Musings from an Empty Nest Mama

Good morning daughters of grace!  My son left for college last week and to answer your first question, no I haven't cried yet.  LOL!  I have not, however, been able to sleep well since he left.  It's tough.  I'm not used to all this quiet.  It's hard when your job has been "mom" for 18 years and now you feel like it's over.  It's really hard.  That's when I have to remember that I'm not defined by my job as mother but as my position as daughter of the King.  I am the apple of His eye (Zech 2:8).  I am His possession (Mal 3:18).  I am loved (Jer 31:3)!  I have to remind myself of what His Word says.  As I said before, I'm going to try to hold it together and do the things I didn't have time to do.  Maybe I'll take that ballroom dancing class that I've always wanted to take.  :-)

As I was running errands today I saw kids coming home from school.  I'm going to miss those days.  Waiting for him to walk home or for waiting for the school bus to pull up.  He's not my baby anymore.  He's an adult, out on his own.  Following the Lord and allowing Him to make his path.  One of the hardest parts of being a mom is letting go.  However, we must remember that our children were only given to us for a season.  They belong to God and not us.  They will make mistakes, big ones!  They will have successes, big ones!  Through it all the Lord will take care of them.  He loves them more than we do!  Trust the Lord ladies - He will direct their paths and yours!

To help relieve your stress and make preparing dinner that much easier today I'd like to give you recipes for a full meal!  An easy, healthy and delicious three recipe surprise just for you.  My mini BBQ Meatloaves are so fun for the kids and easy for you.  Making them smaller cuts the cooking time down tremendously plus they freeze well!  Add to that mashed sweet potatoes and my famous broccoli slaw and you have dinner!  I do hope this makes your evenings a little easier!  Enjoy moms.  

 Mini BBQ Meatloaf

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or turkey
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 onion, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ cup barbecue sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tbsp milk (only if mixture is dry, optional)

• To make breadcrumbs - toast bread and crumble into small pieces
• Mix together beef, crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, milk and 1/2 cup barbecue sauce.
• Form into small balls and place in a muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray.
• Bake in 350°F oven for 30 minutes.
• Brush with more barbecue sauce.
• Makes 6 servings.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2 pounds sweet potatoes
3 tbsp butter
Cinnamon
Salt
Nutmeg

• Peel, dice and boil sweet potatoes
• In a mixer mix potatoes with butter, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg
• Serve hot

Broccoli Slaw

4 cups broccoli slaw
1 small red onion, sliced
1 cup light mayo
¼ tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

• Mix mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper
• Stir into slaw mixed with onions
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes and then serve.