I'm going to share a recipe that we use a lot in the summer. Our Zucchini bread. . Don't let the name of it discourage you. It is quite tasty. In the summer, we get tons of zucchinis and didn't know what to do with all of them at first. We tried freezing them but it wasn't the same when you went to cook it . . so why not make breads and freeze them! So here ya go!
Ingredients
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/3 cup water
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, apple sauce, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean.
I got this recipe from somewhere but I sort of made it my own by adding some ingredients and taking some away. Like the original recipe had way more sugar than what I typed here and how I make it. I was like "there is no way I am putting that much sugar" Lol.. and it called for more oil but I cut it in half and substituted it with apple sauce. works like a charm and is way healthier. =) Next time I make some, I may experiment with a different all-natural sweetener instead of sugar. And I might try to use all applesauce instead of oil, but I haven't got a clue what it will come out like. So if you try this recipe, I would just make it like I typed it. haha ;)
Hi my precious blog followers! I pray y'all are all doing well and y'all had a nice Memorial Day. I've been a little busy and not at the same time. I know that's a confusing thought but hey, I have a confusing life. ( joking) . . . Last week I got to spend some time with my dear friends up in Starkville while attending the MHEA conference. It was so great seeing all those faces I rarely see. Even though we email, it's just not the same. :) I was so sad when it was departure time. :( but hopefully we will not have to wait too long to see some of y'all! :) . . .And I can kick myself for not taking pictures. I guess I was just enjoying the fellowship with my friends that I totally forgot to snap some shots. :( But anyhow, I've been sick ever since I came back from the conference. It's just what everyone has that I've talked to. ( a summer cold that never goes away ). I still sound like a chipmunk and head all stuffy and it's been almost two weeks. . :P with that and tearing a ligament today in my right knee, having spontaneous headaches throughout the days, getting ( hit ) by a very mad yellow jacket on the forehead, I'm still trying to go along with my daily life. Sometimes the roads tough, but that only makes us stronger. Anywho, I'm gonna go ahead and post some pictures and stuff then call it and ends to this post! Just wanted to update y'all with what's been going down here. :) May not be too interesting but hey, I love the people that God placed in my life and everything else that came with it."Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
( All of these photos are taken from my iPod. So they're not gonna be the best quality. Lol )
Random Picture of me and my beautiful baby sister
And this was just our Memorial Day.. or at least 20 minutes of it.
Katey trying to give lessons. I, learned nothing, but Noah was very interested in learning. :)
My Emmy!
What a Powerful Awesome God we praise and worship. . . He does so much for us. This song has very strong, great lyrics. Very comforting!!
What a moving verse. And so very true. No matter what our age, we need to be a great examples of Christians( if you claim to be). Just like this verse says; in speech, life, love, and purity. We need to be different from this world we live in. We want people to look at us and say "there's something different about her/him." different in a good way. Different than what this world expects form us. We need to be doing what the Lord expects from us. And that's to honor Him in all that we do and say. :)
I pray y'all are all doing well and have a great week!!
Hey y'all!! I was sitting down today and a thought hit me; "I never finished doing the 30 day challenge." Now and then it would come to my mind but then when I would see what day it was, I hadn't had a clue what to put as my answer so I kept pushing it off. :P I know, I'm horrible about things like these...but I AM going to finish it! :) so here we go. . .
A movie no one would expect me to like. hmm...What's so hard about this one is that it really depends on the type of movie. I know there are plenty of movies that y'all wouldn't expect me to like but they are all so different. So how's this... I'll put a couple but in different categories. :)
Animation - I'm not too much of a "Animation" movie kind of gal, but there are a couple that has been "favorites" since I was young or other movies that have caught my eye. ;) One in particular I have always liked watching...even now. Call me weird and immature but I still love watching "A Bug's Life". Something about that show reminds me so much of being young and little. . being so amazed at what these bugs could do... Lol. . . Hey, I'm just "young" at heart. ( not that I'm old ) . . .
Romance/Action - I really can't think of any that y'all couldn't expect me to like. Ha! y'all all know that I'm a "Jane Austen" fan and that I love romance movies. So this one will be a little tough. So tough, that I had to put Romance and Action in one. haha. So I can't think of a single thing so I'm just gonna shoot one out that Y'all might not have known I liked. The "Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy" . . I say trilogy because I never watched the fourth one they made. Only the first three. Somehow those shows amuse me.. :0) And for some odd reason, I look back and I mostly watch them whenever I'm sick or not feeling well. ( Examples: Chicken pox, Flu, healing from having my wisdom teeth out). . .Weird, yes, I know.
SIFI (sorta) - If you didn't know this about me, I like sifi shows! Well, it really depends on what happens in the movie. . .One ( that I'm not going to tell a lot about because it would take too long...you could wikipedia it) is called " I am Legend". There are some parts that scare me and I just have to put a pillow over my face or it'll give me nightmares ( and yes, I still get nightmares ) . . But it is a neat show with a good main actor ( Will Smith ). It's pretty clean as in not having any inappropriate material and I don't remember any cursing.
So there ya go! You might not have expected me to like those movies!! But then again, you may know me better than I thought you did. :) . . . I will definitely try to post more. . Lately, I just haven't had the time nor the thought of what to post about. This past weekend I was thrilled to have gone to the MHEA conference that I look forward to all year round. Most of you who follow my blog know that already ( mainly because you were there) Lol. It was so nice seeing all my friends that I wait to long to see. Love y'all so much and plan on visiting up in Starkville this summer ( yes, I'm super stoked about that ). . .
Pray y'all are all doing well and have a great weekend coming up!! It's crazy really, I thought it was Tuesday today. I'm all discombobulated this week. haha
As I always do when I raid my computer, I leave my pandora on as it plays my favorite music! This song came on and the lyrics were so sweet it made me smile. Few songs will rarely make me smile without making me sad so I thought I might share this one with y'all. It's by one of my favorite artists, Jimmy Needham. Hope you enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this song as I did! And hope y'all all have a great week!!
So yes, that's right! My friend, Kathryn, had this wonderful idea to start a 30 day exercise challenge. I thought this would a great idea! I know I love when I have accountability and encouragement. It makes me want to do it more! And get better at it. I'm just going to go over what she posted on her blog.
This is a simple challenge you add to your regular workout routine ( that's right, it doesn't take the place of your normal schedule ) :) But I promise it wont take much time at all... It's to help you build strength in your core and she had an idea to add a few arm workouts as well ( which I thought was a great idea because I lack strength in my upper body) :(
Here are a few tips. .
If you go on Pandora, I would put in the type of music you like to exercise with and play that while doing this challenge. It helps pass the time and makes it more fun.
If so, doing this with a sibling would make it a lot more interesting and fun as well. When you do it with a person right in front of you, it makes you want to do better. :) Which means faster more efficient results! awesome!
Like Kathryn said on her blog, if you do participate, we would love for you to keep in touch ( email or post comments on this post and hers ). We can share tips, keep each other on track, and give encouragement.
Here's the Challenge
And these are the Extra* arm workouts she added! :D
I think it would be so great if you'd follow along and challenge yourself to do this with us! You can go see Kathryn's blog by clicking Here and check her post about it! She is the one who got me to be doing it!
This post will just be bits and pieces of what's on my mind and what I've been up to.. Sort of like the "random me", but I wanted to change up the title of the posts. ;) And no, I didn't forget to finish the 30 Day Challenge..I've been stuck on whatever day I'm at. Can't think of a good enough answer so I'll keep thinking and get back to that as soon as I can. :D . . .
So I officially hate shopping for clothes as of today. :) I'm no ordinary girl who would love to spend all day in the mall shopping till her hearts desires. Oh no...To me, shopping is a struggle/pain/and annoying thing I dislike having to do when seasons change. 1. They never have my size. 2. I'm a picky person. 3. I've noticed that everything I bought today was in the blue/grey/white color zone. And I'm not a tom boy, but too many bright colors just give me a headache so I tend to go towards the neutral. But My mom says I should " Widen my horizon " in color tones so I must! :/ Shopping to me is just a stressful thing to do. I know I'm not like other girls, but i'm glad because that wouldn't make me, me! I don't mind helping other people shop though. That's pretty fun! :)
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Earlier, I put my iPod on shuffle and then, this certain song played.. When I was listening to these lyrics, I just broke down and cried..these lyrics are so powerful and strong. God, with His powerful hand, will heal my broken and suffering heart. I have seen Him heal so many other wounds and relationships and they were all in His timing,. . .He will mend mine when He thinks best. I may not understand why He allows these things to happen in my life that hurts so much..Sometimes I feel like I can not even go on any longer..thinking there's no hope.. but then, I do know that He does it for His own divine purpose and that will one day lead to what He has planned the whole time. I need to remember that He knows best when to move things around in me life... He is the only one that knows exactly how I feel right now. Right now, I need to be engaging into deep prayer, asking Him to reveal what He wants me to do. How to handle things. So anyway, this song really touched me and I thought I would share it. It's sung by a very talented singer also. :)
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Okay, When I saw this picture on Instagram, I just couldn't stop smiling over this photo.. This is The Christian singer, Phil Wickhams's little baby girl. She is like, One of The cutest little girls I've seen. Look at those gorgeous eyes! I know I'm all random with stuff that I post, but that's just me!!
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So in my spare time, I'm either Instagraming, Blogging, or Drawing weird confusable drawings on "Draw Something" . . The cute little game you can get on your iPod or iPhone where you try to guess your opponents drawings and visa versa.. If you already play this, you should totally amuse yourself and play with me. I get so embarrassed at how I draw :P but I'm not gonna no play because of pride. Lol so my username is RachelPursell
Oh, and I've noticed how easy and quick it is to post stuff on tumblr, so I have been posting lots on there. . . Just thought I'd let ya know. :)
I didn't know what a "timebomb looked like, sooo" ;)
I told you I draw embarrassingly horrible! :P
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So big news ( for me anyway ). . I'm going to be moving into our bed room on the first floor. You may be wandering why this is so exciting.. Because My whole life I have shared my bedroom/bed with my sweet darling little sister. I don't mind her staying with me except for the fact that I would love all my things untouched and not misplaced ;) Lol. I will definitely miss the color that I just painted the room I'm currently in ( pretty calm neutral color) but that's life, and I'll let my mom decorate. She's good at that kind of stuff. The color is blue. I like blue, but it's a lot, so I'll go with a french theme and post pictures of it when it's all done and I move in. haha. :)
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Well all my dear friends, I shall put an end to this post for tonight. Pray y'all all have a blessed Friday!
Another random post because I can't think of a particular thing to blog about today. :-) Not many exciting things going on over here. ;) Just battled over the connection for our wireless internet ( that's why I haven't been blogging lately) . . It was giving us so much trouble but daddy and I got fixing in it last night and concurred! yay! This past week My grandma came over with my dear little cousin. She's a ham but cute. She doesn't talk yet but sounds like she speaks in french or something. No lie! I have no clue what she's saying, but it's cute. We also went into Metairie/New Orleans to visit some relatives and concur lakeside mall but again, failed. It's such a big mall and I found not one thing. :/ oh well. . .
Here are a few pictures of this week
I love when little children copy EVERYTHING you do. it's so cute.
I love the Whole Foods Market in Metairie LA. There are so many cool things there! I like pink lemonade
I found this little picture on Pinterest. It's the Bible verse Matthew 11:28.. This has been one verse very dear to me lately. When I feel heavy burdened with sorrows or pains, I need to remember that the Lord will give me rest as long as I bring my sorrows to Him. When I feel broken hearted, He is the one that will mend it.
We have been getting some scary weather lately over here. Big lightening/thunderstorms and lots of wind and rain. We do get a lot of Tornadoes where we live but not any this week, thank God. it get's pretty scary when a tornado hits us. :/ Here's the current view right now from my bedroom window...
I'll end it with a song from one of my favorite singers, Phil Wickham. I think the last song I posted was one of his, but oh well...I like his music and voice. His lyrics in his songs are so powerful! He uses his talent in such a good way :)
I'm hoping I'll blog more this week if i'm not too busy. Pray y'all all have a wonderful week!!!
I do apologize for not posting much this week. lately I haven't been feeling too well so I've been taking it easy. :) Taking it easy means doing more stuff I like sitting down. ;) I've recently found out that you can actually have followers on Instagram ( I promise I'm not pretending to be this dumb). So I've been looking to see if my friends use it. So if you have one, you should follow me, and I might just follow you back. haha. For those who don't use Instagram, you should. It's safe, super fast, super easy, and super fun! You'd get to show off your pictures and edit them to your liking. It's really neat. I'll post a couple I have taken recently ( you may have seen them on Instagram before if you follow me) . . . So yes, If you don't have one, I advise you to make one. :)
