New Recipe- Crescent Chicken Squares

So last night Dave and I tried a new recipe- and I'm trying something new myself. I'm taking pictures of our meals and posting them with the recipe. A photographer I am NOT so please give me grace for my horrendous photos! The food looked better in person!

Crescent Chicken Squares

8 oz pkg cream cheese softened

1 tbsp butter softened

2 cups cooked chicken shredded OR a 10.5 ox can of chicken

3-4 tbsp milk

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup frozen peas or broccoli cut into small pieces

2 tubes of crescent rolls

1 tbsp melted butter

1/8 cup bread crumbs

Heat oven to 350* In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and softened butter until smooth. Add chicken, milk, seasoning, and veggies. Set aside.

On 2 baking sheets make 8 rectangles by pressing two crescents together. Scoop chicken mixture in the center of each and pull the four corners together and twist together to seal- brush with butter and sprinkle bread crumbs over top.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

OUTCOME: It was okay-Dave said it was more like chicken salad than anything else. I think next time I'll use the same crescent pocket idea and maybe do BBQ chicken with some mozzarella cheese. It's a fun concept but needs some work. Any ideas???

Making friends- and maybe an enemy or two!

I feel quite special today- a friend gave me a "Blog Award" and it's my first! So exciting!!! Here it is- the "Honest Scrap Award"

Lyryn thank you so much! I enjoy reading your blog so much and I appreciate your honesty and transparency about your life and what God is doing in and through you. It's an inspiration and I pray that in some small way, God allows me to be the same for you.

So here goes the 'rules' of the award- In order to accept I must post 10 things you might not know about me AND award 4 others. So I'm sending this award to 4 fellow bloggers because of their amazing testimonies, true hearts, and partly because I want to see their 10 answers about themselves! :) Truly selfish aren't I?!

Here goes:

1. It took me 20 minutes to compose this post because I was cornered in my office by a wasp I was scared to death of. (One of the ONLY things I am scared of!)

2. God has blessed me as a worship leader. I love singing. BUT when I was younger I couldn't carry a tune! My Mom even told me that she and Jesus loved to hear me sing, but that I shouldn't sing for anyone else. (She was trying to be nice!) :)

3. I LOVE my feet. It's one of the only physical aspects of myself that I have never criticized. They don't get fatter even when I eat too much ice cream, they don't break out when I PMS, and they don't turn red when I cry. I love them!

4. I've had a lot of tragedy in my life- but I wouldn't trade it for anything cause I've learned so much.

5. My husband is NOTHING like I imagined he would be- I love when God puts something better into our lives!

6. I've had gray hair since I was 15 so I have to dye my hair regularly to keep it looking nice.

7. My memory is TERRIBLE. I come across as ultra organized, and I am to a point- but I also come off as a ditz due to my horrific memory.

8. When I was 4 my dream in life was to work at McDonalds because my Mom told me once that my Dad worked there in college. (Still NEVER worked there or any fast food place, and I pray I never do!)

9. I ABHOR swimming. It's nice sitting out by the pool or going to a water park for a bit, but to just SWIM... NO WAY! The thought of having to change into an entirely different outfit (with no 'support' by the way) just to get in a giant bathtub with who knows how many germs swimming around with nothing to do but float around only to have to change out of that outfit, shower, dry off and get back into my original outfit- it's just too much work!

10. Lastly- I love trying out accents. Sometimes I speak in a southern drawl or a Pakistani accent just cause it's fun. My all time favorite though- I can do a PERFECT Asian woman. I used to call my Mom at work just to fool her with it!

Hopefully these ladies will be posting their answers soon- so check them out! And if they don't, just hound them until they do!

Tami Jo- The "Scheich" Family (One of my best friends)

Tanya- The Heralds (Another one of my best friends- who happens to be my neighbor!)

Amber- Humble Reflections (I love reading her thoughts about what God is teaching her)

Erica- Team Stephens Wins (Another wonderful friend that I adore)

Need recipes?

Thanks to Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker- I have a PLETHERA of new recipes from fellow bloggers! She writes a "Thursday 13" where she lists 13 things, ideas, memories, or whatever topic she chooses. This week she wrote about 13 blogs she visits frequently and I am overjoyed that she did. I've stolen several of them and added them onto my 'Blogs with Recipes' list. There are some amazing recipes I just can't wait to try! Let me know if you try any fun new recipes cause I will be sharing several new ones in the next few days.

Check these out:
Bake at 350 - She has an incredible talent for decoarting cookies and cakes and give instructions on how to replicate her designs!
Bread Blog - dedicated to breads, pastries, scones, biscuits, basically anything with yeast :)
Gather Round Our Table - a simple blog giving some good recipes
The Secret Recipe Blog - gives recipes that replicate the 'well known' restaurant ones
Taste Buds - another simple recipe blog
AAAAAAAAAAND (drum roll sound please.....)
Mennonite Girls Can Cook - OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I'm so excited about this one I could cry! I LOVE me some Amish food and this blog is SPECTACULAR! Ladies, if you ever need comfort food then this blog is for you!

Have fun cooking, baking, and trying new things!

Life is never what we expect!

Had quite an interesting weekend and beginning of this week...

Friday I left work a few minutes early to make sure and get to the ball field early for our game. We ended up winning which means we advance to the finals! (FYI...it's all local so it's not State or anything too huge) That night Tanya and I decided we wanted a girls night so we left her son with his dad and Dave and we headed out to Chili's after the game. It was nice to chat without distractions! Then we went to see The Proposal- definitely a girl movie! The movie was cute, but maybe a little crass- both actors have a nude scene where you don't see their FULL 'personal areas' but they definitely filmed without clothing. It showed a little more than I thought it would for Sandra Bullock. Oh well! Anyway it was SUCH a fun night getting to spend time with a good friend.

Saturday morning I got up and started cleaning the house when I got a text from Tanya that she had pancakes and bacon coming out off the griddle if we wanted to come by. It was the quickest I have EVER seen Dave get out of bed! Breakfast was fun and VERY tasty! Then I spent my day cleaning the house TOP TO BOTTOM- Dave also helped a ton which was so great of him! Plus I made some cake balls since we were going to a party later.

At 5:30 we headed for dinner with a wonderful family that our family has known for a while but that Dave and I have just gotten to actually KNOW. It was honestly supposed to be a quick dinner because my boss had a party starting at 6:00! Well we had such a wonderful time and didn't want to end it that we didn't leave until 11:00 from their house. The time spent with them was much needed for my spirit. I've felt torn, broken, and just beat up lately about some things and God used them to help us feel that we were not alone in our struggles and what we are dealing with. Thank you Lord! You always know what I need at just the right time!

After we left their house we did swing by Rich's party where 'the stragglers' were gathered. We stayed for about an hour and really enjoyed ourselves while we were there. Once we got home we both crashed because it was such a full day!

Sunday morning we taught Sunday School at our church then headed to First Baptist to hear Adam preach! It was such a great message and EXACTLY what I needed to hear. That afternoon Dave had to work so I was left by myself for the day. I am convinced that Dave has done some sort of brain washing on me to make me obsessed with baseball! :) Fever Pitch was on TV so I watch that (and almost cried- weird!) then I watch The Benchwarmers right after too. It was great! Church was that night with an Ice Cream Social afterward- what beats HOME MADE ICE CREAM?!?!?! YUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!

Monday brought a NASTY headache that may have been from all that yummy ice cream. Woops! I was home all day yesterday without lights on and the TV down so low you could barely hear it. Thankfully the dogs were quiet- they must have been given a tranquilizer or something cause they normally play all day long. The headache began to subside so I planned the next two weeks of meals for us and then we watched the Home Run Derby. (I'm telling you.... brain washed!) All in all a fairly good weekend and beginning of the week.

Please keep us in your prayers for a few things though:
Dave needs to find a different job- they aren't giving him enough hours at the store
The truck's starter might be going bad- pray it isn't too much to fix!
I heard noises in the wall of the bathroom today- probably a mouse but I'm not sure- pray again that it's not too much to fix this problem!
Pray for Dave and I- we need some clarity and direction

Thank you and I pray that you all have a wonderful week. Let me know if I can pray for any of you this week also!

Hmmm.

I just deleted an entire post I had started. It was loooooong, and I deleted it on purpose. All I was doing was hosting an on-line pity party. Then I was convicted. God always ruins my pity parties! ;)

There is a LOT of stuff I could complain about right now... A LOT- but why? Why give satisfaction to my flesh? Why give into my temptations of cynicism? WHY?! So I listened to the Holy Spirit that told me to delete that post- and I have to say I am quite glad I did. My whole attitude has changed by that one act. I can already tell that God is MUCH more pleased with my obedience rather than my pity party.

God is doing some things at the moment that I am excited about. I can't talk about them because He won't let me- but His will is going to be accomplished and I can't wait! Although I am absolutely TERRIFIED for His will to be done because I don't know exactly what it means for Dave and I and our future, I am excited. We just keep praying together that He would put us in the center of His heart and let everything else fall into place around us. Whether it be our finances, relationship, future, jobs, church, ministry, or other things we just want to be where He wants us, doing what He wants. Like I said- it's terrifying because we think there are going to be some big changes coming (like Dave going back to school) but we are excited. There is a sense of coming change and I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

I pray that if any of my friends that read this blog are dealing with frustrations, heart ache, confusion, or even cynicism (like me) that you turn it over to God and let HIM be your advocate. Let HIM fight your battle, let HIM heal your heart, let HIM make the changes and the choices- you will be so much happier for it.