Posts by admin:
- No trans fats
- No artificial colors
- No artificial flavors
- No artificial sweeteners
- 2 cups spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoons Salt
- 2 chia “eggs” (2 Tbsp chia seeds + 3 Tbsp warm water) (egg sub)
- 1 cup turbinado sugar
- 1 cup So Delicious cultured coconut milk (Sour Cream sub)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 whole ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 1 tub of Tofutti cream cheese (vegan)
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon So Delicious coconut milk
- Sprinkles (optional)
- 12 boneless chicken thighs, no skin
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice
- 2 large yellow onions, slices
- 1 yellow and red bell pepper, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 cup corn kernels, canned or frozen
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1 jar Ragú® Old World Style Sauce
- 2 cups water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- Part 1: Love
- Part 2: Marriage
- Part 3: Sex
- Part 4: Romance
- Part 5: Male and Female
- ” As a general rule, where the Bible is dogmatic, we should be dogmatic. Where the Bible is ambiguous, we should be open-minded and loaded with grace. And where the Bible is silent , we should shut the heck up.”
A Healthy Boxtera Subscription Box {Review + Giveaway}
February 20th, 2014
When I get ready for the week and I plan activities for my family I make sure that I pack healthy meals including snacks. Sometimes it gets a bit stressful because I tend to get into a rut with the same snacks. I like variety and sometimes I look into the lunch bag I see too many carbs but I was happy to discover a fun option for healthy snacks with a Boxtera subscription.
What would you do if you opened a box and saw FIVE big bags of unique healthy snacks? Well, make sure you have your toddler in the room so she could beg you to open them all. Yes. This is exactly what happened. If my toddler had a chance she would be queen snacker in our home but definitely limit to the appropriate times of day. For this instance though, I had a great taste tester on a cold snowy Saturday.
I was real excited to see the variety included in my box because there was a perfect combination of salty, savory, sweet, and sour so guess what we decided to try first? The hibiscus flowers! They were dried hibiscus flowers that were slightly sweetened. I currently have a bag of dried hibiscus flowers to make tea so tickled to be eating them whole. Tangy yet sweet. These are also high in vitamin C.
My favorite snack were the tangerine slices because I had never tasted them before but they were tangy sweet too and really hard not to keep popping in our mouths.
The one that surprised our whole family were the BBQ banana chips. They had a nice kick of spice along with a sweetness. My toddler was not thrilled with the spice but she tried it with a swig of milk. My husband thought they were interesting and I thought they were tasty. What I like was the way the banana chips were not to thick or too thin and obviously sliced in a microplane.
Mango chews. Think fruit leathers but all natural mango slices ready to be devoured by your mouth. Trying to explain the dried part to my toddler was amusing. All she asked was for me to hand it over, stat! Tasty fruit. The biggest weakness for me was the Pub Mix. Anything with sesame sticks wins me over.
All in all I was really satisfied with how fresh all the snacks tasted and the fact that my toddler loved them. I always forget about dried fruits but I also try to limit the sugar intake too.
The owner of the company is also a mother which is why I respect that she took it upon herself to create a company geared to healthy snacks available not only to mothers but to all people. The snacks have:
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Vegan Sour Cream Banana Smash Cake
February 18th, 2014
My daughter turned ONE this weekend and I cannot believe that it has been a YEAR!!! It feels like yesterday that I had my youngest baby girl. At this rate, I understand why it is easy to continue adding to a family. I know, that was funny, but there are no plans right now, right God?
I never really believed it when people told me that once I had my second child that things are just not as important as it was with your first child. It is so true! Well not on;y that, but planning a little cake and time with family was not as inspirational when the whole family is sick. I contemplated making anything and postponing having the birthday girl eat her cake, but truth be told, she does not let anything get in her way. My youngest loves food and ate her entire little smash cake.
My youngest was a doll even though she was a snotty mess. Since my baby girl has been teething and nursing a cold you would think she would not have any interest in sweets or cake, but I placed a little cake in front of her with the candle and she admired and stared at her little candle. I helped with blowing the candle and proceeded to place the plate in front of her. She did not know what to do.
She leaned in a few times, wanting to take a bite of it but refrained almost as though it was not proper. She finally grabbed the icing and started feeding herself. She was smacking away and then she grabbed her first layer, the WHOLE layer, and brought it to her lips and took a bite. I took so many pictures because it was so cute! I, of course, made Julianne a separate cake for her to enjoy and a bigger cake for mom and dad to enjoy later. 
What kind of cake did I make? Well, I had made a pumpkin cake for Julianne for her first birthday but I decided to make a banana cake for Kathleen because she really likes bananas. I made her cake vegan even though she has been eating eggs.
FOR THE CAKE
Cream Cheese Icing
For cake
For icing
Assembly
I am happy to have a sour cream / plain yogurt non-dairy substitute for our family and I look forward sharing another recipe soon. In the meantime, our family continues to savor the bigger cake.
I now have a 27-month old toddler and a 12-month old baby. WOW! Where has time gone by. I have big girls and I feel immensely blessed.
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Tra-Dish with Ragú® : Healthy One Pot Chicken Cacciatore
February 17th, 2014
*Note
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Loveology: God. Love. Marriage. Sex. {Book Review + Giveaway}
February 14th, 2014
It’s Valentine’s Day and hopefully you have something planned for your loved one or not. If you’re single, you can still plan something with your friends. We are all trying to stay healthy in our home and hopefully the hubby and I will be able to celebrate tomorrow.
I recently had the chance to check out a NEW book called Loveology, released on the 4th of this month that is very attractive to the eye. Who doesn’t want to read something in pink with the words love all over it? I know there are a lot of books, especially secular books, with theories about love but it has been a while since I read one that has been so dead on especially on what Scripture says.
Have you ever questioned what the point of marriage was all about or why we had to love at all? Are you scared to get married at all because you feel like everyone around you is getting divorced? Did you ever feel unsatisfied having casual sex, always feeling empty at the end? Are you looking to get married but have not had successful attempts at dating or do you feel like you are doomed to singleness? Are you newly married and already feel the flame of intense love dwindling? This book is for you!
My hubby and I have been married almost 6 years and have 2 little girls and I have to say that marriage is more than I imagined it to be. I never had all the answers but I knew the 2 years of my single life I was resolved to give up on dating and just wait on God’s will and plan for my life.
What is marriage for? Well marriage definitely exists for something larger than itself especially when you learn that love is not only a noun but a verb which means it is a feeling and an action. All this is described in depth in the book.
The author, John Mark Comer, lead pastor of Bridgetown: A Jesus Church in Portland, OR, “breaks down for young adults everywhere how a relationship should function and what a healthy marriage looks like, based on what God designed marriage, sex and romance. Comer strives to shine some insight on what God was thinking when created mean and women, writing ‘Loveology’ as a theory on love.“
He breaks down the book in amazing sections giving scriptural basis for his explanation for each section. Here is a look into the chapters in his book:
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After the storm….. #PSMM
February 11th, 2014
I did not quite believe it when locals in Pennsylvania told us almost 1.5 years ago that this place would have hard winters especially since we had a mild winter last year. In comes this year with our little Maximus and Nikka for surprises. First a big snowstorm and then an ice storm and then no power.
I always thank God for these surprises because it teaches me more about myself and more about my husband and how we can better work through crazy situations such as losing power over 36 hours. As I sit here writing this I know there are still LOTS of people without power. I am super thankful for all the hard work the PECO workers are doing in order for us to have power but it is even more incredible the generosity that has been extended to us.
We could never have imagined being out of power and for 36 hours at that because I know it could have been longer. I really tried not to worry and was as calm as possible but my tummy said otherwise with an upset stomachache every time I ate something. The first day we trucked through our experience and stayed at home because it still was not that cold. We layered up and kept on our day. The kids did not make anything of it and only objected on the hats they had to wear throughout the day.
As the evening approached we really wanted to get out our chilly home and head out to an open restaurant for a warm meal. We had called several places in the area but we were not sure if our favorite Mexican would be open since their phones were not up. We drive by and it was open so we had to find an ATM since they were only taking cash. We arrived around 5 pm and did not get seated until 20-25 minutes later since the restaurant only had limited servers. We had our delicious dinner and headed to the mall until closing time. The mall had their heat blazing but there we could all settle, getting our phones charged at Verizon and laptops charged too.
We headed home to settle for the night at 50 degrees leading our kids with flashlights to their bedrooms for a good nights sleep. I really tried not to worry but my tummy was doing jumping jacks because all I could think were my kids getting sick, but they were covered well in blankets and in layers so they woke up really warm. The problem was when we woke up. It was FREEZING on our first floor and we decided to pack up quickly and head to our friend’s home to work for the day and for the girls to have a place to be warm.
Half a day went by and we were happy to find out that our power came back and it was a relief. I had prayed, not trying to feel selfish, that God would bring back our power so we could have our homes and not inconvenience people. I was thankful to Him because God is great in little things and big things.
What did we do with our freezer and fridge items? We had our patio and actually salvaged pretty much all of our food by placing it on the patio, so, thank God, but there was no dinner. Thankfully we were invited to dinner with another family and then we came back home ready to sleep in our warm home.
We learned a lot and I cannot even believe that even now, people do not have power, so we pray for you who do not have power and we thank the Philly Social Media Moms who lovingly and generously offered their homes and their meals. We felt loved indeed. Go check out their websites!
