These are delicious! Taylor and I loved the Kale and brussels sprouts burgers I made awhile back, so I decided to give another go to our green burger! The spicy mustard barbeque sauce makes this meal! You can get the recipe for the mustard here.
You can see a more in depth recipe below!
Recipe makes: About 8 small patties | 4 normal patties
2 cups chopped kale
1 cup chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped mushroom
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers
1 tbsp chopped onion
1 egg
Pepper, salt and spices to taste
Bowl of flour
Vegetable Oil
Preheat skillet to a low heat. Add vegetable oil.
Mix kale, broccoli, mushroom, crackers, onion, egg and spices together in a bowl. Make sure all the ingredients are coated with egg. Let sit for a few minutes so the mixture can begin to meld together.
Using your hands, form small parts of the mixture into patties. Sprinkle/dip the patty into flour on both sides. Carefully add the patty in the skillet to begin browning. Be careful not to move/mash them as they are quite delicate!
After browning both sides, set aside to cool. Make the spicy mustard sauce and enjoy with whatever you like! We used toast and cheese.
Crammed in the third row of a vehicle hooked up to a trailer of music equipment, I rode the miles of open highway to our first destination. It was time to tour. Get out. Stretch. Divvy up hotel room beds. Then back in the third row, travelling to the gig.
It was usually a small church, or an outside venue. Sometimes we performed to a massive crowd, other times…not. Get out. Set up. Cables and guitars, drum kits and sound checks. And me. T-shirts and stickers, SD cards and tripods. I was a roadie. Girlfriend to a guitarist and absolutely crazy in love with this band.
When I became part of the Modern Miracle family, I was immediately enamored. The energy and excitement to hear their music, to see my boyfriend perform…I was inspired.
Right out of high school with a new laptop and Photoshop Elements, just beginning my college courses on multimedia, I had the desire to create something beautiful for this band. I sat in my dorm room listening to their music on repeat attempting to create something that expressed the emotion of the lyrics. I don’t think I’d look back at my first attempts to use Photoshop without training and call it a masterpiece…but I learned to use it through my passion for this Christian band.
As my place in the family grew, I started photographing them in concerts and photo shoots. Then I started creating t-shirts and posters and banners. I became interested in re-designing their Myspace page. If anyone remembers, the classic Myspace had a lot of really great features, if you knew html. So I learned html. I spent hours perfecting their page, creating a beautiful aesthetic. I eventually began creating Myspace page layouts for several bands. I had, perhaps, a year of html experience under my belt before I first took a class on it. Through the beauty of music, I had come into my calling.
Modern Miracle was a constant source of inspiration for me. The lyrics were poetic stories ready to be unraveled, the music was a strong force to be reckoned with, the band members were a multi-talented family willing to do what it took to get their music out there. For me, the songs were worship. I felt connected to God by listening to them. And I knew my work was worship, too. I worked to create beautiful pieces of art and I worshiped God while doing it. By art, I mean Myspace layouts and t-shirt designs…but it was all for God.
Let our dancing feet set fire with the powers of your Holy Spirit. We are anointing every word we say. Let it resonate.
I’ve never been so connected to music before or after this band. I appreciate music; the talent, the energy, the effort. There are a few bands I love. But there’s a difference.
With Modern Miracle, there was a raw passion that went straight through me. All the hours spent at band practices and concerts. The time forming bonds with each of them. The late night work sitting on my dorm bed creating. The connection my boyfriend (now husband–plot twist!) and I made when we talked about this group.
Seasons change, life happens. I wouldn’t trade anything to go back, but I do miss that time of my life. I miss the people, especially. Perhaps that’s what caused such an emotional response—having the band members there, laughing and joking; creating unique, original music. Music that held their talents and skill; their pain and joy. I didn’t just listen or watch, they didn’t just play and sing, we grew into who we are now…and we did it together.
Turn from the world. Double portion for shame. Suffer your own cross for spiritual gain.
Our flat feels one part kid’s art on the fridge, and one part Pinterest Paradise. But making my own art and using washi tape to display it was a lovely solution to the ‘no nails’ rule in the lease. I quite enjoyed painting/drawing these.
I used my new colorful rug as inspiration to fill the pages with more color and abstract shapes. Painting is interesting. It’s relaxing and fun. And 9 times out of 10 I really dislike what I paint and end up casting it aside, but the process of painting will forever be my favorite part.
In Scotland we fell in love with several paintings at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Among many other artists, we were also able to see works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Monet. Not willing to spend too much money or sacrifice too much personal space on the train ride home, we decided to bring home post cards of our favorites as ‘souvenirs’. Then all of a sudden, we had a handful of postcards and a choice to stack them in a nice, neat pile on a shelf or display them somehow. Display it is!
One of my very favorite wedding memorabilia were our RSVP postcards. We had our guests check yes or no (of course) and in turn write or draw messages of encouragement. I made all these into a cute book that I hope to always have with us.
And I would love to add to our current postcard collection! If you have a hankering for snail mail, perhaps we could all be postcard pen pals? (Just let me know!) At any rate, I now have a fun wall of postcards with plans to expand as we continue to visit different places!
I’ve recently invested in some amazing Lush face wash and other face treatments. Their products are all natural and work wonderfully together, which got me thinking of how easy it is to make homemade, natural treatments. The fruit, vegetables and other ingredients we eat everyday have many natural vitamins and benefits that are great to use topically. I decided to do some experimenting in the kitchen to come up with some homemade face masks and scrubs to add to my natural face treatments. The results are great. So far, my favorite is the orange zest sugar scrub, because the smell is amazing. These face scrubs are all-natural which means they can only last a week or two in the fridge.
Orange Zest Sugar Scrub
The oils in orange peels are extremely beneficial to the skin. The citrus helps brighten your skin as well as helps cure blemishes, dry skin and blackheads. The scrub I created can be used as a mask, but also is used for removing dead skin cells, thus removing scarring, and helping to heal blemishes. The sugar added in my recipe is simply a natural scrubbing agent.
Ingredients:
2 Oranges’ worth of peels
1 cup of sugar
Grater or Zester
Grate the peel into a bowl. Gradually stir in the cup of sugar. Done!
One Other Use:
Mixing orange zest with yogurt makes a face mask perfect for brightening skin and curing dark under-eye circles.
Coffee & Chai Scrub
This scrub is naturally more coarse, so shouldn’t be used daily on the face, but not one to pass up if you like strong coffee smells. The caffeine awakens and revitalizes the skin naturally. The coarse grains help exfoliate dead skin cells, making it good for helping remove acne scarring and cellulite on the body.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons coffee grounds (brewed or fresh)
2 teaspoons chai tea
(If fresh grounds, use 1 tablespoon olive oil to mix)
Mix all ingredients together. Easy!
One Other Use:
Mix a couple tablespoons of fresh coffee grounds into your shampoo. The acidity in coffee naturally removes product buildup and adds shine and depth on the hair. However, it also slightly tints the hair, so it’s best for brunettes.
Potato & Apple Face Mask
Potato is a strange one to use, but the benefits are very interesting. Raw potatoes have natural bleaching agents, which can help lighten acne scars, dark spots, and under-eye discoloring. Potato also hydrates dry skin. Apples can boost the collagen and elastin in your skin, leaving a healthy and fresh glow. The apple also provides a slight color and fresh smell to this mask, helping mask the strange potato smell.
Ingredients:
1/2 potato
1/3 apple
1 teaspoon olive oil
Grate the potato and apple together in a bowl. It’ll be like mixing hashbrowns and applesauce once it’s all grated together. Mix with olive oil.
One Other Use:
For a simpler use of potato, cut a potato into rounds place over your eyes to help lighten under-eye circles. Although, drinking water and sleeping well is the only way to truly reduce dark circles.
Last Saturday marked the start of the annual Canterbury Festival and we decided to visit the city centre to discover how it would unfold.
Basically the festival seems to be a wonderful way to highlight and feature all the fun art events, plays and performances that will be going on from now until November 1st—and beyond. From plays, comedy, choirs, concerts, art galleries—it’s all featured all around the city and brings quite the crowd.
The festival began with the Espression Arts Parade, which was an adorable crafty ‘parade’ of children and families followed by a school band and people dressed in renaissance clothing. Before we moved, Taylor and I passed by the Espression Arts cafe everyday on our way to the city centre where we gathered it was a coffee shop and art studio for families. We could see mothers and children painting or reading through the windows.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the area more and finding a few more shops we knew we would frequent. We plan on heading to some of the many events featured by the festival, starting with a comedy act on Thursday.
However one reason we’ll be skipping out on some of the events is to make a day trip to London to visit a close high school friend and her husband!! They are enjoying the London sights as we speak and I’m so excited to take a short trip to visit some familiar faces!
A quick update: Our new flat is great! We’re slowly acquiring a few necessities, since the flat was essentially empty except for furniture. Taylor had to take a quick trip to a shop last night in the middle of cooking just to buy us a skillet! We’re still using paper plates and cups–early on I jumped at the opportunity to buy some cheap coffee cups and silverware, but haven’t found any plates, bowls and cups I like within our price range. Other than the bareness of our cupboards, we’re settling in quite comfortably. I (finally!) found an art store and bought some paints and large paper. My practical mind knows we can’t afford to outright buy every single thing we need (or want) for this flat immediately, so decoration comes last–(oh how our livingroom needs a rug and plant! That’s all I ask for!) But that won’t stop me from doing my best to make art on my own with which to decorate!
Today is my ‘8 year’ blog-iversary. I wish I could say I had 8 years of riveting posts, but I can’t say that I do.
I’ve used this blog (under two different names) as a means to journal and share creativity. I haven’t always needed that outward form of expressing myself, so there are many empty moments through the archives. However, I thought I’d share some interesting times in my life as I go through college, marriage and career changes in the span of 8 (more like 5-6) years.
2009: One year into college, 2009 is the year I really start blogging!
2014: After a short lull (only like 6 months, no big deal!) I decide to start blogging again!
I’m trying to find my focus for 2014. I love d.i.y. and photography projects, but I really want to try my hand at writing more serious posts. I’m a quiet person and have let that affect my opinions on topics, so as not to offend or hurt feelings, but I don’t think that’s a good reason to keep quiet anymore. I hope I can find my path as I begin this blogging thing over again. Every year seems like I’m starting over, because I’m just trying to find my way. Here’s the beginning: 1, 2, 3
Thank you all for taking the time to visit yesterday after my guest post on The Wine Stain!
I have so much to talk about and not enough time, as I have a hundred projects to complete today. One day I’ll be able to blog again…
I’ve had blonde ombre for about two years. I really did love it, but it was time for a change (I thought) back to brown. And then I saw this red hair dye Monday evening and by 11 pm I had red ombre hair….
I messed up the top layer. You can still see blonde. That’ll be fixed tonight. I don’t know what I was thinking. But in person it looks pretty great.
I hadn’t fixed my hair in that picture, and I would say ‘excuse the mess’ but those are actually decent looking curls compared to what ‘mess’ usually means to me.
Our new apartment had no lighting in the upstairs bedrooms. During the day, this is not a big deal, since we have large windows that bring in a lot of day light, but at night we need something. Eventually I have plans to either buy some large lamps, or create a better lamp. But I really wanted to make something sooner, rather than later. I took an old standing lamp, tore it apart, and created something new! I love it, but I’ll probably add a different lamp shade fixture.
I’ve had these cute pink and black lightening bolt shoes since high school. As adorable as they were…I never wore them. So I decided to paint just for the heck of it!
It took three days and $6.00 (with a 40% discount at Michael’s craft store). For as long as this project took, you’d think I’d take better photos. Nope. 🙂
Crammed in the third row of a vehicle hooked up to a trailer of music equipment, I rode the miles of open highway to our first destination. It was time to tour. Get out. Stretch. Divvy up hotel room beds. Then back in the third row, travelling to the gig.
And I would love to add to our current postcard collection! If you have a hankering for snail mail, perhaps we could all be postcard pen pals? (Just let me know!) At any rate, I now have a fun wall of postcards with plans to expand as we continue to visit different places!
Thank you all for taking the time to visit yesterday after my guest post on 
