The Missing Ingredient

 

I have always loved to bake, and try out new recipes of all types. After TJ’s anaphylactic reaction, I put that on hold for awhile out of fear and trying to process it all. That was until I realized that that was not the solution. Instead, together we started to create a whole new cookbook, pushing the old ones aside… for now.

Our allergy-free cookbook is filled with delicious meals and desserts from these past four years. And as we continue to add to our collection and experiment with our creations, we are always searching for the correct ingredients and amounts.

But if these years have taught me anything, it is about a crucial ingredient, that is often missing…

Prayer!

Where do I even start?

With prayer!

Now, this is an area that I consider… a work in progress. However, its importance is one to share even before it is perfected. Is it ever really perfected?

Everything can cause us anxiety. The news, our food system, food allergies, irrational workloads, sicknesses, hectic days, hectic lives … to even the enjoyable aspects of life like trips and parties … they all have the ability to stress us out and steal our peace. There was a period of my life, (okay who am I fooling) …for most of my life, I handled the anxiety the same way:

Let it pile up…internalize it… let it pile up some more… try to do it all by myself… try to vent to someone about… let it pile up even more … fear the worst…explode …then repeat.

What is the saying accredited to Albert Einstein again? “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Maybe we aren’t insane, but we are overworked and over-worried, and missing one element (or at least I was), one important ingredient to the recipe of life, prayer!

So how does it work? It works everywhere and for everything.

To start, before each meal, pray over the food quietly or with your family and friends.

Thank You God for this food, blessing our bodies with it and for the hands that prepared it. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Worried about that allergy or doctor appointment coming up for your child or yourself?

Thank you God for healing his body from allergies. Thank you for protecting him and the good news You will provide.

Or

Thank You God for healing and restoring my body. Thank You for the great news I will receive at this appointment and the beauty that you will create from my pain. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

Anxious about whether or not you should take the new job or do the new diet?

Pray over it. Thank You God for the blessing that this job … this diet … etc … will bring my life and my ability to do Your will through it.

Is your kid acting like they lost their mind in the car as you commute to work and school? (The Lord knows I’ve screamed back a time or fifty …)

Pray over them.

But it’s not just the missing ingredients from our needs, it is also the key part of even the moments of grace.

Is your heart beating a mile a minute as you just somehow avoided getting in a major accident with your two kids in the car? Pray and thank God for getting you out of that lane before the car behind you crashed into the one ahead. Pray for the people who did get hit every time you see an accident even if the accident is the reason you are late to work. Don’t curse and don’t stress. Pray, pray, pray.

It will help you breath better. It will help you think better. It will help you react better. It will help you understand better. It will help you love better. It will help you live better.

Do. It. For. Everything.

I’m not saying it will make your washer that broke restart or finally get money to grow from that tree in your backyard. Although sometimes God touches down in those situations too… (well maybe not the money-growing spruce…)

But what will it hurt? It can’t hurt. It can only bring you peace in places and times anxiety wants to steal just that.

Prayer is the ingredient I was missing for way too long. And even though we may have moments we feel like life in unfair…. What are these allergies even for? Why my kids? Why didn’t I get that job? That promotion? Or the other millions of questions that our days through at us? … prayer is needed.

For we are called to pray for the blessings that these challenges will bring… the blessings that we cannot even comprehend that are waiting for us just around the corner.

So while our allergy safe cookbook may only be half written and stored away in our anything but organized cabinet, we are learning to pray through our mess… believing for more.

 

Shake Up Your Morning

It was in September that I saw my OBGYN about intense ovulation and menstrual pain. It had been several months of this so I wanted answers. I started to assume it was the endometriosis my mom may have so “kindly” passed down to me.

After an ultrasound, I received a phone call from another doctor telling me that I had a cyst on my ovary the size of a baseball!

A BASEBALL! I freaked out… ain’t gonna lie… especially when they then instructed me that I should have blood work done to double check…cancer levels… That was it! I quickly lost it!

Then, the doctor went right into talking about having to monitor it for a few months and then discussed going on the pill or even surgery.  That was not a good night for me or my husband to say the least. (It was also the night I found out he would be traveling to Paris for business without me….double whammy!!)

After I gathered myself again, I turned to prayer, believing everything would be okay.  Instead, of my typical reaction of panic, panic and more panic.   I consciously chose to train my brain to believe that: I. WOULD. BE. TOTALLY. OKAY. AND. HEALTHY.

A week later, the blood work came back with the wonderful news that my inflammation number was in the normal range.   So now it was just waiting game until I would be rechecked in a couple months. Therefore, I reached out to a holistic doctor about what I could do. She gave some supplements to help decrease estrogen levels and also suggested lots of cruciferous vegetables and as many greens as possible. Sadly, she also recommended that I cut out alcohol and dairy for 30 days. Noooo not the wine!

So, I loaded up on broccoli and cauliflower in my lunches and dinners.  Riced cauliflower was my best friend in my stir frys, salads, and even soups. I already wasn’t eating dairy during the week, only on the weekends with pizza.  With liquor, I stopped the random glass of wine during the week, only a glass or two on the weekends.  But as far as the other greens…. how many greens could I actually eat? That is when I decided to play around with morning shakes, finding my favorite green one.

I called it my morning “Shake Up” or as my daughter calls it, a green “milk shake.”

And here it is… with some variations. I like to vary it up too.  My husband turned me into a creature of habit, or maybe I always was one.  Regardless, variety is important so I try my hardest to vary it up.

SHAKE IT UP RECIPE #1

1. ice cubes (a couple handfuls)
2. 2 Tablespoons almond butter
3. 1 cup almond milk or Silk’s Protein Milk (almond, cashew, pea)
4. 2 dates (You can add up to 4.  I keep it light for sugar purposes)
5. 1 Tablespoon chia seeds
6. 1 Tablespoon flax seeds
7. 1 Tablespoon – a good sourced Cacao powder (optional)
8. A teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)
9. a cup of spinach or kale (I usually stick to spinach although lately I’m on a kale kick)
10. 1-2 stalks of celery or even cucumber
11. Maca powder (optional)
12. Organic protein powder (optional)

Directions:  Combine and blend well. We use a Vitamix to blend. (It was by far one of my best purchases as far as kitchen items.)

Two months later, when I was retested, the cyst was almost completely undetectable.  Thank you God! Thank you for shakin’ it up and making my faith grow even more.  Thank you for those morning shakes that kick start my days right, even as we rush out of the house with the Vitamix still dirty in the sink.

 

Butternut Squash Soup

While I don’t always eat it, I love soup and get into little kicks of making it every weekend.  Since it has been unbearably cold lately, soups have stolen the spot from salads as my lunch.

After some experimenting, here is my new favorite butternut squash soup recipe.

 

Total Time: an hour

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 cups vegetable stock/ vegetable broth

Olive oil

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 apple, cored and chopped

1 yellow onion

1-2 butternut squashes (I usually use 1.5 for the soap and the other .5 for another meal)

2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

optional – nutmeg

1/2- 1 cup of So Delicious boxed unsweetened coconut milk

1 bag of riced cauliflower

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut the butternut squash in halves and sprinkle lightly with olive oil. Place face down in the oven for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees or until soft.
2. Chop the other vegetables.
3. Saute the onions and garlic with some olive oil for 3-5 minutes. (Optional)
4. Add the vegetable stock or broth, carrots, onion, apple, and all the spices into a pot on the stove.   Cook on a medium heat for about 30 minutes.
5. When the butternut squash is done.   Spoon out the squash and put into the pot on the stove.
6. Mix in the coconut milk.
7. Blend it all in a blender.  Our favorite is the Vitamix.
8. After it is all blended, pour back into the original pot and add the rice cauliflower for texture until it is warmed up and ready to go.
9. Add some paprika and cilantro to the top or even some crumbled organic turkey bacon (Optional)
10. Enjoy!

Delicious! Now, I am excited for my lunch for the next couple days and the best part is…. with a crazy busy week coming up, I don’t need to do a single thing but heat it up.

Do you have a favorite soup? If so, what kind?  I am always up for a new soup recipe to try out.

 Give this one a try, but of course modify it to your dietary needs and taste buds.  It will not disappoint even on a counter that still needs to be cleared…