So I have a pretty severe gluten intolerance… which is OBNOXIOUS because anything yummy, or wonderful or sparkly has gluten. I have been sick for a few months now and I am trying to take my responsibility by what I put in my mouth and body and take care of the temple that the Lord gave me! This is going to be a regular “Clean Eating: Gluten, Sugar & Grain Free” recipe section of my blog 🙂 I am excited to post many of the delicious eats and treats that my husband and I consume on a regular basis, and the fun experimentation of trying out new things!
The reason that I am including grains into my list of BANISHED items is that even though grains are good for you and most people eat them on a regular basis, my body just doesn’t seem to process them very well. Having type 1 diabetes has a lot to do with that, and more often than not, a simple cup of rice will spike me into a high blood sugar… then a headache, then a migraine… so you get the point, NO grains for me!
***DISCLAIMER: I also want to be realistic. Whereas gluten has a direct negative affect on me physically, grains simply make me feel sluggish and lethargic. They are however manageable… So if I am going to Chipotle, by golly you KNOW that I am getting some brown rice as my base! I just had to clarify… because sometimes a girl just needs a plate of NACHOS! Can I get an amen? AMEN! 😉
So that leads me to a quest to come up with yummy, clean, healthy (and sort of healthy) recipes that are gluten, sugar and grain free! In the Clean Eating series, I will post all sorts of recipes that I come up with, and ones that I find and LOVE! If you have a request, please leave a comment and I will get to cooking for you!
Today’s adventure is an inspiration from my mother and husband! Turkey, Ham & Cheese Lettuce Sammies!
My husband loves a good sammie (sandwich!)… and bread… But once he married me, those things couldn’t stay in the house because I WOULD EAT THEM! However, my mother came into town and bought my hubs A TON OF SANDWICH BREAD! We didn’t know what to do with it! After freezing it for 2 weeks, there was one morning where we were running SUPER LATE and I didn’t have any leftovers to send him for lunch… So I grabbed the bread and threw him together a quick sandwich and called it a day!
He got to his break that day, and called me in joyous shouts as to how DELICIOUS his sammie was! I was only slightly jealous and decided that I would figure out how to create a sammie that was Rachael approved!
What I came up with isn’t anything new, but boy oh boy it was brand new to me!
I used romaine hearts for the Sammie Bread, put a bit of garlic herb “Laughing Cow” cheese on the sides, tucked in some turkey, ham and pepper jack cheese, cut up a few cherry tomatoes and smooshed it together like a sammie! IT WAS DIVINE! I seriously inhaled it! Pair that with a Tazo Passion Fruit Ice Tea, sweetened with Stevia and I was in heaven!
Hope you try these yummy, delicious sammies and love them as much as I do!
(The sky is the limit in your ingredients! I think next time I am going to try hummus in it as well!)
Live, Love & BE Happy!
Rachael Dee xox
RECIPE: Feeds 2 people
4-6 Romaine hearts (dependent on size of lettuce)2TBS of dressing/mayo/cheese/salad dressing- Smooth over lettuce
4-6oz of lunch meat
1-2oz of sliced cheese (I have also tried shredded cheese and works great!)
Chopped veggies of your choice (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, sprouts etc…)
I am so excited to announce our FAB 500 Necklace giveaway!!
In honor of reaching 500 fans, I’ve decided to do a fun giveaway of a HAND MADE NECKLACE of the winners choice!! With so many entry opportunities and so many necklaces to choose from, what have you got to loose!!?
SHOP (and WIN) HAPPY!!! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Live, love and shop Happy!
(Love me a ton!!? Share this LINK HERE on YOUR page! xox)
I am learning that there is SO MUCH to cultivating and managing a blog and online business.
SERIOUSLY. So much!
I came down with the FLU OF DOOM on the 5th of June and couldn’t even come up for air until a few days ago. (Its the 25th!!! That’s a LONG time to be out sick!) I attempted to post updates, or scan orders, but my body was in serious shut down mode and I could barely function, let alone keep up with everything.
But in the blogging world CONSISTENCY IS KEY!
Out of sight, out of mind, and let me tell you I lost some SERIOUS momentum…
BUT NOW I AM BACK IN ACTION!!!
I started this amazing gift of a business because the Lord put it in my heart to do something I LOVE and to help bring in an income for my family. But with any sort of entrepreneur type endeavor, there is risk and no real promise of sales. I realized this as I dropped off the face of the social media planet, that so did my clients. Now don’t get me wrong, its not a bad thing at all! I am blessed and grateful that I am able to have a job that allows my body time to rest and recover when it needs to… And being a type 1 diabetic since the age of 3, there are times where my little immune system tells my body I AM DONE and just shuts down. That is what happened on a grand scale these past few weeks.
So I have been reflecting on the idea of consistency and trust, especially when it comes to stepping out in faith with a home based business, and I felt the Lord encourage me with a few truths.
1. If I am walking in purity of heart and wholehearted obedience, as best as I know how, in ANYTHING I put my hands to, then He is faithful to fulfill His promises. So to me it breaks down this way: I walk in obedience, and the Lord walks in providing. When these rolls begin to reverse and I think that I AM THE ONE who can control things, then I am stepping outside of the will of God. He is the good provider, and I am the one who walks in submission and trust. He asks me to do my part, and He then fulfills His. I am learning that I cannot do His part… AGGGH! HARD!
2. Trust means walking with a happy heart. Trust means walking free of fear and anxiety. What an amazing concept and truth! So often I am bound up in fear, but His word says that perfect LOVE casts out all fear. He also says that the peace of God will transcend all of my understanding. Therefore if I trust Him with my finances (my biggest hurdle) then He will take care of every need, even though it might not look like I want it to. His timing is so different than my own, but if anything I have learned int he last 9 months of marriage, is that He ALWAYSprovides, often in the 11th hour, to produce faith and trust in my heart. WHAT A KIND GOD WE HAVE! He does nothing by mistake and wants my heart to be found fully and wholeheartedly in love. I am learning this truth slowly but surely and am eager to see how His great love transforms and changes my heart over time!
3. He is good and DOES good. He works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called by His name. I want to walk in confidence when it comes to this reality. No matter what mountains come my way, or the valleys that try to tear me down, I want to stand in confidence before God that I declared from my life that He is good. All He does is good and though I might not fully understand, He is perfecting love deep within me.
So being sick, loosing a bit of ground when it comes to sales, and fighting through some of these truths has produced a resolve in me that I feel inspired a deep sense of HOPE when it comes to trusting the Lord with my future. I am so touched by the kindness of the Lord and how He speaks through all situations.
He gives us gifts to grow in and I am so eager to see where HE takes me in the joy of making hand made, one of a kind jewelry. This business is Hisand I want it to declare, if only in part, His beauty! I want to trust Him every day, with every part of my heart, and to walk in the JOY that He has set before me.
I want to walk in every season with a happy heart.
So take a look at some of the designs I have been working on, let Him touch your own heart with the dreams He has placed there, and walk away from this little post with a sense of hope that God is good, does good and is in control of everything we need!
I GOT TO SPEND AN ENTIRE WEEKEND AWAY WITH MY MR!!!
Justin and I just got back from our FIRST weekend getaway as a married couple and had SUCH a wonderful time with some of our dearest friends! On May 27th, we celebrated 8 months of blissful marriage and decided it was time to have a little adventure!
Justin was able to get off work early, so I picked him up at 6pm! (I know to most of you this is NORMAL or even late for a Friday, but it was anywhere from 2-4 hours early for us!!!)
As we drove to Charlotte North Carolina we stopped at a {surprisingly} BEAUTIFUL Rest Stop!
It had a gorgeous lake and woods and I made him do a spontaneous photo shoot!
***I LOVE THE SOUTH*** Did I mention how EXCITED I was to have a weekend getaway with my darling husband!!!? My heart overflowed with love!
But lo and behold, even the shortest of road trips (ours being 4 hours!) causes one to be hungry! SO LETS GET CHIPOTLE!!!
Its our FAVORITE cheap eats/semi fast food place to go and we were so stoked to have found one at the half way point!
Buuuuuuuut… It was No Bueno 🙁 Poor Boy. So sad. Our favorite eatery had an OFF night to say the least {and we are NOT picky eaters!}
Rice-bland. Meat-Forgot the seasoning. Salsa-uhhh… wheres the kick!?
Half way through picking around my beautiful burrito bowl, I looked at him and asked
Me-“Is yours bland!?” Him-“I was about to ask you the same thing!”
But we ate it, had full tummies and moved on with our weekend adventure! Only a few more hours till we reached Charlotte! We pulled in just a bit past 10pm and were greated with joyful hellos from our dear friends Gavin, Colleen and their 3 year old princess Alyona! We stayed up till almost 3am talking about life, the Lord and Colleens soon arriving baby boy Ethan and collapsed into bed. What a gift it is to have friends so near and dear to our hearts close enough to still feel like we were on a mini vacation!
WE SLEPT IN! Praise the Lord!!!
Gavin made us these decadent Paleo Pumpkin Raisin Breakfast muffins and we literally stayed in our PJ’s all day till we got ready for church that night! My hair was CRAY and I had no makeup on and LOVED IT!!!
We were so excited to go to their new home church called Freedom House, and heard an amazing message on unforgivness! We love the local church, and were honored to hear what the Lord is doing in NC!
After church, as we were on our way to dinner, we passed by a LEGITsnow cone stand and U-turned around so the 9month preggo lady could have a blue raspberry treat! True love stands in a LONG line for snow cones 😉Dinner was at this delicious Tavern and we all got Burgers, some delicious fruity drinks and DESSERT 🙂
My baby LOVES his sweets ;)))
On our last day there, we decided it was the PERFECT day for a dip in the pool! THIS IS THE WAY TO DO A WEEKEND VACAY!!!
I might have forgotten to put on sun block (ooooops!!) But it was SO worth it!
Justin and Gavin tossed the football for 2 hours in the pool while Colleen and I soaked up the sun!
To treat us before we hit the road, we dined on buffalo steaks (I die!) and coconut ice cream! MY FAVE!!! What a gift our dear friends are to our hearts! We so enjoyed our time, and didn’t want to leave, but had to hit the road!
Till next time NC!
Did I mention how EXCITED I was to have a weekend getaway with my darling husband!!!? My heart overflowed with love!
Poor Boy. So sad. Our favorite eatery had an OFF night to say the least {and we are NOT picky eaters!}
We love the local church, and were honored to hear what the Lord is doing in NC!
True love stands in a LONG line for snow cones 😉
Dinner was at this delicious Tavern and we all got Burgers, some delicious fruity drinks and DESSERT 🙂
THIS IS THE WAY TO DO A WEEKEND VACAY!!!
What a gift our dear friends are to our hearts! We so enjoyed our time, and didn’t want to leave, but had to hit the road!