Delicious Sugar Free Recipes

Something I love...


Great Recipe Blogs.  


On my first day of college I met Krista.  We lived across the hall from one another for a year.  Her kindness, love for others and incredible creativity reflected the face of Jesus day in and day out.  Years later, she is still lovely.  She spends her days graciously and passionately loving her husband and four kids.  She also creates and serves them incredible food.  


Krista adapts and creates her own sugar free recipes.  Then she shares them with all of us (!) at her blog: The Nourishing Apron


I love it! 


Her blog lists all kinds of recipes.  Dinners.  Breakfasts.  Desserts.  Some are gluten free.  All can be dairy free (if they aren't already).  Most importantly they are delicious and they turn out well!  Also peppered throughout the blog are fun stories of her family and her adventures.    


If you like chocolate, or you need to be convinced, try this recipe for starters...
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies


Or if you want to whip up some delicious Baked Oatmeal tonight and get a start on breakfast - try this favorite of mine.


I think one day she will get a book offer.  Try a few recipes out and once you are convinced you can help me spread the word so it can happen!


...For a delicious and nourished life!

Lack of Rest

It has been a relatively sleepless month for us.  As soon as one kiddo started sleeping, the other started really struggling with going to sleep and staying asleep.  I thought in my pre-kid life that being well rested was obtainable, it just took self-discipline.  However children and age continue to reveal that being well rested is not often within reach.  (Many women have told me that once the kids are sleeping better I won't be able to do so!)  


It is one more area where I experience that this world is fallen and broken.  It is not what it was meant to be.  I wonder what it will be like to be in heaven, to be continually in Jesus' presence.  Based on Scripture, I don't think our bodies will need physical sleep.  I guess we won't need it.  Yet we will have rest.  The kind of rest that pervades every part of one's being.  

I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and thekings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 

Revelation 21:22-24

My current exhausted state is difficult, yet I remember in it that Jesus alone is my true rest.  Tiredness has the ability to be a teacher to my soul.  I learn that obtaining the "good life" which includes lots of sleep is not truly where LIFE is found.  Now and in eternity it is found in Jesus alone.  He is my sustainer! * 


As a result, I can't seem to get my next blog posts together in a coherent form.   They will come...In the meantime I wanted to share a few of my favorite things with you!  The following posts will include a bit about them and links to them.  Enjoy!  


*(This is not to say that we are not working very hard at sleeping!) 

Hamburger Bean Soup with Kale

I bought a 13 bean mix in the bulk foods bins.  I love the combination of flavors it gives to a soup.  The mix works well cooked on the stove or in a crock pot (for the crock pot, just toss it in dry for the day with your other ingredients and the beans are done by dinner! Can't get any easier than that!).  

This week the stretch of rainy days had its effect.  Even thought it is May, I was yearning for a good homemade soup and corn bread.    So I cooked the beans and saved them for tonight when I finished it off into a delicious soup.

Usually I tend to create recipes on the spot by mixing this and that until it has the taste that satisfies.  It can drive my husband crazy because if he likes it I may not be able to recreate it again!  I am trying to pay more attention to what I put in a recipe for his sake.  Tonight when he said several times that he liked the new soup creation I quickly scribbled the recipe down to remember and to share!  

 

Kid and parent approved!  

It paired well with Bob's Red Mill Corn Bread (Gluten Free). 

Hamburger Bean Soup with Kale

• 1 lb 13 Bean mix
• 1 Large Onion
• 2 - 14 oz cans of Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Quart Beef Broth
• 1 4oz can of Diced Roasted Peppers (I used mild)
• 1 cup Corn
• 5-7 leaves of Purple Kale/ Half of a bunch
• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 1/4 cup Fresh cilantro
• 2 T Italian Seasoning
• 2 T Chili Powder
• 1 T Cumin
• 1 T Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp and 1 T Salt (I used this much since I cooked the beans from scrath and used homemade low-salt broth, you might want to use less if your beans or broth has salt in it already)
• 2 tsp Pepper

Cook beans according to directions with chopped onion and 1 tsp salt.  Brown ground beef.  Once beans and beef are cooked add together in a large pot with remaining ingredients.  Heat to boiling.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!