rest

my view at the park

sometimes i fill my life up so much it feels like i'm a prisoner to my schedule. i felt that way last night, and got angry. [excuse me, martha?]. today, i was forced to slow down when i got a little sickish while i was volunteering at church. i came home, cleaned my house, picked some flowers to put on my table. ginny and raechel stopped by and we talked and talked about Jesus, and our hearts, and what we secretly fear.

later, i took beulah on a slow walk down to the park with my iPod loaded with the morning session from judah smith's visit to elevation this week, ironically on 'rest'. i laid in the grass and found so much hope in what i heard.

thanks for giving me a chance to slow down, Lord, and thank you even more for rest only you can give.

i can't not

it's required that i share this recipe with you. funnily enough, jess just posted a maple bacon donut recipe on her blog today. it all started the other day when i finally looked at a baking blog i'd heard a lot about. joy the baker.

go there now.

she's awesome, and i printed out almost 15 of her recipes.

like a loser, all i could think about was the peanut butter bacon cookies. because, i mean, that's all of my favorite things in ONE cookie. need proof?

this is actually in my kitchen.

and this is the only picture i was able to get of the cookies:

anyway, so make these cookies. [here is the link to joy's recipe]

i made a few adjustments (just because i needed to use what i had in my pantry). it should also be said that this recipe only calls for 5 ingredients (and does not include flour), including the bacon. also, i used turkey bacon, and it seemed to work fine. all we had was reduced fat jiffy PB, and that didn't seem to mess them up too much either. oh, and i didn't have brown sugar, so i just threw some molasses into white granulated and made my own 'brown sugar' which also didn't mess them up horribly. this is one tough cookie (see what i did there?).

happy friday/weekend/bacon cookie cooking!

*please ignore the crazy formatting. blogger had a mind of its own today*

i got the fever

my heart is so into spring and summer right now. i want to go and buy a couple of these:

and pretend i have grass in my backyard, string up some lights, and fire up the grill.

please look at this summer bbq menu.

(via the kitchen sink blog)

right?? here's the link to one of my favorite recipe blogs.

also, check out the strawberry rhubarb pie they have on that same menu:

(the kitchen sink blog)

oy vey, i just want to come home sunburned and cook all afternoon:)

here are a few more pictures that are getting me excited for springtime(summertime):

(via design*sponge)

(via cup of jo)

and last but not least, my new favorite thing. outstanding in the field is touring around the united states, and partnering with local farmers and chefs to host meals benefitting farmers.

i reaaaaally love this. really.