Daniel Fast Day 12: Fasting & Valentine’s Day!

Today’s Devotion: “Let God Arise- Psalms 68:1 ‘Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.’

It is day number 12 in our fast & 12 is the number of perfect government. To be governed perfectly means that the King is sitting upon the throne of our hearts ruling & reigning in our lives. That is a picture of his kingdom. I believe this is what this verse in Psalms is referring to when it declares, “Let God Arise”. Whenever we become complacent in the things of the Lord seems to be the times most of the attacks of the enemy come against us.  Not as though the Lord has left us or anything like that, but it represents times when we put Him out of mind & begin to do our own thing. But the answer is simple, ‘Let God Arise.’ We can avoid the heartache most of us deal with if we will remember this simple truth.”

Well, Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!  The day where we celebrate a man who was martyred for marrying Christians with champagne, flowers and boxes of chocolates.  Completely logical, right?

Well, with the Daniel Fast, we can only celebrate with one of those things.

(Thanks for the flowers, Bishop Valentinus.)

So, are we stuck at home munching on celery & carrot sticks?

NOPE.  Well…okay, we are eating at home, but definitely not rabbit food!

(Unless rabbits also eat fungus & tubers. In which case…erm…well…sorta.)

Breakfast:  ½ whole wheat flatbread w/PB & pumpkin pie spice

Lunch: Leftover salsa rice.

Valentine’s Dinner:  Garlic Rosemary mashed potatoes, balsamic grilled mushrooms & onions, and steamed peas.

That’s right…tonight’s dinner actually doesn’t have any “real” protein, because we’re kinda burnt out on beans.  So I used my favorite marinade to make us some meaty mushrooms and comforting mashed ‘taters.

INGREDIENTS: (serves 2)

Potatoes -

• 2-3 large russets, peeled & cubed
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon (if it has no actual chicken product in it)
• 1/2-2/3 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Mushrooms & Onions-

• 8 oz fresh portabellas, wiped but not washed
• ½ onion, sliced into thin rings
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• ½ tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

For the Mushrooms—place the oil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, salt & pepper to a large Ziploc and mix well.  Then add the mushrooms and marinate for about 30 minutes.

Boil potatoes with the chicken bouillon, minced garlic & rosemary to help infuse those flavors into the potatoes.  When the potatoes are tender, drain the water and add coconut oil and milk and puree until creamy.  Add more garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste.

While your potatoes are boiling, heat a large skillet over medium heat, spritz lightly with olive oil, and then add your mushrooms & the sliced onions.  Sauté until tender and the onions are caramelized.  You can add a bit of water if the marinade starts to render down too much.

And for Dessert?  More fake ice cream!

(1 ripe banana, mashed, 1.5 tbsp peanut butter, 2 tsp unsweet cocoa powder, 4 dashes cinnamon: blend together & freeze)

Garnish with some fresh fruit (used a cookie cutter to make the shapes).

As for gifts: I pulled another “Crafts in the Office” & made The Hubs a little wall hanging from one of our favorite photos.

Supplies:

• 5” wooden plaque (Hobby Lobby)
• Wood Stain or Paint
• Modge Podge
• Photo, trimmed to fit
• Any lettering/decorations you want to use
• Ribbon
• Two thumbtacks & some Scotch tape

This was a super quick little craft. I had the photo printed at 5x7 so that I could trim it to fit, and then went through a recent mag and picked out some letters to decorate with.  This seemed appropriate. :)

Backstory: This is from a trip to San Fransisco.  We missed the last Alcatraz tour (which you can barely see in the background).

I stained the edges of the wood that would be visible, and then set it aside to dry.  Then I applied Modge Podge to the wood, attached my photo, and then sorta “squeegeed” the photo to get the excess glue out.  Then let it dry.  Once dry, I added the letters, and Modge Podge’d over the whole thing, let it dry again, and used some sand paper to buff any edges of the photo so that it would be flush with the plaque.

I taped the ends of the ribbon so they wouldn’t fray & used the tacks to connect to the back.

Ta-Da!

Oh, and I also ordered The Hubs some personalized beer bottle labels, since he’ll be bottling up his first batch of home brew over the weekend!

And for me?  Well… you know… I don’t ask for much… and yet, The Hubs takes quite good care of me.  Love you to the moon & back, sweetie!

Balsamic Grilled Chicken

This is one of my absolute favorite marinades of ALL TIME.  I got it in a recipe for “pan roasted flank steak*” back in 2004, and now I use it on nearly anything. (Note: It’s also the nastiest looking recipe sheet in my recipe box—covered in stains & splatters—so you KNOW it’s been used a LOT.)  Particularly grilled chicken.  The marinating ensures an amazingly juicy, flavorful piece of meat.  I have never tried this marinade on a fish—I think for most fish, the flavor of the marinade might outsing the flavor of the fish…but it might work with something like swordfish or shark (because we all totes have pieces of shark hanging out in our fridge, right?  Yeah…me neither.)

 

Ingredients:

Add the following items to a large ziploc bag (place the bag upright inside a bowl with the zip top rolled out for easier handling--

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp mustard (you can use regular ol’ yellow mustard if you like—I prefer to use Tabasco Spicy Brown mustard for an extra kick)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Next, add up to 4 chicken pieces (we go with chicken breasts or thighs, usually) to the bag.  Then, since you’ve been handling chicken, in the words of mah dear JoJo, “Wash yer d@mn hands."  THEN, roll up the top of the ziploc and zip ‘er shut, pushing most of the air out before closing completely.  The outside of the bag should be nice & clean, with all the ingredients trapped safely inside.  Now, roll the bag o’ chicken & goodness around so that the marinade coats all the pieces.  The place the bag back in the bowl & allow to marinate for at least one hour, but overnight is also totally acceptable.

 

Grillin’ Time:

Fire up your grill and let it get up to about medium heat.  Then use tongs to transfer the chicken from the bag to the bottom rack of your grill. (Chuck the marinade that remains in the bag, since it’s tainted with chicken juices.)

Use your handy-dandy meat thermometer and cook these until they reach an internal temp of at least 165F, flipping at least once during grilling.  Cook time will totally depend on your grill, so rely on your thermometer for doneness.

 

When everything’s up to temp, remove from grill & serve!  We had these with a salad & grilled brussels sprouts.  One chicken breast was about 8 oz, so we cut them in half for portion management.

 

 NutriFacts: (per 4 oz chicken breast piece)

Calories 147.1

  Total Fat 3.1 g

  Saturated Fat 0.6 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.8 g

  Cholesterol 65.7 mg

  Sodium 288.8 mg

  Potassium 295.3 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 1.3 g

  Dietary Fiber 0.1 g

  Sugars 0.3 g

  Protein 26.3 g

* If you use this recipe for pan roasted steak, grill your steak in a large skillet, & once it’s cooked to your desired doneness, remove the steaks, then add 1 cup low sodium chicken broth to the pan, along with 1/2 medium onion, sliced in rings, and 4 oz of sliced mushrooms….saute over medium-low heat until veggies are cooked, and then add 1 tbsp flour to the pan & stir until it makes an awesome gravy.  Serve over the steaks.  This is also AWESOME on top of the chicken.