Best Chocolate Avacado Pudding EVER... No, seriously!

I know what you're thinking... Pudding IS NOT made with avocados!!! Well, this recipe does use avocados, and it is by far the BEST chocolate pudding I've eaten in a long time... Maybe it's because we don't buy processed foods, try to stay away from sugar, and haven't eaten "real" pudding in about 10 months... Or maybe it REALLY IS just super yummy?! You should try it for yourself and let me know the outcome! :)  Hey, at least it's pretty, right?

I actually heard about this recipe while at the Young Living Lavender Farm in Utah during their Essential Oil Convention a couple of weeks ago. There was a cooking class using Essential Oils by Jan Zerr, and she was AMAZING! She didn't use precise measurements, but I was able to take notes and mimic her Chocolate Pudding and Cashew Cream for layers. So... Here's what I did to semi copy her recipe.

Ingredients:  (I'm a firm believer in organic everything)
-4 ripe Avocados
-8 Dates (pitted and soaked in warm filtered water for at least 15 minutes to soften)
-1/2 Cup of Raw Honey
-1 Cup Raw Cacao
-1 1/2 Teaspoons of real Vanilla extract
-1/2 Cup filtered water

*Place all ingredients in the food processor or high powered blender and mix until completely creamy and lumps are gone. I absolutely adore my Breville Food Processor, but when it comes to creams and puddings, I think I might have to give in a purchase a Vitamix very soon. My pudding was a wee bit lumpy, but still delicious. :)

At this point, I added 5 drops of Young Living Orange Essential Oil and turned the food processor back on for a few seconds to get it mixed together.  I think this really made the entire pudding. On a side note: I don't recommend ingesting or cooking with ANY Essential Oil, unless it is Young Living brand only.

There ya have it... A delicious Healthy, Diary Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free Chocolate Pudding the entire family can enjoy!

Did your family gobble it up like mine did? Leave me comments below! :)



*Cashew Cream recipe coming soon.

What's For Breakfast?

This post if for all my other "foodies" out there! :) 

Do ya ever wake up in the morning CRAVING food?

 YESSSS!? 

Well, I had that issue this morning for the first time in a long time . . .

Our Saturday mornings sometimes STILL feel like I should be loading up the kids in our PJ's and heading straight to the delicious Chick-Fil-A down the street for a breakfast! I know this is because of the habit we had in the past. Our normal Saturday routine was getting the family in the van, Justin and I would get Starbucks vanilla latte or a frozen mocha, and then a McDonalds Egg and Cheese biscuit, or Chick-Fil-A Chicken breakfast burrito . . .

Which was my craving THIS morning! Oh MY . . .

I used to open it up and pour the Chick-Fil-A sauce all inside of it. Woah! 

Well, I would like to announce that this time I DID NOT give in and get the burrito 

for TWO Reasons…

REASON #1 - Not calories, but INGREDIENTS: It is full of Gluten (which makes me sick to my stomach), & Soybean Oils/ Preservatives (which cause my joints and muscles to become so inflamed that I ache with pain -like fibromyalgia) and did you know that their chicken alone has 30 ingredients!? WHY does chicken NEED 30 ingredients? Not only that, their egg has artificial flavoring and soybean oil? 

Nope… I didn't know that either back in the day.

REASON #2 - This PICTURE of myself from July of 2013 (Just 10 months ago): 

I don't have very many pictures of myself like this (because I was embarrassed of my weight)… 

And honestly, it's pretty hard to look at now - 

NOT because of my size and how I looked, but because I remember the pain, emotionally and physically like it was yesterday!

So. . .  After processing through the "DO NOT GO GET THE BURRITO" thoughts this morning, I decided to take my Organic Free Range Eggs in the fridge and make my OWN HEALTHY breakfast burrito…

Ingredients: 

-Organic Ice Burg Lettuce (for wrap)

-2 Organic Free Range scrambled Eggs 

-1 spoon of Organic Plain Yogurt 

(to beat in the eggs before cooking- This gives the scrambled eggs a thicker, fluffier texture)

-1 Applegate chicken breakfast sausage link (8 natural ingredients)

-Sprinkle of shredded rghb hormone free cheddar 

-Spoonful of Organic black bean and corn Salsa

Don't forget the Fresh Organic Strawberries on the side! Oh me, OH my, so sweet!

Let me add, it was DELICIOUS and after I took the first bite, I totally forgot I ever even had thoughts about the Chick-Fil-A burrito. Woohoo!

Was it hard to talk myself out of the burrito? 

Yes, it's always hard . . . 

However, with 8 months of eating healthy and changing my thoughts towards food, it has become a lot easier over the months!

And just for a little INSPIRATION. . .  This was last month:

Size 18 to a size 8 in NINE months

Most Importantly, I don't hurt with the fibromyalgia pain I've lived with my entire life! 

Habits are a hard thing to break, but I'm living proof it CAN be done! 

What are you eating for breakfast in the mornings? 

Mother's Day Lunch... A Mother's Regret!

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the hard working, loving Momma's out there!  Being blessed with three little tikes of my own, I definitely experience the non stop hours of hard work and selflessness that goes into parenting.

Don't let those sweet little faces fool ya… Next are the "Uh oh, I got in trouble Pictures!" 

  




Lol… Can you tell the one on the far right, Rhett, is our most "spirited"? He isn't even upset, He's PROUD! :) Let me tell ya, God has BIG BIG plans for that Kiddo!

Being a parent is HARD! It's by far the HARDEST job I've ever had… But worth it, right? ;)

So, this morning was just like every Sunday morning (besides the sweet card, with $ for Momma, the real dark chocolate bars waiting for me and the extra hugs and kisses from the family)… Aw!

Other than that, it was a normal Sunday. ;) I got up at 6:15, showered, got myself ready, made all the biddies breakfast, got them dressed, hair done, teeth brushed for church, then loaded them up to be on our way. Justin is always getting to church about the time the kiddos are waking up. He was blessed with the musical gift of guitar playing and plays for the worship team. Which I LOVE… But it IS EXHAUSTING getting all the babies and myself to church alone.  Phew… I definitely need a nap on Sunday afternoons!

When church was over Justin said we can go out to lunch for Mother's Day, MY PICK!!!! :) WHAT?! With my food restrictions, and three kids under 5, going out to eat is one thing we don't do often. I was excited to brave the after church crowd (exciting events for a stay at home momma) and after googling, decided we could try out Dickey's BBQ in town.

If we ever do BBQ, we have always gone to Whole Hog. When we eat there I can get a baked potato with pulled smoked chicken and not have any bad side effects from the food. (If you're unaware of what I'm referring to with side effects, please go back and read THIS).

We pulled up to Dickey's and got even more excited when I saw the "Kids Eat Free on Sundays" sign. It was meant to be! :) I had the beef brisket with two sides, dill potato salad, french fries (because they are in a separate frier from food items with gluten and it's not very often I can eat fries). Water to drink and I got a tiny bit of the sweet BBQ sauce for my meat and was ready to enjoy our lunch. The french fries ROCKED… It could be because I don't eat fries anymore, or it could have been the fact that I dipped them in the HIGH sugar ketchup on the table… I'm thinking it was because the ketchup. :) The meat was okay, and the Dill Potato Salad was actually pretty terrible. Rhett (our 14 month old) made an awful face and threw it out of his mouth, which I thought about doing too. Needless to say, I was still very much enjoying our time out together as a family.

Then… We got to the free "Ice Cream" machine. I had to google and make sure the "Ice Cream" didn't have any gluten in it, before I could eat it… If I consume anything with gluten, I get super sick to my stomach and live in the bathroom for a good couple of hours. This topic will be another future blog post, because I have a lot to say about Gluten, that's for sure.  ;)

When looking up information on the "Ice Cream" I found ingredient lists for Dickey's food products.

With all the babies I was only able to glance at the "Ice Cream" ingredients and even though it was Gluten Free, I immediately knew I didn't want to eat any.

A little disturbed with the ingredients like CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, MALTODEXTRIN, MILK DERIVATIVE, YELLOW ARTIFICIAL COLORS…

One would think a vanilla soft serve ice cream would strictly have ingredients like "milk, cream, sugar, and natural vanilla flavoring"… 

AND THIS IS WHY WE DON'T GO OUT TO EAT OFTEN!!! 

The family (minus myself) all enjoyed their frozen genetically modified corn syrup and artificial flavors and colors and then we got back in the van to come home. That's when it HIT me!!! I began hurting in my joints… Bad aching in my toes, my knees, my fingers, my wrists, my jaws, and all the way up to my neck. By the time we got in the garage I had a massive headache on top of the body pain. Ugh…

As soon as the kids got put down for nap, I immediately looked up the other ingredients in the foods we just ate.  Here is the LINK where I got the information.

I found ingredients in the Dill Potato Salad:

Not just some "potatoes, sour cream, and dill, huh?" 

Here was my final straw… What I just let my kid's put in their stomaches, the Macaroni and Cheese:

More Genetically Modified Soybean Oil, Corn Syrup, Yellow food dies… not REAL cream, instead they have a "cream replacer" made with more hydrogenated soybean oil, and MORE corn syrup. Can we not just have a melted cheese/real milk sauce? MY WORD! 

I kept reading through the BBQ sauces, Pinto Beans, and even the "GREEN BEANS"…. ALL are LOADED with Corn Syrups!!!

I became so mad at myself…Mad that I was hurting all over my body because of my food choices, mad that I put that food in front of my kids to eat, and MAD at the fact that it is SO difficult to go out to eat and just eat REAL food! Can I not order green beans and just get cooked green beans with some sea salt? Can I not just enjoy some ice cream with my family and not be worried about loading our bodies with corn syrups, and inflammation causing TOXINS!?  

I don't mean to pick on and totally BASH Dickey's… It's not JUST Dickey's, it's EVERY other food establishment around.  The ingredients of the food served in many restaurants are SO bad for us! People go out to eat TOTALLY UNAWARE of what they are actually eating… We think it's "Ice Cream"… When it's not actually ice cream, but a load of horrible ingredients made to "TASTE" like Ice Cream. 

With all that being said… I just want to make others aware. Aware of the fact that when I consume Preservatives, Corn Syrups, and Hydrogenated Oils my body reacts with PAIN and INFLAMMATION… For Hours!  I don't have "Fibromyalgia" and I NEVER DID… I NOW KNOW it is actually just what I'm eating and putting in my stomach.  

On this Mother's Day I have SO many things I'm grateful for.  For the purpose of this post, I'm grateful that God designed my body to tell me when something is wrong. My body gives me signals when it doesn't like something I'm fueling it with. Some of us are more sensitive than others and some of us are more in tune to the signals our bodies are giving us. 

If you don't have pain after eating this sort of "food", this post probably doesn't mean much to ya. ;)

However, I would really like to challenge you… 

Will YOU listen to your body's signals and start questioning the foods you're eating and why? Why do we eat food, what's the purpose? It's kind of a silly thing to ask, but when we REALLY THINK about it, are our actions consistent with our answer? 

The day I changed my mindset from "What sounds good to eat" to "What's the best thing I can put in my body" I started seeing a total transformation. 

Okkkay, Blue Puppy and Brock just woke up from nap, so Momma's blog time is over… If you have anything to add, or have questions, comment below! :) I'd love to hear from y'all! 

My Journey to TRUE Health!

Wow, where to begin? I thought my chronic pain began around 9  years old, but my Mom recently informed me it started a lot sooner... So, let's rewind to 6 year old Casey.

Aw... Wasn't I cute? You gotta love the early 90's Mom big hair and turtle neck combo. She was rockin' it! :) Here is another one, just because I love little Casey pictures! Who doesn't love pictures of themselves as kids?

Wow, I was skinny... No stretch marks yet too. Those were the days! ;) I think I was about 8 in that picture. This was the age I remember all of it beginning...

The TERRIBLE joint pain! When I say TERRIBLE, I mean it. I used to cry almost every night begging for my Daddy to squeeze my hands and feet as hard as he could to relieve a little bit of the aching hurt that ran through my body. Every joint/bone literally ached almost 24-7. I used to go to school covered in BenGay and the horrible smelling pain creams.

Blood tests were ran, scans, you name it... The doctors answer was "growing pains". They requested I quit gymnastics, so I did, and that's all they could tell us to help me. Well, I NEVER grew out of the so called "growing pains".  Year after year more tests were ran for arthritis, cancer, you name it. I always came back "healthy" and the doctors didn't have an answer.

I lived with the pain all my life, still was able to play sports, and have a "normal" childhood, I just did everything with aching joints and hurting bones. Fast forward to 18 year old Casey below.

Next is 22 year old college Casey :) 

At 22 the pain became so bad, that I couldn't sleep at night. Nothing was helping. I went to another doctor here in Little Rock, and was FINALLY diagnosed with "Fibromyalgia" - OH MY WORD, after 15 years of pain I FINALLY had ANSWERS and a doctor giving me a pill to help! I was put on Lyrica, a synthetic nerve pill that's supposed to mask the pain. Well, after two months of religiously taking the medication, I didn't feel a bit of relief. :( We then found out we were pregnant and I had to get off of the pills anyway... No loss, since it did NOTHING to help me.

We had Brynlee in 2009, then we soon got pregnant again with Brock and he was born in 2010! :) By the way, Pregnancy on top of chronic pain and "Fribromyalgia" is not fun. Below is a picture from 2011. It felt IMPOSSIBLE to loose the baby weight. I began doing Turbo Jams in my living room, counting calories and STAYED on Weight Watchers. I ate FAT FREE EVERYTHING (little did I know it was only adding fuel to the "pain fire"). Here is a picture of myself weighing around high 180's  (the weight aspect of my health journey totally plays a part, so stay with me).

 I then began having EXCRUCIATING shooting tingles of pain from my elbow down to my wrist and hands. My fingers were so swollen that my wedding ring no longer fit my finger, and I KNEW something HAD TO CHANGE! To the doctor once again... Blood tests revealed the only thing wrong was a small vitamin D deficiency. No answers and the extra supplement didn't seem to help.

By the Grace of God, my sweet husband ran across a book about Organic Raw foods helping to heal the author's chronic illness. This book was called "The Maker's Diet" and Justin was immediately intrigued. The day we had gotten it in the mail, we literally read the entire thing front to back. It talked about the importance of WHOLE, ORGANIC, CLEAN, FULL FAT foods. Foods that God intended our bodies to digest and process! It talked about the dangers of processed foods, refined sugars, today's dairy, wheat, pesticides, chemicals, sodium and preservatives (what's added to foods that are fat free - the fat has to be replaced with something, right?)... So pretty much EVERYTHING my Weight Watchers Diet consisted of, this book spoke against eating. All of a sudden I had total revelation and it ALL made sense. Why WOULDN'T I choose to put God made foods in my body, rather than processed man made foods?

As soon we finished the book, we loaded our two kiddos in the van and drove straight to Whole Foods (it was our first trip to ever go into a "Hippy" natural store, so we were definitely out of our element. I only wish we had taken pictures to document ourselves. Lol!) Even surrounded by all the "hippies", we were rev'd up and ready to start our life change. Guess how much we spent? $400!!!! Ouch! We were so desperate to change our health, that we spent almost our entire months grocery budget (at the time) that one day! Now we were home and ready to start our journey. :)


We followed the DETOX plan to a T, and within THREE DAYS, the tingle shooting pain was GONE and my ring fit back on my finger!!!!!! WOW!!!! I knew Jordan Rubin (author of "The Maker's Diet") was on to something, because I could feel the difference in my ENTIRE BODY! Our gut IS like our second brain! We were passionate about the eating plan and life style change for about 3 weeks... Yes, after both of us loosing 15 pounds each, it still ONLY lasted THREE WEEKS!

WHY? Our society!! The fact is, it's tough in today's world when most people choose taste and convenience over Health. It's tough when you don't have an "accountablity group" or friends who live the same life style that you want to be living.

Slowly but surely, less expensive, easier options started creeping back into our diet. We started running through the drive throughs again, eating birthday cakes, and eating the "free" hotdog dinners at cookouts, etc.

Guess what else came back? Yup, you guessed it... The HORRIBLE joint pain was back!!!

I always knew better, but just made up excuses as why we "couldn't" keep eating as clean. Time, money, convenience... I still tried to eat "healthier" but it was mainly for the weight issue. I counted calories, ate a lot "LESS" processed foods (but still had them and fast food in my diet), I even ended up training for a 5k with a friend, and yes, ran the entire 3.1 miles! Whoop whoop!

At this time I believed I was on the right "track". I was trying to lose weight, and look and "feel" better. However, with all the hard work and effort I put into losing weight, I NEVER got below 170! I was so frustrated. I was eating as healthy as I could, watching portions, running 9 miles a week, and literally for 4 consistent months only lost about 15 pounds!!!! GERR!!!

Well, next thing I know, another baby is in the picture!

 We welcomed Rhett to the world in 2013... And then there were three! Awww!

After Rhett was born, and I recovered. I knew THIS was the time to get serious! With three babies to take care of, I just COULD NOT take the pain any longer! I was sick and tired of being SICK and TIRED!

Justin and I agreed to go back on the Maker's Diet detox all over again. This time we had some new "natural/organic knowledgeable" friends for accountability (which REALLY DOES make a HUGE difference). On September 1st of 2013 we began yet another "Life style Change"... We went back to organic, full fat, real whole foods.

We followed the detox for three weeks and MY JOINT PAIN WAS COMPLETELY GONE!!! Not only that, the weight has been falling off... I literally cannot stop losing weight, but I'm doing it SLOW and healthy. I'm still on the journey, actually just 7 months into it, but I've lost a total of 49 pounds so far and I feel better than I EVER have in 20 YEARS!

Hear is what I want you... YES YOU, to know: The lesson I have learned is that there will always be pain in our lives. The thing is, we can choose when we want it to arrive.

What I mean is, it was VERY HARD to change my eating habits and what I feed my family. It was hard to learn how to cook differently. It was hard to learn how to shop for groceries differently. It was hard to delay gratification and turn down foods that "taste" awesome.  It IS HARD to avoid sugar! It was hard to face the "caffeine headaches" and crazy sugar withdrawals.

All of this was painful!

But guess what? Most of it is OVER! It's still hard sometimes facing choices and making sacrifices, but it's SO worth it!  I am ENJOYING my life AND my HEALTH and I'm enjoying it PAIN FREE! Praise the Lord! :)

Perhaps, the thing I'm most enjoying is the comfort knowing that all the years of eating poorly and ignoring the signals WON'T catch up with me one day. It WON'T hit me the day my kids are older and I'm facing life threatening health issues. I believe I'm not at risk of family genetics like diabetes, heart failure, cancer or anything else. I feel like God has blessed me with the knowledge, education and PASSION to change my life. Not only that, I know God wants me to help YOU change yours as well.

We all Choose pain in our lives. If you are facing health issues, if your reliant on prescriptions to help relieve the painful symptoms, if you KNOW you have been ignoring the warning signals that your body has been sending you.... Then the question to ask yourself is:

"Do I choose pain NOW or LATER?"  

"Are poor food choices NEGATIVELY affecting my health?"

I want to both help challenge AND support you! It can be done. Believe me... If I did it, YOU CAN TOO! ;)

Here We Go!

Well, this is post ONE on my FIRST ever blog! I've been wanting a place to share my thoughts for a few years, but life gets in the way. Baby after baby, after baby. I've always had an excuse... That seems to happen in life. Excuses after excuses of why we aren't doing what we REALLY want to be doing... Next thing I know, I'll wake up at 50, and realize I've accomplished none of my life "dreams" or "goals" and have only influenced my small circle of Arkansas friends.  Well, I'm putting my foot down NOW! I know it might sounds silly, considering it's JUST a blog... But it's not JUST a blog, it's something SO MUCH MORE. (hints the title)

This blog represents how I can help share my passions, knowledge, and the Truth. What good would I be if I never imparted this Truth on other people? So, you might be wondering, "What are your passions, Casey?"  And here is the answer: I have a drive to help people better themselves! 
So, MY blog will be sharing:

• Truth of Jesus Christ and His glorious Love, Peace, and Grace. Ahhh, Thank you Lord!

• Information to help people change their HEALTH (a big one for me). I have a crazy journey of how I got where I am today (knowledge about whole Organic foods and the gut) which will totally INSPIRE, but it will be another soon to be blog post, so get ready.  

• My new found passion of Young Living Essential Oils... OH MY WORD... I can't even begin to describe the power of these pure organic oils. Seriously, I didn't really believe in them, until I experienced them for myself. And I WANT TO SHARE THEM WITH THE WORLD!!!!  

• Random Parenting/Biddie posts thrown in the mix... I'm a stay at home Momma of 3 under 5, so it's bound to happen. Being a Mother is by far the most rewarding, hardest, amazing, time consuming, unselfish, greatest job EVER... Yes, it's possible to have all of those adjectives describing ONE thing. Any Momma out there would agree, I'm sure! 

Okay, post 1 done... Not real sure how to end it..

Come follow me, you'll be glad you did?... No...
Come follow my blog, you won't regret it? ... No...

Stay Tuned! ... YES!!! :-)