Works for me: Five Ingredient Recipes

July 4, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I met a new bloggy friend in N. Carolina. Come to find out she’s an Oklahoma girl. This Wednesday she held a Works for Me recipe blast. Over 800 bloggers linked to her, posting recipes on their sites that contained five ingredients or less (excluding water, salt, and pepper).

My mouth watered as I scanned the list. I’ve been in a serious recipe rut now that the kiddos are out of the nest and it’s just me and Richard. I can’t wait to start trying some of these. Anything that takes five ingredients or less = easy for Suzie. Yay! Plus some of them were for desert. Mmmm.

I also challenged the Boomer Babes over at Allison Bottke’s wonderful site to join in. So, here’s my contribution for the day:

Grilled Turkey Tenderloin w/Stuffing

 Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme or tarragon leaves
3 (12 oz.) turkey breast tenderloins
8 serving size amount turkey or chicken stuffing mix

Preparation:
Mix lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and tarragon in a glass baking dish. Add turkey tenderloins and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour but not longer than 24 hours.

Brush grill rack with vegetable oil and heat grill. Grease a 9″ square aluminum pan and set aside. Remove turkey tenderloins from marinade and place directly on grill. Cover grill and cook turkey 4-5″ from medium coals for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in large bowl stir stuffing mix together with amount of water called for on package. Spoon into prepared aluminum pan and cover with foil.

Add pan with stuffing to grill rack. Brush turkey with marinade and turn. Discard remaining marinade. Cover and grill 10-15 minutes longer or until center is no longer pink or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees F and stuffing is hot and tender. Let turkey and stuffing stand for 10 minutes before serving. Cut tenderloins into 1″ pieces and serve with stuffing. 8 servings

Happy eating!

Gliding down the Illinois River

July 3, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

Richard and I bought a raft. We live just a few miles from the Illinois River. Rafting and canoeing is big business, and at $20 a person (up to $100 per raft) it gets pricey. So we invested in our own raft, paddles and life jackets. It costs exactly $1 for a pass from the Scenic River Commission.

On Tuesday we made a trial run. We dropped off one vehicle at an exit point, and then traveled down the highway to find a public access.

“Hey babe, what’s the odometer say?” Richard asked from the back seat. (The canoe was tied on in a gotta-make-this-work fashion and somehow neither of our front doors opened because of it - I climbed in the window. Richard took the easy way in, opening the door and taking the back seat.)

“Two miles. No three. Oh, now we’re going on four,” I said.

It was 7:30 p.m. We left the house earlier, but the raft flew in the air four feet, causing quite a scare. Which is why we went back home, found some rope, and tied it inside and outside the car.

At the River, we untied the raft and set it in the water, threw the jackets in and jumped in. The river is high because Oklahoma has had a huge amount of rain. We floated away. The fun began!

An hour an a half later, we were having a blast. Large fish swam nearby. A large crane-like bird followed us. It was peaceful. No one, and I mean NO ONE was floating. A few people swam in public access areas. A few watched us from decks nestled at river camps.

“Where do you think that bridge is?” I asked. Sundown wasn’t far away. The night noises were humming and buzzing. (more…)

A free day

June 28, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I woke up at 9:51 a.m. this morning. Lazy, you say?

Yes, and I love it!

For today is a free day. The first Saturday that I’ve had with no obligations for several weeks. Between speaking, weddings, family events, graduation, and more it’s been a whirlwind.

Yesterday we moved Ryan and Kristin to their new apartment in Tulsa. I don’t know how these newlyweds acquired so MUCH STUFF! Heavy stuff. We were a convoy. Ryan in the U-Haul. Kristin driving behind him. His good friend, Ricky, behind her, his car loaded. Then my husband in a truck filled to the brim, and then me driving Ryan’s car.

And oh yes, I had a mishap. A TV sitting in the front seat blocked my view on the right so I pulled forward in the parking area to make a loop, rather than back up. I hit a small white thingy poking up out of the asphalt. I scraped Ryan’s nice car. Not a great moment for any of us.

But today they are snug in their new apartment and beginning their new life. . .

And today I have nothing to do. 

Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

But it’s raining, so we’ll see what the day holds.

I have high hopes. Richard and I invested in a raft about a month ago. We live 8 miles from the Illinois River and we want to float down it. Normally it costs big bucks to rent canoes and rafts, so our hope is to use this all summer and recoup our investment with just one or two floats.

I can see us already. Floating lazily. With a cooler filled with ice cold diet soda and water and snacks. Sun playing on our skin. Throwing a fishing line out if we want. Saying hello to all the other floaters and canoers and water seekers.

Guess what? The rain is slowing down. Gotta go bloggy friends. I’ve got some rafting to do!

Still on the road

June 18, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

In honor of those who fly on a regular basis, I’ll share some of my favorite travel cartoons the next few posts.

If I’m able to slip away for a few moments this week, I’ll share some pics and what God is doing at the conference.

Suzie

Facebook Mee Maw

June 9, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I hung out with my mom on Saturday. She’s 70, but pretty computer savvy. She really wants to be able to connect with all of her children and grandchildren, because many of them live far away.

So, I helped her set up a Facebook account. And man, she took off with it. I checked yesterday and she had become “friends” with 8 of her 11 grandchildren. She had already left messages and her wall was filling up with, “Hey Mee Maw!”.

I love Facebook. I love connecting with family and friends and colleagues. I love meeting with someone and knowing what’s going on in their life. No awkward pauses. No “I know you, but don’t really know you” moments. I love knowing what their favorite song or book is, and to be able to celebrate moments such as my nephew, Mitch’s, engagement to his beautiful girlfriend, Brittney, this past weekend.

And I enjoy hearing from you. Thanks for all the Facebook messages. Thanks for encouraging this writer sitting, pecking away on her laptop, her hair in a clippee, still in her PJ’s (it’s raining buckets, it just makes it feel like a comfy Saturday morning, I can’t seem to change out of my pj’s), wondering if anyone out there is reading her books.

Connect with Suzie on Facebook: ID is Suzanne Eller

Fructose Free

June 4, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I read the recent studies that say that fructose is in most of the foods that we eat and that it is a chief cause of obesity in Americans, especially women. Reports says that high fructose corn syrup:

• * is a factor in heart disease
• * raises blood levels of cholesterol and another type of fat, triglyceride.
• * makes blood cells more prone to clotting
• * and it may also accelerate the aging process

Ayee!

Our body doesn’t recognize this as a natural substance, so it can create real problems because we consume so much of it.

I decided to do my own study. Three weeks ago I started to remove it from my diet. It’s nearly impossible! (more…)

love to see the fire ignite

April 24, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller, community

Over 70 small groups have launched in the last 30 days in my home church.

Our pastor thought it would be a great way to shut the “back door” of the church, losing people because they haven’t connected with friendships or they are struggling and don’t know how to share that with others in a big church setting.

We have groups for scrapbookers, quilters, hikers, fitness, Bible study, choir, fishing, married w/young children, married w/no children, parents of teens, seniors, etc. . . . and my group is for people who have a desire to write and/or speak. (more…)

swap and hop with Lysa

April 11, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

One of my favorite people is Lysa TerKeurst. We met as speakers and I loved her spirit, how fun she was, her absolute honesty, and commitment to encouraging others.

Lysa has a blog and receives TONS of hits every day talking about motherhood and life. Today she’s sponsoring a swap and hop, giving away a prize to the person who needs help with organization.

Sadly, I think that’s me. This is my home office; and this is the cleaned-up version! Note the pile of papers on the printer. The pile of books waiting to be read (on the desk next to the laptop). The mess of wires on and under the desk as I work with two computers, my MP3 player, a webcam, two printers, scanner, fax, and more.  

I work at least 8 hours a day in this office and it should be more organized, more friendly and welcoming, but I think I missed the designer gene.

The prize today is a makeover from Karen Ehmen, organizational guru.

Karen, look at this! I need help. . .

A long lost friend

April 2, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

I love being part of Facebook and MySpace because I connect with people around me that I might not get to hang out with, but also with friends from the past.

Yesterday I received a message on Facebook that took me back over 30 years. It was from Kathy. . . (more…)

Time stealers

March 31, 2008 | T. Suzanne Eller

Have you ever had to deal with time stealers? You know, those things that take away our dreams. Those things that are small, but actually take chunks of time without giving much back. . .

(more…)