MY LOVELY DAUGHTERS' ADVENTURES INTO TRIM HEALTHY TEEN COOKING!

One way to find out (or confirm if you're in denial) if you are a Type A Personality is to let your children cook and create without you. Every clatter and clang causes me to head that way, only to stop myself short...

It's crazy, but I find the teenage years harder for me than any other age! They're so much more capable than I am used to realizing. Letting go is my challenge.

My husband came home today, and knows these things are out of my comfort zone, and said: "Just pretend you're Elsa...'Let it go....let it go....'" 

You know what?  THEY NAILED IT!  And...I grew up just a little bit, too...I'm learning to Let Go...baby-steps at a time!

:

You

I PRESENT TO YOU THEIR MASTERPIECES!!!!

My 15 year old daughter invented this recipe last night when she was cooking! It was delicious!
So proud of these teenagers of mine who are learning to embrace and "own" THM now! 

ANNA'S CREAMY-CHEESY HERB CHICKEN (THM-S)
4 large whole chicken breasts
4 Tbsp melted coconut oil
****
Sauce:
4 Tbsp heavy cream
4 Tbsp almond milk
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (green can is fine) + more for sprinkling
1 tsp flour of choice (she used THM Baking Blend)
4 dashes Tobasco sauce
2 dashes of garlic powder
4 dashes of Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute**
1/ 2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp salt

Mix all sauce ingredients in bowl. In a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, place chicken breasts. Brush melted coconut oil over chicken. Spread sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese, according to your preference. Add a few more dashes of rosemary to the tops of chicken breasts. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and internal temperature is 170.


**Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute is a smooth blend of onion, black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander, garlic, carrot, orange peel, tomato, lemon juice and lemon oil.Jun 9, 2014

I have to "brag" on my 16 year old Katie's "Trimtastic Zucchini Cake" (S) from the new THM cookbook! It was divine!  I love her personal flair in plating! They're cooking me out of a job...and I love it!

KATIE'S THM "TRIMTASTIC ZUCCHINI CAKE" from the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

(Recipe slightly altered, in order to avoid copyright infringement)

One last share...our sweet 13 year old Gracelyn wanted to make Texas Brownies (S) tonight, and we used this recipe from Beauty and the Foodie. She rocked it (with a little guidance from Mom). The icing seemed a little bit too sweet to us, but maybe some of you will enjoy it "as is.

~Joy and Deliciousness from our Home to Yours! 

Confessions of a Trim Healthy Prodigal...

Once upon a time...
In a galaxy far, far away...
In the land of winken, blinken, and nod...

There I was..."awesomeing" on my THM journey.  I was exercising, and drinking water, and cooking, and baking, and washing blenders, and pots, and pans, and counters, and sinks, and dishes, and...and...and...

And then my enemy accused me...he told me I was obsessed...and vain...and shallow...and legalistic...
he told me to take a break...to back off...not forever...just for a little while...just for a holiday...just a bit...

complacency crept in and stole my passion...
apathy arrived and robbed my joy...
For the next while, I was surviving.  Not living...just surviving...

and I got sick...and tired...
then my mom got cancer, and the world stopped spinning...
we took on added responsibilities, and my time kept dwindling...
I had to have surgery, and my strength kept fading...
I got sicker, and my health was disappearing...

Doctor appointments...
Ultrasounds...
Blood work...
Diagnoses...

mom almost dies...
she gets diagnosed with a second type of cancer...
sister is extremely sick and hospitalized...
I am going, driving, sitting, helping, not sleeping...
I develop more health problems...

I don't have time to be sicker and tireder (is that a word?).  My parents need me...my husband needs me...my girls need me...my sisters need me!

Where are you Jesus?  I need You!  Can you hear me?  What have I done wrong?  Where is my healing?  Where is my help?  Where is my strength? Where is my deliverance?  I AM WORN.

What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!
What can make me whole again?  Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.


Then it came...a doctor's appointment with a slap in the face...scary words with scary possibilities...

WAIT!  I don't have time to be THIS sick.  Not slap-in-the-face-sick!
Not THAT tired.  Not hit-by-a-train-tired!

WAIT! I do think I can make a little time to keep "awesomeing"...a tad of time to keep exercising, a smidgen of time to keep drinking water, a dab of cooking, a smattering of baking, a bit of washing blenders, pots, pans, counters, sinks, and dishes, and...and...and...

Inch by inch, step by step, yard by yard, mile by mile...I came back...HOME.  Is Trim Healthy Mama "Home?"  No, but it's a room in my Home.  My Father was waiting for me...He left the Light on for me...He had a bed of REST with fresh linens waiting, and a hot HEALTHY meal ready.  He ran to me and CARRIED me through the door.  Because HE IS...He is Love...and Healing...and Strength...and Deliverance...and...and...and...

LIFE happens all around us, and we cannot control it.
We can only control the voices we choose to listen to.
I took a slight wrong turn once upon a time, and listened to the whispers of my enemy.
My life was wracked with pain and suffering...
Then...HOME.  Life, Truth, Help.

Don't do it...don't listen to anyone or anything else except HIM...

HE IS...
Liberty
Infinite
Freedom
Eternal.

HE IS LIFE!

Put on your Armor and Fight, young lady! (Ephesians 6:10-18)

~Grace and Peace to you, Fair Iron Maidens of Virtue

On His Mind...

"O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!"

~Psalms 139:1-18 NLT