Cancer Free!!!!!! (oh and, Jeweled Black Bean Dip)

Thank you for all of your prayers, cards and virtual flowers. We have made it through cancer and out to the other side. Abigail is doing well and is gaining back weight. She is officially cancer free! She will have three years of follow up, but we couldn't have asked for a better result. I am so grateful to God, the doctors and all of our friends and family who supported us. It really DID take a village. I wish I could thank all of you who helped us, I couldn't have done it without you. Each of you said, "Oh it's nothing", but added up it was a HUGE something!

I am going to be posting very little for this year of 2014 since I have decided to enjoy the last year of my preschooling time, but I do want to record fun birthday parties and a few special recipes - mostly to keep in one place for myself!! ;)

During the dark days of chemo, so many people brought us great meals. I mean...De...lish..us! I won't ever be able to thank those of you who helped us enough. It was so amazing to be cared for.

There were meals that we received that I've made over and over. This recipe was one of them and it has become an often requested one (thank you sweet Katie). In fact, I will be making it AGAIN on Sunday for the ten year old's Super Bowl party. (YES! - we ARE back into full fledged party mode and love being able to have people over.)

Jeweled Black Bean Dip

Ingredients
2 minced cloves of garlic
3 tbsp minced onion
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c olive oil
6 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp lime zest
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
30 oz of black beans (rinsed and drained if you are using canned)
1 1/2 c of corn, fresh or frozen thawed
2 diced red bell peppers
1 pomegranate, seeded
2 avocados, rough chopped (do not use overripe ones)

Combine first 9 ingredients in a glass jar and shake OR put all except oil in a bowl and then slowly whisk in the oil to the rest of ingredients.

Combine beans, corn, peppers, and pomegranate seeds in a bowl and pour dressing over top. You can let this sit for a few hours or overnight. Then right before you serve it, chop the avocados and stir in gently.

Serve with tortilla chips.

The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back

I have debated whether or not to post this. This is first and formost a recipe blog and I know you are coming for that. However, it is also a little of my life and what's going on. I've already shared with you about my Dad's cancer and my Father-in-law's car accident, and how each of those events sent us into shock and sadness.

Today I've decided to be blunt in desperation. This might be the straw that breaks me.

Today I am reeling.

Today I am in the hospital with my sweet baby girl, our youngest one, the two year old, she of the Sesame Street party. She has been diagnosed with kidney cancer.

We came to the emergency dept
and we now reside in the oncology ward.

Shock.

We would love to have your prayers for our little girl. We are depending on God and the amazing doctors to pull her through this. Yesterday was removal of her kidney and all went well. Today is recovering from surgery and getting rid of some of those tubes. Down the road is potentially chemo.

A share this burden with you as a reminder to give all of your loved ones a hug today and let them know how special they are.

You just never know what might happen.

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to ALL! These beautiful sugar cookies were given to me by my talented Sister-in-law, Nadia (the one posing with my strawberry cake here) to celebrated Christmas. She sells them at her shop on Etsy. I hope you are having a wonderful time with your family and friends!!

And the angels proclaimed, "Give glory to God in heaven, and on earth let there be peace among the people who please God." Luke 2:14

Hannakka Latkas - The Chickenville Way

I honor of Hanukkah going on right now, here is a recipe for potato "pancakes" from leftover mashed potatoes. Not exactly, latkas, but my version.

Potato Cakes
Makes about 8 cakes
2 c leftover mashed potatoes (the kind with milk, butter and garlic are best, but the instant flake kind can be substituted but you'll need to add salt and pepper)
2 eggs
1/8 c flour

Turn on a skillet on med high and add a little oil. Beat the eggs with a fork and add the potatoes and flour. Just like making pancakes, pour a little of the potato batter in the pan to form cakes. Let fry for a minute or so until sides seem to be browning, then flip to cook the other side. When cooked, cool on a paper towel like bacon to drain the extra oil off.

You can serve these the traditional way with sour cream and applesauce or cooked apples OR you can serve them with Parmesan cheese and bacon. What combos can you think of?

Merry Christmas

Merry CHRISTmas!!! May the joy of the Lord be with you and your family today and alway.
He was born 2000 years ago as a tiny helpless baby. Let us celebrate the miracle!

Promised Land Granola Bars

I love simple recipes that kids can help with. Even my two year old can make this one. It's very sweet and more like dessert bars than power bars, but you could add some wheat germ or flaxseed meal to up the nutritional quotient if you like. This one has no eggs, so you don't have to worry about them licking their hands. The reason it's so sweet is it was used at a previous Vacation Bible School to teach the kids how sweet life was when the Israelites entered the promised land, hence the name, Promise Land Granola Bars (which would make a great homeschool lesson). They are sticky goodness, but if you like a more chewy granola bar, check these out. They are more like Quaker Oatmeal bars. This recipe below reminds me of those cheap, Little Debbie granola bars you find near the other Little Debbie snacks. Like a snack/treat all rolled into one. My kids LOVE this one.


Promised Land Granola Bars

4 c oats
1 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 c flaked coconut
3/4 c melted margarine
3/4 c orange marmalade

Grease a 9x13 or 10x15 inch pan. The smaller pan will make thicker bars. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Here's the part for the child...
Combine the oats, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add other ingredients and mix well.  Pour the mixture into the greased pan, pat down and bake for 12-15 mins (the deeper pan will need more time). Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Marriage Planning Weekend

My husband and I are involved in a wonderful Sunday school class that is led by some incredibly smart people. These folks are all a little farther along in their lives than we are. Where we have young kids and we are "newly" married, their kids are grown and their marriages more seasoned. These are the kind of people you want to learn from because they have already been there and done that.

More than once, the leaders have talked about their "planning weekends". They take a whole weekend and work through a goal setting questionnaire to map out their year. Many of them have been doing this for a while and said it really has helped them be purposeful in their decision making and direction. Being a Type A person (as is my hubbie) this sounded right up my alley. Plan out our lives (okay maybe only a year) in a weekend?? I'm in!

Seder Plate - My Version

I wanted to talk with the kids about Passover and what it meant since we have read about it in our Bibles. (They are really shocked about the blood over the doors part.) We are busy celebrating Easter and thought maybe we could incorporate Passover into our celebrations. A good friend of mine who was Jewish and is now a Christian, retains her Jewish traditions. I thought about it and decided what better way to make history and Jesus' life come alive, then celebrate like He did?

Knowing that I have not seen a Passover plate, this is what I came up with. We researched each part of the traditional foods.  That's when I learned it's just for tasting - not really eating. Well, that wasn't going to work in my house. If I'm cooking it, we're eating it! I made a wonderful braised lamb shanks for Z'roa, which represents the sacrificial lamb who's blood went over the doors. We had parsley for Maror, because I knew none of my family would eat anything bitter, but it was important to taste the "bitter tears" that were shed while in slavery. The hardboiled egg (yes, contributed by one of our chickens) is Beitzah, symbolizing the never ending cycle of life. My favorite was Haroset, which I had never heard of or tasted, but we all loved. It's an amped up applesauce and it's delicious. It represents the mortar of the many bricks the Jewish slaves had to lay in Egypt (can we say pyramids). The kids thought eating mortar was great fun. I also, included smashed new potatoes, since we needed more to make it a meal. Eating the meal, made history and culture come alive for all of us.

Haroset

4 large apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 c finely chopped pecans
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c red wine

Mix all together and let sit in fridge until dinnertime or could be served heated, which is what I did, since I was serving it to the kids and didn't really want them to have the alcohol.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours.  This is our traditional European Christmas Breakfast: cheeses, meats, smoked salmon, yogurt and museli, fruit, breads, jams and spreads, coffee and juice and mom's famous homemade eggnog.