Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

So my husband has been on this year-long quest to live as healthy as possible. A major aspect of this endeavor is a very strict diet that eliminates all refined sugar and limits the intake of natural sugar except for fruit. Watching my husband, who before could polish off a whole cheesecake in one sitting, limit his sugar and continue strong made me realize how much sugar I eat every single day. I mean…I am surprised I am not pre-diabetic. Seriously. So I challenged myself to go 30 days without eating any refined sugar. Can I say how much it sucks? Cuz it sucks. Even tho I am eating fruit and a few organic treats with natural sugar, I still crave some pretty unhealthy things. But hubby says the things in life that are worth it are usually the hardest to do. He’s my Confucius, what can I say. So in an ode to all that I’ve sworn off for the next month, I present you with my Top Ten Tuesday list:

Top Ten Sugary Snacks I Dream About

1) Animal crackers & cream cheese frosting If you’ve never had this snack you must try it today. And don’t over-think it - get the basic 2lb Stauffer’s animal crackers from Walmart (for like $1.98), get a can of cream cheese frosting, and let your taste-buds do the talking. So good. And good is quite the understatement. This snack helped me through many all-nighters in college…and all-nighters with the babies.

2) Graham Crackers & cream cheese frosting Another good alternative, especially when you make a cream cheese frosting and graham cracker sandwich. yum. o.

3) A big spoon with cream cheese frosting Sometimes there is no time for scrambling. Grab can. Grab spoon. Go for it.

4) Golden Oreos I would love to say I can stop myself at just a few…or even a row. But sadly I can not. These are one of my favorite and every time I think about cutting out sugar I will say “but what about my golden oreos??” And then when they came out with Double-Stuffed? Forget about it.

5) Fruity Pebbles A throw-back to my childhood. This was before all the studies and reports linked excessive sugar to child-hood obesity. Back then our parents knew it probably wasn’t good for us and we knew it too but we wanted it so we nagged and we begged and we pleaded until that colorful box made it’s way into mom’s shopping cart. One of my favorite after school snacks and still one of my favorite cereals (and ice-cream toppings as well) still.

6) White Chocolate Covered Pretzels Flipz or homemade, this mixes salty and sweet beautifully. When Sam’s started carrying the big box of them, I’m pretty sure I skipped up to checkout with that bad boy and made sure our club membership stayed current. Love these.

7) Pumpkin Pie Blizzard This is a seasonal item at Dairy Queen, which I understand but I also think is a travesty since this blizzard is a.maz.ing. Dairy Queen softserve flavored with pumpkin pie spice blended with chunks of shortbread “crusts”…I’m salivating. Truly. So if you haven’t tried it you must!! So get your calendar. Flip to the month of October. Write in really big letter “GET PUMPKIN PIE BLIZZARD!!” & then stamp “URGENT!” underneath. *nodding* you’ll thank me later.

8) Rice Krispie Treats Who doesn’t love them, really??

9) PopTarts Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Night Cap - there is always a good time for a poptart. Lumme some poptarts - I even made a pie showcasing it. Frosted strawberry is my favorite, apple cinnamon a close second.

10) Vanilla cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting Easy-peasy. I have yet to be faced with these while I’ve started my journey but I know if I do I will walk away either sobbing silently to myself or shaking from the desire to pound a few dozen. oh. mama.

So after the massive amount of snow that was dumped on us this winter, we have gotten a taste of warmer weather and spring has hit Virginia. Every opportunity I get to drag the boys outside and let them unleash their pent-up energy, I do it! Our city has an abundance of parks and I am pretty sure we have visited them all in the last few weeks as our days have been longer, warmer and all-around more enjoyable now that winter is gone. So what better flickr Friday edition than one that involves spring!! Soak it in people - seasons are changing and that is always a good thing. Have a great weekend everyone!

1. sakura : cherry blossoms, 2. Bubbles in the Grass, 3. Spring Trifle, 4. crocheted flowers, 5. summer love, 6. Easter Tree Hangers, 7. Peony L.O.V.E, 8. Babies!, 9. picnic, 10. Faux chocolate bunnies!, 11. Carlsbad Flower Field March 2007-DSC_3575, 12. summer quilts-ready for a picnic, 13. Orange and Blue Spring Cupcakes, 14. Pera Picnic Basket, 15. Pink Peony Macro 001, 16. Yummy yarn

I know for someone who claims that she hates to cook I post my fair share of recipes here. But I guess that’s because I have learned to streamline things and make only what is easy and delicious and some-what healthy as well (and can be done while holding a crying child or playing playdough). Hubby and I got a quesadilla makerfor a wedding gift and seven years later we still break that bad boy out to use regularly. The only thing is quesadillas, once they’re cooked, are not good after they are refrigerated. They get super soggy and overly chewy once they’re reheated. We found this out the hard way so we only make enough quesadilla’s for dinner, and refrigerate the filling to make more later, if we so desire. One morning I wanted some eggs, since I love LOVE love eggs, but wanted something different than my usual poached eggs. Rifling through the fridge, my eyes landed on the tupperware containing the quesa-filling and thus the best omelette ever was born. I think the beans and corn really make it, but so does the cheese. And the peppers. Ooooh and the red onion. Yes, win-win-win in my book. So give it a try and if you’re not a fan of eggs, omit the eggs and hang onto the recipe since it makes a great quesadilla or burrito filling as well.

Quesadilla Omelette

1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn (you can use canned I just prefer frozen since it’s crunchy and canned corn is rather soggy)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried cilantro
3 eggs (or 2 whole and 1 egg white; 1 whole and 3 egg whites), beaten lightly
salt & pepper to taste
a little butter or olive oil for sauteing

Grease a frying pan with butter or olive oil and saute peppers, onions, garlic and cilantro until slightly tender (on med-high heat for about 5-7 mins). Add beans and corn and saute for another 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

Clean frying pan or use another and add a light layer of butter or olive oil. Pour egg into frying pan and cook on medium heat until the egg starts to gel (about 5-7 minutes).

It shouldn’t wiggle when the pan is jiggled (wiggle and jiggled - these are technical terms people)

When egg has set, add half of the cheese to half of the cooked egg…

…then add about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup of your quesadilla filling (however much you want - I like lots of veggies in mine)…

…and then the rest of the cheese

Now this is the part where I tend to say very adult words because it can rip easily. Take your spatula and gently slide it under, in an up and down motion to release the egg from the pan. We have a great Martha Stewart non-stick pan but inevitably from time to time it will stick. And I like my food to be pretty - that’s more than half the fun for me.

So once you get that side released from the pan, fold it on top of the cheese and quesadilla mix and let cook for another minute longer, letting the cheese melt.

Once again give that bottom a gentle sweep with your spatula and slide off onto a plate.

And there you have a delicious and beautiful quesadilla omelette. It is so good you guys. And what’s even better, you have plenty left over to make about three or four more, or throw inside some tortillas for a quick lunch. Deeeeeelish.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Matthew 13:44

Today at our church, one of our speakers introduced a passage of scripture I had never read before. I’m finding that the more I study scripture and get comfortable doing so (it’s really hard for me. I’m not dumb, I just have a lot of trouble with reading comprehension), the passages I grew up reading (and reading and reading and reading) have lost their meaning, so to speak. So when my eyes fall on a new passage and one that seems to leap from the page, smack me in the face and then dive straight into my heart, I am truly delighted. Truly.

The passage came from Revelation 2: 4-7 and the question that was presented in this passage was “Why have you turned from your first love?” And then followed up with an even more bold “…remember how far He has brought you.” The speaker led us through a couple exercises as we mediated on this passage and when he asked us to spend a few moments remembering when we accepted Christ into our hearts, it began to hit home. He asked us to remember what that felt like. Remember the burden that had been lifted. Remember what we did after we accepted him. My eyes were shut so tightly but the images, the feelings, even the sounds of that time in my life kept coming. A sick feeling resided in my gut as I realized how much I had forgotten. How much I had and continue to take for granted. How much I had forsaken.

The truth is I do love Jesus. With everything I am and everything I have. Or at least, I want to love him with everything. I want Jesus to be my treasure in a field. I want to forsake everything else and in joy, not because I have to but because I get to, sell everything I have to buy it. I am in this season of my life where the Lord is calling me to die to myself over and over and the more he asks the more I want to stomp my foot and shout “Enough! Enough already!” I want to start my business (did I ever tell you I started a business. It’s so great…I hope to share it with you soon), I want to simplify my life so I have more time to myself to persue personal things, I want organize and compartmentalize my life so things will be easier. I want to do all these things for me, not because I am entirely selfish but because I don’t know what it’s like to be self-less. And the Lord is graciously teaching me how to be that way and gently asking me to lay those things down and return to him. Life has gotten so busy and couple that with the ways I have been broken and bruised along the way and I begin to realize that I have forsaken my first love.

I don’t know what to do at this point except keep asking him to increase my joy, to continue bringing me back to his side. The best part of this deal is there is no condemnation. I return to him and let him gently heal the places that sin has torn. I can not guarantee that I will never forsake him again, but all I know right now is I want Jesus. I want him to be my treasure so badly, no matter the cost. I want Jesus and I want to go get him in joy. It’s just some days I don’t know how.

My mother in law was in town this weekend to help out with the monkies while hubby was away. This meant a little more free time to myself and I got to tackle not only my inbox but also my feed reader (which I knocked out completely on Sunday, went back to check on it today and am yet again waaaaaaay behind. Blergh.) But while sifting through literally hundreds of updated feeds I found some little gems along the way that made my back straighten and my eyes perk up just a little bit more. So here ya go: Top Ten Pretty-To-Me Links.

1) Vintage Paper Parade I just love this etsy shop. Super simple but super cute stationery - I can not narrow down which is my favorite, love it all! (and Pepper Design Blog is doing a giveaway so head on over to score some adorable and f-r-e-e goods)

2) Red & Teal Wedding While perusing the archives of one of my favorite photography blogs, I found this little gem and it blew me away. I would love to say I have the cahoonah’s to do such a bright color scheme for my wedding but isn’t it gorgeous?! And the cake, did you see the cake? OhMyGoshIJustLoveIt. LOVE. IT. *swoon* *drool* *sigh*

3) Best Easter Baskets Easter is one of my favorite holidays but sometimes the “cutesyness” of it overwhelms me. However, I am always a sucker for a beautifully designed and executed Easter basket. My favorite? The dyed Easter basket. So incredibly simple but so lovely.

4) Beautiful Cherry Blossom Cookies Aren’t these cookies amazing?? I don’t think I could bring myself to eat one! Wait, who are we kidding - of course I could. But I would take tons of pictures first.

5) DIY Ruffles and Lace Tank Top Sewing can be such a fussy process, one that irritates and bores me but I think I will blow the dust off of my sewing machine to make one of these - pink puffy *heart* this.

6) Only the best cake ever Today. (cuz we all know I will change my mind when I find another one tomorrow) but still, so stunning (Brandi, I think you should have this cake for Bug’s 2nd birthday party. Just a thought *wink*).

7) Macaron pops Love me some macarons. Love me some lolli’s. Love me some Bakerella.

8) Shauna Younge I am a huge Amy Atlas fan and love seeing what her genius-mind comes up with but I found another pro in the dessert bar field and I can’t get enough of her stuff either! Her “LOVE” dessert table knocked my socks off - so sweet and I am totally digging the silhouette’s.

9) Pentunia Pickle Bottom Cosmopolitan Carryall I mean, the name is just fabulous on it’s own (Petunia…so lovely). But then the description makes my eyelids flutter “Sapphire blue and Ocean Mist vintage inspired floral European cut velvet with coordinating sapphire blue wool tweed and sapphire blue water resistant lining” What does it all mean? I don’t care. All I know is she takes my breath away.

10) Simple yet Adorable Cuppie Today kicked my butt, especially between the hours of 3pm to 7pm, so to stumble upon this little gem really brought a sense of peace and tranquility to my mind. Is it weird that food does that? No? Good. A little yummy topped with sweetness on a backdrop of happiness. I know it’s weird but I’m 10% auditory, 90% visual so it just happens that way. But man, isn’t it a beauty.

Hubby went out of town this past weekend to Austin, TX to attend SXSW. Seeing that he and his crazy diet were going with him, I decided to break out one of my favorite (and super duper easy!!) breakfast recipes, chocked full of processed, buttered and sugary goodness to cook up for us to enjoy. This is one of those recipes that makes the words “comfort food” come to my mind. I remember my mom making this for us on Sunday mornings before we went to church. It is so amazingly delicious and smells just as good when it is baking that it would quite literally wake us from our Sunday morning sleeping. When I tweeted that I was going to devour my weight in monkey bread I received three twitter responses of “What is monkey bread?” and I just about fainted. Only because I am so sad that these women have lived for so many years without ever tasting it. And actually, you might have had it as a child only called it something else. I can not for the life of me understand why they call it monkey bread, but whatever I don’t care. It is so good. And I drop my voice as low as I can when I say gooooooooood. So here it is, my beloveds: the monkey bread recipe.

Monkey Bread

3 cans of refrigerated biscuits (regular size - we get the 4-pack)
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups confectionery sugar
1 to 3 tbsp water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9″ or 10″ bundt pan (or tube pan, as some call them, altho I like calling it a bundt pan mainly because I love the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the grooms mom brings the bundt cake to the family dinner and the mother of the bride can not pronounce “bundt” but then turns to her family, totally confused and says “This cake has a hole in it.” *snort*). Pour the sugar and cinnamon in a ziplock freezer bag, seal the bag and then mix it together until evenly combined. Quarter the refrigerated biscuits, pull them a part…

…and then place in the bag with the cinnamon-sugar.

Seal the bag tightly (and make extra sure it is closed or else you will have a big ol’ mess on your hands. and you can trust me on that one.) and then toss the bag around in your hands to make sure all that dough gets coated in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Take the cinnamon-sugar coated dough chunks and place them evenly around the greased bundt pan.

Combine the melted butter and the remainder of the cinnamon-sugar mix and drizzle on top of the dough. Place in the oven, bake 30-35 minutes. Once done, remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Invert onto a plate or cake stand. In a small-medium sized bowl combine the confectionery sugar and water, adding a tablespoon at a time and whisk until all lumps are gone and icing consistency is achieved (in between runny and sludgy. or sludgey. is that even a word?). Drizzle on top of warm monkey bread.

Pull a part and be ready to eat so much you will make yourself sick. But in one of the best ways possible!

*You could also add raisins or nuts before you put it in the oven, if you so desire.

Since I am swearing off refined sugar for a month *gulp* I thought what better week to do a Flickr Friday showcasing my favorite sweet treat: cupcakes and frosting. Especially buttercream frosting. Lots and lots and lots of buttercream…so beautifully delicious.

1. Cupcake Pops, 2. Colorful Engagement Cupcake Samples, 3. pink cupcakes, 4. Marie Antoinette cupcakes, 5. Strawberry Cupcakes, 6. what’s for dessert? // vegan mint oreo cupcakes, 7. Bright Flowers 21st Cupcakes, 8. Pretty pink cupcakes, 9. Easter Cupcakes & Minis, 10. Pink & Blue Vanilla Cupcakes, 11. Baileys flavour white cupcake, 12. rose cupcakes, 13. cupcake, 14. cupcakes, 15. green tea cupcakes, 16. red owl and bird cupcake box

One of the things I am immensely thankful for in my life is the abundance of women that are in it. And not just women, but wives, mothers, close-as-sisters type relationships. This has only been something recent for me in the last five years of my life, but man is it nice! A little part of my heart always aches when I hear of women who are lacking in their female relationships.

On another note, a few months ago I felt the Lord calling me to live more simply. I did another house-purge, got rid of anything I didn’t need, didn’t want, didn’t want to hang on to, and began to look at other aspects of my life that needed simplifying. One place that I realized I was being so stingy with was my studio. I mean, you guys, I have a bonkers amount of crafts. And that’s just my studio, not counting what is in our attic. I can justify it with the thoughts of this is who I am, creating is such a big part of “me” that it make sense that my craft space reflect that, right? But when I stepped back and really took a hard look at everything I had I decided that the time had come. I was going to put my studio on a diet.

One of her trouble-spots? Paper crafts. The paper, oh the paper. The smooth, the patterned, the shimmery, the coordinating bundles of papery goodness. But not just the paper but everything that can be lumped in with the paper-crafting category: stamps, inks, embossing powders, ribbons, brads, fabric flowers, etc. etc. So I sent out an email to a few of my girlfriends who had expressed an interest in paper-crafting and told them to come over & let’s make some cards!

I totally nerded-out too. I precut lots of paper so all they had to do was assemble. Each person got their own little package of perfectly cut, scored and measured cardstock and embellishments. I will be honest that while I can share just about anything with these women (and I mean anything), the thought of leading them in the ways of the card-making made me nervous! Mainly because I wanted them to love it as much as I do. And at the end of the night when they asked to do it again, I think that spoke for it self: it was a success!

All the pretty ladies, working away.

More nerding-out with the party favors.

We had so much fun and I can’t wait to do it again. I’m already planning next months project-list and will start prepping as soon as it’s all finalized. I love my kids and I love being a stay-at-home-wife and mom but man alive is it good to have a hobby and one you can share with your girls!

*If you’re local and interested in joining me for a workshop, please email me at candacegrahl@gmail.com or leave a comment here

On my list of things to do this week is blog. I’ve got three perfectly good posts sitting in my que yet all I keep thinking is, “Don’t post those. That’s not what you need to post.” So I sit and wait for my muse to come out of the walls and strike me with inspiration. That doesn’t happen either and I hear a little voice saying, “Just share your heart.” I hate that since I didn’t want this blog to be a place where I become even more self-involved or so introspective but maybe this nagging feeling will be go away once I near the end.

So what is on my heart right this second? The biggest thing, namely, is how incredibly flawed I am. And not in the physical way or even in the superficial things of life (even tho those are true). But in a deep way, in my mind, in my soul, in my heart. That I step back and look at myself and think “God, I know your word says you delight in me, but why? Why? I just don’t understand it.”

Truth is, the Lord has been bringing me through an incredibly painful season of life. I feel I am literally being put through the fire and even tho what is being put to death in me needed to die, quite frankly, it is still exposing parts of my heart that seem so black, so decayed that make it hard to breathe sometimes. I’m used to looking at the evil in the world and thinking how despairing and awful it can be. I am not, however, used to seeing it in my own heart.

I think the hardest thing about this refining process, this intense time of spiritual maturity, is what the Lord is going to call me to do when he’s done. This work is intentional, he has spoken that very clearly, and when he is done I will be asked to step out and be used. Then I think and worry and get anxious about how he will use me. I hate to travel. HATE. IT. I have a huge fear of flying, new places, foreign languages, unfamiliar landscapes, just to name a few. A few years ago when I really started living for the Lord, he gave me this image of Conner playing in the dust and dirt of a dry and barren place. He was playing with other children his age, children that were impoverished yet they were laughing and having the time of their lives. This image gave my heart peace but then fear took over as I thought “what is he going to ask of me?” And here I am, as he going to work on me, ripping out parts of my heart that need removing and filling those empty places with his love and mercy I start to worry and ask but what for? What is going to ask of me? And more importantly will I step out and say “Here I am, your servant, send me”? The God of the universe is taking the time to make me who he has created me to be and I’m already worried about what he will ask of me. More flaws.

I don’t understand why me, why now, why any of us, really and then I begin to understand now more than ever when Jesus said that the kingdom of God is at hand. It is here. It is right now. I grew up in the church and was taught to live with your eyes fixed on Heaven. But what God is teaching me is to live like Heaven is here. Love the Lord your God with all your heart (no matter how decayed), with all your mind (mixed motives and all) with all your soul (leaving emotions aside) and with all your strength (to the point of exhaustion), and love your neighbor as yourself. And as you strive for that, he will put you through the fire. One thing he has definitely shown me is when you get serious with him he will get serious with you. He will burn off all the chaff, he will strengthen you in your inner being. He will set you out of the muddy pit and onto the high places so you can see his Glory. I keep reminding myself that it is because God loves me so furiously that he has brought me to this place where I look at myself and am disgusted. He doesn’t delight in how I feel and doesn’t seek to make me hate what I see in myself, but he does delight in the fact that I keep choosing him and trusting in his character. That I keep letting him go there with me as he is perfecting my faith. Richard Foster says we reach this place where we say “I don’t know where God is or what he is doing, but I know he is out to do me good.” He is a good God. There is no wickedness in Him, even tho my heart is riddled with it.

So I sit here, flawed. But only in light to the fact that God is so good and so merciful. To weigh my flawed existence against any other backdrop wouldn’t be so bad. But when I realize that the God of the universe, who made me and loves me and calls me as his own delights in this pitiful mass of matter and selfish desires, yeah…I feel a little humbled. And, well, incredibly flawed.

It is March 1st. FINE. UH. LEE. Normally the early months of the year don’t bother me too badly but we’ve had the most bonkers amount of snow and March 1 is just a nice reminder that spring IS a-coming! Even if they’re calling for more snow this week (which they are) we’re getting there!

I have to share this easy, healthy and oh-so amazing recipe with you. My husband has recently started a year-long wellness journey and one of the aspects of this project is that he not eat meat. This isn’t much of a stretch for either of us since the first three years of our marriage I was a vegetarian, so he got used to eating meatless meals. So in honor of his new eating habits & getting to crack open my dusty vegetarian cookbooks, I wanted to share this recipe with you. It is one of our favorites from back in the day & is now a family favorite - my picky four year old will even eat it, spinach and all. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Pita Pizza

(5) Whole wheat pitas
(2) 15 oz. cans of northern beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta
Fresh spinach leaves (about 4 hand fulls), rinsed and cut into strips**
(2) cups shredded mozzarella
(1) tbsp minced garlic
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mash beans in a medium sized bowl with a fork (this is relatively easy if you first rinse the beans in warm/hot water) or food processor. Drizzle with olive oil, add garlic and mix. Spread bean mixture evenly on pitas and bake 10 minutes in oven. While they’re baking, chop the spinach leaves. When pitas are done
remove from oven and sprinkle (in this order) mozzarella, chopped spinach, and feta. Cook an additional 10 minutes. You can also add chopped sundried tomatoes if you’re a fan or you want more pops of color.

** for this, I pluck any long stems off the leaves, pile them together & lightly mince them