Homemade 'Fried' Pickles in the Oven

Pickles in general are one of my favorite foods. Add some fried goodness to them and it's heaven. However, hubs and I are trying to eat better so the typical fried pickle is out of the question. I came across this recipe and was skeptical about it. BUT we were pleasantly suprised. Nothing of course is as good if it's not actually fried, but these were pretty delicious! Still quite a bit of calories, for those who care, but it makes eating healthier and eating fried pickles at the same time an option!

Ingredients:
1 jar pickle slices
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs

Directions:
- Turn the broiler on high.
- In a bowl whisk the eggs, flour, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, and peppber.
- Put panko crumbs in a seperate bowl.  Coat each pickle with the egg mixture and then cover with the panko crumbs (the easiest way to do this is to dunk the pickle into each bowl -it makes your hands gross though just be forewarned!).
- Place coated pickles on coated cookie sheet. Place on the middle rack. Broil for 3 minutes on each side.

For our dip I just mixed some ranch dressing and hot sauce! YUM!

Turkey and Bean Chili

I made this chili last night for the first time and it was SO good! Not to mention so extremely easy! I found the original recipe online and then made several of my own adaptations. I threw everything in the crockpot before work yesterday and it was ready when I got home!

Ingredients
1 cup chopped white onion
1 chopped poblano pepper (take all of the seeds out)
1-2 minced garlic cloves
- as a tip, I chopped all of these items the night before and left in the fridge overnight, left me less to work to do before work in the morning.
1 pound ground turkey
2 TB tomato paste
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 TB chili powder
1 can great northern beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can fat free, less sodium chicken broth
salt and pepper

I put my raw turkey in first and then mashed up and seperated. Then I added all of the remaining ingredients and mixed. I put it on low for 8-10 hours and we still weren't ready to eat right after work so I placed in on warm for a few more hours and it still tasted amazing! Not to mention it was fairly healthy. Hubs and I are counting calories right now and this was one of our lowest meals - 280 calories!

I forgot to get an after picture but this is the chili all mixed up before being cooked.

Enjoy!

Nashville Reunion

This past weekend I headed back to my old stomping grounds. Even though it's been several years since I moved from Nashville it always still feels like yesterday that I was there...and it still feels like home! I love everything about the city, not to mention that a few of my favorite people in life live there.

It was a quick weekend but such a good weekend. So good to be reunited with the people I saw.

Taking Chance

About a month ago a friend recommended the movie Taking Chance to me. I had never heard of it before but all she had to tell me was that it was about a soldier to convince me to watch it. It stars the ever talented Kevin Bacon, but without him it would have been an amazing movie. It is a true story depicting a fallen Marine being brought home after he was killed in Iraq. The journey follows Kevin Bacon, a Marine Lieutenant, as he accompanies Chance Phelp's body home. It is seriously one of the most moving movies I have ever seen. I literally cried through the entire thing. The journey showed so many people across the United States showing this fallen soldier respect and support. I could not recommend this movie enough. But just make sure you have your kleenex handy!

My Hope

Recently I have been spending a lot of time pitying myself. Not because of one huge reason but a bunch of small ones. "Things aren't going my way." "Nothing goes easy for us." "I just one thing would go right." A list like this could probably go on and on. While some of my reasons for being upset are legitimate and would make anyone feel a little down the majority of them are just things that I am dwelling on. As a woman, I think it is often typical for most of us to hold onto things that makes us feel bad instead of just letting them go. I know for me, I have always done this and it is always a constant struggle. I want to hold onto things. I don't want to forget that things don't go perfect for me.
I have been convicted of these feelings lately. I been slowly reminded that while things don't always go smoothly and the way that I have planned God has a greater plan. Even in my darkest moments of questioning why some things are the way they are I have hope and trust in the Lord and that he knows best. His timing is always better than mine. His plans are always greater than mine. And as much as I want to control things and the way things turn out (because for those of you who don't know I what some call a 'control freak' - oh and as third graders would say a 'know it all') I have realized time and time again that if I I simply put my trust in the Lord he will see me through any circumstance.
Trusting is a whole different ball game but these thoughts led me to start thinking more about where my hope comes from. It also got to me thinking of where other people's hope comes from that do not know the Lord. I cannot imagine going through questions and hardships and not have hope in Christ that gets me through to the end of the tunnel. Looking back over my life through things that have happened that made me question the Lord's plan and the Lord's faithfulness (questioning isn't a bad thing fyi) I have never lost hope in Him.
My hope is in the Lord. I believe the Lord will bring to those who put their hope in trust in Him. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not on my time schedule, and maybe not without some heartache in between, but the Lord is always faithful. I find not only hope in the Lord but comfort.
My heart aches for those who go through hard times and have nothing or no one to hope in. I don't know how I would have made it through even the smallest of events without even a small glimmer of the belief in the Lord.

I hope that no matter what I encounter tomorrow and in the future that my trust will remain fully rooted in the greatness of the Lord. And I am so glad to be reminded that at the end of every dark tunnel there is something great that the Lord has in store for my life.

Christmas Recap

Two weeks later I am finally getting around to my Christmas post! Christmas is my all time favorite time of year. And despite several things that attempted to squash my Christmas cheer, it was a great holiday!
Coy and I had both sides of the family over to our house on Christmas Eve. My family came for lunch and Coy's later that evening for dinner. My family has a tradition of having something call "Christmas Eve chicken" on this day (we only call it this because it is always on the menu). In addition to that we have an assortment of appetizer things - this year mozzerella sticks, loaded potato skins, cheese and crackers, and water chesnut bacon rolls were a few to make an appearance. After that we get our new Christmas pajamas! This is one of my favorite things about Christmas as well...I look forward to these new pajamas almost as much as my gifts the next morning!
After cleaning up and shuffling my family out the door Coy's family came over a little while later. I made potato soup and cornbread and spent the evening playing a game.
Something Coy and I made it a priority to do this season was put more focus on the birth of Christ and less on the gifts. We still got gifts, don't get ahead of yourself, but we tried to make a conscious effort of remembering to true reason behind Christmas. In an attempt to do this we read the Christmas Story before opening our gifts Christmas morning. (We actually heard the story twice that day because it was read at my parents house as well before gifts). We opened our gifts at home with the two of us before spending the rest of the day was bouncing to/from our families houses.

It's always a little sad when Christmas is over. We wait so long for it come and spend a great deal of time in anticipation of the day. Now it is gone and I have to say it's a little sad.

I guess I can always look forward to next year!

Christmas Cookies!

The week before Christmas Coy and I made and decorated Christmas cut out cookies. I did most of the making but Coy did help out here and there! It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.
Here are some photos from our first, and hopefully annual, Christmas cookie decorating night!

A glimpse into 2012

If the past few days I have been a glimpse into what 2012 is going to bring I want no part of it!! But before I become exceptionally negative, let me just say that we had a great Christmas! It was wonderful being with both sides of our family and we were blessed to spend several days with my parents - even if I was puking my guts out half of the time! I will post about this soon!

Since New Year's though, things have been downhill!
In the past 48 hours:
I have spent over 10 hours working on fixing our computer, which got a virus on Christmas Eve. The good news is, this is hopefully finally fixed!
Our brand new vacuum got a clog in it. We think we have resolved the issue after several hours, but there is still some sort of glitch we are trying to work out!
Coy's Xbox Live had a major malfunction and he spent over 2 hours on the phone getting that fixed - but hallelujah it is fixed so that he can finally enjoy some of his new Christmas toys.
While the above mentioned have been at least temporarily resolved the latest has not:
On my way to work today our Jeep broke down in the middle of intersection on the coldest day we have had yet this fall! A coworker came to the rescue and we attempted to jump the car, however 30 minutes later this still was not doing the trick. The car has been pushed to a side street and left until hubs gets off work and we can look further into this issue. Car issues are seriously some of the worst and most depressing news one can get. Being in the freezing cold in the middle of an intersection with no hazard lights for over an hour only makes matters 100 times worse.
Once I got to work, frozen from the inside out, the heater in my office was broken, leaving me sitting in 57 degree temperatures. To top this off, my computer then malfunctioned. Both of these issues have also finally been resolved, now only leaving the car hanging in the balance.
Hopefully there is light at this end of this miserable tunnel called my current state of life!!

It is times like these it is important to laugh things off as best as possible and remember all of the blessings God has given me.
I promise my next post will be more uplifting until then, here is a glimpse at Christmas (my two angels in their and my new favorite outfits)!