Tempt My Tummy Tuesday... Wings and Fries

Welcome to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Check out Lana's site, as well. We co-host TMTT. You know the rules to a blog carnival, link back to this post. Thanks.

Many of you, who read my blog regularly, are away my husband is working in the Chicago area, while Grace and I remain back home in East Texas. He is home for the weekend, making the weekends super special. Hubby is eating every meal out, during the week, while he stays in a hotel. I try to cook him some tasty and comforting meals, while he is home. I wanted to do something different -something I had not done before. I admit this was either going to be a big WIN or big bust, having never made buffalo wings before. Hubby is a trooper, he'll try anything...once. I had recently purchased chicken winglets, when on sale, as well as a good deal on sweet potatoes, making this a pretty cheap dinner, too! (BONUS!) Luckily for hubby the meal was a huge success.

We all loved the galic and herb buffalo wings and sweet potato oven fries. Grace ate buffalo wings for the first time. She loved her wings. Warning to your taste buds-The buffalo wing seasoning has a little "kick" to it. I removed some of the skin off of Grace's wings, lessening the amount of "heat" she ate. The heat did not deter her. She loved them.

Sweet Potato Oven Fries (recipe from Lynn at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures)
These fries are so easy to make. Go HERE for Lynn's recipe. I used Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning on the fries.


Garlic and Herb Buffalo Wings
I used the McCormick Garlic and Herb Buffalo Wings seasoning mix. Having never made any kind of buffalo wings before, I thought a little help was in order. I wanted to make something easy and tasty. When I saw the seasoning pack, at the store, I decided to try it. I was not disappointed. Easy directions. Easy prep. Yummy results.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Makes 6 servings.

You Will Need
1 pkg. McCormick Seasoning Mix
2½ lbs. chicken wings

1. PREHEAT oven to 450°F. Use 2 1/2 lbs. chicken wing drummettes. Place wings in large resealable plastic bag.

2. SPRINKLE Seasoning Mix over wings. Seal bag and shake to coat evenly. Arrange wings in single layer on foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Discard bag.

3. BAKE, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes or until cooked through. Serve wings with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks, if desired.

**Quick note - make sure you line your tray with foil!! It made clean up SUPER easy!

The chicken wings, prior to cooking.....
Just out of the oven....
Wings and Fries.... Delicious!




One last note: For dessert I served some YUMMY pumpkin bread. Lana posted about this pumpkin bread a couple of weeks ago. You can go HERE to learn more about it. It was super moist and so tasty!!! Another big hit for hubby and Grace.

One of the righteous....

I heard a great sermon, yesterday at my church, Bethel Bible. My Pastor, Ross, brought a great message from the book of Zephaniah. Below I am attaching a link to the podcast.

Zephaniah.....(search Bethel Bible Church on iTunes)

Zephaniah was one of the 12 minor prophets. Zephaniah had a very difficult message.... the world is coming to an end. He prophesied about the day that God will destroy the world.... the end of time..

I don't mean to be all doom and gloom. Because, actually it is not. If you are a believer- one of the righteous - there is a hope. If you have not read Zephaniah, read it sometimes. It's a short book - a quick read.

Here is the hope:

Zephaniah 3: 14-17
¹⁴ Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem!

¹⁵ The LORD has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.

¹⁶ On that day they will say to Jerusalem,
"Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.

¹⁷ The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."

Here are a few notes, I scribbled, during the sermon:

• There is a day coming, of destruction and wrath, brought by God. There is nothing we can do to stop it. (Zephaniah 1: 15)
• God will come against all who have denied Him. (Zephaniah chapter 2)
• He will destroy those who denied him as well as those calling themselves "religious" but who actually worship their "own gods".
  
• There is a hope for those who are righteous (Zephaniah 3:9-13)
• There will be a remnant- the power and protection of God will envelope them. They will not be destroyed.
  

Are you one of the righteous?

• Do you call upon God?
• Do you speak the truths of God, with a pure heart?
• Are you humble and lowly?
• Do you know and understand your need for God and salvation?
• Do you realize you are helpless to meet your own needs?
  
• Are you broken? We are broken and God is holy. We can do nothing to fix our brokenness. Only by the work of Jesus, can we be fixed.
  

"The righteous call upon the Lord, and know their need. They have a changed heart - the are born again. They have had a change - brought by the Holy Spirit, giving them a new heart, new mind - so that they crave and long for the things of God." (R.Strader)

I do not live a sinless life. Only Jesus led a sinless life. Do I fail often, needing to seek forgiveness from my God? Yes. Will I continue to seek God, broken and in need of him? YES I WILL! I want to be considered one of the righteous.

Are you one of the righteous?
Thanks, Ross Strader for bringing the inspired word of God, each week.

Grace's Style Tip Friday....Creating "the look"

Just two weeks ago, I posted about Grace's cute rain boots, discussing how every girl needs a pair of fashionable boots. Well, great boots strike again. While shopping at Walmart, this week, I found a great pair of boots for Gracie. Let's face it - we live in Texas. This girl needs a good pair of boots! Her daddy lives in his cowboy boots. It only makes sense for this girlie girl to have her own pair of COWGIRL boots! (This boot was sold at my Walmart as the Hayley Boot and was purchased for under $15.00.)

As you will see in the proceeding various pictures, my girl is wearing her new boots for EVERY occasion - with jeans, with leggings, with her pajamas, with her fleece sweatpants. Apparently, once you have the "perfect" pair of boots, every outfit has "THE LOOK!" On Grace's first day with the new boots, she actually took a 2 1/2 hour nap with her boots on her feet!! Yes, she LOVES HER BOOTS! They do help her create "the look" to capture any occasion.

Here is the" T-shirt and fleece sweatpants with boots" look.
The "I'm a cowgirl in my jeans" look.
The "PJ's and Boots" look.
The "Velour Loungewear and boots" look.
The Boot!
The Cowgirl - YEHAW!

>My Finer Thing:
I mentioned before that Grace's daddy lives in his boots. I consider him a "cowboy" type fella. He loves his country music and big truck. He looks good in Wrangler jeans, boots, and cowboy hat. He can dance a mean two-step. Yep, he's my cowboy. I am glad his little Gracie is now his little cowgirl. I think he was really proud to see her in those boots, this week. With him away in Chicago, during the week, I try to send him pictures and text messages through the day, letting him know we are thinking of him and that we miss him. I know the boot pictures, this week, have given him an extra smile and warm feeling.

I know it may seem like a little thing to you. But, with him so far away - with him missing his family during the week - we do all we can to send him happy thoughts and love. Knowing that my husband is working hard for his family, that loves his wife and daughter, and that we will come back home to us, every weekend is my FINER THING!!

I am linking this post to my blogging friend, Amy. She hosts Finer Things Friday.

I am also linking to Blissfully Domestic's Fight the Frump Friday, because what better way is there to fight the frump than with a great pair of boots!!
Have a great weekend!

Don't forget to come back on Tuesday for "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday" blog carnival.

Forever Faithful.....

This week I have been dwelling on the fact that my God is faithful. My church is blessed to have a wonderful worship leader, Todd Wright. He wrote the song Forever Faithful. We sang it in church, last Sunday. I SO needed to sing those words. SO, I wanted to share the song with you.
Below you will see Todd and the band playing it during a youth service. Under that is a video Todd made while he was writing this song. It has the words posted and you can see the process he went through to write the song.

He's forever faithful.

Psalm 100:5

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 117:2

² For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD. ^a]">[a]

Psalm 146:6

⁶ the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

Scripture from http://www.BibleGateway.com NIV translation.

I am thankful for his faithfulness to me and my familiy.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.. Ultimate "C.C.C."!

Hello everyone and welcome to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. My sister, Lana, and I co-host this blog carnival. We share recipes, kitchen and cooking tips, restaurant reviews, and anything food related that you want to share. You know the rule of a blog carnival, please mention the blog or TMTT in your post and link back to Blessed with Grace blog. Don't forget to use Mr. Linky, down below.

Over fifteen years ago, I was given a great wedding gift. A dear friend shared her favorite recipes, writing them on recipe cards and putting them in a book. What a great personal gift that was. Good idea, huh? It is fairly inexpensive, just the cost of recipe cards and a notebook to store them.

So, here is her Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup shortening (butter flavored)
• 1 1/ 4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 TBSP milk
• 1 TBSP vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup pecan pieces (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven 375.
   
2. Mix first 4 ingredients until creamy.
3. Beat in egg.
4. Mix next 3 ingredients. Add to first mixture and mix until well blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Mix well.
6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes for chewy, 11-13 minutes for crispy. Yields 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Finally for a little something different. I subscribe to Food for Thought at Cooking.com. I just checked my email inbox and there was a link to a Glazed Chocolate-Pumpkin Bundt Cake. YUM!! Sounds good to me. So, HERE is the link. Enjoy!
(photo from iStockphoto.com)

Our Halloween Fairy Princess

Gracie was a Tinkerbell/ Fairy Princess, this year. Here is a picture of her flapping her wings to fly.

Grace's Style Tip Friday and so much more...

Happy Friday. I love Fridays, these days, because it means my husband is flying home for the weekend. So, come on honey! We are waiting for you!

As this weeks title suggests, I want to share lots of great moments from our week.

So, let's get started with some fashion. Shall we? I hope you know that one carefully selected piece of jewelry can absolutely make or break an outfit. Well, Grace discovered that fashion rule, this past week. I think you will agree, her choices of jewelry accessorizing definitely MAKES her outfits!!

Here is Grace exhibiting joy and excitement over her new necklace. She had just completed the special pasta creation prior to my snapping the picture. (Other fashion note: She is wearing one her her Daddy's t-shirts. She thinks she has to wear one of Daddy's t-shirts when we are having "Craft Time". )

Here Grace is looking at her new bracelet. Now, some would think this is a fancy smancy ponytail holder,which previously belonged to an older cousin. (Thank you Taylor Ann!) However, to Grace, it is the most beautiful fuzzy pink bracelet ever created. She proceeded to wear this bracelet to dinner with her MiMi and Paw Paw.
And, another outfit made fabulous by the pasta necklace. (Sorry for the blurry pic.)

So, do you have a piece of jewelry that you CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT? Mine is a great piece of jewelry which I purchased about one year ago. It is a Double Layer Neckalce, sterling silver with the words "Blessed With Grace" stamped on it. I bought it on Etsy from RHB Design's Shop. I love my necklace, both representing my faith as I am grateful for the grace my Savior has given me, as well as feeling so blessed to have little Gracie in my life.

I am also linking this post to Blissfully Domestic's Fight the Frump Friday, because what better way is there to fight the frump than with a great piece of jewelry to show your fashion sense, style, and true character!!






I am linking this post to The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman who hosts "We Made It! Friday Showcase".This week I also wanted to share some of our craft time. Obviously you just saw one of our little projects. The pasta necklace was fun to make and wear. Prior to threading the pasta onto yarn, Grace colored the pasta using crayons and markers. Oh, that was fun.With the remaining pasta, Grace did her favorite thing.... GLUE! the pasta to a picture.



I am linking this post to my blogging friend, Amy. She hosts Finer Things Friday.

Finally, I want to share my favorite "Finer Things" moment for the week. On Monday I was overjoyed to spend several precious hours with an old friend. Lori was one of my bridesmaids. I can't believe I am saying this, but we have not seen each other since my wedding day, 15 years ago. Crazy how life happens. We have kept in touch, over the years on a small level. Then, this past year we totally reconnected, thanks to Facebook. We just picked up where we had left off.

Anyway, on Monday, we (Chris, Grace, and I) were on an over night stay out of town. We were staying in a hotel which was maybe 5 miles from Lori's house. Grace and I were able to spend the afternoon visiting Lori and her youngest daughter, Abi. Lori is an incredible, godly woman. I am so glad to have her as my friend. I am hoping I can convince her to write a guest post for the blog. She has started a wonderful not for profit organization, Moms Helping Moms, that is all about moms helping moms and children who are in need. The organization is wonderful and I know you will be inspired!

So, my Finer Moment..... snapping this fuzzy, out of focus picture of Lori painting Grace's fingernails. How sweet!! Grace and Lori's daughter were playing dress up. Then Lori stopped to paint the girl's nails. I can't tell you how touching it was to see her share that moment with my Gracie.


Thanks for visiting my blog, today. I hope you enjoyed a little fashion fun, craftiness, and a finer moment. Have a blessed weekend.