Chicken with Fresh Basil & Tomatoes

One of the best decisions I made this spring:
planting this BASIL plant in our little raised bed garden!

This is right after we planted it.
It's next to our chives, which have grown back for 2 years, and as you can see, are in full force.


The basil took off immediately & I have had lots of it for months!
When you approach the garden, the basil is what you smell.
It's so aromatic & hearty ... & as soon as I pick it off, it grows back full & fast.
I could seriously go on.

The recipe that I'm sharing, I like to make year round, but especially when I can go out
& pick off the fresh basil right out of our garden.

So, here you are!
Doesn't this look AAHHH-mazing!!?!

And the other really great thing, it's a recipe where all the magic happens right in ONE PAN.
No need to dirty up and extra dishes.

Here's the recipe guide:

In a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil & throw in a pat of butter for extra flavor.

Place the chicken breast {boneless, skinless} in olive oil & butter.


Season the side that's up with pepper & 1/2 an envelope packet of seasoning.
I usually always have a few of these seasoning envelopes on hand, so I use whatever that's for chicken.
These are awesome because there's loads of seasoning & flavor in one packet and they cost under $1.
This particular time, I used a wine & herb envelope from Aldi.

After 5 minutes or so on medium heat, turn the chicken over & season the other side pepper
& the remaining 1/2 of the seasoning packet.
Continue to pan sear for another 5 minutes of so.

Next, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese {the kind in the green can}
& 1/4 - 1/2 of fresh basil {if you only have dried, reduce to 2-3 Tbsp.}.

For the last yummy ingredient, add in 2 cups or more of cherry tomatoes.
Turn heat to low, put on lid, & the tomatoes start getting completely wonderful.
Some will stay whole, some will split, ALL will get so sweet and delicious!
They are the final touch that takes this meal over the top.

It's colorful & FULL of flavor.

And as if this recipe isn't wonderful enough, here's one more reason to add this one to your menu:
It's extremely versatile!

If you happen not to have cherry tomatoes, used fresh diced ones.
That's what I did here.
I used garden tomatoes, diced up & tossed in.

{And if you don't have fresh tomatoes to dice, open a can of tomatoes.
They will work just as well!}

Don't you just love those big ol' basil leaves?

Here's it's served alongside broccoli from our garden too!
It's our first time to grow broccoli and it's done really well.

This is a good one, guys.
Share it or pin it so you can add it to your menu.

Thanks for visiting Call Her Blessed~

 

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.
Monday           Amaze Me Monday  The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons  
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner 3D Lessons for Life
           Hope in Every Season     Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop  Missional Women  Best of the Nest
                                French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things  Sew Many Ways

August: Hot Hot Hot

credit

In August 

it will be so hot

I will become 

a cooking pot

cooking soup of course

Why not?

Cooking once

cooking twice

cooking chicken soup

with rice.

a poem from one of my favorite authors

Chicken Soup with Rice ~ A Book of Months

by Maurice Sendak

Your Ministry To Others...

Galations 5:13  For you were called to freedom, brothers.
Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.



1 Corinthians 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord,  knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.



|| inspired by a lesson taught by Nancy Leigh Demoss||

Monday           Amaze Me Monday  The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons  
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner 3D Lessons for Life
           Hope in Every Season     Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop  Missional Women  Best of the Nest
                                French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things  Sew Many Ways

Laugh With Your Happy Friends!

This was on my calendar yesterday.

Laugh with your HAPPY friends when they are happy!

That's the Message Bible version of Romans 12:15,
which reads 'rejoice with those who rejoice...' in the ESV.

This immediately reminded me of something I shared with our ladies at a fellowship/Bible study last week.
Our topic was 'Thriving in Our Relationships.'

The quote I shared was this:  Pay close attention to those who don't clap when you win.

While I love the quote and know there's massive amounts of truth to it, it makes me sad.
It makes me especially sad then we see that kind of behavior from someone we call a friend  ...
or a family member.

And it's so close to the scripture reference in Romans that we can clearly see that we are disobeying
God's Word when we act in this way.

We must then ask:  What causes this kind of behavior?

Why aren't people happy when we are happy ... or why don't our friends clap when we win?

Why don't we rejoice when our family or friends have something great happening in their lives?

I can only think of one answer & boy, it's a bad one ... a cruel one according to God's Word.

   J E A L O U S Y

The Bible says in Song of Solomon 8:6 that 'jealousy is cruel as the grave; 
the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.'

James 3:16 says: For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there will be disorder and every vile practice.

There is nothing good that comes from a jealous spirit {cruelty, disorder, vileness}.
I want to avoid any and all of these TOXIC behaviors.

Jealousy is a relationship killer!

If you have the slightest suspicion that you have jealous tendencies, pull them out by the roots.

It often shows up as selfishness ... thinking only about me, me, me.

...how this makes me feel,  how this fits into my plan, why didn't I get that recognition,

why don't I ever get new things, everyone has a better life than I do.

Instead of rejoicing when others rejoice,
say when a friend or family member gets a promotion or buys a new car or new house,
we find ourselves envious of their success or their things.
We immediately think of how it relates to us or how it makes us feel,
instead of just being happy with our happy friends.

These are the people that aren't clapping when you win!

And what does this behavior say to God, the giver of all good things, the blesser, the provider?

God, I'm not happy that You've chosen to bless them.

I'm not happy that you are answering prayers for them.

When we can't rejoice when our friends are rejoicing, we are ultimately showing God that we don't like
that He has showered blessings on the lives of our family & friends.



So, if you see yourself in any of these descriptions & aren't sure how to change this destructive behavior,
let's look at some ways to identify jealousy & to get rid of it!

• Identify the situations that are triggering these toxic feelings

You are resentful of one who gets something new:  car, house, job, jewelry, boat, etc...

Keeping up with the Joneses

When you see your family/friends succeed in any way, you feel inferior and question why it's not

happening in your life. 

Counting other's blessings instead of your own 

You feel upset when a friend spends time with someone besides you.

You constantly compare yourself or your life to others.

You can't admire someone elses beauty without questioning your own

• Counteract these toxic feelings by checking your heart through God's Word

Through earnest prayer, ask God to reveal to you your own heart.

Jealousy is a condition of the heart.

When we allow toxic behaviors & negative things into our heart, they form our thoughts and attitudes.
And if these wrong things in our hearts go unattended, they will become deeply rooted
and hard to deal with.
The quicker you can detect a wrong heart condition and get it straightened out, the better off you are.

Proverbs 4:23  Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.


As Christians, checking our hearts needs to be a regular practice.
We can go through the motions and live our Christian lives, all the while, our heart is full
of toxic feelings and attitudes that are not pleasing to God.
These not only hurt ourselves, but everyone else around us.

And notice it doesn't say for anyone else to guard your heart.
It doesn't say God will guard your heart, or even your pastor will guard your heart.
It says you need to guard your heart.


Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Matthew 7:12   So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them...

Ultimately, acting right -- treating others right, goes back to one of the simplest principles of all time:

Treating others as you want to be treated yourself.

Doesn't get much plainer than that.

And when we operate with LOVE as our guiding force, it's easy to live out these scriptures in our life.

1 Corinthians 13:4  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it his not arrogant.

John 13:35  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Life is not always happy.
In fact, it can be downright hard & frustrating at time.
That's what makes the happy days all the more appreciated.
And a true friendship, one not twinged with jealousy, can be such a sweet joy.

"Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.

~Charles Spurgeon

Be the kind of friend that you want & need.

Be the friend who mirrors Jesus, 

not the one encumbered with the baggage of the world's skewed thoughts and behaviors.

Be that friend who laughs with their happy friends when they are happy.

And just as a side note, social media hasn't done us any favors in regards to this topic.
We can log on & look into the lives of our family & friends in an instant.
If we aren't careful, this can be a breeding ground for feelings of envy, jealousy, and self-pity.
Instead though, use this as the perfect opportunity for you to be happy when your friends are happy!

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.
Monday           Amaze Me Monday  The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons  
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner   Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop  Best of the Nest
                                French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things  Sew Many Ways

July Heat

credit

In July

I'll take a peep

into the cool

and fishy deep

where chicken soup

is selling cheap.

Selling once

selling twice

selling chicken soup

with rice.

a poem from one of my favorite authors

Chicken Soup with Rice ~ A Book of Months

by Maurice Sendak


Ya know what's particularly funny? 
We've had unseasonably cool weather the last week or so.
We were bundled up in sweatshirts watching the fireworks last weekend!
In fact, it's only in the 70s today.
It's not quite feeling like July, but I'm not complaining.
As soon as this weather turns itself around, we'll be hot as firecrackers, I'm sure.

Hope you all are keeping warm ... or keeping cool, whatever the case may be ;)
Happy first day of July.

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.
Monday           Amaze Me Monday  The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons  
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner   Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop  Best of the Nest
                                French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things  Sew Many Ways

Saving on groceries without tons of planning!

It's been quite a while since I've posted about saving money at the grocery store,
but I got such good deals yesterday that I wanted to share a quick post showing you how I saved!

This was no well-planned trip.
In fact, I just planned to run to the grocery real quick to pick up milk, toilet paper ...
you know, the things that you can't go without ;)

However, I decided to look over the sale ad before leaving & saw that there were some great deals
with the Mega Sale {buy 5, save $5}.
This is hands down, when I always get the best deals.

It's a rare occasion that I use manufacturer's coupons anymore.
We don't take the paper & I don't buy one on Sunday just for the coupons.
Truthfully, I just don't have the time to clip the coupons & plan out the trips like I used to.

What I do use are the ecoupons that I load onto my Kroger card!
There are always good ones & often times, they are picked for me based on what I buy.
Every now & then, I will get a package of coupons through the mail from Kroger,
but those don't come as often as they used to.
I think they are seeming to move towards the online coupons.

Today, I used a combo of three things to get these savings:

• ecoupons loaded to my Kroger card
• Kroger coupons that came through the mail
• coupons that printed out at the Kroger register

 

Now, I didn't plan on blogging about this, so it's not as put together as the big-time savings blogger.
It's just to show how I saved considerably with very minimal time spent.
And unfortunately, you most likely can't take advantage of every deal that I did,
because you may not have loaded the same ecoupons to your card
or have the same coupons that came by mail.
{Sorry about that.}

I can't share every single good deal, cause I had quite a few of them, but I'll show the best ones.

This one is my favorite, I think.

It was not part of the mega sale.

150 oz. Purex on sale for $7.99

- $3 off 2  ecoupon

- buy 2, get 1 free peeler coupon

$4.33 each 

Mega Sale Items {Buy 5, Save $5}

Great Lash mascara $2.49 close out price

- $1 mega sale came off

- $2 mail coupon

Free + $.51 overage

Loreal nail polish $2.49 close out price

- $1 mega sale came off

- $2 mail coupon

Free + $.51 overage 

{Being a close out item, these should not have gotten the $1 off mega sale discount.

I even asked at customer service to be sure, but for whatever reason, they still came up as part of the sale.}

Frizz-Ease $5.99

- $1 off mega sale

- $3 off 2 Kroger mail coupon

$3.49 each 

Oscar Meyer carving board lunch meat $3.49

- $1 off mega sale

- $.75 ecoupon

$1.74 

Oscar Meyer carving board lunch meat $3.49

- $1 off mega sale

- $2 ecoupon

$.49

Edy's ice cream $3.49

- $1 mega sale

- $1 ecoupon

- $1.50 register coupon

Free + .01 overage

Resolve $2.79

- $1 mega sale

- $.75 ecoupon

$1.04

Gevalia bagged coffee $6.99

- $1 mega sale

- $2.25 ecoupon

- $1.00 ecoupon

$2.74

Gevalia bagged coffee $6.99

- $1 mega sale

- $1.00 ecoupon

- $.50 ecoupon

$4.49

Freebie Friday items:

Kraft BBQ sauce

Snapple tea

I also had an ecoupon for $2 off produce.

Total savings:

coupons: $28.50

Kroger savings: $103.82

Now, remember those register coupons I mentioned above ... well, lucky me!

These printed out for me yesterday!

So, I think I'll run back up to Kroger in a bit to use these cause today is the last day of the mega sale.

The Old Orchard juice is $.99 & the Edy's is $2.49 {if you buy 5 items that are part of the sale}.

So, I'll buy 2 juices & 3 ice creams for $6.95!

The juices will be $.49 each & the ice cream will be $1.99.

And for one last big savings ... before I went grocery shopping yesterday, 

I redeemed 100 fuel points at the gas station saving $1 a gallon on gas!

All in all, I did pretty good today at Kroger!! =) 

*My tip for the best savings using ecoupons at Kroger: get on the site often.

I don't know the rhyme or reason as to when the new coupons are added,

but when they're gone, they're gone.

So check the site regularly & add any coupons that you think you may use.

 

Happy savings, everyone!

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.

Monday           Amaze Me Monday  The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons  
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner   Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop  Best of the Nest
                                French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things  Sew Many Ways

'A Get Outta Town Saturday' Trip to the Amish Store

Some Saturdays you just need to get outta town.
That was my sweet husband's theory this past Saturday anyway.
I hadn't left the house since Sunday, under the weather in more ways than one,
& he thought it may be good for us, in both body & spirit, to take a little road trip.

Boy, he was right.
We even stopped in to visit his parents since we were in their neck of woods,
but I'll get to that in a minute.
I'm getting the buggy ahead of the horse.
;)


Our first stop was at our favorite Amish grocery.
I've posted many times about our fondness of all things Amish & shared many pics,
so I didn't snap too many on this trip.
{Since I haven't been feeling well, I was concentrating most on holding on to my buggy.}

I could not pass up taking a picture of these delectable little local-grown strawberries!
I should've bought some too.

My sweet DIL, Abigail, & I have been talking a lot about flowers & such recently.
{Gunnar & she has been planting their flower & vegetable gardens & we've been down to help them
a time or two.}
She's loving succulents right now & didn't know about 'Hens & Chickens' ...
I had to take a picture of these to show her.
My dad always grew these.

One of our favorite things to buy from the Amish store, outside of food stuffs, are hanging baskets!
They are SO big & full ... & a fraction of the price of what we see around our house.
We planned ahead & took a sheet to cover our back seat so we could load it full.
It was end to end flowers.
This is only two of them cause I couldn't fit the one to the left in the shot.
We bought one for us & one for each of our girls.
{It's so fun having girls ... did I mention that?!}

Here is the basket that didn't fit in the above pic ... fitting perfectly on my porch.
Blooms for days!!

We bought some of our usuals ... meat & cheese, lemon bars, bread, and a cart full of other things.
In all the Amish stores we've ever been in, however, I've never seen Lemon Marmalade.
I had to get a jar of that.
I've not tried it yet, but I know it'll be scrumptious.

Our second stop was to the Warm Glow candle store.
In all the hundreds of times we've passed this place, we just now stopped in for the first time.

Such a neat store & how we got out of there without buying a candle, well, I just don't know.

Next door is a cute garden shop called The Watering Can.
We fell in love with the pavilion area.
How fun would this be to have on your property ...
to have parties, play corn hole, have big outdoor dinners?!
We decided that if we ever have a country home, we'll need one of these ;)

The ceiling was our favorite!

All this shopping worked up our appetite, so we headed to dinner.
Last year while antiquing along US Highway 40, we stopped in a brand new shop in Cambridge City
called the Silver Fox Antiques & Uniques.
It was their grand opening & I entered in a drawing ... & won!
So, we used the $25 gift card towards a delicious dinner at No.9 Grill.
It was our first time to eat there but we'll be sure to come back.

Wanna take a guess which meal belonged to James?

And the icing on the cake for the whole day was dropping in on James' parents.
We had such a good visit & so wish that we were able to do that more often.
If we lived closer, we would, that's for sure.
Sometimes you just need a hug from your mom & dad.
Ya know ...?

Not sure we'll have have another 'get outta town Saturday',
so I'll cherish the memories of this one until we do.

Who doesn't love a good party?!
You can find me here linking up with these great blogs.
Monday           Amaze Me Monday  The Dedicated House
                     I Should Be Mopping the Floor     The Hankful House     The Modest Mom
Tuesday        A Delightsome Life    A Bowl Full of Lemons   So Much At Home
                                    Titus Tuesday  A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday   Raising Homemakers        Savvy Southern Style      
                              The Thrifty Home   A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Thursday    Between Naps on the Porch    Katherines Corner   Lamberts Lately
Friday      Rooted in Thyme  The Thrifty Groove   Farm Blog Hop  Best of the Nest
                                French Country Cottage  The Girl Creative
Sunday    Nifty Thrifty Things  Sew Many Ways