Monday, December 02, 2013
Thanksgiving Blessings
This was my very first Thanksgiving where I've been planner, cook, and cleaner upper. And I LOVED it! The past few months I've been back at getting healthy again (another post worthy discussion in itself!) and so my Thanksgiving menu was geared toward being as gluten free, processed food free, and sugar free as possible. I had LOADS of fun looking for recipes and how I could work them and everything turned out fantastic!
We picked up this little beauty for our first ever turkey at Whol*e Foods...
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And used THIS RECIPE to make it into the glorious bird it was!
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In addition to the turkey, we had SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE, Stuffing from a box mix from W.F., Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Amazing CREAMED CORN, MASHED POTATOES, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie, and Chocolate Pumpkin Trifle! (YES! We had leftovers!!!!)
With the Sweet Potato Casserole I made the recipe as stated with the exception of the almond flour. There I subbed in oat flour instead and left out the nuts. Next time I will add the nuts, I just had forgotten to pick them up.
The Creamed Corn and Turkey I made as stated and they were amazing!
The Mashed Potatoes I subbed greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. So good!
For the cranberries I had really wanted to make a relish like the one I grew up eating. My mom used to hand grind cranberries and it was amazing! This RECIPE that I found was what I had planned on using, subbing Xylitol for the sugar. However, I didn't have anything to grind the cranberries. :( I DID pick up a mini food processor on Zulily recently that I think is going to be getting a LOT of use, but it came about five days too late! So... I set out to find another option and came across THIS RECIPE which we used instead. SO GLAD I DID!!! Although the texture was different, it was easy to make and tasted JUST THE SAME! Delish! I subbed Xylitol for the sugar and did not use the nuts or Grand Marnier.
Pumpkin Pie! Couldn't forget the pie! But I wanted gluten free. There are quite a few recipes out there but since I am new to all this and had never even made a regular pie crust let alone a gluten free crust, I chose an easier route and bought a package of two frozen GF pie crusts at W.F. For the filling, I used THIS RECIPE. When I was making out my shopping list however, I misread the ingredients and instead of maple sugar, I read maple syrup! :( So... upon researching online a bit, I ended up subbing in a portion of maple syrup with a portion of Xylitol. It turned out SO TASTY!!! We absolutely LOVED it!
The trifle was a total creation of my own. I used THIS RECIPE for a coconut flour chocolate cake for the cake sections. To make the cream, I took heavy whipping cream, whipped in two packets of stevia, a few drops of liquid vanilla Sweetleaf Stevia, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin puree. It was perfect and Olivia and Braeden couldn't get enough!
They were all so excited to eat at home and have such great food, the pictures speak for themselves! And while I was exhausted, it was SO WORTH IT!
We are so blessed this Thanksgiving! Not only to have one another, but also for all of the love and support we felt this week as we were the featured family on Give One, Save One! In total we raised just over $400! I'm in awe and so thankful! Here is what Liam shared at school for his Thanksgiving list...
We picked up this little beauty for our first ever turkey at Whol*e Foods...
+copy.jpg)
And used THIS RECIPE to make it into the glorious bird it was!
+copy.jpg)
In addition to the turkey, we had SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE, Stuffing from a box mix from W.F., Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Amazing CREAMED CORN, MASHED POTATOES, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie, and Chocolate Pumpkin Trifle! (YES! We had leftovers!!!!)
With the Sweet Potato Casserole I made the recipe as stated with the exception of the almond flour. There I subbed in oat flour instead and left out the nuts. Next time I will add the nuts, I just had forgotten to pick them up.
The Creamed Corn and Turkey I made as stated and they were amazing!
The Mashed Potatoes I subbed greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. So good!
For the cranberries I had really wanted to make a relish like the one I grew up eating. My mom used to hand grind cranberries and it was amazing! This RECIPE that I found was what I had planned on using, subbing Xylitol for the sugar. However, I didn't have anything to grind the cranberries. :( I DID pick up a mini food processor on Zulily recently that I think is going to be getting a LOT of use, but it came about five days too late! So... I set out to find another option and came across THIS RECIPE which we used instead. SO GLAD I DID!!! Although the texture was different, it was easy to make and tasted JUST THE SAME! Delish! I subbed Xylitol for the sugar and did not use the nuts or Grand Marnier.
Pumpkin Pie! Couldn't forget the pie! But I wanted gluten free. There are quite a few recipes out there but since I am new to all this and had never even made a regular pie crust let alone a gluten free crust, I chose an easier route and bought a package of two frozen GF pie crusts at W.F. For the filling, I used THIS RECIPE. When I was making out my shopping list however, I misread the ingredients and instead of maple sugar, I read maple syrup! :( So... upon researching online a bit, I ended up subbing in a portion of maple syrup with a portion of Xylitol. It turned out SO TASTY!!! We absolutely LOVED it!
The trifle was a total creation of my own. I used THIS RECIPE for a coconut flour chocolate cake for the cake sections. To make the cream, I took heavy whipping cream, whipped in two packets of stevia, a few drops of liquid vanilla Sweetleaf Stevia, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin puree. It was perfect and Olivia and Braeden couldn't get enough!
They were all so excited to eat at home and have such great food, the pictures speak for themselves! And while I was exhausted, it was SO WORTH IT!
We are so blessed this Thanksgiving! Not only to have one another, but also for all of the love and support we felt this week as we were the featured family on Give One, Save One! In total we raised just over $400! I'm in awe and so thankful! Here is what Liam shared at school for his Thanksgiving list...
Macy
Liam
Percy and Peeta (our dog and cat)
Mom
Olivia
Braeden
And I concur!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Fundraising Goal
Our first days of fundraising have gone exceedingly well! We have raised just over $256! We are SO BLESSED!
You can go HERE to watch the video we created, donate just ONE DOLLAR if you feel led, and then PLEASE share the link to our YouCaring page!!!
You can go HERE to watch the video we created, donate just ONE DOLLAR if you feel led, and then PLEASE share the link to our YouCaring page!!!
Introducing... Us!
This post goes out to all those coming in from Give One Save One, and anyone else semi new here who don't know much about our family... yet.
I'm Lisa, a single mom to three who were each adopted separately through different foster care journeys.
Olivia is 12 and is amazing. Olivia came to live with me when she was 3 1/2, the same age our Macy is now. She was finally adopted at age 6. Olivia LOVES to read, excels at sports (currently focusing on track and trying volleyball soon), LOVES God and church, and is devoted to friends and family. Her hope is to one day move to a third world country and open an orphanage! Oh, and she also has HIV. If you don't know much about HIV in the past 20 years or so, it's become completely managable! She takes medicine every 12 hours, has three month check ups, but other than that is my healthiest child! She rarely gets sick and is always on the go!
Braeden is 9 and ALL BOY! :) Braeden came to live with me right from the hospital at 3 days old. A good friend was caring for his biological brother and sister at the time (ages 2 and 1 then) and was unable to take a third so I volunteered. We have now adopted them and are able to see each other from time to time which is SUCH a blessing for them all! Braeden was adopted at age 2. He has a few initials which follow his name around in educational settings (ADHD) but he has worked SO HARD to overcome some of his deficits in those areas lately and is becoming a real advocate for himself!
Liam is 7 and came to live with me at 9 months. He had already been through a few months of living with his bio mom and then a few months with a not so good foster parent. At nine months he couldn't stand, sit up, crawl, and was making only one sound. Within ONE WEEK he had met his physical goals and could stand, sit, crawl, etc. Speech and language have been slower coming and learning is difficult for him. You wouldn't know it though! He is feisty and charming and sucks everyone in with his LONG eyelashes!
Each of my kids has such a story of redemption and resilience! They inspire me daily!
Lately I've been working on myself and getting healthy... and even since I made that video I've lost almost 25 pounds. Better than that though, I feel great! I can't wait to have even MORE energy when bringing home Macy and having another little one to run around after and have fun with!
As I said in our video, we are very close to bringing her home. I first will be taking a two week trip to meet Macy very shortly. This is a new and unexpected part of the process. Originally is was to be one week and they have increased some of their expectations. I'm excited to be able to see her for a longer period of time, but it also means more money is needed since I will be off work longer and will have more expenses in country. Until now we have budgeted like crazy and remained debt free with a few small fundraisers. I am nervous about our added expenses with our trips but know that God will provide!
Thank you for taking time to find out more about us. Please remember to pray for our journey!
You can find our video and donation information on our You Caring site or can donate with the sidebar donation button here on our blog.
I'm Lisa, a single mom to three who were each adopted separately through different foster care journeys.
Olivia is 12 and is amazing. Olivia came to live with me when she was 3 1/2, the same age our Macy is now. She was finally adopted at age 6. Olivia LOVES to read, excels at sports (currently focusing on track and trying volleyball soon), LOVES God and church, and is devoted to friends and family. Her hope is to one day move to a third world country and open an orphanage! Oh, and she also has HIV. If you don't know much about HIV in the past 20 years or so, it's become completely managable! She takes medicine every 12 hours, has three month check ups, but other than that is my healthiest child! She rarely gets sick and is always on the go!
Braeden is 9 and ALL BOY! :) Braeden came to live with me right from the hospital at 3 days old. A good friend was caring for his biological brother and sister at the time (ages 2 and 1 then) and was unable to take a third so I volunteered. We have now adopted them and are able to see each other from time to time which is SUCH a blessing for them all! Braeden was adopted at age 2. He has a few initials which follow his name around in educational settings (ADHD) but he has worked SO HARD to overcome some of his deficits in those areas lately and is becoming a real advocate for himself!
Liam is 7 and came to live with me at 9 months. He had already been through a few months of living with his bio mom and then a few months with a not so good foster parent. At nine months he couldn't stand, sit up, crawl, and was making only one sound. Within ONE WEEK he had met his physical goals and could stand, sit, crawl, etc. Speech and language have been slower coming and learning is difficult for him. You wouldn't know it though! He is feisty and charming and sucks everyone in with his LONG eyelashes!
Each of my kids has such a story of redemption and resilience! They inspire me daily!
Lately I've been working on myself and getting healthy... and even since I made that video I've lost almost 25 pounds. Better than that though, I feel great! I can't wait to have even MORE energy when bringing home Macy and having another little one to run around after and have fun with!
As I said in our video, we are very close to bringing her home. I first will be taking a two week trip to meet Macy very shortly. This is a new and unexpected part of the process. Originally is was to be one week and they have increased some of their expectations. I'm excited to be able to see her for a longer period of time, but it also means more money is needed since I will be off work longer and will have more expenses in country. Until now we have budgeted like crazy and remained debt free with a few small fundraisers. I am nervous about our added expenses with our trips but know that God will provide!
Thank you for taking time to find out more about us. Please remember to pray for our journey!
You can find our video and donation information on our You Caring site or can donate with the sidebar donation button here on our blog.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
TOMORROW!!!
Tomorrow is coming and I realized I have been so busy and so quiet lately I almost FORGOT to tell you all about what is happening tomorrow!!! Eeeeek!
Well, for those of you who have never heard of the blog Give One Save One, it's an amazing blog/organization! Each week they feature one special family in the midst of an adoption to help them spread their story and aid them in raising some much needed funds for their adoption. The premise being that if everyone who sees their story (through watching a video the family creates) would give just ONE dollar, all those dollars together would help to save ONE orphan!
Well... as if you couldn't already guess... WE are that featured family tomorrow! And it being Thanksgiving week, how appropriate is THAT!? We have SO much to be thankful for coming through this process! And we are SO VERY CLOSE to our first trip to meet Macy, where we'll be in Haiti for two weeks (an unexpected and new part of their adoption process).
So tune in tomorrow when I will be able to share the link and will ask you ONE huge and EASY favor... SHARE our link and story!!! PLEASE! :) And let's all help bring Macy HOME!
Well, for those of you who have never heard of the blog Give One Save One, it's an amazing blog/organization! Each week they feature one special family in the midst of an adoption to help them spread their story and aid them in raising some much needed funds for their adoption. The premise being that if everyone who sees their story (through watching a video the family creates) would give just ONE dollar, all those dollars together would help to save ONE orphan!
Well... as if you couldn't already guess... WE are that featured family tomorrow! And it being Thanksgiving week, how appropriate is THAT!? We have SO much to be thankful for coming through this process! And we are SO VERY CLOSE to our first trip to meet Macy, where we'll be in Haiti for two weeks (an unexpected and new part of their adoption process).
So tune in tomorrow when I will be able to share the link and will ask you ONE huge and EASY favor... SHARE our link and story!!! PLEASE! :) And let's all help bring Macy HOME!
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Olivia - 14
Braeden - 11
Liam - 9
Macy - 5
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