Praising Him in the Storm

The past week has been filled with many sorrows. My father-in-law being diagnosed with leukemia, a student of mine brother was killed in front of him by an unfortunate event and my student hasn't come back to school in 6 days, another student of mine mother has passed away and right after his father left them, tragedies in school shootings, and so on. It's really easy to get down from all the bad news. I have had the Casting Crowns' song, "Praise You in the Storm" constantly going on in my head through these hardships and it has comforted me. Because even though there are hard times, God is still in control and is holding us in His arms. We must praise God in the good times and the "storms" in our life. There is hope.

Here are the lyrics:

I was sure by now,God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes onto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Fish Cakes

I've written a message at the bottom of this post that doesn't have anything to do with the recipe. Just letting you know that there is more than just the recipe.

Today I'm posting a recipe for fish cakes and remoulade sauce.

For the sauce here's what you need:

1 cup of mayo

2 tsp lemon juice

3 tsp parsley

2 TBS sweet relish (you can leave this out, though)

1/2 cup ketchup

1 TBS Worcestershire sauce

a dash of paprika

Mix ingredients together and chill.

For the fish cakes you will need: (there are different options so read carefully)

2 cans of tuna OR crab meat OR shrimp

1 pkg Stove Top Stuffing mix for chicken

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup chopped celery OR shredded carrots

1/3 cup mayonaise

2 TBS sweet pickle relish

3/4 cup water

**Before I give you the directions, let me warn you that this recipe will make 12 fish cakes. A serving size would be 2 cakes. I always half the recipe. A good site I use to calculate proportions is here. I use this site a lot when I want to increase or decrease recipes.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Now get a 1/3 cup measuring cup and scoop out mixture. Make a patty with each scoop. You can put them in the fridge after this until ready to cook, or you may go ahead and cook them.
Spray some Pam on a large skillet and heat it up on medium.

Lay the cakes on the skillet and gently flatten them with a spatula.

Cook 3 minutes on each side or until they're golden brown on both sides, turning the cakes over carefully.

Remember to get your sauce out of the fridge.

Enjoy!

On a serious note:

I don't usually post many personal things about my family on here...Just silly stories from my life that include me and Cory. I'm not going to go in to much detail and if you know me then you already know that my father-in-law has just been diagnosed with leukemia. He's getting treatment right now and is feeling alright but he still needs prayers. Please pray for him and my mother-in-law (and rest of the fam) as he beats this stinkin' crud. He's a strong man and I know he's going to kick leukemia's butt. Just please keep him in your prayers.

A Touch of Gray

I finally finished my "big" project! During the last week of January I found this little number at a local antique store.

(this picture was taken with my camera phone at the store, so that explains the low quality & the junk all around)

Now, I have wanted a china cabinet since Cory and I received our first china plate. We have been keeping our nice plates in a cabinet in our living room along with our nice silverware. It's kind of annoying and strange when we have people over and I need another plate and go to the living room to get it. It's not that bad, but I really wanted a place in the kitchen to keep our plates AND have a way to display them since we don't eat on them that often.

When I first saw this piece I saw such potential. Plus it was on sale for 75% off. It was only $125, which is pretty cheap compared to other furniture in the store. I guess because this "antique" isn't really that old. It looks like it's from the 80's maybe late 70's...Not that old in my book.

If you know what Cory and I drive, you may be wondering how we got this big thing home. Well, fortunately for me, it was two separate pieces, so we could fit one piece in each of our cars. Here are the pieces separated at home. I'm glad that it can be broken down because I can see us one day (when we get a nicer china cabinet) using this bottom piece as a dresser.
And I could see this top piece with legs added and used as possibly a towel cabinet in a large enough bathroom....maybe.

I really wanted to paint the cabinet white and distress it at first. I also wanted to take the glass panes out and put in chicken wire to give the cabinet a French Country look. I soon found out that chicken wire is about $20 for a HUGE roll that I would barely use a fraction of. I quickly vetoed that idea. I think it would be nice to use chicken wire one day if I did the towel cabinet idea or if I used the whole cabinet in a craft room (in my dreams).

Anyway, I finally decided to paint the cabinet a light gray on the outside and on the inside, a light blue. But first I had to take all the doors off, take the old ugly hardware off, fill in the holes from the old handles, sand the thing, and prime it. Painting didn't take that long. The part that was really holding me up was finding new hardware. I mistakenly dreamed up my own hardware apparently because I could not find anything that I had in mind at Home Depot or Lowes. I was really hesitant on ordering pulls online because I wanted to see it in real life. Well, after a week and a half I ended up ordering some drawer pulls and some handles for the doors. When they came in though, they didn't match each other. I had to decide on one of the items and then match it to some more hardware. I found something that could work, and although it wasn't my first choice, I'm happy with it. Here is the completed china cabinet.
Complete with a light :)
A close up of my drawer pull. I really like it. It's in an antique pewter finish. In the big picture the hardware looks black.
And here is the cabinet with my dishes. I'm still playing around with the placement of them, but this is how it looks for now.
I'm so happy to have this project completed. It's nice to see my dishes and to have two extra drawers in my kitchen. (We only had ONE drawer) Putting all my plates in the cabinet made me realize I need to have a dinner party. We have tons of plates. I had to put most of them in the bottom cabinet where they can't be seen.

I hope everyone has a great week and happy President's Day :)

French Onion Soup

If you are from the Shoals area, then you'll appreciate this recipe. It tastes very similar to Dale's onion soup.

You will need:

1 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced (I mince mine like McDonald's hamburger onions)

2 cans of beef stock

2-3 Tbs Dale's sauce

Sprig of fresh thyme (I just use some thyme in a bottle...ha, Jim Croce)

Bay leaf

pepper

1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere or mozzarella cheese

loaf of French bread, cut in slices OR croutons

Directions:

Saute' onions in olive oil and butter until caramelized and tender, about 15 minutes. Add beef stock, bay leaf, Dale's sauce, thyme leaves, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve with croutons and grated cheese.

Here's what it looks like...Yeah, maybe kind of gross looking, but believe me, it's delicious!

I've been a bad blogger lately. I've been busy with my job and have also been working on a larger project. Hopefully I'll be finished soon so I can post it. I hope everyone has a happy Groundhog's day!