Foody Friday - Avocado Stuffed Pork Chops

If you got past the name of today's post then I applaud you. I admit avocado isn't for everyone and I was the only one who ate this dish (and loved it!) but if you like guacamole I think this would be a fun recipe to try and play around with. 

Avocado Stuffed Pork Chops

6 - 1in. thick pork loin chops

1 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

1 mahed avocado

2 T lemon juice

2 T butter

3 cloves garlic

1 diced avocado

1/4 c. flour

2 T butter

1 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 350. Cut a deep pocket into the side of the chops and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. In bowl, combine mashed avocado, lemon juice, butter and garlic and mix well. Stir in diced avocado. Using a small spoon, fill pockets of chops with this mix. Secure with toothpick and sprinkle chops with flour on both sides. 

Melt butter with olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add chops and brown on both sides. Transfer to oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Let stand for five minutes then serve. 

I thought this buttery and melt in your mouth. I probably would have cut the garlic in half though, it was just a bit much for my taste. I think stuffing the chop with guacamole would be great too! What other variations should I try? If you make this I'd love to know what you thought. 

Our Gingerbread House Tradition

We had a pretty busy weekend! 

First a tumbleweed snowman then meeting Santa (and the realization that I no longer have babies!) and finally we finished our weekend with our third year of making gingerbread houses. 

Each Halloween I rummage through the kids' trick or treat candy, eat all the chocolate (kinda kidding) then freeze about half of it for decorating gingerbread houses. 

The first year I did this I thought I could stick the house together with frosting..WRONG! It fell apart. So since then I hot glue the houses together first. What a lifesaver! 

I don't decorate one just the kids. 

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite holiday traditions.

I just love to watch my kids be creative. 

Yahoo was going to join us that day but her nap got all screwed up and she woke up late. 

Not that she would have actually decorated anything; once she came to the table she didn't do much but eat candy! 

This year we invited a "grandma" from church to come help us. She only has one grandchild who's in college so we thought we could all enjoy decorating houses together. 

I think she had a lot of fun. I think she talked and played with us more than she decorated! 

And thanks Aunt Jewel for the gingerbread man kit! They turned out very neat! 

Yip even made a Frankenstein cookie. Can you pick it out? 

Hint; it's the one with the green face. 

A lot of people have been blogging about their holiday traditions; 

(read about Sarah and her family's Cookie Day...a tradition of 32 years!) 

We have one or two more holiday traditions I may get a chance to share with you. But I want to know what kind of traditions your family has? What special holiday activity do you look forward to sharing with your family every year? 

Meeting Santa!!

Santa came to town this weekend. 

Ummm, sorry Santa but I'm afraid that me little boys might just break your leg sitting there. I mean, dang, Yip must weigh 100 lbs! Okay, maybe not quite 100 lbs. but I sure can't pick those boys up anymore! 

And just when did my boys get so tall? Some days I could swear that Yap is nothing but legs. 

Sorry but I'm still thinking they should look like this...

It took a bit of convincing but Yahoo finally sat on Santa's lap too. 

Nope, that can't be Yahoo. 

I'm just sure just yesterday she looked like this...

Dear Santa, 

for Christmas this year I just want them to stay little...a little bit longer. 

Our Tumbleweed Snowman

Yip and I finally did it yesterday; we made our tumbleweed snowman. I doubt will get enough snow this winter for a snowball much less a snowman!

It was kind of poky and my fingers have some splinters.

It sure didn't take long either. Of course probably the biggest challenge was finding a pole long enough to go through three tumbleweeds. Maybe they won't blow away now.

Pipe cleaners were perfect for eyes, nose and mouth but Yip and I are at a loss for what to do for a hat....any suggestions?

Sunday Devotions - Don't Ask These Questions at Christmas!!!

There was a certain man whose name was Elkanah. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD at Shiloh. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” 

“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”  

taken from 1Samuel 1:1-17

I chose a rather long Bible passage for today's devotion but bear with me because today's devotion is rather different than normal. 

I didn't get married until I was 27 years old. I didn't plan on waiting that long before I met and married my husband but it just worked out that way. For most of my twenties holidays and family get togethers were NOT something I looked forward to because inevitably I was faced with the questions, "Are you dating anyone?" or "When are you going to get married?" I figured the day a relative asked me if I was a lesbian was the day that I stopped going to family get togethers. 

It wasn't that I WANTED to be alone all those years. It hurt. I was full of anger and grief when I saw one of my sisters or cousins happy with their boyfriend/fiance/husband. Why couldn't I have that? I was miserable and darn, WHY did my family keeping having to remind me of my horrible lot in life by bringing up those questions year after year?? At least it was never my parents or grandparents who bombarded me with those questions, it always seemed to be the "crazies" in my family. But it didn't mean the questions hurt any less. 

Poor Hannah. Her story has always resonated with me. Her husband loved her and could have cared less whether she had children or not but it was the rest of her family and society that kept questioning and looking down on her because she wasn't a mother like other women. Yet, year after year she had to be reminded of her pain and grief of being childless. She wasn't bound to forget it whether she was reminded or not! It wasn't she complained loudly about either, she prayed in her heart, quietly, for a child. 

I said today's devotion was a bit different because I want to ask you readers a favor. Please don't ask questions this holiday season. 

Is there a young couple who still don't have children after 3,4,5 years of marriage? Don't ask. Maybe they are trying desperately to have a baby and it just isn't working. They are already stressed and full of anguish and fear. Please don't add to their sorrows by asking when they'll have a baby. You asking isn't going to make a baby happen any sooner. 

What about the young single man/woman in your family who still doesn't have a significant other? Don't ask. It is our human nature to find companionship with others, of course, but that doesn't make it easier to find. That young single doesn't want to be reminded AGAIN that they are all alone. They know it well enough, they are reminded every day and being alone stinks. 

Put yourself in someone else's shoes. How would you like to be hounded year after year about marriage and babies when it's all you've ever wanted but have yet to find the key to. Instead, if you are really concerned about a certain family member, and not just NOSY, ask if you can pray for them. Help them pray for that ONE THING their heart desires most of all; a baby or a loving spouse or whatever. 

I never had anyone ask to me if they could pray for me during those single years. (One friend did offer to buy my membership on Harmony.com though) But praying for someone will bring more peace to their lives than questions ever could. Like Eli the priest, he blessed Hannah that what she prayed for was given to her. He didn't know what she was praying for only that she prayed for it with all her heart. Pray for them please...no questions. 

Dear Heavenly Father, our Earthly family are close to our hearts and thoughts especially during the holiday season. Reveal to us Lord how we may best help and support our loved ones this year and the years to come. Amen. 

The Cow Game Road Trip!

A friend passed on this game to me that we played the whole road trip to Indiana and back. I can't believe how long it kept us all occupied and boy was it fun!  

The Cow-Culator. Divide the people in your car into two teams; left and right. Decide when your game will end (miles/hours). 

Count the cows you see on your side of the car. 

That means if you pass a field of cows (or a feed lot!) count fast! Each cow is worth one point. 

If you pass a cemetary on your side of the car, the opposing team has to yell "Your cows are buried!" and you lose all your points. To prevent this your team, the one with the cemetery on their side of the car should yell "Cemetery!" first to keep all their points. 

Windmills and white horses are worth 50 points each. 

And a peg legged man is worth 500 points! 

We had so much fun with this game, especially through Kansas which is of course filled with cows and windmills. The game got really fun when we tried to distract the other team so they didn't see the cows. Or when we started arguing about just what constitutes as a cow? Does it have to be real or can in be a photo on a billboard? What about a peg legged man? Can we count the one on the movie playing in the back seat? (How to Train Your Dragon, Peter Pan, what others?) And just how much white has to be on a horse to make it a "white horse"? DR, who drove almost the whole way, was REALLY competitive! He saw every stinking cemetery and I lost every time! I think there came a point when DR and I were playing and the kids weren't! This was the best car game I've ever played. 

Providing Educational Experiences

It's no secret that I love rural life and our little rural school is no exception. Yip and Yap are two of only 20 1st graders. Their teahcers and principal konws everyone. My boys routinely give hugs to the varsity football players when they see them right after school. And there is ample opportunity for students to have one on one attention from their teachers. 

Recently, however, I was talking to a mother of a high school senior in our district. She did have some complaints about the school; it doesn't prepare students for college and it doesn't provide enough experiences and opportunities for students. 

I have to disagree with her 1st point. The school DOES prepare students for college. Last year's seniors included a pre-med major and an student who is in the engineering program at Purdue this year. A state senator can also boast of being a recent graduate of our little high school. I believe my friend's son's problem isn't that he isn't prepared for college but that he doesn't know what he wants to do when he gets there. 

But the fact that this particular senior boy doesn't know what he wants to major in could be from lack of experiences. Of course our high school, of 100 students, has sports, band and an academic team. But there is no FFA program, which I hold in hig regard for its ability to instill leadership qualities in high school students. Like any school our students go on field trips but honestly, destinations are limited. For our students to have the opportunity to visit a museum of the same caliber as those in Chicago or Indianapolis would require an overnight trip. 

I'm an advocate of the importance of a well rounded education, not just in school but at home as well. If the school can't provide the experiences that my kids need then I see it's DR and my job to provide them. 

If you've read my blog routinely you know DR and I take road trips...a lot. Amarillo, Taos, Ft. Larned, Colorado. It's not just about our family seeing new places but experiencing new things and learning about people and places outside their community. DR and I have been discussing visiting a military base because Yap wants to be a soldier. I'm not pushing Yap to be a soldier if he changes his mind in the future but this is his interest now and I feel it's important to provide support and experiences for my kids' interests at any age. 

We also read....a LOT in our home. Books, magazines, newspapers....it's not uncommon for my kids to be on the floor surrounded by books before they go to school. DR and I both are constantly on the lookout for new and interesting reading material for our kids. 

Rural living is wonderful but it does have drawbacks. Isolation and lack of broad educational experiences is one of those obstacles we face out here in SW Kansas. For some the solution would be homeschooling. NOT ME! Overall, the school does a MUCH better job that I ever could on my own. Right now my job is to supplement my kids' educations with road trips, reading or whatever...but I know I could do better. 

So, my question to those of you living in very rural America, how do you provide educational experiences  for your children outside of those offered in your rural school?