Super Yummy Cheesy Potato Veggie Soup Recipe

     So, I kind of fell off the blogging bandwagon and I am trying to jump back on, but I guess we will see in the next few weeks if I actually made it or not, only time will tell. Dun, dun, dah....
     Here is a delicious recipe, and I call it soup, but it really is a stew. We love it not only because it is scrumptious, but you can put practically throw anything in it and it works, especially the potatoes in your pantry that are getting close to being more sprouts than actual potatoes.
   Enough said... Enjoy!
 
                                           Cheesy Potato and Veggie Soup

Potatoes                      9 cups chopped (or 8 large potatoes)

Carrots                                    4 cups chopped (6-8 stalks depending on size)

Celery                          2 ½ cups chopped (or 5 stalks)

Zucchini (opt)             1 ½ cups, chopped

Onion                          1 med., chopped

Chicken Broth             8-12 cups, depending on desired broth/veggie ratio

(or bouillon/paste)

Basil                            1 tsp

Parsley                         1 Tbsp (rounded)

Garlic                          & cloves, chopped (can substitute with about 1 ½ tsp  garlic powder

Salt & Pepper              To taste

Cheddar Cheese          ½ - 1 cup (or to taste), shredded

Bacon                          5-6 strips cooked till crispy (optional, but really, is bacon really optional :)

Use large pot

Cook bacon, set aside. Chop onions, put in skillet w/ oil ( or grease from bacon) on medium heat until tender. Chop all veggies while onions cook. Add garlic when onions are close to being done and brown (1 – 2 minutes). Add the rest of the veggies w/ salt and pepper on them. Toss in pan. Add chicken broth with parsley , basi,l and bacon, and bring to hard boil. Turn down heat to small rumbling boil, cover and let cook 1 – 1 ½ hours. Take off heat when veggies are all tender. Add spices, salt and pepper, garlic if more needed. Stir in cheese and let melt. Serve and enjoy.

Am I the Fool?

    Proverbs has become such a treat to me as of late; each and every verse a morsel to slowly nibble and delight in as a morning snack of insight. Sometimes, they take on the embodiment of mini-cupcakes, frosted in fuzzy feelings and joy. Other times, they are a shake full of all kinds of truth-filled proteins and vitamins that build my spiritual muscles. And last, but definitely not least, there are the liquid vitamins that I have to choke down, knowing that they truly do benefit me no matter how many similarities they have with fish food.
    Proverbs 29:9 sure does feel like a a huge horse pill full of essential godly nutrients for my sickly spirit.

 "If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet."

  At first glance, my mind immediately wanders to images of red, steamy faced people hurling insults, rebuttals, excuses, and judgments; some images from recent years (yes, the bible does not discriminate by age), from as early as grade school, and onto high school, where teachers join the crowd. As they seem to disipate in my mind, one particular example seems to stand out.
    I am on top of a hill waiting for a helicopter to land to take my crew's dirty, exhausted remnants of bodies back to town after another long day of seismic oil exploration work, (I will be sure to add that chapter of my life at another time) I quietly am reading my bible while the ten men around me pick up rocks with sea shell imprints in them and hide them away in various areas of their person. They believe these to be artifacts worth lots of money (tee, hee, hee), and we were working on private property, so they proceeded to steal them with the intentions of making millions. Here I am minding my own business when the one called, due to the age on the crew, "Dad", looks at me and says in a sarcastic tone something like, "What do your scriptures have to say about this?" as he holds up a square-foot size imprint of some sea creature. And as he seethes and fumes, I proceed to tell him of Creation and move quickly on to the Flood. As I am about one quarter of the way through the history, someone interjects (I had not noticed that practically everyone had been listening to me) a comment something like what you would expect to come out of an insecure junior-higher about Evolution and how Creation is stupid. Then everyone- I mean everyone- circles around me, points their fingers at me and laughs.
   "...the fool only rages and laughs"
Then the fog of memories lift and my thoughts turn inward. I think on times I have been on the other side. Maybe I haven't been pointing and laughing, but I know I definitely have had my feathers ruffled a time or two. That begs the question most pronounced in my heart. "Am I the fool?"  This sets me on a trail to discover how to identify the fool.
   We know from Proverbs 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds back", that a fool is distinguished by his reaction to something said. This is already backed up by the verse that started me on this journey "the fool only rages and laughs". In conclusion, we can state that a fool can be judged by his outward actions. That is how we can identify others as fools.
    But what about us? How do I determine when I fall into this category, for surely I will not claim that I have never been a fool. What of my heart? The untold accusations, name-calling, and belittling that goes on in there and no one but my heavenly Father hears? How many times am I pointing a finger and laughing in my heart? "...For out of the heart the mouth speaks", "take every thought captive", and "everyone who hates his brother is a murderer" creep up on me and expose my guiltiness.
   So, whether I enjoy this unappetizing super-food or not, I delight in the truth and the light it sheds on the darkness in my heart. I delight myself in God's Word to me proclaiming "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners (or fools), Christ died for us". (commentary mine) I delight in being humbled. I delight that I cannot pass over scriptures about the fool. I will have to examine myself, realizing over and over again it is a category I stumble into far too often, all the while praising my Savior for choosing to shepherd an ignorant dumb sheep--me.


   Are you having to swallow a spiritual pill today?

Just another wannabe blogger coming out of the closet, tee hee hee hee

                                                                                                                                             
So, I have been trying to come up with a great first post for my blog, but then I realized, all of the good introductions are done by people who truly have thought out the layout, design, and feel of their blog, well, you know those people have their whole lives organized, the ones who don't have three junk drawers, let alone, one- then there is me. For all of you who already know me (which will obviously be the only ones reading this), I don't exactly have it all together. I am  a well-meaning person who believes the Lord has given me snippets of life, truth, and quirks to share.
So, for now, this is all you get. I don't have a finished profile page, I haven't come up with a title for my blog that I like or truly represents what I want to convey here, and I sure don't know how to write comprehensive blog posts. But, here I go. The only thing I do know is that I would like to honor the Lord in whatever I say or do, or even eat (got to love that one). And as I watch and see the power of the gospel working itself out in me, I would like to share it with you all. This may come in the form of sharing what God's transforming Word has revealed to me; or at times it might be sharing a book that impressed me; or an idea on how to more efficiently clean my home; or maybe even a yummy recipe. All in all, I believe all of these topics (and more) can direct our hearts to knowing joy in the Lord more fully.
    So, please join me in my eclectic blog of wonders, or at least of random stuff, or whatever you want to call it.
   Well, enough of that mumbo jumbo. Hope you enjoy, and if not, well, that is the great thing about blogs, they totally aren't necessary.

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