)

... which triggered my memory about eating waffles for dinner for the Annunciation. Bingo! A way to use the ham and live liturgically! I love it.

- 4 -

This year we celebrate the Annunciation on April 4th. Back in January when I was planning our Liturgical calendar I didn't know any better, so I didn't catch that this was actually not the normal day that we celebrate it. It's normally celebrated 9 months before Christmas on March 25th - but this year that day was also Good Friday. Laura from Mothering Spirit wrote an achingly beautiful piece on this overlap of days here. I shared it on Facebook (since I could - Lent was finished on Holy Thursday night, after all) but I feel it's so worth reading, it deserves a second shout-out.

- 5 -

So someone might ask, why waffles on the Annunciation? Well, because Kendra does it. (Obviously. That's why we do anything around here. ;) ) But in addition to that, the tradition comes from Sweden and anything that comes from Sweden has a small piece of my heart. Still confused? Here's the deal: in Sweden, March 25th is called Vårfrudagen (literally, "Our Wife day" or "Our Lady's day") but if you say it quickly/mumble it a bit, it can sound a bit like Våffeldagen (literally, "Waffle day"). So there you go. Våffels till Vår Fru. Var så god.

- 6 -

When sharing all this with my younger sister she asked if I had seen the Alton Brown episode on waffles. I hadn't. But then I looked it up and YouTube...

Skip the opening bit. It's too corny for words. But would you believe that, in a way, we even have the Catholic church to thank for waffles?! Look for the bit with the nun (about a couple minutes in) to get the lowdown.

- 7 -

This Sunday is also Divine Mercy Sunday. Paul and I have been praying the Divine Mercy Novena, and I think the Divine Mercy chaplet has become one of my most favorite prayers. To celebrate we will either have this cake from Better Than Eden or these Divine Mercy Sundaes from Catholic Icing. If you'd like to read just a wee bit more about Divine Mercy Sunday, click on that link from Better Than Eden above. And if you've made it this far in my 7QT, I welcome your vote! Cake or ice cream?

Head over to This Ain't The Lyceum for more 7QTs, and again... happy Easter! :)

a recipe, a song, a photo, a quote

Volume 1 - because I hope Anna of The Heart's Overflow will do this link up again soon!

R E C I P E - this one has been around since college! Back then Good Seasons made an Oriental Sesame dressing mix that was the base of the sauce, but my mom, being the resourceful woman that she is, found a sesame dressing recipe in one of her Sunset cookbooks that we have used ever since. The mom in me also appreciates that this change makes everything 100 Days of Real Food compliant (or at least can be if you use all honey as the sweetener).

I will say that I usually only make this meal when we have leftover chicken from a roast chicken - then the only thing to do is make the dressing, boil the noodles and chop/grate the veg. Easy peasy. But adding the cooking chicken part doesn't add too much time to the whole thing - so I would still put this under the "quick and easy" tag.

Thai Chicken and Sesame Noodles

An Americanized version of chicken satay with noodles that are "pad thai" - ish.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup Sesame Dressing divided, see below
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast halves cut into strips
• 2 Tbsp. chunky peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. crushed red pepper
• 8 oz. Whole wheat spaghetti cooked, drained
• ³⁄₄ cup carrot grated
• ¹⁄₂ cup green onions sliced
• ¹⁄₄ cup cilantro chopped
• Sesame Dressing
• ¹⁄₂ cup salad oil divided (I use avocado oil)
• 3 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 5 Tbsp soy sauce
• 5 Tbsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• ¹⁄₂ tsp salt

Directions

1. Pour 1/3 cup of the dressing over chicken in medium bowl; toss to coat. Cover. Refrigerate 1 hour to marinate.
2. Mix remaining dressing, peanut butter, honey and pepper; set aside.
3. Cook chicken and marinade in large skillet on medium-high heat until cooked through. Mix spaghetti, chicken, carrot, onions and cilantro in large bowl. Add peanut butter mixture; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
4. For the dressing:
5. In a small frying pan, combine 1/4 cup of the salad oil and the sesame seeds. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until seeds are golden (about 2 minutes). Let cool. In a 2 cup container, combine the remaining salad oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and salt. Add the seeds and oil once cooled and stir well.

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S O N G - all I really get to listen to these days is kids' music. Fortunately my friends/family (who are the ones who've given us the only CDs in our children's CD collection) have really good taste - so when this particular song goes on repeat, I don't mind too much. (Verse 3 is my personal fav :) )

P H O T O - this one was actually just taken today in my neighbor's yard. I wish I knew what these little flowers were, because their smell was heavenly! My little dude had to toddle over to see why I was sticking my nose in them.

Q U O T E - I haven't written down any good quotes lately, so I had to go back into the archives to find one to share... Here's one from Lauren Winner, in her book Wearing God:

Thanks to Anna for the link up! Head over there for other posts like this one (I'm personally looking forward to seeing other people's recipes!)

Little Dude Turns One!

A friend who gave birth to twins the day after I gave birth to this cutie was stopped in the store earlier this week and was asked, "So... what's the theme for your girls' first birthday?"

Now, that's just a WEIRD question for a stranger to ask... don't you think? But what I loved was her response: "Uh... cake and ice cream and survival?"  Because look. We got through 365 days together, and not only did the wee one survive - but he thrived! Look at him munchin' on that train like Godzilla! He's great. And he don't need no themed birthday. Which is good. Cause he didn't get one.

He did get a trip to the children's museum...

and a few cards...

and, yes, he did get a cake.

Which he destroyed. Right proper like.

The cake was a gluten free, grain free cake made from garbanzo beans. And it was delicious!! (Contrary to what Little Dude's unceremonious dump on the floor implied).  I found the recipe on Kathleen's blog, Becoming Peculiar. She made this cake for her daughter's birthday and claimed that "no one could tell there was anything unusual going on. In fact, our guests raved about how moist and chocolatey it was, and asked for the recipe." Well, I wasn't going to believe that til I made it myself.

But here's how they looked when they came out of the oven...

Those *do* look chocolatey.

And here's how it looked after frosting and "decorating"...

Yup. Looks like a cake.

And yes, after polling my sister and brother-in-law - who are both self-professed "not really cake eaters" - they wouldn't have guessed that this was one of those gluten-free-tastes-like-sadness-wannabe-cakes. Win! You can try the recipe as I made it and see if you agree.

So, all in all, a happy birthday for the little dude. At least, I think so. :)

Chickpea Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Source: becomingpeculiar.com

Course: Desserts

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 2 cans garbanzo beans or 4 cups home-cooked
• 8 eggs
• 1 ¹⁄₃ cups orange juice (or pineapple)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar (or other granulated sugar)
• ²⁄₃ cup honey
• 1 ¹⁄₃ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• Cream Cheese Icing
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• 2 ¹⁄₂ cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ¹⁄₂ tsp lemon juice
• pinch salt

Directions

1. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans, and line the bottoms with cut circles of parchment paper to make sure your cakes come out nice and easy. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Blend the chick peas and 4 of the eggs in a large blender or food processor until smooth. Then mix in all the rest of the ingredients until well blended. (They may not all fit in your blender at once. You may need to transfer to your mixer bowl and beat it with your mixer, after the beans are blended smooth.) Batter will be very runny, but don’t fret — it’ll fluff up like magic when you bake it.
3. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
4. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until top is firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting and assembling the cake. Carefully peel off the parchment paper.
5. Put the butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your mixer, and beat with the paddle attachment until creamy and smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl as necessary. Beat in the milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes before frosting the cooled cakes.
6. Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or plate. Top with a generous amount of frosting and spread evenly. Place the other cake on top of the frosting. Top with more frosting. Work frosting onto the sides of the cake until evenly covered.
7. "Thread" a toothpick with 5 or 6 cherrios, and use to add the cherrios to the cake. (It's very helpful here to have a second person who can do the "threading" of the cherrios and keep you stocked with toothpicks full and ready to go.)
8. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving, to make the cake easier to slice.

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*The* Word for 2016

I think it was a few years back I started hearing about peoples' "words" for the new year. Some folks would unveil their word on Facebook using that quiz-style thing that takes in your name and Magically! spits out your word for the new year. Others would be a little more thoughtful (one can only guess) and just share their word without the graphics and the invitation to "Find Your Own Word for 2016!"

Then (as now) the thought of a guiding word intrigued me. What would it be like to have a word that guided my thoughts and decisions for a whole year? Where would I be in 365 days? What would be different?

It seemed like a *very important thing to do* and so I didn't want to leave this word to chance. I wanted to think. Pray. Meditate. Spend due diligence in figuring this word out. And so, of course, I forgot to do it and thus a couple years have gone by without me participating.

But not this year! This year will be different because after seeing this picture on Instagram:

Simplicity. That's my word for 2016. Yours? #dishesatthelodge #pitcherfromchildhood #wholeparentinglodge

A photo posted by Nell 💙 (@whole_parenting) on Dec 27, 2015 at 11:18am PST

I decided I needed to find my word.

It actually didn't take very long, even thought I didn't really know how to go about it. It was after reading this article on making resolutions using the word as a theme, and another article (that I can't find right now. Drat) that was about making resolutions based on how you want to *feel* in the next year (rather than specific *things* you want to accomplish), that I sat down and came up with a few words. And from that list, only one really jumped out at me: LEARN.

There's quite a few things I would like to learn - about blogging, tutoring, parenting, etc... - but there's also the attitude that I want to take in this next year. Is there something ahead of me that I don't know how to do? Well, rather than ignore or avoid it, squarely look at it and decide to LEARN. I feel this encompasses both actual goals I have and the "softer" attitude/mindset that I want to adopt.  As a former pastor once said, "Do you want to be the same person next year that you are today?" It's only living things that grow and change - therefore, I want to live... and learn! (No dead quitty fishes here.)

So what's your word for 2016?

The Things That Have Been Taking Up Brain Space...

(if there's 7 of 'em, we'll make it a 7QT - and that's a big IF. So we'll see...)

-1-

I just took a moment to reread my last post about how we're making our Catholic family more... um, Catholic-ey (Catholickey? Catholocist-like?). And I had to chuckle because just last night I was lamenting to my husband that I didn't think I was doing a good enough job. Re-reading the post, though, encouraged me that we *are* working on it and I must remember that if I'm seeking perfection then I'm entirely off-base.

Any advice you might have wanted to give me about learning to do something new has now
been usurped by this card. Sorry. (This woman gets me.)

-2-

Jesse Tree Update! Things are progressing along nicely I think!

I actually have more than just these 5 done... but the other pictures are hiding somewhere on my phone. These ones look the best though.

Just one piece of advice... do not craft, drink wine and listen to podcasts at the same time. Or *this* might happen:

Add this to my "Hall of Shame"

-3-

Where (contrary to what -1- says) I am failing as a Catholic: The Spiritual Works of Mercy

While a lot of these need work, it's that last one - praying for the dead that I've really been thinking about. The Catholic church specifically sets aside the month of November to pray for the dead - for which many of my friends will probably ask, "Why?" And to be honest, my friends, I was right there with you. And kinda still am... but kinda am not.
It has to do with that subject that I feel no one I know wants to talk about: purgatory (and on a related note, indulgences). Purgatory is the place where saved souls "go" before they are accepted into the presence of God. (This is not the same as Limbo - something which the Church has never taught as official doctrine - and for which I would encourage you to read this post (especially the quote at the end from St Bernard))
James Martin, SJ helped me understand the purpose of purgatory a little bit better when he posted on Facebook:

"Purgatory is a time of preparation for entrance into heaven. It comes from the same root as the word for "purgation," and in this case is a kind of ridding ourselves of our sinfulness. To put it in the most homey way, which of us here, should we, say suddenly get hit by a bus after coming from a daily Mass, feel completely ready to meet God? On the other hand, exiting church and going immediately to heaven is probably not such a bad way of presenting yourself to God! You say, “Hey look, I just came from Mass!”
But the point is that most of us are probably not completely prepared to meet our Creator, even after many years of prayer, penance and preparation. And for those of us who are guilty of great sins, and who have turned away from God in a serious way, the process of purgatory is probably even longer, or, to put more accurately--since there's no time in heaven--more complete. Sin is a complete turning away from God, and it may take some time for people who have lived sinful lives a while before they can admit their sinfulness, and accept God's forgiveness"

And this is why we pray for the dead: we all need grace to accept God's mercy. It's something I have heard in almost every bible study I've ever done (and something my experience bears witness to) God's mercy is radical and oftentimes hard to accept. We need His grace to accept his Gift. All of us, dead and alive. I'll be honest. It's still an odd thought to me. But if there's something I can do about it, then I want to do it.

-4-

Which brings me to the indulgences part. The week following All Souls Day (not to be confused with All Saints day) the Church grants special indulgences for those who specifically commit themselves to praying for All The Souls by going to a cemetery and praying for the departed.

This was a big "Woah. Woah WOAH. Hold up." moment for me. I had thought indulgences had been reformed out with the Reformation. But, to my surprise, they have not. They are still very much a part of church teaching (and not of the part that I can choose whether I want to believe it or not - cause guess what? There are actually some church teachings that the church says "You can believe this if you want to, but if you don't want to, no biggie."  Like you, I'm doubly surprised.)

But unlike purgatory, indulgences baffle me. Because I can't just say the prayer and call it good. There are stipulations before the indulgence can be granted (by who? and how? and for what, again? So many questions.) So I'm still doing my research. Really, I'm only bringing it up because the title of this post was "Things that have been taking up brain space" and this ranks right up there.

So, uhm... yeah. I'm just going to leave this right.... here.

-5-

My little ones are growing up right before my eyes. This week, both of my chilluns made huge (in my mind) milestones. First, the spitfire went to the doctor's office for her yearly checkup and she cooperated with the nurse and didn't cry! (Well, until she got her flu shot, but that's to be expected.) I was stunned, but was doing my absolute best to remain and cool and confident on the outside while inside I was jumping all around wanting to celebrate how my little girl was being so brave. We talked it up all the way home and to everyone we met that day though. I'm so proud of her.

And then a couple days later the little dude started for-reals-crawling! He's been army crawling since he was 6 months, but on Wednesday night he army crawled into his sister's room and then when I called for him, he right on proper crawled his way out. It was truly like a switch had flipped. Yet it didn't happen over night - it happened in a post-nap-pre-dinner moment. My eyes still bug out at the thought of it.

-6-

Facebook. It's been taking up far too much brain space. I turned off notifications on my phone for it, which helped a little, but still it's too big of a time sink.  I think I might need an intervention or something. Any help here friends?

-7-

Ok, I just gotta pull a 7th one out here because, I'm sooo close! Think think think! What else has been taking up space in my brain?

Oh... I know. *insert sly smile here*

And no, it's nothing like that! (Shame on you.)

It's just simply the best Chicken Pot Pie ever. Really. Fall's here everyone, so go ahead and give this one a try. You will love it. (and yes, it's 2 teaspoons sherry. and yes, it's completely necessary.)

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Source: www.thekitchn.com

Course: Main Course

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• For the filling
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large leek chopped
• 1 cup onions chopped into small dice
• 1 cup carrots chopped into small dice
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups green beans cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¹⁄₂ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken stock hot
• 1 cup whole milk warmed
• 2 teaspoons dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 cups shredded chicken
• 3 hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• For the topping
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter melted
• ¹⁄₂ cup whole milk or 2%

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. For the filling, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot on medium heat. Add the leeks, onions, and carrots and sauté until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the green beans in a pot of salted boiling water until tender and bright green, about 5-7 minutes (see note). Drain the beans and set aside.Transfer the sautéed vegetables to the same bowl as the green beans, season with salt, and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the flour and cook until a thick paste forms. Continue stirring for a minute or so. Add the chicken stock and milk and cook, whisking constantly until thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the sherry, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Fold in the vegetables and cooked chicken into the cream sauce. Season generously with salt and pepper. (Seriously, don't go light on the salt here, but taste as you go.) Pour the filling into a 2- to 3-quart greased casserole dish. Arrange the boiled egg slices over the top.
4. For the topping, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the milk and melted butter, and whisk until combined. (Just a warning, the batter will seem fairly runny. That's okay.) Pour the batter evenly over the casserole dish.
5. Bake the pot pie for 45 minutes, until the biscuit topping is light golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
6. Notes:
7. • I poached 4 pounds of bone-in chicken thighs with aromatics--carrots, celery, onions--until cooked through. I shredded the chicken and used the stock for the pot pie. (I also added the remaining bones and extra chicken back to the pot with more water to make additional stock for using later.)
8. • For extra flavor, blanch the green beans in the reserved stock from poaching the chicken instead of boiling water.

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So there it is! 7 Quick Takes. Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum has more (and probably better ones) to read, so share the click-thru-love.

Blessings - Edible and Otherwise

You may have noticed I've alluded a couple times now to my husband having a surgery earlier in the summer - but out of respect for him, I've never gone into any detail about it. And.... I still won't. (ha! This must definitely be breaking a blogger rule somewhere. "Don't bring it up if you don't want to talk about it." Or something like that.)

But suffice it to say his surgery kept him out of commission for quite a while, and during that time wrangling the 2 kiddos became my 24/7 responsibility. I was so nervous about this that prior to the surgery that I solicted anyone and everyone's prayers: for my hubby's recovery and adjustment, for my wee ones to have extra grace with Daddy, and strength, endurance and *joy* for me.

One of the first places I took these requests was to my friends and family. (OK, I first took them to God... but after that, then I took them to friends and family). I was so humbled to immediately receive those prayers and then some! (More on that in a minute).

But I also did something I never had before - I shared them with folks on a website: PrayMoreNovenas.com. Right before his surgery, the folks at PrayMoreNovenas announced that their next novena would be to St. Anne - the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. She is often asked (by single women) for help in finding a spouse, but she has also been known to intercede for people in need of healing.  In addition to this, the novena was perfectly (miraculously?) timed to go for the 9 days prior to my husband's surgery. Well, this sounded like more than just a coincidence to me so I logged on and typed in my prayer requests, and hit "Publish".

I have to admit: praying novenas, especially to saints, is still very new to me. Because it's so new, my senses are heightened and I'm paying close attention to everything I say and do. Well, come to find out I have some phrases that I use in prayer that come out, just on auto-pilot, that are really not appropriate in a prayer to a saint (like St Anne for instance).  Like, I say "Lord". A. Lot. If anyone else were to be listening to me pray they would think that I have either forgotten who I was talking to, or that I think Jesus has nodded off and needs to be snapped back to attention. It's bad.  So I learned I have to really pay attention to what I'm saying.

In any case, praying this novena to St. Anne was a great consolation to me. As was having my friends pray for us as well! They loved on us with prayers and food - and I can say with certainty - our bodies and souls were blessed. My husband especially loved our friend Monica's chicken bites that he had to have the recipe - which he doesn't often say things like that! So you can trust that this one is a keeper.

Monica's Breaded Chicken Bites

Course: Main Course

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 24 Ritz crackers (Original, whole wheat or a combination)
• ¹⁄₂ cup grated parmesan
• ¹⁄₂ tsp seasoned salt
• 1 tsp thyme scant
• 1 tsp basil
• ¹⁄₂ cup butter melted (or avocado oil or EVOO)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Put crackers, salt, thyme and basil into a gallon ziploc bag. Close bag and crush crackers into crumbs.
3. Add parmesan to bag and mix thoroughly.
4. Cut chicken into strips and coat in butter (or oil).
5. Toss 5-6 strips into the bag and shake to coat. Remove and place on baking sheet.
6. Repeat till all strips of chicken are used.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is done.

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Oh, and the best part? Our prayers were answered!! Praise be to our Lord and Savior for hearing the prayers of His saints.