ROASTED CHICKEN & FLORENTINE ALFREDO

Tonight's entree was another easy dish to make. I started by brining the chicken overnight, lightly seasoning it, and roasting it at a high temperature. The Florentine Alfredo consisted of spinach, tomatoes, and parmesan cheese along with the sauce. These two simple items came together and made a hearty meal. The one thing that I should of done was strain all of the water from the spinach before adding it, the sauce was not as thick as I wanted it to be. But overall the dish was quite good.

PASSIONS & DREAMS

I have learned that you can not wait on others to live your life. No one is going to come to you and grab you by the hand and tell you to do this and do that. If there is going to be any success in your life or any kind of happiness, you have to go and get it for yourself. You have to decide what it is you want in life and go after it. The key is to choose something that is absolutely for you. It has to be something that you would do even if no one paid you to do it. It has to be your passion. It is not always an easy thing to do. Some people don't know what their passion is and have to settle for a career that is just a means to an end.  These people go through life never finding that one thing that would have caused them to jump out of the bed in the morning.  They never get the chance to experience the pleasure of having that exhilarating feeling of doing what they love and enjoying every minute of it.  It has to be a wonderful feeling knowing that you are fulfilling your dreams and desires.  Pursuing your life's dream and living in that dream is an accomplishment.  To set goals, achieve those goals, and reap the rewards of those completed goals, has to be a satisfying feeling.

It seems that it is never to late to embark on pursuing your passions and dreams. There are so many stories where people have got out of the rat race to do that which makes them happy. It takes a lot of hard work and discipline but these people prove that it can be done. They give hope that it is a possible thing to do. They give hope that your dreams can really be a reality. The hope that you no longer have to daydream and wonder what it would be like but can actually have it. And that is the blessing about the whole thing. If it is for you and it is meant for you to have it God can open doors for you and make it happen. We just have to seek Him for guidance and listen to Him when he lets us know what is for us and what is not for us.

STORYTELLERS

What to say? I am just sitting here feeling pretty good and blessed. There is so much craziness in the world that I am thankful that I have Someone to look to. That Someone is God. As I look around me, I see the need for God in the lives of people. My only hope and prayer is that they find Him. It's a blessing to know that He is right there waiting for them...if only they knew it. But instead I see them running to this and that. It is not always an easy thing to tell people what they need to hear....I know I don't always want to hear what I need. So I am not the one to let them know exactly what it should be or shouldn't be, I sit back and I listen. I listen and I pray. I pray that things will work out for them, that everything will come together. Then I leave it in the hands of God, after all He is the one that has the power to help them, not I. So I turn it over to Him and let it go. It would be unhealthy for me to carry all that around. When I talk to people I always seem to fall into the category of the listener, which is fine because I love stories. They get a listener and I get a story, sounds like a fair trade. But at times the stories I hear are so massive and so strong that I have to take a step back and regroup. Those are the stories that tend to stay with me for awhile. I will admit that they sometimes go to bed with me and sit by my pillow when I wake. It's just hard to shake them, but as time goes on they go away or another one comes along.

There are times when I have no stories....when I am not giving my self? This must be the times when I am eating my own stories. Times when I have closed the book on others only to stare at the pages of my own book. And by doing so, who am I helping? There are times when I have stared at my book for so long. Not sharing my stories but just staring at them. From time to time I may come up with an ending to one of them, and may even attempt to act on that ending. But....that's another blog for another day.

For now I will be the listener that prays....

LIFE....

it is so unpredictable yet it is called a cycle. You never know what life is going to bring you, live life to the fullest, and "man it is always something, " are a few of the sayings used pertaining to this mystery we call life. But if it wasn't always something, what else would we have? What else would we do if we didn't have goals and ambitions fights and struggles? How would we be able to see the growth in ourselves? Life is an obstacle that causes some to reach a high plateau or some to fall to a low state. If you choose to live life it will bring you a satisfaction that comes with some pain. I mean to really achieve those things that we desire to make our "life" complete, we have to work so hard and give so much of ourselves that some are not able to cope and they decide to give up. They decide that this life is too complicated and will not go after any thing it has to offer. You have some that make choices so dreadful and so regretful that in the end they question, was it all worth it? But then you have those that do not have much and choose to live what some may call a mediocre life where they have the bare necessities. Who to say which one is better? How are we to measure "the good life"? It is a true saying that life is what you make it. The question is, how will you design yours?

POSITIVE THINKING

My goal is to exercise positive thinking as much as possible today.  I realize that I have  the tendency to just focus on the bad things in my life.  By me looking at only the wrongs and negatives, I am missing out on seeing all the blessings that God has giving to me.  It has been so mentally draining leaving me feeling like I have yet to do this and yet to do that when in fact I do have accomplishments that I can be proud of and thankful for.  

 

CARIBBEAN FISH

Today is Caribbean Fish Day! This dish was easy to prepare and tasty to eat. The fish used was Tilapia and it was served on a bed of white rice. The main ingredients used were curry powder and red and green pepper rings. The pepper rings were placed over the fish so that the flavors would seep in to the fish as it baked.  

The meal was light and healthy.