Super simple, healthy, easy Tomato Basil Soup!

Last Christmas my mom gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received. With it being a few months away from my getting married, my mom made me a recipe book. She put pictures of me when I was younger with my siblings, and sweet sayings and quotes about daughters. She had put together a bunch of her recipes for dishes that she knew I liked. Her recipe for Tomoato Basil Soup was included, and I thought I'd share it with everyone. This is a VERY easy recipe, inexpensive to make, healthy, and really really yummy.

Puree a 28 oz can of tomatos in a blender or food processor.
Add:
- about 3-4 cloves of garlic (or a couple Tablespoons of garlic powder.)
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons of melted butter or margerine.
- about 6 Basil leaves

Blend all that together again, and serve hot. I like to sprinkle a little parmasean cheese in it as well, but that's optional.

This soup takes maybe 5 minutes to make, and has a very clean and fresh taste to it. I like to serve it with homemade bread or Garlic Thyme Buiscuits. Enjoy!

Make your own Yogurt!

My wonderful hubby is an avid runner, and is often likes to make a yogurt smoothie after a run in order to recover some energy. That being said, we go through a lot of yogurt fairly quickly. His coworker gave us a recipe for making our own yogurt at home. This is a very easy and inexpensive thing to do, and saves us money because we can make it in bulk.

Things needed for recipe:

- half a gallon of milk (whole milk will make the best yogurt)
- 5-6 Tablespoons of yogurt with live active cultures (buy a cup of yogurt the first time you make it, but after your first batch, you can just save a little bit of it for the next one. You'll never have to buy yogurt again!)

First, heat a 1/2 gallon of milk on the stove top until it is just about to boil. If it starts to foam a little on the sides, it's ready.

Then, strain the milk into a large pirax dish and let it cool until it is comfortable enough to stick your finger in for about 20 seconds.

Put in 5-6 Tablespoons of yogurt with live active cultures (it will say if it has them on the back of the yogurt container) and mix well.

Put a lid on the container and wrap it up with a few heavy towels. Let it sit undisturbed for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, unwrap it and place it in the 'fridge with the lid on for another day and a half.

Enjoy!

If you want to make it again later, set aside 5-6 tablespoons of the homemade yogurt into a jar and keep in the refridgerator for next time.

I ate it this morning for breakfast with wheat germ, flax seed, honey, and homemade jam. Yum!

So many unknowns

Well, there's been a lot going on right now. Ryan and I were married on June 5th, 2010 at 2:00 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful ceremony, and we couldn't be happier together. We've been settling in and getting the proper paperwork taken care of to change my name. Things are just now starting to settle down a bit.
It's been a bit of a struggle for me lately, though, because we're in a sort of limbo phase right now. I'm in the process of looking for a job, and we're trying to figure out where we will live when our lease is up in 6 months. Because we live in an income restricted apartment, as soon as I get a job we'll no longer qualify to live here. We've been looking around for some possible apartment contenders, but it's a little difficult to search for an apartment when you don't exactely know how much you'll be making at the time of renting.
We've seen this one apartment we really like, but we won't be able to afford it unless I get this job that I'm in the process of being interviewed for. Everything's looking pretty good so far. They've interviewed me twice, and they are checking my references right now. It's just so nerve-racking because I feel like a lot depends on my getting this job. Ryan's been so wonderful with trying to calm my nerves about this job, and trying to help me see that if this job falls through that there will be another job. He's been a big support and is helping me to stay grounded. We'll see what happens with the job and apartment situation. I'm trying to remember to trust God and hold to His promise that He will always be with us and provide for us. I just have to be patient right now and try not to go insane!

The day before the wedding...

Tomorrow at 2:00 in the afternoon, my life will change forever. In just a few hours, I will be walking down the aisle to Ryan, and we will be joined as husband and wife. I can't even believe this day has come. I never expected to meet someone with as beautiful a heart as Ryan's. He's my best friend in the whole world, and I'm so in love with him. You know you've met "the one" when they know who you really are, and they still love you anyway.

This morning I finished putting some final touches on my vows. As I read them and imagined what it will be like to utter these very words to Ryan tomorrow, I started to well up with tears. What an amazing man he is. I know he would probably feel a little embarressed by my saying so, but he's the most amazing person I've ever met, and I am so very thankful to be marrying the love of my life and my best friend. What a wonderful gift from God. It's always been my contention that the love between two people is an illustration of the way God loves us. Ryan has given me a new understanding of how deep the Father's love for us is. His love is the kind that is present, even when you're in a bad mood. Even in times of irritation and aggravation His love is strong. His love is the kind that misses you even before you've left. How blessed we are as a Creation to have a God that loves us with such a forgiving and unconditional love. I am so thankful to Him for that love, and for showing it to me in a new way through Ryan.

Truths of Adulthood

In the Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin comes up with 12 pieces of wisdom that she calls "The Truths of Adulthood." Basically, these are things she has come to realize as she has gotten older. Last night, I started scribbling down some of my own truths of adulthood and this is what I came up with:

- It's normal and ok to fail.
- People don't notice your mistakes as much as you do.
- The greatest joy comes from giving others hope and reassurance.
- You're always more loved than you realize.
- Your abilities are stronger than you know.
- At the end of the day, it's not as big of a deal as you think.
- It's the little things that make the biggest impact.
- You still have more to learn.
- You're not right nearly as much of the time as you think.
- A nurturing spirit is a healing spirit.
- Complaints breed contempt, a thankful word breeds appreciation.
- Giving advice isn't as important as a listening ear.

These are things I struggle to practice sometimes, but I firmly believe they're true. What are your truths of adulthood? Try scribbling some down. Once you get started, you'll be surprised to see what comes out.

The Happiness Project

At the recommendation of my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and aunt (in-law?) I started reading this book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It's a book that Rubin wrote to document an experiment in which she tried doing little things differently in her life in order to increase her level of happiness. At first, I was a little skeptical. I thought, "Happiness is an extreme in some ways, and I doubt someone can just 'decide' to be happier and actually succeed at it." Before you take me for a morose person, let me say that I do believe in happiness; I just never really saw it as something one could just achieve at whim. I partly didn't want to read the book, but I gave it a try.

I'm only into the first chapter (I read the preface too,) and I'm actually quite impressed with the book. This woman isn't trying to reach a new level of joy or be in a constant state of euphoria; she's just making small changes in her daily routine that impact her mood for the better. For instance, part of her happiness project is to declutter her apartment, get more sleep and exercise, read more, etc. She finds that these little things give her more energy and greater self-esteem. She also notices herself able to wake up easier in the morning, get more work done, is more patient with her children, and feel more organized.

I can really appreciate that these small things that she impliments into her life make a noticeable impact on her mood. I think that it's easy for me to forget that sometimes it's the little things that can make a big difference. This book has inspired me to start thinking about the little things more, and explore what I can do to better my overall attitude and outlook.

writing our own vows

I actually started writing my vows several months ago. I think maybe a few weeks after we got engaged. I know it was a little soon to start writing them, but the vows have been one of the things I'm looking forward to the most for our wedding. When you're younger and you think about your wedding, lots of times you think about the dress you'll wear, the flowers, the music, etc. I gave those things some thought, but I always thought the most about the vows. I've always known I would write my own vows, because it seems way too personal to have someone else write them for you.
So, I've had my vows written down for a while, but I keep going back to them and wanting to change them. I read through them several times, and then I don't altar them at all. This has been the cycle for a little bit. I want to be able to communicate how much Ryan means to me, but it's difficult to do. Sometimes words just come up short.
So I'll continue to think about how I can improve my vows, knowing that no matter what, I'll never be able to tell him what he has brought into my life, and what I hope to bring into his.