Thursday Thoughts - or - "What I Did This Summer"

I know everyone says it, but I am totally trying to figure out where summer 2016 has gone. You know how when you were little, your teachers would make you write a paper about "What I Did This Summer". Back in those days, it was usually a paper filled with the fun we had on our family vacations, books I read and maybe even a fun activity or two I got to participate in. I guess times haven't changed to much, so here are a few Thursday thoughts on "What I Did This Summer".

We started out in June with an Aziz Family Reunion here in Oregon. It was especially nice getting to see cousins that live on the other side of the county. From berry-picking & jam-making to a BBQ down at my Uncle Paul's in Lebanon to a Father's Day Picnic at a park here in Salem, the weekend was packed full of family!

I've been pleasantly busy making pocket oratories and rosary cases for my Etsy Shop as well as selling them on the Peter's Square Marketplace. One of the most fun pocket oratories I made was for a little boy whom I am happy to be praying for. His name is Ambrose. His story is amazing, inspiring and incredible, so be sure to check it out. After hearing his dad share on EWTN radio's The with Barbara Mc one morning, I looked up his Facebook page and immediately added little Ambrose to my prayer list. Whilst making another pocket oratory one day, I thought, "I need to make him an oratory, so he'll have something to hold onto at church or when he wants to see a picture of Jesus and His Blessed Mother. Ambrose's mom graciously gave me their address, and I had the joy of making this little "toddler size" pocket oratory for this precious little boy. Like I said, be sure to check out his page on Facebook, so you can pray for him and his family too!

I got the chance this summer to help a little bit with fixing up my late grandparents' house and learned a lot more about swimming pool tile than I could have imagined. My parents have done the majority of the work which is simply incredible. The house went from looking okay to simply stunning. Be sure to stay tuned as I plan on posting some "after" photos as soon as it's all finished.











We didn't go on any family vacations this year, although Cari, Mary, David and I did attend the annual Knights of Columbus campout. It was super fun getting to meet some new people as well as doing the whole camping thing. We are always in charge of Sunday breakfast and this year was no exception. We made our family favorite, breakfast burritos while standing under a canopy during pouring Sunday morning rain. It wasn't totally fun, but the food was hot and tasty, and everyone seemed to enjoy it!

The last part of August was spent sending everyone off to school again. It seemed like it might be easier than last year, and it actually was (okay, up until this week when I've had a few "kid homesick days" missing them being here). I'm so proud of all of them, especially David as he starts his senior  year at Christendom College. He's worked really hard to get this far, and we are now in continual prayer mode for his thesis, his classes and, of course, where he's planning on attending graduate school when he receives his Bachelors Degree in May. 

So now, even though it's September and technically still summer, I feel like my summer is pretty much over. Thankfully, I've got all kinds of stuff going on as well as lots to pray for, so the transition is seeming to go pretty well. The weather has been going through transitions to, so I'm working on some new food ideas too. I hope you enjoy your Thursday!

Saturday Scribblings

St. Monica by Gozzoli

After a couple of really warm days, I was happily surprised to wake up this morning to feel a cool breeze coming through the open window. What a great way to start out this feast day of St. Monica. Since Joshua started his pathway to The Church 8 years ago, I knew there must be someone praying for me specifically. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I first read of St. Monica. I have entrusted my prayers to her intercession on numerous occasions~ especially for my family. Tomorrow is the feast day of her son, St. Augustine, who happens to be Joshua's patron saint. Because it will be Sunday, St. Augustine won't be celebrated in Mass, but we'll be doing a little something special before driving Joshua back up to Mt. Angel Seminary to start school.

Since it was so hot (100 degrees) yesterday, I took some time in the late afternoon to spend some time in the backyard. Normally this view would frustrate me as we need to do so much back there, but- whether from the heat or not- I decided to just enjoy the breeze and being in God's nature. It was definitely a much more relaxing time!

I had found a recipe for eggplant "bacon" and decided to try it last night for eggplant "BLT's". After his first taste, Josh said it tasted like crispy...marinated eggplant. We all agreed it was delicious but no way could ever replace bacon in our house. It was low sodium despite how much salt is in the recipe. Since you rinse the salt plus only use a bit of marinade on each slice, it is a good recipe for folks needing to watch their sodium intake. With all that in mind, I am sharing the recipe because it was a really good way to cook eggplant!

Eggplant Bacon recipe~adapted from The Spirited Spoon

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp vinegar (I used red wine, but balsamic or apple cider would work too)
• 3 tbsp liquid aminos (I get mine in bulk at Winco)
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp olive oil (plus more for brushing)
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/8  tsp chili powder

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Remove the stem of the eggplant and quarter it lengthwise, making 4 even long, thin sections.
3. Slice each piece of the eggplant lengthwise into thin strips. 
4. Arrange eggplant strips in a single layer on a paper towel and generously sprinkle with 2 tbsp salt. Allow this to sit for at least 30 minutes. During this time the eggplant will start to bead up with water.
5. After 30 minutes, rinse off the eggplant strips to remove the salt added in the previous step and allow the strips to dry on new paper towels.
6. Brush each strip with olive oil, and arrange in a single layer on a well-greased pan.
7. Cook eggplant strips for 14 minutes, flipping half way through.
8. Remove the strips from the oven and let cool. Reduce the heat to 350F. 
9. Combine vinegar, maple syrup, liquid aminos, olive oil, liquid smoke, salt, paprika, black pepper and chili powder in a small bowl.
10. Line a cookie sheet with foil, and place a baking rack over it. (The foil is optional, but it certainly makes for an easier clean up).
11. Dip each strip of eggplant in the marinade and place strips in a single layer on the baking rack.
12. Bake at 350F for about 14 minutes, or until the strips are nice and crispy.(Cooking time will vary based on the thickness of your strips)
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before using. 

Enjoy your Saturday & do something that you enjoy as you prepare for Sunday and the joys that day brings!!

Tasty Tuesday- Truvy Cake with a Twist

A Disclaimer: You'll find the ingredients and directions throughout this post, but it's so easy that I'm going to forgo an actual recipe. 

Our oldest son, Josh is home for a week before heading back to Mt. Angel Seminary to start his first year of theology. Generally, when the kids are home, I try to cook/bake at least a couple of things they like. While we were talking yesterday- and we tend to talk a lot when he's home, especially as he has just completed a three week silent retreat- he mentioned how much he has realized he likes cake. 

With this in mind, I decided to bake a cake. I wanted to do something easy, but I wasn't sure what kind to do. I just happened to be on Instagram when I saw a post from Southern Living Magazine. It was a video of the movie Steel Magnolias where Dolly Parton's character, Truvy shares her recipe for a "Cuppa, Cuppa, Cuppa" cake.  It's a really- we're talking really really- simple recipe for a cake. Basically, she says "You take a cuppa flour, a cuppa sugar & a cuppa fruit cocktail (with its' juice) & mix it and bake until golden brown and bubbly".  

I didn't have any fruit cocktail, however, I had a 1/2 of a pint jar (yep, that's a cuppa) of homemade mincemeat in the fridge that I thought might fit the bill. There wasn't as much liquid in it as I thought it needed, so I scavenged around and found an almost empty bottle of orange lemonade we had drank at my youngest' going away dinner last week. I mixed those two up and voila, had a nice citrusy/raisin/date/nuts concoction that I thought would work.

I got out Grandma's mixing bowl and proceeded to follow Truvy's instructions. It looked pretty good as I poured it into a 9" square pan while my toaster/convection oven was heating to 350 degrees. I popped it in & set the timer for 30 minutes. After about 6 minutes, I realized something didn't feel right. Once I thought about it being a southern recipe, I knew what the problem was- I had just used regular flour without any added leavening. Truvy, being a true southern gal, would've used self-rising flour. I immediately pulled the cake out, added 1 teaspoon baking soda and a good dash of salt, mixed it up and popped it back into the oven. I figured even if it didn't turn out well, I could always use it for trifle or crumble. 

After 30 more minutes, I pulled out the cake which had a nice rise and golden color. We decided to have it after dinner with some vanilla ice cream- especially since, as Truvy says, "the ice cream cuts down on the sweetness". So the next time you or one of your family members gets a craving for cake, you don't need to look any farther than your pantry and fridge for a "Cuppa, Cuppa Cuppa" to make a delicious cake!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Green Edition

Since today is the Feast Day of St. Patrick, I thought I'd do a "Green" edition of this week's {pretty, happy, funny, real} link up with Like Mother, Like Daughter. I'm not Irish, but part of my husband's family is from Donegal, Ireland. You can read more about St. Patrick's life here.

{pretty}

We've had so much rain in the Mid-Willamette Valley this winter that our whole yard is blooming including plants that most people think of as weeds. So much green everywhere! We have one space in the backyard where these yellow flowery plants grow. I'm sure they are weeds, but the green and yellow make for a very {pretty} area.

{happy}

I was very blessed to be invited to coffee with my dear friends, Annette and Cristina on Tuesday. I had been wanting to have a reason for making this green scarf, so I got up early and stitched it up. Annette graciously picked me up since I'm still not supposed to be driving. We had been going for just coffee, and Cristina ended up making us breakfast {happy}. We thought we'd be there for a short while and ended up finally leaving after 4 1/2 hours. What a {happy} time we had being able to talk and share our journeys as wives and moms.

{more happy}

My oldest son has had a great experience at Mt. Angel Seminary taking part in so many cultural celebrations/feast days since the students are so diverse. He's shared about how the only group that hasn't done anything special are the anglo community. After talking with some of his fellow seminarians and getting the okay from the staff, he decided to head up at St. Patrick's Celebration. I decided to make some {happy} cookies to help the party- Whole Wheat Celtic Knot Sugar Cookies & Green Sparkle Sugar Cookies. I love that he planned everything from talking to the chef about making Irish food to being part of an Irish Band. Even though I haven't gotten the chance to talk with him, I am sure it was a {happy} success!

{fuuny}

Last week I shared about our {funny} cats. This week the {funny} is about Solomon the cat. I think it might be due to not having kids at home. I refuse to believe it's because I'm turning into a crazy cat lady!
So this weeks {funny} cat photo is Solomon loving on my sewing machine. He enjoys coming upstairs to my sewing room and sitting on my desk to look at the birds and the green leaves outside. The other day, I realized that Solomon also likes to rub his face all over my sewing machine. He doesn't touch the thread, so I've decided I am okay with him taking a like to the machine. I've decided I want to make a little quilt for him to lay on next to the machine. I just hope this isn't another indication of the crazy cat lady thing.

{real}

Wednesday nights from 9-10 will find me at our parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church, for my hour of Adoration. During most of the year (Ordinary Time on the Liturgical Calendar), the chapel is fairly empty, but as soon as Advent or Lent starts, it can sometimes be even standing room only. I am always so grateful to see other people come and join my husband and I in adoring the {real} presence of Christ. It just doesn't get any more {real} than this. If you haven't been to Adoration lately, consider going as many times as you can during the upcoming Holy Week. I will be praying for all of us that we can be sure we are keeping it {real}. 

Check out other {pretty, happy, funny, real} blogposts 

by visiting the link-up at 

Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Where have all the little birdies gone?

Have you ever thought what a mama bird must feel seeing her babies fly for the first time? A bird that is common to our yard is the American Robin. I've enjoyed watching these orange breasted birds with a cheerful song as they look for bits and pieces with which to make their nests. I've been feeling quite like one of my feathered friends lately as my nest has gotten a bit emptier the last few weeks. With Cari enjoying the single girl life in her adorable apartment, and both of the boys away at school, our nest only has one little birdie left. 

Mary is still at home, but she is working part time as well as getting ready to start community college in a few weeks. She's been wanting to get car insurance, so she could drive, and that actually happened. Having your kids start to leave home is definitely as hard as anyone has ever said. I've always told my kids that my job as they were growing up was to help them become responsible adults. This is still what I believe, however, no matter how great of choices your kids are making, it's still a bit lonelier in the nest when they start to fly away.

I happened to come across this beautiful prayer a few weeks ago on a blog called The Littlest Way that I wanted to share. It's a mother's prayer to her children's guardian angels. I really believe it's something we moms should all be praying for our kids- no matter where the little birdies are on their life journeys. Take a moment out of your busy schedules today, and pray this for your kids!

I humbly salute ye, O you faithful, heavenly Friends of my children! I give you heartfelt thanks for all the love and goodness you show them. At some future day I shall, with thanks more worthy than I can now give, repay your care for them, and before the whole heavenly court acknowledge their indebtedness to your guidance and protection. Continue to watch over them. Provide for all their needs of body and soul. Pray, likewise, for me and my husband, and my whole family, that we may all one day rejoice in your blessed society.

Amen.

–Mother Love