Things have not changed, however, because that weekend was not about change, in situation anyway. It was a change of sight; He opened our eyes, again, to His plan and purpose for our lives in the present tense, and gave us the grace and strength, again, to handle all of the hard things we are currently experiencing.
I am so, so grateful. And I know Jeremy is too.
Things since then have been busy; I've taken over the financial paperwork and bill paying to give Jeremy a break as he is pulled in every other direction. That's been pretty interesting; math is not my strong suit, but organizing is, so I'm doing my best. This includes a budget that we came up with, which I don't think either of us have ever done, and which has been difficult. Good, but difficult. I'm still trying to read for my thesis, which is not going quickly at all (boo.), unfortunately. And Jeremy is still working on the house, leading small group for the church, and trying to keep up with a very busy schedule at work. And, we're both getting to know our little man, so active in my belly.
Also, I've been cooking. We are a part of a CSA this summer, which is a lot of fun but also very different as far as not having control over what we're "buying" for the week. I have been trying very hard to be adventurous and try everything (or almost everything) at least once.
This is a beet salad I made that is one of Giada's recipes. It was... okay. Here's the thing: I don't like beets. They taste "earthy," which basically means it tastes like dirt, no matter how long you cook it or how well you "caramelize" them. If you like beets though, go for it. The salad was entirely edible. HOWEVER, if you are pregnant, you should not try this. It took me awhile to figure out, but I confirmed my malady online: beets fall into the same, er, category as cauliflower, broccoli, etc. So, proceed at your own risk. Or, your husband's risk. Whichever.
We got basil a couple of weeks ago, which I immediately turned into pesto, a glorious, wonderful pesto. As I was eating a pasta made with that pesto, tossed with grilled, shredded chicken and Farmer's Market zucchini and squash, I thought, "Pesto just may be my favorite food." And it's so versatile! I didn't have any pine nuts (and they certainly weren't in my grocery budget for the week!) so I used some raw macadamia nuts that I had wasting away in the crisper. It was lovely. Still is: a small bunch made five servings. Guess what's for dinner tomorrow...
And then we had Thai basil the next week, which we didn't like. It has a distinct anise taste and scent, which both Jeremy and I can't stand. I used it in a stir fry that I've been making: grilled chicken, red bell pepper, and some CSA Swiss chard. Jeremy picked it all out, and I would have too, if I hadn't decided to give it a fair chance. I threw it away later though.
Something else I made this week (actually just last night) was a cherry clafoutis. I got the recipe out of one of my cookbooks, but recipes for clafoutis are online everywhere. I've also made it with blueberries, which is also fabulous. I look forward to cherry season every year for clafoutis.
So I've been busy, but good, enjoying the adventure of our CSA box and the confines of eating organic, real food on a tighter budget. Definitely an adventure.
Gotta go-- need to make dinner! I got a pound of grass-fed ground beef for hamburgers for this week--Jeremy's favorite--but just used 3/4 of the pound and added some cooked lentils to bulk it up. Not bad, and Jeremy was a good sport about my bastardizing his beloved hamburgers. And now I've got a 1/4 pound for taco salad tonight! Yay!
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