World Food Day 2013: Help end hunger!

I have recently heard myself complain that I need a freezer to help store all this food that I'm prepping for the coming weeks' meals. While I don't think there is anything wrong with being able to enjoy food and drink responsibly, it also reminds me that those who have the ability to help, should.

October 16 is World Food Day 2013! Please consider helping those who have trouble providing food for themselves and their families. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Donate food or dollars to your local food pantry.
2. Help serve a meal at a homeless shelter, women's shelter, Ronald McDonald House, or other charity.
3. Make a meal for a family member or neighbor to show you care.
4. Grow a garden (or plan one, since it's fall) and share the bounty with others.
5. Take a good hard look at how much food you waste. I'm not saying that you should stuff yourself just so that you don't throw things away from your plate, but instead, look at what foods are wasting away in your fridge or pantry.
6. Share the news with others:

• World Food Day USA and Canada on Facebook 
• World Food Day Hangout #WFD2013 on Google+ 
• World Food Day website 
• @FAOWFD and #wfd2013 on Twitter 

Together we can help fight hunger in our neighborhoods and around the world!

Virtual Running Date No. 28: More Fall Soups!

Good morning, Crushers!

October is here in full force with wind and rain mixed with sun and falling leaves. It's gorgeous! If we were on a running date, I'd be talking all about fall. Fall is soup time for me. If you hadn't noticed from the other soup recipes that I posted from Susan, I'm going to give you another today.

If we were running today, I'd tell you about how excited I am that we are expecting a new nephew today! I cannot wait to meet the little man and shower him with kisses and snuggles. Fortunately, that's just what we get to do this coming weekend! So excited!

If we were running today, I'd tell you how Steve and I went running this past weekend and then got caught in a heavy downpour. Rain is good for the ground and all, but blinding when you're running without a hat, right? After that, we went to see the homecoming football game for the high school where Steve teaches. And it rained some more. With lightning! Being the dedicated fans we are, we huddled together under an umbrella and stuck it out until they cleared the kids to come back out on the field to keep playing.

Empty the field! (note how we're winning)

Rain, rain go away! The stands are soaked and kids want to play!

Pre-rain

 If we were running today, I'd tell you how proud I am of my friends Margaret and Kristen who did the Chicago Marathon yesterday. All I could think of was that moment at the beginning of my last half marathon where we all took a few seconds to remember what happened in Boston. Those few moments of silence are enough to make you tear up.

If we were running today, I'd tell you about the wonderful spaghetti squash that I roasted last night while I was baking bread (which turned out so well). It's ready for some spicy African sausage that we found at the farmers' market last week. The sausage is called boerewors, which is a South African sausage based on a Dutch recipe. It's very lean and flavorful. I'm excited to try it with some squash and marinara sauce. We might also throw it in some jambalaya. Yum! So hungry now!

I had two different sized loaf pans. Can you tell?

If we were running today, I'd just keep up the recipe sharing and let you know about this bratwurst and butternut squash stew recipe I just found on Chow.com. I think I'll use it for my office's annual fall food challenge. It seems nice and hearty, and I could use a turkey sausage to make it healthier. Otherwise, it's all veggies! Maybe I'll replace some of the potatoes with carrots. What do you think?

Bratwurst and Butternut Squash Stew

• 1 (1-pound) butternut squash
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 ounces fresh Bratwurst Sausage (about 3 sausages - I'll probably use turkey sausage)
• 1 medium yellow onion, medium dice
• 4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 10 ounces red potatoes, large dice (maybe use some carrots or yams instead?)
• 3/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes and their juices
• 3 cups water
• 6 ounces baby spinach

Doesn't that sound delicious?!

 

Have a wonderful day, Crushers!

Faith-filled Friday: Car Conversations

Good morning, Crushers!

As you know, last weekend we had our friend Kalie visit us from Texas. You know how they say everything is bigger in Texas? I think that her ability to talk to people about her faith follows that saying. This girl is not afraid to share her love of Jesus with anyone. She also tells me about all of the times when something happens and she has to get in her car and then drive somewhere.
"Jen, you have no idea how many times I get in the car and ask God what he wants me to do?"

Source

I laughed and said that she should write a book about all of her car conversations. Then I started realizing all of the time that I have chats with God in the car when I'm by myself. Lots of times in the past, I know I have asked God where something is going. Sometimes I pray that I don't get rear-ended. Sometimes I ask God to keep me safe on a journey. Sometimes I just rant and rave when I've had a rough day. Sometimes I just sing along really loudly with the radio when it's playing some awesome song on K-LOVE. Car conversations with God can be really amazing.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

God knows where we're going. He has a plan. Sometimes it's just really hard to see it. This week has been no exception! We've got what feels like 10 balls in the air that we're trying to keep going. Hopefully, we'll be able to set a few aside, but until then, I'm asking God for some good balance and hand-eye coordination!
 

Roasted Chicken with lemon and rosemary

Hello Crushers!

As promised, here is my attempt at Rosemary and Lemon Roasted Chicken. I followed the recipe from Kitchen Crush Ree Drummond (also known as the Pioneer Woman) almost exactly. I encourage you to go check out her recipe in case you'd like to try that and also because she has way better pictures.

Here is what I did:
Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary
Based on the recipe by Ree Drummond
Ingredients:

• 1 whole Chicken, Patted Dry
• 3/4 -ish cups Butter, Softened
• 2 whole Lemons
• 2-3 Tbsp fresh from the garden Rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp dried Thyme
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Gear you'll need:

• Large bowl, spoon, measuring cups, zester/fine grater, baking sheet with sides, heavy duty aluminum foil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil. This is super helpful in the clean up! Open up that chicken package and take the baggie of guts out. Unless you're planning on making a chicken liver pate, just chuck it. I'm not into organ meats, but if you are, that's nice. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and then chuck those too. No one wants salmonella poisoning. This is the reason that you DO NOT rinse your chicken. Just pat it dry and lay it on the foil. Let it air out a bit.
 

Zest away, Crushers!

In the mean time, let's get to the buttery goodness. If your butter isn't softened enough, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. I mean that. Do not put it in for over 12 seconds at a time or you just melted your butter. Once you have soft butter, zest two lemons over the butter bowl. This will smell so good. Then add the diced rosemary and thyme. As Ree Drummond says, you can mix and match your herbs and citrus, so don't be afraid to try new things!

Buttery lemon goodness!

Once you have all the herb butter mixed up, slather it all over the chicken and make sure to get it in all the nooks and crannies. Yes, even inside the bird. Don't be shy! Just stick your hand in the cavity. You can do it! If it helps, you can pretend that you're putting sun screen on the chicken, so you know you've got to cover everything or the poor thing will burn. Once you've buttered it up, sprinkle lemon juice over the chicken and then cram as many lemon halves inside the chicken. Ree's recipe called for three lemons, but I could only fit two inside, so I'm suggesting that you just buy two.

Buttered up and in the oven!
Note: when you sprinkle the lemon juice on it, some of the butter may slide around.

Wash your hands thoroughly and then pop the chicken in the oven for at least an hour and 25 minutes. It might take longer. When it's all done, the insides won't be pink and all the juices will run clear. 

Yum!

Serve it up with some of your favorite sides (butternut squash gnocchi, beets and green beans all from the garden!), and enjoy!

Sorry for the messy plate, but I was starving!

Virtual Running Date No. 27: Fall running

Hey Crushers,

I'm happy to report that I did not fall while running. However, if this were a virtual running date, I would be happy to run with you through all the gorgeous fall leaves! Thankfully, the weather let up enough over the weekend for a nice long run on Saturday morning.

Where we run along the parkway was bustling with activity between rain showers. Kids were playing soccer, there was a walk for Alzheimer's awareness, a farmers' market, people eating brunch, runners, bikers, and walkers (both two- and four-legged). Steve and dodged the leashes, strollers and leaf piles (they were a little wet, so they were slippery). Nothing like nature turning into an obstacle course!

If this were a running date, I would tell you about the amazing frozen yogurt that we had over the weekend. Imagine this: apple pie flavored fro-yo, topped with chopped nuts, granola and a little (yeah, yeah, a lot) of caramel sauce. Yum! I encourage you to indulge a bit in all things apple this weekend! Sunday night, I had a friend invite me over to have some coffee and apple crisp. Of course I was going to go! Who turns down a good apple crisp in October? No one.

If this were a running date, I would confess that I'm really looking forward to fall break. I'm teaching a college course on top of every thing else, so one day off of teaching sounds like a blessing right now. I can use that time to write the next exam and prepare for the rest of the semester instead of doing it so last minute. How about you? Aren't you looking forward to a bit of a slow down before November and December?

If this were a running date, I would also tell you that I'm so excited to be an auntie again! My brother and sister-in-law are expecting Baby #2 any day now (most likely a week from today). How fun! More baby snuggles!

One more thing: the roasted chicken I talked about in this post? Yeah, it was delicious! Look for it in an up coming post!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got to be outside for a bit!

Faith-filled Friday: Just a little late...

Good morning, Crushers!

Sorry that I didn't get this posted earlier, but I had a very busy weekend! I had a house guest staying with me from Wednesday through Sunday. Kalie came up to visit from Texas (along with her mom) to see one of our good friends, Jenny, get married to the man of her dreams. It was a gorgeous service full of family, friends, faith and fall colors.

In honor of Jenny and Matt's wedding, here's another great verse about togetherness:

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. - Ruth 1:16

Kalie pointed out that it's a bit odd that this is actually spoken by a young widow to her mother-in-law, and yet it's used as a reading in so many weddings. Why would you want to focus on a widow on your wedding day? Aren't wives and mothers-in-law supposed to bicker and not get along?

I think what this shows is that Ruth and her late husband must have had a solid, faith-filled marriage in order for Ruth to desire to stay part of the family that embraced her. She could have returned to her own family, which doesn't seem to be a God-fearing group. Ruth 1:15 says that Naomi (the mother-in-law) urged Ruth to return to her family "and her gods". Instead, Ruth decided to turn from those gods to be faithful to God.

Kalie and I had a few long talks this past weekend, and most of them ended in amazement at how God has chosen to use our lives in ways that we did not think that they would go. I seriously doubt that Naomi ever imagined that her daughter-in-law would end up being a great-great-great-great...many more greats-grandmother to Jesus! You never know how your life will turn out.

Just as Matt and Jenny promised to be with each other through all the ups and downs of life this past Friday, they were basically saying what Ruth said to Naomi. No matter what God hands us; no matter what we face, I'm yours and I'll be yours.

God bless Matt and Jenny through their marriage!

We're going to need a freezer...

I have no idea what has gotten into me, but I kind of loaded the freezer with three bags of gnocchi, lots of blanched veggies and other assorted items. If I plan to keep going this way and making some soup for lunches or dinners ahead of time, we're going to run out of freezer space soon.

Uh oh.

I'm thinking we're going to need something like this:

Source

I've got big plans for this freezer. Since the most popular post on this blog is about freezer meal prep, it only makes sense to explore this more, right? I've got a few other ideas up my sleeve, too.

In the mean time, please enjoy these soup recipes from loyal reader, Susan. (Hi Susan!) I'll be making these soups in the future, but feel free to use the recipes now!

• Zesty Minestrone from Kraft
• Slow Cooker Tomato Rotini Soup from Betty Crocker