Whiskey... I mean... Scotch Sauce.

I hate those months where on pay day you're already counting the days to the next paycheck knowing this one isn't going to cover all the days in between. That's what February is going to be for me. If I stick to the extremely tight budget I've set for myself I'll only be short $25 by the end of the month (luckily it's a short month). Well... really $75, but I'll be asking my Community Group to sponsor $50 of expenses I have for an upcoming mission trip. I'm trusting they'll provide that expense.

It begins. The creative meals of what's in the pantry, freezer and fridge. Sometimes these prove to be the best meals ever! Example: last night's Chicken in Creamy Whiskey Sauce. So good I nearly licked the pan!

I loosely (very loosely followed this recipe).

3 chicken breasts
lots of garlic (I love garlic)
olive oil
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
1/2c. heavy cream
1/4c. skim milk
1/4c. chicken broth
2 Tbs. Scotch
italian seasoning
salt
pepper
brussel sprouts

heat a good amount (1 Tbs maybe) of olive oil on low with a few cloves of garlic. Let the oil absorb the loveliness of the garlic. Add chicken to brown. Flip once. Add brussel sprouts. bake in 350 oven for about 30-45 minutes until Chicken reaches 170 degrees. remove from pan.

Using the same pan melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes until bubbly. remove from heat while you add cream, milk, broth, and whiskey. Return to heat and allow it to thicken, stirring constantly. Add spices to taste.

Add the chicken and brussel sprouts back in and allow to warm up in the sauce before you enjoy the amazingness you just created!!

Things I'd change next time:
I wouldn't use brussel sprouts. They were okay, but didn't add anything. I've been experimenting a little with them since I discovered how much I love them roasted. This isn't their place to shine.

I'm thinking I'd thin this sauce a tad bit with more broth, cut up the chicken, add steamed broccoli and toss in some whole wheat pasta... oh man that makes my mouth water just thinking about it!!!

Quickly forgotten.

I'm amazed at how quickly I can forget amazing truth taught to me by God. How in the world do I let the words God has spoken to me so quickly leave my mind and focus?! What a retched person I am! That I would listen and proclaim boldly what God has said and then forget so quickly.

God is so gracious to me. He spoke loudly and boldly too me just a few days ago. Yet, the past two days of my life you wouldn't know it. Then, when I realize what I've done, my solution is to put it back into my hands. "Well... this isn't working. I need to join Weight Watchers to get back on track."

How about repenting and turning my gaze back onto God?!

Extreme measures.

Once a month my community group hosts an open door dinner. It's a time to welcome anyone and everyone into a home for a tasty meal, watch the game, play some games, and/or just share some stories and laughs. I love them.

This month I decided to get crazy and bake a pecan pie inside a chocolate cake. I saw this and couldn't resist. However... mine turned out more like this...

My guess is the oven was too hot and baked the outside while leaving the cake inside completely unbaked. It looked sooo great until I turned it onto a wire rack to cool and the thing just deflated. It was sad for two reason... the yumminess that was sure to ensue and the wasting of so much money! Pecans are expensive.

Now I had less than an hour before I had to leave and nothing to take with me. Luckily I still had a pie crust and enough pecans to make another pie. But, not just any pie... a bourbon pecan pie! Yes, BOURBON! It's my new favorite. Every pecan pie from now on will include bourbon. AMAZING!

Of course, I brought back over half of it from open door dinner. So there sat an amazing pecan pie (my favorite) sitting on my kitchen table. I was determined to not eat a piece on Monday. I left the thing sitting there as I went off to work. But, low and behold, it was still there when I returned. Finally a stroke of brilliance occurred to me.

See, I live alone, which makes accountability when it comes to food a little difficult. However, this time I took a picture of the glorious pie and sent it to two friends saying "I'm only sending this to you to prove later that I did not eat any of it." Later that night they received this...

I included the ipad time just so they knew I didn't cheat and send the same picture.

This week I've learned to take extreme measures. Who cares if you have to send a picture of what you eat to a friend? If they are walking through life with you, they will be honored to get to help you and keep you accountable to what God is calling you too. Who cares if you have to shut the door to your kitchen and put up a sign...

Who cares if you have to journal every single morning telling yourself and God that "Christ will be honored in my body." Who cares if you have to put little prayer notes on your refrigerator as reminders to go to God and not food for comfort... 

Who cares if you have to take extreme measures...God cares. He cares that I honor him with my body. He cares that I find my lasting and true comfort and satisfaction from Him. He cares that I am sustained by His daily bread and not literal bread. By whatever means possible, I will glorify God and Honor Christ with my body.

Evaluate.

Another year has come and gone. Of course this makes me think back over the last year and evaluate what my goals were and how I stewarded my 365 days of 2011. Thanks to this handy dandy blog I can see exactly what I wanted to do...

1. Lose 111 pounds.
2. Never leave the apartment w/o doing hair, makeup, and coordinating outfit (workouts and grocery store runs do not count).
3. Make my bed every day.
4. Use mint.com to keep my budget in check.
5. Give more sacrificially.


Well... 


Okay... not great, but not horrible. 


1. I am far from losing 111 pounds. I did manage to lose about 40 pounds last year... for that I will rejoice. What I've learned. Weight loss has nothing to do with diet and exercise. Okay... it does, but really it has everything to do with submitting to Jesus. I could see last year how I was successful (I honestly lost the first 40 pounds in the first few months and was right on track with my goal). Something happened though. I began thinking I could do this. I began thinking I was doing this. And, I did in fact lose weight that I should be proud of, but what really happened was the power of God moved through me and empowered me to lose weight. I took my eyes off of Jesus and onto MY accomplishments which should never happen! Here's to a healthy 2012 with my eyes on Jesus and off counting points!


2. I think I actually may have done this! I can't really remember not leaving the apt without actually making myself look half way put together. I'll call this ACCOMPLISHED!


3. ACCOMPLISHED!! 


4. Yea... I stopped using mint.com in March probably. I still haven't figured out how to budget well... I used to do this really well when I got paid twice a month. I know my schedule about that far out and can predict when I'll need to eat out, what parties I'll need to bring something too, and who is sick and needs a meal. How do you plan for that when it so often is unpredictable. Money has been really tight, as in the past few months I haven't been able to make ends meet. Praise Jesus we got Christmas bonuses this year because that helped me get square at the end of the year. I really need either a raise or a part-time job. 


5. I have no clue. I'm not sure how to measure this. My giving has been consistant and never changed from my original upping that I did in January. And, because of my current financial state, I don't see how I can give more than I am right now. So, I guess ACCOMPLISHED!


3 out of 5 ain't bad... right?!