Jamie Oliver

I wanted to post this video of Jamie Oliver talking about food in the public school system. I can contest that the breakfast and lunch menus at Mackenzie's school is nothing but processed, sugar and general junk food they feed our kids everyday. I send Mackenzie with a homemade lunch every day that has real whole foods for her to eat and enjoy.

If you were ever wondering why America has the highest rate of over weight kids watch this video and you will find your answer.

Dieting

I am very excited to have my very first guess writer on The Best Life Lived. Cassandra is a great women of faith, a wife and a mother of two. We used to go to the same church while her family lived in the Chicago area. Cassandra has been my mentor in REAL FOOD eating and I have learned so much from her. I truly come away blessed every time I read one of her emails to me.

This post is something that I truly believe all christian women need to hear and take to heart.


The issue of dieting is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while and I’ve decided to share a few of those thoughts here.

The following sentiments are heard often, even from church women, and even (until recently) from my own mouth:

“You’re so good for ordering salad!”

“I’m so bad for bringing this chocolate.”

“That dessert is sinfully delicious.”

“I’ll be good and eat something less fattening.”

There is a general consensus that our goodness or badness is closely connected to calories consumed and dress size. (Yes, of course the Bible speaks against gluttony, but that is not what I’m thinking of here. When we congratulate a girl for eating salad we are usually not thinking about her fighting the sin of gluttony.)

This kind of thinking has two main problems:

1. For one thing, it is not even true that eating fat will make us fat. These are lies created by an industry that wants to sell us more refined foods, sugar, artificial sweeteners, vegetable oils, diet pills, and ab-crunching machines.

For example, I used to think that skim milk was healthy (equating health with no fat of course). However I have since learned that farmers actually feed pigs skim milk or whey in order to fatten them up, not cream! The dairy industry wants us to drink skim milk because we will pay money for a waste product and then we will pay even more money for the ice-cream that is made from the fat of the milk. The greater tragedy is the new trend to feed our babies and young children skim or 1% milk in a misguided attempt to protect them from obesity when they need the fat and cholesterol to grow their brains.

We are a nation known for it’s love/hate relationship with food and I can’t help but wonder if this hasn’t been intentionally created by advertisers. The more dissatisfied we are with ourselves the more we are susceptible to running toward false saviors (products on a shelf or diet programs) to rescue us.

Another quick point about calorie restriction: Weight Watchers, and probably any other health article you might come across, routinely recommend eating less than 2,000 calories. I was surprised to learn that the prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp were given that much for their rations.

I could probably go on ten other rabbit trails here, but I want to keep this short and remind us all that our great grandmothers ate bacon and cream and butter and lard and they were healthier for it and probably happier.

2. My second problem with this line of thinking has to do with the gospel. Is this at all right thinking for Christians? What does it say to an unbeliever who hears us define our goodness by the fact that we brought salad to the church potluck? Or for us to always be fussing about our weight as if that defines our value? Our value is found is Christ alone. He died a brutal death for us while we were yet sinners because we are so loved. How crazy for us to be distracted by numbers on a scale to determine our worth.

This kind of thinking also destroys our ability to be truly thankful for the food He has created and provided for us. What did Abraham serve his heavenly visitors in Genesis 18? Alfafa sprouts and Slimfast? No, he served them bread, butter, milk, and meat. Many women today would sit in front of a meal like that and feel guilty instead of thankful and nourished.

By worrying about calories and buns-of-steel we may actually be in danger of worshiping a false god that can never deliver. In fact, sacrificing to the god of skinnyness will only further rob us of our health as extreme dieting will further destroy our metabolism and deplete our bodies of nutrients. And this false god, who demands this kind of devotion will not give us what we truly crave– recognition of our beauty and value—because in the end it is only Christ that can give us that.

Banana's We Need To Be More Like Them?

I can't remember when I first heard this, but yesterday I came across it again and wanted to share it with my readers. And I was planning on talking about banana's in my next post so the timing is just perfect.

As women we need to be more like banana's, you say what! Let me tell you why.

They start out green and not very good.

They turn a bright yellow and are so yummy to eat.

Then they start to go brown, mussy and things go south on them

But the banana has become sweeter and we can more things with it now.

We can make banana bread. banana cake, banana pancakes........

Banana's just get better with time.

It is so true in a woman's life also. We start out green not know much and having to mature and learn how to do things. Then we learn and we think we are doing great in life, but it is not till we are old with brown spots and things have gone south on us that we have learn how to be true blessing to others. I pray that we learn how to give at the Yellow stage of the banana and not wait till we are brown.

The Titus 2 woman is the sweet, giving, compassionate, loving, teaching, and always ready to help.

Titus 2:4-5 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.




I want to share a neat treat with you that I have learned to do with my bananas when they go brown. I use to just throw them into the freezer peel and all. then when I wanted to make something I would have to pull them out and let them thaw and then have the yucky job of peeling them. Very cold hands!!!

Now I peel them before I freeze them. I place them on a plate and put them into the freezer and let them freeze overnight. In the morning I place them in a Ziploc bag to keep in the freezer. Some much easier then the old way.

Blizzard Of 2011

The view from my kithen door
Our parking lot

Look at the one car almost cover by the snow

The view from our back door. That is our grill!

Once you open the back door and looked to the left this was the view.

Our car that is behind a wall of snow.

A car that got stuck right before you get to our parking lot.

Our dogs Chelsea and Cody.

The wall of snow because the car got stuck and the plows could not get threw.

Snow drift between cars.

Our building

Yummy, Yummy Goodness

I have decided that my adventure in cooking, baking, and eating real foods that are wholesome and good for you is bread making. To be very honest I am scared to making bread. I can't tell you why because I don't even know but I am. I grew up watching my mom make bread all the time, so I should have no fear of baking bread, right? Well, today, I faced my fear head-on and I made Honey Whole Wheat Bread!!! I am still a little confused because the recipe said to add 3 more cups of four at the end and well I add two and that was enough. The bread tasted amazing says my to kids and myself so I will be happy with that. I made to double batch of the Honey Whole Wheat recipe because I also wanted to make a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread. This is Mackenzie's favorite bread. She would always be asking me to buy her bag at the store but I just didn't feel okay with buying it and knowing all the bad stuff that was in it. When I went to read the list of ingredients I could not read half of them. So that is why I started to make my own. I do believe that this just may become a weekly habit at the Rumphol house. We could not wait to for it to even cool, we had to try it right out to the oven, yummy!!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

6 cups whole wheat flour, divided

1 3/4 cups warm water, divided

1/3 cup honey

1 pkg. yeast

3 Tsp melted butter

1. Mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour with 1 1/2 cups of warm water in a large glass bowl. Allow this to sit for about 30 minutes.

2. In a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup warm water, yeast and honey. Allow this to sit for about 10 minutes, or until the yeast is activated and becomes bubbly.

3. Add salt, butter and yeast mixture to the flour and water mixture. Gradually add the remaining 3 cups of flour stir well.

4. As the dough becomes harder to stir, pour out onto a clean counter and begin to knead the dough. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.

5. Place the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover with a cloth. Let dough rise for one hour, or until it has double in size.

6. Pull dough out of bowl and knead for another 2 minutes until the air bubbles are gone.

7. Cut dough in half.

8. Place dough in butter pan and let rise for another 45 minutes.

9. Bake at 350 degree in the oven for 50 minutes.

I got this recipe over at Heavenly Homemakers be sure to go there and see what other great recipes the blog has.

My Little Man

Last night, I put the Mackenzie and Brandon to sleep like normal. We got in our pj's, read a story out of the Jesus Storybook Bible (I highly recommend), and then had prayer time. I gave out kisses and said goodnight. Not even five minutes later, Brandon was out of bed. This is not out of the norm, usually I give him another round of kisses and put in back in bed. But, last night was a little different, Brandon walked out and I asked him what he needed? He said nothing, but ran into Justin's and my bedroom climbed into bed. I asked him why he wanted to sleep with mommy, his response to me was bye,bye. So, I guess, he just wanted to sleep with mommy; which was fine me. He fell asleep in five minutes and was a very good bed partner the rest of the night.

Dancing in the Minefields

I love this song because it is real life. Maybe, because Justin and I were married very young that we have been able to "dance in the minefields" of our own life. The best part was we did it together hand-in-hand. Enjoy

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Today is my parents' 36th wedding anniversary!!! Congratulations!!! Thank you for always being there for us. Thank you for always taking us to church, even when we didn't want to go. Thank you for homeschooling us when it was not the cool thing to do. Thank you, Dad, for always providing for our family and making it where mom could stay at home. Thank you, Mom, for always caring about whatever it was that we brought to you, no matter how big or small it was.

Thank you the most for telling us about God and how much He love us. Now that I am a parent, I am understanding that it was not always the easiest job. As I was growing up, you made it seem like it just came naturally. Thank you for leaving me a Godly heritage.

Verse's For The Week to Meditate On

Do you have verses that you choose at the first of the week to meditate on for the rest of the week? This is something that is new for me, but I am very excited to start. I heard this idea from a wonderful Titus 2 woman at my church.

When I picked the verses for this week, I had in mind ones that would help me as a mommy and wife, but most of all one's that I would be able to teach to my two kids. Yes, every verse in the Bible you can and should teach to your children, but the one's I picked are on their level and easy for them to learn and act out in their every day lives.

I have a very strong conviction that as a Christian Mommy I am commanded to teach my two children the truth of the Bible.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 " These commandments that I give you today are to be upon you hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you are walking along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and your gates."

This is one tool that I believe all Christian mommies can use.

Proverbs 15:1

" A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Ephesians 4:32

" Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Matthew 7:12

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets"

Sweet Potato & Apple Casserole

This recipe has become a favorite at our house. This is so easy to make a so healthy for you. If you have kids and want to get more fruits and veggies in them this is one way to do it.

• 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 3 apples, peeled cored and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup sucant/rapadura
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil (I like to use coconut oil)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Peel and cube sweet potatoes and apples.
2. Melt the coconut oil (butter) and sucant, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. Place the cubes of sweet potatoes and apples in a 13X9 inch casserole dish. Drizzle the coconut oil with spices over the dish.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until lightly browned and soft.