Orange Cardamom Muffins

So...a lot's happened since my last post. The big things have been our moving into a new house, which we absolutely love, and the entirely unexpected promotion I received at work (our Lord is so good!). So with moving, cleaning, painting, and with training, transitioning, starting, I've had little time for my dearly loved blog. But no more! My schedule's been set (Monday through Friday's a nice gig) and our house has been settled (for the most part, any way), and so here I am, ready to post again.

And to bring in a new season of posts, I am sharing one of my favorite recipes for breakfast. Adapted from a Food.com recipe, I gave it a twist with the addition of freshly ground cardamom. Cardamom and oranges are one of those BIG WIN combinations, giving a floral note to the sweet bite of citrus. I added it because, for me, the original recipe was a bit too bitter due to the orange rind. The cardamom cuts the bitterness without overpowering the muffin. I also included a bit of ground flax seed for a touch of nutty flavor.

These make for an excellent breakfast meal - a quick, easy choice to help me get out the door and onto my day. I enjoy a muffin in the mornings, after fixing my hair and strapping on my high heels, with a cup of coffee in my favorite chair.

Orange Cardamom Muffins  
Recipe by: Kimberly Meyers

Adapted from: http://www.food.com/recipe/fresh-orange-muffins-14325

www.jandkalways.blogspot.com
As always, this recipe is tried and true from my kitchen to yours.

Serving size: 12 Prep Time: 15-20 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Rest: 5-10 minutes

(The Printable)

Ingredients:

1 orange with peel, quartered and seeds removed

1/2 cup orange juice (or if using fresh oranges, 1 orange squeezed and add water to make 1/2 cup)

1 large egg

1/2 cup butter

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (or if using mortar and pestle, grind seeds from approx 24 cardamom pods)

1 tsp. ground flax seed

1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Use muffin liners or take a paper towel and vegetable shortening to grease muffin tin. Combine dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Place orange quarters and orange juice in food processor and puree. Add egg and butter to oranges and blend well. Pour wet mixture into a bowl, then add dry ingredients. Fold together. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Prick with a toothpick to make sure they are done, then let cool for approximately 5 minutes before removing from tin. Kept at room temperature on a plate covered with saran wrap, these will hold up for several days. Enjoy!

Always,

Kimberly

The Lord's Provision

When I arrived at work this morning, I saw a stack of papers printed with the schedule for the next four weeks. After highlighting my shifts and counting the days, I found that I was short a shift for three weeks in a row! As I took deep breaths, my mind scrambling to figure out what I would need to do to remedy this, God was already making things happen, and after an unexpected series of events, I now find myself scheduled to work full time each week, and I am even earning overtime today. In the course of a single hour, our Heavenly Father made it so I had just what I needed.

It is often easy to place a sense of "control" in the hands of other people - in this case the hands of the manager who made the schedule. When I first saw it, I thought, "Drat! What about bills? What am I going to do?" My emotions started to edge toward worry. But my provision does not come from man, it comes from God. I am under His schedule. And His provision is so good. So never doubt Him. For as he feeds the fouls of the air (Matthew 6:25-34), He will take care of you, too. His loving grace is so great that I continue to be amazed by it and continue to be grateful for it.

Image from wallpaper4god.com

Always,
Kimberly

The First Year with Fiona the Poo

This month we celebrate a whole year with Fiona, AKA the Poo. Fiona was one of several rescue dogs that lived at the spay/neuter clinic where I was working at the time. This is her story, shared with me by the wonderful woman who first helped to get her off the streets where she had lived the first couple years of her life:

"Her story started with me in the summer of 2011. I noticed her on the streets with what I know now to be some of her pups. They would hang out by the Dollar General store under the trailers. I started feeding them and taking bags of ice due to the heat. A friend of mine in rescue tried to help me catch her, but by then, I found out from some local folks that she had lived all her life on the streets. Very scared of humans. I came morning, noon and after work for 4-5 months. She had started recognizing my car by then but would not let me get close to her still. I started coming down on the weekends and leaving food and water because it was so hot that summer and I worried about her constantly. Finally after many months, she let me touch her, and within a few weeks, she was running to see me when she saw my car and would lay down for belly rubs. Then she had another litter of pups, and I knew she trusted me when she let me get near her pups. By then, I had notified MARC, who had tried in the past to catch her. She had had numerous litters of pups thru the years but she was very smart. She was caught once by the dog catcher and escaped!! He hated her from that point forward and wanted nothing more than to catch and kill her. At one point, he started watching me, so I had to be careful as I didn't want him knowing where she had her pups hidden. Once the pups could start walking, it got hard for her to contain them. Eventually the pups disappeared and her teats got large and infected since the pups weren’t nursing. That is when I contacted MARC and we drugged her and got her to the vets, where she was reunited with 2 of her pups that someone had found wandering the streets. Being contained at the vets was very stressful for her but she got better and then I took her to the spay/neuter clinic one night in December of 2011. Her 2 pups went to a rescue and Fiona started her life at the clinic that cold December night. As you know, it took her a long time to trust anyone. She did seem to remember me when I visited her. Then you came into her life and she is now happy and content and very loved. This is the short version but I hope it helps you to understand some of what she went thru and I’m sure there are some things she went thru that we can only imagine. I think about her every time I pass where she used to stay, especially when it is raining and in the winter time. So thankful she will never be cold or wet again!! So now you know why she is so special to me and I am so thankful to you and your husband for giving her the life she deserves and for letting me be a small part of it. You have no idea what those pictures mean to me and how happy they make my heart when I see them." -V

When I first met her at the clinic, she was quiet and very "aloof." This coolness and lack of overt friendliness didn't make her the most noticeable, and the other dogs that lived there with her, all with their own stories of abandonment and mistreatment, were friendlier and jumpier (just more dog-like, really), and they got adopted out in the course of a few months. And that left Fiona. She was always a good dog, the easiest one there to walk on a leash, but she had that soulful sadness that gets to you, especially when she'd look at your with her big, fire hazel eyes. 

One hot day in August, while taking a break from answering the phones to walk her in the side yard to do her business, she suddenly got super excited about being out there and started to run and jump and play with me; I just couldn't believe it - it was amazing! And I just started to fall in love with her. My husband says I gave him "the look that a man cannot say 'no' to" on the day I asked if we could adopt her. And he tells me often how glad he is that we did. She has been a most wonderful, blessed addition to our family.

I thought I'd share the year in pictures, since she's just so cute.

Her second day in our apartment and the first time she gave me that sweet smile.

Her very first Christmas present. 

Sporting her awesome pink fanny pack.

That's a giraffe under there.

Smell good, Fi?

Snow day!

3 sets of footprints :)

Poo ball.

Sleepin' cozy compared to her days on the streets.

By the fireplace.

Happy it's the start of the weekend.

 

Couch Poo-tato.

Runnin' errands with mama.

Porch Poo.

Hot summer dayz.

Trying to get a shot of her smiling.

*yawn*

"What's that?"

There it is :)

Out and about on campus.

Aww! 

"I've been out here, like, a whole hour, guys."

Belly rubs?

Beauty shot.

The two of us conked out after moving day.

Here's to you, sweet girl, and to all the joys awaiting us in the years to come. 

Always,

Kimberly

Home 2014

New Year's Goal 1: Survive Moving.
The furniture is out, boxes have been packed and moved, utility companies have been called, and I made it out alive with only a bruise the length of half my thigh from dropping a large box of heavy winter coats. Phew! With 20+ moves between my husband and myself in the past 10 years, which not only includes our own personal moves but also helping different friends, two sets of grandparents, and a friend of ours' grandparents, the process of moving always sends us into a rage to purge. As we pack and pack (and continue packing in the case of grandparents who have an entire lifetime's worth of belongings), we start examining our own home and asking ourselves what is "extra," what can we unload because we aren't using it, or we just don't like it any more, or we don't want our kids to go through all of this stuff later on and ask "why did she keep old, used kitchen sponges, broken lamps, and Mormon pamphlets?" When we get like this, the trash bag finds itself full of papers, old bills and receipts and holiday cards that somehow made it to the bottom of the filing cabinet unfiled, and boxes get stuffed with all kinds of things like clothes and those random figurines and plushies that somehow end up lying about even though we don't have kids. But now it's time to get serious, which leads us to goal 2.

Goal 2: Settle Our New Home
Along with moving out of the apartment, we have also collected the last items that were spread among various family member's houses, so finally all of our belongings are consolidated under one roof. Now it's time to go through it all and ask the hard questions. Do we need boxes of every stuffed animal we ever had growing up? Do I need my college graduation memorabilia bears and "2008" balloons? Will my children really want my original Power Ranger and Barney & Friends VHS tapes? These are the hard questions, dear friends. And the truth is simple: "no and probably not." With every move made these past three years we have managed to lessen the load, but as life happens, stuff happens, and with it comes more stuff.

"Home" has weighed heavy on my mind this month; so much change happened in the course of two months, with my husband's great-grandmother moving, working over time, finals, us moving, and school starting up again, things have been in such a state of upheaval that my routine has crumbled. My goals for 2014 simply surround the home and settling in so we can pick up where we were and make it even better!

Goal 3: Develop Our New *Homestead* !
With a backyard and a much larger kitchen than I've had lately, James and I are looking forward to turning this little place into our own sort of urban homestead. We hope to be able to take this lot of earth we have been blessed with and see if we can't turn it into something workable and beautiful.

Goal 4: Keep Blogging!
And with all of these things, I want to keep writing and sharing on this blog our achievements and trials, tests and home runs. My goals are to share more recipes in Kimberly's Kitchen, learn how to take better photographs, and create a new section to chronicle our homesteading venture.

And most importantly,

Goal Always: "and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31 NASB)

I pray that 2014 is another year to continue to follow the Lord's plan for our lives, which is better than any we could ever plan for ourselves, and to grow in our walk of love with Him.  

Always,
Kimberly

A Frosty New Year

I hope that everyone has had a good start to the New Year thus far! Over here at the Meyers' we are in the middle of major changes, so please bear with me as I may be a little light on posts the next couple of weeks. We are in the process of moving out of our apartment and into the lovely house that my husband's great-grandmother used to live in. So 2014 for us has pretty much started at a run - there's just so much to do! And I admit I have been a bit overwhelmed with the idea of moving again. Upon reflection, I realized that over the past 10 years my belongings and I have moved 9 times, and three of those moves were across the country. And now, in the middle of all this, temperatures here in the U.S. are reaching record level lows in what's being called a "polar vortex." Southern states, like Tennessee, are seeing single digit lows, which hasn't happened in over a decade. Alas, there's a lot going on. Despite the challenges, I can't help but be amazed at just how very blessed we are to move into this new home; it's the most square footage we've ever lived in together, there's a yard for Fiona, space to grow herbs, fruits, and vegetables, a garage for a workshop and craft room, and a beautiful atrium for a new flower garden. I am currently reading The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, imagining all of the things we can do with this property, and I admit I am very excited. One of my goals for 2014 is to try my hand at canning and wouldn't it be neat for the produce to come from our own garden? 

I'm really looking forward to seeing what 2014 brings, excited to settle our new home and start a homesteading venture with the love of my life, and Lord willing it will be a year of growing, production, and productivity.

 

Always,

Kimberly

Happy Christmas Eve!

Joy and good tidings! Christmas is tomorrow!

Isn't this nativity scene cute? It's a throwback to the vintage wooden Christmas figure ornaments that I remember from my parents' tree, and I just love it.

I'm glad to say that all of the Christmas cards went out in the mail yesterday (hopefully some local addresses were delivered today??). They're a little late, I know, but things have been so busy these past several weeks with helping our great-grandmother, who's ninety-seven, move into her new apartment and working every day that I'm just happy I found time to write them this year. I love Christmas cards and sending them out is a tradition I try to keep up. This year the card theme could be called "in-the-nick-of-time mishmash;" after digging through the Christmas bins in the garage, I managed to pull out what I could find, which resulted in three very different card designs - classic Christmas stockings, turtledoves, and Japanese winter scenes - making it out to family and friends. Oh well! Just wait for next year! And besides, the scripture written inside is the best part anyway (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Speaking of Christmas cards, I received a letter in the mail from the Women's Ministry at church, and I wanted to share it with you:

Dear Friend,

We just want to say how great it was to see you at Silverdale Baptist Church's 2013 Candlelight Christmas Tea. This event would not have been the same without you. Meeting new people and smiling faces has always been one of our favorite things about the Tea. 

So, have you thought about Making Room for Christ in your life? If you have given your life to Christ, then consider if you have allowed the world's demands to squeeze Him out. Of course, we know that once we have become a follower of Christ, we can't lose our salvation. However, we can drift into living daily with little or no thought of Him! It happens quietly. The world gets louder and all of a sudden, we don't hear God anymore. He WANTS to give us direction, comfort, wisdom, and hope. Once we realize our hearts and minds are full of the clutter of this world, we simply need to intentionally turn our focus back onto the only One worthy of our focus. The One who died on our behalf, paying the penalty for our sin, Jesus Christ. It is a weighty thing! 

Plant yourself in a church where you can grow and serve. From today forward, make up your mind to allow God the room to move in your heart.

Merry Christmas,
Silverdale Women's Ministry 

"Christ came that you might have life abundantly!"
John 10:10

Isn't that just a lovely letter?

Tonight, the church will hold their annual candlelight service, which is always one of my favorite times of the year, because we get to sing Christmas carols and hear the nativity story. I remember my first Christmas as a new believer a couple of years ago and just how different it was. What used to be just a day to see what presents I got under the tree, to eat and watch R-rated movies (basically a day all about me) was transformed into a day of celebration because our "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6) was born to save!

Merry Christmas one and all! I hope it's fantastic!

Always,
Kimberly

Homemade Gifts: Origami Christmas Tree Ornament

Two years ago, James and I gave handcrafted origami crane ornaments to the guests of our engagement party, and we were excited to get to do something like it again this year! So our small token of appreciation for each of the lovely women who joined me at this year's Ladies Christmas Tea were these beautiful origami Christmas tree ornaments.

I folded the fantastic geometric Christmas trees based on this tutorial and used my favorite beads by Swarovski Elements to create the sparkly star detail at the top. I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions on how to make these yourselves, please leave a comment. I'd be happy to help!

Origami Christmas Tree Ornament

Materials:
Origami paper 6"x6"
Sewing needle
Black twine
Swarovski Elements Faceted Beads (assorted colors)
Swarovski Elements Rondelle Crystals
Scissors
Elmer's rubber cement
Paper clip

Time: 20 minutes

Directions:
Fold the origami tree. String needle with twine. Tie string ends into a knot and pierce needle through top of tree, gently pulling until the knot is secured inside. String beads, then add glue to each piece to secure them to together and to the tree. Cut twine and knot the string to create your ornament loop. To make the ornament more "sturdy," carefully add glue to the inside creases of the tree base. Use a paper clip to clip it together, wait about five minutes, then remove the clip and gently unfold.

Thanks for reading!

Always,
Kimberly