Praying for your children

We've had a lot of change going on in our lives these past 6 months. If I think of all this last year has had for us I can get a little over whelmed. We've added a new member to our family in the last year, our Oliver Reilly.

 

 

We've moved to a new state,

my husband has started a new job,

we started home schooling,

joined a new church...

 

Change can be an over whelming thing and often we forget how it can affect our children as well.

 

So today I've chosen to write out prayers for my children. Maybe you pray for your children daily or maybe you don't know how. But I encourage you to pour out your soul before the Lord on behalf of your children. Prayer is such a powerful thing.

 

Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children.

Lamentations 2:19

 

Pray for the children you have and/or pray for the children that the Lord will one day place into your home.

 

Heavenly Father,

I bring before You my children. I place them in Your hands because they are not my own. I praise You for Your creation and the intricate ways that you form us down to the smallest detail.

I ask that you see every aspect of my children and mold and shape them to GLORIFY You. Remove from their lives anything that isn't pleasing to You and help me as their mother to have the wisdom when to step in. Place around them positive influences, great friendships and loving arms to raise them as Your children. Even though darkness may surround us in a fallen world I ask that you surround them with Your light. Pour Your light into every part of their lives so they might grow up with HOPE.

Show me as their mother how to love my children individually in the ways that they need. Help me discipline them in ways to build character. Help me teach what it means to be a servant to others and not self seeking. I praise You for the children that You place into my arms. Lead me to protect their eyes, ears and hearts.

Place Your hands over my marriage that we would love in a way that honors You and shows our children a positive relationship even when times are difficult. Help us to communicate in love and not just to be right. Give me the patience I need each day to love these children how You do. I pray for the futures of these little ones, that you would direct them towards ways that would give them confidence in who You have created them to be using their gifts and talents. Motivate them to be hard working servants. Help me be the mother my children need.

Amen

If you can't find the words to pray for your children I encourage you to use mine, no copyrights here. Or another option is to pray scripture for them, here are some of my favorites:

 

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

 

We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

1 John 4:16

 

My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be graceful ornaments on your head, and chains about your neck.

Proverbs 1:8,9

 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6

 

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galations 2:20

 

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!

Psalm 119:2

 

Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore.

Psalm 86:11-12

 

Arise, shine; for your light has come! and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

Isaiah 60:1

 

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

 

For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11:29

 

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:2

 

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

 

and I could keep going and going...

 

Pray for your children and tell them that you do so.

 

 

Every good and perfect gift is from above...

James 1:17

 

 

 

Roasted Cranberries and Wild Rice

So when I make rice I like to make a huge amount of it to save me time for another meal. Sometimes I will throw it in a freezer bag and toss it in to freeze but other times I'll just keep it in the fridge to throw into soup or as a side later that week.

I received some beautiful cranberries as a gift and knew I had to come up with something creative to do with them. I thought a sweet and savory combination of the tart cranberries with brown and wild rice sounded good and it was delicious!

 

First get the rice a cookin. Like I said earlier I like to make an obnoxious amount of rice to save me time later but if you don't want to you may half this recipe.

4 cup broth
4 cup water
2 T butter
2 cup brown rice
1 cup wild rice
4-6 tsp. chicken bouillon

Bring broth and water to boil. I only had 4 cups of bone broth on hand but if you have the full 8 cups you can just do broth but then you will want to decrease on the bouillon. Once water is boiling add the butter, brown and wild rice. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 30-35 minutes or until the water/broth is gone.

Roasting your cranberries...

2 cups cranberries
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 400. In a bowl combine cranberries and drizzle with olive oil, stir. Then add the thyme and sugar, stir. Spread onto a pan and into the oven for 15-20 minutes. After 10 minutes stir them around slightly on the pan and continue in the oven until slightly caramelized, another 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and add to your cooked rice when it is finished. Remember to remove any rice that you would like to save for another meal if you made extra (I used mine for a chicken and wild rice soup!)

Making Bone Broth

So my last post was all about roasting a chicken. Now hopefully you saved those beautiful bones because its time to make some broth and its EASY!

                                          The Benefits of Bone Broth:

                                                Fantastic for your bones, joints, teeth, nails

Helps your digestive system

Immune System Support

Throw those beautiful bones into your crockpot.

You can add: celery, carrots, onions, garlic and herbs if you want! (I always do for flavor and nutrition)

Add 1 T Apple Cider Vinegar (Helps pull the nutrition even more from the bones)

Cover with filtered water.

Let that baby simmer for 24 hours or until the bones crumble. 

Strain off the bones and veggies.

You can use the bone broth right away to make soup or just drink. You can also store it in your fridge for up to a week or freeze. 

Enjoy! Wasn't that easy?! Now stop buying those silly cartons of "broth"!

Roasting a whole chicken

I LOVE roasting chicken (I feel like I start every post by claiming I love something...)

Here I will walk you through what to do to make an awesome chicken.

Here she is, in all her glory. Preheat your oven to 425. Give her a good rinse and then pat dry with some paper towels. Proceed to tuck your hands under the wings and make her dance on the counter... Kidding, I mean WHO does that...

What you'll need:

1-2 T olive oil

1-2 lemons (I did 1 1/2)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

2 T fresh cilantro (or whatever other fresh herb you have on hand!) + more to go inside the chicken

 Place your chicken in a pan and then drizzle with olive oil. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the fresh lemons right onto the chicken. Rub around on the skin, you can even make her dance again if you like. Place one of the lemons right inside the chicken with an additional 2-3 tablespoons cilantro. Stick it right in there, where the sun doesn't shine.

You can place the other lemons beside the chicken in the pan.

 Then sprinkle the 2 T cilantro, garlic and onion powders right onto the chicken and rub into the skin.

Place the chicken inside the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat down to 375 and roast an additional 50-60 minutes or until it registers 165 in the thigh. I never check the temperature, I just cut right at the leg to make sure the juices run clear, here's a picture:

 Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving. We enjoyed this beautiful chicken with roasted cranberries with brown and wild rice with a side of asparagus.

Then any extra chicken pull off the bone and save for a meal later this week. I like to make Mexican with leftover chicken but this week I made a chicken and wild rice soup.

Once you've removed any extra meat, place the carcass (every single bone) of the chicken into a storage bag or you can throw it right into the crock pot to make bone broth! Bone broth is one of the best things you can feed your family (personal opinion...). I'm going to write a whole post on bone broth but I wanted to give you the heads up not to waste those beautiful bones.

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Hummus, OOh La, la

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Cheese, two flavors that BELONG together...

 

 So I've made hummus before, a few times actually and each time the kids wouldn't eat it! It wasn't creamy enough and I don't think I got the flavors right...I'm not sure what happened but they didn't like it. But not this time! I found this hummus (below picture) at the farmers market and couldn't get enough of it!! So I decided to give it another whirl..

Making your own Roasted Red Peppers:
I bought red peppers from the farmers market, at 25 cents a piece how could I go wrong! I roasted 4 red peppers. Its easy! Throw them in the oven at 500 drizzled with a little olive oil, about a tsp and flip them about every 5 minutes until they look cooked, about 15-17 minutes. They should be sizzling a little but don't burn the poor things to pieces, just lightly charred... When I do this again I'd roast the garlic too!

Here is where I found the recipe:
http://www.cookingforkeeps.com/2013/02/26/roasted-red-pepper-feta-hummus/

To give credit where credit is due. BUT I made some changes and learned from experience what I would do differently, so here is my own version slightly:

4 whole roasted red peppers (don't do canned, its not as good and this isn't hard to do!)
4 cloves of garlic (I LOVE garlic and it definitely tasted garlicky so you might want to go lighter if your not quite with me on this)
4-5 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cans of chickpeas, drain and reserve the liquid (set aside but don't add to blender yet)
2 T olive oil
Small container of Feta cheese, I'm not sure on the ounces but the small size.

Throw everything but the olive oil, feta and chickpea liquid into the blender. Blend until smooth, add the 2 T olive oil slowly while blending. Then if needed add some of the liquid from the chickpeas until its well blended (or you can use filtered water instead of the chickpea liquid). Add the feta cheese and blend until smooth. It will thicken in the refrigerator, so if it seems softer than usual, relax, its going to be fantastic!

Refrigerate and eat it up with a week, shouldn't be too hard. You can easily half this recipe if you need to do a silly thing like that...

Granola: its whats for breakfast!

I'm a nursing mom, I have an 8 month old and with my other boys I struggled with "producing enough" so this time I've done what I can to make sure I'm a milk machine. Oats and beer are two things I've incorporated into my life and I must say I haven't had a problem this time. I eat granola almost everyday.

I LOVE it!

 

I love making it because I can play with the recipe a little bit which I encourage you to do as well. If you don't have all the ingredients on hand feel free to substitute things or alter to your own taste. If you have some over ripe bananas on the counter add those in next time! If its fall and you've made yourself some pumpkin puree add that it!

 

 

You'll save yourself money, know all the ingredients and have the satisfaction that you MADE it, so what are you waiting for? Make it a family event/project, my boys are quite helpful with making this.

 

My granola recipe:

 3 cups oats
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup ground flax
1 cup almonds...
1 cup walnuts
1 cup pecans
(You can put the nuts through the food processor if you want then smaller which I do!)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (sometimes I use the huge ones and sometimes the finer ones, or both!)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl.

Combine wet ingredients in a sauce pan on the stove at medium low until combined:

 3 T coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water (or substitute mashed banana or applesauce for a different flavor! My favorite is the banana)

  Combine wet and dry.

Spread on a pan (do not grease it!). Bake at 325° for about 30 minutes stirring it every 10 minutes. Last 10 minutes you can add in raisins and/or cranberries, add as much as you like. 

 

 I double and triple this recipe to last me a month or so. Store in a sealed container for up to a month. Play with the recipe adding things you like. Great on yogurt or just as a cereal! My boys love it on plain yogurt with strawberry honey jam.

 

 

Frozen Grapes: Money saving, delicious idea

This post will be short and to the point.

 

Its hard to find organic grapes at a good price, they are just expensive.

 

But when you do...

 

...buy lots of them and freeze them!

My kids say they are like mini popsicles.

 

Sometimes I will throw them right into a smoothie but my kids prefer to eat a bowl of them.

 

Delicious.

 

 

Spaghetti Squash, Oh I LOVE...

Spaghetti Squash! It may be one of those things you have seen at the grocery store or farmers market and haven't been sure what to do with it so you walk right past but its time to live it up a little,

go get one!

I got this one from the farmers market for $4 and look at how huge it is?! It fed us for 2 entire meals and was my lunch for 3 days... Try finding yourself some good quality pasta at that amazing price, not going to happen.

Lets bake this squash at 375 (go preheat it) but before you put the squash in you are going to want to pierce the squash all over with either a knife or fork, I chose the fork. This is important or you might have a squash EXPLOSION in your oven. Once you have pierced it throughout put it directly into the oven for an hour. You will know it is done when you can easily pierce the skin with a fork, it should go right through.

For dinner I chose to do a tomato sauce and I added Italian sausages John (my husband) found from the farmers market. I only used two sausages thinly sliced to feed all four of us. Meat is one of the most expensive things so save yourself a little and go a little lighter on it. Look at that pretty package:

Cook the sausages first in the pan, let them cool and thinly slice them while the tomato sauce is warming up. Throw the sausages in and add a few handfuls of shredded spinach and

 let that cook down.

Pull the spaghetti squash when its done and slice it carefully in half (beware steam). Then scoop out the seeds which you can save and roast if you so choose (they taste like pumpkin seeds!). Then take a fork and pull the strands of squash out and serve right up. Top with your sauce and dinner is served.

While I love this meal I will say I normally need a snack before bed, grab some pistachios or something good or home made pumpkin pie...

Breast Cancer awareness

If you've been living in a hole somewhere you might not have realized that October is breast cancer awareness month and so for the last day of October I'm throwing this one out there. Have you seen the pink EVERYWHERE? Every item with a pink ribbon on it claiming that if you purchase that item you will be "supporting the research". Well take a moment and look past that pink ribbon, pink box or whatever packaging its coming in with a pinkish hue and look at that item. Lets think about this a minute. Is real breast cancer awareness going to happen because of that pink can of soup that you consume and the pennies going to the executives? (Dramatic pause as I step onto my soap box)Besides that you might be totally compromising on quality ingredients here. If you can't pronounce the ingredients, don't buy it. If you don't know what it is, don't buy it. There is nothing natural about natural flavor. So that now that I've had that rant against the pink ribbon, hopefully I didn't offend too many people out there...

Lets talk about real breast cancer awareness and what is going to make a difference.

1. Using quality products on your skin and body that won't damage it. I don't care how natural your lotion claims to be, drop it like a bad habit and grab yourself some organic coconut oil or olive oil. You can throw in some essential oils if your looking for a nicer smell.

2. Deodorant. I know I just covered things you put on your body but this is so important it gets its own point in my book. Under your arms are an extremely sensitive place on your body and then we throw aluminum in there and think there won't be an issue? Do you realize that many breast cancers develop in the part of the breast closest to the armpit? I will warn you that when you make this change that your body will over compensate, you'll be a sweaty mess for a little while. Your body is used to having these chemicals tell your underarms what to do, develop less sweat. So again, your body will over compensate for a short time, its like a detox. Once you get past that, and you will, it gets better. Wash under your arms, make good choices as far as deodorants by choosing good brands. I shopped specifically at my local food co-op. They tend to be very particular about the brands they carry. The two brands I have been using are Toms and Trader Joes. You might not smell quite as flowery as you used to but wouldn't you rather be on the safe side? Boom, breast cancer awareness.

3. Its not just what you put on your body but what you put into it. Making good choices about what you can consume goes a long way. Genetics may play a part in getting breast cancer but so can what you put into your body, take charge of what you can.

4. Education. Teaching even children what it means to make good choices on what they put into and on their bodies. Knowing how to do self examinations and making it a habit as well as having a relationship with your doctor that you can communicate any thing out of the ordinary.

My hope with this post isn't to be insensitive but to raise awareness of effective ways to make a difference without purchasing things that are in pink packaging that will harm your health and by sharing with you helpful ways of being aware of what you can do to minimize your chances. Take control, be aware and may the Lord protect you from such an awful thing. Boom, breast cancer awareness!

Frozen Avocados and Guacamole

Somewhere along the way I found that you can freeze avocados and they make AWESOME guacamole. You'll often find the best deal on buying avocados is when you buy a big bag of them and personally with all the nutrition in there you should try to keep them around the house. Again, like spinach you can put avocados in lots of things! Throw them in your smoothie, soup or today make up some guacamole. So the trouble with buying those big bags of avocados is that you wait and wait for them to ripen and then all of a sudden you have 6 avocados all ripe at the same time and I find that the perfect window of goodness for avocados is about 2-3 days. So of course I do what I can to eat them up but then I cut the rest in half, leave the pits in and throw them in a freezer bag. Then the next time I want them, I have them.

Here are my frozen avocados and dinner is coming a little too quickly...

So if your short on time and want to speed up the process a bit, throw them back in the bag and into a bowl of warm water.

When they thaw out they will look a little sad and brown...

BUT under that very thin layer of brown is bright green goodness...

The avocado will be soft enough that you can just stir it up with a spoon, no mashing with a fork is even needed. I don't really have a recipe to give you because I honestly taste test it out myself. But my go-to ingredients for a great guacamole are fresh lime juice (why is my lime so yellow? It really is a lime!), cilantro, salt, cumin, garlic powder and some chili powder. Make it to your liking and if you need a little direction here is a recipe as a reference: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/best-ever-guacamole-again

This recipe by Whole Foods is way fancier than I ever whip up because I make guacamole usually in the middle of while I'm making supper. So if your feelin fancy there you go. I sometimes throw in raw red onion or tomato depending upon time and what I have on hand.

 

But I would say the key ingredients that lie in a great guacamole are the fresh lime and cilantro...

 

 

So there you go REAL, creamy guacamole...

 

 

Taco Tuesday

So Taco Tuesday it is!

I have to admit I'm not much for writing out recipes or even following them but I am full of ideas and I love to take pictures. So here we go, some ideas for taco Tuesday, you'll be all set for next week!

Step one, grab yourself a great beer, done! I'm pretty sure this is my favorite beer. Make good choices even with the drink in your hand, there are some pretty toxic things in those cheap beers and wines, choose wisely. I happen to approve this brand.

 

 

So the important thing about eating healthy is incorporating as many fresh vegetables as possible. Check out this fantastic spinach from the farmers market, leaves as big as my hand! If you don't shop farmers markets, what are you thinking?! Even winter farmers markets are becoming more and more popular.

 

 

So try to add that good green veggie into as many meals as possible. Shred it up with some romaine for your tacos.

 

 

Here is your chance to throw in a little spice if you so choose or just add color or flavor. I had some jalapenos and banana peppers on hand. 

 

 I shred carrots and mix it in with my cheese because we squeeze in an extra veggie and its pretty. I also give the carrot a good wash and don't peel it, that skin of that beautiful organic carrot is so good for you!

 

 

 

For tonight I did a beautiful red onion with our grass fed ground beef and threw in some red beans as well. I like to make lots of meat so that I can easily throw together a taco salad for myself for lunch or even make quesadillas with it! I'm always trying to think of how I can use food from one night for future meals. Don't throw things away!

 

 

 Here is the meat, looks good! One of my favorite add ins is quinoa (which I didn't do tonight but remember I'm full of ideas). Quinoa blends in well with the meat and takes on the flavors too. For a vegetarian option you could skip the meat and just do quinoa. If you want to save yourself time cook up a TON of quinoa and freeze it, then whenever you want to sprinkle that protein goodness into your food.

 

This is the seasoning that I used tonight. Be aware of your seasonings and again choose wisely as there are again some scary ingredients in some of those seasoning mixes in stores. Another option is making your own seasoning! Here is a recipe:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/homemade-taco-seasoning/ 

Wouldn't that make a great gift idea?! I mean the holidays are JUST around the corner.

 

 Look at this pretty spread! I'm not sure why I love to put it all on the cutting board like this but I tell myself it is to save dishes but I think its just beautiful. Look at that rainbow of color?!

 

 So this might just change your life. Using a chip clip to keep your children's (or your husbands...) tacos closed?! Brilliant!! I still can't get over how this handy tip has saved us many a lap full of taconess. The tortillas I used for the men/boys in my life are these delicious chia seed tortillas from Trader Joes, they are delicious, can you tell I like them?? I also love the spinach ones!

But I decided to use corn tortillas myself, trying to avoid wheat when possible because I just feel better. So I threw the corn tortillas in the oven to let them crisp up a bit, something I've never done before but now that I have a blog my creative juices are really flowing! I must admit I had one casualty, one broke and fell in the bottom of the oven. I baked them at 400 for about 5-7 minutes (just set a timer and check on them often)

 

 

Its no flour tortilla but it was crispy and good. I took this picture before I remembered the guacamole I made in the fridge. Which is what's comin on the blog tomorrow!! Little teaser there...

 

 

Taco Tuesday, its a thing.