My mom made us delicious Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches tonight and it was so good that I decided to write down how we made it so I can recreate it later in Mexico. So if you would like to try out our take on a Philly Cheesesteak, here is the "recipe". (Thanks to my sister, Alisha, for typing out most of this easy recipe.) *Please note, we are not from Philly therefore these will not necessarily be "authentic". 

Easy Recipe:  Philly Cheesesteak 
Ingredients: 
Thinly sliced beef (typically used for carne asada)
1 Onion, thinly sliced
1 Bell Pepper, thinly sliced
1 Can Mushrooms 
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

For Sandwich:
Hoagie rolls
White melty cheese (we used sliced swiss but you can use provolone, pepper jack, white american, white cheddar, etc)

Brown the beef in a skillet. Once it is mostly cooked through, add garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper and finish cooking. Remove & set aside. 

Caramelize onions, bell pepper and mushrooms in the skillet with a dash of oil. When vegetables are cooked through to your preference, remove. 

Open a roll, add 2 slices of white melty cheese to bottom of the roll & layer on the beef and vegetable mixture. Serve with fries or chips and enjoy! 

Like this Easy Recipe? Make sure you check out the other recipes on our site and make sure to pin your favorites.

Here are a few to get you started:

• Easy Recipes: Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Stovetop
• Easy Recipes:  Philly Cheesesteak
  
• Pumpkin Carving & Seed Roasting
  
• Easy Recipe:  Cherry Dump Cake
  

Hope you have an amazing 2014! 2013 has brought several changes for me (moving back to Mexico, living & serving in Tijuana, teaching preschool again, working with DTS for the first time, and finally a visit home for Christmas after 8 years). I can't wait to see what all God has in store for 2014. My plans include starting a bilingual Christian school for our staff, students and local community and more intentional focus on social media as well as speaking in 

As many of you know, this is my first Christmas with my family in Alabama since I moved to the mission field. The last Christmas I spent at home was in 2005 so this year has been very exciting to say the least.

I sit here on Christmas Eve watching my all time favorite movie, White Christmas, with my mom and I'm reflecting on the past week filled with traditions and family. I've been to 2 school Christmas parties, 1 school Christmas program and was able to see many of my dad's family at our traditional Christmas Eve gathering.

I've eaten turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, broccoli-rice casserole, and we've made so many chocolate-covered goodies that I can't count them anymore. And Christmas hasn't even started yet. We still have presents to open, Christmas meal to make & eat and of course our traditional movie at the theater on Christmas Day with Ms. Lula.

As we grow older, some things change. Opening presents start later in the day as we all actually enjoy sleeping in, the evenings are spent wrapping said presents instead of trying to fight going to bed, at times we are begging to go to bed but there are still way too many things to be done.

Of course, one tradition that will always remain in our family is remembering the whole reason we celebrate Christmas to begin with. We are reminded that God gave us His only begotten Son so that one day 33 years later He would die for our sins so that we may live with Him forever.

Remember this season that God loves you so much that even before you were born He provided a way for you to be forgiven of all the times you have & will betray Him, forsake Him and denounce Him. He lives you so much that before He formed you in your mother's womb, He knew you and ordained the days placed before you.

I hope that wherever you are today that you will know His love!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

My mom is crazy talented. I have never met anyone as gifted as she is in all things creative and homemade. This year she has made Christmas ornaments from lightbulbs.

If you can paint, you can make these too.

Materials:

Lightbulbs (can be any shape & size)

Acrylic paint (various colors)

Wire

Ornament hooks

Various fabrics for decorations

Directions:

Simply paint the outside of the lightbulb a solid color depending on the character you are painting.

Once dried, add the face and details by painting or if doing with your kids, use stickers & googly eyes.

After everything dries, add a clear coat to seal.

Leave overnight to dry completely before adding the finishing touches. Use yarn to crochet a hat or cut strips of left over felt for a scarf. The ideas are endless.

Add some wire around the top of bulb and add an ornament hook to hang on the tree.

Take a picture of your ornaments & send them to me using the hashtag #lightbulbornaments on Instagram or Twitter. I'd love to see your creations.

When I taught preschool one of the traditions we had every year was making a Thankful Candle with each of the children. Now that I am director of Little Builder's Preschool, a ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), we are bringing this fun & easy craft back to the table. This is a very fun and easy craft activity that the kids loved and it is a great opportunity for us to talk about being thankful and to pray over each child as we were making the candle. This has always been a favorite of all of our students, staff and parents every year!

SUPPLIES:
15-Bean Soup Mix* (dried bean soup mix found in your grocery store) need 1 per candle
White Glue
Candle (we used various fall colors)
paper plate (1 per candle)
wax paper ** MUST USE (other types will not work!)
metal mixing bowl (metal is easist to clean and reuse)
metal mixing spoon

To begin, pour the soup mix into the metal mixing bowl and add enough glue to generously cover. Mix the soup and glue together really well making sure that all of the beans are thoroughly coated. Children can help by adding the ingredients and mixing as well. 

Once you have a pretty solid base you can then insert the candle into the top in the middle of the mound. This will need some more squeezing as the beans will shift with the insertion of the candle. 

Once you are complete with this step, your project should still have the wax paper holding everything in place. Give this a couple of hours to dry and then you can peal back the wax paper. The complete candle will not be dry yet. If the beans start coming off with the wax paper, squeeze it back into it's shape and wait a few more hours.

After you have removed the wax paper, place the candle back down on the center of the paper plate (the glue on the bottom is still wet and will glue itself to the plate creating a solid, flat base for the candle). Allow this to dry completely (a few days).

When the beans are all dry you can cut the paper plate to fit the base of the candle. Add a construction paper leaf with a cute poem, story or verse about being thankful. Use as a table centerpiece or mantle decoration for Thanksgiving. It can be stored and used year after year. The kids from our preschool would always beg their parents once Thanksgiving came around to pull out & decorate their house with their candles & some of the kids who had been in our school for all 4 years along with their siblings before them would have enough candles to decorate the entire house; mantle, table, front steps & kitchen included. 

* You can use any of the dried bean soup mixes, not just the 15-bean soup. We reccommend this because it has a variety of colors. Pick out the soup mix with colors you like. 

What are some fun Thanksgiving Traditions your family has? Do you make handprint turkeys or paint fall leaves? I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below. 

In September our students in Little Builder's Preschool, a ministry of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), studied apples like many preschoolers around the states. One of my favorite things to do with my students throughout the years has been making applesauce in our Preschool Kitchen. This year was no different.

So without further ado, here are the steps to making some amazing applesauce.

Ingredients:
Apples, cored, peeled & sliced
Water
Sugar

Start by cutting apples into bite-sized pieces. This allows for more cooking surface so it cooks faster plus it will cook down nicely & not need to be puréed. The kiddos loved using plastic knives to cut their apples.

Next put apple pieces into a pot or pan & add sugar. The amount of sugar will depend on the type of apples used (I like to mix several different kinds) & how sweet you want your applesauce. Add enough water to cover the apples. When our class did it each of my 8 students added 1 package of sugar & abt 1/4 cup of water.

Next, cook on high until boiling, then lower the temperature to medium. Stir constantly so sugar doesn't crystallize & apples don't stick. Cook down until apples are cooked through & you are happy with the consistency. If it is too thick, add more water. The end product should be a thicker sauce than you would buy in the jars.

We spooned ours into some small styrofoam cups to cool & eat later with our lunch. It was a very easy, yummy science lesson. I love cooking with kids because you can explain how foods are made, where they come from plus they are more likely to eat it if they helped make it. Preschool students love getting to be grown up and what better way to allow that than a little Preschool Kitchen time. 


So, what is your favorite thing to do with your kiddos? What fun foods have you made together? I'd love to hear abt it.