Everything you want from stuffed jalapeños in a bite sized puff.
• 13.2 oz package Jus-Rol Puff Pastry
• 3-4 large jalapeños, seeded and diced (leave as much or as little of the white pith inside to control the heat )
• 1 block cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I highly recommend shredding it yourself)
• 4 slices crispy bacon or 4 oz of cold smoked salmon, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon each: salt, garlic powder & onion powder
Preheat oven to 375°. Combine all ingredients except puff pastry. Grease a nonstick mini-muffin pan. Unroll puff pastry, keeping the dough on the parchment paper it’s rolled with and cut into 24 even squares with a pizza cutter. Alternatively, you can use a 2 inch round biscuit cutter to cut circles. Place squares into the greased muffin cups, gently pressing the bottoms down, allowing the corners to overhang the top of the cup. Fill each cup with a heaping teaspoon of jalapeño mixture. Bake at 375° until pastry corners are puffed and thoroughly golden, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes, remove to wire rack for 10 minutes, serve warm with ranch dip/dressing.
Sowing for Harvest
Growing faith, kids, gardens and bread…Lots of bread
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Dear Friend,
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a happy new year at your house! It was mostly hacking and fevers at mine, though we didn’t much let that keep us from celebrating. What else is worth baking and eating about a dozen stuffed jalapeño puffs when you’re sick if not the birth of our Lord and Savior and another new year?
¹⁷ Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail; And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. [Habakkuk 3:17]
I know you’re worried about all the things you want to fix this year. The strive to be everything you are capable of is a tempting path to follow. I am nothing but supportive of making positive changes that improve your overall well-being.
¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. [Romans 12:1-2]
In the midst of your hustle to get fit, organize your life, make cuts in your diet, and manage your finances, remember to be still. God wants you to be healthy and to have your life in order. Know that God still desires your attention and is always ready to give you His during periods of transformation. He still has a plan for your life.
⁹ A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. [Proverbs 16:9]
The good news is that seeking Him and fixing your life go hand in glove. When you ask Him for better ways of doing things and then have the stillness to listen, He will reveal answers to you. Those answers may not be what you wanted or expected to hear but you can trust that God knows better than us what will work best for our good. He knows us better than we know ourselves.
¹² Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. [1 Corinthians 2:12]
This new year has brought about a desire to be brutally honest with myself about what is truly important and what simply isn’t. I am utterly tired of focusing too much energy on things that don’t bring me or my children closer to God’s plan for our lives. It goes like this: there’s an event to plan and execute. I stress myself by building this event to require more than I have to give. I plan to do too much, often overspending in the process.
By the time the event arrives I’m already exhausted from the stress I HAVE CREATED that I give myself a pass on immediately resetting our schedule, our space, and our focus. This inevitably results in complete chaos when one more thing goes sideways in our lives such as we all get sick.
Don’t misunderstand me, I think there’s nothing wrong with a big party and rest is important after an event or stressful day. I’m simply talking about shifting my mindset to be content with a simpler version of whatever my fantasy is and that the conclusion of that event occurs once all the remnants of it are cleaned and put away. In other words, no more extra Christmas decorations sitting in open bins in my bedroom and no more treating four birthdays every year like major milestones.
³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. [Matthew 6:33]
“Being busy is not a satisfactory substitute for being holy.” — Jo Ann Leavell
I am determined to simplify this year, to create more time and space for stillness and peace. One way I plan to do this is by reducing my workload in areas such as celebrations. I can’t justify doing everything myself or from scratch if it means I become flustered and joyless in the process. My family may not look back and remember the cake I spent 16 hours designing, baking and decorating or the gifts I spent weeks hunting down but they will remember that leading up to every special occasion I was hyper focused on a million other things over being present.
Our children likely won’t remember most of their presents on their birthdays, but they will remember Mom and Dad’s stress around too many Christmas obligations, how exhausted Mom seems after every extravagant birthday, and how often we are too tired or busy to connect.
¹ Therfore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, ² fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. [Philippians 2:1-2]
It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of a new year. Open a crisp new planner and fill in all the ways we are going to be more productive and efficient. Is the reason most resolutions are abandoned so quickly because of will power? Is it because we were being dishonest with ourselves about our own capabilities? Or it because in our spirit, we know that isn’t what really matters? That we aren’t spending enough time in connection with our families, in stillness with God, and developing the eternal fruit of the Spirit. I invite you to set aside the trending resolutions and resolve to do the work of creating a rich life, filled with connection and love. We have a wonderful year ahead of us, don’t waste it!
Love,
Eileen
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Dear Friend,
Are you a pre-Thanksgiving or post-Thanksgiving Christmas decorator? This has been a topic of fierce debate among celebrators of the birth of the one true God for YEARS. My family always waits until after Thanksgiving to decorate, just because we like to keep the traditional fall Thanksgiving vibes and they clash with my preferred bright winter/traditional esthetic. I can’t judge those on the other side of that debate though, I used to start our Christmas season on December 5th and the day of decorating has slowly crept up to Black Friday. So who knows, maybe I’ll be a Christmas in July sort of gal in a few more years.
Things feel differently this year, for the first time, I saw many families hastily decorate their homes and yards on November 1st! It felt like everyone went, “Whew, Halloween’s over, CHRISTMASTIME!!!” as they dashed to the basement and pulled a reverse Grinch. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The closer I’ve drawn to God, the less I care for the often demonic-looking decorations of Halloween. But why is everyone so hasty with Christmas this year? The Black Friday in-store sales were huge and there were people lined up in their cars for miles waiting to get into parking lots, it was like I woke up from my turkey coma in 1995.
I keep seeing reels on social media about how moms are the source of all the Christmas magic. That if we lie down on the job, it won’t get done, there will be no presents under the tree or pie to pass. And let’s be honest…it’s mostly true. We have so much pressure on our shoulders at Christmas. All this hustle and bustle to and fro, hosting and sledding and reading stories and decorating and shopping and cooking and baking and and and you get the point.
All you mamas out there embodying the roles of the Proverbs 31 woman, Santa, and the Ghost of Christmas Present, go ahead and pat yourself on the back, have a chestnut latte and take a deep breath! You can do this! You are doing the too often overlooked and underappreciated kingdom work that sets the stage for the joy of an entire season and countless memories for your kids.
But you know how all that eggnog and gingerbread can quickly add up on the scale if we don’t somehow find the time and energy to hop into a workout? So too can all the hustle and magic-making weigh down our own spirit and joy if we don’t find the time and motivation to get into the Word each day and get down on our knees and thank God for the family to make magic for and the means to do it.
¹⁰He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” [Psalm 46:10]
I know a lot of messages around this time of year surround the ideas of destroying gift-getting greed by giving and serving those less fortunate. Trying to keep up the Joneses or get attention through decorations? Boot pride through prayer and acts of humility. Struggling with holiday calories/bills/dates? Reel in gluttony of food or drink or shoes or romantic partners by fasting. These are all important messages that many people need to learn at some point in their lives.
¹⁵Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. [James 1:15]
But what do you do if you are just feeling overworked and less joyful during the busiest time of year? After some years of striving to give my children the greatest celebration of Christmas I can, I realized that my children could tell when I was truly rested and joyful vs when I was just pretending to be. They didn’t ask about it but I noticed that they were a little different in their celebration, almost as if they were trying to cheer me up by being silly and rambunctious. This of course likely just made me feel my exhaustion even more.
I think these times of stress require some serious self-regulation to get through. What makes you feel excited and joyful, even in the face of exhaustion? How do you fill your cup? I’ve tried bubble baths, I got overheated and bored in less than 10 minutes. I’ve tried watching a movie by myself, only to miss my family and feel guilty for leaving them. The only thing that I’ve tried and found success in that doesn’t require me to leave or feel guilt in any way is diving straight into the Word or a women’s bible study.
²⁷So he answered and said, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” ²⁸And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” [Luke 10:27-28]
Where there is a will, there is a way and it may require you to make the time and energy to work out your spiritual muscles even when you’re exhausted. You know when someone that needs help should turn to God for strength. So why would you not ask for help when YOU need it?
¹“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? ²My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” [Psalms 121:1-2]
So whether you decorate before or after Thanksgiving or on Christmas Eve, your joy during the celebration of Christ’s birth is the real tradition your children will pass on to their children someday. I hope this helped!
Love,
Eileen
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Dear Friend,
Thanksgiving is behind us, Christmas is around the corner, and get-togethers with in-laws are ahead. Like everyone, I often get a little anxiety during the holidays. Not because of trekking through snow and ice, or making sure my kids practice their parts in the Christmas play, or even hosting parties with homemade gingerbread houses because the kits add up a lot faster than the ingredients to bake them yourself. It’s the in-laws.
***Now, before anyone gets any wild ideas, I am unbelievably happy with my husband, as he is with me. My husband and I have always stood firm in our commitment and loyalty to God and each other first and foremost. These problems have absolutely been cause for stress between us and my in-laws, but there isn’t the level of toxicity that would make me want to abandon all association with my in-laws or fear for my children’s safety if left alone with them.
Nevertheless, of everything on my plate each year, it’s the in-laws that usually stress me out. The awkward hug and hello that don’t feel quite sincere in their welcome. The conversations that surround a childhood you weren’t part of and contentedly don’t include you. Unless they decide to ask you a question, which they almost never do, they prefer your silence. If you decide to buck tradition, and try to include yourself, strange looks of surprise that you exist seem to inevitably follow.
This unfortunately common dynamic has been the cause of several fallouts over the years, at their fault and ours, no one is perfect here. Whether my husband’s side, or not, they’re still family; and as such, require some level of loyalty and preference over any given stranger I may feel more inclined to help just because my existence hasn’t set them against me. During these times of stress, busy-ness, and family get-togethers, I find myself more drawn to God’s word. Grasping His grace a little tighter, searching for His peace a little more.
I’ve read the book of Ruth a couple times for myself, and heard the story too many times to count. Each time, I had the perspective of Ruth and her MIL Naomi having a close mother-daughter connection. Why else would Ruth want to stay with Naomi after her husband, FIL & BIL all died in war AND her SIL left at Naomi’s insistence both young women return to their own families of origin so that they could remarry? In addition to no longer having any buffer between the women, Naomi was leaving Moab to return to her own people of Israel, enemies of the Moabites.
I’ve always assumed that the women must have had a pleasant relationship. But after 12 years of marriage, with in-laws that are less than thrilled to see me at each family event, I had the thought this morning, after a couple texts from my own MIL, what if it wasn’t pleasant? What if Naomi looked down on her son’s choice of bride because she was a Moabitess? Or she didn’t like her personality because she behaved differently than the typical Israelite woman she had envisioned her son would marry? Maybe she didn’t trust Ruth because she was in the throws of discovering her identity in God instead of the pagan practices she had been raised in. Maybe Ruth tried a little too hard to be liked by her in-laws that it rubbed them the wrong way.
¹Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons …. ³Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. ⁴Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. [Ruth 1:1-4]
Perhaps connection was absent from their relationship when they were both widowed by war. Ruth had every reason to return to her own people: her husband was dead, there was no replacement husband as was common during these times if a woman was widowed without any children and her MIL was destined to a life of destitution as a widow with no one to provide for her. Yet Ruth refused! She promised to hold steadfast to Naomi no matter what, for the rest of her own life. After Naomi saw Ruth’s determination to stay with her, she even gave Ruth the silent treatment and didn’t claim her as a daughter when the women arrived in Bethlehem.
¹⁷ “Where you die, I will die. And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” ¹⁸ When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. [Ruth 1:17-18]
²⁰”Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. ²¹I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty.” [Ruth 1:20-21]
Maybe Ruth felt loyalty to the house of Israel because she married into it. Maybe she knew how incapable a destitute old widow would be to provide for herself. Maybe she loved Naomi as a mother. None of these questions are addressed in the book of Ruth, because the specific answers don’t matter. Ruth is an excellent example for how one should seek the kingdom of God and make decisions that will bring ourselves closer to Him in all our ways. This most especially includes how you treat others despite how you may have been treated, just as Mary did when she no doubt got some side eyes and gossip when it got out that she was pregnant before Joseph married her.
As long as there isn’t damaging toxic behavior, such as abuse, direct disrespect that undermines my role as a wife to my husband or mother to my children, it really doesn’t matter how my in-laws treat me. In spite of disrespect in the past and petty exclusion in conversations, I want my in-laws in our life. I didn’t have grandparents growing up and I want my children to have that experience. My husband says these are lessons for when our children grow up, get married and have children. If Ruth had not stayed with Naomi accepted her counsel, she wouldn’t have married Boaz or given birth to Obed. Obed was grandfather to King David, who was ancestor to Joseph, who married Mary, who gave birth to Jesus.
I think these trials have overall been the source of amazing growth for me. If they hadn’t treated me the way they did, I wouldn’t have had to confront the pain, shame, and insecurity of my own past that made me vulnerable to that hurt. I wouldn’t have had to pour out my heart to God, seek His forgiveness for sins that made me insecure in myself to the point that my entire identity rested in my marriage and motherhood, and not in HIM. I realized that I was idolizing family, and that lead to a desperation to belong.
I must draw nearer to God’s word to ward off any insecurity and anxiety created by exposure to my in-laws during the holidays. Because it really isn’t their fault if I feel that way, I have to be secure with myself regardless of them not caring for me. My worth and acceptance comes from Him. We will never be the perfect idea anyone has of us, and thank God for not expecting us to be. Our heavenly Father is a perfect Father, He loves us because He is so good, not because of us. The Jesus-shaped hole in my heart has been filled! I no longer need to try to fill it with the things of this world, including the acceptance of my in-laws. You only need to draw closer to Him, love Him, seek His favor and His will for your life. I hope this helped!
Love,
Eileen
Sowing for Harvest 