Friday Feasting: King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat Pancake Mix

"This recipe has been a game-changer.  I double the recipe, so I’ll have a BIG bag.  It saves me in the morning, it saves me on nights my husband is working the evening shift and doesn’t need a meat-and-potatoes dinner.  It also makes a great gift for a new mom!  Pair it with eggs, a jug of buttermilk, a quart of strawberries, and a bottle of syrup, and you’ll make a tired new mama the “Queen of the Morning” when her other children eat these scrumptious pancakes.  

One recipe adjustment I make, I omit the oil in the dry mix.  I add it when I’m mixing the pancakes up.  I also add ground flax seed and wheat germ sometimes.  

I find that if you’re going to make a double recipe, you’re going to need a Really Big Bowl.  Also, I’ve found that using my hand-held stick blender is a great way of grinding up the oatmeal without having to pull out the food processor.

My thanks to the King Arthur Flour Company for this perfect recipe!"

Ingredients

3 ½ cups (12 ¼ oz.) old fashioned rolled oats
4 cups (1 lb.) white whole wheat flour (I use regular WW.)
1 cup (4 ½ oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. (1 ¼ oz.) sugar
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking soda

Directions

1.  Grind the oats in a food processor until they’re chopped find but not a powder.
2.  Put the ground oats, fours, and the remaining dry ingredients into a bowl and mix with a whisk until well-blended.
3.  To make the pancakes:  For one cup of mix, add 1 cup buttermilk, 1 Tbsp. orange juice, and one large egg, and ¼ cup of oil.  Mix all the wet stuff together, then add the mix.  I usually let it sit for the 5-10 minutes it takes the griddle to heat up.  That allows all the dry stuff to absorb all the wet stuff.
I’m going to assume you know what degrees to put your griddle on and when you should flip the pancakes. ;)

Enjoy!!

A Road Paved with Struggles Leads to Heaven

I was young(er), in love, and super excited about getting married. My husband-to-be and I talked endlessly about God's plan for us and for our future family. We agreed wholeheartedly to always be open to life, to let Him set the number of kids we would welcome. Early in our marriage we would go to daily Mass almost every day. We enjoyed Bible studies and prayer groups, choir practices and co-rec softball. Sometimes we would sneak away for a trip to a Cardinals game in St. Louis or for a dinner out with good friends. Then, just 10 short months into our marriage we had our first precious daughter. In that single moment, within the echo of her first cry our whole life changed – as a couple and as parents.

All of a sudden life became challenging in whole new ways. We went from worrying about what Chris would wear to work and what was for dinner, to praising God for having clean clothes at all and for take-out food!  We read all the books and listened to our friends that had kids already, but nothing at all could prepare us for being parents. Like so much of our lives, if we really knew how it was going to turn out would we do what's next? Would we take the next step, make the scary phone call, or send that important email? We all know the answer is NO!

Even though we wish God would write it all out clear as day, He's not going to.  If we always know how things are going to turn out, then we'll never step out in faith and trust. Instead He asks us to “walk by faith" and to “trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding.” We don't know what God knows. We can't see what He sees, yet, by stepping out in faith we can participate in His plan for us more fully.

I'm only 8 children and 12.5 years into my mothering journey, so definitely not an expert by any stretch, but I am certain about one thing: Being a mother is just plain difficult! Lately, it seems that being a mom has been harder than usual and I know I'm not alone. Countless mom friends have lamented about children's behavior, bad school days, spiritual dryness, etc. We all want to throw in that proverbial towel at times or maybe auction our kids off on eBay (just kidding)!

Like I'm prone to do, I've been seeking reasons as to why everything feels so off, especially as a mom. Am I doing something wrong or different? Is there something I'm not seeing or hearing? Do I pray enough, read enough, sleep enough, exercise enough? Are the kids getting enough of me? What about my husband? I could interrogate myself to death and still come up with no logical explanation for the seemingly endless drudgery of my days. So I said to myself, why not let the readings of the day  smack me upside the head instead? Listening to His word is a much more fruitful exercise than mental selfbeating! So in today's first reading Sts. Paul and Barnabas are preaching to a large crowd and they say this, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” There it is ladies and gentlemen, the answer to why things are so difficult lately – because that's my path or your path, the road I need to walk or you need to walk, to get to Heaven.

My vocation is marriage and motherhood and in theory I always knew it would be tough after the “I do.” In real life, though, I had no idea it could be so hard. As I get older (and wiser) I recognize my road to Heaven is paved by each and every struggle. It's easier going if I embrace those struggles and carry those crosses instead of weaving in and out of them trying to avoid them and instead tripping and falling flat on my face. Every cross that I pick up and carry (the sleepless nights, countless heartaches, homeschooling hardships, financial stress, etc.) is one that He is helping me carry. When I remember that I'm not walking this road alone and that I never have to, the crosses become lighter.

Our God is an awesome God (go ahead and start singing), but really and truly He is, especially in the
way that He knows us, you, me, our children. He knows exactly what we need when we need it and who to put in our lives to help us on the road. So my advice to myself (and to you) is to trust that God has it all figured out and keep on keeping on. It's easier said than done, of course, but always worth remembering. When we're in the trenches and it seems dark and lonely, those are the times He's right there ready to help we just need to ask Him and to trust Him.

Friday Feasting: Easy Taco Soup

SOUP’S ON!!!

"This Easy Taco Soup is one of our all-time favorites.  Don’t let the “secret” ingredient scare you off.  The zucchini adds a nice heartiness and makes this soup even more healthy.  Yum!!!"

Easy Taco Soup

Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2­-3 zucchini, chopped in 1 inch cubes
1-7­oz can chopped chilies
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1-32­oz can diced tomatoes
4 C beef or chicken stock
1⁄4 C Tasty Taco Seasoning Mix (see recipe below)
Juice of 2 limes
2 squares frozen cilantro, or fresh to taste

Optional Toppings

sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
chopped cilantro
1 block cream cheese (optional)
tortilla chips

Directions

1. Brown meat in large pan.
2. Drain off excess grease and set aside.
3. In same pot, sauté onions, bell pepper and zucchini for about 5-­10 minutes or until soft.
4. Add meat back to pan along with rest of ingredients.
5. Cook on medium ­low heat for 20 minutes.
6. Taste for seasoning.

Variations

Creamy Taco Soup: Add 8 oz. cream cheese to soup and stir until melted.
Crock Pot Method: Add cooked meat to crock pot along with rest of ingredients. Cook on low for 6
hours or high heat for 3 hours.


Tasty Taco Seasoning Mix

Mix ingredients and store in air-tight container.
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp black pepper

Prayer of the Unholy

I have a confession to make:  I’m awful at prayer.  I stink at prayer time with my husband, my children, and for myself.  I don’t set aside that quiet time with God to talk to Him, get to know Him and His Will for my life.  I turn on a litany of morning podcasts from the Laudate app while I’m grading papers in the early morning hours, and usually call that good.  Fortunately, He has been so good to me, despite our lack of communication, and given me very clear “Holy Spirit Moments” when I just know this is the direction I’m supposed to go.

Oh, and I’m just full of excuses (yes, I’m an excuses girl, boo hoo!):  it’s my parents’ fault because we never grew up praying anywhere but at a meal; my father was Baptist and my mother was Catholic, so I never knew the Hail Mary until I was an adult; my kids make prayer a most “unholy” time; I’m always nursing/changing/getting a baby to sleep; my husband works retail hours, and his schedule is never the same day-to-day or week-to-week; he’s no help either because he’s not Catholic and he didn’t grow up with the habit of daily prayer either.

I’m a sanguine temperament, and we sanguines need our hands held every time we start something new.  I just don’t have that person in my life right now.  Yes…yes…I know I need to rise above the detriments of my temperament, but I’m just not there yet.  I’ve had to confess this so many times and hear my sweet priest say, “You have to make prayer time sacrosanct every day!  Just stop everything and pray at a certain time every day!”  (See above for litany of excuses why this doesn’t happen.)

However, my son was studying about prayer in his catechism this week.  There are two types of prayer, mental and vocal.  The Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary are vocal prayers, of course.  I started thinking about the mental prayer, though.  How many times am I doing dishes, folding laundry, or just walking around the house picking up junk and thinking in my head of the friend of a friend whose son is in the hospital, the co-worker of my husband’s who was baptized yesterday or just people in my life who I love.  I don’t know why these people will be in my mind and heart, but I’ve concluded (or maybe deluded) that just THINKING of them – not even saying mentally “Father bless them and keep them.” – is praying for them.  God knows the desires of my heart.  I hope He accepts these scraps that are my prayers; I hope Our Sweet Mother catches them before they get to His Throne and wraps them up a little nicer for me.

My biggest hope and most frequent request is for you all who are MUCH better at it to please, PLEASE pray for me!

Monday Meme: Not Again!

How many times do we moms repeat ourselves to our children?  How frequently do we politely instruct them to do a task, only to repeat it because it remains undone?  We may not actually want to know the answer.  It may be depressing.

If only our kids knew all we did for them, then they’d do what we asked immediately.  They’d be grateful and want to help us.  Oh, the peace that would come, and life would be perfect.  Right?  One can only dream!  We may roll our eyes and wonder will they ever learn?

Well, that reality is probably shared by our guardian angels.  How many times do they nudge us in the right direction, but we don’t follow?  How many times do they guide us, but we don’t listen?  How many times have they helped us to avoid something bad, and then hoped that we’d “know better” next time?

I’m quite humbled when I think of how many times I have probably let my guardian angel down.  Yet, that guardian angel is still there for me, just like I’m still there for my children.  Our guardian angels are our most trusted, powerful allies, but we often neglect them.

Just like my kids tell me, I tell my guardian angel, next time I’ll do better.  I’m glad that Love never quits.  As long as my guardian angel is with me, I’ll be there for my kids too.