Come and Follow!

Bloghops are about meeting new friends, and finding new blogs that you may not have happened onto any other way. I love seeing who has come to visit. (If you don't want to read all the fine print, just click on all the red stuff  and read:)
If this is your first time here, I'm so glad you came!
(Picture me with big smile meeting you at my front door and opening it wide and inviting you inside:) And Old Friends, you know me so well, just come on in and help yourself to something to eat and drink, take your shoes off and sit down--in other words, 
Everybody Please come in and make yourself at home!
I love company, and I hope you'll read a bunch here and get to know me a little.   
And won't you give me a chance to get to know you? Please leave a comment and, you know what, I'd really love to get over 200 followers before our trip to Washington, DC! (I've been kind of stuck at 179 now, and it would be so great and encouraging to see a bunch of new followers, but as always, I pray that the Lord will send who He wants to come and read and follow.)  But, that would be so wonderful! (But follow only if you truly want to:) Ok, So... (official welcome now)
Welcome, Old and New Friends!
  Introduction to you who don't know me (wow it's hard to describe yourself in a few words!): I am a Christian who loves and lives for the Lord Jesus Christ, a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom), wife, and a Homeschooler, (though my teaching days are completed, as my "children" are now 24 and 21).  We are blessed to have our kids still living with my wonderful husband and me at home.  My passion is to help and encourage young women, wives and moms to fulfill their God-given roles, and I love to write, so this blog is my way of doing it all.
Specific themes that I have written on which you might enjoy (click on the links):
 Hospitality Series: check out "The Ghastly Guest"  and "The Goldens"
• Love and Marriage Series which is on a break due to Guest Posts by my daughter, Kelsey, but read some of these posts under Love and Marriage:  "Meanings of Wedding Traditions," "Belittling and Henpecking"; Courtship interviews (Chase and Sarah, David and Briana); How and Why the subject of Courtship applies to you as a mom of little ones; "Preschool Premarital Counseling" (Ways to teach young children about Godly love and marriage and great resources to use).   Grab my button on the sidebar to let people know about this series!
• Timely Tips on Tuesday  Everything helpful: from organization, to scheduling your prayer time, to child-training, to running a home, to tips for you as a mom to littlees.
• Food Friday (Clicking here will take you to all my Recipes: Every Friday I share a tried-and-true recipe that you'll love! And don't miss Rob Barrett of "Cooking for Dads"--you'll love his cooking show, and find some of his recipes here!) 
• And Read Thankful Thursday posts, a meme (though I do miss sometimes) that I try to participate in weekly.
So, get a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of lemon water, and enjoy looking around and reading! I also really love meeting new people, so please let me know you were here and I will come by and visit your site, also.  Follow or Subscribe me, and Grab my button on the left, if you like what you see here!
Disclaimer: Like everything else in the world, don't leave your discernment at home--check everything out yourself and check it against the Word of God:) 
Please come back later today to see another great recipe (one more time only from Kate) on "Food Friday"! 




Thanks, Mail Carrier



Nan with Quality Time Bloghop

New Friend Friday will return, but go over to The Trendy Treehouse and check out the Before and After projects, and enter, if you have one!

Food Friday: Recipe for Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce with Pasta

Hi! Let me know you're following through New Friend Friday, Friendly Friday, or Quality Time!  I'll be back to visit you!  To find out about these bloghops and participate, or learn more about Faith's Firm Foundation and get suggestions of some past posts you would enjoy reading, click on the link! To learn more about my guest poster, Kate, go to Dancing About Architecture!

Friendly Friday

Quality Time

We are Passionate about Pasta!  Nuts about Noodles! So what could be better than a Series about this Sensational Subject on Food Friday?! (Can you tell I love aliteration? ok, enough already:)

Seriously, though, I have been thrilled to have Kate share her wonderful pasta recipes with us these last few weeks! I have loved not only the recipes, but her descriptions which transport me to charming corners of the world which I have only dreamt about!  (I do so love to travel:)  If you have not read her other guest posts, make sure you go back and check them out when you're done reading today's recipe.

Also, if you have a great recipe that you'd like to share here, please type it into an email (see "Contact Me" above), and include your contact information, so I can get back to you.  I would love to have recipes from all around the country and the world!  Wouldn't that be fun? (It's ok if it's in a different language; we can most likely get it translated.)

Also, if you would like to Guest Post on something other than a recipe, please let me know! I'm still going to be needing more time away from posting this next month, and for a couple of weeks in October, so I will need a bunch of people willing to write a Guest Post!  This is a great way to gain more exposure, visitors to your blog and followers!  (I would also be happy to trade off with you for a post at a future date.)  If you're willing to write one or more posts, let me know!  Maybe a series?  Thanks! And now, here's Kate (Thank you again!) with another of her fabulous pasta recipes!

Hello everyone,
I feel truly blessed that Wendy has allowed me to share another one of my recipes with you today.  As I have said before, I love fresh ingredients and there is nothing simpler than pesto when it comes to Italian food.  The combination of fresh basil and pine nuts is just absolutely amazing.  Fresh basil, or fresh pesto for that matter, always reminds me of small herb gardens tucked away behind small stone walls next to old houses, full of herbs and wonderful smells.  I always think it is sad that in today's big cities no one has an herb garden anymore.  I am not very talented at gardening myself, though.  I keep my basil and other fresh herbs on my kitchen window sill and they just keep on dying on me, but nothing changes a dish more than switching from dried herbs to using fresh herbs.  (I just keep buying new plants and hope that the next time around they will not die on me again.)  Fresh, homemade pesto always tastes like spring or summer to me.  It just has a really rich flavor.

Pasta with pesto is a simple and quick meal and a bit too simple and quick to share, in my opinion.  So instead I want to share a very simple chicken recipe with you:  Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce with Pasta.  (Please note that the homemade pesto as described in the recipe can also be used with pasta to give you a full meal.  It can be stored in the fridge for about a week, longer if you freeze it).

Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 to 1.2lb chicken breasts
1/2 lb tomatoes
6 ounces (1/2 a big package) cream or half-and-half
1/2 - 1 vegetable bouillon cube (depending on personal preference)
3 Tbsp Pesto (homemade: see recipe below; or store bought)
pepper
salt
fresh basil to garnish with
one package pasta (long would be best like spaghetti or tagiatelle)

Pesto--if you want to make it yourself, otherwise any green pesto from the supermarket will do.
Ingredients:
.2 lb Basil, fresh
2 Tbs pine nuts
one garlic clove
1/2 Tbsp salt
5.7 ounces olive oil
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, fresh if possible

Directions for Pesto:

Add one ingredient after another (not the parmesan cheese) in a bowl you can use with your handmixer.
Mix with your handmixer until everything is well mixed and one paste.
Add parmesan cheese and slowly stir.
Whatever you do not need you can refrigerate or freeze.

Directions for Chicken in Pesto Cream Sauce:

Roast pine nuts, without any oil, in a pan.
When they are golden brown, take them out of the pan and set them aside for cooling.
Wash the chicken breast.
Heat up a pan and add some oil.
Add chicken and roast all around on medium heat for about 10 minutes (until it is done).  Add some pepper and salt.
When the chicken is done take it out of the pan (DON'T wash the pan, we need the meat juice :) and set it aside, but keep it warm.
Wash and chop up tomatoes.
Use the same pan and add the tomatoes.
Stir until warm and set aside, but keep the meat/tomato juice in the pan.
Start boiling water for the pasta.
Now use the same pan again and add 8 ounces of water and the cream.
Slowly heat small pieces of the vegetable bouillon cube and make sure it dissolves properly.
Cook until boiling, then turn the heat down to medium heat and let it cook for 10 minutes.
While the sauce cooks, you can cook the pasta according to directions on the package.  It usually takes between 8 and 12 minutes.
When the sauce has cooked for 10 minutes, add the pesto and some salt and pepper according to taste.
Cut the chicken breasts in long slices.
Add one portion of pasta to a plate, top with slices of chicken breast, tomatoes and pine nuts, then top with sauce.  Use basil as garnish.
Enjoy your meal!

Food Friday: Recipe for Tortellini with Cream Sauce

The Trendy Treehouse

Making new friends and sharing great recipes go hand in hand!  Today I'm doing both! Participate with me and let me know you're following through New Friend Friday, Friendly Friday, or Quality Time! I'll be back to visit you!  To find out about these bloghops, or learn more about me and get suggestions of some past posts you would enjoy reading, go to my past blog post here! To learn more about my guest poster, Kate, go to Dancing About Architecture!

Friendly Friday

Quality Time

I'm very excited that Kate has agreed to do a
series of recipes here on Food Friday!

What shall we call this series? Passionate about Pasta?  Nuts about Noodles?  Making Simple Pasta Sauces Perfectly? Hmmm.  We'll have to think about that one, won't we? One thing you won't have to think twice about is whether you're going to love Kate's recipes!  Her recipe for Tortellini with Cream Sauce is "to die for"! If you missed her last week's recipe on Food Friday, click on Quick and Simple Fresh Pasta Sauce and try it out!  If you try a Food Friday recipe, send me a picture and/or what you thought about it, and I'll include it in a future post. Also, don't forget that you, too, can be featured here with a recipe or recipes!  Just email or leave a comment letting me know you're interested in guest posting, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!  I've sure enjoyed getting to know Kate better through this experience. (Did you know Kate's lived in Italy and many other parts of the world?)  I'm so grateful for her wonderful recipes and write-ups!  And now I'll turn it over to Kate!

Hello everyone,

My name is Kate and I usually blog at Dancing About Architecture. Wendy was so kind as to suggest that I share a couple of my recipes with you in the next weeks. It is a great honor to be able to share some of my simple recipes on such a wonderful blog. I hope you enjoy the recipes. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions or feedback on the recipes I share.

When it comes to real Italian cooking, it can be difficult to find the right ingredients depending on where you live. If you have an Italian/ European supermarket around, it shouldn’t be a problem. But if you don’t live near one, check different supermarkets in your area. I even found all the right ingredients in one tiny regular supermarket in the Caribbean once, even though I thought that would be impossible.

That’s one of the reasons why I love to go grocery shopping: You never really know what your supermarket has to offer, what options are available until you have searched for things. I could spend hours in the different aisles just looking at the shelves trying to come up with different ideas to use the ingredients I see. It is actually one of my favorite things to do when I visit a foreign country: go to a supermarket and look at what they have to offer. Some things might be familiar, others I have never seen or heard of before. Sometimes I ask people passing by what something is used for, but in general, I just come up with my own ideas or write down the name and look it up online later.

The recipe I want to share with you today has been one of my favorites as long I can remember. I am usually not a big fan of white pasta sauce, but this one I really enjoy. Whenever I am asked what my favorite simple dish is, I answer "Tortellini with Cream Sauce." It’s probably my favorite Italian dish. It is somewhat heavy and I would strongly advise against eating it too often because it is, of course, far from being healthy or a low-calorie food. Still, I love the smell and taste of this dish.

Tortellini with Cream Sauce

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 16 oz. Full cream (or if you can’t find this or prefer less cream, you can also use Half-and-Half, just make sure it is plain cream/Half-and-Half without any sugar or flavor added.)

• One onion

• One package sandwich meat, either ham or turkey breast (ham is more traditional, but I usually use turkey breast since I am not a big fan of pork)

• 8 oz. shredded Gouda cheese (The Gouda cheese is important for the flavor, but might be difficult to find. I have never tried it, but I guess Cheddar or Swiss could also work.)

• Fresh chives

• Salt

• Pepper

• Olive oil

• Nutmeg

• Two packages of Tortellini (I usually buy Barilla pasta, but any kind of Tortellini or filled pasta will go well with this.)

Directions:

• Cut up the onions, chives and ham/turkey breast

• Fry the onions in oil until glassy

• Add ham/turkey breast and steam a little

• Start cooking pasta

• Add the full cream/ half and half

• When the cream is warm, slowly add the cheese

• Stir until the cheese has melted

• Add salt, pepper and nutmeg according to taste

• Before serving, top with cut up chives

Enjoy your food!

Hello! I Might Be A Friend You Haven't Met Yet

Hi and Welcome, New Friends!  

In the weeks of Friendly Friday and New Friend Friday, and this last week I joined in with Quality Time --I've met some great new friends, and gained new followers--I hope you have, too!

Friendly Friday's hostesses are: 

 Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier! Christi at The Frugal Novice and Charla at  Healthy Home Blog

New Friend Friday's Hostesses are

  The Girl Creative and The Trendy Treehouse!

Click on their links to go to their blogs.  Thanks, so much, ladies!

Please go over, meet them, and read all the details of how to get in on

this wonderful way to meet new friends, and gain followers!

Welcome, if you are new!  Please get a cup of coffee and sit down for a while!  There's a lot here for you to read and check out!  This has been a wonderful week of Guest Posts (not the whole week, but three days!)  I hope you'll check out my daughter Kelsey's guest post--"Making Wise Choices (Part 1)"--I'm very proud of her, I admit, and it will challenge you!  Part two of Making Wise Choices comes on Monday!  Please don't be shy--it is such an encouragement to read your comments!  (And my lurker friends, it's time to follow--you know who you are:)  Your comments make my day!  I hope you'll follow me or subscribe and that you'll visit often, 'cuz that's how good friendships happen! And good friendships are one of the greatest blessings of blogging!

ABOUT ME:

I am a stay-at-home-mom,  and a Homeschooler, though my teaching days are completed, as my "children" are now 24 and 21.  We are blessed to have them still living at home with my wonderful husband and me.  My passion is to help and encourage young women, wives and moms to fulfill their God-given role, and I love to write, so this blog is my way of doing it all.
Specific themes that I have written on which you might enjoy (click on the links):

•  Hospitality Series: Click on Hospitality on the linkbar above for all the series or start out with "The Ghastly Guest"  and "The Goldens"

• Love and Marriage Series (Now on Wednesdays): "Meanings of Wedding Traditions (Part 2)", "Belittling and Henpecking", and "Doing Those Little Things Around the House", and "Bitterness by any other name" are some of the posts; also, you'll find interviews; How and Why the subject of Courtship applies to you as a mom of little ones; Ways to teach young children about Godly love and marriage and great resources to use.   (Grab my button on the sidebar to let people know about this series!)

• Timely Tips on Tuesday (Everything helpful: from organization, to scheduling your prayer time, to child-training, to running a home, to tips for you as a mom to littlees)

• Food Friday (Clicking here will take you to all my Recipes: Every Most Fridays I share a tried-and-true recipe that you'll love! Today I'm very excited to introduce you to Kate, who is Guest Posting a great recipe for Quick and Easy Fresh Pasta Sauce!  And don't miss Rob Barrett of "Cooking for Dads"--you'll love his cooking show, and recipes--here!) 

So, get a cup of coffee, tea or a glass of lemon water, and click and check out what all there is here. 

1.  Please let me know you came by and introduce yourself!
2.  And, last but not least, please Follow, but only if you really value what you read here. Put my button on your sidebar and tell your friends--Thanks!

Thanks for stopping by!  I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you!
Please leave me a comment and let me know you were here!  And follow, if you like what you see!

Guess Who's Guest Posting?!

Welcome

While you're here, check out some of my posts on topics such as marriage, child-training, hospitality, Homeschooling, and more!  I write to encourage (sometimes I receive more than I give:) a lot of times, actually! Thank you for all the outpouring of support and great ideas in the last couple of days about our upcoming trip to Washington, DC!  If you live in that area or have been there, I'd love more advice and tips!

Guest Posts

I am excited about the upcoming week(s) as I will be having some "guests" posting!!  One of them is my daughter, Kelsey, who, by the way, is turning 21 tomorrow!  She will be sharing some amazing teaching with you on subjects such as "Contentment," "Genuine Love," "The Awe Factor," "Choices," and more!  She shared these with some younger girls in a study about a year ago, but what she writes is amazingly applicable to all ages--wisdom beyond her years (from the Lord, no question)--I know you'll be blessed!


I'm also excited to have Sharon Kirby here on Monday from Sharon Sharing God, so be sure to come back Monday for that, and Kate from Thoughts on Dancing About Architecture will be sharing an easy recipe for Pasta Sauce here on Friday!  All of that is lined up for the coming weeks, and that is just the beginning, so come back and check it out!

Please Follow!

Please also follow if you like what you see here!  And, don't forget to go down and leave me a comment, telling me that you're a new follower with your url so I can find you!

Meeting New Friends on Fridays

Fridays are wonderful for many reasons!  One of them is I get to meet new friends and gain new followers! If that sounds good to you, too, please join in!


I've made some friends who are gems through these bloghops!
And, I am joining a new one today, hosted by Nan, from Quality Time (you may also know her blog with great Thai Recipes: Healthy Choices Recipes

Quality Time

Nan writes in a very real, touching way, and you'll want to join up with her Quality Time Bloghop!

The Girl Creative or Trendy Treehouse

Thanks, Mail Carrier or Frugal Novice or Healthy Home Blog

Friendly Friday Bloghop is hosted by three hostesses, and you can see all the rules and the three blogs they're featuring this week (there're three new ones every week!) by clicking on one of the links above.  At the bottom of this post you can click on as many blogs as you want, (of course, always being discerning) and follow and meet some new friends!


Which is the theme of New Friend Fridays from Trendy Treehouse! Check them out, too!  Here are the rules, as they've explained them:

The Rules are Simple:
PLEASE READ BEFORE LINKING UP! Thanks!

• Add a link to your main blog
• Visit the blog of the person whose name is above and below your name in the list and leave a meaningful comment on their blog.
• Visit as many blogs as you can and leave comments telling them you are visiting from New Friend Fridays at The Girl Creative or The Trendy Treehouse.
• There is no obligation and no pressure to follow everyone who follows you. Please just follow the blogs that are of interest to you. :)
• Family Friendly Blogs ONLY please. Explicit sites will be removed.

So, grab a button, post it somewhere on your blog and get ready to make some new friends!

Finally, my words of wisdom for you today:
Consider God today, be moved by what He has made, look up, stand in awe, and reach out beyond yourself to someone else--and have a great weekend!

Food Friday, Friendly Friday, New Friend Fridays

It's Friday!  That means there are bloghops to join in, and meeting new friends!
It also means it's Food Friday! I (almost) always post a recipe on Food Friday, so check it out!
If this is your first time visiting, here's a rundown of what you'll find here:

• Monday is "Manage It (Victorious in Christ) Monday".
• Tuesday I frequently post some "Timely Tips on Tuesday". You might also see me on Tuesday Tag-Along!
• Wednesdays you can come over and read about "Love and Marriage", a favorite topic!
• Thursdays are a day to be thankful (well, isn't every day?) as I participate in the meme "Thankful Thursday".
• And then it's Friday again!   Friendly Friday, New Friend Friday and Food Friday!

I blog to encourage, and help, challenge, inform and sometimes inspire.
There's a lot here, so take a look!

I want to say Hi and welcome you here!

Whether you're an old or new friend,

this is a great time to take a look around, read some posts and 

if you haven't already, I invite you to follow,

if you like what you see!

Please let me know you were here
and I will come and visit you! 

What's happening here:
The weeks are flying by, it's August already, which I can't believe, and though it's been hot and humid here in Minnesota, there's a "back-to-school" feeling in the air.  A "quiet before the storm" of behind-the-scenes activity (I think everyone's shopping!)  Everyone seems to be preparing, doing those last things-I-want-to-do-before-the-summer's-over activities, also buying school supplies and clothes, planning and scheduling those special things that we can only do in summer! (We wait a long time for summer here in Minnesota, so we have to make the most of it!)  The corn in the fields is unbelievably high this year, the summer fruit and vegetable stands are in full swing, and the county fairs are popping up left and right.  (I personally can't wait for the Minnesota State Fair, a yearly tradition for our family!)

This weekend there's a small town festival, an extended family get-together, we're serving at church, and after church there's Family Fellowship (200-300 people gathering at an 80-acre family farm for a potluck, preaching, praising God in a hymn-sing, and some games and fellowshipping thrown in for good measure)!  A busy weekend ahead!  What's up in your "neck of the woods" for the weekend?

Click here for the
"Recipe for Lund's Pasta with Tomatoes and Zucchini". 

Meeting New Friends on Friday!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I haven't felt like I've talked to all of you this week, so I'm looking forward to getting back here and connecting again--It's been a crazy week, but it's Friday!!

 So, Welcome, Dear Friends and New Visitors!

Before I post my Food Friday Recipe of the Week, (Look here later today!) I thought I'd link up to hopefully meet some new friends! Please take some time and read a few posts before you leave and become a follower or subscriber, if you like what you see here! And don't forget to leave me a comment, so I can come by and visit you!  I love meeting new friends!

Update on our week:

We have had company staying with us for a week now: my brother and nephew came two weeks ago tomorrow, and then friends (a young couple with their 3-month-old baby) arrived on the following Wednesday and left Tuesday.  My brother and nephew will be leaving to go back home to Florida tomorrow. Needless to say, it's been a little busy around here! So, this past week I've been re-posting some favorite articles which I wrote a year or so ago, which you may have not read, or if you have, contain messages which we need to be reminded of (me included!)  Also, I posted my 4th of July/Independence Day Photos! Which I'm sure you will enjoy! 

Today, my kids are working, my brother's with my mom, my nephew is here with me, and it's a little quieter, so I thought I'd try and participate in the bloghops, and post my recipe of the week!

 

For those of you who are new here, please go here, to find out more about me and this site, or you can click on the topics on the linkbar above or on the Topics on the Sidebar which especially interest you!

There's something for everyone!

Favorite Subjects of mine are:

Hospitality

Love and Marriage

Child-Training

Faith and Living for the Lord

 Oh...and, I hope you'll be blessed!