Is Joy Optional?

Tuesday was rough. 

Monday started out fine, it was rainy, but we needed the rain... then my muscles started to hurt, I started to cough, and before the night was finished I hurt to the touch all over.  I worked desperately to finish a paper that was due the next morning, hoping I would feel well enough to attend class and turn it in.  Well, I finished it but had to give it to Chris to turn in because I still felt bad horrible.  I was able to sleep in and Chris encouraged me to rest so I could get well.  I found out that afternoon that I was to be one of the first in the class to present on that paper I turned in that day... and the presentation was Thursday!  Additionally, I received a copy of my adviser's edits on the grant we were working on, and she wasn't going to include me on it.

You know how a day can just sort of spiral down, down, down until your heart is just beat up at the end of it?  That was Tuesday.  It ended with me crying myself to sleep on Chris' chest in exhaustion, frustration and - I'll admit it - self-pity.  Not part of myself I like to look too closely at.

Wednesday morning I woke up and one of the first thoughts in my head was Psalm 118:24

              "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it."

This verse kept running through my mind all day, it eventually became my mantra as I pushed through making and practicing the presentation I gave earlier this morning (Thursday).  The part I will rejoice particularly struck me over and over.  Rejoicing was a choice.  Rejoicing is a choice.

So, as Wednesday went along, I chose to rejoice that I got sick when I did, instead of in the middle of even busier times earlier this month or year.  I chose to rejoice that my husband is so caring and tried to serve me and make me as comfortable as he could.  I chose to rejoice that it was raining outside, it did sound nice after all.  I chose to rejoice that God has me in Florida-far away from my Mom who I really wanted to cry to- for His purposes and for His glory.

It wasn't by my strength that I made it through that day.  I know the Lord brought that verse to mind and helped keep it in the forefront of my mind throughout the day.

It was a long Wednesday, and though it wasn't easier than Tuesday, it was much better because I was intentional in looking for things to rejoice in, instead of wallowing in self pity/loathing.

So that brings me to the initial question.  Is joy optional?  My answer is no.  Not only do we as Christians have every reason in the world to rejoice in our savior and salvation, we can also chose to rejoice - even when we don't feel like it or it doesn't come naturally.  This is part of the power of Christ in our lives.

So when those awful Tuesdays rear their ugly heads, we can turn them into better Wednesdays by looking them in the eye and saying "This is the day the Lord has made; I WILL rejoice and be glad in it."

Strawberry Series: Tiny Cheesecakes

 I'm stealing a trick I learned from Shane while he was visiting us!  We had some leftover cheesecake filling from his visit, and he showed me where to find these fillo shells in the freezer section of our grocery, so putting this desert together for Bible study was a snap!

I used two boxes of frozen, pre-baked, mini fillo shells from the grocery.  This is what they looked like.

I filled them with the left over cheesecake filling, not as good as home-made, but better than you would expect!

I stuck some topped, quartered strawberries in and sprinkled with sugar.  Then they baked in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

They smelled awesome while warming up and looked and tasted even better!

Great option for a quick, fancy snack!

Blooming Florida!

 I wanted to take a break from my strawberry posts and show you what Florida has looked like through March!  I know you saw the peaches blooming earlier, but lots of other things have surprised me around campus and throughout Gainesville.

I didn't know if we had redbuds or not down here but I was pleasantly surprised to see this guys blooming a few weeks ago!  I walk by him almost every morning and it has been amazing to watch it progress from just blooms, like you see here, to blooms and tiny leaves like in the picture below.  I love it because they are like a taste of home, albeit several months early!

 These are some roses I shot this week.  They are already in full bloom, and boy do they smell sweet!  Aren't they gorgeous?

The orange blossoms may convince me to like Florida yet!  They are in full bloom and their fragrance travels hundreds of yards or further if you have a good breeze and a warm day.  They are a new scent for me and I love it!  They smell rich, sweet and almost spicy, its hard to describe but delightful to experience.

These hibiscus were hiding near our apartment!  They don't have much smell, but who needs smell when you are so showy?

I have been enjoying these ditch side lilies.  I don't know what they are but they are blooming in a lot of the ditches around town.  There is a little too much light in these pictures to do them justice, but they are lovely on my drive to class every morning!

Last but not least is this crazy bush (tree?).  It is also on my drive and I have no idea what it is, but it sure is showing off!

Well, that's all for today!  Hoping you enjoyed Florida's blooms as much as me!

Strawberry Series: Smooshed Fruit

There is a snack from Strech Island Fruit Co. that I really like and they used to call it Smooshed Fruit.  The name has since changed but the product is still the same.  It is basically a whole food fruit roll-up.  They use minimal processing and additives and make dehydrated tasty fruit snacks!  Problem is, if you buy them individually they are about fifty cents a pop.  The concept isn't too hard but I don't have a food dehydrator and so didn't consider trying to make these... until I ran across this blog post at Berlin's Whimsy while searching for things to do with peaches.  The recipe sounded so simple and tasty AND she dehydrated the fruit in the oven!  I printed it off and put it away for peach season... then remembered it and tried to adapt it for strawberries!

My first batch was a flop.  When they say spread it 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick, they really mean as close to 1/8 of an inch as you can get.  They say this for good reason, if its not thin enough the fruit will dry out on top quickly, but then the moisture can't escape from the bottom and it will never dry properly, ending in a sticky mess that you can't do anything with... phooey.

Also, as wrong as you may feel about using plastic wrap in the oven, it worked much better than the wax paper I tried that first time (because nobody is supposed to put plastic wrap in the oven, right? Surely they meant wax paper, right?  Wrong...).

The second batch worked much better and I will show/tell you what I did for that instead!

 Strawberry Smooshed Fruit


Roughly 3 cups washed, capped and halved strawberries (you want two cups pureed)


Puree in blender until smooth, add extra berries if needed until have about 2 cups.


Pour into sauce pan, add 3/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons lemon juice (you can adjust to taste, but remember the flavor will intensify as it cooks and dries)

Cook on low/medium-low heat for about an hour.  The mixture should be bubbling and reduce in volume by about half.  It will darken some as it cooks, this is ok.  Be sure to stir regularly or it will burn on the bottom.


Spray a sheet pan lightly with cooking oil (I used spray olive oil), then line with heavy duty plastic wrap (I used Saran Wrap Premium with good results, Do not use wax paper!), and also lightly spray the plastic wrap with cooking oil. 

 Once the strawberry mix is finished cooking spread into prepared pan.  This is the tricky part because you want the pan covered but you don't want it too think because it won't dry and you don't want it to thin because it may scorch.  About 1/8 of an inch seemed to work well.

Put in the oven on the lowest setting possible.  Most often recommended was 120 degrees, but the lowest my oven goes is 170 and that seemed to work fine.  Mine took about three and a half hours to dry.  When dry you want it to peel away from the plastic easily and you don't want to see any uncooked portions on the bottom when you peel it away from the plastic.  It may still be tacky to the touch on top.  If your oven can go lower it will probably take longer to dry (some took as long as 8-12 hours in the recipes I found).

Cool completely on a wire rack, I actually pulled the plastic off the pan and put it directly on the rack after this picture to allow it to cool faster.

Once cool, invert the smooshed fruit onto a piece of wax paper, peel off the plastic and roll tightly with the wax paper.  This should last for several weeks on the counter, several months in the fridge and about a year in the freezer.  Enjoy!

The second batch worked great but I wish I had it in smaller rolls, it was pretty hard to cut through the paper, fruit and all.  So on the third batch I cut the fruit into portion size strips with kitchen scissors, cut the wax paper about an inch or two bigger, and wrapped individual portions, then I twisted the ends like a peppermint wrapper.  I think it will work much better!

I have seen several recipes for different fruits and hope to try some others as the season progresses.

So it sounds all involved and difficult but it was really a simple snack to make, once I figured out what I was doing!  Hope you can find a use for smooshed fruit!

Strawberry Series: Save them for later!

We have started eating a LOT of smoothies for breakfasts the last year, and a tasty ingredient is strawberries!  Most of the strawberries that I got on sale found their way into quart freezer bags and into our tiny freezer.  We have access to my Granddaddy's deep freezer, so on our next trip near his house we are going to drop most of the berries off there for longer term storage.

Not only can we use these strawberries for smoothies down the road, but I get ambitious I can turn these into other yummy goodies, like jam or smooshed fruit.

What's that?!?! You've never heard of smooshed fruit?  Well stay tuned, I will introduce you next time to one of my favorite snacks and my attempt to make it at home!

What do you do with a two whole flats of strawberries?

 Find lots of ways to eat them of course!

As you saw from the posts at the strawberry festival, strawberries are in season here in Florida!  The Horticulture Club at the University of Florida apparently holds a strawberry sale every year to earn money for the club.  because they buy the strawberries in season and at wholesale prices, they offer them for a really good price.  I only paid $10 per flat!  (Each flat holds 8 quarts- the container size you get in the grocery- so I essentially paid $1.25/quart!) So I bought two!

Then I got them home and thought 'Oh no, now what am I going to do!?!'.  But never fear! Not a berry went to waste!  What did I do with them all?  Well you will have to wait for the next few posts to find out!

Warning: 
Not responsible for: drool damage to computer during future posts, sudden berry cravings, or berry burn-out!

Fun, Little Home Renovations

 While our apartment already feels pretty homey, there are always things that need replaced, updated or added.  Since you need them anyway, might as well make them fun, right?

One of the things we needed I wanted was a new summer quilt and an extra set of summer sheets.  While we have other quilts and comforters, we only really have one light enough to use in the summer down here, the same goes for the sheets, and I really wanted one to change out every now and then since our main season now is summer!  So here they are!  I like the bright yellow and it was much cheaper than its green neighbor that I also liked at Target but who didn't come with any shams.  I just liked the orange sheets and they will work with some of our other bedding.

 Our kitchen towels had finally reached that point where they weren't getting clean... and they still kinda smelled even after I washed them on hot.  Probably my fault somehow, but hey, they are almost five years old and I think that's a good long life for kitchen towels!  Here are my replacements!  I like the bright colors and they work well in my kitchen.  If they last as long as their predecessors I'll be very happy!

 This is a gadget I have been searching for for a couple years now and I'm SO excited about it!  I remember my aunt having something that looked like a mini mesh trampoline that she would use to dry clothes that couldn't go in the dryer and she didn't want to hang outside.  Needless to say I got some funny looks when describing this to sales people.  When my Mom was down we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and finally found something close, I feel better for our situation now.

This hangs on our door, can lay flat against the door and maximizes drying space because it 'stacks' the clothes.  So instead of having three out theses little racks spread across the living room, I just have this hanging on the door!

When we were shopping Mom suggested a different drying rack where you drape the clothes over it that folded up, with the though that I could use it on our covered porch.  Unfortunately after further consideration, we decided that probably won't work while we are here because it is just SO humid here in the summer I think clothes would take forever to dry outside.  Plus I can lay stuff flat on this one.

Thanks for enjoying my new gadgets with me!

Peach Watch!

 This Tuesday (the 22nd) I was at Citra again to apply a different kind of fertilizer, and here are the gorgeous peaches that met me!  I was amazed at how big they already are, in MARCH!

I took a couple of pictures next to my hand so you can get a size comparison.  Hopefully we will be harvesting mid to late April at the rate they are going.  I can't wait!

Right next to my peaches is a plot of early ripening blueberries.  They too are way further along than I expected!  Although they aren't changing color yet, they may be ripe early next month!  I can't wait because I have already offered to swap labor for fruit, and some of the folks in blueberries have offered me the same for peaches.

Welcome to early summer in Florida!

Chris kept me company while doing some studying!

Spring Break: Last Note!

I forgot!  When Mom was here we went to see a pig race at the Strawberry Festival!  It was so funny I had to share the videos!  Enjoy!

 

The young racers!

The second video are the 'experienced' racers and the third is the 'Orient Express'!

Spring Break: Part 4

Lunch!

The next day with Shane was more relaxed, we stayed close to home with the exception of a tour around campus and out favorite grocery, Ward's.  Friday was another adventure!  The afternoon started at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, very tasty, I highly recommend it!  Then we went to Paynes Prairie, a nearby preserve that Chris has been to but I have not.  It was amazing the number of alligators we saw!  We passed a father and son and overheard the son keeping track, we weren't even half way through and he was up to 28!  It was a neat walk and I'm sure my brothers would love it, but I don't suggest it for little people!  That evening Shane treated us to a home made feast!  Fried scallops, mushroom and onion risotto, baked squash, and tiny cheesecakes with blackberries for desert!  I think I watched closely enough that I can repeat the risotto (he has made the risotto for us before and its probably my favorite!), OH and caprise salad for an appetizer!  Then he showed us the movie Inception... I'm still trying to decide what I think about it.  It was very well made and interesting, I just don't like the implications of messing with someone's mind through their dreams!

Big beautiful live oak!

Unfortunately we didn't see any of the other animals listed here.

The thing that looks like a busted tire is a gator...

Hello gator on the trail!

The gator that was behind us in previous picture!

Mushrooms and onions for the risotto...

Finished yummy risotto!

The Master Chef!

Our feast!

Yummo!

We finished out the weekend relaxing with Shane, going to a local flea market, watching movies and playing pokemon!  (Shane had just bought the new pokemon game and was playing it and it made Chris want to play too!)  After Shane headed home Sunday morning Spring Break was officially over, now back to the work I tried to ignore the whole last week!

Spring Break: Part 3

The last day of my Mom's trip we spent here at home!  We got lots of rest and talking time and we even worked on a new project!  Unfortunately, I didn't get to take pictures of the prototype, so you will have to wait to find out what it was until I finish the new model!

Shane came in Tuesday night and Mom left Monday morning.  It was so hard to see her go, but I know we will get to visit again soon...

While hard to light, it made some tasty burgers!

In the mean time Shane kept us busy the rest of the week!  The first place we went was the beach, complete with a grill out on our new charcoal grill (an early anniversary present from my Mom!).  That evening we had our first experience with Bubba Gump Shrimp Company!  I have only seen jellyfish on the beach once in all of our times going there, but when we walked up the part of the beach where vehicles aren't allowed we saw a bunch! And they were strange lookn' too!  One of our friends later told us that they look like Portugese Man O' War jellyfish, so I'm grateful none of us walked through one!  I also saw something new this trip.  we always see those tiny shells at the beach and in your mind you know something used to live in them, but this time I actually saw them intact and moving!!!  Maybe because I've never been there when the tide was going out I hadn't seen it, but when a wave would move out you would see the sand bubble!  The little clam like critters would move around so their tops would stick out above the sand and they would stick their tongues out to catch whatever they could in the water flowing over them!  It was so fascinating!

It was a windy beach day!

The Burger Master!

JELLYFISH!!!

Yes I poked it... I couldn't help myself... I tried, really!

On to dinner!

Dinner was great desert was better!