HOW TO::get to church on time (with less stress)

I am a Weekend Widow. 

And I'm sure that many of you are part of the club.  Unless you are super lucky to have someone who has made it their personal ministry to help you get your kids dressed, fed, in the car and safely to their respective classrooms by 10 AM.  But me? Not that lucky.

I have adapted.

Some people would think it is impossible or not worth the trouble, but I can do it, sometimes one-handed.  (Just kidding, just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.) 

I remember one Easter when I had both kids (I only had two at the time) ready for church.  They were sitting quietly watching Kipper or something, so I ran upstairs to put the finishing touches on my look.  I suddenly got that "OH CRAP" feeling deep down inside of me. You know the one. I ran back downstairs in what seemed like slow motion to see Aiden COVERED in red nail polish.  All over his little seersucker suit.  I was devastated, and luckily had something else clean and appropriate for the occasion. 

This list might not stop that sort of thing from happening, but here’s a few tips on how to be prepared and (the operative word here) CALM:

• Prepare clothes the night before.  I know this seems like a no-brainer, like it might not take up a lot of time on the morning of church, but it can be checked off the list the night before, so why not?  And this way, if you realize that every pair of your daughter’s tights have a hole in them and your son’s dress pants look like he spent the night in a cage fight, you’ll have ample time to take care of it.
• Wake up a little earlier than normal. Or not. Its up to you. But you might not notice the dryer sheet stuck to the back of your cardigan if you choose the latter.
• Let the kids eat breakfast in their jammies.  This is the one morning a week that I allow this, and I'm sure the reason is obvious. 
• Get the diaper bag/purse/sack-of-items-to-return-to-people ready the day before, and set it in FRONT of the door so you don’t forget it. That way, you’ll have to trip over it to get to the car.  Either that or you'll sprain your ankle. In that case, you’ll get a quiet morning to yourself in the emergency room. You’re welcome.
• Plan to leave with a full ½ hour extra of time.  I know, I know, this seems ridiculous.  If you need to leave the house at 9:45 to make it on time for church at 10:00, plan to leave at 9:15.  You think I am completely nutty? But here’s the thing. Kids and babies take more time than you think.  So most often, a 9:15 departure gets pushed to 9:25.  Then someone forgets something (now it's 9:30) and once, I even had to DRIVE ALL THE WAY BACK HOME because I forgot to switch my Adidas sport sandals for something a little more church appropriate (now we're talking 9:45)! So there you have it... my mathematical equation for getting to church on time. Its super scientific, I know.

So there are my tips on keeping your sanity intact, and looking good while doing it!

Now, if I could only figure out a system for surviving weddings alone….

© CLUTCH, 2010 unless otherwise sourced.
Use allowed by express written permission only.
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HOW TO::be ready for guests at a moment's notice

A few months ago, I was whining to my parent educator (yes, I am lucky enough to have a parent educator at my beck and call) about the week I was having.

In typical ministry-family style, our week had been completely nutty. I'm sure we had been sick or traveling or one of the kids was acting up or we were all fighting or the car had crapped out, or some other disaster had occurred. You know the drill. Maybe all those things  had happened at once, which is just as likely, but I don't remember.
         
Anyway, I do remember that my next complaint was: “...And to top it all off, Craig just called and said the in-laws are coming for an overnight visit in TWO HOURS.  Can you believe it?!”

I was expecting to see her grimace and give a sympathetic, “Oh geez…” but instead Katy’s earth shattering reply was, “You’ve got this.”

“Huh?”  I said.  I just sort of stared at her while it sunk in.

 “Jenah, I bet you have 4 meals frozen in your freezer right now, your house is completely picked up, and the sheets for the air mattress are probably clean and folded in your linen closet.  Go home and bake a coffee cake and you’ll be set.”

It was at that moment that I realized that I've learned to be ready for stuff like this to happen faster than you can pop microwave popcorn. As a PW, I've worked really hard to get to the point where I can handle this sort of thing -- no sweat.  If 10 people need to be fed at the last minute, I’m good.  If we have someone who needs a bed to flop into for a night, no biggie.  (As long as they’re ok with the bed being more like a couch or an air mattress.)

I walked away from our conversation feeling empowered, calm, proud of myself, and thankful that Katy pointed out this particular strength. And glad that she had the guts to give me the proverbial smack that I needed.

So how did I get to this point of amazing Zen-like calmness akin to that of those rock gardens with the sand and the rake?  Two words: work and preparation. Really, it isn't too hard to be prepared. It is more like anticipating that something is going to happen (whether it does or not) and being ready for it.  So here are a few things that I do to have my home ready for any guest, at almost any moment:

have tons of meals frozen
I probably have at least 25 meals frozen at any given time, but of course that’s just me being ridiculously over-prepared. And that’s the way I like it. (And I’ll share more about that at a later date.) I do have a deep freeze, it was a Christmas gift (one of the best gifts ever) but you don’t have to have 8.8 cubic feet of sub-zero frozen space to have meals ready.  Before Vienne (our third) was born, I didn’t have a deep freeze.  But I had about 4 dozen home made bread rolls as well as 5 freezer meals frozen in my little fridge freezer.

It's easy to double a recipe, and I have this awesome book called “Fix, Freeze, Feast” that is full of recipes to make bunches of meals at a time. I usually just make one of these recipes a week and before I know it, I have a plethora of feasts to choose from.  Just add a leafy (locally grown) salad and some bread -- you’re all set!

find a good cleaning system and stick to it
One of the best days of my life was the day I found MotivatedMoms.com, a website with a downloadable schedule for cleaning and keeping your house tidy. It costs about $9 for a year. It will be the best $9 you spend this week (besides the grande frappuccino and People magazine)! The moms who started this were busy moms who hated spending 23 ½ hours a day keeping up with the housework. They wanted a system that got stuff done, but left time to enjoy other things, too.

This system is so awesome, I want to marry it. Just kidding -- sort of. It breaks up everything you need to do into little “jobs” that usually don’t take more than a few minutes to complete.  Each day has daily jobs and weekly jobs.  Daily jobs would be wiping out the bathrooms sinks or washing dishes.  Weeklies would be cleaning toilets or dusting the master bedroom.  The thing that I like best about this system (besides the fact that I get to check things off a list -- awesome!) is that you are always in a state of clean.  You don’t do all your cleaning on one day of the week, you do a little everyday.  And if you happen to miss a day, no biggie, because the jobs will come around again soon.  

If you keep up with the jobs for the most part, you won’t have that oh-no-they’re-gonna-see-my-HOUSE moment every time your husband decides to invite a new family over for lunch after church.

buy stuff
This may sound like the dumbest statement I’ve ever made, but bear with me. I can’t tell you how many times I have averted disaster with a box of brownie mix.  Every time they are on sale (meaning boxed cakes and brownies) I buy a bunch.  Like four or five.  Then I know I can whip up a cake or some of my famous brownies in a minute or two.  (If you tell me you don’t have the things to pull boxed brownies together at the last minute, you’ve got more problems than I can help with. My deepest condolences.) And they freeze nicely if you have leftovers.

Once again girls, a little forethought goes a long way.  I also take advantage of the huge packs of canned chicken, craisins, and cashews at Sam’s.  Oh yes, you DID just pull together some chicken salad in the time it took you to update your status on Facebook.  

between the sheets…
When you have guests that sleep over, take that bedding and wash it… RIGHT AWAY.  I don’t know how many times I have thought, Oh no biggie, I’ll just wash this stuff later….  and then totally forget about it. Until my husband calls and says we’re have guests in an hour- FOR THE NEXT THREE DAYS. This one little tip will save you much strife. You’re welcome.  
  

find something you’re good at whipping up, and make it your signature
...and always have the supplies on hand to make it. If I have two things I'm known for, they would probably be brownies with homemade chocolate frosting and my guacamole.  So you know what?  I almost always have the supplies to make these things at any given time.  (And NO, I am not telling you what the top-secret recipes are. Go get your own.)

People ask for them. People try to recreate them. And I have them in my hands as I welcome people into my kitchen.  My friend Sara’s signature dish is something called “fluff” (I think it has to do with Jell-O and Cool Whip, but I'm not sure). She likes to bring this to potlucks and I'm pretty sure she has about 38 boxes of Jell-O in her cupboard. It's her thing. I have another friend who makes something called “dump cake.”  Dinner at their house was not complete without a dump cake. 

The woman who made dump cake is a PW herself and I remember her telling me, “Jenah, if you’re gonna be a pastor’s wife, you gotta know how to make dump cake.”  I've stayed away from the cake of the dumping because I just can’t get over that name, but I thought long and hard and took her advice to heart.  And it stayed with me for years.

In a culture that has lost much of our focus on creating welcoming atmospheres at home, we can be prepared to be hospitable at a moment’s notice.  It's what being a good pastor’s wife (not to mention being a good friend) is all about.

© CLUTCH, 2010 unless otherwise sourced.
Use allowed by express written permission only.
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HOW TO::make your own soap

When I got the idea, Craig (my PH) made me promise that we wouldn’t smell like “dirty hippies.”  

My mom, who was a hippie (and still is for all intents and purposes) would often say, “I was a hippie, but I was never a dirty hippie.”  So maybe it’s a misnomer all together. 

At any rate, Craig was concerned.  I figured, The stuff costs two dollars, so if I have to dump it, who cares?
           
So what's this stuff that caused such a stir over cleanliness in our home?  

Jenah’s Home Made Laundry Soap. 

I shamelessly take credit for this whole notion, but in reality, I first heard about making your own laundry soap not from a hippie, but none other than the Duggars.  Yup, you heard me right.  Nineteen kids and counting.  Something about this family intrigues me.  

And when they talked about making their own laundry soap to save money, I thought, Interesting… why can’t I do that?   I balked at doing it for a long time because it just seemed, well, a little too “out there” for me.  And maybe just a little too much work.  There was no way that a homemade anything could work better than something that I could purchase at Target, right?
           
Somewhere along the line we have been fed the lie that there is no way homemade anything can be better and we've decided to believe it.  But the truth of the matter is: this stuff is great. 

I really had nothing to lose (well besides the $2 anyway) so I gave it a try.   I hunted down all the things I needed: Borax, (easy)  Fels-Naptha bar, (easy if you know where to look) and washing soda (a little trickier.)  I gathered my supplies along with a five-gallon pail (with a top) from Menards, and went for it. 

I was a little uncertain, but decidedly hopeful.  Could this really work? 

I followed the directions.  But once I was done it was just sort of, well, runny.  All Free and Clear is so… honey-like.  I prepared myself for the “it was too good to be true moment,” but instead I was pleasantly surprised.
           
The only thing that mattered was that our clothes smelled nice and that they were clean.  Check and check. 

Some “money saving” ideas I have tried are at best passable. 
Other things are doable. 
Some are ok, but for the money I save I can put up with it. 
But the thing with laundry soap is -- I would never buy commercially made detergent again.  Ever.  This stuff is awesome.  And $2 for TEN GALLONS?!  Bring it on.  I will take the 25 minutes to make it.  And I will take the time to hunt down washing soda.  It is so worth it.
            

I even gave this away for gifts at Christmas last year.  And you’ll never guess what I got in return.  Empty laundry soap bottles with a pleading, "Can I have some more, please?"           

Ok, so how do you make this stuff?  Well, gather your supplies, and I’ll show you how. (Tips on finding the ingredients are at the end of the blog.)
 

Jenah’s HomeMade Laundry Soap

Borax

Fels-Naptha bar

washing soda

five-gallon pail (with a top)

Step one:
Grate the Fels-Naptha bar (I like to use my food processor.)  In a saucepan, heat 4 cups of water and the grated soap till the soap dissolves.  Stir it around a little.

Step two:
Fill your five-gallon bucket halfway with hot water.  Mix in 1 cup of washing soda, ½ cup borax and the melted Fels-Naptha mixture.  Stir it around.  Fill to the top of the five-gallon pail with more hot water, then let it sit overnight to gel.

Step three:
The next day, mix your soap in the five-gallon pail (My friend Raychel’s husband Seth mixes hers for her with a joint-compound mixer.  Craig never seems to be around when I need his mixing abilities, so I find a large stick or use a giant ladle.)  Fill your laundry soap bottle/container half full with the soap, then fill the rest of the way with water.   (Remember, when you make this, the soap in your five-gallon pail is DOUBLE STRENGTH, so don’t forget to dilute it every time you fill up your laundry soap container!) 

Step four:
Wash your clothes!  For a top loader, use 5/8 cup.  For a front loader, use ¼ cup.  Someone asked me if this works with all water temperatures.  The answer is, YUP!

Makes:
Ten gallons of laundry soap.   For all of you “math challenged” out there like me, that’s a whopping 180 loads in a top loader and an unbelievable 640 loads in a front loader. (Real loads, not just the make believe kind conventional detergents claim on their bottles.)

Enjoy Your Fresh Clothes!

Scrounging Tips:
Fels-Naptha: On the bottom shelf of the laundry aisle.  Almost every larger grocery store has them, although, I have NOT found them at Target.  It is a small bar, like the size of a regular bar of soap, but the smell is strong.  Your nose will lead you to it.

Borax: If you can't find this, there is something seriously wrong with you.  Just kidding.  This I HAVE seen at our Target, so therefore you should be able to find it ANYWHERE, maybe even at the Kwik-Trip.  Found in the laundry aisle.

Washing Soda: Not to be confused with BAKING soda.  Baking soda and washing soda have COMPLETELY DIFFERENT chemical make-ups.  This comes in a box, about the size of a small box of cereal.  They do carry this at our large grocery store here in town in the laundry aisle.  However, if yours does not, talk to a manager and they should be able to get it for you.  If you can't get it where you live, try a bigger town, Or the internet.  (The shipping can be expensive, though.)  Once you get your hands on it, it will last you a LONG time. 

Five Gallon Pails: Hardware store or large lumber land such as Menard's or Lowe's.   

 
© CLUTCH, 2010 unless otherwise sourced.
Use allowed by express written permission only.
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HOW TO::buy more local veggies without breaking the bank

My last post was all about becoming a vegetarian and not shaving your legs ever again.  Just kidding... I know all good PWs shave and get their nails done at least once a week!

Actually, my last post was about being a better steward of our earth by eating meat more eco-consciously.  In our home I've successfully added more veggie-based protein meals in our diet.  But that's not the only way to save money and be a better friend to nature.  It's important to include happy veggies in our diets, too.  I don't mean drawing smiley faces on your carrots with a Sharpie, but I am suggesting that you think a little before grabbing that bagged salad shipped from 2,359 miles away. 

We all know that buying local veggies and fruits (which isn’t always practical in Minnesota in JANUARY - where we live) is the eco-friendly way to go. But how do we do this?

Do you have to grow your own garden or move to a farm? Well, you can -- but that’s not the only option. A few years ago my PH Craig, and his über-green friend Keegan, decided to grow an organic garden in our driveway a few summers ago.  It was a dismal failure.  If “driveway” doesn’t scream D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R in LED headlights to you, then you need a vacation away from church/kids/housework even more than I do!
          
So how do we buy local?  How can we afford organic veggies for our families? Here are a couple ways we can be better friends of the earth -- and save a little money doing so:

find a local farmer’s market
Even our small town has a farmer’s market open during the spring/summer/fall months on Saturday mornings and Wednesday afternoon.  If you've never frequented a farmer’s market, you are missing out on a wonderful microcosm of American culture. 

There's something amazing about buying cucumbers from the hands that grew them. You might also discover a community of people and friends you didn’t know existed. As my kids are enjoying their honey sticks and cupcakes, we often run into friends and vow to meet up for a play date or a grill out later in the day. In our family we are ALL OVER building relationships with the community where we live. Farmer's markets are a super easy way to do that.

I guess you could do the same thing in the produce section at SuperTarget, but there is something definitely more earthy about chatting about how big the kids are getting between the locally made cupcake table and the young high-schooler selling beets from her family’s farm.

support a CSA
I bet you have no clue what the heck a CSA is!  No, it doesn't stand for the Club for Sunday-haters Anonymous, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Usually, it means you buy a “share” in a local farm.  The actual dollar amount can vary a lot depending on where you live, what produce the farm is growing, length of growing season, etc.

In return, you get a box of produce every week during the summer months. Done. You are buying locally, supporting local farmers, eating what’s in season, and building a better community.

Sometimes CSA's can be an expensive option up front (one of our local farms charges $640 for a share for the season) but you will save money in the long run.  Sometimes these farms also have the option of you actually working for your food.  In lieu of cash, they will let you actually put in time on the farm helping them grow their veggies.  Most of these farms are very eco-conscious and use very few- if any chemical pesticides and herbicides.

For more information, check out http://www.localharvest.org/csa/.


buy what’s in season
This is one of those things that’s really tricky for me.  I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s when you just ate what you wanted when you wanted to.  Nobody really cared about organic things or being “green.” If it was the middle of the winter and you wanted tomato on your burger, you just got one from the grocery store, no matter how pink-ish it looked or how flavorless it tasted.

Its sad, but I never really thought about what was in season or not, or even how those factors affected the food's taste.  That is, until I moved to Italy to do an internship when I was 21.

I never really liked fruit until I tasted fruit in Italy. It was fresh. It was amazing. It was full of flavor. It didn’t taste like the inside of a cardboard box. I'd never thought about how food could really taste if it wasn’t ripened while sitting in the back of a semi truck. I still long for juicy tomatoes, luscious peaches, and basil grown on an Italian balcony.

So back to eating what’s in season.

First, get a subscription to a good food magazine.  My favorite is Everyday Food (it’s a Martha Stewart publication, check out http://www.everydayfoodmag.com for more info). It has a section in every issue that tells what’s in season and how to cook it. Not only will you have yummier tasting fruits and veggies, they will be a whole heck of a lot cheaper.

Secondly, buy things when they are in season and stock up.  You can freeze things, or if you are really daring - can them!  (I'm a canning pansy but secretly I want to learn this lost art.)  We make freezer jam from strawberries and raspberries.  I make lots of tomato sauce in the summer.  I even found yummy things to do with squash in the fall!   

I hope this helps you think a little bit more about how we PWs can become better stewards of this amazing world God has given us, and set an example for our parishioners as well.  If it all seems overwhelming, just remember that anything you do helps.  Take it one “bite” at a time!        

Got a HOW TO question for Jenah? 
Ask her to post about it by sending her an email with the SUBJECT "HOW TO" at clutchtalk (at) gmail (dot) com. 

© CLUTCH, 2010 unless otherwise sourced.
Use allowed by express written permission only.
Tweets, trackbacks, and link sharing encouraged.

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HOW TO::eat healthier in the PW home

Ever thought about how the way we eat reflects our relationship with Christ?  

I’m not talking about eating cookies with cross-shaped chocolate chips or searching out a cinnamon roll with a likeness of John the Baptist.  I’m not challenging you to discover what manna really was, find a recipe to recreate it and then serve it for every dinner (twice a day during lent.) Not quite, anyway.  But if you do find a pancake with the face of Jesus in it, let me know.  I am sure there is a museum along Route 66 that has a space in between its “Elvis’ face in a slice of cinnamon bread” and the photo of an uncanny likeness of The Virgin of Guadalupe in someone’s pouffy 80’s bangs!

I’m not saying that Jesus loves cows more than he loves you, so therefore we should not eat them.  God gave us animals to use as a resource, but we still need to be good stewards of animals and our earth.  The way we eat reflects how we feel and what we think about our world.  The very food we eat has a direct impact on our earth, our community, and people all around the world.  Hold on, I know I am losing a few of you… This is big.  You’ll get where I’m coming from in a minute. 

First of all, what we eat has a direct impact on the environment.  One of the first jobs that God gave to us was to be stewards of our planet.  Most of the meat that we eat is not from a cute little farm with happy cows named Bessie and Spot who happily munch grass and clover.  Most of it comes from giant feed-lot style industrial farms.  Because of their tremendous size, they are slowly wreaking havoc on our environment. 

The large amount of waste from these farms isn’t usually dealt with properly and can cause health problems and issues with the environment at large.  Runoff from these industrial “farms” pollutes streams while animal waste taints drinking water.  These animals are also fed corn and other foods that they don’t digest well.  This causes their bodies to breed more harmful bacteria than normal.  I have a hard time justifying this as being a “good steward” of the resources God gave us.

Second, eating meat can be a humanitarian issue, too.  We are literally feeding animals to get them fat so that we can eat them while hungry people around the world go, well, hungry.  I even found one statistic saying that cattle’s caloric intake alone is enough to feed 8.7 billion people.  That’s a lot of calories we’re feeding to animals!  Ok, I don’t want people running up to me saying, “Those figures are off, missy, its actually 6.3 billion.”  That’s not my point.  My point is that animals eat a lot of food that could potentially be fed to a starving child.  When it comes right down to it, if I had to become a vegetarian to save the lives of little starving kids -- I would. 

Americans eat a lot of meat.  We eat way more than what the rest of the world eats.  Here is my very non-scientific example.  When I lived in Italy, we only ate a little meat.  In fact, meat was not the main course, far from it!  Meat was more like a condiment.   I was in Italy with another woman from the States and she constantly complained that all she wanted was a big, fat steak.  I couldn’t be happier… I got real Italian food at every meal!  The first time I told a nutritionist friend that I’d cut out some meat-based protein in our diet, I thought I’d get a tongue-lashing.  What I got instead was, “Good!  Americans get MORE THAN ENOUGH PROTEIN.”   

Let me sing the praises of plants for a minute.  Plant based protein is cheap.  A 1 lb bag of beans costs around $1-$2.  One 1 lb. bag makes 6 cups when you reconstitute them.  (Six cups of beans=three cans of beans.)  That can sometimes feed our family of 5 up to three different times.  That’s some pretty cheap protein! 

Eating plant-based protein is good for you, too.  It has no saturated fat, tons of fiber, and for a germ-o-phobe like me, I don’t have to worry about cooking the heck out of it to get rid of E. coli or salmonella secretly lying in wait to take my family down.  Bags of shelf-stable beans are, duh, shelf-stable.   And they’re stable for a long time.  They require no energy to store and its not a pain to defrost them like the 6 lb. log-o-ground beef that’s been hiding in the bottom of your deep freeze since last May.    

Before you start to tell me how your cousin’s babysitter’s hair fell out when she went veggie, the danger of that happening is pretty remote, especially if you are only replacing one or two meals a week with vegetable based proteins.  True, plant based proteins are incomplete, which means you have to pair them with another plant based protein to be well-rounded.  (There’s a reason millions of people around the world pair rice with beans…) I know this is your “Aha!” moment of the day.  You’re welcome.  I’m happy I can be a part of it.

The other question that I get asked quite often is, “How the heck did you get an I-grew-up-on-pop-tarts-and-Totino’s-party-pizzas-latch-key-kid husband and two (at the time) preschoolers to convert into a granola-loving, green-munching, bean-chowing, not-so-much-meat-eating family?! 

It was easy. 

I didn’t tell them.  I quietly switched about 2 meals a week to veggie.  When I finally popped the question to my husband, a look of fear passed over his face (like maybe the next words out of my mouth were going to be that I would stop shaving my legs and quit bathing regularly, too). He tentatively answered, “I don’t know how I feel about that.” 

Then I said, “How would you feel if I told you that we have been eating this way for two weeks already?”  His reply?  “Huh.  Ok.” 

It was that easy.

Now for the “HOW-TO” part. How do you do this in your home? It's easy, really.  But don’t go replacing your chicken nuggets with chik’n nuggets just yet.  And don’t get the idea that you have to start serving Tofuna Noodle Casserole.   Here are some easy ways you can include some globally conscious, meat-free meals in your meal plan:

• Try replacing one meat-based meal with a meatless one, just once a week.  I have heard a lot of people jumping on the “Meatless Monday” bandwagon.  Just one meal a week makes a big difference!
• Buy meat from local farms.  Most often this meat is from cows that are allowed to eat what they want (grasses) and roam around in a happy pasture.  It’s often less tainted with E. Coli, has fewer antibiotics (if any), and you support your local economy when you buy from the farmer down the road.  Where can you find these farms?  The good ol’ internet is a great place to start.  (http://www.eatwild.com) Or lots of times, the meat comes to you via co-ops or your local farmer’s market.   I love chatting with our gentle beef farmer at our local farmer’s market.  He’s so passionate about his grass-fed beef, he’ll give it away for you to try! 
• Opt out of meat during normal family-approved fare.  Ever tried taco night without the meat? Its fun!  Black beans, pinto beans, refried beans… you won’t be missing out on flavor!   Or pasta?  One of my kid’s favorite pasta sauces is Peanut Sauce.  It’s packed with protein! Another family favorite is called Penné with Pumpkin Sauce.  I know what you’re thinking… pumpkin?!  Aren’t those just for carving?  (You know, from that holiday no good pastor’s family should celebrate?!)  Au contraire!
• If you have some true foodie daredevils in your house, you could even try homemade lentil walnut burgers, vegetable curry, gado gado, falafel, jop chai or eggplant parmesan.
• If you’re concerned about price, try eggs for a non-meat option.  There are some really yummy quiche recipes out there!
• Kick the lunchmeat habit!  Lunchmeat is one of my biggest vices (its not really meat anyway, so it doesn’t count, right?). It’s also one of the most un-healthy things we can eat.  It’s super processed and typically full of salt and other nasty additives.  In lieu of the dreaded lunchmeat sandwich, try: hummus & pitas, grilled cheese with garden fresh tomatoes, and even good old PB&J!

  

I know what you are saying right about now, “But I have no recipes for anything even remotely vegetarian.  The only non-meat thing I know how to make is macaroni and cheese from a box.“

Have no fear.  I am going to show you a couple recipes that are so good, you won’t even miss one bite of chicken! 

Sommar’s Peanut Sauce

1/3 cup peanut butter

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/3 cup water

cayenne, to taste

Place ingredients in a bowl and stir well.  Microwave for about 30 seconds; stir again and serve over noodles, vegetables, pitas, etc.  Also delicious when used as a pizza sauce.  Just add green onions and cheddar cheese.  Yum.

Crustless Broccoli Cheddar Quiches

6 large eggs

½ cup half & half

¾ cup cheddar cheese

1 10 oz package frozen broccoli florets

1/8 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease four 8 oz ramekins (or a 9-inch pie dish); set adside.  Place broccoli in a microwave safe dish and cook in micro about 2-ish minutes; transfer to a cutting board, blot dry with paper towels.  Chop coarsely. 

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in broccoli and cheese. 

3. Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet.  Ladle broccoli mixture into ramekins, dividing evenly.  Bake until golden brown, 35-40 minutes.  Serve with a crusty bread and salad.

So there you have it.  Just taking one little step can change your family’s health and our earth for the better! 

Buon Appetito! 

© CLUTCH, 2010 unless otherwise sourced.
Use allowed by express written permission only.
Tweets, trackbacks, and link sharing encouraged.

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introducing::JENAH (a how-to columnist)

JENAH IS CLUTCH'S NEWEST WRITER. 

HER COLUMN "MARY&MARTHA" IS A HOW-TO COLUMN FOR PW'S ON EVERYDAY LIFE ISSUES.

Hi!  I’m Jenah and I am super excited to be blogging for CLUTCH!  I’m 31 years old.  I have brown hair and brown eyes.  I don’t like seafood.  Here's a little bit about me:


How did you end up in the ministry?
How could I choose any other lifestyle?  The comfortable life in a quiet subdivision seemed so, how would you say, predictable.  I much prefer to drive old cars as opposed to brand new minivans.  I really like the fact that if my husband says he’ll be home at five, it could actually mean 7:30.  Such spice!

I especially like having my home tidy all the time because you never know who will show up at the front door, maybe even for dinner!  I love getting my kids ready all by myself for church, too - that’s the best part.

Really, I just couldn’t see purpose in any other life.  Working to make money never seemed like a goal to aspire to, but working to build the kingdom of Christ here on earth?  Now that’s a noble goal, I just didn’t know how many sacrifices would come along.

How did you and “Pastor Eye Candy” meet?
As soon as I could, I lit out of the Minneapolis area where I was born and raised, headed for the booming metropolis of Chicago.  I attended Moody and met my husband Craig through mutual friends.

Our first official date (actually my first date ever) was a Cub’s game and a dinner at Mr. J’s.  We’ve been together for 12 years, married for almost 10.  We both majored in Urban Ministries, so don’t ask me how we ended up in a small town in southeast Minnesota.

Speaking of southeast Minnesota, how did you end up here?
That’s a good question!  While we loved the city, we knew God was calling us out of our community there.  We had lots of options, but somehow ended up at a church that I had visited several times before.  Good friends of my parents attended (and still do) this church, in fact, their daughter was one of my best friends growing up.  It was really one of those super weird “It’s a small world after all” sort of moments.  We’ve lived here for about 8.5 years now.

What sort of pastor is that "Pastor Eye Candy" of yours?
If I knew, I’d tell you! He was hired as an associate pastor in charge of worship.  After much drama, his position has morphed into something more complex.  He's not the senior, but he's the only full time pastor our church has.  He’s in charge of all pastoral care, worship, counseling, preaching once a month, relationship building, outreach, etc.  We have a part time guy who preaches 3 times a month, he lives out of town and commutes two hours every Sunday. 

At a larger church, Craig would probably be labeled a campus pastor, but since we’re smaller, I guess you could just call him “The Man.”

Do you’se gots kids?
We do.  Three.

Malin Fran is 8, Aiden Fritz is 6, and our adorable little muffin Vienne Elinor is 1.  We are proud public-schoolers and I am actively involved in our Early Childhood Family Education program and am the secretary for its PTA.  (And yes, I drive a Honda Odyssey.  It does NOT, however, have a sticker of a soccer ball in the back window.

What do you like to do and how would you describe yourself?
I am very stubborn and strong willed.  I have strong ideals, but I can let them go if I feel like a relationship might get compromised.  I am a task-master, but think people are important, too.  I like to be organized but I’m not OCD.  I love to be in the kitchen.  I have about 25 frozen meals in my freezer and I love to bake bread.

I am recently gluten-free (hooray) to see if that might help some of my fibro-myalgia-esque symptoms.  I love yoga, pilates, riding my bike, and I believe “taking walks” is the cure for many an ailment.

I love to travel and have been all over the stinkin’ place.  Vienna was one of my favorites, as well the good ol’ American west coast.  I love to write, love to watch 30Rock, America’s Next Top Model, and any movie with Jason Schwartzman in it.  I make my own laundry detergent, use cloth diapers, and make some yummy freezer jam with the berries we pick in the summer.

Oh, I’m also a photographer, and yes, I do make money taking pictures, just not very much.


What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to get a degree in nursing and either:
    1.    work in a fistula clinic;
    2.    train midwives in developing nations;
    3.    teach women how to be advocates for themselves/their children as well as teaching them simple health care (also in developing nations).

If I don’t do that, I would love to teach teen moms in the inner city how to successfully breastfeed their little ones.       

So that’s the skinny on me!  Thanks for reading!

© CLUTCH, 2010 unless otherwise sourced.
Use allowed by express written permission only.
Tweets, trackbacks, and link sharing encouraged.

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