Pale by comparison

Our Daily Bread
Have you ever been to Las Vegas?  Times Square in NYC?  Piccadilly Square in London?  Hong Kong?  The rest of our life can seem overshadowed by the sights of these places that have more lights and signs and graphics than the entire state of Ohio where I live!  ha!

If you can imagine all of the lights and neon and LEDs of those places all combined, they could not overshadow the Glory of our Almighty God!  Amazing!  Praise God!  While reading the devotional this morning, I kept thinking about how the glory of our God will overshadow all of the dark places in our lives.  Those times when we don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Those times when we can't let our light shine.  I know it is difficult to see, but we have the light of God that overshadows everything else with us at all times!

We thank you and praise you, the Light of the World!  Please help live in and show your light!

Foodie Friday
My roommate made something like this last week.  The recipe below is the closest thing I found to the ingredients he used ( he hasn't written it down for me yet).  It was very tasty!  We used chicken cajun sausage to give it a unique flavor.

puerto rican arroz con guandules (pigeon pea rice)

servings
4 people

ingredients
2 cups of white long grain rice
3 cups of water
1 can of guandules (pigeon peas)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon minced garlic
4 tablespoons sofrito or recaito (if you dont know what that is, you can use very finely chopped onions, green peppers, and cilantro. i have an exact recipe for sofrito. you should check it out.)
1/3 cup of green pitted olives
2 packets of sazon with annatto (it will say "con culantro y achiote". you can buy this at any store that sells goya products. it is in an orange box. you cant miss it. it would be in the ethnic, hispanic, or mexican food section of your store. if you cant find it you can use a blend of salt, granulated garlic, cumin, coriander, and ground annatto. annatto gives it that orangey color. if you dont have a grinder, get a little pan with olive oil. about a 1/4 of a cup. put 1 tablespoon of whole annatto seeds in the oil and keep on low heat until the oil is really orange. use cheesecloth or a really fine strainer and get out all the seeds out. use this in place of the olive oil in the recipe)
2 tablespoons of adobo (this is also sold with the sazon. it is a blend of salt, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper and tumeric)
1 tablespoon of beef base
1/4 cup of any kind of pork. ham, bacon, pork fat. whatever you want.

preparation
wash your rice. it is easier with a strainer.when your water runs completely clear, put your rice to the side.

heat your pot on medium heat. add olive oil.

in another pot, heat up the 3 cups of water with the sazon, adobo, and beef base.

when the olive oil is hot, add pork, garlic and sofrito. saute it for about 5 minutes. add olives.

in the olive oil pot, add rice and stir once. add in guandules (pigeon peas).
when the water starts to simmer, pour it in with the rice. after you put the water in, you are going to stir the rice only 3 times until it is done cooking.

1st time: right after you put in the water, stir so the rice becomes loose.

2nd time: leave on medium heat and uncovered, until you cant see anymore water. dont wait until it dries out completely. just until there is no more water. stir it again and cover it. put it on very low heat.

3rd time:cook until done. check after 15 minutes. do not stir it. taste if it is done first. if it is not done, cover it up again and check in the next 5 minutes.
continue to do that until it is fully cooked. when it is done, then you can stir it one last time and turn the stove off. enjoy.

at the end, you may have hard rice on the bottom. alot of hispanics eat it. but some people may not like it. so when you stir your rice that last time, dont scrape the bottom because you dont want hard and soft rice mixed together.

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The only remedy for hearts that “want it all” is the contentment found in the presence of the living God. He is sufficient for our needs and longings, and He alone can bring us the peace and contentment we’ll never find in the pursuits of this life. - Our Daily Bread