Hello friends!

As promised, here is a decadent dessert perfect for your holiday dinner! The secret is: IT IS HEALTHY! But don't worry no one will know! My family will be enjoying this for Christmas and I hope you will too!

Don't forget homemade whipped cream or coconut cream makes everything better!!

Lots of Love,

Ashley M.

Secrets

Dear Friends 

I pour out my heart to you today.

Secrets are the devils play things.

If you keep them they will only fester. Secrets harm more then they could ever do good. Secrets turn to twisted worms inside your heart and soul. 

I'm not just talking about the he said she said stuff either. I'm talking about betrayal, hurts, wrongs done against each other. You know, the thoughts and feelings rolling around in your head at night keeping you from sleep. Yeah I know you know the ones I'm talking about.
I see so many of my friends and family suffer from them. They make us bitter, paranoid, and downright hateful. Those memories make your insides turn and blood boil. We all keep them, hoping no one will ever know how we really feel. We dont want to shatter this perfect image we only think we have built of ourselves.
News flash you guys no one is perfect, hence the whole reason for Jesus. And let me tell you guys confession is a powerful thing. Let me give you guys a tiny example.

I was totally geeking out about a book series I was reading and my husband said you are such a nerd, and it really hurt my feelings. I didn't want my husband thinking I was stupid and it kind of crushed me and I felt awful. Normally I would have just kept that stupid feeling inside and let it fester. But instead I got up the gumption to tell him " hey that makes me feel stupid" and guess what happened?
He said "sorry honey I was just playing around" I said "ok  honey but it hurt me" and he said sorry and all was forgiven and let go. Can you guess what would have happened if I kept how I felt a secret?
God only knows but I can take a guess. I would have held unto that feeling. Secretly thinking my husband thought I was stupid. silently adding every other stupid thing I thought I did together till I cracked. What would happen then? (I know for a fact the devil loves to use hurt, anger and betrayal against  Gods people. My soul may be saved, but I am sure he will try to render me as useless as possible) Maybe I would have taken course to end my marriage or spiraled into he depths of depression. I really hope you all are following where I am going. If not let me give you one more example.

I lived in terrible fear that I would lose my children. Especially my youngest, as he is a gift my husband never expected to receive. It was so bad that on some days it was all I could do to keep myself from curling into  little ball and crying.Oh and then when Ebola came to Texas I was a mess. It wasnt until I confessed all my fear to a group of women I trusted that I was set free. We prayed and I lay all my fears at the feet of Jesus. My fears diminished.

You see the devil was using my fears in both situations to control me. To make me less capable then I should be. Only in confession and at the foot of the cross can we be set free. Secrets have a way of burrowing deep inside us, no matter the size. They wreak havoc on how we perceive the world around us and those that inhabit the world.

If you want another example of secrets gone wrong read the story of King David and Bathsheba. No one came out a winner in that one and neither will you.

So whats my point here?

James 5:16

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Give up those secrets. They aren't doing you any good and certainly not keeping you from being hurt.

I'm not saying it will be easy or comfortable at first. But I will say that,

Luke 8:17 

For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.

It is your life. Do not let secrets and the devil control it. 

Love,

Ashley B.

Santas Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie and a Gluten Free Treat

This cookie pleases even the most skeptic of Gluten Free baking. Every one in my house loved these goodies and I think Santa will too.

The goods

The Mix

Cookie Soldiers 

Reach in and enjoy a yummy treat or two

Love,

Ashley B.

Advent Chain

Here is an advent chain I made for my family last year and they loved it. all you have to do is print them out, cut them into strips and glue them in order in links. Every night the kids take turns getting a link and reading the corresponding Bible passages. To print left click on image and select print. I recommend choosing the landscape option in your printer options. I also print it on card stock but i think it be fine on regular printer paper.

I would love to hear back from you all in the comment section. Let me know if your family enjoyed this special time together.

Love,

Ashley B.

Happy Thanksgiving

Luke 10:41-42

41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Let us take Jesus at his word here and not worry about to many things. Let us chose the path of Mary and enjoy the  company of the loved ones around us. Not every single thing needs to be just so. It's just food you guys. Take a deep breathe in and slowly let it out. Lets face it, Martha will forever be remembered as the frustrated one .... thats sure not how I want my family and friends to remember me... I chose to be Merry, get it Mary... lol ok I'm done. Happy Thanksgiving Y'all 

Love,
Ashley B.

Thanksgiving Favs

I love this time of year, when we are to pause to give thanks for all things. It is hard to remember some times how truly blessed we are. It is so easy to fall in the habit of gratitude for all the things we have- cars, homes, tangible possessions. What we forget is that these things just distract us from what are the true blessings in our lives. There is not even time to actually think about what we are thankful for with all the holiday preparations we have deemed necessary. Spending all day in the kitchen lends little time to contemplating the truly beautiful things about our lives. So, I offer you a couple dishes that are simple and delicious. They do not take much time to prepare and are perfect for any holiday meal! may these recipes inspire you to contemplate exactly how you want to spend your days. This year I look forward to simplicity in the kitchen so I may have more time to spend with those I am thankful for and to take time to thank the One who have given me all that I have and is the reason I am here to give thanks. 

I hope you enjoy these recipes and your day of giving thanks! May it be a blessed day for you!

Lots of Love,

Ashley M.

Fall Favorites staring the Wonderful Pomegranate

It is fall and I am excited! I love all the inspiration that comes with fall, especially in the kitchen. We are reaping the rewards of all the hard work through out spring and summer- harvesting all the beautiful crops of root vegetables, winter squash, and so much more! We here at For GOD so Loved The Mom are excited to bring you a series of recipes using all the wonderful foods fall has to offer.
Now it is not fall in my opinion until I enjoy...

There are so many amazing and wonderful recipes that use pomegranate or you can simply enjoy the seeds freshly picked out of its shell. In staying true to my usual posts I am going to share two simple, easy, and delicious recipes using these scrumptious seeds!

Since you have 1/2 the seeds left over and you simply can't let them go to waste ;) here is a dessert recipe to help you finish those seeds off!

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we do!
Lots of Love,
Ashley M

Pumpkin Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust

This is my daughters favorite dessert. She even wanted it for her birthday last year instead of cake!
This is my gluten free version because the crust is gluten free. The whole house smells of happiness while this is baking.

* You could use Regular Flour as well

If you are planning on making this for Thanksgiving or any other special occasion, I would recommend doing a practice run first. Not only will your hubby and kids be happy for the treat, there will also be no surprises on the big day. This would be a good idea to do with all new recipes you plan on making for any event. I'm sure it will help reduce some of the stress of cooking a big meal.

Love,

Ashley B.

DIY Fall Scents All Purpose Cleaner

Thanksgiving is upon us and Fall is in the air. Or is it? Household cleaners are toxic and full of obnoxious and dangerous fumes! I for one hate the smell of most commercially available cleaners. On occasion I will buy simple green or bleach, but that is a rare occasion as I like to  make my own all purpose cleaner. It is so simple and makes me feel good about what my kids are around.

This is my Fall Scented All Purpose Cleaner

There are plenty of reasons to detox your home. The fumes and residues from most household cleaners are toxic on multiple levels. You don't need me to tell you that after you have cleaned a room with closed or no windows!

Natural cleaners are just as effective as lab made chemicals. For example:

White Distilled Vinegar  neutralizes a variety of stains and odors, dissolves scale and soap scum!

Cinnamon smells fabulous and is an astringent, anti-fugal, antiseptic, and antibacterial.

Clove is amazing and I use it tons. Some of its uses in cleaning are, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, antiseptic, and disinfectant.

Orange is an antiseptic with a d-limonene content of 90% its spanks most household cleaners found at the market.

My point is go natural.

Love,

Ashley B.

references

Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold Bond

Mountain Rose Herbs

Reference Guide for Essential Oils by Connie and Alan Higley

Essential Beauty

We are so excited to announce the launch of two new blog series for Fall! Today we are introducing our series Essential Beauty. We are looking forward to exploring a number of ways to pursue beauty, both inside and out! 
To launch this series today I am going to give you my top 3 quick and easy essential oil beauty tips. With two little boys, one high needs, the other special needs and both super busy, I have very little time for a beauty and skin care routine. I also am extremely particular about what ingredients are in anything I put on or in my body. So, beauty care for me has to be quick, easy, and pure. Essential oils are, to me, all of those and here are some of my favorite ways to use them! Get ready to look fabulous and to smell great too!

Always remember to only use 100% pure therapeutic grade essential oils!
Stay tune for our other Fall series later this week!

Hope you have a beautiful day,
Ashley M

7 Easy and Effective ways to Boost Immune System

Because Ebola sucks! No seriously it does. And I want to keep my Family and I as healthy as possible. These are basically free ways to make our bodies more efficient at staying healthy. There are  a lot of other ideas and things to do , so I am encouraging you all to do research on this subject.

Immune boosters:

1. Drink more Water.

When your body is dehydrated it does not function properly anymore, resulting in inflammation and autoimmune disease. Your lymphatic system does not drain and things get all sorts of backed up in your system.

2. Get more Sleep

Sleep deprivation suppresses immune system functions.

3. Stress less

When under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal control, so they produce levels of inflammation that promote disease

4. Eat less processed foods.

All the chemicals in food lead up to an overabundance of it in our systems which leads to inflammation and a backed up system and as we all know by this point inflammation equals lower immune system.

5. Be happy

Smile more, laugh more, let the small stuff go. The happier you are the more cortisol you produce the healthier your immune system will be.

6. Be Active

When you are physically Active more systems in your body function properly. Things can drain and move out of your body the way they should.

7. Let Go and let God

Trust in the Lord  and He will make your path straight. proverbs 3:5-6 (paraphrased)

This comes in really handy when you can't sleep and are stressed out and you can't seem to get happy.

Love,
Ashley B.













Sources:
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/647040-dehydration-a-leading-cause-of-diseases.html
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/immune-system-lack-of-sleep
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2124128/Why-stressed-wreak-havoc-immune-make-physically-ill.html

Gluten Free Fried Chicken Tenders

Hi y'all. It's me Ashley B. today with a recipe for you.
Today I want to share how I make my Gluten free fried chicken tenders.

I love fried chicken. My oldest could eat it for every meal. It is also something I grew up eating, my moms chicken was perfection. It was one of the things people begged her to make. Never in a million years did I think I could pull of good fried chicken. Frying was scary and kinda hard. I overcooked and under cooked all at the same time when I first started. For the life of me I couldn't keep the temp on the oil right. Want to know what changed? What I did to finally get the frying process down? Her are two of my favorite tips:

1. Peanut Oil. For some reason it doesn't get to hot and I don't seem to burn things. It cooks more slowly so everything cooks evenly and all the way thru. I love it. Also my Mom is allergic to peanuts and can eat things I use it in. We did some testing before she ingested it. I had read somewhere that the allergens have been processed out of it to make oil...

2. The Frying Song. If you pay attention to the popping sound of the oil you will notice the sound changing from rapid pops to slower popping. When the "song" changes I take whatever I am frying out.

OK now onto the recipe and process

5 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (could also use thighs) cut into strips or nuggets

Dry Mix
2 cups Brown Rice Flour
1 tsp of:
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Old Bay Seasoning
2 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Misses Dash

Wet Mix
2 cups Milk ( or dairy sub)
1 Egg

Frying oil of your choice ( use peanut oil if you can)

Heat oil in a pan on medium heat .

Mix all the Dry ingredients together in a big bowl. Dampen finger and dip it into dry mix and taste. This is to see if you are happy with the flavor. Does it need  more salt ect...

Whisk egg into milk in a medium bowl.


Dredge chicken in dry mix, then dip into wet mix, and back into dry mix.
Place on a tray and let it set for at least 5 minutes before placing it into hot oil.

Flip tenders over after a couple minutes and cook until golden brown.The thicker the pieces the longer the cook time and vice versa.

Place on a cookie sheet with a cooling rack. Hold chicken in a 200 degree oven while cooking other chicken.

And that is it guys. Frying takes practice. Make sure to try this out on a non hurried night if you are new to frying. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Love,
Ashley B

The Bible and My new Obsession

Really Check out the Old Testament guys. Anyway it took me a while to make this video becasue I kept having to redo it do to rambling. This is as good as it gets. One of these days I will figure out how to edit my videos so I can look more pro and smart,

NATURAL ANTIBACTERIAL HAND SANITIZER

Hello Friends!

Today I am going to stray from my usual post about food to share with you something else I love! ESSENTIAL OILS! 

es·sen·tial oil

noun

1. a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.

These extractions are amazing and have completely changed how I do everything from clean my house to care for my kids! If you want to know more about the basics of essential oils a great article to check out is http://www.abundanthealth4u.com/Essential_Oils_Basic_Facts_s/39.htm. ; 

So, along with my food recipes, I will also be sharing my recipes and tips for using essential oils in my home and with my kids! Sometimes I will even combine the two and share how I cook with essential oils! I know, I am nerdy, but I am so excited! So for my first "recipe" I am going to share with you one of my all time favorite ways to use essential oils! 

Cold and Flue season is upon us. The news keeps reporting on the spread of a rare virus. Kids are back to school. Soon we will be traveling for the holidays. It is time to arm yourself with a quick and easy defense against germs. I introduce my Natural Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer. Its simple, easy, and WAY better for you yourself and your kids than traditional hand sanitizer!

Tip #1: Make sure you are only using Therapeutic Grade essential oils!

I look forward to sharing more with you about the incredible uses and benefits of essential oils! 

Lots of Love,

Ashley M. 

Vlog

Totally forgot to post this last week, I was pretty frazzled last week.

Get Better Soon Soup

I know! I have been absent for a while here, but I have a good excuse! We have been battling major germs over here! In between traveling, having people visit, and birthday parties spent playing with lots of other little ones and more sugar than our systems are used to we ended up with some serious colds!

Now, I am a huge fan of bone broth soup! It is amazing stuff! But there are days you can't wait 24-48 hours for your broth to be done! Somedays you don't even have 12 hours! For my oldest that was the case- He needed soup and he needed it right away! That is where my Get Better Soon Soup comes in! In just a few hours you have amazing homemade soup that is chock full of nutrients and ready to help you or your little ones get better in a hurry. With cold and flue season fast approaching this is definitely a recipe to keep close at hand! 

Lots of Love!

Ashley M.

My Thoughts on Jennifer Lawrence

This broke my heart.

Praise and Worship

Part four of our Series on Words.

This is a short video on praise and worship. I had planned on saying more on the topic but life has a way of going it's own way. My baby did not want to nap but i really wanted to get this out to you guys.So I hope you enjoy his antics as well as my message. Please read Psalm 150:1-6 it goes with this video.

Love.
Ashley B.

PS
My husband and I made that Faith sign. Isnt it cute?

Praise Him

Just some lyrics from a Hillsong song that has bouncing around in my head.

Prayer

Prayer
Post 3 in our Words  Series .

Matthew 6:9-13New Century Version (NCV)

9 So when you pray, you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name always be kept holy.
10 May your kingdom come
and what you want be done,
    here on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need for each day.
12 Forgive us for our sins,
    just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
13 And do not cause us to be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One. The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.'

Love you .

Ashley B.

Insecure

Video post 3

We all struggle with insecurities....







Print this out and tape them up all over the place!

Love,

Ashley B.

I Don't Think Your Ready For This Jelly!

I Don't Think Your Ready For This Jelly!

Ok, well technically it is jam not jelly, but really you are not ready for how simple and awesome this jam is!

We normally don't do Sunday posts, but when inspiration calls you can not ignore it! This post is inspired by yet another amazing Ashley and the beautiful black berries she and her daughter picked near their house in Washington. With buckets full of berries what else can you do but make all sorts of wonderful treats like this Berry Chia Seed Jam. 

I hope you all enjoy!

Lots of Love,

Ashley M.

Simply Delicious Paleo Pancakes

Simply Delicious Paleo Pancakes

Whether you are preparing your kids for a full day of learning, tackling a big house project, or off to work, you need to start your families' day off with the right fuel! These pancakes are chock full of protein and chia seeds- both known to help regulate blood sugar and keep you feeling full longer. What I also love about this recipe is it is so versatile. Add in cinnamon, raisins, and shredded carrot for a carrot cake pancake. Add in little bits of apple and cinnamon or add in chocolate and shredded coconut. My oldest's favorite is mini chocolate chips and blueberries. The options are endless and what's even better is if you add just a little bit of water to the batter you can make these more like a flat bread. Spread in some nut butter and jelly, roll it up and send it in your kids lunch for school or take it with you as a quick and healthy snack on the go!

Lots Of Love,

Ashley M. 

Three reasons not to gossip

Wow you guys this took me forever to upload. So sorry about the wait...

We are now on YouTube

Hi ladies, guess what?
We are now on YouTube!
Watch me in the video below

Crispy Chicken & a salad with Orange and Honey Dressing

I have had an amazing week. Saturday was my 30^th birthday and I ushered in a new year of my life by celebrating every day for 9 days! 9 days of fun + a mom of 2 boys under 5= 1 exhausted mama! But life must go on and my family still has to eat. It is times like this I pull out some of my super quick and easy meals; ones that require very little work on my part, but still seem special to my boys. Here is one of those meals…

 

Crispy Chicken & a salad with Orange and Honey Dressing

 

The chicken is as easy as can be! Just follow this simple recipe. Really, it is so easy!

 

Now, for the salad. My boys love it when their food looks fun and they can help make it. So while I am busy finely chopping any vegetables I choose to use for the salad, my Little Jedi juices the oranges for our dressing. Then he helps me add all the other ingredients and blend it. I have learned that if I make a chopped salad and my Little Jedi helps with the dressing all my guys are sure to eat it all! Ease of preparation + super tasty makes this dressing a win/win.

 

 

I hope you enjoy!

 

Lots of Love,

Ashley M

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to this beautiful woman. I am proud to call you my friend. You are an inspiration and an example to women every where!