God Grows Big Things in Tiny Hearts

It amazes me how big my son's heart already is.  He has always been so conscious of other people's feelings.  If we are at Walmart and he hears a baby crying, he immediately gets worried about them and wants to make sure they are okay.  Often times, I have had to find the crying baby and show him that they are okay.  He has done this on many occasions.  While at Target picking out my mother's day card with my mom a few weeks ago, Brian encountered a little boy and his sister in the card aisle.  The little boy was, let's just say, being less than kind to his little sis.  She was crying as her brother repeatedly smacked her around (like lots of older brothers do) but it really concerned Brian that she was upset.  So he picked out a funny, talking Elmo card (which he ended up choosing for me) and showed it to her until it made her giggle and smile.  He just couldn't stand that she seemed upset.  And now every time he sees that card he says "Little girl is happy now!"

He is also very sensitive to the people he loves.  I've been told more than once that if his best pal and cousin Addison is upset at school, he tries to console her and tell her it's okay.  I know that the times I have been sick or had a "boo boo" he asks me constantly if I am okay and if I'm feeling better.  Those tiny little lips have kissed my boo boo's nearly as much as I've kissed his.

And he hates, I mean HATES, if he thinks that someone is sad.  He wants everyone to be happy.  And if you seem unhappy, he will ask you over and over again if you are happy.  There is no room for sadness in his little world.  He is definitely an optimist, which I am thankful for because I have struggled with being quite the opposite in my life.  But something tells me that this precious attitude that he has will make his life a whole lot easier at times...

And last night as we were sitting on the couch together, he got up and brought my mother's day cards that I had displayed on the counter and said "happy mother's day!"  He wanted me to look at them again.  It was like in his own little way he was showing me he loved me and appreciated me everyday, even though mother's day was already over.  He loves to make people smile and laugh.   God can sure do big things even in the smallest of hearts.  It shows me that God is just getting started in my little boy and I am honored to be the one who gets to go along for the ride.

Pasta Florentine

Last night I made a really good pasta dish called Pasta Florentine.  It is kind of like a lasagna casserole.  It is very easy and makes a lot for a little.  It would be great for a larger family and is easy to increase! I used my gluten-free pasta which is made from quinoa and corn (which is way healthier than regular pasta anyway) and so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. 

 But it was yummy!  Wes and I both loved it!  Enjoy!

Pasta Florentine

What You Will Need:

1 lb extra lean ground beef

1 jar of favorite spaghetti sauce

1 box pasta noodles (I used quinoa sprials)

1 box frozen spinach (thawed)

15 oz of ricotta cheese (I will use the bigger container next time to make it extra cheesy)

4 oz. shredded mozzarella

1 T shredded Parmesan

1/4 t minced garlic

1/4 t salt

1 egg

** I also added some fresh cracked black pepper

 Directions:

1)  Cook pasta according to instructions on box

2)  While pasta is cooking, brown ground beef in pan.  Add spaghetti sauce and let simmer.

3)  Drain noodles and let cool.  

4)  Spray a square baking dish with cooking spray.  Layer cooled noodles on bottom of pan.

5)  Combine spinach, all cheeses, egg, garlic, salt and pepper in bowl.  Spread evenly over noodles.

6)  Cover with spaghetti sauce and sprinkle with extra Parmesan (optional but recommended) 

7)  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

 

Yuck.

The reason my recipe posts have been MIA is because we usually don't cook extravagant meals on the weekends.  We eat out or do something very quick and easy because we are usually busy.  But yesterday and today I have been working on our meal plans for the next 2 weeks.  Some are recipes of my own and some I have just found and haven't tried yet.  My friend, Becky recommended a site called $5 Dinners that I found TONS of good-sounding recipes on that I am excited to try.

Oh, and last night I tried a recipe for Shrimp Pad Thai.  Pad Thai from Pei Wei is just about my favorite thing in the world to eat.  But this was NOT Pei Wei.  It was just YUCK.  I will not post that recipe just in case you were wondering ;)

The $5 Dinners website has some free printable meal planners which I am starting to use to plan out my menus for a week at a time. Here are my menu plans for the next 2 weeks along with a list of what I'll need to buy at the store.

Week 1

Week2

I will post recipes throughout the week as we make each meal!

And remember- just go to Pei Wei if you want good Pad Thai :)

Putting a Bad Habit to Rest

So I have a major bad habit of changing my blog design about every other day :)  I can never find anything I LOVE so I always change it.  But I decided that I need something familiar, something that stays the same to identify my blog.  So this is what I have decided on!  I hope you like it!  And here's to crossing my fingers that this one will stick around longer than a couple of days!

Mexican Chicken Street Tacos

This was another super easy and super delicious meal!  We used the leftover white meat chicken from the previous night's dinner to make these tacos.

What you will need:

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

1 lime

salsa verde

corn tortillas (6-8)

shredded cheese (optional)

Mexican Chicken Street Tacos

1)  Heat chicken up in a medium sized saucepan.  Add a little water or chicken broth to keep from drying out.

2)  Heat a 1/2 tsp of oil in a large skillet and warm the corn tortillas up on each side.  Wes put the hot tortillas in between 2 damp paper towels to keep them warm and soft.

3)  Shop the cilantro and slice the lime into wedges.

4)  Assemble tacos with chicken, cilantro, salsa verde, and a squeeze of lime.  Top with cheese if desired.

**I have the nutrition information on this recipe but forgot to bring it with me to post.  But I can tell you that 2 corn tortillas are only 80 calories and 1 gram of fat!  Which is pretty nice! (It was also pretty nice that a $3.75 chicken made 2 meals for us!)

Crockpot Roasted Chicken

Our day 2 dinner was really delicious too!  I bought a HUGE whole chicken this weekend for less than $4.  I got the free recipe from E-mealz.com and it was the easiest so far!

Here's what you need:

Whole Chicken

Cooking Spray (I used EV Olive Oil in my Misto)

McCormick's Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning packet (yes, I said steak!)

Whatever sides you choose!

Crockpot Roasted Chicken

1.  Peel back skin from chicken and spray with cooking spray.

2.  Sprinkle generously with the Montreal Steak seasoning. (I bought the single packet and used the entire thing)

3.  Place in crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours. (I actually cooked mine for 10!  It was sooo tender and juicy that it literally fell apart when I tried to lift it out)

We cooked a box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain Rice and had green beans with the chicken.  It was so good!

We had SO much left that I actually saved all of the white meat and the stock from cooking the chicken to make our Day 3 recipe which is Chicken Street Tacos!  I'll post that one tomorrow after we try it.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Rice

So it's time to get my act together.  I have been cheating (a lot) on my gluten free eating lately.  And I have been paying dearly for it.  Extremely fatigued, achy, stomach ache- just generally feeling yucky.  So in an attempt to get back on track with gluten-free eating and to save money by menu planning in advance, I compiled 2 weeks worth of dinners that I will be sharing along the way. 

I got my recipes from 2 main sites.  One of my favorites is a website called Gina's skinny Recipes.  I learned about it from a friend and while the recipes aren't labeled "gluten-free" a lot of them are.  And a bonus is all the recipes here are super healthy AND have the Weight Watchers points calculated along with all the nutritional values if you are watching your weight.  The other website I pulled recipes from was the famous "E-mealz."  I heard about it from my friend, Julie.  Basically, you subscribe for a small fee and it gives you budget-friendly meal plans along with prices for grocery stores for each item you'll need to make it.  Wes and I are considering doing it, but I wanted to try some of the meals first to see if it would be something we would like.  So I took the sample menus they had available and tweaked them to make them gluten-free. By the way, they do have a gluten-free E-mealz plan so if we decide to join, that will make things even easier!

So without further adieu, I present to you our first recipe of the week from Gina's Skinny Recipes:

Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Rice

Just as delicious as it looks!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 6 oz • Points: 4 pts
Calories: 197.3 • Fat: 4.1g • Protein: 35.9 g • Carb: 2.4 g • Fiber: 0.1 g

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 lb shrimp, shelled and deviened
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime
• salt and pepper

Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Add oil to the pan, when hot add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. When the shrimp is cooked on one side, about 2 minutes, turn over and add garlic. Sauté another minute or two until shrimp is cooked, careful not to overcook. Remove from heat. Squeeze lime all over shrimp and toss with cilantro. Serve hot.

Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice Copycat Recipe

I have never eaten at Chipotle's but this rice was amazing!!

Chipotle's "Skinny" Cilantro Lime Rice
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes 
Servings: 4 • Size: 3/4 cup • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 201.0 • Fat: 3.4 • Carbs: 37.4 • Fiber: 0 • Protein: 4.0 g

• 1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati rice
• 1/2 lime, juice of
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 3 tsp vegetable oil

In a small heavy pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

The Verdict:

We absolutely LOVED this recipe.  It was cheap, healthy, and tasted delicious.  And it was super easy.  The most time consuming part was the rice.  I also sliced fresh yellow squash/zucchini which I steamed and drizzled with honey and salt/cracked pepper.  Needless to say, there were NO leftovers and will definitely be at the top of our recipe list.

Think Before You Speak

If what other people say or do don't matter, then why do they?

Maybe I should rephrase that.  If what other people say or do isn't supposed to matter, then why does it?

This is something that I have fallen victim to more times in my life then I would like to count.  And yet it still happens to me today as a 30 year old.  The only thing that seems to change is the subject matter.  Things like, "why does my friend talk about me behind my back?" or "why did that kid look at me that way" turn into bigger things like "why did they say that about my child?" or "why do they get to stay at home and raise their family and I don't?"  I think I have probably heard "it doesn't matter what other people think"  or "who cares what everyone else is doing" about a million times in my life.  So if it is that important to learn that, then why is it so hard to get into my thick skull?

That is what I want to learn to master in my life.  How to stop caring so much about everyone else and what they are doing or saying.  Whether it is about me personally, or just what they are doing in their own lives that compel me to compare myself and my life. The only things that really matter or that I really need to remember is this:

1)  God loves me exactly the way I am.  In fact, I am the way that I am because that is exactly who He planned for me to be.

2)  I have been blessed beyond measure and in many ways that few people get to experience in life.  I should ALWAYS be thankful for what I have because I have been given so much more than I deserve anyway.

3)  Other people's opinions of me and my family are just that- opinions.  And most of the time those opinions come from a negative place to begin with and from people who really have no insight into having those opinions at all.  In other words, people talk without having any room to talk!  I myself have been so guilty of this before and wish so much I would NEVER be that way again!  Chances are I will fail again but, boy, am I trying so hard not to!  Thank goodness we have a Savior who forgives us when we are wrong and points us in the right direction.

I think the reason that it is so hard to let go of what others say and do is because we are human.  And we get our feelings hurt.  Words can linger and hurt even when they weren't even intended to.  That is why the saying
"think before you speak" is so important.  We may not mean any harm by what comes out of our mouth but we have no idea what it may mean to someone else.  We all go through struggles and down times in our lives so it is important to remember that when we feel the need to run our mouths.  We need to remember to put ourselves in others shoes and realize that we probably don't even have a right to open our mouths in the first place. On days when we wake up and see the sun shining brightly, someone else might see nothing but rain.

I want to be a blessing in someone's life every single day in some way.  Anyone.  Whoever God puts in my path and gives me the opportunity to.  Maybe by just a smile.  Or opening a door.  Or asking "how are you?" and actually caring about the answer.  Whatever it is, I am going to strive to always be a blessing, not the cause of someone's hurt.