Gluten-Free Broccoli Cheesy Bites

My sons favorite veggie at the moment is broccoli, so he was pretty excited about this one when I showed it to him on Pinterest. He picked it out himself and said, "Let's make that one Mom!" So we found the recipe and tweaked it a little to be gluten free, since he has recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. He helped make them and most importantly, we both REALLY LOVED them! You can play with whatever spices you prefer, I used a lot of different ones, but make it your own! We also used a little ranch to dip em' in. I'm sure there are some better dips that this would be great with! Have fun with it and enjoy!!

Gluten-Free Broccoli Cheesy Bites:

-3/4c. Gluten Free Flour
-1/4c. Cornmeal
-16oz. Bag of broccoli Florets- Diced (I used frozen and ran under warm water to thaw out)
-1 1/2c. Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or whatever you prefer)
-3 Eggs
Season with spices of your choice

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl, heat olive oil in your pan on medium heat and make palm size "patties" and place in pan until golden brown on both sides. Makes about 14.

Here's the original link I found on Pinterest for reference:

http://recipesweet.net/broccoli-cheese-bites/#comment-3022

Love Dare: Day 26 Love is God's Word

Today's Dare

Commit to reading the Bible every day.  Find a devotional book or other resource that will give you some guidance.  If your spouse is open to it, see if they will commit to daily Bible reading with you.  Begin submitting each area of your life to its guidance and start building on the rock.



   Reading the Bible everyday can seem like a pretty easy task, but it falls short of reality sometimes. Talking with other women of faith, they seem to have the same struggle as me...it comes and goes in spurts to stay in Gods word on a daily basis. Life gets busy, we let other things come first before God and before you know it, the week has come to an end and we haven't opened up our bibles once.
If you're anything like me, you noticed that week was full of anxiety, full of stress, short tempers and not at all "godly". Why does such a little task of reading gods word for 5 or 10 minutes a day seem so hard and so big, that we put it on the back burner to do later?
Maybe because we don't want to be convicted, maybe because we don't want to change, maybe because we know there's something better, but it takes work, hard work and it's scary! It can be heavy, yes I know this first hand. God speaking to us isn't something to take lightly, it's life changing if we allow it. I hold back from God a lot, sometimes thinking I don't deserve His love and therefor don't deserve the positive changes in my life He wants to give me. I don't allow the change to happen on His time and try to do it alone. Then I get to a point where I'm overwhelmed, overtired, emotionally exhausted and at my breaking point. That's when I know I'm relying on myself too much. I know all this and still don't allow myself to rely on Him fully, knowing that that will be the outcome.
   The beautiful thing about Gods love though is that through my faults, selfishness and pridefulness of thinking, "I got this!", He allows me to fall and stumble, only to come back to Him with open arms waiting for me to admit I need help, over and over. He is always constant. He is always there. This is a lesson I'm relearning over and over and maybe one day it will stick...hopefully.
    As far as this specific dare, I have finished the love dare a couple weeks ago but haven't been keeping everything updated on here regularly. I'm getting back into my daily bible reading and trying harder to allow it to guide me. I haven't asked my husband to do a daily bible reading together because we don't communicate well at the moment, maybe that will come later though hopefully! I know he is trying hard to stay focused though and be in the word, I'm not worried about that. Just need to stay focused on myself and the work God is doing in me.
I'm a child of a King, always loved, no matter what.


http://www.klove.com/blog/post/2010/02/10/love-dare-day-36.aspx

Love Dare :Day 35 Love is Accountable

Today's Dare

Find a marriage mentor - someone who is a strong Christian and who will be honest and loving with you.  If you feel that counseling is needed, then take the first step to set up an appointment.  During this process, ask God to direct your decisions and discernment.


    I feel incredibly blessed to have a small group of girlfriends that I can go to for anything, but mostly for Spiritual advice. Especially since my separation from my husband in January. I have been careful not to stray out of my "sister circle" to get REAL advice. Other people may know my circumstances, but they don't know my heart and who's advice and guidance I take to heart has to be very selective. I've had to learn this the hard way. Just because you are close with someone, doesn't mean they have the best advice to give you. 
For a long while, I was tremendously worried for my husband spiritually. I still am. He had become so withdrawn from me (and still is to a point) and seemed to be becoming a complete stranger to me. A man I once knew to light up a room with his love, carefree, funny personality, was gone. His eyes seem empty sometimes still and the further I try to pull him back, the further he pulls away. He has admitted to me in the past since our separation, that he stopped reading his Bible, stopped seeing his "Christian brothers" on a regular basis and stopped staying connected in the church and drew away for a time because he became mad at God. When I heard this, my heart broke. I understood his hurt and I wanted so badly just to hold him and tell him that everything's going to be ok and we're going to be fine. But we both know that would be a lie. We don't know anything. 
    He has just recently started getting connected again to church, which makes me really happy, but there is still so much distance between us. We have started going to marriage counseling through our church again for the past month and a half and it seems to help us get some issues out on the table and tell our side and sort through all the "junk" and the other person has to listen without interruption. I love going, even if it's heavy and it doesn't end cheerfully, (I always end up crying at some point), even if we don't come to a complete resolution, atleast its one time every other week that we can completely hear each other out. It's effort and for that, I'm grateful. We aren't at all where I would like us to be yet. I have requested to move back in multiple times and invited him over for dinner or family time on a weekly basis and the answer is always, no. It hurts my heart and I feel like I'm just torturing myself repeatedly. Honestly, I don't know if there will be the happy ending that I want so badly and I guess I have to accept that that may be a reality, but I'm not going to give up. I will always let him know he's loved and admired by his wife, even when he doesn't want to hear it. Having our mutual friend as our marriage counselor is helpful because he is completely honest and biblically teaches us what Christ asks of us through our marriage. It's a tremendously difficult thing to be broken down and hurt repeatedly by the one person in the world you gave yourself to as a life partner and go through the process of forgiveness and heal to love one another...again. To find the purpose in the pain that has happened and use it to strengthen us, our marriage and our family.
   I will never give up hope.
 
"Sometimes relationships grow stronger through conflict. But other times relationships end. Because I can't control the other person, I must keep focusing on the good God is doing in me through this, and leave the outcome with Him." -Lisa TerKeurst


http://www.klove.com/blog/post/2010/02/09/Love-Dare-Day-35.aspx

Love Dare: Day 34 Love Celebrates Godliness

Today's Dare

Find a specific, recent example when your spouse demonstrated Christian character in a noticeable way.  Verbally commend them for this at some point today.

                            (I'm not up to date on my blog, so I'm backtracking from last week.)
   There was a great example that my husband demonstrated as Christian character last week. I told my him afterwards that I appreciated that he was open with me and cared enough to tell me that he didn't think I was emotionally ready to take on a volunteering position I was really looking forward to. I wrote about it in this post. http://sparklesandspilledmilk.blogspot.com/2014/04/god-had-other-plansa-lesson-in-humility.html
I know it wasn't easy for him to tell me, but it was a Christian characteristic to listen to what God was telling him and lead me in the right direction as his wife. It was also a hard thing for me to listen and follow through with, but I knew he had my best interest at heart. The world may offer us a multitude of opportunities, some at the same time, but we have to be very choosy on what we take on and make sure its the right time for everything. The things that the world offers us can look so tempting and can seem to be the "right" thing to do, but we have to make sure its what God wants us to do. It can be really hard to see that clearly sometimes when the opportunities arise. Staying in prayer and asking for Gods guidance in situations is the only way we will ever know for sure if we are making the right decisions and sometimes we still make mistakes. But that's where God's grace comes in and picks us up. I was proud of my husband for stepping up and showing me he cared and what could have been another blow up fight, wasn't. We both allowed God to lead us in the right direction and decision making. I find that I also need him to trust and believe in me as well. To have the support of your spouse is better then any cheer leading squad my your side 24 hrs.a day. I know we both haven't been there as supporters for each other in the way the other needed in the past, but that's where you don't give up and you try your best to do better in the future.



http://www.klove.com/blog/post/2010/02/08/Love-Dare-Day-34.aspx

God has other plans...a lesson in humility and TRUST.

    I recently accepted a volunteer position at a local pregnancy center to start training to become an advocate (counselor) for women that have unplanned pregnancies. I felt really strongly that God was leading me there and the door was wide open for me on this, so i prayed about it for weeks before making the decision to act on it. At this same time, I have also accepted another position leading a women's ministry group at church that I was personally asked to take over. I knew both of these opportunities would be a huge emotional investment on top of the emotional stress of being separated from my husband.

    I have been so excited & eager to go through this training to help other women, because I have a huge heart to give. I feel I have a lot of life experience and a lot to offer in this opportunity and I could be a great asset to the center. That's why I felt God was pulling me toward there. I had just finished up Dare 33, which talks about getting counsel and perspective from your spouse and working together in making decisions, but ultimately the husband has the responsibility to make the final decision for his family. This is something I didn't do in this case. I TOLD him what I was doing instead of ASKING his thoughts about it. So 2 days ago, he sent me a very long text and explained to me in a very loving way that, even though I was very excited about this opportunity, he didn't think I was emotionally ready to do it at this time, (with everything else going on). He didn't think I would be able to give the girls what they needed when Me myself still had a lot of things I had to straighten out at home and in my own relationship. He asked me not to respond and just pray about it and really seek God's guidance in this decision.

     Well, after just earlier that day I had apologized to him for not allowing him to always take the lead in our family and fighting with him on decisions and trying to do things my way, I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking through him. It was an opportunity for me to put aside what I wanted and desired and follow my husbands advice. Especially, if I really meant what I said to him just earlier that day. God was giving me an opportunity to show him that I TRUSTED him and that I needed to learn to be humble in it.

      So yesterday, I went to his house in the morning before I headed off to my first day volunteering at the center, to talk to him about it. I told him my thoughts and that I really felt that was a place God was leading me but if he REALLY thinks I'm not ready to take on the training right away, then I wouldn't do it. He said, "Its not that I don't want you to do it, just not at this moment, so maybe later. Take it slow." We came up with the compromise that I could still volunteer at the center, but start slow- doing just stuff around the office or whatever they need help with and feel it out. Then later on, when I'm ready I can start the training process and start working one on one with the clients. This isn't initially what I wanted, but I knew I had to trust his decision.
    I headed to the center, spoke with the Director about my change of plans and explained to her why. Since its a Christian based center, she completely understood where I was coming from. She said no problem and that she has lots of projects that need to get done. then while I was there, a client called and the director answered the phone. The client informed her that her baby has passed away....
The director was spiritually prepared, said her condolences and prayed with her. I knew right then that my husband was right! If I would've answered that phone, I would've lost it emotionally. It was a hard realization that I needed to learn humility and that I wasn't as ready as I thought I was. This is sometimes a really hard lesson to learn. Especially when we want to always think that we know whats best for us. My husband allowed the Holy Spirit to work through him and confront me on something that I desired so badly. It could've ended horribly and I could've said, "No, I"m going to do it MY way!" Instead, i had to learn to be humble and trust that my husband has a great responsibility to lead me in Gods way. I need to be obedient to allow the trust and love to be rebuilt in our marriage.

Day 33: Love Completes Each Other

Today's Dare

Recognize that your spouse is integral to your future success.  Let them know today that you desire to include them in your upcoming decisions, and that you need their perspective and counsel.  If you have ignored their input in the past, admit your oversight and ask them to forgive you.



      There is a few sentences in this chapter that stood out to me that I kept reading over and over, "Love must be willing to act alone if necessary, it is always better when it's not just a solo performance. Love can function on its own if there is no other way, but there is a "more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31). 
   This tells me that marriage should be 100/100, both in complety! But sometimes it's 60/40 or 80/20. When one partner is weak, the other NEEDS TO BE STRONGER. We are called to lift up and encourage one another, especially if one is struggling for any reason. "Two are better than one because they have a good return on their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion."(Ecc. 4:9)
Jesus lifts us up and carries us when we fall, our spouse is called to do the same. We are imperfect people and imperfect spouses. Marrying someone means you are accepting their imperfections and promising to help them through any struggle. Not push them away when those struggles or disagreements happen. 

   We all have differences and in our marriages. Some more than others. Our differences can compliment each other if we let them or tear us further and further apart. We each have things we do better than our spouse and we can't let our differences cause conflict. We need to learn to embrace our spouses gifts that are different than our own. (This can be incredibly difficult, especially for an OCD person like myself that is used to having things done a certain way. Haha!)
I have been guilty of not taking my husbands advice and ignoring his input so many times! I know that when we were together, he only wanted the best for me and our family. Sometimes, I didn't understand his logic for something and went the other way. That was wrong of me and God calls me to have total trust in my husband as the leader of our family. I guess sometimes you just have to learn things through your own mistakes and do better next time. 

     We have had so many wasted opportunities in our marriage to embrace the others "gifts" and wasted opportunities to spend time with one another as a family because we can't get past those differences and we allow the hurt and pride to take over. But it takes both husband and wife to work together to progress forward in the marriage. You have to BOTH agree to never give up on one another, no matter what. Marriage will never sustain through all the stress and hardships that life throws at you if one of you gives up when it gets tough, even when "tough" lasts for a few years. Life is tough and it's never blissful 100%. 

   Just because we haven't complimented our spouses differences in the past and embraced their gifts, doesn't mean we can't change and make the effort to do it- starting from today! It's a lifelong journey of learning and re-learning. Our God is a God of 2nd chances and renewal, we just have to be open to His healing!




http://www.klove.com/BLOG/post/2010/02/07/Love-Dare-Day-33.aspx

Love Dare: Day 32 Love Meets Sexual Needs

Today's Dare

If at all possible, try to initiate sex with your husband or wife today.  Do this in a way that honors what your spouse has told you (or implied to you) about what they need from you sexually.  Ask God to make this enjoyable for both of you as well as a path to greater intimacy.


   Reading over this chapter, it shares about how God has a lot to say about sex in the Bible. It talks about the restrictions before marriage and the blessings it can give us with our spouse. 
Before my husband and I got married we had pre-marital sex. You may think this is too much info to share, but I feel it's important to know because it shapes the way a couple is after they are married I unity. And most couples in society today are the same. 
At the time, I didn't think this was a big deal at all and actually encouraged it, (that was before I became a Christ follower). I never understood the thought process of holding off till marriage, I thought this was only for "radical Christians" and who would ever wait that long! Now being married and a Christian, I completely understand the process and devotion of saving yourself for the one person that God will give you as a spouse to share all those very special experiences with. I will encourage and raise both my kids up to respect their bodies and the bodies of the opposite sex and that isn't something to just give away and it isn't meaningless.
   I had sexual experiences and emotional damage happen from them before I was with my husband. Most of them just meaningless and trying to use sex to fill a void of something missing in my life and just wanting to feel loved. I know that is something very personal to tell, but I feel a lot of other people have experienced the same thing and honesty is healing. I carried all those past hurts with me of giving myself away throughout my life and soon had so much emptiness I had nothing left to give and felt more alone than ever. That's why the importance of saving yourself for your spouse is so  important. You aren't bringing in damage from past hurts into your marriage when you are pure for your spouse. That's why "the marriage bed is to be undefiled" (Hebrews 13:4) we are not to share this experience with anyone else.

    Fast forward to the year we got married. That same year, we also had our son and I moved from Los Angeles to northern California. I had no friends or family near me. It was a VERY hard year for me. After I had my son, I developed terrible post-partum depression. I feel this is only just now starting to get talked about more in the media in the last few years, but if you have been so unlucky to have this happen to you, it is NOT the baby blues! It was almost 2 years of me being emotionally numb and unresponsive to things I knew I should've been upset about or cared more about (like my husbands needs), being on multiple anti-depressants and my husband and I grew apart emotionally and physically. I NEVER wanted to have sex and it had nothing to do with my husband! He did everything he could to help me and we would talk about it and it we would both be frustrated. I could honestly go a month without thinking about sex. It was the furthest thing on my mind every day. We had a great love life beforehand and we were made perfectly for each other in the intimacy department, and then all of a sudden a dark cloud took over my mind and I didn't feel anything but withdrawn and not myself for a very long time. It wasn't something I did on purpose and I hated being in that state of "numbness" during that period. It in turn was hurting my husbands ego as the leader of our home and our connection as husband and wife.
    This is when it started to go south in our marriage. I eventually got better, but the damage from that period of time on both of us was so detrimental, it was hard to erase the hurt. I felt so much guilt for not being there for him for so long and I didn't know how to make it better and repair the hurt I caused him by not nurturing him and showing him love on a regular basis when he needed it.

   I know this is a problem that many married couples have and that's why I feel it's important to be honest about. Since I've started this Love Dare many women have privately connected with me about their struggles in their marriage as well and it's heartbreaking to hear their stories. Real life situations of infidelity, abuse, feeling inadequate and couples that don't have sex or have any intimacy at all. But one thing was the same in all of them...they are all fighting to still stay together and heal from the damage and hurt.
  Sex is not to be used as a bargaining tool or to be with held from the other. We are to serve one another and meet each other's sexual needs as husband and wife. Just read the songs of Solomon, what a beautiful love story! It's so passionate! (and to be honest, very sexually detailed for a story in the bible.) The very first chapter says,"let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth", "how handsome you are, my beloved", "how beautiful you are, my darling"...it's a love letter in great detail! 

   I know from personal experience it's not always easy to do the things we know we should for our spouse and we will never completely fulfill their every need and desire. I will be completely honest and take responsibility for my part of not fulfilling all my husbands needs. For that I feel huge guilt. This is something I greatly struggle with, but I know as I grow in my relationship with Christ, that with Him as my center it's NOT impossible to heal from the past hurts and try my best to be there for my husband when he needs me. Even if I haven't done it in the past as much as I should, our God is a great healer and one that can unite a couple when both open their hearts to let Him.



http://www.klove.com/blog/post/2010/02/06/Love-Dare-Day-32.aspx