In the Kitchen: Flatbread Pizza, Zucchini Bread & Muffins, & Pumpkin Brownies

I love to try new recipes, even after 49 years of marriage and of cooking for those I love!

Here's one I tried recently for lunch! We really loved this! I tweaked it a bit from the original, but made it as written for the most part. I used some naan flatbread that I had in the freezer from Sam's. Olive oil, shredded chicken mixed with pesto, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, parmesan, spinach and basil leaves = delicious!

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Look for “Pesto Chicken Caprese Flatbread” at tastesbetterfromscratch.com

Using some of the zucchini from our garden, I tried a few new recipes, including this Banana-Zucchini Bread recipe.

Another new recipe using zucchini was these Zucchini Muffins.

Click here for this yummy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies recipe. Another new recipe I tried this fall!

Whatever the Season, Whatever the Circumstance

I love the seasons. And some are my favorite, like autumn. There is just so much beauty in this season! I wish these days could go on and on, forever.

And I also love it when life goes smoothly, and the beauty and joy just spills out onto everything. I wish for days that are peaceful, beautiful, and trouble-free. I don't like stress.

But what if we could train our eyes and our hearts to see beauty on any day, even on the hard days?

"When it seems as though you are facing nothing

but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity

to experience the greatest joy that you can."

(James 1:2 TPT)

"Every time we face anything that causes us to cry out to God, let's declare that this hard time will be a holy time, a close-to-God time."

(Lysa Terkeurst)

What we keep our eyes on, where our hearts rest, what our focus is on ... determines our joy. A hard day and difficult times may be just what we need, to turn to the true source of joy. Joy that doesn't need perfect circumstances. For joy is available always, a gift from our faithful, loving God. I am continually learning this, over and over. And it is true.

"The crucial detail for us to have peace

 in the midst of everything we face

 is to stay close to the Lord."

(Lysa Terkeurst)

(The last two quotes above are from Lysa Terkeurst's book It's Not Supposed to Be This Way. I just finished reading this, and highly recommend it.)

In the Kitchen: Dehydrating Herbs

I love my herb garden, and did not know till the past few years how amazing it is to have fresh herbs to use. You can click here to see a glimpse of the herb garden we've had for two summers now, located right outside the patio door in our kitchen/dining room. It's so handy to just take a few steps from the patio to clip a few herbs as I'm preparing a meal.

And just a few months ago, we got the idea to purchase a dehydrator with some gift money we received, to try out drying some of the herbs for winter use! 

Here's a tray of freshly picked basil leaves, on the trays and ready to be dried.

I followed the recommendation of a garden blogger to purchase this dehydrator, and have been quite pleased so far! It came with four trays, with the option to purchase more in the future.

It will be fun to use the dried basil, rosemary, and spearmint through this fall and winter. And I look forward to learning more about dehydrating other herbs, also veggies and fruit in the coming months/years.

So very thankful for our herb garden, and also for these dried herbs to use throughout the coming months!

NOTE: It's been a bit quiet here on my blog for the past month or two. We've been transitioning into retirement these past few months, and have been focusing on other things. We've also been very blessed to go on two recent trips ... a 15-day trip with kindred heart friends of ours, and then another trip to visit family in TX! And now, during this beautiful season of fall, I'm back here with another post! With more coming soon ...