Biscuits and Gravy

Michael was probably more excited about trying this recipe than I was to actually make it.  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy making new recipes.  However, I had already ruined one batch because I didn't follow the directions.  So I was a little anxious about this.  Let me tell ya...another amazing recipe that I will be making again!

Biscuit Ingredients: (updated biscuit recipe from Elana's Pantry)
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour, plus about 1 cup for dusting the dough
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup ghee
2 eggs
1 tablespoon agave nectar.

Instructions for biscuits:

1. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, salt and baking soda.
2. In a large bowl, blend together buttery spread, eggs and agave.
3. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until a nice dough forms.
4. Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 1 ½ inches thick.
5. Dust dough with extra almond flour if it is sticky and/or misbehaving.
6. Cut the dough into biscuits using a mason jar with a 3-inch wide mouth.
7. Using a spatula, transfer biscuits to a parchment lined baking sheet.
8. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, until biscuits are browned on the bottom edges.
9. Serve with gravy, jelly or whatever else your heart desires.

While those were baking, I worked on the gravy mixture.

Gravy Ingredients:
1 pound of ground pork or turkey sausage
1 tbs. almond flour
1 tbs. of arrowroot powder
1 can of coconut milk
2 tsp. sage (I didn't have any and so I didn't use this)
1 tsp. paprika
½ cup chicken stock (if needed...and I didn't need it)

Instructions for gravy:
1.   Sauté sausage in a large skillet until completely cooked.  Remove sausage from pan, saving about 2 tablespoons of the drippings from the sausage.  Keep these drippings in the pan.
2.  Add the almond flour and arrowroot powder to the skillet, and whisk with the sausage fat over medium-low heat, until paste is formed, working to scrape up some of the sausage drippings.
3.  Pour in about ¼ of the coconut milk, the sage, and the paprika at this point and bring to medium heat, stirring often and scraping up the browned sausage bits.
4.  Add remaining coconut milk, stirring as you go, and bring to light simmer.  Add sausage back in and simmer until the gravy reaches desired thickness.
5.  If the gravy becomes too thick you can thin it out with some of the chicken stock.
6.  Pour over the biscuits and serve!

This is what the dough looks like before the egg whites go in.  

Frothy egg whites

This is what it looks like in the muffin tin.

This is what they look like on a cookie sheet. 

Here is the finished biscuit.

And an up-close version of the finished biscuit.

The gravy without the sausage.

The gravy with the sausage.

Biscuits and Gravy in a bowl per my husbands request!  DELICIOUS!

Burned

Today has been another tough one for me.  I felt a little thrown under the bus by a dear friend of ours and I just had a heavy spirit about the situation.  I didn't know what to do about it, but felt like I needed to not let it fester.  I sent an email explaining how I felt.  A few hours later I received a phone call from him and he asked to meet.  I was SCARED to death!  It was one thing to share my feelings with him from the comfort of my home and through the ease of the internet, but to meet with him face to face was another thing.

We met up, discussed the issue, and all is well.  Albeit, it was a hard conversation for me to have, I did it and I give God all the glory.  I have such a pride issue about crying in front of people.  I just don't like it and I think its because when I cry I feel insecure, out of control, and like I am any other woman being run over by their emotions.  The crazy thing is I just need to accept it.  I am sure that this, too, is part of the brokenness I am going through.

In our conversation, he said to me, "You've been burned, haven't you?"  I didn't quite understand what he meant and so he clarified by saying, "People have really burned you in the past."  "Yes, yes they have.  And especially men!" was my response.  He gently and politely told me that I needed to deal with it and realize that I could trust him.  That was hard for me to hear as I think we all don't like being called on our junk.  This man is one whom I greatly respect as a father figure in my life.  He is a man of great integrity and who passionately seeks the Lord.  He also kisses me on the cheek and gives me a big hug almost every time we meet.  I can trust him.

Although it wasn't easy and I didn't like all the aspects of the conversation, I realized that I needed to have that hard conversation and I have some work to do.  Trust isn't always easy, but what I am learning is that I can't base my future relationships on my past relationships.  I need to begin to retrain myself.  So this is something that will be on the prayer list and I have asked my husband to pray for me about this also.

Another hard part to my day was that my husband called me on being defensive.  I had this grand plan to make and blog about biscuits and gravy (Paleo style of course) and Michael was just as excited to try them with me.  I took a picture of the recipe on my phone and so I didn't have it in front of me and I ruined it.  I was supposed to whisk the egg whites and I didn't.  I was angry with myself because I had ruined breakfast and it was at a very expensive cost.  Eating Paleo is not cheap and I try to buy all natural and organic stuff as much as I can.

Michael suggested that I just turn the mixture into a pancake mix and it would be great.  In my frustration, I jumped on him and very loudly replied, "It just won't work!"  He asked me why it wouldn't work and I didn't have an answer to why it wouldn't work and so I said, "It just won't!"  He called me on being defensive.  After I had a cool down moment, I realized he was right and I was being very defensive.  He called me on it later.  I asked him to please be in prayer about this for me because he has called me on this several times in the last week.  Although my plan for biscuits and gravy didn't work out we did enjoy pancakes and they were great.  I think I can also tie this into trusting my husband to love me enough to try and help me fix the problem instead of being so quick to lash out at him.

This may be a long post, but I wanted to touch on a few more things.  Michael is such a great husband that I couldn't have asked for anything better.  Here is his latest note for me:

I love him and am blessed to to life with him.  All I needed to do this morning was read this and be reminded that Michael is going to love me no matter what.  Even if I ruin a meal or two.  And more than likely, he will probably eat it with a smile on his face :)

I also wanted to share something that we have begun.  We are calling it our prayer jar.  It's just a large jar that was used at our wedding that I use as decoration on my night stand.  Since it was just sitting there I decided to put it to good use.  I believe that God laid it on my heart to start doing this.  Michael and I have both put names of people, things, countries, or whatever we would like to pray for.  Each night we draw out 1 or 2 and we pray for whatever is on the card.  Last night was the first night to do it and we had a bit of a funny moment that I won't go into on our blog, but feel free to ask me in person.  Maybe I'll tell you! I also believe that when we pray, God answers.  So hopefully as we continue adding things and people that we would like to pray for that we would be able to take out some of those cards because of the mighty hand of God moving and answering prayers.  How cool would that be?  Here is what the jar looks like:

Last night we pulled out a card that said "unsaved people of the world" and "Megan and Avery Davis".  I chuckled because Megan asked me to be her guest blog today because they are vacation in Fredericksburg. Here is a link to Megan's blog.  It was such a privilege to pray for them and the unsaved people.  I am excited to see what God does and how He moves.

Teach me, Lord, to recognize my faults and give them to You so that I can move forward in life.  I want to learn what I can about what I need to fix about me so that You O'Lord can be glorified.  Amen.

  

Hummus

Over vacation Michael and I stopped at Trader Joe's in DC to fill our hotel room fridge with some healthy snacks.  Hummus is generally healthy although for our Paleo diet they contain chickpeas and we don't eat beans.  Therefore, I came home and was determined to find an amazing recipe.  Welp, I did!  In just one shot!

Here is the amazing recipe!

Paleo Hummus
Ingredients:
1 ¾ cup Zucchini peeled and cut into smaller pieces (I used about 1 and ½ small ones)
½ cup raw, unsalted Macadamia nuts
2 tbsp Tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
2 ½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cumin
dash of cayenne pepper
paprika to garnish

These are optional to add in and I will try later for different flavors: Roasted Red Peppers, Pine Nuts, Artichokes, Sun-Dried Tomato, Black or Kalamata Olives, etc.

Directions:
1.  Put all the ingredients into a food processor (or you can use a blender)
2.  Blend until smooth
3. Garnish with paprika and enjoy!

Apple Chicken

Since being on vacation, I haven't had much time to actually cook.  Tonight Michael asked me if I would like to find a new recipe to make for dinner.  I jumped on it and found this lovely recipe.  I have to say that I was excited about it until I started cooking it.  Then I was not going to eat it at all once I started cooking it.  However, my lovely husband came into the kitchen and told me how wonderful it smelled and was he was really excited to try it.  It was WAY delicious!  He even asked me to make it again this week which I will gladly do.  I enjoyed it as well.  I am going to put it over some cauliflower rice!  Enjoy!

Apple Chicken (borrowed from Paleo Plan)
Ingredients:
2 (4-6oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or use leftover chicken from another meal)
1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs coconut oil
1 large apple
1/2 tsp cinnamon or allspice

Directions:

1.  Dice Chicken breasts.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper then set aside.

2.  Heat a medium saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add coconut oil when hot.

3.  Add diced chicken and cook until slightly pink (about 150° F)

4.  Grate the apple into the saute pan.

5.  Add cinnamon.

6.  Continue to cook until the chicken is done and apple is tender.

7.  Serve over bed of cauliflower rice.

If you try this, let me know what you think :)

Chop up the cauliflower into chunks and place in food processor. 

This is what cauliflower rice looks like.  

Here is the seasoned chicken ready to go into the skillet.

An apple with the grater.  I used the biggest setting on this as you see in the picture.

The final product!  Another delicious meal!

Identity

Have you ever gone up to someone and asked "Who are you?"  or "Where do you find your identity?"  My guess is that, like the majority of us, we don't ask those questions because it sounds ridiculous!  Instead we ask, "So what do you do?"  I would venture to say that for most of us that is what we identify with.  Or we ask "What do you like to do for fun?"  That's usually what gets the conversation going.

But what if we were to ask "Who are you?"  What would your answer be?  I am not so sure I know that at this exact moment.  I believe God is doing something in me like never before.  He is completely stripping me of all the things that I once thought defined me.  Our good friend, Andy Norman, and I had a conversation last Sunday at church and I didn't really feel the weight of that conversation until the past few days.

I am not going to be teaching for the first time in 5 years!  I have waited my whole life to teach and I guess I always expected to teach until I became a mom.  No kids for us yet, but I believe that whatever this is it's huge.  God wants me...all of me.  He is who I have my identity in and not all this other stuff.

Michael and I enjoyed a simple lunch this afternoon and just sat talking about all of this.  He is on the verge of coming out of this identity crisis, for lack of better words, and I am beginning it.  I told him I have cried more the last week than probably the last two months put together.  I have many restless nights or nights that I just cry and cry until I can't cry anymore.  God is really breaking me.

I feel hurt, broken, lost, dazed, confused, and just plum tired.  Being stripped of all the things you once knew is very exhausting!  However, God is right here with me.  Every step of the way.  I don't feel like He has forgotten me.  I don't feel like He has abandoned me.  I just feel like God is molding me so that I will become more like Him.

Prayers for me during this time would be much appreciated.  Pray that God would move in a powerful way.  Pray that He continues to strip me until all I can depend on is Him.  That I would listen to what He is speaking to me and that I would respond with an open heart.

I will leave you today with this song from Big Daddy Weave called Redeemed.  This is my song for this season.  Click and listen :)

Truth

What is truth?

- truth (trooth) - a verified of indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like.

With all the crazy adds that were on television here in Texas about Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst, it's hard to determine what is truth.  With all the media in an uproar about Chic-fil-a, it's hard to know what is true and what is not.  And if we weren't in Aurora at the movie theater when the shootings happened then we don't know exactly what happened and we rely on what the news people tell us.  We can choose to listen to what the masses are talking about or we can choose to do our own research and find out exactly what the truth is.  Sometimes we find it and sometimes we don't.

My husband is great at this and since I have him, I generally don't do research myself.  I mean why would I when I have someone who is super intelligent that I live with doing it for me?  However, I have learned that I actually enjoy finding the truth and I really enjoy the discovery process of it.  Truth is not always easy to find.  It can be a journey.

I also think back to growing up.  How many things have our parents taught us that we take as truth?  Or our teachers even?  What have I taught my students in the past that wasn't exactly true, but I thought it was true and so I taught it to them?  A friend of mine, Carol Jones,  posted this on her Facebook this morning about her 2 girls.  Here is how the conversation goes:

Me: (Sitting at restaurant as fajitas are served on skillet) "Girls, do not touch this plate, it will burn your skin off."


Shannay: (appropriately in aww and horror of something that could burn your skin off) "It will burn my skin off?"

Me: (very serious) "Yes, it will."


Long period of appropriate silence as the girls stare at and think about something that would burn your skin off. 


Shannay: "Mama?"Me: "Yes, baby?"Shannay: "What's skin?"


Fail.



I think back to when I was young and I am sure my mom told me not to touch this or that because it was hot and it would burn.  We probably all have stories like that.  However, I am glad sweet Shannay was inquisitive about asking what skin is.  Carol said fail, but I say truth!  I don't really think she means it was a failure.  She is hysterically funny and was trying to teach the girls not to touch the plate because it was hot and in her attempt at doing so the conversation went in an entirely different direction to seek out what skin was.  And before Shannay could understand what her mom was saying about the plate being so hot it would burn her skin off, she needed to know what skin actually is.     


I believe that is what our Christian faith is like.  We don't just start out knowing all about our Lord and Savior, although that would be nice, but we have to come to a point in our own lives and seek truth out.  Church on Sunday mornings help and being involved in a small group or Bible study are great, but having a personal, intimate relationship is where we find truth.

Deuteronomy is the book I am in now.  The Israelites are on the edge of entering the promised land and Moses has already told them he isn't allowed to enter.  He, being a father-like figure whom dearly loves his children, is reviewing all the commands that God has given to them so that they won't forget.  I had a new revelation whilst  reading chapter 6 this morning.  We usually hear the story in Matthew about the disciples asking Jesus which commandment is the greatest.  I also didn't realize, until reading Leviticus, that there are over 300 laws in the old testament.  If I were a disciple and sitting in front of Jesus, I would envision it going something like this:

Me: Jesus, there are so many laws that we have to live by!  You expect us to remember them all and obey them? WOW!

Jesus:  Yes, loved one.

Me:  But if I only had one that I needed to focus on and really do, what would it be?  I mean there has to be a big one or something.

Jesus:  Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  The second is like it which says that you should love your neighbor as yourself.  All the law hangs on these two right here.  Strive for these my friend!

Obviously this is a paraphrase from Matthew 22:36-40.  But did you know that this is actually from Deuteronomy 6: 4-6?  I had no idea!  Jesus was quoting scripture from the old testament, which He often did.

The bottom line is that if we want to know truth, then we must seek it out.  Common sense tells us a lot, but when it comes to God's word we must dig until we find truth.  Taking what others say is not always the right answer.  And the way our life is going right now, I am sure people would say we are crazy.  You both don't have jobs and you plan to live on savings?  Yes, yes we do.  Truth is God spoke some very clear words to us and we must obey Him.  We trust that God is going to provide and that we will be safe in His arms where He has called us to be.

Lord, help me to continue to seek out the truth and Your truth.  Help me to speak the truth in love.  Help me to love like You do.  Speak your truths to me.  Amen.

Chic-fil-what?

I, too, am going to blog about this crazy Chic-fil-a business.  I have read so many different blogs about this, that, and the other and I just am so dazed and confused it's not even funny.  It is very heavy on my heart and I am not sure why so I hope that blogging about it will help.

Yes, I went to Chic-fil-a yesterday with my sweet husband for lunch.  There was a very long line as there always is at lunch time yet we didn't wait very long for our food.  Nothing abnormal anyways.  Chic-fil-a at lunch is ALWAYS crowded.  I mean ALWAYS.

Side note...I took my younger sisters there a few weeks ago after we went and saw Madagascar 3.  We went to the one down on the feeder road of 45 in Spring (by Splashtown) and there were 3 people outside directing traffic!  I waited in that long line for 15 minutes on the feeder road!  That's what I call waiting.  Anyways...back to the story.

We enjoyed a meal with each other and watching all the kiddo's around us.  (There were a ton of kids)  We didn't go to this place with the intent of not loving people.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  We generally go out to eat with the intention of loving people.  We ask others how we can pray for them while we are eating or ask our waitress/waiter how we can pray for them.  This is not me trying to be super spiritual or put myself on a pedestal.  Our pastor, Jeff Wells, really encourages us to love those around us and to share Jesus with them. Our mission as a church and as a family is to Love Jesus, Journey Together, and Bring Hope to the World.  Michael and I have adopted this for our family because it is exactly what Jesus did.

The bottom line though is that I am not Jesus and I am not perfect.  I am a wretched sinner.  I forget things, I judge, I talk harshly to my husband, I don't always stand for truth, I say ugly things and........I could go on and on.  You get the point.  I am HUMAN!!  I will never be perfect here on this earth!  I sin, I recognize my sin, and then I ask God and whomever I sinned against to forgive me.  I move on and try to live more like Christ.

Since being married to Michael I have learned that it is OK to stand for truth.  That is what I want to do.  However, I want to try and stand for truth in LOVE because that is how Jesus lived and wants us to live.  I mess up.  I hurt people.  If it hadn't been for Jesus seeking out my heart some 13 years ago I would still be lost and broken.  Truth is if I don't continue to seek His truths and His will then I will do my own thing and life as I know it would be a scary place.

So eating at Chic-fil-a yesterday was to buy my vote so to speak.  I simply went to say, "Yes a marriage should be between a man and a woman as God designed it."  I apologize if it offends anyone because that is not my intention.  I choose to love those around me even when we think, believe, or act differently.  Life is about choice.  I choose to stand for truth in love and will continue to do so.

Loving others is the job that I want to be in.

Lord, help me and guide me.  Teach me to love like You do.  Amen.