Texas Style Brazilian Rice

So I took an online recipe and altered it and thought I'd share :)

Feeds about 8 college students ( so probably about 10 normal people)

Ingredients

3 cups long grain rice
6 -7 cups of water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
1 onion
2 green bell peppers
1-2 lbs. thinly cut steak (I used sirloin)
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive/vegetable oil
garlic salt
seasoning salt
black pepper
whatever normal steak seasoning you use

- Put bouillon cubes and water on to boil in a fairly large pot. While it is coming to a boil, chop the onion (the size depends on how you like them, I left them pretty large) and put in a skillet or small saucepan.

- When the onions are not quite clear add chopped bell peppers.

- When the onions are clear and peppers soft add the rice to the this until it is covered in oil. Let it cook just a little and add the tomatoes (drained).

- Add all of this mixture to the boiling water (w/ bouillon cubes) along with some garlic salt.

- While the water is cooking out, cut the steak into small strips and cook it in a skillet with seasoned with seasoning salt, black pepper, and whatever steak seasoning you want to add. (I would stir the rice if you don't want a bunch of burnt rice stuck to the bottom of your pot at the end; it's just such a pain to clean***)

- After all the water is cooked out (make sure to try a piece of rice to see if it tastes done), add the steak to the mix.

- I served it with corn tortillas just because I had them. You can also add cheese, guacamole, sour cream, etc to add some flavor but I thought it was delicious as is.


*** If your pot does end up with burnt rice or anything burnt on I have a found an AWESOME solution. Get some white vinegar and pour it in the pot. Now you have too choices: 1) boil or 2) let it sit. (If you boil it, stay clear of the stove, it'll make your eyes water more than cutting an onion) After that use one of those thin, rough, green sponge things to scrub; it'll come off way easier. If it's really stubborn, I've read somewhere to make a paste of water and baking powder (or possibly soda???) and use it to scrub, but I have yet to have to do this. Happy cleaning!


Sarah

so i love how Jesus answers questions (acts 1)

so, i decided i'm going to blog my way through acts.

acts 1

reading through this, i found a section that particularly caught my attention and decided it was worth sharing my thoughts on.

acts 1:6-8

"so when they had come together, they asked Him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel?"

i love this because this was something that was so important to the disciples. it's that one thing that we are yearning for God to do in our lives, we all have one. Lord, will you at this time restore my family? Lord, at this time will you give me a husband? Lord, will you at this time reveal to me what i'm doing in the future? Lord, will you at this time (fill in the blank here)?

then there comes the magnificent response Jesus gives...

"He said to them, "it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. BUT you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

i just love how Jesus is like well..... that's not really for you to know right now; HOWEVER, here is all the power and grace you need to get through anything oh and here is your kingdom destiny. BAM!

now i'm sure this must have been the most frustrating statement for the disciples to stomach because well it is the most frustrating statement for me. reading it, it's so easy to be like "JESUS JUST PROMISED YOU POWER AND DESTINY!!!!!" but from my own experience, it's so easy to be like "Jesus, ummm, excuse me but i think you misunderstood the question or maybe you just didn't hear me. see this is important and it's a good thing, something that was even promised to me in the Word, don't you that understand Jesus?" 

so basically, i just love how Jesus answers questions :)

creative leftovers

So Monday night I made this Chicken and Rice stuff that my step mom makes. I'll post her recipe; however, I just used chicken breast.


From Pam:
I cook a whole chicken (put 2 chicken boulion cubes in water while cooking chicken) season while cooking with garlic and pepper in a dutch oven on top of the stove until done. debone chicken and set aside. Reserve 2 cups of the broth.
After deboning and emptying the broth, in same pot put a little oil and 1 chopped onion, simmer until onion is clear, then add a spoon of flour and mix into the onion mixture add 2 cups broth and 2 cups milk and bring to a slow boil, add 1 can cream of musroom and 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 small jar chopped pimento and about 2 tblsp of lemon juice, (you just have to taste this until it's right), add more garlic either chopped or garlic salt and pepper, bring to slow boil again and then add chicken. Simmer for at least 30 minutes and serve over rice.


I had a lot of the "sauce" left over so last night I cooked some broccoli more rice. Mixed it all up with some cheese and BAM! Broccoli, Chicken, Cheese, and Rice Casserole. I love being a grown up. :)

Your Father is an enabler. Just so you know.

So. I received this text from a friend of mine and he was actually talking about my biological father; however, when I first read it, I thought he was talking about God and I just haven't been able to shake that. So I look up the definition for enable and found this: to provide (someone) with adequate power, means, opportunity, or authority (to do something); to make possible; to put into an operative condition by supplying a suitable input pulse. So, that sounds a lot like what God does for me. So to pass on some oddly found wisdom.


Your Father is an enabler. Just so you know.

my birthday might be a month away but.....

This summer, my research has been in finding a solution for clean water for a community in Mozambique. It's all been hypothetical and just research, but this is something I can do that it real life! On August 13th, I will turn 20 and I am hoping I can get a well for my birthday. I don't personally want a well in my apartment, that'd be a little awkward, but I would like to raise money for a well (or other water system) through charity: water. I'm asking that in honor of my 20th birthday, you would give $20 through this website. $20 just happens to be the amount of money needed to give one person water. My goal is $5000 because that's about the average needed to provide clean drinking water to a community.


Check out my page and give at http://mycharitywater.org/sarahstwentyfortwenty

The Church Club vs. The Church

Recently, I have met quite a few people that have just become Christians in the past year or two. It has been the most refreshing thing. It has also made me think about what I call "The Church Club".

I was in marching band in high school and now no matter where I am, if I meet someone who was in marching band, there's like this instant connection. We first guess what instrument the other played, we feel each other's pain as we speak of standing at parade rest for what feels like eternity, and we just understand each other's language.

The thing I've realized is that when I meet fellow Christians that grew up in church, most of the time it's the same thing. We talk about denominations, our favorite Veggie Tales episode, what Sunday School was like, youth retreats, and small groups/home groups/life groups (depending on where you went to church). And then once you get to college, you give the name of your catchy, one-word, non-denominational campus organization (i.e. crave, breakaway, ignite, radical). Plus, we have this church language that we now know is safe to pull out because the other people will understand.

I'm not saying having things in common is a bad thing. These can be great conversation starters, but I keep coming back to how the bible says Christians are suppose to interact. John 13: 34-35 says, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other." So, if we are a part of "The Church Club", we will be recognized by our language, the catchy phrases on our t-shirts, and so on, but to be a disciple of Jesus, to be a part of The Church, we will be recognized by the love we show one another. This definitely sets a higher standard.

I guess all of this to say I am being challenged to stop being just a member of "The Church Club" and to start being a true disciple of Jesus and I challenge you to do the same. Who knows? We could, dare I say it, change the world.

Just One Question:

Is the life I'm living one that I could live completely independently, or is my life so extra-ordinary that I MUST depend on God for it to work?


:edit:

I was reading Micah 5 this morning and got to verses 10 - 13:


And in that day, declares the LORD,
    I will cut off your horses from among you
   and will destroy your chariots;
and I will cut off the cities of your land
   and throw down all your strongholds;
and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
   and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
and I will cut off your carved images
   and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more
   to the work of your hands;


I feel like God is taking away everything I normally use to  live life on my own and I feel like He's doing that in general, just shaking things up that we would depend on Him completely.

Thankful

Today I woke up into a terrible morning and therefor had a terrible attitude. But after three hours of living in that, I'm all done. I am ready to change my attitude and be thankful. So, I was going to write out all of the things I am thankful about today but then I was just meditating on this verse and it's just good. so here it is.

Psalm 118

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

 ¹ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures forever! ² Let Israel say,
   "His steadfast love endures forever."
³ Let the house of Aaron say,
   "His steadfast love endures forever."
⁴ Let those who fear the LORD say,
   "His steadfast love endures forever."
 ⁵ Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
   the LORD answered me and set me free.
⁶ The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
   What can man do to me?
⁷ The LORD is on my side as my helper;
   I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
 ⁸ It is better to take refuge in the LORD
    than to trust in man.
⁹It is better to take refuge in the LORD
    than to trust in princes.
 ¹⁰ All nations surrounded me;
   in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹¹They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
   in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹² They surrounded me like bees;
   they went out like a fire among thorns;
   in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹³I was pushed hard,^[a] so that I was falling,
   but the LORD helped me.
 ¹⁴The LORD is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
¹⁵Glad songs of salvation
   are in the tents of the righteous:
"The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
 ¹⁶the right hand of the LORD exalts,
   the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!"
 ¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live,
   and recount the deeds of the LORD.
¹⁸The LORD has disciplined me severely,
   but he has not given me over to death.
 ¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the LORD.
²⁰This is the gate of the LORD;
    the righteous shall enter through it.
²¹I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone.^[b]
23This is the LORD’s doing;
   it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the LORD has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
 ²⁵Save us, we pray, O LORD!
   O LORD, we pray, give us success!
 ²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
   We bless you from the house of the LORD.
²⁷The LORD is God,
   and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
   up to the horns of the altar!
 ²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God; I will extol you.
²⁹ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures forever!

the good for the better

So I've been reading David Platt's book Radical on the recommendation of a friend and I've been kind of stuck on this one idea. The Christianity that most people see here in America is this idea that you have to give up stuff in this life so you don't go to hell; do good and you won't go to hell, oh yeah and Jesus makes up where you mess up. But the truth of the Gospel is like you have a McDonald's Happy Meal in front of you and someone coming up and saying 'hey I've got a steak dinner for you if you want it instead.' I was listening to this song called Dancing in the Mine Fields and it has this verse that says " 'I do' are the two most famous last words; the beginning of the end. But to lose your life for another I've heard is a good place to begin."  married is the end of two separate lives but the beginning of a beautiful new life together and that's just such a picture to me of having a relationship with God and being a christian is.


"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." - Matthew 13:44