sometimes the quiet is a blessing....

This week I did not have a whole lot going on.  Both YL and my awesome BStud start next week and my roommate was busy preparing for her sister's bachelorette party this weekend.  I took this to my advantage and just spent some time with the Lord, worked out a lot and cooked up a yummy meal.  It was truly relaxing!

I had the inkling for some beef broccoli stir fry so here we go!!

get out your olive oil, corn starch, soy sauce, salt, pepper, garlic and 1/2 lb. beef (i buy the stir fry pack in the meat section at the store)

Combine 2 tsp. corn starch, 2 T. soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tsp olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and the beef to a bowl and stir it up.

Cut off one of the ends of the ginger root.

Grate about 2 tsp worth of ginger into a pan with some olive oil and heat for a minute.

When the pan is hot add your veggies.  I prefer snow peas, carrot slivers and broccoli but you could also use onions, peppers, asparagus, etc.  Stir fry for 3-5 min.  I recommend using a wok or a bigger pan than this one.  I was not using my head and had to pick up broccoli and carrots off the stove every time i stirred. lame. 

transfer the veggies to another plate.

put the beef into the hot pan and stir fry for about 5 min.

transfer the veggies back into the pan and add a little water.  stir fry until the liquid thickens a little.  In the meantime get some rice going on the stove.

put the rice and stir fry in a bowl, add a glass of delicious wine and a really great book and you have the perfect night.

I hope you all got a chance to just sit and be quiet this week and enjoy this time in your life!  Busy schedules are great but nights with a good workout, great food and a great book are just one of the little things that we need every once in a while.  :)

The Heart of Life is Good: i love no work days!

The Heart of Life is Good: i love no work days!: In high school one of my favorite things to do on a school holiday was to have my best friends over for a pancake party! We used to make cr...

i love no work days!

In high school one of my favorite things to do on a school holiday was to have my best friends over for a pancake party!  We used to make crazy pancakes with chocolate chips, bananas, peanut butter, etc.  it was epic and we always ate way too much.  This week I was reminiscing on that and really missing my friends that I hung out with all summer at Mr. Dog Monday (MDM) so I decided to host a breakfast potluck with all of my favorite GBC friends.  We had a great turnout and tons of yummy food!

For my contribution I experimented a little bit.  I had seen a few variations of "egg cups" on pinterest and  various cooking websites that I look at and wanted to create some of my own.

 To prep, I cut up some grape tomatoes (my fave), sauteed some fresh spinach and garlic and cut some ham into fourths:

notice my roommate's awesome piggy cutting board.  all of the women in her family have one and i think it is so cute!

i drained the spinach on a paper towel to get rid of some of the juices.  i wanted the egg cups to stick together and not be all liquidy!

next i was ready to assemble!  I sprayed the muffin tins with some non-stick cooking spray and lined them with ham (i used two pieces in each cup) and then put a little bit of spinach in them.

i topped off the spinach with a few tomatoes and some shredded colby jack cheese.

last but not least (especially because the name of this dish involves this ingredient) i cracked one egg per cup.  for these particular egg cups i broke the yolk with a knife and kind of stirred it around but you could also leave it whole and get sort of a sunny side up egg kind of thing going with the yummy runny yolk you could sop up with some toast.  yum!

i cooked them in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes (may vary for your oven and depending how runny you want the eggs to be).  all in all, my experiment worked out well and they tasted delicious with a little bit of homemade salsa on top!

Today's breakfast made me so thankful for community.  It is such a blessing to have a group of people at your church that you feel at home with.  God definitely put these people in my life for a reason and i am so thankful to know each and every one of them and to have opportunities to invite them into my home and play hostess.  it puts great joy in my heart.  :)  i hope that each of you have the opportunity to spend this day off of work with people that you enjoy who bless your life in so many ways!

Houston Restaurant Month

Last month was Houston Restaurant Month.  For those of you who don't know, this means that a large number of restaurants in the Houston area put together prix fixe menus that you can order 3 course meals from for $35 and a portion of that meal goes toward the Houston Food Bank.  This is a really great deal because a lot of the restaurants are really nice so going there and just ordering an entree would be $35 and none of us, at this time, make that kind of money!  My favorite group of girls to explore restaurants with is my best friends from college (shout out to Emily, Becca, Jessica, Ashley and Jenn!).  Last year we discovered the amazingness that is Haven Restaurant and this year we decided to venture to a different part of town and check out the glass wall.

For the first course we had three choices:  crab cake, chicken and tarragon ravioli and some sort of caprese salad.  The majority of the group ordered the ravioli and Becca and I got the crab cakes, but they were both delicious.  Sadly I forgot to take a picture of this course!  i need to get better at not getting so excited and remembering to document!

For the second course we had a choice of stuff quail, some sort of fish and a short rib.  I ordered the short rib and it was phenomenal.  super tender and served with a delicious fresh salsa and this potato stack thing that was to. die. for.

For dessert we had a few options but I honestly do not remember what they were because we all unanimously chose the drunken cherry chocolate bread pudding.  AMAZING.

I was so full at the end of the night that all I could do was go home and lay in bed but it was so worth it! I encourage y'all to check it out next August and try a fancy restaurant that you've never been to before!  it's a great girls' night idea!