Yummy yummy in my tummy...

Here is a pooular recipe that I have adapted to work for me since I need to eat low-fat...please remember that I am NOT the one who came up with the original recipe (I don't need to worry about any copyright issues...;) )

Low-Fat Ritz Chicken Casserole

6 Chicken Breasts
2 Cans of Reduced fat Cream of Chicken Soup
8oz. Low-fat/Non-fat Sour Cream
1 Tube of Reduced fat Ritz Crackers
1 Tbsp. of Celery Salt (originally calls for Celery Seed, but I don't like biting into a seed and getting a burst of celery flavor...yuck!)
1 1/2 sticks of Low-fat margerine (melted)

Boil chicken breasts until tender, bone and cut into bite sized pieces.
In a bowl, mix together 2 cans soup, celery salt, sour cream, and cut-up chicken.
Spray your casserole dish with a cooking spray that has no fat content then spread soup and chicken mixture into the dish.
Crush the Ritz crackers and spread over the top of the soup mixture, then drizzle the melted margerine over the top of the casserole.
Cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let cool for 5 minutes before serving, it will be HOT.
Makes 4-6 servings.

I hope you enjoy this recipe if you make it, I know that it is one of my favorites. If you don't have chicken breasts you can use a whole chicken instead but the dark meat adds some fat to the dish (but it does make for a slightly better flavor...fat IS flavorful), just boil the chicken until tender an then de-bone and cut into bite sized pieces. You could also keep the broth if you boil a whole chicken and use it to make a soup of some kind...why not get the most out of the chicken right?

Bon Appetite!

Love...

Friends,
I know, it has been FOREVER since I have blogged! Sorry about that, life has been busy so I haven't had time.
Now, don't be fooled by the title of this blog entry and think that there is someone special in my life, other than the ultimate someone special: God. I have been thinking a LOT lately on the subject of LOVE. I know that it doesn't come as a surprise to most of you that my heart's desire is for marriage and family with the "Boaz" that God has set aside for me. Because of this desire and how it has yet to be fulfilled I at times struggle with my singleness, but the Lord has been working with me on this. I am telling you all here in a public forum because that way you can act as a support and accountability group for me.
For some time now my belief has been that loving someone or something is an active choice. The butterflies in your stomach feeling and the intense emotions that you experience when you first begin a relationship with that someone special eventually fade and it is that active choice to remain in a relationship with that person that you sometimes have to rely on to give you the strength to work through problems and hardships that come your way.
I tell you my belief about Love being a choice because I have recently come to a similar conclusion about another area of life that is a choice: choosing to be CONTENT in being single. This choice is hard for me, as I know it is also hard for others. I have realized that when I allow myself to wallow in unhappienss and discontent in being single that I am unhappy in every area of my life. If we allow discontent and unhappiness to be the most prominent emotion in our lives there is no room for love. Unhappiness and discontent is a poison to us that, when allowed to reign in our lives, steals our joy in everything; thereby, making it impossible for others to see Christ in our lives. The Bible says that others will know us by our LOVE. My prayer is that God give me the strength to choose each day to be content in where He has me in this stage of my life so that others can see Christ living within me, and so that I do not miss the wonderful blesssings He longs to bestow upon me each day.
Along with this prayer I am also praying that God allow me that ability to recognize opportunities in my life to show love to others, and to allow me the ability to recognize when others are loving on me.
Already in the past week the Lord has been answering these prayers! GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIM AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!!!
Well my friends, it is time that I close this blog. I pray you all experience God's blessings for you each day.
Love,
Diana

1 John 3:18 ~ "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
1 Thessalonians 3:12 ~ "May the Lord make your love increas and overflow for each other and for everyone else..."

Another Great Read...

http://harvesthousepublishers.com/books_fictionbook.cfm?ProductID=6918619

So, this weekend I found myself having gone through all my new Christian fiction books on my bookshelf and only left with the non-Christian fiction ones left. So, I read one of them so that I would at least have something to read. It wasn't a bad novel, it was called Me and Mr. Darcy and based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (which is my all time favorite novel) but I didn't find it as satisfying a read as Christian fiction. Therefore, instead of reading the other 4 novels on my shelf that are just plain fiction I chose to read a book I read about a year ago that I really liked and found that I still really like it and will probably read it again in future years. This novel is called The Princess and is written by Lori Wick. I have attached the link to the publishers website that lets you read an excerpt from the novel and the information on the back so that you can learn more about the novel if you are looking for a new read.

For me, it is such an enjoyable read because though it is based in a fictional country it has enought reality infused that you can imagine it as possible, there is an element of a "cinderella story" in it (but in a healthy way), the romance is touching, the characters are well developed, and the faith lessons in it are ones that make you stop and anaylize yourself...which to me is that hallmark of a great Christian fiction novel.

One of these faith lessons really struck home with me as I was reading last night. I believe that God is speaking to me about this particular issue a lot lately because it is something He is working with me on...the issue of worry. Here is an excerpt from the novel that really made me stop and think...

"When we worry we say to God, 'I can't trust You. You're not doing Your job, so I'm going to step in and take over.' We can't just call that arrogance and foolishness--it's sin... God is able to bear all that you are fretting about. He has made a plan. He has made provision. There are no shoulders larger or more capable than His. Give that worry, whatever it is, to God."

I myself am guilty of this sin because I worry all the time. I have been striving lately not to worry over many different things, so I know that this is an area I am actively working on. Yet, my closest friend pointed something out to me yesterday that I hadn't even considered as being worry. We were discussing the current economic status here in the US and it's effects on the people, possibly me included as far as job situations, and I made the comment that things are just getting worse here in the US and that I felt it was possibly God's punishment on us. Then she said to me, "When has it ever been better? It isn't getting worse, it is sin and sin has always been around ever since the fall of Adam and Eve. There has always been sin, murder, hardship, and all that other stuff. It is just plain sin."

This made me stop and think. I thought about it all night. I even felt the urge to get up early and blog about it since I am finding this blog is a great way for me to process and get things out clearly. She is right, it is sin and sin has always been around since the fall of man. I think it is just that as we grow older and become more aware of the environment around us we begin to see things differently and understand them differently. This time in the US with the economic stuggles we are facing is not something new, it is just a different manifestation of the sin that is all around us. I have to remember to not live in that sin, but to be in the world and not of it. I have to make sure that I do not let myself get caught up in the worry about my job and how I will pay my bills, or how the government is responding to everything that is going on. This is going to be a LOT harder than just saying it here in this blog or in person, because EVERYWHERE you go it is being discussed...it is one of my family members favorite topics of discussion of how the government is ruining this country and everything is turning into socialism. You can't always just walk away when people start discussing it; case in point my family memeber, who if I did that it would be considered not honoring my elders to just walk away and flee the conversation.

This sin of worry and telling God that I don't trust Him is also in other areas of my life that I had never before considered as being worry, like when I am constantly praying for God to finally bring me my Boaz and bless me with marriage. When I constantly pray about that is it worry instead of me pouring out my heart to God? He already knows my heart and my desires, so by constantly reminding Him of them am I sending Him the message that I don't trust Him to remember and that I feel He will not provide for me in this way? This thought of worrying being a way that I am telling God I don't trust Him is a thought that affects so many areas of life, so fleeing this sin of worry is not going to be an easy one but I do feel that it is what God is asking of my right now.

I charge you all as well to flee this sin of worry. The Bible speaks many times about worry and how it is something that God commands of us not to do, that by worrying we cannont add an hour to our lives but instead need to trust in Him to provide. We all need to "TRUST in the Lord, and lean not on our own understanding..."Proverbs 3:5

Happy Valentines Day!

Normally Valentines Day for me is a sad day since I am not married or in a relationship. I can only recall 2 Valentines days in my entire life in which I had a "Valentine"; the first being when my first boyfriend asked my out in the last few hours of the day and the second being when I had a long-distance boyfriend who was home and across the country from me. Both of these scenarios are not what I would consider prime examples of showing love on a day that is dedicated to love and romance from someone special.





This year I was making a special point of not dwelling in what I did not have in my life and being depressed about not having a significant other in my life to shower love, quality time, and gifts upon me for this day of love and romance. I will tell you that I was successful in that, but that is not the best part about Valentines day this year.





The best part is that God showered love and blessings on me for not only Valentines day, but the day before as well. The blessings came through various different things; things such as waking up to take a shower on Friday morning and there being a valentine's gift on the counter from my parents, many different students taking time in their day to get permission from their classroom teacher to bring me little valentine's cards and candies that they had made for me (though this is my 4th year at this school it is the first time that the students have behaved this way towards me on Valentine's, normally I am watching them bringing gifts to their classroom teachers and friends but don't get even as much as a "Happy Valentine's Day Miss Richardson" from them), I recieved not only a letter in the mail and emails but a phone call from my closest friend even though she is in Spain, and I decided to buy myself flowers this year...why should I have to wait for a man to buy me roses when I can buy them myself?





I feel incredibly blessed this year on this day of love and romance because each of these blessings is from God himself. He is showing me through the people in my life that mean so much to me that He loves me and cares for me very deeply and that even if I never have what the world calls a "Valentine" I can know that God will always be my Valentine not only on this day of February 14th, but every day.

So, I want to take this opportunity to say publicly:

I LOVE YOU GOD!

Ymmy Ymmy in my tummy...

Ok all, here is a cake that I got from a "Cooking Light" cookbook that I purchased in Safeway, I just copied and pasted the recipe here from www.cookinglight.com so that you all can try this yummy desert for yourselves, but I have changed a few things so that it reflects the way that I make it to suit my tastes...basically I use more sugar and vanilla in the icing, I use regular flour instead of cake flour because I feel that it makes the cake more moist, I add more cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey, I use reduced-fat buttermilk since I can't find the fat-free stuff it calls for, and I do not use the raspberry preserves inbetween the cakes like the original recipe calls for. If you would like the original recipe I suggest that you visit the above link and type in "Red Raspberry Velvet Cake" in the search box. The greatest thing about this cake is that it is low-fat, but doesn't skimp on the taste. Each serving is approximatly 7 grams of fat.
I hope you all enjoy this one, I know I do!


Yield:
18 servings (serving size: 1 cake slice)

Cake:
Cooking spray
3 cups sifted flour (Removing 1 tablespoon of flour, before sifing, for each cup of flour used)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 large egg whites
2 cups reduced-fat buttermilk
1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
7 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 heaping cups powdered sugar

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray, and line bottoms of pans with wax paper.
Lightly spoon 3 cups cake flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, and next 3 ingredients (through salt). Set aside.

Beat granulated sugar and butter with a mixer at medium speed 4 minutes or until well blended. Add egg whites to sugar mixture; beat at medium speed 5 minutes or until fluffy. Combine buttermilk, food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until moistened.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool cake layers completely on wire racks.

To prepare frosting, combine cheese and vanilla in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat).
To assemble cake, place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread with frosting; top with second cake layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator.

Life...

So, the Cardnials lost. They were robbed as far as I am concerned, the refs made MANY bad calls...what was with all those penalties on us but when the Steelers made penalties they weren't called, not to mention them not reviewing the last play that won the game for the Steelers, it didn't look to me like both feet touched the ground. Oh well, I am still proud of the team for making it as far as they did and setting history for the team. GO CARDINALS!!!

So currently I am sitting in a classroom subbing instead of teaching my content. It is a really exciting day of doing nothing but watching the students taking a math test...at least it is quiet right now and this particular class is following directions. So, I am off to find more things to do with my time today, maybe I can catch up on some paperwork that I need to do? Who knows.

Have a blessed day out there in blogger land.

A great read...

I recently read a series of books that were SPECTACULAR, so I thought I would share them so that you could read them too if you choose. They are written by Liz Curtis Higgs and are a series of 3 books titiled the "Lowland of Scotland" series. The first book is titled Thorn in My Heart, the second is titled Fair Is the Rose, and the third is Whence Came a Prince. The books are an adaptation of the Biblical stories of Jacob and Esau, as well as Rachael and Leah. It was wonderful to beacle to have these stories I have heard many times in Sunday School come to life for me a such a fresh and impactful way. I rejoiced, cried, anguished with, and felt anger on behalf of the characters in the book that I was truly sad when our journey together ended at the end of the series. Higgs did such a wonderful job writing the novels that it increased my faith and challenged me to grow as a follower of Christ. I love it when a novel does that! There is an extension novel titled Grace in Thine Eyes that is wonderful as well since you get to spend a little more time with the characters you have come to love. I hope you get a chance some day to read these books, they really are wonderful.

Many blessings my friends!