Exaltation of the Cross

Today is the Exaltation of the Cross but it is also known as the Triumph of the Cross, Elevation of the Cross or Roodmas. Today is in celebration of finding the "True Cross," the cross that Jesus was crucified on. According to tradition, Saint Helena, near death, decided under divine inspiration to travel to Jerusalem to search for the Holy Sepulchre. This was in attempt to locate the True Cross. Judas, a man from Jerusalem,  aware of the tradition of the hiding of the Cross, led Saint Helena to the Holy Sepulchre. There they found three crosses. From a letter of St. Paulinus to Severus inserted in the Breviary of Paris it appears that St. Helena searched by a miracle to discover which was the True Cross. Saint Helena had a dead man unburied to be carried to the spot. At contact with the third cross, he came back to life. There is another tradition saying that the titulus, or inscription, had remained attached to the Cross.

In honor of the Exaltation of the Cross we enjoyed Crockpot Spaghetti Squash Marinara with Roasted Vegetables. We decided to eat this as our family dinner because I am still participating in my Vegan for a Week Challenge {Take 2} and because spaghetti is really a great and easy meal that is symbolic of this feast day. Red is a color that truly symbolizes the blood that was shed on the cross for our salvation. You can also serve it in a Cross shaped pan.

Crockpot Spaghetti Squash:

1 Medium-Large Spaghetti Squash

2 Cups Mushrooms

1 Small Onion (Sliced)

1 Medium Green Pepper (Sliced)

1 Jar Marinara

Italian Seasoning to taste

Cut the spaghetti squash in half short ways so it fits in the crockpot easier. Scoop out the seeds from the squash. Pour the entire jar of Marinara into the crockpot. Season the flesh of the spaghetti squash with Italian seasoning. Place the spaghetti squash face down in the crockpot. Add the vegetables on top of the spaghetti squash and place the lid on the crockpot. Cook on High for 1-2 hours or Low for 3-4 hours. 

You can make cakes, cookies or any type of treat that is prepared in the shape of a cross. Checkout Catholic Cuisine for some really neat baking ideas. 

In addition to food there are several fun activities you could do today. Participate in praying the Stations of the Cross or other prayers that center around the Cross. Put together a scavenger hunt that emulates the search of Saint Helena searching for the True Cross or decorate a Cross to use as a Rosary holder. 

The way I envisioned the Cross Scavenger hunt would be to use symbols of the Stations of the Cross and hide them (maybe even pull out the Easter Eggs to hide the symbols). Create a map and little clues to lead the children to the next symbol until they reach the end that would be a Cross.

I wish I could have put together a scavenger hunt for the boys but we were double booked with football practice and a soccer game. In normal circumstances I add our fun activities to our weekend but we will be celebrating my cousin's wedding in Kansas! I hope you all enjoyed this special feast day and I would love to hear all about it! 

Prayer Before A Crucifix:

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul I pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment; while I contemplate with great love and tender pity Thy five wounds, pondering over them within me, having in mind the words which David Thy prophet said of Thee, my Jesus: "They have pierced my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones."

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be for the Holy Father's intentions

Vegan for a Week {Take 2}

I am in need of a reset for my body. Over the summer my husband and I challenged each other to a Vegan for a Week Challenge. It is a great way to cleanse your body and renew your eating habits. I am really excited about this challenge and hope I can inspire you to give it a try. It is also the last "official" week of summer so I thought the timing was perfect!

 Here is our delicious menu for the week and we will still be celebrating the Liturgical Year even with my added dietary restrictions. Since this is a special week I will be sharing some recipes here in this post and I am still linking up with Menu Plan Monday. 

Monday: Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary

Quinoa Vegetable Wraps

Tuesday:

Black Beans and Rice (Maybe Walnut Taco Meat)

Wednesday: Exaltation of the Cross

Crockpot Spaghetti Squash and Marinara

Thursday: Our Lady of Sorrows

Quinoa Pilaf with Peas and Almonds

Friday:

Basil Pest Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

Saturday: Serina's Wedding

Wedding Reception

Sunday:

Three Bean Chili

Breakfast:

Some great vegan options for breakfast include overnight oats, plain oatmeal with fresh fruit topping, fruit smoothie, toast with almond butter. I think for this challenge I will stick with fruit smoothies and plain oatmeal. I am a little tired of the overnight oats for now. I still need to get pumpkin puree to make those amazing pumpkin pie latte oats again!

Lunch:

Salads, wraps and vegetable soups make great lunches. Beans, Rice, Quinoa and Vegetables are stables of a Vegan diet and there are so many different combinations to create great meals. I have a friend that eats Vegan everyday and she always mentions great Vegan places to eat and recipes.

This is a late post so I have finished Day 1 of my Vegan for a Week Challenge successfully! If you decide to try this challenge out, it is a great way to detox your body and get a nice boost of nutrients into your body!

God Bless!

{SQT}: The Great Things to Come

This week has been a complete blur. I have been fighting with my allergies or something and it has completely kicked my butt! So I thought I would save everyone from hearing how I didn't really complete much of anything... just started or halfway completed things. I think we all have a week or two like that every once in awhile. Instead I thought I would share about some of the fun new things that we will be diving into over the next few weeks because I need the motivation and looking to what the week ahead seems way more interesting and exciting than the mess of a week I muddled through this past week. 

{ONE}

We are starting CCD tomorrow! This will be my second time volunteering as a Catechist in my older son's classroom as well. I am so looking forward to tomorrow. It will be the official start to a new week and I can wrap up all the "unfinished business" of last week with a clean slate. Little Man will be altar serving at the 8AM Mass as well so we will be up bright and early, ready to tackle the day.

{TWO}

I will be starting another Vegan for a Week Challenge Monday! I like challenging myself to be in a healthier lifestyle and I think I need the increase of nutrients from the fruits and veggies to help heal my body from whatever this "sickness" I'm fighting is doing to me. I also like to limit the type of food I am consuming as an offering to God. I do this with a grateful heart and will offer up the times I find this challenge difficult up to God for my sins and the sins of my family. Saint Rose of Lima gave up eating meat completely in honor of God. Please join me if you like!

{THREE}

Goalie will be starting a new group therapy session starting in a week or two. The Group is called the Dino School Group (so cute!). The group will consist of children that deal with developmental delays and other challenges like ADHD and SPD. Goalie is so excited to be around other boys and girls that understand how hard it is to be a child with delays in a regular classroom setting. I am excited to see how this will help Goalie control his anger, sadness and other behaviors that he struggles to contain. 

{FOUR}

We will be going on a small trip to Kansas to visit with my family and celebrate my cousin Serina's wedding. When I lived in Florida, it was nearly impossible to see my dad's side of the family because the distance was so far, travel isn't cheap and taking time off work, school and other activities is difficult. Being closer to then geographically has been great! We were able to go visit for two days back in January and we will have another two days to celebrate this upcoming weekend. 

{FIVE}

One of the few things I can say I can check off my to-do list from this week is I ordered the boys' Halloween costumes. We decided to all dress up as characters from Star Wars. The boys are all ready thinking of what Saints they would like to be for All Saints Day too. My boys love to dress up so these are two of their favorite memories to create during the Autumn season. The picture above is one of my favorites when Little Man dressed as Saint Dominic. I know its still over a month away but what are you doing for Halloween? All Saints Day? 

{SIX}

We are all ready discussing what winter activity to put the boys in for the winter. In Florida there were outdoor sports all year long but here in Colorado they don't offer any outdoor sport due to the cold weather. Goalie was in karate last year so we contemplating picking it back up. It did wonders for his discipline and he actually had several other friends from his Disability Preschool class that attended the same Dojo. Little Man has been asking us about Cub Scouts. I have no experience with Cub Scouts so I sent out an email to the Pack he would be joining to get some basic information. I would really like to get them in a Blue Knights group but I don't think we have any near us. As of right now, I have no clue what we will decide or if the boys will be doing separate activities again. 

{SEVEN}

We finally got a new couch that the entire family can sit on! I had to share because it has been the highlight of the entire week for the whole family. It takes up most of the living room but it is super comfy and already decorated for Autumn. 

I am so excited about all the great things to come. Please pray I kick whatever it is my body is fighting because I would love to be able to breathe properly at mass and CCD tomorrow and maybe even get a little extra sleep so I am not so tired throughout the day! 

God Bless!

Challenge: Vegan for a Week

Some of my Facebook friends and I are doing a challenge to be vegan for a week. And let me tell you it is certainly a challenge! I love dairy and I am craving some greek yogurt and cheese!! Thank goodness I have some great people and my husband that are here to keep me accountable. There are so many vegan options and I am having fun experimenting with new recipes.

Breakfast:
My husband and I really enjoy overnight oats (also known as cold porridge or summer porridge). The normal recipe I use I can't use because it includes greek yogurt. I love having oats for breakfast so I decided to make mine the vegan way!

The Basic Oat Recipe:

1/2 Cup Old Fashioned Oats (Do not use steel cut or quick oats)

1/3 Cup Silk Dairy Free Yogurt 

1/3 Cup Almond milk

Combine all the ingredients in a mason jar and seal the lid and shake until well mixed

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oats:

Add 2 Tbsp PB2 with chocolate and 1 whole banana split and cut to the basic oat recipe. Reseal the lid and shake again until mixed. Place in refrigerator until morning

Strawberry Banana Oats:

Add 1/3 cup frozen strawberries and 1/2 banana to the basic oat recipe. Reseal the lid and shake again until mixed. Place in the refrigerator until morning.

Lunch:
Lunchtime is always the hardest for me to find something healthy to eat because the boys are at school and my husband is at work so I am all alone. I don't want to create a huge mess preparing one meal for myself so this is when I snack and make my bad eating decisions. Having a meal plan works wonders and prepping foods that can be made in larger portions helps also. In anticipation of my lunch time, I decided to make a three bean salad.

Three Bean Salad:

1 Can Kidney beans

1 Can Garbanzo beans

1 Can Green beans

1/2 Cup Green pepper diced

1/2 Cup Red pepper diced

1 Apple (cored and diced) toss in lemon juice to keep from browning

3 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tsp Dijon Mustard

1 Tsp Ground Cloves

1 Tsp Pepper

Combine all the ingredients (including the apple cider vinegar, mustard, pepper and cloves) into a container with a lid and shake. The salad will taste even better after being placed in the refrigerator overnight.

There are many variations of this salad including substituting black beans as one of the "three" beans,  or adding onion, celery.

Dinner:
Dinner time is family time so we have to have some good food for that! We are not forcing the boys to adhere to our diet so anything we make to eat I prepare the meat or other non vegan items separately. We made some Taco Salads for dinner tonight excluding the cheese, sour cream and meat for myself and my husband.

Our salad started with a base of Spring mix. I topped it with a mixture of corn and black beans. I grilled some onion with red and green peppers and layered that on top of the corn and black beans. To finish the salad I added avocado and black olives and used salsa as our dressing.

We are attempting to make some changes in our diets and keep our bodies healthy. I would love to hear about new challenges or ideas to add some excitement on our journey to a healthier lifestyle.