The Heath Bar: June 2006

Early Morning Thoughts with Piper

This is a rarity for me (Jayna) to post at 6 am. If anyone knows me, you know I'm not a morning person and need my full 8-9 hours of sleep. However, this pregnancy has hindered that, and I often find myself awake around 5 am fighting to go back to sleep with no success. So here I am, blogging at this early hour.

I decided to use my time wisely this morning, and not fight my sleeplessness. I've known about an article by John Piper called, "Don't Waste Your Cancer" for some months, and it's been on my long list of things to read. After reading it this morning, I highly commend it to you. Don't be thrown off by the title. You don't have to have gone through cancer to appreciate what Piper (and Dave Powlison) say. If I had my way, I'd call it, "Don't Waste Your _________". You fill in the blank with a particular trial you face. For me, I filled in the blank with 'miscarriage'. Kurt and I suffered a miscarriage in October 2005, and I encountered a grief like I had never experienced. It caused me to take a long, deep look at this life, what I cherished, and what I believed about God. There has been no easy fix, and there will always be sadness at the though of our miscarriage, but now 8 months later, I see things with an objective more oriented to Christ than before. "Don't Waste Your Cancer" certainly helped to put into words how we, as Christians, should take on suffering, and it blessed me this morning. I pray that it blesses you, too.

The Moving Machine

Postings have been few and far between, lately. We finally closed on our house last Friday, and have begun the moving machine. Kurt is getting his education from our loyal friend and realtor, Jesse. God has gifted Jesse with an uncanny knowledge of all things that need fixing and rennovating. This is a rare find on Capitol Hill as the area attracts so many lawyers, academics, and those who don't know how to use a hammer. They installed a new disposal and have a list of other things to accomplish in the house, such as painting and re-setting the toilet upstairs.

I (Jayna) am spearheading the packing end of things. As I like to say, we are up over our eyeballs in boxes! Our good friend, Jennilee came over for a few hours on Thursday and greatly blessed me by helping to nearly pack the entire kitchen! What an accomplishment!

Needless to say, we are entering that awkward stage living in between the two places, but we'll make it. I've decided to quit trying to make moving a science, throw things in boxes, and let the chips fall where they may. We plan to make the final shove next weekend and should be sleeping in the new (but old) place by July 1st.

Notes about the following recipe....

About the recipe: I found this recipe in a cookbook called Mommy-Made (And Daddy, too): Home Cooking for a Healthy Baby and Toddler.

Pizza Crust: I've made this successfully with Boboli Pizza Crust and dough from Trader Joe's. The dough is a bit more labor intensive, but it's also a lot cheaper at $.78 verses $2.73 for a Boboli crust. Of course, you can always make your own recipe of pizza dough at home and not purchase anything extra at all.

Pesto: We've enjoyed this recipe many times! You can also use it with Pasta. Cook your pasta and while warm, mix in pesto. Add Parmesan, tomato, chicken, onion, etc. and you've got a meal! Just add the pesto and you've got a sidedish! You can also use this pesto for appetizers. Toast/grill slices of french bread and spread on a layer of pesto. The recipe suggests different types of nuts to use, but I think our favorite is hazelnuts in this recipe.

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Winter Pesto
1 cup tightly packed, stemmed spinach leaves
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/4-cup hazelnuts, walnuts, or blanched almonds
1 medium garlic clove, minced
up to 1/2 tsp salt (start with 1/4 and salt to taste)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/3-cup virgin olive oil
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Place spinach, basil, nuts, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender or processor. Process until coarsely chopped. With machine running, add oil in a steady stream and process until smooth. Add Parmesan cheese and process until blended. Makes about 1 cup.

Chicken Pesto Pizza
Pizza crust (Boboli or fresh dough, about 12 in. diameter)
1/2 to 1 cup pesto
Cooked chicken, shredded or cubed (about 1 cup)
Mozzarella Cheese (about one cup)
Grated Parmesan Cheese (about 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pizza crust, roll to 12-16 in. diameter (depending on preference and size of pizza stone or pan you use). Spread pesto evenly over pizza dough, arrange chicken and tomato pieces. Evenly sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top. Bake according to pizza crust directions and until crust is browned and cheese is melted. Let pizza stand for 10 minutes before serving.