Recipe Experiment: Meatballs and Mushrooms

This was another I just came up with on my own...

I made meatballs (ground beef, breadcrumbs, raw soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, green onion, mushroom stems) and seared them quickly in a pan.

I preheated the oven to 350F. I took the stems out of some mini portabello mushrooms and placed the caps in a muffin tin.

I put a meatball over each mushroom cap and put it all in the oven. Cook until the meatballs are cooked through.

Recipe Experiment: Mexican Chicken with Roasted Veggies

No pictures...sorry. We were HUNGRY!

I chopped several veggies. Onion, bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, avocado, tomato, and carrot.
I mixed some balsamic vinegar, raw soy sauce, Dijon, garlic powder, dash of cayenne, pepper, and a dash of chili powder. (Do it to taste)
I put the chopped veggies in a bag and poured the mixture over and covered the veggies. Pop them into a 450F oven for 35 minutes and stir once.

Earlier in the day I put a tomatillo, a handful of cherry tomatoes (seriously, a handful), onion, a splash of chicken broth, and some Mexican seasonings in a blender.
I skinned chicken thighs and put it all in a bag to marinade during the day.
I coarsely chopped some green onion and cooked it all in a pan (with the juices) until the chicken was cooked through (I added more broth at one point...that's up to you)


It was honestly easy! More experiments to come!!!

This Love is Free

One of the neatest conversations I had as a teenager was with my mom and brother in some little restaurant. I can't remember how we got on the topic, but we were discussing Love. Every "love" we put out for discussion had some sort of stipulation attached.

You can't love your husband if you never meet him.

You can't love your kids if you never have them.

You can't love your mom if you're never born.

And so the conversation went. You wouldn't think that a topic like this could keep everyone's interest for a long time, but it filled time until the food came.

There was one kind of love that we decided was, in fact, totally free.

God's Love.

He loves us no matter what. He loved us before we were born. There are NO stipulations attached. No rules. Nothing.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...

June Results!!

Check this out:

See the slimming in the waist?

My favorite part: Check out the butt lift!!!

Yes, this is all from eating healthy and exercising *almost* daily!


On top of that, I recently became a Team Beachbody Coach. So head on over and check out this cool company:
beachbodycoach.com/kasmorin
myshakeology.com/kasmorin

Shakeology (the second link) is AWESOME.

How to Make a Budget

Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My husband and I have been working out of a strict budget for several months now. It's really great. It was hard at first, but very worth it. I wanted to share how we went about figuring things out...

The basic rule is: Don't spend more than you earn. 
Now, I know a lot of you are saying, "Well DUH!" but you'd be surprised at how many people have hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card debt just because they didn't follow this rule!

1) Take your paychecks (if you work on commission figure an average) for the month. Write that number down.

2) Gather all of your bills. Write that number down.

3) Subtract bills from paycheck. This is the amount of money you have to spend on living expenses.

4) If you drive figure what you spend on gas (this will be an estimate) Subtract that from the number.

5) Figure out what you need for meals. Personally, we spend about $500 a month on food (including the raw milk...so closer to $350 on actual food)

6) Give yourself some money for fun stuff!!! We have a "blow fund" that we use on eating out or silly purchases.

7) Do you have any money leftover? You can put that toward debts (that's MY recommendation) or put it in the food or "blow" fund!

8) We work with cash. If you don't like cash you can always keep a detailed list of when you spend money. ALWAYS KEEP IT UP TO DATE!!!


So, those are the basic steps to a budget. Trust me, you'll feel better if you do this.

Fitness in June II

I've been trying to stay on top of my exercise and whatnot. I do pretty well. I've also been tracking my calories. I've started doing this again for 2 reasons.

1) I need to eat a minimum of 1800 calories a day for breastfeeding purposes.

2) It's really interesting.

Let's talk about number 2 for a moment. Seriously, when you start watching calories you find out a lot of interesting things about food. Like, a couple of Oreo Cookies and a glass of milk is about 200 calories...and not very filling. OR a two egg omelet with avocado is about 200 calories and keeps you full for hours. I've really started watching my food choices. Like, I *could* eat the cookies and be hungry in 20 minutes or I could eat something more nutrient dense and actually do my body some good.

I can't show photos yet (because I promised myself I wouldn't take the "after" pics until the end of the month...so another week!) but I'm losing inches. My hips are slimming out! It's so exciting.


This morning I took the kids on a walk (meaning, I walked while wearing the baby and pushing the toddler in the stroller) Now, I have a set path that I walk. There's a point about 5mins in where I have a choice. I can go left and only walk 5 more minutes OR I can go right and go 15 more minutes. On days when I kind of don't want to walk I make myself get to that point. Last week I felt icky so I went left. Today, however, I hit that point and could feel my body changing and going into the aerobic mode. So, I went right. My goal is to work out two more times today...we'll see!

21 Days of...fail

I signed up to be a leader in the 21 Days of Prayer challenge...

and I failed...miserably.

It's not that I don't pray for my sons. No, I pray daily. I'm just not able to pray the specific prayers. Mine go something like this:

"God give me patience."

"Lord give me peace."

"Jesus help me to like my kids right now."

"Jesus Jesus Jesus calm his tummy and keep him from getting sick (carsick) Jesus Jesus Jesus....."


So, I'm sorry that I've failed you. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep up enough. I knew better than to sign up for something right now.

21 Days: Obedience

Good Morning Fellow Prayer Warriors!

Before I begin I know that some of you are working out of a different edition of the book. The first Edition begins with Obedience and the second with Heart Change. I still have the first edition (and many of you do as well) so I hope it's okay that we work from that...If that changes I'll let you know.

So today we're talking about obedience. This is a tough subject for anyone, especially when you consider that Jesus said:Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

One of the ways we show our love for Jesus by obeying Him.

This subject is something we, of course, struggle with in our house. I mean, I DO have a two year old. Not only that, but he's a 2 year old with sensory issues. So a lot of his disobedience isn't out of malice...it's because he's seeking something that he needs. When he needs that deep touch he starts jumping on the couch and crashing off of it. When I tell him to stop or try to distract him it doesn't work because he's compelled to do it. Much like someone with OCD is compelled to touch fenceposts or wash their hands. He's going to keep doing it until he gets what he needs. My son is the one at the zoo that's running his hands along the bushes as he walks. It's tough because things that may look like disobedience are actually his way of asking for help.

So today I want you to pray for obedience. You don't have to pray 10 times during the day. You can do half in the morning or half in the evening or ALL in the evening or whatever works for YOU. The only rule is to PRAY!

I wanted to share something that I did to help me. I read a book where a mom would put prayers in her pocket and pull them out when she got stressed. (Apparently she put her hands in her pocket during times of stress) I go in the kitchen A LOT. So I wrote down several inspirational Scripture and printed off the prayers for the day and put them in this vase. All I have to do is pull one out and say a quick prayer. Each prayer doesn't have to be an hour long. God wants us to pray without ceasing, right? Well, it's hard to pray without ceasing and get things done if each prayer is a huge ordeal. Grab a Scripture and pray as you make lunch, pray tonight while giving baths, pray as you fall asleep. JUST PRAY!

I'm so glad that you're sharing this with me! Keep us updated on how you're doing!

Warrior Prayers Begins Again

Go here: http://www.brookemcglothlin.com/warriorprayers/

We're doing another 21 days of prayer for our boys! I'm going to try to update daily!

Please join my group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_159600017440536&ap=1

OR, if you're not on Facebook, leave a comment below that you'll be joining us!

Fitness in June

I'm being super brave and putting photos of myself out here. No makeup, hair not fixed, etc...These are my before shots.

Not terrible for 5 months postpartum...I still have the "Mommy Pooch" that comes from my belly muscles and skin being stretched...

My goal is to exercise every single day. Even if it's just 10mins.