Recipe Round Up

Here are some of the recipes I'd cobbled together over the past few weeks:

• Garlic Snap Peas: We had these tonight along with some cornbread (which makes Andrew get giddy!) and a lemon-garlic pork loin.  It was a quick dinner that I only had a few minutes to prep.  
• Broccoli and Cheese Soup from CookingLight: So good! I've never cooked with Velveeta and I must admit I was VERY skeptical.  It looked so gross when I opened the package!  However, the soup was super tasty.  I read some review afterwards and next time I might just sub the "processed cheese product" for some real cheese, because Velveeta doesn't sit right with me.  It violates a core principle of food snobbery.  In the end, it was yummy.  We had our couples small group over so I also added some chicken for extra heartiness and carrots too. 
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: Two of the sophomore girls I'm privileged to hang out with spent the night with me a few weeks ago when Andrew was out of town.  They are such a blast!  I made me for a little miss living with girls!! Anyway as part of our excitement to hang out, laugh, and watch Grey's Anatomy, we made these delicious cookies.  One of my favorites!!
• Corn, Wild Rice and Sausage Soup: As an ode to my state of residence, I wanted to make something warm and with wild rice.  For those not up on famous Minnesota things, the state is known for their wild rice soup: hearty, warm and natural.  So this is a spin on the standard here.  It was really good!  The only snag was the rice kept soaking up all the liquid overnight, so leftovers needed a a good amount of added milk/cream. 
• Easy Creamed Spinach: Very good!  I love buying spinach for it's versatility as a salad, cooked as a side or even being stuffed.  I was getting tired of sauteed spinach so we tried this an hubs raved about it!  He loved it!
• Pan Roasted Pork Chops: Super tasty and flavorful!! Basically pork chops with salt, pepper and Emeril's Essence as a spice rub.  Simple and very tasty!
• Chile Rellenos Casserole: I actually got this from one of the Cooking Light library books I checked out, but tracked the recipe down online.  It was ok, not bad.  Andrew liked it more than me.  Still, a decent Mexican style casserole that was pretty easy to make. He liked that there was an eggy layer. 
• Black Eyed Pea and Rice Salad: Pretty good! I would go a little light on the dressing, but a good change up of sides for us. We had this along with the above mentioned pork chops.  It was easy to make too.  

Personal update:
Students are finishing up their January "J-Term" month long semester and then next week will start the official Spring Term.  It's been sweet to see God work in the handful of girls that I get to lead.  It's blown me away how He has their hearts in His hands.  Andrew and I are doing well.  We're both spending a lot of time with students and helping some new staff adjust to being on the campus.  It's been really fun for us!  I've loved getting to hang out with my friends on staff a lot in the past month and seeing the girls I have such a heart for.  These girls are my long lost little sisters!

We're gearing up for the next 2 months to be crazy!  Andrew will be out of town every other week for a different conference or speaking engagement or retreat.  We're both excited for all these opportunities that range from ministry planning to support raising training to college missions. All things that make hubs' heart beat!  I'm excited for him, but I will miss him a ton!  In late Feb we'll also head to Delhi again to help the next team leaders get accustomed to the country before they take their team there.  We'll also have a few retreats together throughout the semester, but we are SO thankful we aren't planning for an India Team again this year.  Whew!  It was a joy, but it was a lot.

As for my heart, God has been super gracious.  The good news that I am a sinner, far worse than I can imagine, but accepted by a God who is/was willing to do anything to get me has been really sweet!  I've been more aware of my sin (ya know they usual: snapping at hubs, getting frustrated quickly, being legalistic about ministry, self-reliance, pride/superiority, not really loving people well) but also of the grace that it's ok to fail, because my identity is in Christ.  I am His daughter and I'm not measured by my productivity, how well I lead college girls or how good (or bad!) of a wife I am.  I will fail.  But, I am covered by Christ's righteousness and will never stop needing Him!