Archive | May, 2008

Tomorrow is the day!

18 May

Please pray for Bailey and I as we leave tomorrow for the beach for the whole Summer! It will definitely be a new experience for me, but I am so excited!!!!!

I am going to post as often as I can to keep everyone updated! Love yall!

ooh. and get excited about a really great post coming your way very soon! ;)

A great recipe!

18 May

Bo and I made dinner last night with a Rachael Ray recipe! It was very good so I thought I would share it with yall!

Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Tomato and Basil and Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

Ingredients

* 1 1/2-2 pounds fingerling potatoes or baby red potatoes
* 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
* 1 cubanelle pepper (an Italian mild green pepper), seeded and thinly sliced
* 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
* 4 large cloves garlic, cracked away from skin
* 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided
* 2 cups shredded parmesan cheese, available in tubs near the deli counter at the grocery store – make sure to get shredded cheese, not grated
* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6-8 ounces each)
* Coarse salt and pepper
* 4 Roma tomatoes or small vine-ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
* 15-20 leaves fresh basil, cut or torn into a chiffonade

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 500°F.

Cut fingerling potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on thickness of fingerlings – thin, small fingerlings may also be left whole, while larger potatoes should be quartered to speed cooking process. If you are using small red potatoes, halve or quarter them in the same way.

Cover a large cookie sheet with foil. Place potatoes on the cookie sheet. Combine with peppers, onion, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Coat the potatoes, peppers and onions with EVOO, just enough to coat vegetables in a thin layer, 2-3 tablespoons. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

Place potatoes in the oven and roast for 20-22 minutes, until potatoes are just tender and peppers and onions are crisp at edges. Toss mixture with tongs, turning the potatoes after 15 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, transfer them to a serving dish and peel the foil off the cookie sheet and discard for super-quick clean up!

While potatoes cook, prepare the chicken: roll out a 2-foot piece of waxed paper or foil near the stove top. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat – your pan must be very hot when the chicken is added. Pile the shredded cheese on the work surface created with the waxed paper or foil. Season your chicken breasts with black pepper but no salt; the cheese will add enough salt to the taste of the dish. Press the breasts firmly into the cheese. Coat both sides of breasts with as much cheese as possible.

Add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil to the skillet, one turn of the pan. Set breasts into the skillet and cook for 7 minutes on each side, until cheese forms an even, golden casing around the tender chicken breasts.

While chicken cooks, combine the chopped tomatoes with basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Drain off any excess oil from chicken as you remove it from the skillet. Top chicken with big spoonfuls of raw sauce and serve with potatoes, peppers and onions.

Blog Recap Part 2

14 May

Mother's Day @ Lake

12 May

The Cordle’s and Garlington’s had a great weekend up at the lake in celebration of Mother’s Day…

Tarpley Family Vacation

12 May

We have just gotten back from a week of the beach and the lake. Top ten things I am thankful for that occurred on our adventure:

  1. Lots of fun and laughter- with the Adams (Jeff sister family) family at the beach and the Beer and Hutchens family (My family) at the lake
  2. Mary Joy and John Hayden loving on each other- especially JH sharing his ice cream with his little sis. Lots of Cousins to play with made the vacation that much more fun.
  3. Inside heated swimming pool- praise God for who ever invented it
  4. Romantic Evenings with my man
  5. Reading the book the Shack- God really spoke to me and touched my heart in a cool way. My continual prayer is that I will be able to see people the way God sees people and love the way He loves them (including myself), this book is a part of that journey for me. Oh to love the way He loves- God please do this supernatural work in me!!
  6. Being able to watch a Kite Surfer surf near our condo- Jeff wants to learn how to do this- so it was fun to see it up close
  7. My nausea is beginning to taper- I think I felt the baby for the first time. So exciting
  8. JH and Jeff going to see the Blue Angels they had a blast while MJ and I caught some rays on the beach- MJ looked fabulous in her bathing suit. People would just stop and stare at her cuteness
  9. My husband and my children make me laugh- Jeff and his crazy stories, JH and his obsession with certain things, his own wonderful language,and his desire to watch a fishing video over a disney video- he knows the proper terms for certain baits. Mary Joy’s way of just enjoying life and her ability to charm a complete stranger.
  10. God’s provision and protection for and over my family- The blessings are abundant!

Love, Joy

Happy Mother's Day!

10 May

In honor of Mother’s Day, our great friend Todd has created a video for all you mothers out there…

My Alarm and I

7 May

"Gracious Uncertainty"

6 May

One of my all time favorite devotion books is Oswald Chamber’s  My Utmost for His Highest.  I have many times been quiet convinced that pages have been divinely rearranged depending on certain circumstances I am dealing with.  For instance…one of the days I was out and about in Jackson (see video below) looking for a place to live for the next ‘not sure how many’ months… began with this.

“Gracious Uncertainty”

Our natural way is to always try to forecast accurately what will happen next and we look at uncertainty as a bad thing.  But when we allow God to be our Source we can be certain in our uncertainty.  To be certain of God means that as we may not know what tomorrow may bring…instead of sighing with discontent it should be with an expression of breathless expectation.
As soon as we abandon ourselves to God, He begins to fill our lives with surprises.  When we can let go and just Trust Him, our life can be full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.

May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

WOW!

mom

Watch out OVC!

6 May

This morning Janele was on her way back to J’Ville and she heard on the radio a bunch of talk about a new quarterback that Coach Crow (JSU’s head football coach) is thinking about recruiting. Turns out that this is a huge controversy because the guy is Ryan Perrilloux, LSU’s former starting Quarterback from the national championship winning team. Ryan got kicked off the team for drugs, cheating, and a bar fight. He will fit right in with the local residents at Jacksonville Place. I just got off the phone with Skylar, who was JSU’s starting QB. I asked him what the team thought about this and he said that they didn’t care cause all they want is a championship ring. This guy is seriously downgrading! From SEC to OVC!!! (Bet you don’t know what OVC stands for) When I first heard that we are playing Georgia Tech, I laughed… But NOW I think we might have a chance. GO COCKS!

I'm Done!!!

6 May

Yesterday at 2PM I took last exam for my Freshmen year! Mom, Bo, and I packed up my dorm room and I said my goodbyes and headed home! I did well on all of my exams so I was very excited!

I am now at home and Mom and I are going to be getting things done that need to be done before I leave for the beach.

Well. I have to go unpack the car now. ENJOY this beautiful day!