A Week of Delicious and Healthy Meals!

{A Week of Delicious and Healthy Meals!}

These are some of our family's favorite meals to make lately and wanted to share them with all of you in case you want to try one, a few or all of them! We try to stay mostly paleo when we eat at home but will use some dairy, such as cheese or yogurt as toppings with some of our meals. This is totally up to you though and each of these meals can be made paleo by leaving out the dairy. I really really enjoy these recipes and hope you do to! Here are some delicious ideas for you! 

{Meal One}
Taco Casserole Salad from A Paleo People

{Meal Two}
Eggplant Parmesan Soup from Cooking with Amy
** We'll usually add rotisserie chicken that is already cooked to this meal. 

{Meal Three}
Kale, Potato and Sausage Soup from Food & Wine
** Keep an eye out for chicken sausages with minimal ingredients and no sodium nitrite or nitrate. Adele's sausages have worked great for us and Trader Joe's also has a few that have really short ingredient lists which is great. Also when using kale and potatoes, it seems best to go with organic if you're able to. If you're feel like adding something extra special this soup is really delicious with Bob Red Mill's gluten free cornbread... not paleo... but delicious :) 

{Meal Four}
Eggs and Chocolate Chip Coconut Flour Pancakes from Nom Nom Paleo
** We make scrambled eggs to go with these pancakes. And for the pancake recipe we add about a 1/2 cup or so of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips which are soy free which is great! It can be hard to find chocolate chips without soy lecethin, so this is a great option. If you are able to go to a commisary, in the health foods/gluten free area they will often times have these chocolate chips for a really great price and also coconut flour for a really great price that is by Bob's Red Mill.

{Meal Five}
Sausage and Cabbage Noodles from Everyday Paleo
** Yum!

{Meal Six} 
Rotisserie Chicken with Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Squash or Sweet Potatoes
** Usually once a week we'll have rotisserie chicken with a vegetable. For the brussel sprouts and squash you can slice or cube them up, coat them in melted coconut oil and roast them at 375 degrees or so for about 25-30 minutes or until tender. For sweet potatoes we will usualy just microwave them for with a damp paper towel on top for about 4-5 minutes for larger sweet potatoes and maybe 3-4 minutes for smaller ones. 

{Meal Seven}
Time for a meal out possibly :) We'll usually eat out at least once a week, sometimes at Chick-fil-a, Chipotle or Five Guys. To make healthier choices at these places you can always have a sandwich and eat it without the bread or maybe half of the bread, or order a salad or burrito bowl. Or if it's a time to celebrate, enjoy something special with loved ones that you don't always have :) It's good to be able to do that too :) 


Hope these recipes are fun for you to make and that you enjoy the deliciousness as much as we have! It's so much fun to have the freedom to choose what we eat, what we put into our bodies and what we feed to our families! It's also fun having the information we do today to learn about what the best options are and taking that information and finding a happy balance for you and your family! Enjoy and praying God blesses you and your families and that He may lead us as we make choices in preparing meals for ourselves and for our families and to a balance that is good for each individual family! 

The Truth About God's Love For You {You Are God's Masterpiece}

{You are God's Masterpiece}


"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10 New Living Translation

And in another version: 

"For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]." Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible


This verse has been running through my mind since this morning... and I love it so much! This morning I felt it pretty soon after I got up that I needed to remind myself of who I am to God, who I am in Jesus. This verse came rushing into my mind and just saying out loud and to myself through out the day "I am God's masterpiece" made all the difference and kept my mind on Him and what He has made me to be in Christ. 

I know in the day to day sometimes we, I, don't feel like I am God's masterpiece. But that is one of the amazing things about God's Word. We can stand on those Words and the truth of them whether we feel it or not. It is the truth. Bottom line. And what God's Word says about you and me... well my friend, it says that "we are God's masterpiece" :) Or "God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship)" and that we have been "recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew]." Ephesians 2:10 Amplified and New Living Translations. Wow!!! It is so comforting to know in my head and my heart that without a doubt, even when my life may look ordinary, or maybe a mess, or maybe like it's all falling apart on the to the my human eye, God as the artist sees... a masterpiece. He has taken what seems to be something plain or even messy looking as an artist does and has shaped us into something completely new and wonderful... a masterpiece. Just as a sculpture takes something that seems plain or ordinary like a hunk of rock and turns it into something remarkable - so God has done with us! Or maybe how a potter takes a blob of clay, messy and lacking purpose and forms it into something beautiful and full of purpose - so God has done for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has taken everything about our lives, the good, the not so good and even the ugly and has shaped us into something that He considers His masterpiece :) His workmanship :) And I know that just as an artist is happy with what they have created, so is He with how He has created us anew in Christ Jesus! Praying that we may each see ourselves as the handiwork of God that we are and truly believe that "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 New International Version You are a new creation in Christ and it is beautiful to see! Blessings on you guys and your families, praying this a beautiful week for you as you grow closer to the One who loves you most! Let me know if there's anything I can pray for you about!

The Truth About God's Love For You {You Are Loved}

{You are LOVED}

I know it may seem so simple, that you are LOVED, but have we really believed it? Praying today that we can let this truth sink in deep into our hearts and our minds - God loves you. :) He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son Jesus to the earth as a baby that would one day grow to be man that would pay for all our sins and die on a cross in our place that we may have life and not just life but life in ABUNDANCE! Not just here on earth but for eternity! I love that our God is a God that doesn't just give a little... He gives above and beyond anything we can ever think or imagine to ask for! He is a loving Father and you are the one that He loves. Here are some scriptures that we can think about, pray about and say out loud together to let this truth sink in deep into our hearts and really allow us to see ourselves as God sees us. 

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

Ephesians 2:4-5

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10

The Truth About God's Love For You... It's Amazing!

As a Mom things happen through out the day where I have the choice to believe the truth or to believe lies about myself that come from many different sources, including my own thoughts. When I am still and quiet, no longer striving, no longer doing, just sitting... what do I believe about myself then? Am I able to believe in these moments that I am accepted and loved in the most beautiful way by the God of the universe? Without "doing" can I truly believe and receive that no matter what, I am accepted and loved by God?

I don't know how you are feeling about this but I know in my heart of hearts that at times I have a hard time receiving God's amazing, unending, never stopping love for me. I have a hard time believing at times that He could love me this way. Is it that way for you too? I long to receive His love so fully that I can just soak in it and be totally filled by it. I long for all of us to be able to receive His love that way. To receive it and to truly believe it. For me, thinking about what God says in His Word helps me fight those feelings and thoughts that I am not enough to receive that kind of love, or that feeling of how can it be true that I am loved that much? Thinking about scriptures like "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10. Then as I read it, as I say it, I can feel my heart start to soften and the wall begin to come down... yes, yes it is true!! He loved me that much then (when He came down through Jesus to save me) and He loves me that much now! :) I begin to feel a happy dance coming on just thinking about it :) So freeing is His love for us! So powerful! And above all... SO TRUE! It is true my friend... He loves you this way too and I'm praying for you that by the power of His Spirit you may believe it and walk in it all the days of your life and that His love may fill you to overflowing that it may saturate every part of your life and that His peace may overtake you! For 10 days I'm going to be posting a word or a phrase describing you (yes you :) ) from God's Word that we can use throughout the day to be still and just think about, meditate on and let it sink in deep that we each may begin to believe and walk in His truth more fully about who we are. I am really looking forward to this as this has been an area of struggle in my life as it might be for some of you. Will be praying for each of you, if you'd like to let me know that you'll be following along I would love to pray for you specifically! Much love to each of you, praying God's love and peace fills each of our hearts!