The saying goes “when it rains it pours”. This has proven true for most of our relationship.We experience times of completely calm, and have a relatively boring life. Then one day, BAM, it all unfolds and our life gets pulled in nine million directions. The last crazy time period was right before the wedding — there was chaos with all the planning and then of course on top of that, Keith had multiple surgeries to go through. It was a crazy stressful period. Then we got to the other side and settled in married life, enjoying the last few months of quiet.

And now, we’ve listed our house — sold our house — and are in the process of finding our next home. That in itself is a fulltime job, on TOP of our fulltime jobs and Keith pulling crazy overtime hours at work. I felt we were at our max limit, but as usual, there was more. They also say that God never gives you more than you can handle, and I do believe that. In times of deep stress and anxiety, those are the times when we notice that we are leaning more on God. We pray harder and more frequently. Not because we are asking Him to take away our stress or pain, but because we need more of His strength to get through it.

About three weeks ago, I received news that my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. My grandmother is my person, she is my rock and my sounding board. Even though we are separated by the entire continental United States and 3000 miles of Pacific Ocean, we are extremely close. Finding out this news absolutely shook me to the core. I had never experienced this kind of pain. No one in my life had ever been really sick, and I found myself grappling with new emotions.

On my wedding day, 9/1/12

Despite the fact that it was the worst possible time for me to be away from home, I booked a plane ticket to Honolulu. I knew in my gut that I needed to see my grandmother, to sit with her and talk stories, and to help her through this time period. I knew my job could wait, hell, finding a house could wait too. There are some things that happen that shake you and make you realize what is truly important in life — for me, it’s faith, family and love.

My grandmother’s prognosis is good. They caught the cancer early and are removing the lump on Monday March 11 and then doing a quick month of radiation. We are so very fortunate that she will make a full recovery. I know that not every family that gets this diagnosis is as lucky.

I always try to look for the good in things …. yes this was an awful, scary situation, but it’s allowing me 7 precious days with my grandparents. Since we live so far away, and when our life gets crazy again, I’ll be grateful for these memories. My faith is constantly being renewed, but seeing my prayers answered makes me ten times more appreciative that I have faith, without it my life would be nothing.

Ok, so first let me start by saying that I am the *the* pickiest eater. I don’t like things simply if other people don’t like them. So I guess you can say that I never gave brussels sprouts a fighting chance.

Then one night, at dinner with some friends — they came as the side with hubby’s entree. He didn’t have a choice of sides and I am soooo incredibly glad! They were crispy, crunchy with just the right hint of flavor. I was instantly obsessed. Lucky for me, the girl we were with happens to be a personal chef and am amazing cook, and she had a recipe for me! I couldn’t wait to give it a try

You will need:

Brussels sprouts (obviously) I always make more than I think I will need because I always eat more
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Salt & Pepper
Balsamic glaze — I love the one from Trader Joe’s

Now – I use my cast iron skillet to make these, they just get so much crispier.

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

2. Trim the ends, and cut in half length-wise, don’t worry if some “leaves” fall off when you cut them

3. Heat up your skillet to medium-high  with some evoo and minced garlic in the pan

3. Add your sprouts and stir them around until they are bright green!

4. Transfer the whole skillet to the oven — and roast them for 15-20 minutes, or until they are crispy. You can also stir them around once or twice so they are evenly crispy.

5. After you remove the skillet from the oven, transfer to a serving dish and drizzle with balsamic glaze.

This recipe is adapted from Bobby Flay’s “Roasted Brussels Sprouts” recipe — he adds pancetta to the evoo and garlic mix and it is ahhh-mazing that way as well. I just don’t always have pancetta on hand, so I usually make it without. You can find that recipe here.

After several months of making them this way, I found a new recipe on (where else?) Pinterest and made it tonight! ohmygosh — so excited to share it with y’all. I did adapt this slightly because I didn’t have ricotta cheese, but I think I liked it better this way.

All my ingredients

Trimmed and sliced in half length-wise

Blanching them for a couple of minutes — to get that bright green color

After they are blanched, they are super easy to core out — perfect for stuffing!

Don’t waste the insides! Chop them up really fine, and pan fry with garlic and evoo

In the bowl is the chopped sprouts, mixed with mozzarella, parmesan cheese, a tad bit of milk and broth

Stuffed and ready for the oven!!

Roasted to perfection!

All done!!! Drizzled with balsamic glaze

I took this recipe from here  and I want to make sure that credit goes where it’s deserved These were so amazing, and while a little bit of prep went into making them, it is WELL worth the time! 

As a follow-up to my last post, I thought I would share the finished product, how our place looked after we cleaned and staged it. We really wanted it to sparkle and shine, so that when people walking in, they wanted to buy it! Mission accomplished

Panoramic shot when you first walk in

Love how open the living space is! Can you spot Gunner?

Dining Area

Bedroom #2 aka the Man Cave

Our entry table

Bathroom, we redid the floors last summer and they made a HUGE difference!

Bathroom Vanity

Bedroom

I love our kitchen! The floors, a few accessories (don’t judge my multiple bottles of wine) and some pops of color made it stand out.

Not bad for a small space