Life in Dermatology

Did you know that there are over 2,000 dermatologic conditions that have been described?  Good luck to me, trying to learn them during these next three weeks while I rotate through the dermatology department.  My required, 300 page dermatology text doesn't even begin to scratch the surface!

Medical school is an exercise in humility.  I constantly find my self wavering between relief and gratefulness that I am getting to do these elective senior rotations and horror at the amount of information that I still don't know.  It is sort of like parenting in many ways: I am infinitely thankful for my children and terrified by how much I have to wing parenting most of the time.

I will need more than luck, so wish me God's grace and wisdom as I tackle all these rashes :)

Grocery Bag

Meal planning is one of the keys to success during a first week back to medical school rotations.  There will certainly be unexpected curve balls in the week.  Best to have the fridge stocked and the recipes prepped.  This week is filled with simple, easy-prep meals to get us through.

Day One

Easy Meatballs from Everyday Food
and Oatmeal Irish Soda Bread

with salad greens

These meatballs and sauce are amazing, only requiring one pot. 
You can cheat and just use your favorite tomato sauce instead of making your own like in the recipe.

The bread is my new favorite quick bread. 

I found the recipe in a grocery store flier.

Photo and recipe from Everydayfoodmag.com

Day Two

Lentil Chili

Yum.  I love making this because I have lunch for the rest of the week.

Definitely add garbanzo beans.

Day Three

Skillet Ham with Glazed Pineapple

and steamed broccoli

Super-quick.  Super good.

Recipe and Photo from MyRecipes.com

Day Four

Barbeque roasted salmon from Cooking Light Magazine

and steamed green beans

This recipe is a Happily Ever Johnson Hall of Famer.  

I used it to impress and whoo T way back in the day.  

Fancy enough for company, but comes together in a snap. 

Recipe and Photo at MyRecipes.com

Day Five

Ham and garden veggie shells
from Joy in My Kitchen

This looks like a winner.  Especially after a long week.

Overheard in the house this week 6...

"E-Bear, let's play a game.  I will be the princess, and you can be......just a boy."

~G-Bear

The Friday Surprise

Hooray for Baby Three!

We are so excited to share our Friday surprise with everyone!  

Announcing Baby Three, due on his/her Mom's 30th birthday.  

We are so excited.  Please keep us all in your prayers in the coming months.

Surprise on Friday

Ok, so here's the deal.  I have a surprise for Friday.

No hints.

No spoiling if you've been privy to the inside scoop.

There will be a clue somewhere on the blog tomorrow and then Friday I will post the surprise.

How fun is that?

I love surprises.

They will know we are Christians

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
and we pray that our unity will one day be restored.

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,

they will know we are Christians by our love.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

and we'll guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride.

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,

they will know we are Christians by our love.

In 1963, Peter Scholtes wrote a song called "They will know we are Christians," while pastoring a church on the South Side of Chicago.  The beautiful lyrics are above.  

When I think about how I want to live out my faith for my children and for the world, these words often come to mind.  Jars of Clay has performed a great rendition of the song on their album, Redemption Songs.  Tonight T and I were listening to the album again.  I think I played the song on repeat 4 times, and prayed the whole time.

May the world know us by our love.

Grocery Bag

I am ready to savor this week.  It is my last week of before returning to work and the last week for most of the Minneapolis farmers markets.  *Sigh*.  Whoa, I stand corrected, (by an early morning comment from the Minneapolis Farmers Market itself!) the mighty Mpls Farmers Market remains open 7 days a week, even as others phase out.  I'll be shopping there until the last stall closes.  So, while I'll have to adjust to life back at the hospital next week, I won't have to head back to the grocery store produce section just yet.  

Thank goodness for the beautiful weather and all of our autumn family fun.  Here are my meal ideas to get us through this week.  Thanks for reading today.

Day One

Corn Chowder from Food & Wine Magazine

with grilled cheese squares

Everyone should have a favorite corn chowder recipe.  This is mine.

It's a delicious, hearty soup that we love.  I add bacon and top with fresh parsley.  

We cut our grilled cheese into mini squares: perfect for little fingers and for dipping.

Corn Chowder photo at MyRecipes.com

Day Two

Beef & Cheesy Noodle Bake from Cooking Light

This is a great baked pasta that hides veggies from picky eaters.  

It is another favorite dish in our house.

Beef & Cheesy Noodle Bake photo from MyRecipes.com

Now, at some point in the week you are going to want to buy a rotisserie chicken or cook a whole chicken like me, so that you will have plenty of cooked, shredded chicken at the ready for the next two meals.  But before you throw out your leftover chicken, DO YOURSELF a FAVOR and SAVE SOME MONEY and use your bones and chicken leftovers to make chicken stock.  It's so easy!  Just cover the carcass with water, some salt & your favorite herbs in a crock pot and cook on low overnight (after dinner!) or for 10-12 hours.  Strain the broth off the solids & either use it right away for your next dinner or freeze in containers for future use.  As T has proclaimed, "this is the REAL stuff.  It just tastes better."

Day Three
Salsa Verde Chicken & Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings

from Pam Anderson's Perfect One-Dish Dinners

Use some of  you cooked chicken in this delish dinner.

My aunt is a fabulous cook and recommends this with rave reviews.  

I can't wait to make it myself.

Day Four
Lazy Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Stew 

with homemade wheat bread

Yum.  Great for study nights with friends...they always ask for the recipe.  

Great way to use your new homemade broth and cooked chicken.

Creamy Chicken Soup photo at Food.com

Day Five

Black Bean Burrito Bake  from Cooking Light 
with Cilantro-lime rice from Everyday Food Magazine

Black Bean Burrito Bake photo at MyRecipes.com

Cilantro-lime rice photo at Everyday Food online

Thanks for meal planning with us this week!  A great place to find other menus is at Menu Planning Monday, hosted by Organizing Junkie.  

Blessings on your kitchen.

Tough day in sports

Yesterday was a rough day for the sports fans in my life.

The #1 ranked Crimson Tide lost for the first time in 20 straight games in a surprise upset to South Carolina.

Later last night, the Twins lost a third play-off game to the Yankees, bringing an end to their season.

Talk about a bummer day.

Except that we had the pleasure of cheering my younger cousin to victory, who played in his final varsity high school soccer game last night.  His team won a nail-bitter with two spectacular goals in the last 20 seconds of overtime.  The whole extended family was there in team colors with a giant sign for him.  We are good at embarrassing, er, supporting each other.

Others have written far more eloquently than I can about the way favorite sports teams bring fans to tears of joy or sadness.  While I was never a die-hard groupie growing up, my dad and brother are Twins fans par excellence.  Then I married a man who, for 5 months of the year, lives and breaths Alabama football.  We listen to the Alabama radio station online to hear the running commentary during the week.  We have found every free means known to man to view the games on internet, iphone or tv during the season (which is harder than you might think when you live in Big 10 country).  The whole family starts getting nervous for the game by Thursday night.  T combs the blogs for the inside scoop before the game.  The kids know where to find their shakers and are ready with their cheers come game time.

And you know what?  I love it.  When T sits down to watch the game on game day, I am right there with him, wishing we were at the stadium.  And yesterday, I have to admit I was not only sad for Alabama and crushed for my guy who had to watch his team lose, I was rather sullen myself.

As we watched the Twins lose later that night with the rest of my family, my dad wondered out loud:
"Man, here I am pulling my hair out over a bunch of millionaires who are losing a play-off game.  Makes you wonder at what point you have become too invested in a team."

There is some truth to my dad's observation.  For instance, we have banned post-losing-game bad moods in our house (didn't need to worry about that much last year in an undefeated season).  But as I have learned through loving T, there is something special about the bond between sports fans and their teams.  And this weekend I am glad to have one.

Two in a tree

What happens while Dad is in charge?

Non-stop fun!

Joy for everyday

"You can find Joy even in your most difficult days."

~Sarah Young, Jesus Calling

Yesterday was a fabulous day filled with happiness in our house.

But not all days feel like yesterday.  I was reminded of this as I did some spiritual reading during nap time.  I was reminded of the many days when happiness is elusive, when my mood is sour, my heart discontented.  Can I hope to find Joy even in my most difficult days?  What if my days are even harder than they have been in the past?  What if I lost someone I loved?  Faced disease or injury?  Sometimes joy feels as fleeting as the summer sun this time of year. 

In Jesus Calling, I was reminded today that some of the world's most miserable people are those whose circumstances seem the most enviable.  Some of the greatest saints the world has ever seen had nothing, died penniless and suffered greatly in their lives.  These examples and my own experience force me to admit that true joy must not depend on my circumstances.  

In the book of Habakkuk, a prophet offers a compelling testament of faith and finds joy in all circumstances, even those that feel the most devastating or dreary.

"For though the fig tree blossoms not,

nor fruit be on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive fail

and the terraces produce no nourishment,

Though the flocks disappear from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord

and exult in my saving God."

~Habakkuk 3: 17-19

Incredible.  Lord, let my heart draw close and rejoice in you when my day seems too hard.  Because that might be my today or tomorrow.