Do The Work!

Last week I finished the book Do The Work! by Steven Pressfield.  This is a book a friend loaned me a while ago, but I didn't get around to reading it until just last week.  It is a very quick read, entertaining, and definitely motivational.  It was written to coach you through a project, and the author made several points that really resonated with me.  For example, he says to start a project before you're ready and go on a research diet.  Or, in other words, don't spend forever researching an idea and just go for it.  He says that you can research more later, and even spend your evenings researching- but during prime working time you should be working on your project.

This is something that I definitely struggle with.  I am a reader and a planner, and it is easy for me to spend all my time preparing for something rather than actually doing it.  I think my husband and I balance each other pretty well in this regard.  He definitely goes for it when he decides he's going to do something.  Just in the past year or two he has: changed careers, put up a fence, built a front walkway for our house, started two different businesses, sold his car twice to buy another one, started taking classes again...  I could have easily spent a year just planning for one of those things.  With the fence, for instance, I wanted one for a while, but I was busy comparing options (privacy/wood/metal), prices (pay someone else vs. do it myself, prefab fence panels vs. shipping pallets vs. starting with posts and going from there), watching youtube videos of how to put up a fence...  Once I mentioned my idea to Steven, he went to Lowes and Tractor Supply to compare prices, rented a U-Haul to get the supplies back to our house, bought some materials and started digging fence post holes.  Our fence was completely built about two weeks after he began working on it.

In his book Steven Pressfield also writes about how to overcome resistance and how to not get discouraged by the problems that will inevitably arise (because a problem is just a problem, and problems can be solved).  Finally, he says it is important to finish your project.  Resistance is often the strongest once you get close to the end, but once you finish- whether you succeed or fail- at least you've done what you set out to do!  He writes that when his first movie tanked, "That was when I realized I had become a pro.  I had not yet had a success.  But I had had a real failure."  Failing is sometimes "the price for being in the arena and not on the sidelines" (93).

My favorite paragraph in the book, though, is when he quotes Marianne Williamson on page 89:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

2016 Book Count: 4

Chicken Enchiladas Blancas

Ingredients:

2 tbsp canola oil, plus a little to grease your baking dish
2 onions
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 8oz blocks of cheddar cheese (or substitute monterey jack or pepper jack for one of the blocks!)

2 7oz cans green chilis

1 cup sour cream

1 10oz can of green chili enchilada sauce

6 large flour tortillas
Spices: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, optional- parsley

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the canola oil in a pan on medium heat and add your sliced onion.

Cook the onions until they're turning translucent with brown edges.  Add a good shake of salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.

Add your shredded chicken to the pan.  I already had shredded chicken in my freezer, but I'm guessing the amount I used was about the same as 2 chicken breasts.  If you like a lot of meat in your enchiladas, you could go with 3 chicken breasts.

While your shredded chicken is warming up in the pan, grate all of your cheese.  I happened to have one block of sharp white cheddar and a block of milder orange cheddar, so that's what I used.  But, monterey jack or pepper jack with cheddar would be delicious too!

Then, in a mixing bowl, combine about half of your cheese blend, 1 can of green chilis, and a good amount of chili powder.  I rarely measure my spices, but I probably used about 2 teaspoons.

Mix that together, add your chicken and onions, and mix again!

Now add about 1/2 cup of sour cream and stir that in.  This will be the filling for your enchiladas.

Fill your tortillas with the chicken/cheese mixture, roll them up, and put them in a greased baking dish (I just used a little more canola oil to grease mine) with the seam facing the bottom of the pan.  Having the seam face down helps them to not flop open.

In a new mixing bowl (or just use your first one again so you won't have so many dishes to wash!) combine the other half of your cheese blend, the can of green chili enchilada sauce, the other can of green chilis, 1/2 cup of sour cream, and a little sprinkle of cayenne pepper.  Don't go overboard on the cayenne pepper unless you really like a lot of heat!  If you had any of the chicken mixture left after filling your tortillas, you can also add that to your bowl.  This is going to be the creamy sauce for your enchiladas.

Pour the sauce all over your enchiladas, using a spoon or spatula to spread it out evenly across the surface.  Put it in the oven and bake it at 350 for 30 minutes.

When your enchiladas come out of the oven, you can sprinkle a little parsley on top to make them look fancy (optional).

Serve with arroz rojo and refried beans!

Yum!  With sides, this recipe serves 6 very hungry adults, or 12 adults who exercise portion control.  Ours was gone in two days...

Homemade Refried Beans

Ingredients:

2 cans of pinto beans

1 onion

2 tbsp canola oil

4 oz cheddar cheese

Spices: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Heat the canola oil over medium heat and add a chopped onion and the spices.  I don't measure my spices, but I probably used about a teaspoon of garlic powder and cumin and maybe 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper.  Cook the onions and spices until the onions start to get translucent and brown around the edges.

Drain and rinse the pinto beans and add them to the skillet.  Cook until they're heated through.

Mash the pinto beans and onions with a potato masher.

Grate your cheese and stir about half of it into your beans.  Smooth your beans into an even layer in the skillet, and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Put the skillet in the oven and cook just until the cheese has melted, or for about ten minutes.

Enjoy!

Arroz Rojo (Red Rice)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp canola oil

1 small onion

3 cups long grain white rice (or 4 of those little measuring cups that come with your rice cooker)

8oz can of tomato sauce

~1 box of chicken broth (you won't use the whole box)

Spices: garlic powder, salt, black pepper

Directions:

Finely chop the onion and sauté it in the canola oil over medium heat until it starts to brown.  I also add my spices at this point: a good shake of garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.

Add the rice to your pan and sauté for a few more minutes, just to toast the rice a little.

Add the rice to your rice cooker along with the can of tomato sauce and enough chicken broth to bring your total amount of liquid up to 6 cups (or the 4 mark on your rice cooker).

Close and start your rice cooker, or bring your pot to a boil, cover, and cook according to the directions on your bag of rice.

Fluff the rice with a  fork when it finishes.

Stovetop Hot Chocolate

Since becoming a mom, it has become oooooh so much harder to leave the house.  My old favorite pastime of going to coffee shops to read or work on lesson plans while sipping on a delicious doctored-up coffee, was replaced by going through the line at the drive-though Starbucks about once a week (for a large decaf caramel mocha.. yum!).  The drive-through Starbucks is at least a good 15 minutes out of my way no matter where I'm headed (and I pass several other coffee shops on the way there), but it was worth it for the drive-through!  I didn't want to expose my tiny, sweet baby to any germs that might be hanging out inside crowded coffee shops, not to mention it takes roughly ten minutes to get him in and out of the car with all of his stuff.  Now that I'm also taking care of a friend's baby during the day, there's no way I'll even be going through the drive-through at Starbucks anytime soon.  Luckily, I have a hot chocolate recipe that's even better than a mocha, in my opinion.  There's no coffee in it, but since I was drinking decaf anyway.. that doesn't matter to me.  Here's the recipe:

Stovetop Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I've also used the special dark cocoa powder, and it's delicious!)

1/2 cup white sugar

dash of salt

1/3 cup hot water

4 cups milk

Directions:

Combine the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a pan and whisk it together.  Turn the stove on to medium heat and add the hot water.  Whisk it until it comes to a boil and let it simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn.  After two minutes, you should have a thick chocolate syrup in your pan.  Slowly add 3 1/2 cups of milk, whisking as you go, and let it get really hot but not to a boil.  Pour it into mugs and top off your mugs with that last 1/2 cup of milk to cool it so it's drinkable.  This is enough for 4 small mugs, or 3 large mugs.  It is so good!

I've also made this recipe adding the whole 4 cups of milk to the pan, and then pouring it over frozen whipped topping in my mugs.  Today I made a spicy version by adding a good shake of cinnamon and a smaller dash of cayenne pepper to the pan when I was whisking together the dry ingredients.  If you did want it to taste more like a mocha, I'm thinking you could probably add 1/2 cup of strong hot coffee instead of the hot water.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

Last night I finished reading The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Jago.  This book was a gift from a sweet friend of my husband's when we had our son.  I had been reading him (my son, not my husband..) a story a day for a while, but he was having a hard time falling asleep last night and I ended up reading him the second half of the book in one night.  I love the beautiful illustrations in this book and the way the author ties each of the stories back to Jesus, even stories from the Old Testament.  It's my new favorite children's Bible!

2016 Book Count: 3

Snow Day Hash

It's snowing in Asheville!  We have about 8 inches right now, but it's still coming down!

When it's cold outside and you've been playing in the snow all day, you can't beat a hot, filling meal.  For dinner tonight, I made a hash using some pantry and fridge staples.  Here's the recipe, which is enough for two hungry people plus leftovers:


Ingredients:
3 russet potatoes
3 sweet potatoes
1/2 lb. sausage
1 onion
1 bell pepper (mine was green, but the color doesn't really matter)
1 cup corn
4 eggs
~1/4 cup olive oil (I didn't measure)
Spices: salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, Italian seasoning, garlic powder

Directions:
Peel and cube the russet potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Toss them in olive oil and microwave them on high for about ten minutes, or until fork tender.  Meanwhile, brown the sausage in your skillet.  Drain off any excessive fat, leaving about a tablespoon or so.  Chop up the onion and bell pepper and add them to your sausage.  Add the corn.  Cook everything on medium heat until the onions are transparent and you're starting to get some nice brown color on your vegetables.  When the potatoes finish in the microwave, add your spices to them (a good, hearty shake of each), and toss them around to make sure they're all evenly coated with spices.  Add them to the skillet with your sausage and vegetables.  Then cook your eggs however you prefer (I like them over medium).  Serve the eggs over your hash with another sprinkle of salt and pepper.