Have you known the Love of God?

A Pileated Woodpecker showed up in our backyard!

Have you known the love of God?

He will go to the ends of the earth for you.

He stays up late and gets up early to be with you.

He paints beautiful pictures and creates unique companions for you to revere and enjoy.

He entrusts you with your life, your gifts and all. And gives you freedom to choose what you do with them.

Have you seen some of his creations? He has a sense of humor! He wants you to see them with wonder and surprise.

Oh, the beauty of our Lord.

The love he has for you; to take the shame and blame for you.

To take the pain.

Then waits for your response, hoping it was enough for you.

S/F Chocolate Bark

Okay, I was having one of my hankerings; you know, it’s 3 pm and I’m hungry but not sure what I wanted to eat. So I started searching the internet for healthy snacks. I found this one from Delish but made it my own by using pumpkin seeds and Stevia instead of pistachios and sugar.

What’s so great about this recipe is that you can add anything that suits your fancy as far as ingredients go. And the best part is, you get to lick the saucepan when you’re done and eat all the little pieces that don’t quite make a serving.

Let me know what you think?

• Servings: 6
• Time: 15 mins plus freezing time
• Difficulty: Easy!
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Ingredients:
8 oz Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
Pumpkin Seeds
Dried Cherries
Shredded coconut, unsweetened
Liquid Stevia to taste
Pretzels
Sea Salt

Directions:
Line baking sheet with parchment paper. On stove top in a sauce pan, melt coconut oil, chocolate and stevia until smoothe on medium low heat. Spread mixture onto parchment paper, add pumpkin seeds, cherries, coconut and sea salt on top. Freeze for 1/2 hour. Break apart into pieces with a knife. Freeze until ready to serve.

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Yellow Rice

Quick Meal Idea for Back to School!

Back to School time at our house is a very busy time of the year. In fact, since my husband and I are both teachers, we usually don’t show our heads socially anywhere until late October as we prepare for the new school year and our new students.

However, eating healthy doesn’t have to be time consuming. This meal was simple. I bought a fresh rotisserie chicken at my local Shop Rite, added some yellow rice (one of my new favorite side dishes) and some fresh fruit. Voila. Easy!

How do you prepare healthy meals during back to school?

• Servings: 4
• Time: 25 mins
• Difficulty: Easy!
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Ingredients:
1/2 c white rice
1/2 c brown rice
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp garlic
1 3/4 c chicken broth (I use Knorr)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp Chopped cilantro

Directions:
Drizzle extra virgin olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add garlic and brown. Add rice and tumeric, stirring until coated. Then add the chicken broth. Cover and let simmer for 20 min. Mix in the cilantro when the rice is done cooking and broth is completely absorbed.
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Fall Painting and My New Workspace!

One of Behr’s 2020 colors of the year, Charasmatic

So when my son left for school to another state yesterday, I decided to repaint his room from aqua blue to this serene yellow and reclaim my workspace.

My husband and I loved this color from Behr 2020 collection called, Charasmatic. It’s a warm yellow, but not too bright. It’s perfect for doing my schoolwork or if I need to work virtually from home. His bed is still in there for when he comes back to visit, and for when I need to take a nap!

Are you doing any fall projects this year?

Back-to-School Rotisserie Chicken with Yellow Rice

With Back-to-School right around the corner, dinners don’t have to be complex to be healthy. Shown here is yellow rice paired with easy rotisserie chicken bought from our local grocery store. Add fruit and this meal is satisfying and complete.

How do you simplify making healthy meals when your schedule gets busy?

Summer Fahita meets Fall Soup

Welcome Fall!

Late summer into fall has to be me and my husband’s favorite time of year! The cooler weather arrives and the best holidays are coming up. Besides that, school starts and with both of us being teachers, I need to get creative with food preparation.

Usually I will make 3 or 4 meals during the week and throw in take out for chinese or pizza and a rotisserie chicken and we are covered for the week. One of my favorite ways to spice up meals is to add something leftover to something new as shown above. Soup that I made a couple of days ago was paired with a fresh fahita bringing a new meal to enjoy.

Our 2020 Family Christmas Photo!

2020 Christmas photo

It was no small task to get the five of us together in the 2 week window that we had when my 21-year old visited us from CA this summer. To prove my point, it was only because his flight was canceled (thank you, God) that he stayed an extra day and we made it happen on our back deck. Not the scenic view I was planning for but I’m grateful that we got it and will be ahead of the game come Thanksgiving time, when I plan to send out my Christmas cards.

Making Fahitas with my son!

So my son came home from his friend’s house and told me that his friend’s father made fahitas and he tried one. I said how did you make them? He explained that they had yellow rice, chicken pieces, red pepper, onion and cheese.

Well you know me, I had to make it. Not the same day but the next day. Do you know that yellow rice has tumeric in it. 1 tsp! Do you know that there are anti inflammatory benefits in eating tumeric? Here’s a great article about it https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-turmeric.

I hope you enjoy coming up with your own style of making a fahita. And if you really like it, please share how you made yours :).

Chicken Fahitas

• Servings: 3
• Time: 25 mins
• Difficulty: Easy!
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Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1/2 c white rice
1/2 c brown rice
1 tsp tumeric
small red onion, sliced
1 tsp garlic
1 3/4 c chicken broth (I use Knorr)
Red Pepper cut in strips
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp Chopped cilantro
Flour tortillas

Directions:
Yellow Rice: Drizzle extra virgin olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add garlic and brown. Add rice and tumeric, stirring until coated. Then add the chicken broth. Cover and let simmer for 20 min.
Fahita: Drizzle extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan. Add chicken and cook until golden brown. Then add red onion and red pepper slices and cook until just tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Assembly: When the rice has absorbed all the water, add the cilantro and stir. Add a layer of rice on top of the flour tortilla. Then add the chicken, peppers and onions. Finally top with cheese and Enjoy!

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Meatball, Spinach and Zucchini Soup

Fall is in the air and soup is on! This is one of my favorite go-to soup recipes that is healthy, satisfying, and tastes great! You can switch out the zucchini for squash by halving a spaghetti squash, scooping out the seeds and placing each half on a baking sheet drizzled with extra virgin olive oil in a 375-degree oven for 40 minutes, then scraping the squash out with a fork after it’s cooled and adding as much as you’d like to your soup in place of the zucchini noodles.

[“Recipe title=”Meatball, Spinach and Zucchini Soup” servings=”4″ time=”30mins” difficulty=”Easy!”]

Ingredients:
8 meatballs (see meatballs and linguini post for meatball recipe)
1 onion, chopped
4 c. chicken broth (I use Knorr boullion cubes)
1 cup spinach
1 cup spiralized zucchini
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic
Pinch red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a saucepan, melt butter on medium heat on the stovetop. Add onions, garlic, red pepper, salt, and pepper. When softened, add 3 cups of water and 3 bouillon cubes until low boil. Lower heat and add the meatballs and spinach and leave on heat until meatballs are cooked through (20 minutes). Add spiralized zucchini. Enjoy!

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[/recipe]

Spiralized Sweet Potato and Brie Cheese

I topped this with feta and lemon but I prefer it with just the brie or mozzrella

Sweet potatoes can be spiralized! Simply refer to my zucchini video here but use a sweet potato! The possibilities are endless with what you can make with a spiralized sweet potato (and what you can spiralize for that matter)! What recipe can you come up with that would work well with spiralized sweet potatoes?

Spiralized Sweet Potato with Feta Cheese

• Servings: 2
• Time: 20 mins
• Difficulty: Easy!
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Ingredients:
1 sweet potato or yam, spiralized
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
1 c. chopped kale or spinach
1/4 c. brie cheese, cubed
1/4 c. feta cheese (optional)
2 tbsp water
lemon wedge (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat the spiralized sweet potato in a frying pan with a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover the pan until sweet potato just starts to soften (about 5 minutes). Add brie cheese, salt, pepper, chili powder, and kale or spinach. Serve topped with feta cheese and lemon (optional).
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