New recipes: for the stomach and the heart

I have two recipes to share today. One that involves the heart, and the other that involves the "regular" kind of recipe: one delicious one to be devoured by any hungry stomach. I'll begin with the one involving the heart.

I'm starting to think that whoever said "the only thing predictable about life is it's unpredictability" must have been a very wise person, because the older I get, I seem to be finding that more and more true in my own life. There have been a number of things that I have said "that will never happen to me". Of course not--misfortunes and surprising events happen to OTHER people, not yourself, right? Oh how I have been proved wrong.

As a kid, life was pretty predictable. I had about as close to the "perfect" family as there got. Then my parents got divorced. I never in a million years would have seen that curve ball. Our family was as close to perfect as it a family can get, so how could this happen to US? Divorces are for those "messed up" families, certainly not mine. Ah, if only life were that simple. But then again, I don't know that I really wish that it was. Perfect predictability, good or bad, can lead to a stale life of no growth. That doesn't mean that I always love the trial at the time, but I think I can almost always look back and say "I'm glad that happened," because where I end up and the person I become is could only have been accomplished through that trial. The same holds true for my parents' divorce. If someone were to ask me,"would you like your parents to get a divorce during your lifetime," of course the answer would be no; but thankfully, I would also say no to the following question: "if you could change what happened and have those events not happen, would you?" I'm not glad that my family had all the difficulties they did, but this trial has had many positive outcomes that couldn't have happened any other way. The situation wasn't ideal, but we were able to make it as good as possible by making the best out of it.



During a hard time, I often say to myself, "Well, Angela, you're going to have to go through this even one way or another--so it's your choice to either make the best of it, learn what you can, and behave gracefully in a manner you'll be proud of looking back, or make the worst of it and let it be as miserable as possible." If you have to go through the event, why not try and make the best of it? Easier said than done. Very much so. I'm not saying by any means either that you shouldn't ever feel sad or frustrated. In fact, I believe those are very healthy emotions that you need to allow yourself to feel or else you won't be able to process the event completely and it will end up coming back to trouble you later. But there are many ways (which will vary widely from event to event) that the situation can either be made significantly worse or better depending on your response. Then comes the time to pick the higher road. You'll never be sorry you did.



And now I've found myself in the past couple months with a heap of experiences I would never have guessed would have been me (or even if I did expect them, I didn't think they'd be nearly as difficult as they have been). Between my parents going on a mission, losing friends through various means, getting a new apartment (I've lived in SingleTree for the past 4 years and it's the only apartment I've ever lived in, so this is big, folks), getting a new job, and even breaking up with my fiance (although this was my decision, I never saw myself getting so far involved with a boyfriend that I would get engaged and then break it off; breaking up after dating, sure that happens a lot, but I didn't see breaking off an engagement)--well, let's just say lots of things are changing. Change is hard for everyone, but it tends to be harder for me than most people.



So, time to "cowboy up," Angela. It's a lot to swallow. And I've been mad at God for taking so much away from me in such a short and seemingly brutal matter. But then I have to remind myself: God does EVERYTHING for our benefit. Nothing he does is to harm us, but to help us become more like Him so we can return to live with Him and our eternal families in bliss. The process in the mien time isn't always easy or pretty. In fact, it's often excruciatingly hard.

But the other day I was reminded of this scripture in the Book of Mormon that gave me great comfort:

1 Nephi 9:6--But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all bpower unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.

So here's my recipe: Time to live my own life and not let these experiences get the better of me. Time to choose to be the best that I can and let these things make me a better person. I refuse to let this destroy the good things I am, but only make me stronger and into a better person.



Whew. Heavy. Now time to the lighter side: food recipe! :) This recipe is just like the bread at Macaroni Grill!


(This a photo of bread I made from this recipe (using my own homegrown rosemary--hooray for herb growing!). You wanna make it now, huh?)

Jo's Rosemary Bread Ingredients

1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary (but I suggest fresh--way better taste)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Optional:
Extra Olive oil to brush on top
Course salt to top bread

Directions:
If you have a bread maker, lucky you (I am jealous)! All you need to do is dump it in and let your bread maker do its thing. If not, here's what I suggest (i.e. what I did):

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Start by putting the 1 1/2 t. of yeast (or one packet of yeast, same difference) into WARM water (not too hot now--that will kill the yeast) so it can proof. Let it sit for about 10 minutes (although five may be enough).

2. Next, in a separate bowl stir together the 2 1/2 cups of bread flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of both white sugar and salt. Add the olive oil and stir/knead in by hand if it sticks to the spoon. Stir/knead for about 4 minutes. I just did this with a simple spoon and my hands in the bowl--no mixer or anything (it gets a good consistency for the bread this way--not to many or too few air bubbles). It should kinda seem like pancake batter at this point, especially if you use a mixer.

3. Lastly, gradually add 1/4 t. of both Italian seasoning and ground black pepper (ground really is SO MUCH better than regular pepper--you can really taste the difference), and 1 T of rosemary (I suggest using FRESH rosemary from your garden or the store--so much better than dried with a lot better flavor) and gradually add this flour/olive oil/seasoning mixture to the water/yeast mixture and knead by hand for five more minutes or so until the dough pulls away from the bowl (i.e. it's not too dry or too sticky) (again, I suggest doing it by hand, but feel free to use a bread hook to stir it if you have a nice mixer). At this point, I had a very soft (but not sticky or gooey) dough.

4. How you bake the bread is kind of up to you--I've used a bread pan (greased of course) (you have to really shape it to the pan since it isn't gooey like a banana bread consistency would be that would shape to the pan on it's own) and I have just used a cookie sheet to shape it how I liked.

5. OPTIONAL: After you grease the pan of your choosing and put the bread in, I HIGHLY suggest brushing it with olive oil, and lastly putting course salt on the top (regular salt doesn't do it justice--this is totally Macaroni Grill style).

6. Cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown (but I like to cook it until it's a little shy of golden brown--still kinda pale cream--seems to be softer that way, albeit a tiny bit doughy in the middle when hot and fresh from the oven, but it keeps it softer for the next few days and isn't doughy later).

Voila! This bread is so soft and delicious with a slightly crunchy outer crust. The inside was so deliciously soft I had to be extra careful if I used a knife to cut it! But who needs a knife when you can break it apart with your hands? ;) It's great served with olive oil, vinegar, and pepper to dip in. Mmmmm! I have yet to perfect this recipe to a tea, since I've been tweaking when I add things/how much I add at a time, but this method seems to work well.

Happy cooking, and happy healing from any trials that have come your way.