•4 min read
In the kitchen, July 2022
As a home cook, I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen everyday, and lately, I've been finding so much joy in trying lots of new things in the kitchen with items from our garden, ingredients purchased locally, or new recipes made with my sourdough...
Read more•16 min read
2021: A year in review
Every January, I assemble a blog post of sorts that catalogs our year. Largely organized in list-form, I touch on the big and little things, events and thoughts and experiences that shaped our life over the last year. I do find this incredibly...
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What brings me to worship: Life lately, mid-May 2021
There's a lot of heaviness in the world right now.
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2020: A year in review
Now that we're well into January, I'm sitting down to write and glance back at the last year. I'm not much of a resolution-maker (not fundamentally opposed, just not for me), but I do find it's healthiest for my heart and mind to reflect and then...
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Life Lately, mid-June 2020
After an extended break from writing, it feels more natural to ease back into it with a list-based post. I've missed writing! And for the time being, as always, I feel most qualified to write about what I know about, and that's our little life....
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Sour beginnings
I did it. I hopped aboard the sourdough train. I've made exactly one loaf of sourdough in my life, once last year, just a few months before we moved across the country from Texas to Indiana. I've long been interested in fermented foods, and tried my...
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Reclaiming lunch
The midday meal has always been tricky for me. When I was working 12-hour shifts, but even now when I run errands, oftentimes, the lunch hour comes and goes and I find myself famished and desperate. Enter: emergency food choice. I hesitate to use...
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Life lately, late April 2019
It feels like spring in our new home in Northwest Indiana. It is the beginning of a lot of things for us.
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2018: A year in review
Every January, when many are looking forward to the next year, I like to take a few moments to look back. I dig into what the previous year meant for me personally and what it meant for me and Nicholas in the context our our family and community....
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Homemade chili
I love the cooler months for the feel of them, in every way. I love cold-weather clothing, and candles, and the idea of slower, soothing months, where life doesn't feel so hectic. I love the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I love a...
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Baked peanut butter oatmeal (our favorite breakfast)
Baked PB oatmeal or just "PB oatmeal" as we fondly call it, serves as our breakfast at least 300 mornings of the year. I've mentioned it about one million times on the blog, since I've been making is for us ever since Summer posted the recipe almost...
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A placeholder life
These are quiet days in my life. Whenever people ask me, "What's new?" I'm not quite sure how to answer. The reality is that nothing is very new, but nothing is wrong, per say. People around us are having babies and moving and buying houses and...
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Chicken gnocchi soup
Yesterday, I stopped by my friend Jessica's house to see her and her son. I played with her little boy while she chopped veggies for a meal she was bringing to a friend that night. Whereas I prefer to follow a recipe, since I'm nervous that my...
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Late June's bread & butter
I'm not entirely sure why, but writing hasn't felt particularly easy for me since my last blog post. That, coupled with a joyful and full schedule, and I've been prioritizing other things over writing. There is no danger of me not blogging, in case...
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On eating well
I like to bake a lot, which anyone who reads this blog on a semi-regular basis will not argue. But cooking? Overall, we have a good relationship, but we also have our more difficult moments of avoidance and food waste. What usually happens is that I...
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Simple sausage & egg breakfast casserole (overnight optional)
As the temperatures cool and the holidays approach, I dream about having a simple, savory, throw-it-in-the-oven, baked breakfast casserole. I had some specific criteria in mind:
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Roasted broccoli (for the faint of heart)
Happy November, friends! I've never disliked broccoli, per se, but I'm not enamored with it. I'll eat it steamed, raw and dipped in ranch or something, or cooked as a side. But I never crave it and Nicholas won't go near it, so I rarely buy it.
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Turkey, kale, & sweet potato skillet
I haven't posted a recipe in quite awhile, but I wanted to share a meal that been in frequent rotation for the DeVries family lately. It's fast, satisfying, served in a bowl, and colorful, and these are a few of my favorite things. Also, the heat...
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My favorite smoothie
I'm not what you would call a "smoothie person." I enjoy them, but I don't crave them. It's likely in part due to the fact that we don't own an awesome blender—just a food processor and an immersion blender. And so far, I haven't felt compelled to...
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2016: A year in review
At first glance, it was difficult for me to sum up this year. We didn't move across the country, we didn't start new jobs. But I don't want to categorize the past year on what we didn't do. We did make new friends, grow in our marriage, develop new...
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Fall thoughts
October and the cooler weather bring about various, sometimes polarized moods and responses. I could make a study of just how much people, myself included, react to the change (any change) of season, even though it happens every single year. Here...
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Grass-fed beef veggie pie (& a grain-free crust)
This is a family recipe, one my mom wrote out on a recipe card, and kept in the blue recipe box. When Nicholas and I got married and I had to make "grown up" recipes, I scanned it and added it to a three-ring binder with other recipes, but I love...
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While we're at it, notice the scenery
The bits and pieces of life add up to a full life. I forget that sometimes, when my eyes are fixed on the horizon, the future, or the next thing, rather than my life right in front of me. Truth is, there's always a next thing, but there is also...
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Foolproof oven-baked salmon
Grilled salmon is a meal I frequently requested when I came home from college, as you do. College dining courts just didn't do food justice, especially fish, and so it was a special treat to have it at home. Just the name grilled salmon sounds...
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Weekend prep for weekdays
Before a workweek starts (this week, Sunday is my Monday), I need to do some work at home. Preparation. Otherwise, laundry completion is haphazard and I impulse buy frozen pizza and candy orange slices on my way home from work. Yes, really. Today...
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