Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

The commercial was advertising chicken and waffles at a popular restaurant. I immediately started planning my schedule the next day so I could go get some - it looked that good. Plus, I was hungry and the advertisers must have known that. Not fair. But when I thought about it for a minute, I realized that for the price of one takeout meal, I could make at least four if I did it myself. The secret? Danny makes protein pancakes for us every Sunday morning, so I already had the waffle batter. And I had a tube of cinnamon roll dough in the fridge, so I could even do dessert waffles, so all I'd have to do was pick the kind of chicken tenders I wanted and we'd be good to go. While my country-style chicken was in the oven, I whipped up some protein waffles in our upright waffle maker. I didn't get a picture of it, but you pour the batter in the top and it cooks it vertically. Pretty amazing. For dessert, I put the cinnamon rolls in my mini, one-serving waffle maker. It's desig...

A couple of years ago I received a work email about any information we had on sustainable travel. One of the popular kinds of travel right now, sustainable travel focuses on a "leave only footprints, take only pictures" mentality. How can you visit a destination and leave it a little better than it was? It was humbling to admit that we didn't have anything like that. I quickly called my friends at Wapello County Conservation and asked what they had. They're the perfect resource for all things outdoors in our 436 square miles, and they have tons of brochures and flyers about everything.  But they didn't have anything to do with travel either. So what do I do when I need something and don't have it? I make it. With more than 20 partners throughout the community and the knowledge and wisdom of the county naturalist, I created the Wapello County Adventure Book: A Sustainable Travel Workbook.  The books are filled with local information about traveling sustainably ...

Journaling is another one of those disciplines that I have always been led to do daily, but I let it fall by the wayside for more than a year. Recently I've found the joy in it again, and it's literally changing my heart. Here are just a few of the thoughts and quotes I've written down lately as I've studied Scripture, prayed, and meditated on God's word. I pray they'll be a blessing to your heart as well. * Do you know the power of God's love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. This divine spirit shall make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service. * Fill your mind with God's word and you will have no room for Satan's lies! * Matthew Henry on Genesis 26:22 - Those that follow peace, sooner or later, shall find peace. Those that study to be quiet seldom fail of being so. * The phrase, labor of love, comes from the Bible - Hebrews ...

WARNING: If you don't want your entire house to smell like a tropical paradise, do not - under any circumstances - make this chicken. With the disclaimer out of the way, you don't want to miss out on this combination of sweet chili and pineapple over and through tender baked chicken. A little pasta, some veggies, and a beautiful dessert make this lovely chicken a complete meal. I had two chicken breasts in the freezer for this recipe, so feel free to multiple the ingredients for as many pieces of chicken as you need. Ingredients:  2 large chicken breasts 1 1/2 cups sweet chili sauce 1 6-oz can pineapple juice with mango Drizzle of honey 1. In a large sealable bag, combine chili sauce and pineapple juice to create a marinade. Save out 1/4 cup. 2. Rinse chicken and add to bag of marinade. Refrigerate 3-4 hours. 3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a small baking dish with nonstick spray. 4. Add chicken to dish and pour 1/4 reserved marinade over the top. Drizzle with hon...

Everyone is going through something right now. I can say that with a certain level of surety because I know I am. You may be battling on several fronts at once, which can be exhausting and terrifying at the same time. If this is you today, please know that I'm praying for you special right now. P.S. If you're not going through something right now, I would wager that you've just come out of something or you're about to go into something. In either case, I'm praying for you, too. I just finished half a dozen books on the Revolutionary War era, and I'm absolutely fascinated by General Washington's battle plans. They weren't conventional - they couldn't be. They weren't fancy - he didn't know how to be. And they weren't always structured or well executed - his soldiers weren't professionals. The Army and their commander had so much going against them, but it worked. Our nation is who we are today because of those battle plans. The Old Tes...

There's nothing like chocolate chips to get you out of a baking drought. Just like last week's ground beef and sweet potato skillet jumpstarted my love for cooking again, these bars helped me remember why I love baking so much. Because I love eating the finished product! Getting back in the groove in the kitchen has been difficult for me for over a year, but these short, simple recipes are making all the difference. One step toward normal makes a huge difference in your mind and heart, and if yummy chocolate chip oatmeal bars are that step, I'll happily take it. Ingredients: ▢  2  cups   quick cooking oats 1   teaspoon   baking powder 1 egg 1 cup peanut butter 3/4 cup maple syrup 1 Tbsp vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips Salt, preferably flake 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, combine oats and baking powder. 3. In a medium bowl, combine egg, peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. 4. Pour liquids i...

Cute puppy alert! If you are easily overcome by canine adorability, this is probably not the post you want to read today. Otherwise, please scroll down to find out why my dog is digging through a frozen breakfast sandwich box. Normally I wouldn't let our dogs dig through the trash, but in the case it was supervised for their own little enrichment activity. All of the cardboard was stuffed with treats, but I definitely didn't make it easy. Where's the fun in that? I started saving paper towel and toilet paper tubes a few weeks ago for just such an occasion. Add in a box and some paper packing and you've got several minutes of entertainment. (Theirs and mine!) Inside the box, which still had its lid for a flap, was a whole host of good things to tear open. I scattered tiny treats across the bottom, then added a layer of packing paper with more treats sprinkled through. On top were six tubes with more treats, and I folded in the ends and creased them closed so the dogs wou...

Southeast Iowa has seen dreary days and cloudy skies for the better part of the week, making it difficult to remember that we're well into spring. But this weekend, when the sun was trying to peek through the dark clouds, the green absolutely popped. Scroll through to see how the property is starting to perk up for spring.

It is with great remorse that I admit I've not been cooking very much lately. I've been weighed down by a lot of other things, and Danny has been meal prepping for his workout schedule, so it's not been a priority. It's that simple. However, the cooking bug hit me this week, and I put together a beautiful ground beef and sweet potato skillet meal that I will definitely be making agin. The spice combination is out of this world, and it's super healthy. Danny's even added it to his meal prep shelf in the fridge so he can enjoy it too. The bell pepper and black beans are technically "optional," but they're not. Not really. The crisp of the pepper and the extra protein in the beans are the perfect additions to an already tasty dish. Ingredients: 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 Tbsp garlic, minced 1 lb ground beef 2 sweet potatoes, diced 1 cup water 1 Tbsp cumin 1 Tbsp paprika 1 Tbsp chili powder Salt and pepper 1 red bell pepper, diced 1 can b...