Pressed?

Last night as I was preparing for church this morning, I had to iron a very wrinkled dress. I hate ironing. Always have. But it was a requirement to wear this dress so I tried to press it out quickly. When I thought I was done, I held the dress up and found a wrinkled patch on the left, so I pressed it. Then I found a wrinkled spot on the right, so, I pressed it. Then I saw the button seem was wrinkled and I had to make a decision. Keep going with the pressing because I was almost done or give up.

Sometimes we quit right before the finish line. Sometimes we rush through the pressing process and have to revist the areas that we missed, wishing we had taken our time the first time.

You might be feeling a little pressed. Pressed for time. Pressed for ideas. Pressed in conflict. But it a part of the process. Diamonds are produced under high heat and 725,000 pounds. Olives are ground into paste and then pressed to get the oil. So take your time as God leads you through the pressing.

Love, Joia

Sweet Potato Cheesecake

One year, my grandma came over to teach me how to make Thanksgiving dinner. We made a brine for smoked turkey wings, greens, cornbread dressing, sweet potato pie and cheesecake. As we talked and cooked, I noticed that we had sweet potato and cheesecake batter left over. Ding! My mind went straight to sweet potato cheesecake. So we mixed the batters into a graham cracker crust and crossed our fingers. It was delicious! I proudly took it over to my aunt’s the following year and it was a success! To this day it sits among the amazing peach cobblers, lemon cakes, pound cakes, apple pies, cheesecake brownies and sweet potato pies my aunts bake to this day.

After moving to Atlanta, Thanksgiving dinner became an afterthought. It was much easier to fly into St. Louis to enjoy my family’s cooking then to prepare a dinner that no one would be home to eat. So I got out of the habit of cooking the dishes that we look forward to every holiday and set my focus on making other things.

Moving back to St. Louis and starting a food based business constantly pushes me to be creative. So in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I figured there’s no better way to celebrate it other than by making one of my favorite desserts, Sweet Potato Cheesecake. It’s really the only dessert I know how to make so I want to share it. :) It’s available in the Romantic Dinner Kit available now. Order it today and who knows, it might just become one of your favorites too!

The " 1 - 2 " Punch

Have you ever had someone flirt with you based on your cooking? One day I was in the breakroom at work when a cute guy smelled what I was heating up for lunch and asked me if he could have some. Normally I don’t share food but I spooned a little in a separate bowl, walked it over to his desk and told him to let me know what he thought. He sent me an IM about 5 minutes later telling me that it was delicious and he wasn’t sure what it was but he was thankful that I gave him some to try. I let him know that it was quinoa and black beans. He asked, “what is quinoa?” I told him that quinoa is a grain that is high in protein and pretty high in carbs but it was a good addition if he was looking for more protein in his diet. He responded, “That's perfect because I’m a boxer.” This one little bowl of quinoa and black beans sparked up a conversation that eventually led to a nice date in my favorite restaurant. That’s why I call it the 1-2 punch. 😉

Check out the recipe HERE!

Allergic to CHICKEN?!

Surprise! As we sat down to eat at my grandmother’s 80th birthday party, I anxiously dug into my plate of barbeque. I had come home to St. Louis from Atlanta and had deeply missed my family’s barbeque with the homemade sauce. So I filled my plate with ribs, pork steak, wings and mostaccioli ( a saucy St. Louis dish ). I ate beyond the limits of my belly and went on my merry way. Later that evening, I began to sweat and itch in my abdominal area and lower back. I ran to the bathroom, lifted my shirt and found red blotches all over. Two things came to mind… one, take a benadryl and two, an allergic reaction has occurred.

Since every item on my plate that day was a meat item, I decided to temporarily eliminate each meat option from my diet to weed out the culprit. I started with pork because, well, who needs it anyway, but the itching continued. Next I eliminated beef. I had done this before and felt 10 times better so I said a cheerful farewell, but the itching continued. I thought to myself, maybe ground turkey was used in the mostaccioli instead of beef, so I removed it next. Can you guess what I’m about to say? Yep, the itching continued.

One sunny afternoon, as I was driving home and eating a “holy” deluxe chicken sandwich, I immediately began to itch. It was as if jackpot sirens began to blare all over my body. I was flushed with sadness because I had just moved down the street from this cheerful chicken place. It was finally at my disposal and I had to give it up. I made peace with thinking, “maybe I can’t eat chicken from there” and proceeded to try chicken from a different source. I went to the store, fried up some wings and began to itch again. It was official. Chicken was the guilty party and it had to go. I had found the source of the itching but what about the sweating? That’s a story for another day!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Joia

Welcome to Inheirited!

Welcome to the official Inheirited website! I’m so glad that you stopped by. Here you will find helpful tips, fun stories and recipes that will add a little boost to your day. This site is designed with the foodie in mind so dig in!

Love, Joia