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Pasta Meatball Bake

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This dish is so easy. It took a total of less than 1 hour to put together, bake, and cool off so you can eat it. If you use regular pasta - I would bake it for an extra 5 minutes. My mom passed this recipe on to me and I doctored it a bit.  Ingredients: 1 - 16oz box of pasta (I used Chickpea pasta) 3 cups of water 16 oz. Of frozen meatballs (I used meatless) Sprinkle of salt 1 - 24 oz jar of pasta sauce 5 oz. Spinach Parmesan cheese 2 cups of mozzarella  Fresh Basil or parsley for the top of the dish Recipe : Turn oven to 450.  Spray a 13x9 dish.  Place noodles, water, meatballs, salt, spinach and just a sprinkle of Parmesan into the dish. Give it a good toss to make sure everything is incorporated.  Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Be sure to give a good stir about every 10 minutes.  Take out and sprinkle on the two cups of mozzarella cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes, uncovered.  Take out and let sit for at least 5 minutes. Sprinkle some torn fresh parsley or basil o
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Paint Your Picture

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Have you ever painted a picture of what could be? The words in your mind painting this scene before your very screen of assumptions and probablys. You’ve played out entire dialogues with scene changes and character entrances and exits. But instead of painting something for leisure it’s full of offense, contempt, and sorrow. You’ve built a story upon the responses of the assumptions and now your memory can’t even recognize what’s real and what’s pish posh. Confidence has left the building and insecurity fills the crevices like the pest it is. I believe even confident people struggle with this. But it’s the hastening to wiping away of untruths and replacing them with the truths they know that separate the confident from the insecure. They pick themselves up and tell themselves the facts and the things that are true. And if they feel off about it, they SAY something to someone.  Open up. Open up to the truths! Because before long, if you don’t, your insecurities become your truth.
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What Does Your Pasture Look Like?

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We’ve been going through the book of John as a family. It’s amazing you can read something more than 10 times and new thoughts, new wonderings dwell within the words on the page. In my mind from my elementary days, The Good Shepherd and his sheep is a picture of just that: a man holding a staff, standing as the gate to let the sheep in and call to them. They don’t even question because they KNOW this is good pasture. Can’t you see it on the wall? With the sheep and their curly hair, amongst a field of grass at the mercy of one man, their shepherd. Their lives are in his hands. But as I sat reminiscing of the picture framed on the Sunday school wall, a question wells up inside? “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and  will find good pastures . The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. ” John Chapter 10:9-11 What does your GOOD pasture look like, Lord? ‭‭
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Guacca-mo-mo-mo-a-mo-le!

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A lot of people ask for this recipe so I thought I would add it here... *remember, everything is approximate *you really need to have ripe avocados, slightly firm and slightly smushy *if you don't have enough after you have mixed everything, you can always add sour cream to make it go farther. Ingredients: 4 avocados 1/4 medium red onion, chopped 1 Tablespoon or more of diced jalapenos 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped 3 cloves of garlic, minced  1 tablespoon lime juice 1 teaspoon or more of salt chips Cut and open the avocados.  Add everything to a bowl, except chips, and mush together with your hands.  EVERYTHING should be added to your liking.
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What lies at the end of your horizon?

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Everyone has an answer for what lies ahead. The world has abundant answers full of thirty day guarantees . Look in a crystal ball, read your horoscope, let’s align the stars, play your cards right, must be luck… All of those solutions seem lackluster and full of empty promises because they have changed over time.  When I think of a fortune, I think of something holed up, kept in a safe place, locked up, reserved for those special enough to find it on the map. It’s hidden and yet its legacy is revered and handed down for decades, even centuries. Treasure is accessible, but still requires you to submit to the game of waiting and right timing.  We have full access to a fortune, an inheritance that provides a quenching so large, that even the feeling of receiving the finest rubies can’t compare.  The fortune only comes with submission, but is guaranteed with a promise. When we faithfully wait for the inheritance, when we faithfully wait for the answered prayer and submit every d
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Warm Brussle Sprout Salad

  Ingredients: 1 &1/4 lbs. brussel sprouts, halved and then thinly sliced 1/2 yellow onion, diced Olive oil (or any cooking oil/fat) Salt Pepper 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled and rough chopped Seeds from 1/2 a pomegranate  1 lemon, zested and then juice squeezed Red pepper flakes Crumbled Feta *optional ingredients: dried cranberries instead of pomegranates and shaved Parmesan in addition to the feta RECIPE:  Slice the Brussel sprouts in half and then thinly slice each half. Place in a bowl.  Heat a large sauté pan on medium low heat. Add cooking oil to the pan and sauté the onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Chop the pistachios When the onions become translucent, add in the Brussel sprouts.  Sauté for just a bit, enough to be warmed. You want the Brussel sprouts to stay bright green. Stir frequently so all the leaves become warm (5 minutes tops) Add in the pistachios. Cook for 1 more minute.  Remove from heat and add in the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle in as much red pepper
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Peace Planted In Your Heart

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”So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.“ ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬ What word has God planted in your heart that has the power to save your soul? A friend of my called me the threader. My family is interconnected through threads. What they pickup from me will determine if they are able to bend and flex or if they will be tight with tension. If my stress and angst is known, then my threads are taut and unable to be flexible. But if I am looking for the peace in all situations, my threads are able to move freely, and yet with intention. Depending on circumstances, my husband or I or even a child help keep the peace. We talk a lot about “keeping the peace” not with the intent to people please. But with the thought of how can we come to each interaction, love the person well, with a lens of boundaries that helps keep the peace in our hearts? Peace is always accessible,
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