With a New Year....A Refreshed Focus

   I've already found the beginning hours of 2011 to be surprisingly reflective.  To sum up the events, emotions, memories of 2010 would be nearly impossible.  Overall, many hear-breaking circumstances have transformed to renewed hope.  Even with this breath of fresh life, healing hearts, I recognize that life never makes itself....PERFECT.  I also believe that what is really PERFECT is the PERFECTION that trials and hardships bring.
   In these infant hours of a new year, I've reflected on the reality of who I really am.  I'm committed to really plant my heart and soul into what I TRULY believe in.  More and more lately, I've reflected on the fact that were given one life.  What do I want to accomplish with this life?
   And it is fine to keep mulling over this question of one's purpose in life, but it is ENTIRELY different to ACT upon it....to really SEEK and MOVE towards living life with purpose. 

  I've reflected again on the need to simplify....to find that FOCUS on what's most important in life.  We can say it, but do we mean it.  It's easy to say God, my family, integrity at work, being a solid, dependable friend are my priorities, but are they really?  And again, I can sit and ponder how I am and am not REALLY reflecting these proposed priorities, but am I really doing anything about them?

  I think the larger urgency/"call to action" is to stop pondering and dissecting every morsel of the past.  There comes a time to transcend pain, transcend hurt, to look above, to simply trust, to simply trust, to SIMPLY TRUST God.

  I have often thought about what I feed into my heart and soul.....what is informing me, guiding me.  There comes a point where I cannot EMBRACE every ideology.  And I believe that recently I have really been swayed by consumerism...by what will "supposedly make my life easier....better".  I have always looked ahead to the future, the NEXT BIG EVENT...again my spirit and heart have been nudged to consider the wonder and greatness of the simplicity of today.

  May this be a remarkable year where I'm swayed by the right guidance. May the focus be straightforward, heading the direction always intended for me....."Brothers, I do not consider myself to have embraced it yet. But this one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead....." Phillipians 3:13.

Moving Beyond Frozen

Well, it is the second snow day in a row, so I have some of that elusive "free time".  I always find a rich irony in the fact that I teach reading and writing, encourage students to write whenever they can, and I've taken courses on writing "blogs and wikis", but when I look at the last entry, it's from nearly nine months ago.
   It's 10 degrees out right now and the wind is really stirring up the now that fell on Sunday and late last night.  Once again, we're in the midst of the busy holiday season.  All of our kids are fully into the "magic" and "wonder" of the season. We've been observing Advent with a calendar, minus the chocolates, each night.  Each door reveals a section of Scripture, mainly Luke 2 snippets.  It's been really cool to spend a few minutes discussing the magnificent importance of Jesus' arrival over 2,000 years ago.  At 36, I'm still trying to fathom the huge significance of God coming down to our human planet.

We had a visit from Santa at my brother Jon's house. It's become an annual tradition, although Santa was sick last year and only Mrs. Claus was able to stop by.  Watching the wonder and childlike innocence thaws the maturity of my own heart and reminds me of the fun of being a kid during the holidays. It was really sweet watching Logan, Scout, Quaid and Sawyer interact with Santa.

I've been thinking much about goals and dreams, God-given visions.  I was looking at the ministry of Josh Seller in Ontario...seeing all of the great and creative things he is doing for the kingdom.  Heading over to Jars of Clay's website,  I see how they have finished the building of their 1,000 clean water well in Africa.  Reading Max Lucado's OUTLIVE YOUR LIFE, I've been considering what legacy I'm leaving. 
  SELFISHNESS--While I'll write this, I certainly have not mastered it...."I'm pretty selfish."  Even in my daily procedures and choices, I realize that I'm pretty concerned about my own needs and desires.  I don't want my selfishness to dictate the type of legacy I leave behind. How often I'm focused on my own entertainment, what sounds good to eat....and I realize that there are GREATER things to devote my money, time, and dreams too.  Even directing the drama club at my school has been a consideration lately.  What is the LEGACY I'm leaving behind with the drama group?  I know the "greater good" that CAN come from directing this group, but is it really happening?  There have been shows that I felt really made a connection/impact to the audience and to the cast and crew (ANNE FRANK, LEAVING IOWA), and I'm NOT against entertaining for entertainment's sake.  Still, I worry that I'm going after what I THINK is my life's purpose and NOT God's.  Theater is great, but there are people hungry, hurting, and aching for God. Am I doing what GOD WANTS me to do??
  And I've thought a great deal about "spinning my tires in the frozen slush of life".  I feel a little bit like I"m lacking VISION, so I'm praying that God gives me a clear vision.  I don't want to just meander through life.  I know that legacy living HAS TO BE MORE than just wishing, dreaming, or talking about it....it's about living it out today. 

50 NEW Recipes In 2010- #6 Olive Garden's Homemade Alfredo Sauce with Chicken

My Grandma Russell always did an odd thing when went to restaurants of a "finer dining". Usually, and I cannot recall at this moment exactly where, these restaurants would feature a little bit of parsley next to the entree.  While conventional approaches to this garnish would be to simply admire its "decor" on the plate, my Grandma would snatch up everyone's parsley, wrap it in a napkin, and place it in her purse.  I don't recall totally why.  It may have been simply to provide a garnish on her own plate. 

Tonight, I returned to my cookbook, America's Most Wanted Recipes, and found myself cutting up that one green garnish my grandma loved to snatch off the table...Parsley.  The parsley mattered very little in the grander scheme of things because my past experiences with sauces that involve melting cheese into them has not always been great.  I've made a few nacho cheese sauces and sauces for homemade Macaroni and Cheese that were more reminiscent of sawdust gravy than anything remotely I was attempting. 
   And tonight's cheese ingredients were not in the usual McCulloch family dining budget.  Last night, while my wife was perusing the bread at Meijer's, I snuck in a a little bar of Romano cheese.  Romano is NOT a cheese that sits next to the American cheese slices that we use for grilled cheese sandwiches.  I found the Romano in the "expensive cheese section" near the deli.  This little wedge of Romano cost me $6.24.  For the McCulloch budget, this is expensive.  The alfredo sauce also included Romano, Parmesan, heavy cream (my first time working with "HEAVY" cream), milk, egg yolk, garlic powder. 

   I didn't double check the amount of cheese to be put in, so instead of putting a 1/2 cup EACH of Parmesan and Romano, I put in a FULL cup EACH.  So the kids and Amber got to have a little "cheesier" version of the sauce.
   One of the BEST parts of making dinner tonight was getting help from my "little chef" Logan.  Usually, Scout is the only one that I can tempt into the kitchen to help me.  She LOVE helping me, and surprisingly, she never surfaced the whole time Logan helped me.  Logan grated cheese, turned over the grilled chicken. mixed ingredients, used the colander to strain the angel hair noodles, and peeled the potatoes.  It was a great time just having him there to help, and he was very, very eager to be my assistant (Of course, he has my dominant personality.)  I loved it.
  So recipe #6 I'm reporting on was a HUGE success and enjoyed by everyone....Homemade Alfredo Sauce over Angel Hair noodles with breaded chicken...yummmmmm!

50 NEW Recipes In 2010- #4 Applebee's Chicken Grande Quesadilla and #5 Chili's Salsa

Again, catching up here....last Tuesday (March 9), I began cooking out of a new little cookbook I bought from Barnes and Nobles, America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family's Favorite Restaurants.  In this book, you can find "copycat" recipes that claim to have broken the sacred, secret codes of famous recipes from national food chains, like Chilis, Outback, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Applebees. There are countless books out there that cover this topic, and it occurred to me tonight that I have actually gotten many of these types of recipes from online sources.  I could have saved myself a little bit of money.
   Having been out of the kitchen for nearly two weeks due to Tech Week rehearsals at the East China PAC for TO  KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, I went a little crazy in the kitchen that night.  Not only did I help my little daughter, Scout, make cupcakes for her First grade class, but I also made three new entrees.  Two of those are featured in this blog (#4 and #5 for my yearly challenge), and the third will be in the next one.
     Having not a great deal of time to round up supplies from our local Krogers, I was limited in what I could take on for my first slew of recipes.  Also, I did not want to make anything that would have long prep times.  We usually eat between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. due to the fact that our children usually go to bed by 7:30 p.m.  With all of this into consideration, I decided to tackle Applebee's Chicken Grande Quesadilla and Chili's Salsa.  I am a huge fan of Chili's salsa, and I discovered that it probably has more to do with how fresh their chips are when eating their salsa than just the salsa.  The salsa has a great deal of canned tomatoes that are pureed.  Also, I got to add "cumin" to the salsa as well as diced jalepenos (which were a suprising part of the supposed recipe).  I fired up my Ninja food processor I received this past Christmas, and I was very happy with how the salsa came out and seems to be very much like the original Chili's salsa (except without the awesome, salty, deep-fried chips).
    I have made quesadillas many times before.  They are a quick dinner at the McCulloch ranch, but I have never followed such an extensive recipe.  Diced tomatoes, jalepenos, bacon (which I cooked and crumbled fresh for this dish), grilled chicken, and then came the interesting ingredient (among others)....chipotle sauce. Once again I found how much I wished I was closer to a Meijers or even Super Walmart, as finding a bottle of Chipotle sauce became a quest of its own at Krogers.  I DID find some, but I'm not sure if it is ACTUALLY authentic chipotle sauce. The bottle claims to have something to do with buffalo wing sauce, but much of the wordage on the bottle is in Spanish.  I assumed I found what I needed.  The chipotle (buffalo?) sauce coats the flour tortilla. 
   It was very cool making and eating both new additions to the McCulloch canon of recipes.  My kids stuck with the simple chicken and cheese jalepenos, while Amber and I struggled to put down the monstrous (due to the fact that you use 12" shells filled with a ton of ingredient) quesadillas.  Very, very yummy.  I'm anxious to try more of these "secret" recipes this week!!

50 NEW Recipes In 2010- #3 London Fog (Earl Grey Latte)

So when you are directing a high school theater production of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, attempting to be a teacher, husband and father of four children, AND taking an online class, you just don't find much time to cook, let alone, post anything on your blog to show what you have cooked.

  Despite being away from my tiny little kitchen due to two weeks of tech on TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, I have managed in the past months to occassionally put together something new in my kitchen, in addition to the regular dishes I like to rotate.  So Starbucks has this amazing tea latte I stumbled upon one morning at our local Meijers over a year ago.  It's called the LONDON FOG.  I might have even had it first when hanging out with friends over the 2008 Christmas break.  It is not a permanent part of their drink menu, but I have yet, over the past year, to run into a barista at Starbucks that cannot make this sweet, vanilla drink. 
   Basically it is Earl Grey tea, which my Grandma Russell raised me on, with vanilla syrup and steamed, frothy milk.  Not having purchased an espresso maker or milk steamer/frother, I have to follow these "old school" instructions of making my own frothy, steamed milk....microwave for a minute and then whisk in a bowl until frothy. 
   While the drink is NOT quite up to Starbucks standards, my wife and I have enjoyed these sweet little tea drinks a few times.  A milk frother or steamer is on my "wish list."  You'll note that we also made cinnamon rolls to go with this batch of "frothy" London Fog.  I just like the word "frothy."

50 NEW Recipes In 2010- #2 Stuffed Chicken Breast

I must be really craving ricotta cheese this week because I tried a SECOND recipe this week that had ricotta cheese as one of its main ingredients. This one did NOT take as long as the lasagna recipe from Monday night. The only thing that baffled me with this one was creating the "pockets" for the ricotta, sun-dried tomatoe, basil, and garlic stuffing. It was really quite a simple little recipe.

I know Amber and Michelle, my sister-in-law, appreciated the lower calorie dish. Scout liked it, and my three boys were unsure. Of course, Logan doused his in Italian dressing (Ketchup was not an option this time for him.)

This recipe also came from the February 2010 Family Circle magazine. I will do this one again also. I just need to get my paring knife skills down.

50 NEW Recipes 2010- #1 Homemade Lasagna

On Monday night, I decided to make my first batch of lasagna from a recipe (this link omits that the meat can be a mix of veal, pork, and ground beef) in the February 2010 issue of Family Circle. I failed to look at how the recipe laid out how much time ACTUALLY is needed to prep and cook (Hey, I'm a guy. What do you expect?). Normally, my kids and I eat at 5:00/5:30 p.m. at the latest. By the time I spent three plus hours prepping, cooking, and baking, it was nearly 7:00 p.m., and my kids' bedtime is at 7:30 p.m.

Well, it was definitely worth the wait. Thanks to the aid of my brother, Joe, I was able to move things along in the kitchen. It was very yummy lasagna. While it had a great deal of meat, using more italian sausage (I used Bob Evans) than ground beef made it not "quite" as heavy. The sauce is made from a combination of tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, sauteed onions and garlic, and fresh basil. I served this with a fresh spinach and cherry tomatoe salad.

I will definitely make this again.