Breakfast Crostini

Hello again! Yeah, it's been forever since I've been on here to post anything. This semester of teaching has gone quickly! It's been a fun semester though. I have great students and fellow teachers to work with. With teaching comes the great perk of Christmas break! I love my students but we all want our vacation time regardless of what our job is. So, I'm hanging out with the parentals in Creston for about 5 days. We're enjoying too much food, playing board games, watching movies, and just spending time together. 

My church is doing an advent series via a book called..."Behold the Lamb" maybe..it's not in front of me and I don't want to get up to look at the title. Anyway, it has 25 days of reading and has gone from Old Testament to New reviewing Israel's history and preparation for their (our) Messiah. It's a pretty simple read but it's just a good reflection on who God has used as part of the line of Jesus. Their individual stories are unique but all give glory to God by displaying great obedience and faith. Abraham standing out to me with all the tough decisions he made and how incredible that God counted his faith as righteousness to him. That early example of salvation through faith and not works is significant. His faith is recognized in Hebrews 11 and Romans 4 to help Gentiles understand that God wants our belief and trust to be in Him and not in our works. 

You'll have to forgive the low-quality pictures. I wasn't planning on blogging at home so I don't have the nice Canon to use. 

Anyway, I am dangerous in a grocery store. Dangerous to my bank account, not others, don't be concerned. If I don't have a list or a plan, I cave and buy the beautiful, less commonly used food items. I sort of justified it because I wasn't going to be buying groceries for a week and would be living off my parents for the holiday.  

Mom and I got to enjoy the breakfast crostini! Explanation: toasted baquette, brie cheese, lox (salted salmon), and an over easy egg. 

It was fabulous. Runny yolk over salty salmon and creamy cheese...it just pairs so well!

Daniel and Clinton

I couldn't go without showing off these adorable little guys! 

We had the big Walker family Christmas on Saturday which was Jason and Clinton's first! They loved the paper and bows of course. 

Jason

Sorry, no recipe for how to get the cutest nephews ever but you can enjoy the pics at least.

Breakfast Crostini

-For two-

4 slices of baguette bread, toasted

two eggs, cooked over easy or medium, or hard

a few ounces of brie cheese

two slices of lox

This is really just a matter of assembly and very little cooking. I toasted the bread in a pan with a little butter. Spread the cheese on the toast.

-if you aren't familiar with brie, it is the consistency of cream cheese but not as sweet in flavor. 

Cut a slice of lox in two and place one on each slice of bread. Our bread was pretty small so you may want more lox depending on the bread. 

Cook the eggs for a few minutes at a medium heat until desired done-ness (if that's a word).

We placed the egg over 2 slices of bread and cut it, letting the yolk run over it all. So good! 

Enjoy!

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

 Yum. This was so good! Perfect for a lazy, rainy morning. I love breakfast and blueberries so I'm really glad I don't have to share this with very many people;) The blueberries were on sale at Fareway for $1.88. I should buy more and freeze them. Blueberries are probably my favorite fruit and definitely my favorite berry! We used to have a blueberry bush at home and picking them was the best chore you could get. Apples took more work and you had to avoid the rotting apples at your feet and hungry bugs everywhere. Anyway, this is easy to make and super tasty!

I've read a few more chapters in John this week and there are the many accounts of Jesus healing people to show that He is who He says He is. In the case of the blind man in chapter 9 and Lazarus in chapter 11, Jesus says that the blindness and death happened so that God's work might be displayed. I believe that is always God's overall purpose in everything. He wants us to see His faithfulness when life stinks and when it's great. I haven't had severe suffering but I've watched others deal with it. Cancer, stroke, death, unemployment, difficult relationships...etc. I'm encouraged when I see others plow through their trial and come out with joy by God's grace. God is my hope and I'm so glad He is faithful!

These guys are so flavorful! I was sad to discover that my last blueberry purchase from Trader Joe's was flavorless. The berries were big but just tasted like water:(

This can be made vegan but I'm not so I used an egg and butter. I'll include the original recipe though. I also think it calls for too much milk because I had about a 1/4 cup left that would not fit in the dish. Might be just right for a 9x9 rather than an 8x8. As you can see below, we were bulging out of the dish!

Recipe:

-Vegan recipe in black, my simpler version in green-

• 2 cups vanilla almond milk (or any non-dairy milk) - 1 3/4 cup almond milk or regular milk

• 2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats - same

• 1 tsp. baking powder - same

• ½ tsp. kosher salt - just salt, the one with the umbrella girl

• 1 tsp. cinnamon - I didn't measure, but I'm sure it was more than 1 tsp!

• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or butter for non-Vegan) - I used butter

• 1 flax egg * (or 1 egg for non-Vegan) - 1 large egg

• 1/3 cup Vegan cane sugar - 1/3 cup coconut sugar

• 2 cups fresh blueberries - almost the full pint, left some for snacking:)

• juice of one lemon - yep, but couldn't taste it much

• *1 flax egg = 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons warm water (stir and set aside 5 min. until gel-like)

Mix oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. In a different bowl, combine milk, egg, butter (oil), sugar, and lemon juice. Oven should be preheated to 375° F and an 8x8 dish greased. Pour half of the oat mixture into the dish and then add half of the blueberries. Pour on the rest of the oat mixture and top with the rest of the blueberries. Slowly pour the milk mixture over the whole dish. Bake for 40 minutes. 

Blog source

Fabulous Salmon

So, remember the maple cream I mentioned last time?! Well, I used it today in my own recipe creation and I was super happy with it! I love when healthy food tastes this good. I will admit that with eating healthy comes a few sacrifices. I do eat junk food periodically and some of it makes me feel gross. Pop is one. I used to love pop but now it's just syrup-y and weird. Ice cream on the other hand is still amazing in small portions:)

Tonight's meal was quite healthy and tasted fabulous!

This isn't so much about what I read today but about one of the songs that keeps popping up on my ipod shuffle. Rend Collective (Experiment) is my favorite group of musicians right now. I got to see them about two years ago along with Tenth Avenue North and then saw them for their own concert back in February. You should give them a listen if you haven't yet!

The song I want to share is "Love Divine". No, this is not a song original with them but I love their version. They are such an authentic group and makes focused worship easy. They have taken other hymns and rewritten them in a modern way. This one keeps the words but switches up the music a bit.

Some of my favorite lines from it are:

"Take away the love of sinning, Alpha and Omega be" - isn't it sad that we do love sinning but we hate it at the same time. Just like Paul talks about in Romans. Our hatred of sin isn't enough to keep us from it, only our love for God.

"Finish, then, Thy new creation, Pure and spotless let us be, Let us see Thy great salvation, Perfectly restored in Thee, Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before Thee

Lost in wonder, love and praise"

Yep, the whole last verse. This is life with an eternal focus. We are His new creation and He is guiding us to live pure lives. Then one day we get to stand before him, "lost in wonder, love, and praise."

I took pics last minute. Actually, I took them after I had already taken a few bites. Just consider it proof that I eat my own food:)

The green beans are from my sister's garden. I decided to pick them for her during the rain. It was really nice though to be out in the cool rain since I had been inside with my nephews most of the day. I love hanging out with them but I need to get outside too.

Now, I must include a fair warning. The glaze has alcohol in it. It's a whopping 2 tablespoons so don't get concerned. It's bourbon whiskey and it will keep for a long time so just find other recipes to help use it up such as bourbon chicken.

Recipe:

2 Salmon filets

salt and pepper

Glaze:

2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey

1/4 cup cranberry juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon maple cream (or just use maple syrup)

Green beans:

2 cups fresh green beans

1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine bourbon, cranberry juice and maple syrup in a sauce pan. Stir and let it come to a boil. Turn down heat and let sit until salmon is ready for it.

Turn the broiler on high and season salmon with salt and pepper. Place the salmon under the broiler for 3-4 minutes. Pour about 2 tablespoons of the glaze over each filet and place back under the broiler. Once the glaze has absorbed a bit, use a spoon or knife to spread the maple glaze over the salmon (1/2 tablespoon per filet). Give it one more minute under the broiler and then it should be ready! I don't like salmon over cooked so mine wasn't in the oven any longer than 7 minutes. 

Because multitasking is awesome, you can saute your green beans in a skillet while all this is happening. Just place butter in the pan first, add green beans and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute for 7-8 minutes depending on how soft you like your veggies!

http://www.greatrivermaple.com/

This is the source for the maple cream. They have other products you can look at as well!