Morning Message: Faith Preserves

 From the first to the last verse of the book of James, God gives us one of the most practical pictures of the Christian faith in all the Bible. Written to a people who were scattered and suffering, James envisions communities of faith caring, providing, and praying for one another as they show what the life of Christ looks like in action. Possibly more than any other New Testament book, this letter from James lifts our lives far above the superficial religious formalities we are so prone to settle for and sets our sights on active, authentic faith that makes a radical difference in the needs of the world around us. Disciple-Making Series

 Watch Sermon: Click here
Scripture Reading: James 1:1-18


"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." (James 1:2-8)

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." (James 1:12)

Black bean and Corn Tostada

**Daniel Fast Worthy

My hubby and I have been making these tostadas for awhile now. The original recipe is made with cheese melted on top and usually with zucchini instead of spinach. You can use the zucchini or any other vegetable you may like to substitute on the tostada. As you look for these ingredients listed below, make sure they are sugar and yeast free. Even canned items can have sugar added so be aware of what you are buying!
 Thanks for dinner tonight, Hun! It is so nice to have someone cook while you relax!! :)

Ingredients: 
4 Corn Tortillas
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 small onion
1/4 cup salsa verde (green salsa) I used Ortega brand found right next to other salsas on ethnic isle.
1 cup of spinach leaves, chopped
Sea Salt to taste
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place tortillas on sheet and bake for about 5 minutes. Just enough to get them sturdy for holding all your toppings, do not let it get crispy.  Meanwhile, add corn, black beans, onion, salsa verde, spinach leaves, salt and garlic to bowl. Combine well and add more salsa or seasoning if desired. Spoon mixture evenly onto each tortilla. If you have leftover mixture, make more tortillas or save for next day. Bake loaded tortillas for about 30 minutes or until the edges of tortillas are crisp up. Hope you enjoy!

Fruit Smoothies

**Daniel Fast Worthy
James made me a fruit smoothie this morning. It was delicious! We have found one of the few juices you can use on Daniel Fast with no sugar added and not from concentrate. It's Dole pineapple juice in the aluminum cans. We buy the big one but I believe they have small cans available as well. The strawberries at Publix are so sweet right now, but add any fresh or frozen fruit you like. Later we added some fresh cranberries we had left in fridge and it worked great with the sweetness of the other fruits!

 

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 banana
1 cup fresh grapes
1 cup pineapple juice

Blend all ingredients until smooth! Add ice if desired for fresh fruit.

Couscous Stuffed Bell Peppers

**Daniel Fast Worthy

I love couscous. Stuffing it in bell peppers is a creative way to enjoy it. I cooked these peppers in the oven, but you can also grill them to bring out a nice smoky flavor. To do so, wrap the stuffed peppers in foil, making sure tops are on to keep the juice inside, and throw on grill for about 20 minutes depending on size of pepper and heat of grill. Feel free to add in seasonings to your tasting!

Ingredients:
2 green bell peppers
1 box whole wheat couscous
Olive oil
Sea Salt
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp cumin, optional

Preheat oven to 350. Cook couscous according to package directions, adding cumin, sea salt, garlic, and drizzle of olive oil to finished couscous pan. For the peppers, cut tops of peppers off and scoop out seed pods creating a bowl. Put tops of peppers aside. Place peppers in small baking dish lined in foil. Drizzle olive oil inside the bell pepper bowls. Stuff each pepper with couscous and drizzle more olive oil on top of couscous, cover with pepper tops. Cook in oven for about 25 minutes or until you see the bell pepper is evenly cooked through. Cut in half to easily enjoy eating the stuffed pepper!

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash and Grean Beans

**Daniel Fast Worthy

I already love the combination of roasted green beans and potatoes. The butternut squash adds an amazing sweetness to the dish. Right now with butternut squash in season, being so rich and creamy, it is the perfect compliment to this dish!
 
Ingredients:
4 medium red potatoes, cubed
1/2 lb fresh green beans, halved
1/2 medium butternut squash, cubed
Sea Salt
Olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp southwestern seasoning (chili powder, cumin, paprika), optional

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Combine potatoes, green beans, and butternut squash on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, add sea salt, garlic and southwestern seasoning and blend well. Cook for 20 minutes or until the potatoes and squash are fork tender. Enjoy!

Saucy Rotini

**Daniel Fast Worthy

Ingredients:
2 cups 100% whole wheat pasta, rotini
1 jar tomato sauce, sugar free (I used L.E. Roselli's Marinara sauce, found on top shelf in spaghetti sauce isle) but you could certainly use any sauce you find with no added sugar or make your own
1 cup of fresh baby spinach leaves
Olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper

Cook pasta as directed and drain. In sauce pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil and garlic. Add tomato sauce, spinach leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until heated through and spinach leaves are limp in sauce. Serve over warm pasta!     Serves 2-3.

Cornmeal Crunch

**Daniel Fast Worthy

This is a recipe from Heidi's blog 101cookbooks.com that I just loved while doing the Daniel Fast and for regular morning breakfast. Heidi's version includes Parmesan cheese, but I left it out of mine. This is such an great dish for breakfast or to go with any meal. My husband and I ate it tonight with our spaghetti. We finished it all by the end of the night :-o


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
fine grain sea salt
4 cups yellow onion, chopped (about 3 medium onions)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups water or vegetable broth

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Use Pam or Olive oil spray to coat 9 x 12-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl combine the corn meal with 1 1/2 cups water or broth and 1 teaspoon salt. Stir and set aside.
To caramelize the onions, heat a splash of olive oil in a large thick-bottomed skillet with a 1/2 tsp of sea salt. Continue cooking until the onions collapse and turn translucent. Remove skillet from heat and set aside. Bring 1 1/2 cups water (or broth) to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the water and cornmeal mixture, bring back up to a boil and stir in 2 tablespoons of the sauteed onions. Stir until cornmeal is thicker than a heavy frosting - about 3 minutes. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it to an even thickness, and drizzle with about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the rest of onions on top of cornmeal. Bake for about 30-45 minutes, or until the bottom is golden and the cornmeal begins to pull away from the sides of the pan a bit. Let cool for 5 minutes and Enjoy!

Sauteed Zucchini and Onions

**Daniel Fast Worthy

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 medium size Zucchini, chopped
1 sweet Onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp parsley

Liberally drizzle bottom of pan with olive oil and add garlic. Heat pan to medium heat, add zucchini and onions. Season with sea salt and pepper to your taste. Saute until onions are translucent and zucchini is tender and still is bright in color. Mix in parsley and serve over cooked brown rice.

The Daniel Fast

James and I have decided to start the Daniel fast for the first of the year. It is a spiritual fast that Daniel in the bible does before a battle where he eats only foods that grow from the ground. No meats, breads, sugars, dairy, and no alcohol. Foods for the fast include vegetables, fruits, whole wheat, beans, etc. You can follow along with me if you like. Here is a link for more information. We got started today and my goal is to try and post as we go with meals my husband and I make for a variety of meals. I will be modifying some as I am pregnant and need lots of protein, but will keep the recipes I post following the fast. May your body be richly blessed and your spirit enlightened through the fast!

Pumpkin Cookies

After baking during the holidays, I always have some pumpkin mix leftover in my fridge. Some recipes call for only half a can of pumpkin, leaving me with either doubling a recipe or being creative. Well, this time, I got creative. This is a two ingredient recipe that really needs nothing else, but addition touches are noted at the bottom if you must! 

Ingredients:

1 box Spice Cake Mix, dry (or any other cake mix you have on hand, i.e. Yellow Cake Mix)

1 can of pumpkin

Skim Ingredients:

1/2 box Cake Mix, dry

1/2 can of pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry cake mix and pumpkin until combined well. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet. Drop by tablespoons on the sheet. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Let cool on wire rack. Enjoy the cake-like texture of this cookie!

**Note: You can add extra spices such as allspice or cinnamon if desired. I choose to top my cookies with some powdered sugar sifted on top.

Butternut Squash Lasagna Roll Ups

I am crazy about butternut squash. It has a sweet, nutty flavor that I love and I just keep finding more ways to cook with it. The only hard part of this recipe is the daunting task of peeling and cutting of the squash. However, I have found using a potato peeler and a large knife to cut down through the meat of it isn't so bad. Also, I could slice it down the middle, vertically, and roast the squash to make it soft to handle. All you would need to do is drizzle the skin with some olive oil, place on sheet pan skin side up, and bake it on 400 for about 30 minutes or until fork tender. I made this lasagna into lasagna roll ups, but just because I only had a few lasagna noodles left in my pantry. You can put your own creative spin on this recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups peeled, diced butternut squash
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tsp coriander
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 (15oz) part skim ricotta cheese carton
1 tub of feta cheese, divided (or your favorite cheese)

1 egg, beaten
1/2 jar of tomato sauce ( I used Prego traditional flavor)
8 lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butternut squash and onions on baking sheet and coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, and coriander. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, tossing in between, or until the squash is fork tender. Place baby spinach leaves on same baking sheet at last 5 mins, coat with more olive oil if squash is drying out and bake until spinach is slightly wilted. Set the baking sheet aside. In a bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1/2 of the feta cheese, and the egg, set aside. Boil lasagna noodles is doing lasagna roll ups (If not, use oven ready lasagna noodles and no boil is needed for a regular lasagna. Drain noodles, and drizzle in between each noodles some olive oil to prevent sticking. (If sticking of noodles occur, rinse cold water over them to separate gently.) Spread 1/4 cup of tomato sauce on bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Preheat oven, if not still on, back to 350. Assembly: Take one noodle and lay it on a cutting board or on a nonslip surface and spread it with a tablespoon of ricotta mixture, then add a heaping tablespoon or so of the butternut squash, onion, spinach mixture. Roll the noodle up and place seam down on tomato lined baking dish. Repeat until out of noodles or mixture. Drizzle the roll ups with the rest of the tomato sauce and top with the other half of feta cheese (not the ricotta mixture). Bake at 350 for about 20 mins or until cheese is slightly melting and sauce is bubbling. Enjoy!

Split Pea Pasta Pockets

Ingredients:
2 cups dried split peas, or frozen peas
2/3 cup ricotta cheese, part skim
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp sea salt
drizzle of olive oil
1 cup vegetable broth for boiling pasta
1 package wonton wrappers
red pepper flakes

Cook dried peas according to package directions. If using frozen peas, use water to rinse the peas in a strainer. This will defrost them while keeping their color and you won't have to cook them. Combine cooked peas, ricotta cheese, and olive oil in food processor until smooth. It needs to be thick not runny so it hold up as a filling. Mix in a separate bowl the pea mixture, parmesan cheese, lemon zest and sea salt. In a large pot, bring water and 1 cup broth to a boil. Take only wontons being used out of the package and keep moist with a damp paper towel so the pasta won't dry out. Stuff each wonton with a scant tsp of the pea mixture, wet all sides of wonton pasta, and fold up into a pocket. Gently drop wontons into the boiling water, then stir once to keep them from sticking to pot or each other. The pasta is fresh and will be cooked in about 2 mintues or when they start rising to the top. Gently lift out each pasta pocket. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle crushed red pepper flakes on top. So Yummy! Enjoy!