Happy Thursday! You know what I love about Thursdays? It's only one day away from Friday! We are almost a week into the Daniel Fast and we've cut almost everything out of our diets. I started to feel it last night when I made a ham sandwich for my 5-year-old. I've never wanted a ham sandwich so bad in my life! Well, at least not since the fast last year, anyway. Today we give up all dairy at 6pm and tomorrow it's bye-bye sugar, refined flour, white rice and any other unnatural additives. I just have to keep a loop in my head that I am doing it for Jesus...that's the only thing that keeps me going! I hope you all know that I'm only complaining in jest...you know, clothing myself in sackcloth and ashes and all.
This week menu has been pretty satisfying as far as vegan meals go. Monday night we had vegetable soup, the original recipe can be found here but of course I added my own little bits and pieces like fresh Brussels sprouts. Oh my it was delicious and it really hit the spot as a winter meal. Tuesday we had Kung Pao that was based off of this recipe . Of course I didn't add the chicken, swapped the chicken broth for veggie and I left out the peanuts because I'm not a huge fan of them, but I did add a bag of stir-fry vegetables, a couple broccoli crowns, half a head of Napa cabbage and I threw in some extra firm tofu for protein. These meals were plenty for leftovers and our kids even ate them. As a matter if fact, the Kung Pao was the baby's favorite! He loves "noonles". I did leave out the chili paste in the Kung Pao since the kids were going to eat it too, but my husband and I added some to our own bowls.
I know some of you have been on the fast for the 40 day portion... What are some of the ways you have changed things up to keep meals interesting?this recipe
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Family Altar Project and Black Bean Burritos
I just want to share with everyone the wonderful idea that our church's first lady had laid on her heart over the last year. The idea of the family altar project was born by inspiration of the biblical account of the children of Israel building an altar to memorialize what God had done for them (Joshua 4:1-9). The purpose was to have each family with a child (or grandchildren) to construct and decorate a box out of precut wood that, at the completion of the project, would hold mementos of answered prayers and serve as a reminder for what God had done in their lives.
One Friday, Bryan took the girls and together they built our altar. Then I took the girls to decorate it. Aside from Roland, who is obviously too small to handle power tools, a wood burner, or polyurethane, our whole family was involved. Bryan and I loved involving our kids in this process! We got to spend much needed time with our girls, and since they were involved, the altar doesn't just seem like a piece of furniture, but truly a family heirloom.
Here is the finished product:
This past Sunday evening, Pastor preached on having a sacred place in the home to pray and seek the Lord. It was a beautiful sermon about returning to the place where one feels like they can be alone with God. After the sermon, he dedicated each of the 22 altars that had been made and praying over them that every time one sees their altar, that they would be reminded to pray and reminded of the works of God in their life. Each family stood together in prayer and submission to God and His word. Bryan and I prayed that not only would our family bond become stronger through prayer at home, but also that we would stand as examples to our children of how to be Godly parents. It was truly one of the most beautiful services we have ever been a part of, and I'm so glad that we were! We already have things that we can place inside as reminders of answered prayers!
Now, I know you were promised black bean burritos, so let me include that before this post becomes a book! The original recipe for the burritos can be found here, but if you know me at all, you know that more often than not I am incapable of leaving a recipe alone. So, as is my almost-irrational urge, I tweaked it. To stretch the recipe a little, I added chopped mushrooms, chopped black olives, cumin, paprika and tomatoes. Then I made a double batch of a Daniel Fast friendly version of my father-in-law's Mexican rice. Dinner was amazing! And the leftovers were ridiculously tasty! This is definitely a recipe that we will make even after the fast is over!
Happy fasting!
One Friday, Bryan took the girls and together they built our altar. Then I took the girls to decorate it. Aside from Roland, who is obviously too small to handle power tools, a wood burner, or polyurethane, our whole family was involved. Bryan and I loved involving our kids in this process! We got to spend much needed time with our girls, and since they were involved, the altar doesn't just seem like a piece of furniture, but truly a family heirloom.
Here is the finished product:
This past Sunday evening, Pastor preached on having a sacred place in the home to pray and seek the Lord. It was a beautiful sermon about returning to the place where one feels like they can be alone with God. After the sermon, he dedicated each of the 22 altars that had been made and praying over them that every time one sees their altar, that they would be reminded to pray and reminded of the works of God in their life. Each family stood together in prayer and submission to God and His word. Bryan and I prayed that not only would our family bond become stronger through prayer at home, but also that we would stand as examples to our children of how to be Godly parents. It was truly one of the most beautiful services we have ever been a part of, and I'm so glad that we were! We already have things that we can place inside as reminders of answered prayers!
Now, I know you were promised black bean burritos, so let me include that before this post becomes a book! The original recipe for the burritos can be found here, but if you know me at all, you know that more often than not I am incapable of leaving a recipe alone. So, as is my almost-irrational urge, I tweaked it. To stretch the recipe a little, I added chopped mushrooms, chopped black olives, cumin, paprika and tomatoes. Then I made a double batch of a Daniel Fast friendly version of my father-in-law's Mexican rice. Dinner was amazing! And the leftovers were ridiculously tasty! This is definitely a recipe that we will make even after the fast is over!
Happy fasting!
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Daniel is here!
Hello!! Man, I feel like it's been quite a while since I've posted anything! Well, I guess it has been. I'll blame it on work, kids, life in general, but honestly, if I had wanted to make putting my voice out there for others a priority, I would have made the time to do it. This is true of so many things in our lives isn't it? But I digress...
The purpose of this post is to talk about our annual Daniel's fast, to inform those of you who are wondering what in the world it is and why we have decided to participate, and also to give some of my fellow participants some ideas for meals that are approved by the fast. In the book of Daniel, Daniel instructs the king's guard to let some of his men to not eat the royal food, but to only eat vegetables and water, and the Lord blessed them with knowledge and understanding. That is the bare-bones explanation.
The Daniel Fast is not an all-out total fast, but a partial fast that allows you to eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains, but cut out all animal products, fried foods, sugar and processed white flour of any kind. Oh, and you can't have caffeine (that one is hard for me!) or use social media. The purpose of the fast is to bring your body under submission and focus your mind solely on the things of God. During the fast, we don't watch television or use social media, and I only read the Bible or other religious materials. In a nutshell, the purpose is to draw closer to God. In our church, those who choose to participate will either do so for 40 days or 21, depending on what each family feels led to do. Do I still let my kids watch television? Yes, however I do put limits on screen time so we can do things as a family instead (I'm totally going to teach Kennedy to play Dutch Blitz). If you want more information about the fast, there is all kinds of info out there on the internet. Now, on to the food!
Every year I hear other members of my church talk about the fact that they lost so much weight during the fasting season. Not us! We actually gained weight. We don't just exist on steamed veggies and plain baked potatoes. I kind of nerd out and get all excited about finding different things that I can make that are approved for the fast. For instance, I made chai and iced coffee mix for our church coffee shop that is approved, just by making small adjustments and substitutions. This week our menu includes vegetable soup, kung pao noodles, hot and sour soup with a thai salad, Boca burgers, black bean and rice burritos and pizza. Honestly, these are things that we usually have for dinner, but we make adjustments to the recipes to reflect our fast. For instance, I take the meat and sugar out of the kung pao, and I substitute tofu and agave nectar, load up on the vegetables and use whole wheat noodles instead. It's not hard to make substitutions. If you're unsure of what to substitute, just Google it! I'm always looking up what to substitute for wine or chicken broth or other things that aren't 'allowed'. For breakfast, we have a lot of natural peanut butter and bananas on whole wheat tortillas or baked oatmeal loaded up with whatever fruits and nuts we can get our hands on.
Fasting isn't fun, but to do so with a submissive spirit that is willing to seek the Lord reaps so many benefits for such a small cost. I love this time of year! It is so exciting for me because we spend so much time focusing on truly important things. There is such anticipation for what God has in store for us, our family comes closer together, our church family is unified, and I just really feel so renewed and restored!
I'm going to try to update daily or every other day with recipes, verses or thoughts, so check back often! Happy fasting!
The purpose of this post is to talk about our annual Daniel's fast, to inform those of you who are wondering what in the world it is and why we have decided to participate, and also to give some of my fellow participants some ideas for meals that are approved by the fast. In the book of Daniel, Daniel instructs the king's guard to let some of his men to not eat the royal food, but to only eat vegetables and water, and the Lord blessed them with knowledge and understanding. That is the bare-bones explanation.
The Daniel Fast is not an all-out total fast, but a partial fast that allows you to eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains, but cut out all animal products, fried foods, sugar and processed white flour of any kind. Oh, and you can't have caffeine (that one is hard for me!) or use social media. The purpose of the fast is to bring your body under submission and focus your mind solely on the things of God. During the fast, we don't watch television or use social media, and I only read the Bible or other religious materials. In a nutshell, the purpose is to draw closer to God. In our church, those who choose to participate will either do so for 40 days or 21, depending on what each family feels led to do. Do I still let my kids watch television? Yes, however I do put limits on screen time so we can do things as a family instead (I'm totally going to teach Kennedy to play Dutch Blitz). If you want more information about the fast, there is all kinds of info out there on the internet. Now, on to the food!
Every year I hear other members of my church talk about the fact that they lost so much weight during the fasting season. Not us! We actually gained weight. We don't just exist on steamed veggies and plain baked potatoes. I kind of nerd out and get all excited about finding different things that I can make that are approved for the fast. For instance, I made chai and iced coffee mix for our church coffee shop that is approved, just by making small adjustments and substitutions. This week our menu includes vegetable soup, kung pao noodles, hot and sour soup with a thai salad, Boca burgers, black bean and rice burritos and pizza. Honestly, these are things that we usually have for dinner, but we make adjustments to the recipes to reflect our fast. For instance, I take the meat and sugar out of the kung pao, and I substitute tofu and agave nectar, load up on the vegetables and use whole wheat noodles instead. It's not hard to make substitutions. If you're unsure of what to substitute, just Google it! I'm always looking up what to substitute for wine or chicken broth or other things that aren't 'allowed'. For breakfast, we have a lot of natural peanut butter and bananas on whole wheat tortillas or baked oatmeal loaded up with whatever fruits and nuts we can get our hands on.
Fasting isn't fun, but to do so with a submissive spirit that is willing to seek the Lord reaps so many benefits for such a small cost. I love this time of year! It is so exciting for me because we spend so much time focusing on truly important things. There is such anticipation for what God has in store for us, our family comes closer together, our church family is unified, and I just really feel so renewed and restored!
I'm going to try to update daily or every other day with recipes, verses or thoughts, so check back often! Happy fasting!
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