God Want's Me To Be Healthy!

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me".

How often do we quote this verse in life's struggles?? How often are we told to claim this verse? Now, how often do we actually believe it and apply it? Yeah, I'll admit...not often for me..

I truly desire to be healthier! This body is not mine; It is merely a vessel for the Lord! This is not a New Year's resolution, but genuinely eating better because God want's me to (It just so happens the Lord convicted me of this at the beginning of the year hehe). A Facebook friend of mine once shared a status that stated something similar to this (can't remember word for word),  "As you go about your daily life, ask yourself, 'Is this how I repay the Lord?".....When I read that, I was instantly humbled because boy, do I do a crummy job of repaying the Lord in SO many areas. He did pay my sin debt on that cross didn't He? He gave me new life and I am suppose to glorify God in it!

No one can influence me enough to change my eating habits (or any other area of my life), it TRULY must come from the Lord! I apply this to my personal struggles of weight-loss, mothering, being a godly wife and friend. I struggle daily with all of these, why? because when I don't put my strength in the Lord, I fail..big time...God has to bring you to a point where you absolutely KNOW that you cannot do something without him. That has been my personal conviction recently. It is why I can't stay committed to eating right and exercise, it's why I sometimes don't see "results" when I discipline my children or when I struggle as a homemaker. Please don't misconstrue my objectives and believe that I will be perfect at all these things by the end of the year! Giving your heart to the Lord in all areas of your life only makes the devil even more mad. We are supposed to "grow" (and should be) as Christians, not remain stagnant in our walk until He comes to take us home. I am thankful for these convictions, Lord willing they will draw me closer to my Savior! So trials will come, feeling defeated will come...but then I go back to this verse "I can do ALL (emphasis mine) things through Christ which strengtheneth me"!

 *Now, I am still trying to figure out all the in's and out's of blogging, so please bear with me. In the meantime you should be able to find all my posts about faith under the "Faith" tab, or clicking on the "Faith" label to the right --->

Plastic Cap Pin Cushion

This was one of those super fun and quick projects for me to do while I hesitated in starting another "larger" sewing project :) You can find a million tutorials on how to make these on Google, but the one I used is found here. :) I loved this project because I really needed something small and easily transferable while sewing. I made this shortly after I bought my lovely sewing machine and I wanted a pin cushion that I could keep fairly close. As you can see in the second pic, it is attached (by velcro) to the machine.

Just recently I added a small elastic to make a ring so I could wear it on my pointy finger while sewing..I LOVE it!! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies!

Creative name huh? hehe..Yeah I could not think of anything fun or cute for this, so basically it's called exactly what it is! This little treat is super easy to bake (if you don't have time to prepare cookie dough or brownie mix from scratch!)

Ingredients:
(1) package of Pillsbury Chocolate Chip ready to bake cookies (actually any brand or flavor will do!)
(1) box of brownie mix (and the ingredients called to prepare it)

Prep:
Cram all those cookie dough pieces in a 11x7in pan (you can definitely go larger though)
Pour prepared brownie mix on top
Bake at 325° for about an hour. I started to check mine at 30 minutes and kept adding more time. It totaled about an hour for me. I'm sure I could have baked it at 350° and it would have baked much faster.

*Note: if you do use a larger pan (like say a 9x13) then make sure you check it at 30 minutes as well.

Dough laid out

covered by a blanket of brownie batter 

view from under the pan :)

Still warm!

yummy layer of chocolate chip cookie! (these were THICK brownies, so if you want thinner layers of cookie and brownie just use a larger pan)

Slow Cookin Chicken & Dumplings!

Ok, so my first taste of chicken and dumplings was right after our little girl was born last year. My mother in law was staying with us for a couple of weeks and I'm just going to throw it out there for public knowledge..she can cook some good ole' fashion country food :) A couple of months later I wanted to make my own chicken and dumplings recipe and came across this one here. I didn't follow it completely, so my "adapted" version is below :)

Ingredients:

(2) large chicken boobs that you will fillet to make 4 total
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of celery soup

3 1/2 cups of water

1/2 onion, finely chopped (or however you prefer)

1 cup of chopped celery

1 cup of chopped carrots

1 chicken bullion cube

Pepper (and salt if you'd like, but I didn't add any to mine)

1 refrigerated can of biscuits

Cook:

~Place all ingredients (EXCEPT biscuit dough) in your crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours (the other recipe said 8 hours, but mine was perfectly done at about 6 hours)

~About half-way through cooking time I check my chicken and if they are cooked all the way through I take them out and shred them.

~About an hour before it's done, you can throw in your biscuit pieces. (you can tear them up; I actually cut each individual biscuit dough into 4's)

~As soon as the biscuits are cooked completely through, your delicious chicken and dumplings meal is ready!

Chopped Veggies

Soo tasty!

Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies!

Yep, you read that right, it's a chocolate chip cookie with Oreo cookies deliciously nestled in every bite! YUMMO!! Again, a Pinterest find! ;) For the complete recipe, go here :) She has some amazing recipes to satisfy any sweet tooth! I need a party to go to so I can make these again!!

nibbling on the dough was enough to shut me up

make these now! :)