So, before I start I want to apologize for the late and lacking post!!! I recently came down with the flu, and it was horrible. I pretty much abandoned my husband with no food, no sleep, and two children. Our house looked like a host home for a frat party. My kids lived in their pajamas, and my husband lived off of apples. Literally. I technically broke my fast earlier this week. I had a tough decision to make: Start putting electrolytes back into my body with fluids OR dehydrate myself and end up in the hospital. Gatorade is cheaper than the emergency room. It's all about choosing your battles. I'm very sad I missed our night of worship, but it was such a sweet reward for my husband.
Looking past our bumpy ending, this fast was life changing for us. My husband and I both lost weight. He lost about 9 or 10 lbs and I lost 17 lbs. What an eye opener! We invited new foods into our home, and learned about them. We have added to our recipes and will enjoy them all year! We pushed our limits to a new high!
We spent more time with God. To completely rely on Jesus Christ to lift you can carry you through this process is difficult, but more rewarding than anything I can put into words. I believe He has grounded us and pointed our focus into one direction. "Be still and know I am God." (Psalm 46:10) This was an important passage to me during this fast. Calming myself down and listening to what the Lord has to say is always going to be something I have to do diligently. My mind is like a speeding car, bobbing in and out of lanes. (And, we all know what can happen to those cars!) That is why I need to slow down. Be still.
7 So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you.8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. You are sinners, so clean sin out of your lives. You are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure.9 Be sad, be sorry, and cry! Change your laughter into crying. Change your joy into sadness.10 Be humble before the Lord, and he will make you great. -James Chapter 4
I cannot wait to grow even closer to the Lord this year. I cannot wait for my husband to, also. There is no limit for our relationship with God. And I am excited to see where He leads us.
Never in my life has a store brand, frozen pizza looked so appetizing. My girls have been asking me for pizza for a while now, and I decided I would grab a cheap frozen one. Since they are only toddlers, I got the pizza thinking it would be quick and I could be done with it. The smell was so overwhelming. At one point I think I was tempted to just lick my child's face. Cheese is just something I love in general. Isn't it funny how we covet what we cannot have? It doesn't even have to be food related...it's just human nature I guess. During this fast my family has not gone hungry. I've struggled with coming up with new ideas and ways to change up the same 6 ingredients in my pantry, but we have always had food. Plus, I've improved in the kitchen overall, I would say. But, the second temptation was brought into this house: I started numbering the days left in the fast. Thinking about all the things I couldn't have. Wondering what in the world I was going to do until the end of the week. And none of it was helping me. I pulled my eye away from the real prize. The prize isn't the $20.00 Starbucks gift card I have in my wallet (that I am dying to use), or the fancy dinner we planned with friends. The prize is moving closer to God. Developing that deep, meaningful relationship with my God--that is the prize! Days: 10, 11, 12 You have to forgive me, I wasn't logging our meals like before so I have no idea what day was what. This past week we were very active. It feels like we were always out somewhere, doing something. I do know I had a play date with a wonderful friend, who is also doing the Daniel Fast and she made a super tasty lunch. It was a tomato and white bean salad. Super easy to make. You can find the recipe here. Also, I found out we could have Chipotle on the Daniel Fast. This is one of my husband's favorite places to eat. They even have a tofu option--which is delicious!! So, yes please...we went there IMMEDIATELY. The rest of our week was filled with potatoes, smoothies and apples. My husband seriously ate 5 apples the other day. He also made a cheesy joke about doctors while eating said apples.
Day 13 I made a bean and potato chili. It turned out super tasty. I am probably going to post a "recipe" within the next couple of days. We ate the chili with baked tortilla chips. You can make them yourself, or find them in the store. (Just read the ingredients carefully!) Later that night we went to my in-laws house. They are not doing the Daniel Fast...but my mother-in-law is a wonderful cook and made us a tasty DF approved meal (veggie fried brown rice). I sat there and watched her search her cabinets for anything we could have that fit into our diet. She has such a big heart, and I am so thankful they took our fasting seriously and we're so encouraging. We did not go hungry! I am truly praising the Lord through this fast. I am blessed with such a wonderful, encouraging church. I know I am going to come out of this fast feeling stronger and closer to the Lord, because I wouldn't have gotten this far without His love.
You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win!All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn't last. But our prize is one that will last forever.So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air.It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won’t miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it. -1 Corinthians 9:24-27
-2 pkg pf Tofu Shirataki Noodles (bought at Wegman's)
-Fresh Veggies (I used red, yellow, orange bell peppers, mushrooms, and bean sprouts)
-2 garlic cloves, chopped
-1 1/2 tbs of all natural peanut butter
-2 tbs low sodium soy sauce
-1 tbs olive oil
-1 tsp honey
-1 tsp sesame seeds
-2 tbs water
-Salt to taste
I found these in the store today and decided to try them. They are made with tofu and Yam flour. The entire package is only 20 calories, uh yes please! These noodles are definitely an Asian style noodle, best cooked with Asian flavors, probably best in soups. Not bad, though!
Peanut Sauce: Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, and sesame seeds in a bowl and whisk together.
Veggies: In a deep pan or wok, on medium heat, put in your veggies and garlic and cover with a lid. While veggies are cooking prep your noodles.
Noodles: Put a pot of water on the stove top to boil. Open package of noodles and dump into a strainer (in sink). Rinse noodles in cold water for 2-3 minutes. (This is to remove the liquid it was sitting in, and the slight odor that comes with it.) Next, boil your noodles for 2-3 minutes. Drain the noodles and pat dry with a paper towel.
Combine noodles, peanut sauce and water in with the vegetables. Stir well and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until well blended. It's important to add the water and cover because the natural peanut butter WILL grit up if you do not.
So, for the past couple of days my husband and I have been eating leftovers and trying to stay focused in the word. If you saw my last post, that was the dinner we had on Saturday night (day 6)...it was my biggest success yet. I reached outside of my comfort zone and decided I was going to tackle something new. While I was cooking, I looked around my kitchen for a good 10 minutes, trying to think of back up plans we could have. Luckily, we didn't need it. I honestly couldn't tell you what we had on Sunday. I know I ate a lot of trail mix. My husband probably ate a lot of apples. I wasn't feeling so hot after church. I was even in bed by 9 p.m.
Monday: Day 8
I decided I'm going to spare you to story of all of my repeat meals. We're probably sticking to oatmeal and smoothies from here on out when it comes to breakfast. After the Daniel Fast we will be introducing eggs back into our routine, and the occasional bowl of cereal...but oatmeal and smoothies seem to be working for us! So, like a good song on the radio, we're going to use it until we drive it into the ground.
Lunch was great! I was so pleased with how it turned out, and here's why: I have had a head of cabbage in my refrigerator for almost a week now, and I knew I needed to do something with it before it went bad. The only problem is, I've never made cabbage before. I've eaten it...I've just never made it. Not to mention, a friend of mine gave me ANOTHER head of cabbage...So here I am with all this cabbage.
I googled the simplest way I could prepare it and came across this recipe. It was amazing. The easiest thing I've made so far, when it comes to meals, and one of the tastiest! I will probably end up doing the same thing with the other cabbage. I highly suggest this recipe if you like the taste of cabbage (not even LOVE the taste of cabbage, just like it.)
Tuesday: Day 9
I'm not going to lie, I felt a tiny,tiny wave of anxiety when I typed the number 9 just now...only for the fact that I'm running out of ideas, given the food in my pantry. And, if your household is anything like mine, you know I'm working with just that until Friday. My husband has expressed to me, more than once, that he never wants to see another bean again. I can't really blame him...and, seriously, we had plenty of starch and lentils this first week. I made vegetable soup for lunch...and there is so much of that leftover, guess what we're having tomorrow for lunch? (And maybe dinner...) This soup basically contains: One can of crushed tomatoes. A can and a half of water. Some olive oil. And every vegetable I could find in my house. Salt and pepper. Not bad.
If we died with him,
we will also live with him.
If we remain faithful even in suffering,
we will also rule with him.
If we refuse to say we know him,
he will refuse to say he knows us.
If we are not faithful,
he will still be faithful,
because he cannot be false to himself.
Do your best to be the kind of person God will accept, and give yourself to him. Be a worker who has no reason to be ashamed of his work, one who applies the true teaching in the right way.
2 Timothy 2:11,12,13,15
This weekend I received a lot of information from the Holy Spirit, about myself. I know that I need to remain faithful to Him through this fast and wait patiently for His guidance. For years I've listened to the voices of others, and I end up pushing His words out of my head. But, I'm not going to do that anymore. Because, whenever I choose someone else's words over God's it pulls me away from Him. So I will fix my eyes on Him and seek His loving encouragement.
I've heard this song a thousand times, but the lyrics really grabbed a hold of my heart strings today. It's funny how He does that, isn't it?
What God says about you will always outweigh what anyone else says about you.
This Saturday some friends came over for dinner. They are also participating in the Daniel Fast. So, we thought we would get creative. And, viola! A beautiful, delicious meal was shared between the four of us! I'm going to do my best to give you instruction on how I made it, for those who were curious. Bare with me, most of this is from memory, and I am not a chef!
Korean Marinated Tofu with Sauteed Asparagus and Mushrooms Over Brown Rice
First off, you need to prepare your tofu early on in the day. You need to dry your tofu on a towel for about an hour, and then remove excess water by "dry-frying" the tofu in a hot pan. Here is the tutorial I followed:
Tofu:
While my tofu was drying I made the marinade. Here are the ingredients I used:
5 Tbs. Low-Sodium Soy sauce 2-3 Tbs. Honey 1 Tsp. Sesame seeds 1 Tsp. Red pepper flakes 2 Garlic cloves One Green Onion Pinch of black pepper
1.) Chop garlic cloves and green and white parts of the green onion. Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside. 2.) Prepare tofu as tutorial states. After tofu cools down, put in a Ziplock freezer bag and pour in marinade. Put tofu in refrigerator until ready to use. 3.) Once ready to use, heat skillet on med-high heat. Dump tofu and marinade in the pan and cook until hot (and most liquid is gone), flipping sides occasionally.
Asparagus and Mushrooms: 16 oz. Fresh Asparagus 1 Pkg. Fresh Mushrooms (I used wild blend) 1 Garlic Clove 1 Tbs. Olive Oil 1 Tsp. Lemon juice Sea salt (season to taste)
1.) Clean your asparagus and mushrooms place in strainer (to remove any excess water.) 2.) Heat your skillet on medium heat. Add in your olive oil and your garlic. 3.) Once garlic turns golden brown, add your fresh veggies and lemon juice. Reduce heat and cover the pan with a lid for about 10 minutes? Stir occasionally. 4.) Remove from heat and add your sea salt!
Rice: Instructions here. Don't over cook it, or it will look (and taste) a lot like oatmeal! Trust me...
Finally, make your plate look pretty and take a picture!!! (Or just eat it.)
22 The only source of light for the body is the eye. If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light. 23 But if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, you have the worst kind of darkness. -Matthew 6
With the first week of this fast coming to an end, I can honestly say that I am ready to continue on to week two. I've struggled with a lot of things these past couple of days. Mainly, preparation. I wholeheartedly believe that organization is a skill that people are blessed with. I've spent the past five years of my life trying to become a super organizer and planner. I am horrible at it. I lose everything. "She would probably lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body." Yeah, that saying was probably created by someone a lot like I am. I am always (jokingly) preparing my husband for the moment I am diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Anyway, I bring this up because the rest of my week consisted of last minute throw together meals and buying my children fast food.
Wednesday: Day 3 For breakfast I made whole wheat pancakes. These turned out very delicious. I can't even take credit for it, I got the recipe here. I only substituted a couple of things. 1. I replaced applesauce with apple juice (because I didn't have applesauce on hand.) 2. I didn't add the nuts, and I didn't put the blueberries IN the pancakes. The batter ended up a lot easier to spread out, this way. In a seperate pot I thought I would get a little creative and make a "blueberry syrup" using organic frozen blueberries and honey...and what the heck! a little more apple juice. Standing there feeling like Juila Child, flipping my hotcakes and stirring my syrup, I made sure to thank God for what was happening. And, even though my syrup wasn't a syrup, but a sauce, it got the job done. I can't wait to make them again! Lunchtime rolled around and I had decided that we were going to have peanut butter and fruit "pinwheels". They usually look something like the picture above. But, being on the fast I had to use my all natural ingredients. I tried making my Chapati a couple of times now...and it just isn't working out. It always ends up as a dough with the same consistency as the paste they used to give us in kindergarten. (You know, the one in the jar with the paintbrush that was always clumpy and had a smell that stayed in your nose the entire day?) But, I decided I would try and use it anyway and just sprinkle dry flour on it as I tried to roll it out. Sprinkle. Sprinkle. Sprinkle. . .sprinkle. . . .sprinkle. . .Half a bag of flour later I had my flat breads. My extremely dense flat breads. (I quit. I will be driving my happy self to Wegman's this weekend to get my all natural, pre-made bread.) The heavy bread would have been fine if I didn't buy the peanut butter that I did. On this jar of peanut butter the ingredients are as followed: peanuts. When I saw this in the store I almost literally jumped up and down with excitement. I had been staring at peanut butter for like 20 minutes. I even did one of those "I'll come back to it, later." deals. What they forgot to say on this jar was: "Caution, this peanut butter is equivalent to edible cement." Don't get me wrong, it's delicious. But that combination was lethal. My husband couldn't even finish it. It sat like a rock in my stomach for the rest of the day. Dinner was a huge turn around for us, I made baked sweet potatoes with a black bean and corn salad. I will make this again, even after the fast. Good way to end a day.
Thursday: Day 4
Breakfast we had strawberry and cream oatmeal. I made this with oats, liquid mainly soymilk, a little bit of apple juice and a little bit of water and some strawberries diced up. Oatmeal is easy in this house, for everyone but my husband. After breakfast we had decided to go out to run some errands, completely unprepared. Lunchtime crept up on us and all of our tummies were rumbling. I hurried through the grocery store and had to end up going to a drive-thru to hush up my kids. Luckily I made split pea soup in the crocpot, so John and I had something to scarf down when we got home. That recipe is amazing, I only added carrots to it (mistakenly, I was reading to recipes at once.) You can find it here. I will definitely make this again. Dinnertime was quickly approaching and I had nothing to make for dinner. I didn't plan anything. My mom called and I sweet talked her into letting me come over, since she is also doing the fast. My mother has always been good at throwing stuff together and it turning out. And, as I watched her cooking our mushrooms and stirring her tomato sauce, I got a little envious. But, I was quickly reminded of the verse I read earlier that day, Matthew 6:22 & 23. I could do two things in that moment: sit there and be jealous of a natural skill she was blessed with or help her prepare our meal in the skills I am blessed with. So, I showed my mom how to microwave a spaghetti squash. Later, I showed her a tutorial online on how to roast spaghetti squash and I introduced her to the wonderful world of Pinterest. (You're welcome.) But most of all, I enjoyed my evening, my meal, and my company. I am so proud of my mother for going through this fast on her own (at home). It's very easy to get discouraged, but I'm not even choosing to glance down that road right now, and I know she isn't either.
So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? 27 You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. -Matthew 6
So, I'm not going to worry about it. And you know what? Today I was blessed this morning with extra sleep. Thank you, husband. A recipe I half remembered, half made up (which turned out amazing). Thank you, Nadir. And enough of that recipe, I can eat it for lunch and dinner tonight. That means no stress planning my meals this evening. I'll take it.
This month my husband and I decided to do something we have never done before: fast. On Monday we started the Daniel Fast with our church. If you are unfamiliar with this fast, it is basically an all fruits, veggies, and whole grains fast that lasts for 21 days. Along with this you are to diligently seek God's word through prayer and scripture.
There are a couple of things that have stuck out to me so far, that are and are not scripture related whatsoever. The main one is: I am a terrible cook. I can bake. I can whip some stuff up that is pretty tasty...but we are three days in on this fast and there is a possibility one of us will not make it out alive. (My kids will be fine, they are not doing the fast. Only "enjoying" some of my homemade meals.) I've pinned so many recipes on Pinterest and I know most of this is my fault, but, have you ever been trying to follow a recipe and decided you didn't like a certain ingredient? Or you simply do not have it? This has been my past three days.
Not all of this has been a huge flop! I'm slowly learning my strengths, weaknesses, and that I really do not like the taste of thyme. So, I decided I would share my failures, and successes with you.
Monday: Day 1 I woke up early this day, because I was excited to get this thing started. I made apple cinnamon oatmeal. I mixed steel cut oats part soy milk and part water in a pot. (Enough liquid to cover the oats. I normally eyeball this all the time.) Then I cut up some apples into cute little cubes and added some cinnamon and honey. I let it simmer, tasted it...added a little bit more honey. The kids loved this. My husband didn't mind it, but he isn't a fan to begin with. Success. Lunch time was another story. I had no idea what to make and I was feeling pretty crumby to begin with. I actually completely forgot about lunch and was napping on the couch. Oops. I chopped up some potatoes added olive oil, rosemary, and garlic and baked it. We didn't starve, okay? For dinner, I decided I was going to make spaghetti squash. It's all the rage, but I've never had it before. So I cooked it the most simple way I could--in the microwave. I was feeling pretty good about making my own tomato sauce (since I watched a tutorial on YouTube) and chopped up my tomatoes and garlic. I was excited about dinner because I love pasta. ...So, I let my tomatoes simmer, come back to check them and they are completely withered in the bottom of the pan. My husband looks over my shoulder and goes "Well, it looks like pretty good salsa." I felt so defeated! I wanted to start from scratch, but I used all the tomatoes I had (besides the grape tomatoes for salad.) Luckily I found a can of tomatoes in my pantry that I could use...even though I wanted to stay away from cans. It was delicious! I love spaghetti squash now and my family survived the first day. Success.
We might end up living off of potatoes through this.
Tuesday: Day 2 For breakfast we had strawberry banana smoothies. We might end up living off of smoothies and potatoes. Lunchtime came around and I was prepared, or so I thought. I found a great recipe for creamy potato soup and decided to turn it into a crock pot meal, instead. (See what I did there.) I tossed all of my ingredients in the pot, and let it cook the night before. So, when I pulled it out of the fridge the next day I didn't expect it to turn into a stew. A green, muddy looking stew. Seriously, this thing was hard on the eyes. It looked something like a kid would make out back with mud water and gravel. It had way too many herbs in it, in my own personal opinion. But we ate it. And my poor husband is taking the leftovers to work tonight. God bless him! (Maybe we won't live off of potatoes, after all.) Dinner we had veggie "fried" brown rice. This was just some steamed rice reheated in a pan with fresh veggies and seaweed. My family will always, always, always eat this. I inhaled it --John did the same at work. Success.
When I pull it back into scripture these are the passages that have stuck out to me:
25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us;
rescue us because of your unfailing love. -Psalm 44
I might be being over dramatic about my first two days in this fast, but I was feeling defeated. I am amazed at myself for pushing myself this hard. I'm learning limits that I would normally never try. It is harder than I thought it would be, though. The imagery in this passage just stuck with me all night. There are so many struggles we are going to face in life. So many disasters, heartaches, failures-- but, when we give it to God, He will rise up and rescue us. No matter how big or small the situation is, His love is always there.
May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. -1 Thessalonians 3:13
I feel like this year I need to work on strengthening my heart. I feel like the Lord has pointed me in this direction before but I shied away from it. It is so easy to get discouraged and back out of things, for me, anyway. The Daniel Fast is going to give me countless opportunities to do this, but I know I can endure it, with the love of Christ. God can see that I am doing this for Him. My husband is supporting me 110%. So, I will continue to stumble through this, because I know there is something grand for me at the end of these 21 days...and I'm not just talking about steak.
New Year's has become a tradition of looking back on your life (usually the past year, at least) and thinking about good times, and times you never want to relive. We often think about what happened in that certain moment of clarity, opposed to all of the deciding factors up to that "Ah-ha!" or "Oh crap!" moment. For instance, when you stepped on the scale and realize how much more you weigh than ever before. We begin freaking out over the number and how it could have gotten so bad. Or blame the Holidays...it's a given, right? We don't think about all the times we helped ourselves to extra, ate past a certain time, or skipped a meal (that does make a difference!) We wake up in a drunken stupor and wonder what happened...how it got that far out of control, and vow to never drink that much anymore! Or, how about the year of the Y.O.L.O (you only live once)? 2013 was all about making rash decisions and not thinking about the consequences. There are a lot of flaws in this logic, in my own personal opinion, and a lot of people agree with me. The thing is, you do only get one life here on Earth...why would you want to cause more damage than good? If you are a Christian, you know that there is life after death. But, I am honestly confused. If you believe that there is nothing after you die...nothing at all...why would you destroy: Your body? Your confidence? Your mind? Your relationships? We think, I shouldn't have eaten that. I shouldn't have drank that. I shouldn't have said that. But, we end up going back for more. You are literally saying this moment is more important than the rest of my life.
Coming from a place similar to all of the above, I will always have the choice of how to have a good time. And the truth is, having fun is better when you are smarter about it. If I don't over eat, I have energy to spend more time with my friends. If I don't drink alcohol, I don't jeopardize my respect for others, myself, or the respect they have for me. I am able to build deep relationships that go further from a good time. "Teach the older men to have self-control, to be serious, and to be wise. They must be strong in faith, in love, and in patience. Also, teach the older women to live the way those who serve the Lord should live. They should not go around saying bad things about others or be in the habit of drinking too much. They should teach what is good.By doing this they will teach the younger women to love their husbands and children.They will teach them to be wise and pure, to take care of their homes, to be kind, and to be willing to serve their husbands. Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us.
In the same way, tell the young men to be wise.You should be an example for them in every way by the good things you do. When you teach, be honest and serious.And your teaching should be clearly right so that you cannot be criticized. Then anyone who is against you will be ashamed. There will not be anything bad they can say about us."Titus 2:2-8
And lastly...You have to think about children. Any child close to your life. How do you want them to grow up? What hurt have you felt, that you do not want them to experience? What do you want them to think is okay? I can "experience life" all I want....but my children will see that. And when I realize that it was a mistake or something I would never want someone to go through, my kids will already think that is how life is supposed to be going.
Living a life full of grace is more rewarding than any temporary thing here on the planet. If you are a skeptic, try it.
P.S: You are not temporary. God can use you for more. Always. --Ashley
