Living Simple in the South: Apples of Gold {part 3}

Hello there! I have wanted to post this for awhile now, but I just havent had the time to sit down and put it all together.

Apples of Gold Bible Study has came and gone, but I find myself still encouraged daily by what I learned.

The last study was hosted by and older lady (sweetest thing ever) and she taught us how to make all different kinds of salads. The salad's were great, but what I enjoyed more than anything and probably the biggest things that I took away from the whole study was a little line that they she shared as she told us about how she never used her dishwasher because she used that time as a special time to pull one of her kids next to her and get some good chat time in with them and so many other great little things like that. She told us to have fun with dinner time and if we blow it to make light of it if that fits our personality...it's just one meal. And if we blow it with our patience and our tempors to ask our families for forgiveness.

She said "You bring more to the table than just food"

That is the line that stabbed my heart and has had me thinking ever since.

What do I bring to the table?

Is it a sloppy meal because I spent too much time reading other people's blogs?

Is it distraction because I really want to watch Wheel of Fortune?

Is it perfection and everone is uncomfortable because they cant be messy?

I dont want to bring those types of things to our table.

I want to bring grace, laughter and a good meal.

I have learned over the past two years that my attitude and behavior sets the whole tone for the house.

If I am joyful it spreads throughout the house and people catch it...but they can also catch my ill attitude just as fast and I know that it is really hard for Cameron to relax when I am about to pull my hair out and Weston is acting out because I have been distracted all afternoon.

Our family is not perfect and neither are the people in it, so of course there are going to be nights where things just spiral down so fast and we just do good to get everyone fed and ready for bed. But I dont want those nights to be because I didnt do my part or I brought a bad attitude to the table.

Sometimes I think we need to be reminded that we arent just making dinner, we are working for the Lord by caring for our family. When our hearts are in the right place and we see dinner as a time to serve our family and have fellowship with them things seem much easier and cooking (and cleaning up afterwards) doesnt seem to be so bad.

Dinner time is so important. One of my brothers was worried about his child because they were really quiet after school and he could tell that something was wrong, but they kept saying they were fine. My mom told him, just wait til dinner, they will spill. And sure enough they did.

This and so many blessings can come from coming together as a family each night, or as much as possible.

I know someday we will be running from this practice to that game and dinner time wont be as accessible, but I hope I read this post.

I hope I remember how important it is and how much it blesses us everyday and gives us special time with one another and our kids.

I hope a bring a whole pile of things to our dinner table and when it isnt something we can do every night I pray that we do it as much as we can.

So I leave you with that thought...

"What are you bringing to the table"?

and a few REALLY GREAT Recipes.

Creamy Baked Chicken Breasts

8 Chicken Breast, bonelss and skinless

8 Sandwich slices of Swiss cheese ( dont splurge and get real swiss it's too strong :)

1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1/4 c. white wine

1 c. herb seasoned stuffing mix or croutons

1 c. love (the lady who lead the demonstration put that on all her recipes, and i thought it was cute so I kept it)

Arrange Chicken in a greased 9X13 pan. Top each chicken breast with a slice of cheese. Combine soup and wine, stir well. Spoon evenly over chicken, sprinkle with stuffing mix or croutons. (You can assemble early in the day and refrigerate) Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes until chicken reaches 165 degrees.

This is one of Cameron's favorites and I like it too, but I am not too picky!!

Hope ya'all like it, I think it is one of those easy meals that we love with little ones!

And below is a link for the best Chicken Tortilla Soup ever.

On my sidebar is a link to a blog called Keep It Simple, Keep it Fresh by Lissa

The corn and avocado salad you all thought looked so yummy this summer is from her blog and all of the recipes I have tried of hers have been very yummy. I want to try her Chicken Chili. Plus all her recipes are all gluten free if you are needing to go that road!

This soup is Cameorn's fav, like he loves it and could eat three bowls of it. I made it this week to take to some friends of ours.