Recipe: Holiday Leftover Pork Stir-fry

When my family gets together on Christmas Eve to open presents, we always get a nearby local restaurant to cater dinner. Ham, pork, various southern sauces, sandwich buns, and sweet tea make up our Christmas Eve fare. This super quick recipe comes out of a desire to eat something other than another pulled-pork sandwich. Leftover pork or turkey? Stir-fly!

• A few slices of already cooked meat, such as pork or turkey (cut into stir-fry strips or cubes)
• About 1 cup of veggies (either frozen or leftover from the holiday dinner)
• 1/8 of an onion, choppped
• 1 bag instant rice (or about 2 cups of your favorite rice or rice substitute)
• Soy sauce
• Garlic powder or another seasoning to taste

1. Start cooking the rice as directions indicate or per your preferred method.
2. Add a bit of olive oil to a medium-sized skillet on medium-high or high heat.
1. If using frozen veggies, go ahead and put them in the skillet and cook until they are pretty much cooked through. Then add onions and continue to cook. Stir consistently.
2. If using fresh or thawed veggies, add onions just prior to adding veggies. Cook until all veggies are cooked through.
3. Add a small amount of soy sauce to the veggies, stir, add salt and pepper.
4. Stir meat into the skillet and add more soy sauce. Sprinkle a pinch of seasoning of your choice over the stir-fry. I would use either garlic powder or garlic salt.
5. Serve warm over rice.

Enjoy!!

Favorite Love Songs

Don't take the title of this post too seriously. If you, like me, have fallen into the category of hopelessly-single-but-faithfully-waiting-for-the-guy-God-has-for-you-while-[seemingly]-everyone-else-is-getting-married, this is the post for you.

Here I have compiled a list of my favorite love songs of various genres, many country, many Christian, some serious and some not-so-serious. I hope it inspires you, single ladies, to keep waiting for Mr. Right. I hope, for those of you preparing to say "I Do," this list could serve as ideas for your reception, guest gifts, or marriage playlist. Enjoy!

Funny and/or Upbeat

• "Hold On" - TobyMac
• "Let a Country Boy Love You" - Jon Wolfe
• "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" - The Georgia Satellites (fun and southern - love it!)
• "Falling in Love" - Ben Rector
• "Lucky Guy" - Mockingbird Sun
• "She Is" - Ben Rector
• "Guys Like Me" - Eric Church
• "You and Me" - Ben Rector
• "Take Me There" - Rascal Flatts

Fun to Dance To

• "Dancing in the Moonlight" - King Harvest (So much fun to dance to!)
• "Why Don't We Just Dance" - Josh Turner
• "Never Gonna Let You Go" - Ben Rector

More Contemplative

• "Country Boy's World" - Jason Aldean
• "Enough to Let Me Go" - Switchfoot
• "Who Are You When I'm not Looking" - Blake Shelton
• "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" - Thompson Square
• "Head Over Heels (In This Life)" - Switchfoot
• "Lead Me" - Sanctus Real
• "Dancing in the Minefields" - Andrew Peterson
• "God Gave Me You" - Dave Barnes / Blake Shelton
• "The Day Before You" - Matthew West / Rascal Flatts

Super Slow

• "When You Say Nothing at All" - Allison Krauss
• "Oh My Dear" - Tenth Avenue North
• "Beloved" - Tenth Avenue North
• "I'll Be" - Edwin McCain
• "You and Me" - Lifehouse
• "Daughters" - John Mayer

Father-Daughter Dance Possibilities

• "Butterfly Kisses" - Bob Carlisle 
• "And Then They Do" - Trace Adkins

Rock-esque Love Songs

• "Falling In" - Lifehouse
• "Life After You" - Daughtry
• "Show Me What I'm Looking For" - Carolina Liar

Praise and Worship (for worship at a Christian wedding)

• "Made to Worship" - Chris Tomlin
• "Happy Day" - Tim Hughes

I hope to keep adding more, so stay tuned!

Recipe: Egg Drop Cookies

Looking for an easy recipe for something fun and simple to make for Christmas bake sales? My family has been making "egg drop" cookies for as long as I can remember and it's always something we look forward to at Christmas time. Here's my adapted recipe:

3 egg whites (save the yolks!)
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring (or extract)
1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, or other additions (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Mix egg whites with a hand-held mixer on medium-high until they are frothy.
3. Slowly stir in vanilla flavoring, salt, and sugar while continuing to beat/mix the mixture.
4. Continue to mix until the mixture is stiff, creamy white, and thick. 
5. Fold in chocolate chips (or other ingredients)
6. "Drop" onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly toasted around the edges. Remove from oven.
8. Let cool for 2-5 minutes, then remove from parchment paper and enjoy!

Of course, everyone has their own variations: Check out these recipes with chocolate peppermint, mocha chip, peanuts, and fruit-flavored Jello. These cookies are also called meringue cookies, although they typically don't taste like meringue (they get the name from the shape).  Enjoy!