A Recipe, the New Book Study, and ...

I tried out a new recipe this week and the family really liked it...Jackson ate all of his and said "Mommy this is very good!" (he never says this...even when I make chicken nuggets so that made me happy that he liked it) My other test is Jason...now he will eat anything I make, but I can tell if it is a keeper recipe 2 ways: 1. if he gets seconds (which he did) and 2. if he says to make it again (which he did)
So I thought I would share it with my blog friends and let you try it out (if you would like)

Here is the recipe...***This is the recipe as it is printed in the book. I added to it a bit but I thought I would share the original recipe with you then I will share my additions***

SAUCY PORK CHOPS
5-6 center cut pork chops
3 TBSP oil
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, cut in strips
8 oz can tomato sauce
3-4 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

My additions:
Seasoned Salt
Garlic Garlic (both of these are TS products)
1 can diced tomatoes
then added more brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and Worcestershire sauce


The ingredients...ready to get started


Heat oil in a skillet and brown the pork chops on both sides. Here is where I made an addition. I sprinkled seasoned salt and garlic garlic on the chops to give them extra flavor.


Cut up the onion and bell pepper into strips.


In a mixing bowl put tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and Worcestershire sauce and mix all together.


Place pork chops in crock pot.


Put onion and pepper strips on top of the pork chops.


Pour liquid mix over pork chops.
***This is where I made another addition...I did not think there was enough sauce in the pot. We like a lot of sauce especially if we are going to serve it over noodles or rice (which we served over rice)


I did not have another can of tomato sauce but I did have diced tomatoes so I decided to improvise.
I used a can of diced tomatoes then added the brown sugar, vinegar, salt and Worcestershire sauce (all with the same measurements as listed above)
Pour this mix over the chops
***Again this is my addition so if you do not like a lot of sauce, then stick with the original recipe
I know it looks a little "soupy" in the picture, but it did cook down.
Cook on low 6-8 hours and serve over rice

Enjoy the recipe and let me know what you think!


And on another note...
Some of you may remember that I just finished up a book study (in December) on the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. This week we started another book study "Forgotten God" also by Chan. I have been so excited (and a little scared) for this study to start. I know your thinking how can you be excited and scared? Because I do not know much about the Holy Spirit and that is what this book is about. I am excited to learn more about the Holy Spirit.



I am sure we all have some preconceived ideas about the Holy Spirit...people running up and down the church aisle, speaking in a strange language, radical (yea, I have already been asked by someone who saw me reading this book if it was "radical") etc... so that is why I am so excited about this book and I pray that I come away with a better understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and that I build my relationship with Him. So far I have only read the intro and Ch 1 and we have had one meeting and I can already say that I am learning so much...which is good...we all need head knowledge, but its the heart knowledge that is important too. So as I am reading and learning and listening, I am praying for it to "sink in" to change me and grow me. As I went through Ch. 1 some things that stood out to me are:
I need to ask the Holy Spirit to make the scriptures living and active to me.
I need to continuously re-examine my faith (take what I am taught and examine it)
I need to make myself a place of dwelling for the Holy Spirit
and one of my fave excerpts from the book:
"I am tired of living in a way that looks exactly like people who do not have the Holy Spirit of God living in them. I want to consistently live with an awareness of His strength. I want to be different today from what I was yesterday as the fruit of the Spirit becomes more manifest in me. I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit's leading on a daily basis. Christ said it is better for us that the Spirit came, and I want to live like I know that is true. I don't want to keep crawling when I have to ability to fly."

So there are my thoughts so far after Ch. 1...maybe I will recap my thoughts after each Ch. =)


Now for the "AND"

I will say that we are now more certain that J will begin Deployment #3 later this year. We received word to start preparing for it (we were given the time frame for the deployment but I will not share that here). Please explain to me how to prepare for something that is several months off. I liked it better in our 1st deployment when we only had 2 weeks notice...much easier (in my opinion) You get the news and you deal with it...no time for lagging and dwelling...but again it is just my opinion and well, no one has called me and asked what I thought so I will stop venting about it. HA!
We have not and will not share anything with the kids until right before time. There is no sense in putting this on them especially since they do not grasp time right now. So, like I said before, please do not mention anything to them or around them. Thank you for understanding that.
So many people have asked how to pray for us. I can say that my prayers have seemed so scattered lately. I guess I am praying in the moments...praying that I will have a better attitude about it. (because just being honest here, I have not been handling the news too well) Praying for J as he faces missing another year of his children's lives. Praying for us as a family to make the most of the time we do have left together. and Praying for my marriage to remain strong.

Whew...I think I am done for now. I know this post has been really long and probably should have been 3 separate posts...but...I just combined it all in one. (sorry)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Jessica