day fifty-two...doubt

Yesterday at my second Christmas party, our college pastor, Abraham deAlba spoke on doubt and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Me? Doubt? Never. But...I was wrong. I have been doubting God unknowingly, thinking certain things will just never come to pass. I am a doubter. Simply put.

I need to remember that the Lord has a plan. Sure, I may not know when it will come to pass, but He does and that is all that matters. Easier said than done, right? I want things to happen right now...today. However, I cannot doubt God. I just can't. There is no sound reason why I should. I mean, He is the God of the universe and knows every little detail about me, and I want to doubt Him? I am crazy!

So that is it...no more doubting. No more questioning God. I need to practice patience and rely fully upon the Lord and trust in His timing. He will make my desires come to pass if it is His will.

Now that we have that settled, let's move on to my eats for the day!

Breakfast
Had a lovely morning sleeping in today. Once I woke up, I made a mocha shake and drank it once again while curling my hair...I think I am going to make a habit out of this.

Lunch
After church I was hanging out with a friend at Portola Coffee Lab and while drinking an iced coffee I had a bag of cheese pizza bites. Honestly, not the best pairing, but still good when eaten by itself.

It was also my friend's first "hipster coffee" so I had to snap a picture of her taking a picture of her beautiful mocha...she's the cutest. Love you Kim!

Afternoon Snack
Once I got home from my coffee visit, I cleaned the kitchen and then had a chocolate crunch bar. I then started to put together and cook my dinner.

Dinner
I made a new lean and green meal for dinner! I am still testing it out, but I am hoping to master the recipe by Christmas. I made a turnip gratin. Not my favorite to be honest...it still needs a bit of tweaking. Keep a lookout for the recipe soon.

Dessert
I had a calorie burn cappuccino as soon as I got home from church. Don't know why, but I was just in the mood for a nice hot cup of coffee.

Dessert #2
I had some friends come over after church and while I made them some cookies, I also made myself some chocolate chip pancake cookies. They were really good...very similar to a doughnut hole. I will post the recipe soon.

That is all I have for today! Hope your day is blessed!

xoxo,
Toni

day twenty-eight...pasta for days

 No pasta for me of course. I just made it and everyone else ate it. And I am a-okay with that. I enjoy making food for people actually. We were celebrating my brother's birthday (yes a week late) as a family. It's hard getting everyone together with such busy schedules. But I love my family and am so happy we are all so close.

This is the second time I have made pasta in the past week. Why? Well, since I cannot taste the food, I am just cooking what I know how to cook. So pasta it is! Plus, you can't go wrong with a big bowl of spaghetti and sausage.

Everyone enjoyed it, so we will just leave it at that. :)

Breakfast
I was out of it this morning and totally forgot to snap a shot of my pineapple mango smoothie. This was my last one and I didn't order any more. I wasn't the biggest fan of them and I was basically just eating them because I already bought them. I mean, the taste wasn't terrible, but it was just a tad off for my liking.

I was so cold after drinking the smoothie, so I made myself a cup of hot tea. I chose the Tazo chai tea and it was divine.

Morning Snack
Last night, I bake some oatmeal cookies to take with me to eat for my morning snack. All I did was heat them up for a bit in the toaster oven...but you really can just eat them the way they are. I like my cookies a bit more crispy rather than soft.

Lunch
I had to run some errands today at lunch so I only had enough time to throw together a quick salad for lunch. I just heated up a pizza burger and mixed it together with some romaine lettuce and light Italian dressing.

Afternoon Snack
I was pretty busy after lunch so time flew by. Before I knew it, it was 3pm and time for my afternoon snack. I had the BBQ bites, which I am actually beginning to really like. I didn't order any more this past order, but I just might next time.

After work I rushed home and started cooking my brother's belated birthday dinner. I made some pasta with sausage, a crisp salad, toasted up some jalapeno cheddar bread with butter and garlic and ended the meal with a warm crumb topped apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream. Oh! and they drank some martinelli's of course...delicious!

I think they liked it too... :D

Dinner
While my family ate the spaghetti dinner, I made myself a peanut butter milkshake. I will take that over pasta any day...well, at least right now I will.

Dessert
Tomorrow is my one month weigh in day, so I wanted to end my day with something light. So I had a peanut butter crunch bar with some water. It was perfect. Just the right amount I needed.

I will update my pictures, weight, and measurements with you all tomorrow, so keep an eye out!

Have a good night!

xoxo,
Toni

oatmeal cookies

If you are on the Medifast program you either like the oatmeal or you don't. And if you are like me, you are most definitely not a fan of it. Well, I have a solution...make cookies! Even if you are not on the Medifast program, I am sure you can use any packet of instant oatmeal mix out there...but, I have not tried it, so don't take my word on it.

Step One 
Gather and measure out your ingredients...

You will need:
1 packet of Medifast Oatmeal (I used the brown sugar one) or any packet of instant oatmeal
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup of water
1/8 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Step Two
Next mix all your dry ingredients together and then add the wet ingredients and mix until the batter is moist. Then allow the batter to sit for about 5 minutes so it can become a more thicker consistency.

Step Three
Spoon batter and place onto a greased cookie sheet. I also put down parchment paper just in case.

Step Four
Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Cookies will be fairly soft, so you can leave them in a little longer to harden if you like. Then allow them to cool before you eat them...well, at least try to wait.

Step Five
Enjoy!!! Also, all of the cookies you make count as only 1 Medifast meal!

xoxo,
Toni

day ten...we will overcome

photo cred: Kathy Gilbert via instagram

I learned a lesson tonight. And I learned it through a song—God can work in any way He likes, and tonight He used Jeremy Camp to teach me that lesson. I went to the tribute tonight honoring Pastor Chuck Smith and being taught a lesson was the last thing on my mind. I figured it would be a time of remembering and just enjoying the speakers and music. But oh no...the Lord likes to work all the time...even at a tribute.

So anyways, Jeremy Camp was singing this song called "Overcome". And in the song he sings "every victory is Yours". Every victory that I experience is only done because of the Lord. He is the reason I have victory in those tough moments. He is the reason I was able to say no to fast food when my whole family was eating it after the tribute. I just sat there drinking water. And you know what? It wasn't hard at all! All glory to the Lord alone. Jeremy Camp then goes on to sing, "We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony, everyone overcome". This is just an encouragement for me concerning the future. I will overcome my addiction. I will overcome my destructive sin habits. But it's not because I am so wonderful and great, but rather because Jesus died on the cross for me and had victory over sin. Since He already paid the price, I too can have victory through Jesus Christ.

I hope that encourages you as much as it did me. You can listen to the full song by going here.

Okay, now onto the eats for today. My meal times were a bit off because I slept in this morning, but I still got my 5 medifast and 1 lean and green meal in.

Breakfast: Pineapple Mango Smoothie

Wonderful start to the chilly morning. I am loving this weather by the way. I absolutely just love the cold...and rain! We are supposed to be getting rain for the next two days! Bring on the warm chunky sweaters and boots!

Morning Snack: Meatball Casserole

So technically this is my lunch, not morning snack. I made a comfort food lean and green meal. So delicious! It is a meatless meatball casserole. Basically it is just mashed cauliflower on the bottom, meatless meatballs on the top and then a little bit of marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese on top. I know it looks like a lot, but it was a small, shallow pyrex dish—perfect portion size for one. Kept me pretty full for the rest of the day!

Click here for the recipe!

Medifast Lean and Green Breakdown:
Lean: Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs (6), 1/4 cup of light mozzarella cheese
Green: 1 1/2 cups of cauliflower, 1/4 cup of Trader Joe's marinara sauce
Healthy Fat: 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil

Lunch: Cinnamon Pretzel Sticks

I didn't grab a picture of these because I was eating them in the middle of the tribute. Note to self: Don't bring an extremely crunchy snack when you know it is going to be silent all around you. ;)

Afternoon Snack: Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

I ate these at the tribute as well. I was able to snap a picture of these because I made them before I left. I will post the recipe for these soon as well...SO GOOD!

Dinner: Cinnamon Roll Crunch Bar

Yeah...didn't get a shot of this either. At this point we were driving in the car and it was too dark.

Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookie Soft Bake

Do you notice the background? It's my blog post! I was actually eating dessert while writing this post. I also added a tad more water then the directions called for, and it turned out great! Usually it is pretty hard and crumbly, but tonight it was soft and chewy. Loved it!

It's getting late, so I am off to bed! But I pray you all have a blessed week!

xoxo,
Toni