White Chicken Chili-Slow Cooker Method
During the month of March, our theme has been PEACE. As we approach one of the most significant days of the year, Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, I wanted to share a recipe with you that can help you maintain peace in your home, in a practical way. I know it can get very hectic preparing for Easter gatherings, parties and community events as we plan to get together with family and friends. So I decided to post this delicious recipe that you can make this week in your Crockpot or slow cooker. You can grab these 5 simple ingredients (plus any toppings that sound good to you) at the store, run home and throw everything in the crockpot and have a wonderful meal prepared for your family without adding extra stress to your week.
Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth
4 large boneless skinless raw chicken breasts (4 cups cooked shredded chicken for stovetop method)
4 (15-oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained
2 cups salsa verde (store-bought or homemade http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/tomatillo-salsa-verde/)
3 tsp. ground cumin
optional toppings: diced avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, chopped green onions, sour cream/greek plain yogurt, crumbled tortilla chips
Add chicken broth, 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, beans, salsa and cumin to a slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily with a fork. Shred the chicken.
Serve warm in large bowls with desired toppings.
Finding Peace Through Healthy Living
Over the past year and a half I have found a place of peace by making health a priority. Not only have healthy choices had a physical effect of peace, but knowing that I am making positive choices has the effect of mental peace. Our bodies are a precious gift from God and should be taken care of. We should not obsess over food and exercise and outward appearance, but we can and should care about our health.
One way I have found peace through healthy living is with exercise. Mayo clinic lists the top 7 benefits of regular exercise as weight control, combating disease and illness, improving mood, boosting energy, better sleep, improved intimacy, and FUN.
Another way I have found peace through healthy living is in healthy friendships. Jim Rohn states, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” So choose to spend time with people that support and encourage your healthy habits. You will have accountability AND friendships based on healthy shared interests are fun and likely to last.
One of the most important ways I have found peace in my health is through nutritional cleansing. Nutritional Cleansing provides a solution for environmental impurities we cannot avoid and nutrient deficiencies in our food. Knowing that I am helping my body detoxify itself and nourishing my body as I strive for long term health gives me such peace as I navigate a busy life and learn to be a healthy role model for my family. As a parent, we have so much responsibility in our children’s health. I want to show my girls how to make healthy choices and live the way God designed us – happy and healthy. Feeling great and having energy is such a source of peace and something …
Read MoreHow we quiet our hearts and minds
Life is busy… Do you find most of your days filled to the brim? What do you do to relax or find peace in the chaos? Here are some of the things we do!
Bethany:
Most recent read: You and Me Forever, by Francis Chan. This book is an incredible picture of how our marriages are really for the Lord and His kingdom but we so easily get distracted by having the “perfect marriage”. It changes the way you view marriage. It isn’t telling you to not enjoy it or be completely in love with your spouse, but you need to shift the way you view it. This book is really helping me put things in perspective and worship the Lord . Here is one quote.
- “…most marriage problems are not really marriage problems. They are God problems. They can be traced back to one or both people having a poor relationship with God or a faulty understanding of Him” (p. 20-21).
Current devotional: Experiencing God Day by Day, by Henry Blackaby. This devotional takes Scripture and specific stories and examples in the Bible to draw out principles to learn and grow from for each day. I love getting a small snippet of the Word and an applicable example that I can apply to my life.
How do I find peace: I like to spend time writing, journaling, praying, listening to music. I actually find peace exercising, running is a release for me.
Resurrection Eggs-DIY with your Kids or Grandkids
I am always looking for creative ways to incorporate the gospel message into activities with my grandchildren. When my own girls were young, I listened to Family Life Today and Focus on the Family faithfully every day. Often times they had great ideas of how to teach your kids about important bible concepts in fun ways. I remember buying a set of Resurrection Eggs and using them every Easter to remind all of us of the significance of this season and to remind us of all that Jesus went through as He suffered and died for us. Now that I have a little bit more time to get creative…I thought it would be fun to put together homemade Resurrection Egg Kits for the grandkids and take them with me to do together as a fun activity. I started by printing this Resurrection eggs free printable and then gathered my supplies and the next time I see the kiddos, I will have my DIY Resurrection kit all ready to be assembled. Here is what you need.
1 empty egg carton
12 small plastic eggs
resurrection eggs free printable
silver coin
piece of rope
thorn
stone
piece of purple fabric
small sign “King of the Jews”
cross
nail
cloves
sponge
small piece of bread or oyster cracker
scissors
sharpies
extra construction paper in various colors
Print your own verses to put into your resurrection eggs. Gather your supplies. Pick one of the children to cut the printable verses up into 12 individual slips of paper. Have another child fold the paper slips up so they fit into the eggs. Have one of the children write numbers 1 through 12 on the eggs. Engage the children in the activity of filling the eggs with the supplies and match the verses with the …
Read MoreBunny Cakes for Breakfast
Looking for a fun and easy breakfast to serve on Easter morning or sometime in the weeks leading up to Easter, to get in the mood for Easter Sunday. Here is my grandmother’s famous buttermilk pancake recipe that she made for us and served every Saturday or Sunday morning when we had the privilege of spending the weekend in one of my favorite places growing up. She was a fabulous cook and everything she created had a certain extra special flair and each dish holds precious memories for me. Rachel took this recipe and turned it into a fun holiday treat for her girls. Read on to see how to turn this buttermilk pancake recipe into “Bunny Cakes”.
Ingredients
2 eggs
2 ½ cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Accessories for Bunny Cakes
½ cup shredded coconut
1 banana sliced thin
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
sliced strawberries
Measure dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl. in your kitchen aid of mixer bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Add buttermilk alternately with dry ingredients. Mix on medium-low until batter is smooth. Cook on a hot lightly greased griddle.
To make Bunny Cakes, make one circle pancake 4 inches in diameter, one circle pancake 2 inches in diameter, 2 oval pancakes that are about 1-1 ½ inches long and 2 triangular pancakes about 1-1 ½ inches in length. Assemble bunnies on separate plates with triangle ears down first, then small circle, then large circle and them paws n top according to photo below. Decorate with coconut, bananas, mini chocolate chips and strawberries. Enjoy!
Cookie Cutter Puppets
Last week the girls wanted to do a craft on a rainy day. I gathered all my craft supplies too see what we could make at the last minute. (You know I’m a “last minute mom” crafter!). I LOVE Pinterest, but sometimes it stresses me out and I get lost in the rabbit hole of ideas. This month we are focused on PEACE, this fun last-minute craft was easy and easy = peaceful in my house!
We came up with these fun cookie cutter Easter puppets.
Supplies:
Paper
Easter Shaped Cookie Cutters
Markers and Crayons
Fun paper straws
Hot glue gun
Any fun crafty things to decorate your puppet
Instructions:
- First we traced our cookie cutters. If we had more time for drying it would have been fun to paint and stamp with the cookie cutters first.
2. Color your shape.
3. Cut out your shape and add decor. Big kids would have fun cutting out their shapes by themselves.
4. Use your hot glue gun to glue your puppet shape to the straw.
5. After your puppet has dried it is time to enjoy and play! My girls turned their puppets into fairy wands.
We had a lot of fun with this craft and I hope you do too!
…
Read MorePeace in the Storm (reposted)
Alot of things have been going on in life lately. I haven’t been directly experiencing anything too crazy… except for normal life, which in a sense, always has its fair share of chaos. But I have been witnessing many storms happening to people very close to me. And because of the way I am wired up, I feel very deeply for the circumstance, the pain, the fear, the doubt, whatever emotion is joining that experience. I want to help, I want to be there for the people, I want to lend a helping hand. But in these certain situations, the distance is a little too far to stop by and drop in to help. So it leaves me feeling a little helpless. Which in reality, it is not my fault if I cannot be there to chip in. It is a blessing to love to serve and love to help out, but I can’t take that to a whole other level of obligation. If I believe God’s power is as mighty and powerful as God’s word and the truth I believe says it is, I have to believe in that power in situations where I feel helpless also. Ultimately I have nothing to give in and of my own power. My own strength, my own love for people, and my own servants heart belongs to the Lord. So out of a position of gratitude, honor, and praise to the Lord I can sometimes be of help to people. But I forget sometimes the best thing I can do is pray. Pray for them, pray with them, pray about them… Prayer is powerful.
So if God is the perfect peace in the storms of the Bible, he can also be the perfect peace in my life and the lives of those …
Read MorePlanting Jelly Beans in Home Grown Easter Grass
Here is an Easter project that is easy and fun for your family and can utilize some learning concepts outside of the typical “Easter Bunny” activities.
Supplies needed
Jelly beans or M & Ms in assorted pastel colors
tootsie roll pops, colored lollipops, blow pops or peeps
small metal, clay or glass containers
potting soil
small pebbles
wheat seed (hard red wheat is best for growing grass)
saran wrap
To grow your home grown wheat grass, select your container and gather your other supplies. You can get creative with choosing your containers. Look around your house and garage and see what you have. Or make a quick trip to Goodwill, the Dollar Store, your local hardware store or Target to pick up some containers.
Metal containers or clay pots found in the gardening section work great. Clay pots have a hole in the bottom so you will need some type of plastic liner in the bottom so you don’t have to worry about the water or the dirt getting on your table. You can purchase it in the bulk food section of the grocery store. Hard red wheat works best.
After selecting your container, add a layer of pebbles in the bottom of each container. Because your Easter grass grows for such a short time, drainage isn’t crucial but I do like to add a layer of small pebbles in my containers to help with drainage. Nest, fill each container with potting soil and then a layer of wheat seeds. Sprinkle the top of each container with water (don’t drown the poor little seeds). Then cover each container with some plastic wrap and then place in a sunny window. You will want to make sure that the soil stays moist, (not wet) so that the seeds can germinate. The plastic …
Read MorePeace
Our theme for the month of March is PEACE. Peace is the state of tranquility or serenity. Peace is the freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety or an obsession. Peace can also be a state of mutual harmony between people or groups especially referring to personal relationships. But is this really all that peace is…a state of mind, a freedom from the difficult things of this world? So how do you find this peace of mind, how do you get your mind free from distraction, how do you move through challenges and sorrows to a place of peace?
“The biblical concept of peace is larger than that and rests heavily on the Hebrew root “slm”, which means “to be complete” or “to be sound.” The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning”to be complete or whole” or “to live well.” The noun had many nuances, but can be grouped into four categories: (1) shalom as wholeness of life or body (i.e., health); (2) shalom as right relationship or harmony between two parties or people, often established by a covenant (see “covenant of peace” in Num 25:12-13 ; Isa 54:10 ; Ezek 34:25-26 ) and, when related to Yahweh, the covenant was renewed or maintained with a “peace offering”; (3) shalom as prosperity, success, or fulfillment (see Lev 26:3-9 ); and (4) shalom as victory over one’s enemies or absence of war. Shalom was used in both greetings and farewells. It was meant to act as a blessing on the one to whom it was spoken: “May your life be filled with health, prosperity, and victory.” As an adjective, it expressed completeness and safety. In the New Testament, the Greek word “eirene” is the word most often translated by the word “peace.” Although there is some overlap …
Read MoreBirthdays-Celebrating Life
Today is an extraordinary day. 35 years ago on this day, I gave birth to my firstborn, a precious daughter we named Rachel Hannah. Today, March 4, 2016, the baby of our family, Rebekah Cherie, gave birth to her firstborn daughter, Sophie Hadassah Banihashemi. So we have a double blessing to celebrate today! Here are the two birthday girls. Love then both!
Happy 35th birthday to my amazing first born daughter. Rachel, you are creative, passionate, amazingly fun and someone who others want to follow. I am inspired by your motivational leadership, and your willingness to give and serve everyone you meet. I love watching you guide and teach your daughters and love and serve your husband!!!You are a shining star!!! May your year be filled with abundant blessings!!!
We are filled with joy that from today and forever, on this day will have a double blessing as we celebrate you and Sophie. Sophie, may you grow in grace like your Auntie Rachel. May you have a tender heart toward the Lord and bring glory to God throughout your life. We hope for you a life of Joy, love, kindness, passion and creativity. You are loved. Rachel, you are the leader of the tribe in our family-the oldest of our daughters and we know God chose you for this role because of your amazing leadership qualities we live birthdays and we live celebrating you and Sophie today I know Bekah and Ashkon are honored to have their daughter share her BIRTH day with you! We love you both!!!
Happy Birthday to Rachel and Sophie!!!
We love you both and thank God for you!…
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