One day left....

We have one day left of the Daniel Fast. Tomorrow is it. It's been such a great experience. I feel a lot healthier and grounded than I was 20 days ago. Yesterday I baked and cooked all day. I made Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus which came out amazing. I also made sesame crackers which are healthy with very little fat and the taste is actually really good. I also made us a Flatbread Pizza which came out amazing. We are definitely going to keep up the healthy eating habits. Especially if I keep finding these delicious recipes!!

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

1 jalapeno

2 serrano chili peppers

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, packed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin

Turn oven to high broil. Wipe the chilies with a little olive oil and roast chilies until they get a slight char. Toss chilies and the rest of the ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth. You may want to leave out one of the serrano chilies and check for spiciness. I like it spicy so I go all in!! You can add a little more water if needed to get the hummus to the smooth consistency you like.

The sesame crackers and the flatbread pizzas can be found on the ultimatedanielfast.com website. I just threw some extra seasonings in and made them my own. I hope you enjoy and God bless!

In the homestretch!!

We've hit the home stretch. Only 4 more days left. I've lost a total of 10 pounds so far. And that's with no exercise. Now that my feet have healed from the ongoing problems I've had, it's back to the grind! I can't wait to get back into shape while we continue to eat healthy. Hopefully I'll continue to shed weight. The last couple days have gone well. We've been eating the leftover chili like crazy. It was so delicious!! Today for lunch we had salad, only the lettuce was homegrown on our back porch. It was super delicious. You really can't get anything better than what you grow at home. It is well worth the effort. For dinner we had a Baked Wild Rice Falafel with corn tortillas (because I didn't have time to make unleavened bread), hummus, and broccoli. It was a mix of some homegrown broccoli and store bought broccoli. You can really tell the difference. The homegrown broccoli had so much more flavor that it made the store bought stuff taste a lot less appealing. I won't be mixing homegrown with store bought again although I enjoyed seeing the difference between the two. I'm really happy with this experience so far and I have seen God's work in our lives. I got the call I was waiting for today, I have orientation with Olive Garden tomorrow. It's definitely a step in the right direction. I feel like Bekah and I are growing closer, not only together in our marriage, but also in God. I know nothing but good can come from this whole experience. We are also praying at every meal together, which is something we tried to do in the past but never really stuck with it. We have talked about doing the fast again starting in the middle of July which is about halfway through the year. As for today's recipe, I basically blended the normal baked falafel and the wild rice cakes together to make them how I wanted them to come out. We both thought it was a huge success!!

Baked Wild Rice Falafels

1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
¼ cup diced onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
2 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil 

2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp water or vegetable stock
1 garlic clove, minced
  1 tsp cumin
pinch of salt
1/8  tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup cooked wild rice

½ cup brown rice flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients except wild rice and flour in food processor for about 30 seconds, scraping sides as necessary. Blend until mixture is well combined into a thick, pasty texture. Pour mixture, brown rice flour, and cooked wild rice into a mixing bowl and stir until fully mixed together.  Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to form into balls. Put balls onto a baking sheet wiped with olive oil and flatten into patties. Bake 15 minutes. Flip, and cook another 15 minutes or until crispy on the outside. For a little extra crispiness I like to switch to high broil for the last few minutes but that is optional.

I hope you enjoy this delicious and healthy meal. Thank you for following me and may God bless you each and every day!

6 days left....

Two weeks are down, only 6 days of the Daniel Fast left. Things are going great for the two of us. A few cravings here and there but nothing too crazy. Although we have planned our lunch after church on Sunday... Good Times Cafe it is. It'll be time for a well-deserved burger. But we plan to stick with eating healthy the way we have on the Daniel Fast as much as possible. The one thing we will add back is some lean meats, fish, and whole grain bread which kind of goes in line with the Daniel Plan by Rick Warren. Last night I cooked some vegetarian chili which was a great dinner while watching my poor Niners lose in the NFC Championship game. Bekah thought it was the best chili I have ever made. I definitely think it was up there but I love chunks of steak in my chili so maybe not the very best batch of chili to me. It was definitely the healthiest batch and the flavor was spot on. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

 

Vegetarian Quinoa & Sweet Potato Chili

2 Anaheim chilies

2 pasilla chilies

2 jalapenos

1 29oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 29oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 6oz can tomato paste

1 15oz can tomato sauce

1 15oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 quart vegetable stock

1 onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped green bell peppers

1 cup chopped red bell peppers

1 cup corn, frozen or fresh

2 tbsp chili powder, I make mine homemade, see bottom

 2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp oregano

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large white sweet potato

1 1/2 cups dry quinoa

salt and pepper to taste

avocado and cilantro for garnish (optional)

Turn oven on to high broil. Put chilies on sheet tray and rub with a little olive oil. Place under broiler and char the outsides turning to evenly char. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium to medium-low heat. Add onions, carrots, salt, and pepper and cook until soft and they start the onions start to caramelize (brown in color, about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, fire roasted tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, corn, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and vegetable stock and cook for a few minutes stirring constantly. Chop up the charred chilies leaving the charred skin on and add to the chili. Add beans and potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the quinoa. Continue cooking for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until quinoa and potatoes are cooked and the chili has thickened. Add a water (or more stock) if the chili becomes too thick. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. (I added a little more chili powder but I like it hot!!) Top your bowl of chili with chopped avocado and cilantro. Enjoy!

Todd's homemade Chili Powder

 

2 Guajillo chilies

1 pasilla chili

1 dried chipotle chili

6 dried Thai chilies

 

Turn oven on to high broil. Place chilies on sheet tray and place under broiler. DO NOT WALK AWAY!! If they start to burn, the fumes can be toxic!!! This process only takes a few minutes. Keep turning the chilies until they are darker in color but not burned. You are only toasting them for a few minutes tops. Take out chilies and let them cool. Break them up and place them in a spice grinder (seeds and all). My spice grinder is an inexpensive coffee grinder that I only use for grinding spices. Grind the chilies up, shaking as needed until you have a nice, even textured chili powder. 

I hope you enjoy this chili. It is super healthy and truly delicious. The homemade chili powder is easy and definitely worth making. It really makes the chili a cut above the rest!! Thanks for following me and I wish you all the best. God bless!!

 

Smooth rolling...

So far so good. Things are going great and I believe great things are at work in my life. Bekah and I really have a lot to look forward to now that I will be back to working some normal hours. We struggled to get by there for a little bit but I think we grew by leaps and bounds together because of it. I believe this Daniel Fast is such a blessing to us both. We ate mostly leftovers and salad the last few days however, yesterday I made Basil Zucchini Soup. It came out pretty delicious! The recipe I'm gonna post is based on the one from the UltimateDanielFast.com site by Kristin Feola.

Basil Zucchini Soup

 

3 pounds zucchini, I used half regular and half Mexican zucchini,

(and her recipe said peeled although I did not peel mine)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 cup chopped onions

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups water

4 cups vegetable stock

2 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed & drained

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons salt

pinch of pepper 

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in large saucepan. Add onions, garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until onions are soft and translucent. Meanwhile, cut zucchini into 1-inch cubes. Add zucchini, and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour in water and stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.

Remove zucchini and onions with a slotted spoon, and place in food processor or blender. Process or blend until mixture is smooth (you may have to do in two batches and add some of the stock if needed). Return to saucepan. Place chickpeas in food processor or blender with 1 cup of the soup (or more if needed), and process until texture reaches desired consistency. Add chickpea mixture to saucepan. Stir in basil, parsley, oregano, and salt. Simmer another 15 minutes.

Thank you once again for your time. I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I did. Until next time, God bless!

Halfway there...

A few more days have gone by. I haven't really cooked anything new. We've been eating the Mursli for breakfast, a salad or leftovers for lunch, and leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow I will be trying out a new recipe though. I'm gonna make Zucchini Basil Soup. I'll let you know how it turns out. It sounds delicious! So far I have lost 4 or 5 pounds and I feel great. I feel like both Me and Bekah have more energy nowadays as well. And I feel like we are growing closer and happier along the way. I'm so glad we decided to do this fast with our church. It's definitely something we will try to do every January.  That's all for now. Thanks for following and God bless.

One week down...

One week down, only 2 more to go. The headaches have subsided and I feel pretty good these days. I weigh myself tomorrow but I feel like I've definitely lost a few pounds. The last few days have been fairly easy going. We have eaten mostly leftovers, although I did make us a Potato Frittata for breakfast on Friday, which I will post the recipe below. It was pretty tasty. Today, in church Pastor Brian went over fasting because he has had a lot of questions about it from church members. Here's the notes from today's service. It has some really good information to look to, to explain why we fast.

 

A few notes from church that Pastor Brian went over... 

Fasting without prayer is just a diet! 

We starve the flesh to feed the spirit.

When we become humble and empty ourselves,

God will fill us up with the holy spirit.

 Potato Frittata

 1/4 cup olive oil  

1 onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, mince

2 medium potatoes, shredded (or 2 cups of frozen shredded potatoes

1 Jalapeno diced (seeds removed if you like it more mild) 

2 tsp. salt, divide

1/2 tsp. pepper, divide

1 12.3 oz package firm tofu

2-3 Tbsp. soy sauce, to taste

3 Tbsp. vegetable stock

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and heat for another 30 seconds. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the potatoes, jalapeno, 1 tsp. of the salt, and 1/4 tsp. of the pepper. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, flipping the potatoes regularly until they are well-browned. In the meantime, blend the remaining salt and pepper, tofu, soy sauce, and vegetable stock in a food processor until they are creamy. Add more vegetable stock as needed until you reach the creamy status. Pour creamy mixture over the fried potatoes and mix. Pour this mixture into a large, oiled pie pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the center is firm. Allow the frittata to cool for 10 minutes then slice and serve.

 

Thanks for following me and I hope this is helpful for some. God bless!!

 

4 days have gone by...

It's been a busy couple of days since I last blogged. Things are going great for me and my wife. No big cravings and my body hasn't really gone through any crazy withdraws although I did have a minor lingering headache the last couple days. Not sure if that was sinuses, withdraws, or just plain stress.

 Oatmeal Bar with Date Honey and a sliced pear

On day 3, we again had Oatmeal Bars for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, rice cake with peanut butter for a snack (which I actually enjoy!!), and Black Bean Minestrone Soup for dinner which I got off of the ultimate Daniel Fast website. I'll post my version of the recipe here. And I also made the Corn Muffins from the same site to go with the soup. The muffins were a little grainy so I'll try to come up with what I think is a better version and I'll post it here if it comes out good.

Black Bean Minestrone Soup

 Corn Muffins

Wednesday we again had Oatmeal Bars for breakfast, a delicious salad for lunch, a pear and some nuts for a snack, and Baked Felafel with unleavened bread, hummus, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower for dinner. We both felt it was our favorite dinner so far. Definitely something we will eat again on a regular basis!! I used Kristen's (UltimateDanielFast.com) recipe's for both the Felafel and bread. For the Hummus I made my own which is basically the same as her's without the parsley. The veggies for that dinner I just slice thin, coat with a little olive oil, and season with garlic, salt, and pepper, and then roast at 425 for about 30 minutes. For a desert I spread a little bit of peanut butter on a banana that I sliced in half lengthwise, which I shared with my wifey. All-in-all a pretty good couple of days. Thanks for visiting and God bless!!

 Baked Felafel with Unleavened Bread, Hummus,

 and roasted broccoli & cauliflower.

 

Black Bean Minestrone Soup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped carrots
4 stalks celery, sliced
4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups Vegetable Stock

4 cups Water
2 (15-oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can Italian diced tomatoes, broth and all
3 or 4 cups of fresh chopped Kale

1 or 2 zucchini sliced in half lengthwise, then cut into half-rounds

3 or 4 potatoes cubed
4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (plus extra for garnish)
salt/pepper to taste (approximately 1 teaspoon each)

pinch of red pepper flakes to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions, carrots, and celery until vegetables are softened. Stir in garlic, and cook for another few minutes, stirring constantly so garlic doesn’t burn.

Add broth, water, black beans, green beans, tomatoes, kale, zucchini, potatoes, basil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat about 15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend, cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Stir in parsley before serving.

Penelope loves all the veggie scraps!!!

Harley is jealous of Penelope getting veggies

so she thinks she's a vegetarian now!!

Day 2 Not too bad!!

Today was day 2 on the Daniel Fast. It was pretty smooth sailing for both of us. Nothing crazy from the detoxing yet. We had oatmeal bars for breakfast. I put a little Date Honey on mine and it made it delicious! Both of us had a rice bowl made out of last night left overs for lunch. A rice cake with fresh, natural peanut butter made a great snack. My tip would be to slather on a decent amount of peanut butter because the plain rice cakes aren't too appealing!! That's just my opinion though. For dinner we had Chipotle Black Bean burgers (recipe from UltimateDanielFast.com), avacado slices, and sautéed green beans. The black bean burgers tasted pretty good. I don't feel like there's been any real cravings yet but there's still plenty I time for that!! I think that's about it for today. Time to catch some zzz's and do it all over again tomorrow!! God bless.

And so it begins...

Today was day 1 of the Daniel Fast. We should go back to yesterday to catch up on things. Bekah and I did a lot of prep yesterday. While shopping, we got a great deal on bell peppers and kale. We chopped the kale up and threw it all into zip locks. I read online that you can blanch it and then freeze it and it's just as good as when you got it so that's what I'll be doing tomorrow. We also chopped up most of the bell peppers and froze it for later use. I chopped a few bell peppers in snack size pieces that will be good to dip in the hummus when I make it the next few days. To get ahead of the game, I chopped up all the bell peppers that I used in tonight's dinner of Tofu Fajitas. Were saving time and getting ahead of the game whenever possible. Yesterday I also made a batch of Oatmeal Breakfast Bars and Date Honey. The recipe for the Date Honey is on the Ultimate Daniel Fast website. I'll post the bars here. We got up today and had the Oatmeal Bars for breakfast along with a little fruit. For lunch we had a delicious salad with a homemade olive oil and vinegar dressing. I made us popcorn for a snack and we had Tofu Fajitas with homemade beans and brown rice for dinner. All in all, today was a pretty successful first day.

Here's the info on the Daniel Fast we got at church today:

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

(this is based on the recipe from the Ultimate Daniel Fast site)

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

3 cups unsweetened almond milk

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup chopped dates or raisins

(you can use any combination of dried fruits to total the 1 cup) 

1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, or whatever kind of nuts you want
1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Transfer to an 9x13 inch baking dish that has been lightly rubbed with olive oil. Pour oatmeal mixture into dish and bake 50 minutes or until slightly browned and crispy on top.

Here's our delicious salad we had for lunch..

Here's our Tofu Fajitas with brown rice and homemade beans

(I like my beans on top of my rice!!)...

What a wonderfully successful day!! I hope you all enjoy and stick with it. The payoff will be huge in the end!! Stay focused and God bless!!

2 days to go...

There's only a couple more days left until the fast. I did some major prep work yesterday. I cleaned out my pantry of most junk food and food that's not good for the fast. The stuff I can't eat, but will still be good after the fast, I put on a different shelf. I grouped together the nuts and dried fruit I had on hand and straightened out the canned food shelf so I could see what canned veggies and beans I had on hand. I used recipes from both, http://www.daniel-fast.com/myrecipes/, and http://www.ultimatedanielfast.com/ and I used the template that www.daniel-fast.com emails you to set up my Weekly Meal Plan. Here's my meal plan so you have an example of what to look forward to:

Sunday
Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal
Lunch: Salad
Dinner: Tofu Tacos, Brown Rice, and Beans with tomatillo salsa and homemade whole grain tortillas.
Snacks: fruit and nuts

Monday
B: Potato Frittata
L: Black Bean Burger patty with a salad
D: Salad
S: Hummus, Sesame seed rice crackers, nuts, fruit

Tuesday
B: Muesli
L: frozen veggie patty and a salad
D: Baked Felafel with unleavened bread, hummus, and veggies
S: Fruit, Rice Cake with natural peanut butter

Wednesday
B: Baked Oatmeal
L: Salad and leftovers
D: Black Bean Minestrone Soup with corn bread muffins
S: Fruit and Nuts

Thursday
B: Muesli
L: Salad and leftovers
D: Stir Fry Tofu & Veggies with brown rice
S: veggies with hummus, nuts

Friday
B: Muesli
L: Salad and leftovers
D: Basil Zucchini Soup with corn bread muffins
S: veggies with hummus, nuts

Saturday
B: Potato Frittata
L: Salad and leftovers
D: Spaghetti Squash with Basil-Walnut Cream and corn bread muffins
S: Homemade Crackers with Black Bean Hummus, fruit

When coming up with the meal plan I tried to take into consideration what was on sale and what veggies I could get at my local farmers market. After I had my meal plan figured out, I made my shopping list. I grouped together like items to make the trip easier because I had a long list of groceries that I had to pick up. I'm going to get as much of the dried fruits, nuts, seasonings, and flours as I can from the bulk section at my local WinCo. This will save you some money! I usually go to my local Walmart Grocery after that because they will match any advertised prices of items they carry on hand which can save you some time and gas!! Do as much prep work ahead of time as possible. I'll be doing some shopping tonight and tomorrow and then tomorrow night preparing some of the recipes ahead of time. I'll be making the Baked Oatmeal, Hummus, and Date Honey tomorrow night as well as cutting up some of the veggies for snacks. I feel like the more I can do ahead of time, the easier it will be to stay on track.

The Daniel Fast isn't only about the food though. I have been praying for God's guidance in this as well. I know as my body detoxifies, I will have cravings for those food and drinks that I can't have. And anyone who knows me will tell you I have a crazy sweet tooth so going 3 weeks without ice cream seems like a lifetime!! I know I'll have to look to God for strength in overcoming these urges. I'll be praying daily for my church and the effect we have on our community, the new preschool they recently started, my family, my marriage, and for guidance in the career path I'll be taking, to name a few. I believe as my wife and I go through this fast together and pray together, our marriage will be stronger and we will draw closer to God. Thanks for following me. I'll post more soon. Any questions, comments, encouragement, don't hesitate to comment below!! I'll do my best to keep up with this daily as the fast begins. God bless!