Attitude of Gratitude

I've taken a step back lately. From .....pretty much everything that I like. Music,
make-up, social media, movies, shopping, coffee, creative food storming, wine, even people, and pretty much anything else that makes my heart go pitter patter.

Ive just casually grown apart, and I really believe it happened to me during a time when I was just craving focus, on WHAT and WHO I L-O-V-E. I didn't know why it was happening, or even realize as it was happening I just knew there was something different about me as the days went by.

I started to notice things more everyday, little gifts of awareness, like how good hot water feels in the morning, how fresh fruit tastes, and uniqely apart from all the other fruits. Then I started to notice heart piercing things, at stores like when men and women bark at their children pull at their limbs like handbags because they are frusterated and dont know how to manage their emotions. Couples sitting in restauraunts chewing their food across from each other in complete silence, (some in misery). I think God was letting me see through His eyes, in response to a recent prayer.

Im now attributing this change to a biblical teaching series I had been studying and listening to entitled LOVE. It spoke on true love, Gods kind of love. Focusing mainly on 1 Corinthians 13. I got a vivid illustration on who God really is, and how He IS LOVE. Gosh my eyes were opened to so many new avenues on this topic. At first I actually thought all I knew of love was based on a lie. Not true, we are capable of loving God and others , because HE first loved us. Essentially we could read and enterpret the verses on love like so :

"God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, God is not proud. He does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, and He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. He does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God never fails."

Im grateful. Grateful for all I have. Grateful that I know I have a place with God, even when I feel sometimes I dont fit in with the world. Im sure im not the only one that has ever felt this way. Sometimes all the thingies in the world we think matter just ......plain dont. There will come a day when none of what concerns usnow , tears our heart apart, or stresses us out will matter. Not one bit. Im guilty of taking this life im given for granted more often than not. All I know is that Ive got a heart ooozing of gratitude to my God right now, hope I infected some of my readers with gratitude.

Its the little things that bring me back to life, just gotta take a step back and indulge in Christ.

Peace and blessings friends

~April

"Healthy" Chiles Poblanos Rellenos

Alot of my friends lately are on a healthy lifestyle kick, and I just wanted to share a good recipe for a mexican dish I sort of creatively made up, well tweaked. Its a new take on Chilles rellenos, you know the heavenly roasted green chile stuffed with tons of oooey gooey buttery melted cheese, and coated in a meringue of perfectly whipped egg mixture, and then fried to a golden brown. My is baked, and packed with veggies, a good and healthy source of protein, and topped with some cheese, but not enough to make your diet take a dive. I promise you will feel really good about this, and maybe even allow yourself dessert. Here's what you'll need.


4-5 Roasted Chiles Polblanos
1 pound of lean ground turkey meat
1 Large yellow Summer squash
2 regular sized zuchinnis
1 medium onion diced
2 fresh minced garlic cloves
2 Jalapenos diced and de-veined (leave this out if you like)
2 cups Shredded Cheese (I used Colby Jack, cheddar is better)
Salt, pepper ground cumin


First off you will want to get started on roasting the chiles. If you are lucky enough to have a gas stove, justcrank the flame up on high and put your chilis righ on the range. You might want to open a window, and have tongs handy, you will hear snaps, crackles, and pops, and there will be a bit of smoking. You will want to char these until they are literally black and look burned. If you still see green, just keep rotating the chiles until you get the burnt effect. If you don't have a gas range just turn use your gas grill, and do the same thing.
THanks to my baby, he went out and grilled these for me, so i could do my THANG in the kitchen when I got home.
Once the chiles are charred you will want to take a plastic bag and immediatly put them in and seal the bag tight for about 20 minutes or until they cool about 95 percent. The steam inside the bag allows the skins to easily separate from the chiles without any tearing, and it practically does the work for you. You should now have something that looks like this.

While the chiles cool lets start on the filling. In a hot pat sautee your onions with a bit of olive oil, and your minced garlic, and then jalapenos. In the mean time, take a cheese shredded and shred your zuchinnis and squash just like you were to shred cheese. Add the veggies to the pan and sautee that mixture as well. Add some salt so that the excess moisture from the veggies is drawn out. Add in your turkey, and incorporate the mixture.
It should look like this.

You will start to notice your mixture take on a liquidy texture, this is good, this means the salt and heat drew out all the water, thus reduring a cooking liquid. Now season your mixture, add in your salt pepper and cumin, and incorporate it well. Now the meat, and veggies will all marry with their wonderful flavors. You will want to cook your mixture all the way down to a brown color by cooking it on medium high hea, as the liquid evaporates lower the heat and make sure you mix it so all sides of the meat are browned.

While your mixture is browning, its time to peel your chilis. Under some warm water gently rub off the charred skins, this should be really easy to do, it shouldnt require and hard peeling.

Be extra careful not to make any holes in the chiles, but occasionaly you will notice it might split, but this is ok, as wel will need to eventually cut a slit to stuff the chilies with our mixture. Next find a place to split the chili and remove all the seeds as best as you can. Once you have them all peeled,and seeds removed put them in a baking dish, and now its time to stuff, and top with cheese.

oh man these look SO GOOD already!

In the oven for about 15 minutes on 375. This is what you get!
A healthy Chile relleno that has layers and layers of sweet flavor from the zuchinni, and squash and carmelized onions, an dthe savory flavor from the turkey meat and cumin. And of course the ooey gooey part of the cheese from the relleno without ALL the guilt.

Poblanos are not spicy so its ok for kids to eat minus the jalepenos, unless your kids are breave litle ones.
Serve this with any kind of rice, or just a side salad, and enjoy.

~April :)

FREEDOM

I felt like writing about an awesome encounter I had with God this morning because we can all use some encourgaement now and again and I thought it be best to share Gods goodness with anyone who stops to read this.

Today started out like any Sunday, getting up , starting the breakfast bustle for my hulk, then getting ready to go to church and serve where we are needed. Slowly things started to take a turn south for me. After battling a nasty cold for the last week I noticed my energy has been low and somehow I began to feel blue. We all battle our demons daily, and we all have our personal struggles we need to over come, and I just felt the weight of condemnation and bills, and stresses weighing me down. When this happens I tend to get really quiet, and just observe. I look at all the happy faces at church, I feel everyones genuine love for one another at church, I just plain feel life is happening right before my eves, I feel left out of life.I truly believe this happens when we leave home and forget to put our armor on. Our Spiritual armor that is.

We finally make it to church, and I just began to greet my friends and church family and things are feeling much better, but I still feel an emptiness I just can't shake. I just couldn't wait for our praise and worship to start. This is a time where its just me and Jesus, and nothing else in the world matters. Its all about Him, and His greatness, and when I don't know what to say or how or what to pray for somehow just praising God makes all those other worries melt away. Well, today, I got an amazing surprise, and God showed up like He never has before at Praise City Church, just to meet ME, or at least it felt that way. Our worship team is awesome and went into a song titled, "Break every Chain". This is a song about the power in the name "Jesus". Ive always known and believed that there is healing power in the name "Jesus". Ive prayed countless prayers, and pleaded in Jesus name, and have sealed many a prayers by this great name, but today was different, today God was THERE! The song went on, and I believed those lyrics, there really is power in the name Jesus to break EVERY CHAIN! Every heavy, binding, linked, tangled, strong, COLD chain there is. NO mater what it is!
In the name of Jesus Heavy chains can broken! Not bent or kind of cracked but BROKEN and severed!

No matter what it is, sin, addiction, shame, guilt, unworthiness, unhappiness, depression, condemnation, judgement, abuse, regret, illness, generational curses, ungodly soul ties, torments, abandonment, the list could go on forever, but no matter what category your chains are linked to, there is nothing too hard for our God to break! We can't do anything when our hands are tied together, or when we are bound in chains, everything is 50 times harder. I believe strongly if we make the decision to come to the cross, and leave it at Gods's feet, He promises to handle what we can't, He even says our yoke is heavy, but His burden is light.


The bible says "If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it." John 14:14.
I began to just break the heaviness of those chains right then and there, and with every chain I declared broken, I heard sounds, I imagined chains falling down, off my feet like shackles, off my wrists like cuffs, off my chest and all of a sudden like a quarter being deposited into a machine, a word came soft but clear to my mind and out of my mouth came "He whom the Son sets free is free INDEED"! At that time if you asked me I could not quote that word, nor would I know where to find it in the bible, but I know I had heard it before, and I know it was Gods very word. I felt such a comfort in repeating those words, as I had just broken several chains, and I felt lighter, and I felt like I could breathe again knowing this day has changed, April 29th, 2012 would no longer go down in history as just another Sunday going through the motions, dragging a heavyness I was NEVER MEANT TO CARRY!

About 30 seconds had passed, and I was still repeating this word during worship,
"He whom the Son sets free is free indeed" all of a sudden our Pastor got up to the Pulpit and he confirmed what I had just repeated. I believe his words were "I think its time we trade that Spirit of heaviness in for the garment of praise, John 8:34 says:


Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

At that very moment I felt like I was the lucky winner, of a Million dollar loto ticket, like the numbers I picked won! I felt like Charlie when he found the golden ticket! I remembered looking around, with a big fat smile on my face and wide eyes! I mean really out of all the verses and stories in the bible, Pastor chose that verse to share! I tell you in the house of God there is no such thing as a coincidence. This was a divine confirmation for ME. I felt when I looked around God says "Yes, you April." I feel so lucky a God SO BIG takes the time to confirm just for me how mighty and powerful He is. If He says its done, then ITS DONE! If HE says I am forgiven I AM FORGIVEN, and today He said I am SET FREE, and today I AM FREE INDEED!
What an awesome day I lived today. Part of this freedom I live out is sharing this with you. The more I say it with my lips, and use this tongue the more real freedom becomes to me. See God forgives, sets free, blots out sin and remembers it no more, and just like that its done, but we humans tend to go back and pick up that shame and condemnation, and tie ourselves up with chains again over and over again. It's a sick cycle, but you know what? God's love is greater, STRONGER, EVEN BIGGER than our circumstance, and His love goes on, and on, and on, and on , and on........

Even when we pick that up again, He will break those chains, over and over and over again.
What a great God we serve. I'd like to extend the opportunity for you to break any chains holding you down.
Enjoy this Song by Jesus Culture
God bless...

~ April

Crystal Lorraine Nichols

Hi friends,

Im back after a very long hiatus from my blog, many have asked what happened, and well my laptop died, and I reverted back to the ice age for almost a year with no personal PC or Internet. I know. Im glad to be back and share bits and pieces of my life with those who read or follow my blog. I figure when im long gone, at least there will be some documentation of my life, like receipes, funny stories, thoughts, and just stuff at the current moment.

As you may know I have two younger sisters, Jackie and Crystal. I love my sisters and words cant decribe how I love them but i'll make my best effort.
Today, im going to write about Crystal.

Aaaaah Crystal, nicknamed "Wito" because when Jackie was a toddler she couldn't pronounce "Crystal" . a name, or term of endearment thats stuck with her even today. Crystal is the middle sister, and from what I once heard remains true the middle child has a tendancy to want ot fix everything, problems and all.
The name Crystal actually really fits my sister. Shes brilliant, beautiful, admirable, and worthy to be showcased. To me there isnt and there will never be another Crystal just like her.

Crystal joined the Airforce when she was 17 years old, practically begged my parents to sign for her to join bootcamp. About four months later Crystal had finally graduated and become an Airmen in the U.S Airforce, a prestigous, and high honor, both in the military and in our family. Over the last 7 years, Crystal has has traveled several parts of the world, has completed her orders in Arizona, California, and has now moved on to the Eastcoast, a far move from home, the west coast of the U.S. Crystal has also spent time in Afghanistan as part of the war on terror, and praise God has made it home safe to tell about it. She has recognized several times for her achievements with the Airforce, including her new title of Staff Sgt.

Each year Crystal makes me more and more proud of her , and I feel so honored to be her sister. Crystal is such a unique soul, and everytime I spend time with her, I can see why God loves her so. He made her this uncommon beauty, with a humerous spirit. She's got a passion for classic rock, and also a common love we both share now, MAKE UP! Ever since I can remember she always made us laugh, dancing ridiculously to music, distorting her face to make us smile, even when the mood is sour Crystal manages to force us to crack a big ass smile on our faces.

More importantly Crystal is also a sweet spirited person, with a humble and caring heart. She is the first to extend her helping hand to somone in need, including myself. She has been my rock in some very difficult situations, and together we have gotten each other through grave, dark times. She has been the one to lift me out of the pit more times than I can count.

Crystal... I know you will read this, so I just to say every word I said is true. I am SO proud of you, and I love you so much words can't describe. I know you will do GREAT things. I know its lonely out there in D.C, but I have faith in God that things will start turning around. I know God has an amazing plan for you, and I know its going to be something that you will never expect. I feel both lucky, and unworthy to be your sister, you are a rare gem. I cant wait to see you soon! I leave you with a classic "Crystal" photo.

God why do you feel so distant sometimes.....

Have you ever had the feeling that Gods Spirit has left you? Maybe you had a rough day, an argument, or even found yourself judging someone, and then the conviction settled in. Sometimes it feels as if His prescence just Flees So distant.... so quiet... so far away. None of this is true. God promised us in His word that we would never be alone. Not ever, not even now. He is with us by His Holy Spirit until the end of this age.

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” Hebrew's 13:5

So where does this feeling, this sense of loneliness, unworthiness come from? God is not a man that He should lie, nor does He go back on his promises. I am guilty when it comes to this. Sometimes when the sun goes down I don't feel I have done all I should, or could have, but those are worries that are not within reason. I stat to almost imagine God How is it that when we are in church we feel His prescence thick in the air, in the cries of His people, in the Worship, and in praise? Part of our walk with God is living an intentional life, and remembering His promises, so that they may come to fruition. No one man ever heard the audible voice of God, or has even seen Him and lived to tell about it. So how do we know He is with us?

In the natural, I could look to the right or left, up or down or even in a mirror and I wont see him but I know in my heart He is there, everywhere. In this day in age we MUST walk by Faith and not by sight. We have to have the hope that He is wherever we go, that His Spirit is within us, and If He promises that He WILL deliver! This takes a Supernatural awareness. I really believe that the distance we can sometimes feel is due to us taking steps back. God is the same as He was yesterday, today, and He will NEVER change! Sure the enemy, or even a rough day can cause us to not feel so "Spiritual", but ultimately we must make that choice for ourselves, that nothing can separate us from HIS love. Nothing! If you don't make that choice for you, then who will? I don't know why I started to write this today, but I know it was meant to be for someone out there.... someone who feels distant, they can hardly remember what it feels like to feel Gods power, His mercy, and forgiveness. This is for you.

Bottom line is , are we always going to feel the Goosebumps, the flowing tears, or even screaming out in worship every minute of everyday just to feel His prescence? Probably not, but we must acknowledge His Holy Prescence everywhere we go, and we must never forget that we serve a Holy, and mighty and powerful God that cares, more than we know, more than we give Him Glory for. Why can't we once in a while look up, or down or to either side and say " Thank you Lord.... for Just being you".



Let's do that now....

A little tune from Kari Jobe

It's Taco TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

If any one out there watches Jersey Shore, you know that Pauly D, and Vinny have a specified time for "Putting on their Clubbin T-shirts" it's called "T-shirt tiiiiiiiiiiiime"!!! They sing that in a horrid opera voice that is just plain hilarious. Well on April's blog its "Taco Tiiiiiiiime"! Yes, its a recipe for the best tacos in the West. None of this soft taco, flour tortilla business. I'm going to show you tacos my Mammas way, old school "carne molida tacos", (ground beef). Now I know everyone has their own way or even their own idea of what a taco should be, but this is what I grew up with, and this is how MY Mom makes them, and deep down inside, no ones tacos are better. Some might disagree, but that's ok. Hey maybe some would even make their own post about tacos and share with me? I would love that! Ok so let's get started, here's what you'll need.

Ground beef
Corn tortillas, the thinner the better
3 potatoes (peeled and diced really tiny)
Vegetable oil
Dices onion, freshed minced gaaaaalic
Iceberg lettuce shredded
Diced tomatoes
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream (Daisy baby.)
salsa is optional
Salt , pepper, & Cumin (comino)

Ok so first things first, start by browning your beef, onions, and garlic in a pan, do not add oil, the beef will have enough fat for browning.

While the meat is cooking you will want to prepare your toppings, shred your letttuce in thin long strips, dice your tomatoes, and shred your cheese. I think its kind of fun to let everyone fill their taco like they want to.

Halfway through the meat cooking its now time to add your seasonings, listed above, here is what it looks ike. Please feel free to cut back on the salt, or pepper, but not on the cumin if possible. It gives a very Latin flavor, and the meat really needs it.

You might notice the meat and potatoes starting to stick, if it does, or the meat looks dry, add some water and let it steam, we want the potatoes to be fully cooked. Nothings worse than anyone chomping on raw potatoes, Could you imagine if someone asked "is this Jicama"? Hahaha

So when your meat is done, give it a flavor check, and if all is good then allow it to cool a few minutes off the heated burner. Now it's frying time. You want to get about a cup and a half of veggie oil in a pan, on medium to high heat. While that heats up to temp, take a handfull of tortillas and heat them up for about 3 minutes. This is just to make the tortillas flexible so they don't crack on you.

Then you take a tortilla and put a heaping spoonfull of the meat mix and fold your tortilla in half.

Slowly and carefully use tongs to lay the taco into the hot oil and let it cook for about 3 minutes or less on each side or until golden brown. You could also tap the tortilla with a fork to see if it sounds firm enough to be crispy. I hope this makes sense, then flip and repeat.

and....

Once its cooked on both sides then you should have a platter with napkins ready to catch as oil and to drain them.

Woo hoo! Now comes the fun part, assembling your tacos "your way". Its all about what you like and how much of what you like. Here is a picture of mine :) we didn't have any salsa because I didn't have a blender at the time , so we had Tapatio....it was still beyond "Yummy".

God bless everyone reading this post. Our time here on Earth should be joyful, and we should be thankful for the things we do have instead of focusing on what we don't have. I am so thankful to God for tacos, and the wonderful tradition of food, family, friends, and happiness. :)

Enjoy Amigos!

My very first car & funny roach story!

Hi everybody!

I hope everyone enjoyed the previous food post. Yesterday as I was cleaning out some junk in my car as I let it warm up I was reminded of this funny story that happened to me a few years ago, and everytime I think about it I almost always laugh , and then cringe.

In 2005, I purchased my first very own car, a very sexy, and chic silver mitsubishi eclipse gt. I fell in love at first sight, it looked gorgeous, it smelled great, it had black leather interior, just like a silver bullet and the best part....it was going to be mine. No more letting my mom take the keys away because she was pissed I came home late. (10 pm...what a joke). I felt it was time to establish my own credit, with no help from nobodys! You guys know what I'm talking about....

I was all hyped up and ready to sit in and do a test drive until I realized, it wa a stick shift. I flashed back to drivers ed, and and though "well that was stupid of them not to teach us to drive stick"! So my mom and sister Jackie came with me to test drive and teach me to drive stick. After much yelling, and stalling out, and maybe even some whiplash mom was not to thrilled at what I was doing, "but I was determined to get this car. So I did. I had my mind set, I passed the credit chck with flying colors, I signed all the paperwork. Now it was the moment of truth, time to proudly drive my first car off the lot. My best friend Dew, and her guy at the time were taking the drive home with me. I put the clutch in and it started it up, and man, o man, it sounded expensive, I could hear everything in the car working together effortlessly, and every sparkplug, and belt, and fluid, was my baby. And then the fear sunk in. Time to put it in drive, and well....drive...

It was buttery smooth, and with dew helping me and telling me which gear goes next it as a success, highway all the way baby, and yeah it did jerk a bit when I was switching gears, but hey for a first time drive off the lot, not bad, and since then I felt like a natural. Before I knew it I was handling the shift through the line on the bridge in Juarez Mexico like a pro. Mom if you are reading this, I swear, it was during the day, and we just went to eat!

Anyways, here's the funny part. About a week after my big purchase I was cruising of course, down country club road on my way home after the gym, with my windows down, blasting some Al Green, I was happy. Beautiful scenery, big trees form almost an arch as you are driving through, lots of flowers, and billowy shrubs. All of a sudden I feel something fly into my car, almost like a twig or a dried leaf or something, it brushed my left cheek and them it was gone. A couple of seconds later, I feel something lightly nudging on my lower back, and of course through my gym wear, it was rather skimpy, so my lower back was exposed. It startled me a bit so I stiffened my back in a jerking movement and thought, "what the hell?", so I ignored it....and then once again but this time I felt crawling so I immediatly pulled over, and got out and looked, and it was sorta dark, but the car lights allowed me to see a little. I looked and it was a friggin roach the size of a jalapeno!!!! Black and brown, and on its back I saw all the ridges on its body...ew. ew. EWW! I panicked and I grabbed some sheets of paper from the trunk and scooped it up,or so I think I did. It was kind of heavy so it fell a few times back on the seat, but finally I got it,I think or I wasn't sure if it might have fallen down to the left where my seat adjusters were, but I think I did get it. It was dark. I went home and was really grossed out and couldn't believe it.

Weeks passed, and I kept envisioning roach eggs, and roach families, and ew.
Months went by, and then 3 years went by. I was married, and already living in Phoenix, az.
One hot sunny afternoon I was driving to the store and I reached for my chapstick, and then I guess the lid slipped out of my fingers and down to the left where my seat adjusters are. I was fishing around feeling for the lid while I was at the light, and I used my pointer and middle finger to pull up the lid since it was so small, and then as I pulled ut up to view I screamed bloody murder!!!! It was a dried, dead, decredpid, petrified, gross, corpse of the roach from years before!!!!! And I Had it in my fingers dangling by one leg!!! I quickly threw it out the window unknowingly along with my chapstick and was horrified at what had just happened!

I could not believe it was in there all this time! Later I told my husband and we laughed about it, and I must have washed my hands 76,543,245 times. And well folks that's my funny roach story. I hoped you enjoyed, and got a laugh out today, if so and I made you smile then I've done my duty for the day.

Gods joy, and blessings to you today :)