Quick & Easy Pleasing Dinner

Practice schedules and late work nights wreak havoc on everyone's schedules.  Ours is no different.  Here's what we had for dinner tonight.  For those of you with peanut allergies, my condolences.  DH and I could lick the bowl clean on this one!

• Rotisserie chicken (from Costco) cut into cubes
• Apple slices & Sugar snap peas
• Bagels cut into cubes
• Skewers for dipping in Easy Peanut Satay

Easy Peanut Satay
Combine 1/2 c smooth or chunky peanut butter
3/4 c half n half (could substitute coconut milk or plain milk)
3 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
dash of garlic seasoning
2 tsp grated onion or 1/2 tsp dry onion
3 tbs soy sauce
(optional: splash of fish sauce)

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan over medium low heat.  You can give everyone their own dipping bowl or share.  The kids love anything they can dip.  And yes, the apples, snap peas, and bagels all got dipped, too.  YUM!

Banana Muffin Goodness - Mix Up Some Love!

I mixed these up spur of the moment last week in less than five minutes.  They bake up in less than 15 when you use the mini muffin pan (or your convection oven).  The kids loved 'em.  I'm going to make them again tomorrow adding mini chocolate chips to the concoction!!

What I like about this recipe:  I can assemble all the dry ingredients in the blender at night, add the wet in the morning, and VOILA!  What I love about this recipe: it's made in a blender and you pour it into the muffin tin!  What makes this recipe even better: no flour!

The Toothpaste Tube

When I brush my teeth every morning, I scrape off the hardened mass at the end of the toothpaste tube.  My DH doesn't put the top on.  Today, I bought new toothpaste, the kind with the top attached - a flip top.  While this toothpaste may not have saved my marriage, it is the little things that mean so much!

“Let the redeemed of the LORD say this--those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,”
Psalm 107:2

Sinful pasts, hurt-filled relationships, broken before man and God.  It is not that we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and move on; it is God’s Spirit at work in our lives that redeems us.  “Let the redeemed of the LORD say this – those he redeemed from the hand of the foe.”  When you have been redeemed, you share your good news with everyone.  You’re excited and it’s contagious!

Who is the foe?  The Enemy, Satan.  Satan would like nothing better than for us to get caught in the vicious cycle of negative relationships and heavy baggage.  His great ploy is that we have plenty of time to deal with it.  Now is the time!  Be redeemed!  Be set free!  Soar and to God be the Glory!

As you prepare for this weekend, continue reading a few more verses, Psalm 107:1-15.  Thank God for his unfailing love and his wondrous deeds.  He satisfies, he breaks chains.  He truly does set us free to fly!


Stephanie Morris, Mom Encourager
www.momencourager.org

TUESDAY

“…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Hebrews 12:1b

Yesterday, we stopped worrying about our belongings, knowing the perfect abundance we’d live in with Christ.  Today, we continue our theme by throwing off “everything that hinders us,” so that we may live a life already “marked out for us,” by Christ.

If we do not cast off our hindrances, we may not be able to even find the path marked out for us.  Scripture tells us the path is certain, “marked out.”  And it tells us how to follow the path, by removing ourselves from sin that “so easily entangles” us.  This is a familiar sin; the one where we’re perched at the edge of the proverbial slippery slope.  My easily entangled sin is different from yours, but we must both stand vigilant keeping it off the path.  We must keep pulling the weeds, so our path remains clearly marked.  To stay on the path, we must “run with perseverance.”  Run is active – it’s continual.  We must persevere in keeping sin at bay – it’s not a one-time thing.

Continue reading a bit further, Hebrews 12:1-3.  Cast off the sin that so easily entangles choosing freedom to run the great race marked out before you.

Stephanie Morris, Mom Encourager

www.momencourager.org