random recipe #2: stuffed peppers.

I made stuffed peppers for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I have to tell you—they were delicious. When trying new recipes, I usually Google what I want to make, just to get the “skeleton,” if you will—the basic ingredients, the baking temperature and time—and then I make my  own interpretation.

So, giving credit to some kind folks at AllRecipes.com and Food.com, here is my latest version of the filling for stuffed peppers:

1 lb of ground beef
1 cup of cooked jasmine rice
½ jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I’m currently crazy about Trader Joe’s Tomato Basil)
½ cup of diced bell pepper (just use the tops of whatever bell peppers you’re going to stuff)
¼ diced onion
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
¼ red wine (I prefer using actual wine to cooking wine—less sodium)
a generous portion of Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
¼ seasoned bread crumbs (optional—just adds a fun texture)

Sautee the peppers and onions until tender. At the last minute or two, add the fresh garlic. It only needs to cook for a minute—otherwise, it will burn, and you’ll taste it later. Add the cooked rice, raw ground beef, peppers and onions, and everything else together in a mixing bowl.

This recipe will make enough filling for 6 peppers. Since I’m usually just cooking for myself and my husband, I will make two peppers at the time and then freeze the rest of the filling for later.

For the peppers:
After you’ve cut the tops of your bell peppers, cover them in a light layer of olive oil and roast at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or so to soften. Then, fill them with the mixture and add two tablespoons more of the pasta sauce to the top of each pepper. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake the peppers for one hour. Toward the end of the baking time, add a little shredded cheese to the top and let it melt.

De.Li.Cious. Feel free to tweak...my favorite recipes are the ones you can make your own! Happy eating!

mug swap!

I participated in a fun little thing called a "Mug Swap" this month with other brilliant bloggers around town. I was assigned a blogger whom I had never met and was commissioned to get to know her (a.k.a. "cyber-stalk"--at least, that's how I interpreted it) and pick out the perfect coffee mug for her! 


I had the pleasure of getting to know Hillary of Sass in Spades. This great lady, wife, and mother of two has a passion for running and writing, and a growing burden for the people of Africa. She also has great taste in mugs. Here's mine:

I love it--particularly because I was recently drooling over a craft project Hillary did where she put initials on cool-looking mugs--like this one.


Hillary's blog is a joy to read, from her witty perspective, to her heartfelt letters to her kids, to random recipes she blogs about (like refrigerated single-serve oatmeal, which I am so excited about). I highly recommend you check her blog out!

And Hillary, it was a pleasure. :) Thanks for my mug!

praise and worship and life...pt 1

I'm studying the roots and history of praise and worship a bit, and here's a tidbit of what I'm learning:
Praise is vocal.
Worship is active.
Neither of them are passive. 


The quote I'm chewing on right now is, "The spirit of praise is a social spirit, calling for social utterance."


More to come...especially if you plan on attending June's First Wednesday in Summerville. :)

love story.

We met at church, apparently. I don’t remember it clearly like he does, probably because I was about to go on stage to lead worship. He was the older brother of my friend Josh. I said something like, “Ok, nice to meet you, see you later.”

Months later, at a New Year’s Eve party, I saw this handsome blonde guy across the field and thought, “Oh my goodness, who is that?” I wanted to learn everything about him, so I started asking people in our circle of friends. He was a baseball player, he worked at a staffing company, he attended the young adult service I went to occasionally, he might be there Tuesday night. “Then,” I thought, “I will be there Tuesday night.”

That is when my two-year crazy crush began. I was not the type of girl for passing, passive crushes. Oh no, I was all in. I was the pursuer. I went to church and found him there. I went to his parents’ house and found him there. I even stopped by his workplace with his favorite soda and candy bar one day. I was about as obvious as a girl can be without outright proposing. And yet…nothing.

Now, despite what one might think, it wasn’t all crazy all the time. We truly became good friends during that period…I was just hoping we would become more than that. For two years. So were other people. I got the “Why don’t you and Travis…?” question quite a bit, and all I could do was shrug. I didn’t know why he wasn’t interested; he just wasn’t.

But I kept trying…for two years. And finally, one night, I had a heart change. For years, and several other messed-up relationships, I had been the pursuer. I had tried to make things happen, and they were never the right thing. “Pursuer” just wasn’t the role I was supposed to play. If there’s one thing God has taught me over and over in my life, it’s “Don’t try to make things happen,” and this was one of those lessons.

I remember it so clearly. I was driving home after hanging out with Travis and a couple of other people, and I prayed, “God, if You want me and Travis to be together, he has to initiate this. I am not going to ask him out, and I’m not going to make this happen. He has got to be the one to make that change in our friendship. I’m putting it in Your hands now.”

And I truly did. I stopped pursuing Travis. I kept up my friendship with him, naturally, but I didn’t pine for anything more. I moved on.

Then, three years later…

I started getting text messages from Travis. A lot of text messages. Just seeing how my day was going, just joking around, just seeing if I wanted to hang out…it was very strange to me. The man that doesn’t flirt appeared to be flirting—and I liked it. I hadn’t been thinking of Travis as an option for years, but now, he was downright wooing me.

It got to the point that I had butterflies in my stomach when I saw him smiling at me at church. I got so nervous I had to leave the room to compose myself.

That night, he asked me out. He had realized he loved me a few months earlier, and waited to see how I would respond to his advances. He pursued the heck out of me. He wooed me. He won me.

Finally…finally…I got it right. I waited. I was pursued. And now I sit here typing, looking at the wedding bands on my left ring finger, and I marvel at the grace and goodness of God. Travis really is and always was the man I dreamed about. He is goodness itself, a strong man of integrity, a man who does what he says he will do. He still has to remind me to sit back and rest, to not initiate, to receive grace, and I am so grateful that he does it so patiently. Travis, my beloved, you were more than worth the cost of surrender.

Love you, baby.
-S

thankful wedding.

Hello. I'm back...and I'm married.

After five months of planning and preparing, we are now almost four weeks past our wedding. Hard to believe... The wedding was perfect. I had planned an outdoor ceremony...but it rained...and it was still perfect. That can only be God. :)

If you were part of making this wedding as beautiful as it was, and I haven't had a chance to thank you yet--THANK YOU. You made one of the most important days of our lives more beautiful, peaceful and joyful than either of us imagined (and we have really good imaginations). I can't thank God enough for putting you in my life...

Here is just one thankful list from the ceremony, although I have left many, many things out.

#359-396

200 "team mitchum" pennants

tulips, orchids and gardenias

chocolate-coconut cake

marshmallows and skewers

hundreds of homemade desserts

white and yellow paper lanterns

240 wooden folding chairs

bookmark programs

gold ties and white ribbon

a custom music mix

a dear friend flying in from atlanta the day of just be a part of the ceremony

save-the-dates, invitations and rsvp cards

"We Are the Champions" by Queen (our walk-out song)

rain

a cozy cottage

a wedding party of best friends

my sister's veil

cucumber sandwiches

pearls from my father

chaotic group pictures

niece and nephews

flower girls

ring-bearers

in-laws

a self-written wedding song

a favorite singer performing my favorite songs

swing-dancing with my mother

waltzing with my father

twirling with my Prince Charming

a sterling silver wedding band

Jeremiah 29:11

three pastors to officiate

family and friends traveling across the country to celebrate

240 smiling faces

laughter during a sacred ceremony

freak-out moments that make me normal (or so I'm told)

driving away with my husband...

psalm 18: my story.

I found my story in Psalm 18 the other night. I’ve read that passage many times and clung to its promises, but I just realized it chronicles my journey over the past two years.

My verse 4 came around this time two years ago. I had been grieving for months over an event that broke my heart. Do you know what it’s like when you know the sun is shining outside, but you can’t feel it? It was like that for me, for months. I felt like I was walking in a rain cloud everywhere I went. I was doing everything I knew to do—praying, getting others to pray for me, reading the Bible—but I just wasn’t getting better. There was just one thing I hadn’t been willing to do yet, mostly because I thought that, if I had to do it, I must really be crazy. I didn’t want to be labeled “crazy,” even though I honestly felt like I was going insane.

I remember the moment. I was driving into my mother’s neighborhood to cry things out over lunch (a frequent habit for me at the time), and I remember thinking, “I’ve done all I can do. I’m at the end of myself. God, whatever I need to do, I will.”

That was when I looked into getting counseling.

Now, for some of you, that’s not a big deal. You understand the need for counseling and how it works. I, however, was coming from the (wrong) perspective that, if you need counseling, you are really messed up. But the truth was that I really did need help, so if my thinking I was “messed up” was what it took for me to get the help I needed, then it was worth it. Whatever the method, I came to the end of myself and was willing to try something I had been afraid of.

So I admitted to someone in the know that I needed counseling, and I got a recommendation. God’s provision was in that recommendation, because the person I ended up with was so fitted to understand my personality that I cannot doubt the hand of God in guiding me there. That started my true healing process, and it touched more areas of my heart than I can recount.

I had been thinking that faith was supposed to be enough to get me through the difficult times, and because it wasn’t, I must be failing. My faith must not be enough.

But it turns out that I did have enough faith. It takes faith to ask for help. It takes faith to try what you’ve never tried. It even takes faith to follow God into a counseling office.

And in those next 18 months, God rent the heavens and came to my rescue. The foundations of my belief system were shaken, and the rotten bricks were torn out. He exposed lies I had believed about myself and about Him, and through counseling, gave me the tools I needed to replace them with His Truth. (Turns out there are practical, cognitive ways of “taking every thought captive!”)

He led me to books, teachings, and Scriptures that talked about the very things I was dealing with. He sent people into my life to help carry me. He even brought my husband into my world at the exact same time I started counseling, and he has been instrumental in my healing.

God spared no expense, yet again, in getting me free. He rescued me from my despair.

It was a long, arduous process to get me free…but I am free. And not only free, but strong! My enemy has truly lost his ground, and he will not take it back. And I will not turn back until he is destroyed…

Does this mean I don’t still struggle from time to time? No. The same thoughts still try to come back and get me to fear. But I know how to fight them now, and they will not conquer me.

I’m telling you this to tell you there is hope, no matter your situation. Psalm 18 can be your story, too. I’m not saying counseling is the magic answer to your prayers, but I encourage you to broaden your view of how God wants to heal you. He wants you to be free, and He will do whatever it takes to get you there. It may be hard, but nothing could be more worth the freedom and healing that is on the other side.

be Mine.

I just wanted to take a moment and give you a breather from all the hearts, candy, and red-and-pink combos that, for whatever reason, accompany the 14th of February.

Valentine's Day is a tough day for a lot of people--single and married. Delayed hopes have led to sickness and pain in many hearts, and the barrage of commercials, Facebook statuses and romantic movies just pour salt on the wounds of failed expectations.

I'm not here to continue that trend. I only want to tell you that you are loved. Really, truly loved.

I have been where some of you are. Hurt, lonely, confused. And I have experienced some of the deepest healing of my life through the journey God has me on. But it surprised me, the way He did it. It wasn't this relationship that healed me. Honest-to-goodness, what has healed my heart at the deepest level is truly embracing God's love for me. It was getting past the lies I've believed for so long and finally walking into the Truth of who I am, and--to be cliche but perfectly serious--Whose I am. While my fiance is wonderful and I adore him, he has not healed me. God has.

And you, my reader, have the chance to step into that journey of discovering His love for you now, just as you are, single or married or what-have-you.

No matter where you are, He is saying to you, "be Mine." He is enthralled by your beauty (Psalm 45). No human being can love you as truly as He can.

It's time that we (and I'm speaking to myself, too) stop looking to others for the love that we can only get from God. Everything else pales in comparison.

Be encouraged, dear heart. You are loved, truly, deeply, completely.

Happy Valentine's Day.