Roasted Vegetable Quinoa

Before we started work, I used to cook :-)  Hopefully I can transition into cooking again sometime soon.  In the meantime, I want to share with you this recipe that I MADE UP!  99% of what I make is straight from someone else, so I'm proud of this one.  It all began when I had 2 different families over for dinner in 2 weeks, and both times someone couldn't have gluten.  So naturally, I took one of my favorite pasta recipes (Pasta Primavera by Giada) and took the pasta out :-)  So, maybe this isn't a Jeanette original... oh well!

Anyway, this Roasted Vegetable Quinoa is out of this world good!  I had never cooked with quinoa before.  In fact, I needed help finding it at Whole Foods (I know, showing my ignorance to the "pure food lovers", I hope they enjoyed got a good laugh on me).  If you were like me and have never cooked with quinoa before, I challenge you to try this recipe.  It is delicious, healthy, easy, and beautiful!

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa

- vegetables cut julienne: orange bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, squash, and onion (enough quantity of veggies to fill a large cookie sheet)
- EVOO
- S&P
- Italian seasoning
- 1 cup of quinoa
- 1 cup of vegetable broth
- diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
- sliced fresh basil (~6 leaves)

1. Cut vegetables julienne style; toss all vegetables except tomatoes with EVOO, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Roast at 425 for 25 min (or until carrots are soft to a fork).  Halfway through, give the veggies a good "stir".
2. While vegetables are in the oven, bring vegetable broth to a boil, add quinoa and reduce to simmer.  Cook until liquid is absorbed (about 20 min), stirring occasionally.
3. Combine roasted vegetables, quinoa, diced tomato, parmesan, and basil.  Toss, and season with additional salt to taste.

**serves ~8.  Use whatever veggies you like best.  The roasted carrots are my favorite!  For this dish, I used approximately 2 bell peppers (1 of each color), 2-3 zucchini, 1 squash, 4-5 carrots, and 1 large onion

Rainbow Promise

I'm back blogging a bit.  On our first day of work, now over one month ago, we saw this beautiful sight in the sky that evening.

What didn't show up terrifically in that picture, is that this was a double rainbow!  I had never seen one before.  This is the best picture I could get of the double, you can barely see it to the left of the main rainbow.

I'm usually not one for extreme cheesy-ness.  But for whatever reason, this double rainbow, which was so maginficant streatching all the the way across the sky, was a huge comfort to me of how the Lord keeps is promises to us.

This is the beginning of the next stage of life for us, in many ways it is a stage that will continue for (hopefully) 40 years.  As with most new beginnings, there is much apprehension of the unknown ahead. As we seek to balance work and the rest of life, and take on so many new roles - doctor, clinician, business owner, manager of people, motivator, educator - I frequently feel overwhelmed and afraid.  There is still much to learn about dentistry, and what we do know is constantly changing with innovations in materials and methods, and there is also so much we are clueless about on the business aspect.  And then every so often I remember the mountain of student debt we have accrued to get to this place... (breathe!). What a comfort to know that God, who is our loving heavenly Father, has promised to take care of us, and He will be with us and guide us every step of the way.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.  As it is written,

"He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever"

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9:8-11

And on a funny note, this rainbow reminded me of one of my favorite Youtube songify videos.  All during 2nd year of dental school, Bryan and I would watch these videos instead of while studying.

Work... and confessions from a recovering perfectionist

Work.... that sums it up!  That's what we've been up to - welcome to the real world Wingates!  With this new life, has come a business neither Bryan nor I have yet to experience.

I haven't posted in for-e-ver, which naturally means I've been avoiding all blogs in general and feeling guilty :-)  This is what I do in so many areas - I am a perfectionistic, slightly OCD, type, and when I get behind in anything (keeping up with the budget, writing thank you notes, journaling, quiet time, and now I can add blogging to that long list), I start to stress out about it.  So naturally, the best thing to do is fall off of my routine completely.

This habit is not desirable, but not harmful in the world of blogging.  However, when it comes to spending time with the Lord each day, I cannot allow this to be tolerated in my life.  It's amazing how quickly I can see change in my attitude, relationships, and demeanor in general when I am not spending time each day with the Lover and Savior of my soul.  Satan loves to plant thoughts in my head about my unworthiness because I've gone 3 days without spending time with Jesus, so naturally on the fourth day I shouldn't spent time with Him at all because I am unworthy.  Shame creeps in, and a downward spiral ensues until I am such a jerk to others and I hate the monster I've become that I finally run back to the cross.

Why do I fall for these lies so frequently? Why do I still struggle with the basic concept that I know in my head but don't apply in my heart - that salvation and the Christian life in general is by grace alone from the first to the last?  Praise be to the Lord, who does not require any goodness on my part for me to come into his presence!

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Isaiah 55:1-2

"Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal... I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

John 6:27, 35

Driveway & Dentistry

Last week we finished our driveway.  This is the long term, yet temporary improvement.  We've widened the driveway so we can park side by side.  In a few years we'd like to do a cement driveway with some brick outline and details throughout.  But in the meantime - it is so much more functional.  With each project and improvement we tackle, I gain a new appreciation for how long a "simple" project can take!

However, all progress will now be coming to a screeching halt.  This past week we have been enjoying a week in Sonoma California with both our parents to celebrate graduation (will put up pics soon).  While we were out there, we found out that we received our dental licenses!!!!!!!!!  For you non-dental people to understand the significance of this happening, we were hoping it would come in for us to start work by July 1st, but we go ours on June 3rd - 3 weeks earlier than expected!  What does that mean?!?  Well, we start work on Monday.  Yep!  We are now working people.  Needless to say, things will progress much more slowly with our house :-)

A beautiful site to behold!

Before

Original location of paver outline of driveway (not a great picture, but note location of bush for perspective)

 Azaleas by porch

 Asphalt that extended all the way to the shed

Progress

Moved paver outline to include bush, bush removed, some dirt removed to level area

Area ready for gravel

Asphalt removed in back - we hauled over 7 TONS of asphalt to the dump

Finished

Removed all asphalt and will seed this area with grass next week

Next up: add a fence from the corner of the house (right where the asphalt now ends) and remove current location of fence - this will add a lot more room to our fence in backyard.

Memorial Day Projects

It's been a good day for projects, spending time together, visiting with friends, lovin' up on our sweet dog (who just loves to help us out with yard projects).  We are thankful today for the freedom we enjoy and for the sacrifices of so many to protect our country.  As they say, freedom isn't free, the high price should make us ever grateful of the blessing we have in the USA.

Demolition of extra concrete.  One day, this area will be a beautiful garden and grassy backyard (hopefully!).  Step 1: Digging up concrete

But... unable to take it to the dump, because they were closed.  So this project is in process :-)

Our first garden!!!

And our faithful overseer :-)

Bryan's parents tackelled a little project of their own, unlike us they finish what they start!  Looks awesome.  Hydrangea to grow up their beautiful trellis.

House Tour

Welcome to our home!  As promised, here is a long over due house tour, and updates on what we've been up to over the past few weeks.

Front Yard

Already done: painted front door (Sherwin Williams Labradorite); lots of RoundUp, weeding, and pruning
In process: widening driveway for 2 cars to fit side by side; vegetable garden
Still to do:

• more RoundUp to eradicate vines, ivy, and invasive wisteria that are so at home in our yard
• have several old pine trees cut down
• landscaping - several hedges need to be removed, add some interest to get rid of the straight line of bushes across the font
• move location of fence on side of house to make back yard "larger"
• improve grass coverage (grass is pretty splotchy in the front, and basically non-existant in back)
• later on... add invisible fence for Keller, have driveway redone (current asphalt is in rough shape)

Family Room

Already done: painted built-ins and walk-through bookshelves white
To Do:

• paint trim & doors
• curtains (thinking something like this linen/burlap look from World Market)
• furniture: light brown sofa is going to my sister in August, and it will be replaced with club chairs from Bryan's aunt that need to be recovered.  (dark brown sofa & love seat from my aunt & uncle, rug from my grandmother - it's amazing how we have put everything together through everyone's generosity!)
• add overhead lighting (2 rows of several cans and a central light or fan)

Dining Room

Already done: de-bling chandelier; first transom shown here as a prototype for the other 4 (full post on this later)
To Do:

• touch up paint (we are leaving the stripes, but don't have any leftover paint for the darker stripe, so we will have to repaint all the dark stripes)
• paint trim & doors
• furniture - we have a table, but no chairs... trying out these upholstered chairs (from Pier 1) are top contenders.  If we go with 6 of these, will make slip covers

Drawing Room

To Do:

• paint (I'm thinking a greyish green color - you can see a sample to the left of the window)
• paint trim and doors
• repair broken pane in french doors

Kitchen

Already done: painted beadboard white
To Do:

• paint trim & doors
• make curtains (here is my fabric)
• later on... build banquette to allow for seating around all sides of the table

Master Bedroom & Bathroom

Already done: added overhead light to fan, installed hand towel ring in bathroom
To Do:

• paint bedroom (tan color - paint is already purchased, so hopefully this will happen next week)
• paint trim & doors
• make curtains & coordinating pillows (here is my fabric)
• new shower head! (this one is terrible in the amount of water it puts out, fortunately the hall bath shower has much better water flow, so we currently use that one)
• later on... replace the tile on the walls (which was turquoise and is now painted white) with white beadboard, maybe convert tub area to walk in shower?

Hall Bathroom

To Do:

• remove wallpaper and paint walls (previous owners painted over wallpaper, which has bubbled in some areas)
• paint trim & doors
• resurface tub
• replace several fixtures (right now it is a mix of brass and polished chrome)
• find something to go above toilet for extra storage (currently zero storage in here for even an extra roll of TP)
• later on... replace painted tile on walls with white beadboard

Green Bedroom

 To Do:

• paint walls (pale yellow)
• paint trim & doors
• curtains & bedding (no fabric selected yet)

Blue Bedroom

Already done: no more stripes - after many hours of sanding, this room is painted green!

To Do:

• paint trim, chair rail & doors
• make curtains and pillows (here is my fabric)
• needs a lot of furniture: headboard, dresser, chair, and little table for under window

And that's a wrap!  We love the flow of our house, how spacious it is, and the personality it has simply by being over 60 years old.  As you may have noticed in my to do lists, all the doors and trim desperately need to be sanded and repainted.  We are also working to restore the original transoms.  These projects will take months (or in the case of repainting ALL the trim... years).  But that, I guess, that is part of the joys of homeownership - it's a work in progress.  The previous owners did SOOO much to update the house and we are excited to build upon the work they started.

Come visit us if you are ever in or near Columbia!  We hope and pray that our house will be used as an instrument of hospitality and a place for ministry and fellowship to occur - all to the glory and praise of God!

Our New Life in Cola

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged... oops.  Still trying to improve my consistency.  We have been VERY busy, and I haven't had the time self-control to sit down and keep this thing updated! Since last post we have:

• finished school
• celebrated a family wedding
• took & passed our last part of boards and our last test ever!!!
• moved from Mt. Pleasant to Columbia
• celebrated B's grandmother's 80th birthday
• begun to work on & improve our home to fit us
• graduated from dental school!!!

Here is a little explanation and photo tour of some of the above happenings.  Full photo tour of our house before we moved in will come tomorrow.

A Small Family Wedding

Bryan's uncle got married at the house where he grew up and where Bryan's parents currently live.  It was a small family affair that was sweet and beautiful.

We Moved to Columbia

We LOVE our new house!  It is a perfect fit for us.  Full house tour tomorrow.

80th Birthday

Bryan's grandmother, Peg, turned 80 this month.  We had a elegant drop-in for her birthday.  Bryan's mother entertains so effortlessly, whether its a drop-in of 50 people over 60 or our graduation party 6 days later.  I didn't have my camera at the party, but I assure you it was quite the soiree.

Home Improvements

Again, I'll share pictures of this over the next few days... and then for the next few years :-)  But the short list so far includes: painting (several rooms and built in book shelves), lots of pruning and weeding, expanding our driveway, "borrowing" lots of furniture from family to fill our home, restoring the original transoms above the windows, updating outlets and light switches... I could go on.  We have LOVED being homeowners!

Graduation

Last Friday Bryan and I became doctors!  We had several days of celebration and festivities with both our families.  It was a wonderful weekend.  Praise the Lord for His blessings and for this time of life to celebrate and rejoice in His sustaining grace that has carried us through!

James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine Class of 2013