Favorite Recipes from July

 

July was a month of lots of fun new (KEEPER!) recipes! Today I want to share them with you!

Baked Egg Breakfast Casserole – I love a good breakfast casserole, and this one was a new-to-me find this month. It reminds me of the one I grew up on that had almost a whole loaf of bread in it, but this one is bread-free. Eggs, egg whites, Greek yogurt, cheese, and turkey sausage are the stars of this one. Other than the time it takes to brown the sausage, this one comes together quickly and is tasty!

Creamy Shrimp Pasta – This was easy to put together! If you don’t like shrimp, you could sub in a different meat and keep the rest of the recipe. Tons of flavor in this, and just as a note, I used chickpea penne (which I get at Aldi) and Neufchatel cream cheese for my version.

Summer Cobb Salad – We do love a fresh salad in the summer, and this one was easy! I air fried the bacon in the oven and cooked the chicken on the stovetop. I swapped defrosted sweet corn from the freezer so I didn’t have to mess with cooking and cutting ears of corn. I drizzled a little SkinnyGirl buttermilk ranch dressing on mine, but it honestly is fine without any dressing!

Lemon Chicken and Zucchini Skillet – I’ve made this dish before…several times, actually…and it’s easy and tasty. It makes me smile to see the colors of the zucchini and yellow squash, and it doesn’t take too long to cook. Win all the way around.

Layered Watermelon Berry Salad – I love a fruit salad, but I don’t always love the dressings and/or sweeteners added to them. I made this TRUE fruit salad for the 4^th of  July and loved it. It simply had…are you ready for it?...layers of fruit. End of story. Easy and delicious.

Strawberry Shortcake – This recipe is a golden oldie from my own recipe collection, but I haven’t made it in a long time. I actually used leftover berries (sans watermelon) from the above salad to pair with this cake when we went to small group! Added some ice cream and…yummy!

Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken and Veggies – I’ve made this before and enjoyed it, so I brought it back this month. I didn’t cut my chicken into small pieces like the recipe reflects, but the flavor was so good. I used a frozen Asian veggie blend and steamed them on the stove. I also made brown rice.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole – Originally I had planned to make an actual stuffed pepper dish, but the truth is, I hate stuffing peppers. So when I stumbled on this recipe, I switched to it instead, and I loved it. Note: I had already bought the chicken for the other recipe, so I put shredded chicken in this instead of the ground beef/turkey. I also used riced cauliflower instead of actual rice.

Slow Cooker Clean Eating Greek Gyros – We loved this one! Super easy to make, obviously, since I could throw the meat in to cook all day, and then it made a tasty dinner! I used roasted red pepper hummus from Aldi…it’s the only one we really like.

Healthy Zucchini Bread – I am always on the hunt for a healthier version of a quick bread: something without all the oil and sugar. This one was a Pinterest find, and we both liked it. I did sub in our milled wheat for the all purpose flour the recipe called for. I also used farm fresh eggs and home grown zucchini, so I basically felt like I walked straight in from the prairie for this! (Note: I used cane sugar rather than white in this recipe.)

Clean Eating Potato Salad – This was really, really good, though both of us found we preferred it warmed up just slightly. Apparently we are not cold potato people. A couple of notes on this one: I used turkey bacon and only about 2/3 the amount it called for. I used baby potatoes, with the skin on, chopped up in quarters. I also used yellow onion instead of red, because it’s what I had on hand.

Southwest Shrimp Salad – I loved this one because it was nice and fresh and easy to make. Of course I made some modifications…I used frozen corn rather than on the cob, just to save cutting it off. I also cooked the shrimp and corn on the stovetop because I don’t have a grill basket. And I used Skinny Girl ranch dressing rather than making the avocado dressing, mostly because I knew most of it would go to waste if I did that.

No Bake Cookies – This is a golden-oldie from my own blog, and I rarely make them anymore because I will eat them all in one sitting. 😊 However, we had guests for a fun night at the lake, and I needed a quick and easy, kid-approved, finger-food kind of dessert and didn’t want to heat up the oven to bake cookies. No bakes to the rescue!

Clean Eating No Bake Cookies – I’m trying to steer clear of white sugar as much as possible, so I made the regular no bakes for Ryan and our guests, but I made myself a batch of clean eating no bakes. I used them over the course of the next week for a little sweet treat after dinner. (Ryan doesn’t love the clean eating version of this one, and I really do try to make sure he has something he loves, so it was no problem for me to make both versions to serve both of us as needed!)

Southwest Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps – My favorite thing about this one? We used lettuce from our garden!! I boiled the chicken and shredded it in the Kitchen Aid and then added the rest of the things. I love any twist on chicken salad!

Shredded Pork Loin with White BBQ Sauce – The pork loin recipe is a golden oldie from the blog. It is so easy to make. Pork, soy sauce (I use coconut aminos now) and liquid smoke with a little bit of seasoned salt for good measure. It is always so flavorful, and it’s a slow cooker recipe too, so yay! This time, with it, I made White BBQ sauce, which I learned is a signature dish in the state of Alabama. I’d never heard of it before, but it sure was good. I made a Keto version, so even though it does still have a mayo base (I used olive oil mayo) and isn’t the MOST healthy ever, it’s better than some other recipes I found!

Pizza Casserole – I found this one on a recipe roundup and thought it looked delicious for days when I craved pizza but knew that wasn’t the healthiest choice to prepare. I used chickpea pasta from Aldi (which I love) and lean ground beef instead of ground turkey. Really good and would definitely make again!

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich – This was the last one I tried this month. I had intended to make my own English muffins using my milled wheat, but alas, I didn’t have arrowroot powder, and our store didn’t carry it, so I purchased a healthy version of an English muffin this time. This was good, easy to make, and filling! 

And there you have it! July’s recipes!

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

                What. A. Week. It. Has. Been. God has been teaching me so much. Some of it has been exciting. Some of it has been so, so painful. But I am thankful that in the painful, I’m finding that I immediately turn to the Lord for help, and He is faithful! (Also, significant props to Ryan for cleaning up a lot of tears this week.)

                Want to see just a fraction of what we’ve been up to over the last few days?

 Last Sunday we took communion at church, and I had the sweetest time with the Lord that morning ahead of communion. I had shared this with our deacons a few weeks ago and wanted to revisit it myself before participating. It was a really meaningful time.

Our house projects march on, and my favorite part of this week was getting to put our bedroom back together. We got a new quilt for it. The one we had was five years old and between a geriatric cat and a puppy, it had taken quite a beating. I love this one so much!

One of my days this week started at 3 a.m. and went until about 11:00 p.m. Whew! I had to be in Fort Wayne for a church member’s surgery at 5 a.m. and then I went to the 4H parade that night with Ryan and our small group. It was a long and full day, but it was memorable in good ways.

This was a week of family! My sister and brother-in-law came to visit, and in a rare event, our entire family (minus grandchildren/great-grandchildren) gathered for dinner at our house. We ate pizza, went for a boat ride, and of course, had a family picture taken!

I took my first try at driving the boat this week. I literally just drove it in the middle of the lake. No taking off or parking it. That’s for advanced students. I’m still a rookie. 😊

 My sister and I went thrifting this week and had a great time finding deals! We also enjoyed lunch out at McAllister’s. I haven’t eaten there in a while. It is SO GOOD.  

Ryan was in the Swiss Days parade yesterday! I have decided that going to a parade alone is not any fun, but I was proud of myself for going, and it was fun to see him enjoying representing Swiss Village with friends and residents! (Also: parades + thunderstorms + Bekah = interesting.)

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

I’m excited for tomorrow’s snapshot post so I can remember all the things we did this week. It has been jam-packed from start to finish, and there have been both tears of hurt and smiles of joy.

                Until then, though, I have some fun stuff for you to enjoy today! Ready?

Andrea has such a beautiful home (I’m especially smitten with the color of her kitchen stove), and I love it that she thrifts and overhauls so much of what she brings into her house. She wrote a helpful post about decorating a house on a budget, and I thought she had some great tips, so I’m sharing with you! (BONUS: I learned SO MUCH from Suzy’s post about choosing the right lamp size for different lamps in your home. I honestly didn’t know there were actual guidelines for this! I have about 4 lamps in our house that are super old – some are about 25 years old – and I’ve been on the casual lookout for replacements for a couple of years. Maybe now I can actually know what to look for!)

I love a good before-and-after of any space in a home. You know that. Laura’s post about her kitchen update was great, in my opinion, because she really made this space her own without doing a full kitchen remodel. Those are expensive and invasive, and I feel like we rarely get to see ideas for how to update something WITHOUT starting over completely. This was inspiring! (BONUS: I love Melissa’s decorating style, and I loved this post she wrote about the slow, four-year evolution of their living room décor. I appreciated how she walked through each change they made, why they made it, and the importance of using what you have on hand/shopping your home/buying the things that really fit your family and your space. I learned much from her in this piece!)

 This was one of my favorite feel-good stories this week. It’s a great story no matter what, but we are proud to know Cooper! He’s a teen at our church, and he has a great heart. I love what he has done – and it also doesn’t surprise me a bit!

Have I been watching Christmas movies this month for Christmas in July? Oh, absolutely! Have I listened to Christmas music in the car? Sure have. (I also do that year-round.) Did I love Heidi’s post about upcoming Christmas trends for this year? Yes, I did! I know what I love at Christmas and tend to keep things pretty much the same here year after year, but that won’t stop me from reading a good inspiration post! 😊

If you’re looking for a vacation home, this mansion in Tennessee, formerly owned by Dave Ramsey, is for sale. Only $15 million! (Personally I’d just buy the library room from the home…)

A fun fact you may or may not know about me is that I occasionally write daily devotional readings for Light from the Word, which is a publication of the Wesleyan Church. Writers for this book submit their work well over a year in advance of publication, so I am always surprised when they pop up, because I’ve forgotten what I wrote by that time! My work was featured this past week, and I thought I’d give you the links to the audio versions in case you want to listen! Here they are: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

For a Future Day

 

I love it when a friend tells me something wise I can tuck away and marinate on when I have time. This week I did some marinating on a single sentence my friend Lois texted to me earlier this month.

                “The hard often becomes the best of a future day.”

                She and I were talking about the new journaling practices I’ve adopted this month. Each day I write about the best parts of the day and the hardest parts of the day. (I try, very intentionally, not to use the word worst, because while hard can be synonymous with worst, that’s not always the case.)

                I wrote down her words and gave thought to them in the days that followed.

                It is true.

                Some of the things that fell under the hard sections for me this month are slowly becoming the best parts of other days. Sacrifices and good-but-hard-for-me choices that cause my heart to ache and strain eventually become habits and become the things that I’m proud of and thankful for in future days.

                Some of the most frustrating days lately have centered on projects happening here at our house, but when they are done, they are going to easily be the very best parts of those future days.

                Hard things don’t have to be hard forever. They can slowly melt into the best of a future day.

                I encourage you to think on Lois’s words today too. What hard part of today might become a best part of a future day for you?

50 Before 50 List Check-In

 

                I’ve decided to hold myself accountable to some of the items on my 50 Before 50 list by sharing reviewing the list monthly to see if there are any things I can cross off the list at large!

                If you missed this story, I shared my vision for this project here, and then I shared my seven categories of things I hope to enjoy or accomplish: travel, learning, dates, alone or with friends, accomplishments, cooking/baking, and home/thrifting.

                I only came up with this idea this month, so my checklist is quite small. But I have started! And here is my report from July! (I know we still have a week to go in this month, but today seemed like a good day for a check-in.)

Journal a full page every day. As a reminder…I write my journal on my computer so I can type and allow my fingers to keep up with my brain. This month I started a new process of journaling each day – telling the stories of the best and hardest parts of my day, the rhythms that filled the day, and I answer a prompt as well. This has made my journaling MUCH more intentional, and I am enjoying it so much more.

Create an annual recipe binder. I have started this, too. I have a list of dishes for the entire month of July (one per day, though I didn’t end up making them all this month) and I will be printing out the ones we liked well enough to have again. I plan to put them in my three-ring recipe binder, and then I’ll need to figure out my system for filing. Still, this is a fine start.

Make a signature dish from all 50 states. I decided to make my way through them in alphabetical order just to keep track of things more easily. You’ll see more about this in the recipe recap in a few days, but I made a white BBQ sauce from Alabama as my first adventure!

Thrift 50 things from my wish list (instead of buying new). I’m up to 4 already!

When I looked through the books at church, I found three Lori Wick novels that were on my wish list. (Lori no longer writes for publication, but I want to own a full set of all her published books. I have almost all of them, and now I’m three closer!) And the bonus? These were FREE! Did not cost me a single thing.

When I was at the Goodwill, I found a salt lamp, which I’ve had on my Amazon wish list for a few years now. I paid $4.99. The price online was $21.95, so I was pleased with that savings!

                So this is the start of my list. I’ll check back in again next month to see if I’ve accomplished anything else!

Parades and Our People

 

This week is fair week in our county. It’s our fourth summer to live in this general area and go to the 4H fair parade. I remember the first year we went. We sat with Jonathan and Julie (as we do every year), and as the floats floated by, Julie would say hi to kids from the church, and I wondered if I would ever learn all their names.

                Last night we sat in the same yard of friends, with Jonathan and Julie, and I knew the names! I recognized people. I recognized the names of businesses and clubs that went by. It might seem silly for something like a parade to be a marker of home, but for me, it was.

                Starting in 2020, the Lord took us on such a journey that carried us from one home to the next to the next to the next. New towns. New churches. New jobs. New houses. New friends. New, new, new.

                And now the familiar is taking root. The Lord has given us a place to land and stay. He’s given us friends and familiar faces. He’s given us routines and traditions – like 4H fair parades.

                I know parade pictures are probably like fireworks pictures: we’ve all seen them, and unless you’re there and know the people, they probably don’t mean much to you. But these pictures represent home and friendship, and I celebrate that today.

Lexi's Summer Fun

 

It is so hard to remember what life was like before Lexi joined our family. We’ve gotten into such a rhythm of days with her, and we absolutely love summer days spent with our best girl.

                She loves being a lake dog. A boat dog, more specifically. She loves boat rides with her whole heart. She loves the company that stops by to see us. She loves seeing her friends out on their golf carts. She loves it all.

                I thought I’d give you a peek at Lexi’s summer fun – inside and out!

We sure love her. Thanks for taking a peek at her summer! :)