We’ve moved!  Menu Monday is being held at the new page.  Please go HERE to see it!

Faith and Family:

…is now Fully Balanced:

You can now send me emails…please do, I love hearing from you all!   I have also set up a Facebook page for Fully Balanced, so you can now follow us on there, as well as through an rss feed and email.   All of these can be found in the top right hand corner of the home page:

I have created some pages on Fully Balanced where you can find links to articles, blogs and books on a variety of topics.  I will be adding more links to the pages that are there now as well as starting other pages in the future.

Guess what?!  We have a Pin it button now, as well as other sharing buttons for places like Facebook, Google +, Twitter, StumbleUpon and others.  Be sure to pass on the posts you like so others can enjoy them as well!

Menu Mondays is getting a face lift too.   Remember the little icon you used to have to click on in order to see the recipes people have shared on our Menu Mondays posts?

Well, now you can see the recipes right away!

And, lastly, we have a new About Us page, which expresses my heart for the new Fully Balanced blog.

Fully Balanced was born out of a burning passion to find, and help others to find, balance in all things. A desire to keep myself and others walking the road God intended us to walk instead of constantly falling into the ditches of extremism on either side.

Too many times I have watched people live a life of extremes where very little, if anything, is in balance.

- Children are raised with no boundaries at all, completely free and wild, or else they are raised with strict, suffocating control.

- Some couples are taught to wait forever to have children, or better yet, have none at all. Others are taught to marry young, have children immediately, and to have as many as possible.

- Some women have no problem walking around in next to nothing at all and others are obsessed with being covered from head to toe in numerous loose layers to completely hide any God-given curves they may have lest they “cause their brother to sin”.

- In some churches the teaching has become so watered down, the standards so low, you can hardly recognize them as Christian. But then there are others where people are emotionally manipulated and controlled until their view of God is so twisted they want out of Christianity all together.

- There are people who eat everything imaginable with no thought of health at all and others so obsessed with eating healthy that it becomes a god in their life.

And on and on it goes. It’s time to throw out the extremes. It’s time to be FULLY BALANCED.

For anyone concerned that Fully Balanced will be changing and lose it’s personal touch, don’t worry, it’s not.   I will continue to share recipes, songs that speak to me, and every day experiences just like I have been.  I personally am just on a journey of finding balance in all areas of my life and so will be sharing that with you on there as well.  Thus the new name of the blog.

All of the posts currently here on Faith and Family have been added to the Fully Balanced page so there will be no loss in content as we make the move over to the new page.

Please go HERE to see the new Fully Balanced blog.

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For those of you who are already subscribers of Faith and Family – you will need to resubscribe on the Fully Balanced page in order to keep receiving new posts!

I had heard a lot about the Disney movie Tangled, but hadn’t seen it until recently.  After watching it, I just sat there for a few minutes taking it all in.  There was SO much in there that I could relate to from my experience with the patriarchal movement and also a spiritually abusive church.  There are few movies that so completely resonate with me like that.  I’ve wanted to write about it for some time but then this morning I read an article by John at Recovering Grace that describes many of the things I had seen.   In it he talks about the analogies he found in the movie regarding misplaced authority, fear-based protection, the emotional trauma initially experienced by those who break free, the need they experience of a guide afterwards, and most of all our ever-patient heavenly Father.  So rather than write the same things here I am simply going to point you to his very well-written article.  You can go HERE to read it.

***** We have moved!!  Our blog is now located HERE *****

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  It’s like eating chocolate chip cookies, oreo cookies and brownies all together.   It’s delicious.  I did find that it tastes best after it’s been sitting for a day.  Like a lot of desserts it needs time for the flavors to shine.  We also decided that while it can be served with vanilla ice cream, we prefer it plain.  I did also change the cookie ingredients a little bit to match my own chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Play around with it and see how you like it best!

Ingredients:

1 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. white sugar
2 lg. eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 pkg. Double Stuffed Oreo cookies
1 pkg. fudge brownie mix
1/4 hot fudge topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 9×13 baking dish by spraying the pan with cooking spray, lining with waxed paper and then spraying the waxed paper with cooking spray.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Add dry ingredients and mix together.   Stir in chocolate chips.  Press cookie mix evenly across bottom of prepared baking dish.

Top with a layer of Oreo cookies.  You may find that you need to cut some of them in half to fit along the edge.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, prepare brownie mix according to instructions on the box, adding the 1/4 cup of fudge topping to it.  Pour brownie mixture over Oreo layer.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and continue to bake for another 15-25 minutes.  It is done when a toothpick inserted 2″ from the edge comes out clean, or with moist pieces clinging to it.  Cool completely before cutting.

To halve this recipe, use an 8×8 brownie mix and half the cookie dough.

Linked to:  Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays Tasty Tidbits, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table

Don’t forget to add your recipe links to our Menu Mondays recipe link up below! As always, please link directly to your recipe (not your home page).  Also, as is customary with blog parties, please link back here so others can join in the fun!

During Chanukah we decided to give these pancakes a try.  They were absolutely delicious!   I did find that the filling was runny and kept wanting to spill melted butter all over my pan.  I’m guessing that you could either use less butter (this is what I’ll do in the future) or else place it in the refrigerator long enough for the butter to harden some so that it’s thicker in consistency.  The other option is to make it ahead of time and let it sit for a bit so it’s ready when you start your pancakes.  I also only used about 1/4 of the filling so I plan on cutting the recipe back next time.

Pancake ingredients:

1 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 T. oil
1 lg. egg, slightly beaten

Cinnamon Filling ingredients:

1/2 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon

Cream Cheese Glaze ingredients:

4 T. butter
2 T. cream cheese
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix together.  Add milk, oil and egg.  Stir until just combined.  It’s important not to mix pancake batter too much or else your pancakes will be flat.

In another small bowl, combine filling ingredients and whisk together.  Spoon into a small zip lock bag and set aside.

In a small saucepan, over low to medium heat, combine better and cream cheese and heat until softened.  Whisk together until smooth.  Slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla, whisking until combined.  Set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium – low heat.  Spray with non-sticking spray.  Using a small ladle, gently pour the pancakes onto the skillet.  Snip a corner of the zip lock bag holding your filling and gently squeeze in a spiral on top of your pancake.

Cook until pancake is brown on one side and bubbles have formed on the top.  Then gently flip pancake over.  Allow other side to brown and then remove gently from pan and place on a platter.  Keep pancakes warm until ready to serve.  If your pancake browns on the bottom before you have the bubbles on the top, turn the heat down or else the middle of your pancake won’t be cooked.

When ready to serve, spoon warmed glaze over the top.

Not the neatest of spirals…my filling was too thin.  But it gives you an idea of what you’re trying to do anyways.

Don’t forget to add your recipe links to our Menu Mondays recipe link up below! As always, please link directly to your recipe (not your home page).  Also, as is customary with blog parties, please link back here so others can join in the fun!

When I heard that the menu was Chinese food I knew I needed to have my mother-in-law show me how to make her chow mein.  She makes the best chow mein!!  So I gave her a call and asked if she cold show me.  She just puts “a little of this, and a little of that” in it so we made sure we measured everything as we put it in so I could have a recipe to follow later on.  SO…here we go.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 lbs. ground hamburg
2 lg. onions, sliced
1/2 each of a green and red pepper (about 1-1/4 c. of each)
1-1/2 c. sliced celery
oil for sauteing
1-3/4 tsp. pepper
2-1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Oriental five spice
4 c. beef broth
1 can bamboo shoots
1 can water chestnuts
1 can baby corn (optional)
1 pkg. bean sprouts
1-1/2 tsp. Kitchen Bouquet browning and seasoning sauce
2-3 T. soy sauce
1/4 c. ice water
4 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:

Start by preparing the vegetables.  Slice the onions.  Slice the peppers and then cut into 1/2 inch pieces  on the diagonal.   Cut the celery into 1/2 inch pieces on the diagonal as well.

In a soup pot, add a few tablespoons of oil and heat over medium heat.  When oil is hot, add the onions, peppers and celery to the pot and saute until cooked but not brown.

While those are cooking, brown the hamburg in a skillet.

When vegetable mixture is done cooking, add the meat to your soup pot and mix together.

Add the salt, pepper, 5 spice, beef broth, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, baby corn and bean sprouts.  Cover with water and bring to a boil. (I personally would probably use a little less water than this because I think it ends up having too much broth in the end, but you can do it however you want)

Add browning sauce and soy sauce.  Stir.

In a small bowl, combine the ice water and cornstarch.  Stir until cornstarch is completely dissolved.  Stir into the chow mein.  Let boil for 5 minutes.

Taste and add more seasoning if needed.   Serve with chow mein noodles.  We also like to eat it with more soy sauce drizzled over the top or duck sauce.

It is more flavorful if you let it sit overnight before eating, but if you’re pressed for time you can eat it right away.

Chanukah was very different for us this year in many ways. In the past we haven’t really done anything for Chanukah, other than going to a formal dinner that our previous church had. This year I finally decided to do what I’ve wanted to do for Chanukah for a long time. It was a step in the right direction for us because we put our family first, rather than other people’s opinions. We embraced the holiday and we made it ours. At the end of the week our children declared it the best Chanukah they’ve ever had.

We decorated the house, both outside and inside, for Chanukah this year.  That was a lot of fun!

It’s hard to see in this picture but the blue and silver garland along the porch railing has menorahs, star of Davids, and dreidels throughout it.

We also decided to give each other gifts this year.  Traditionally, parents give their children one gift each night of Chanukah.  The gifts begin small and get bigger each night.  But our children wanted to give each other gifts as well so we changed things up a bit for our family.  They each had a day during the week that was “theirs”.  On their day they gave everyone the gifts that they had for them.

Our youngest had the first night and I wondered how she would do since she was giving everyone a gift and would not be getting one herself that night.  I wasn’t sure she would understand but she was SO excited about giving something to everyone else that she didn’t care that she wasn’t getting anything!!  She made my mama heart proud, let me tell you!!  Look at this face:

I found that it was the same with all of the children.  They were eager for “their” day to come so they could give everyone their gifts and when it did, the excitement spilled just spilled out of them.

One evening we had friends over:

And another night we went to a friends house for their Chanukah party:

Then we spent an evening with my in-laws.   The children were thrilled with the sleds Grandpa and Grandma gave them…now to just get some snow so we can use them!

We played the Dreidel game – that was fun!!

We also tried some new recipes.  We made Latkehs:

Pumpkin donuts:

And cinnamon roll pancakes!

Then on the last night, Jonathan and I took the children to a new restaurant where we had a delicious meal!

And when we got home, we gave them our gifts:

It was a lot of fun!   The children were surprised, thrilled and so appreciative that it made this mama smile over and over and over again.  Actually I’m still smiling

It was by far the best Chanukah we’ve ever had and we’re looking forward to doing it again next year!

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One of the traditional Chanukah foods that we’ve had this week are Latkehs.  Usually they are served with apple sauce or sour cream nut we like them with salt and ketchup.   And since I wanted to save time yesterday, I didn’t bother to peel the potatoes before shredding.  And you know what?  They tasted the same  

Ingredients:

4 potatoes
1 lg. onion
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 c. matzo meal or bread crumbs
oil for frying

Directions:

Wash your potatoes and peel them if you are wanting to.  Place them in cold water after peeling until you are ready to shred them to keep them from changing color.

Peel onion and the shred, alternating with potatoes.  The juice from the onion will help keep the potatoes from changing color.

Place shredded onion in a bowl and mix in remaining ingredients.

Pour oil into a skillet until the bottom of the pan is completely covered and the oil is about 1/4 inch deep.  Heat on medium heat.  Your oil is ready when you drop a piece of your potato mixture into it and it sizzles.

Scoop about 1/4 c. of the mixture into a mixing spoon, press firmly and then carefully drop into the oil.  Cook until browned on both sides, turning only once to help prevent too much oil absorption.   If the edges begin to darken too quickly, lower your heat.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to add your recipe links to our Menu Mondays recipe link up below! As always, please link directly to your recipe (not your home page).  Also, as is customary with blog parties, please link back here so others can join in the fun!

Enjoy!!   Happy Chanukah!!

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