Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ovenight Oats

Breakfast needed some "jazzing" up around here, and I was on a mission to find some recipes that could be prepped the night before. So, I found Angela's blog. My overnight oats recipe is done in a crockpot overnight with green apples and it's good and hearty, but I loved her recipe for Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats and it's Fall, so anything pumpkin is on my list!

These are super easy and you put in a tupperware before bed and when you wake up toss in walnuts and raisins and voila, breakfast!

I should highlight chia seeds before we begin. These tiny seeds are a nutrition bomb!

• 30% of the chia seed’s oil is Omega 3 oil. 40% of its oil is Omega 6 oil. This provides the nice balance those who take supplemental Essential Fatty Acids are looking for. The chia seed’s substantially dense percentage in alpha-linolenic fatty acid also makes this seed a healthy dietary source of fatty acids.
• You do not need to grind the Chia Seeds to digest it. It is a relatively easy to digest seed, whereas flax seeds are not. Often, one has to grind flax seeds to be able to process them in their digestive system. That is not the case with chia seeds.
• The chia seeds are great for athletes because they are highly hydrophilic. Being hydrophilic means it absorbs large amounts of water. Chia Seeds can absorb over 10 times their weight in water making them a great enhancer in hydrating our bodies. They absorb the water we drink holding it in our system longer.
• Studies show that eating chia seed slows down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrate calories into simple sugars. This leads scientists to believe that the chia seed may have great benefits for diabetics.
• The chia seed gels when becoming wet and this gel, when in our digestive systems, helps prevent some of the food, hence calories that we eat from getting absorbed into our system. This blockage of calorie absorption makes the chia seed a great diet helper. Eating the seeds also helps dieters by making them feel fuller faster so they will be less hungry!
• Chia seeds provide antioxidant activity
• Chia is a great addition to a detoxification program. Chia seeds are high in fiber and in healthy oils making them an excellent addition to many detox programs


Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats


Ingredients:

1/3-1/2 cup oats
1.5 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8th tsp nutmeg, 1/8th tsp ginger)
3/4 cup Almond Milk
1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
Walnuts (topping)
Raisins (topping)



Directions:

Mix the oats, chia seeds, and spices in a small bowl. Now add the Almond milk and maple syrup and whisk until mixed. Add in the pumpkin and whisk again until fully incorporated. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight. Top with raisins, walnuts, and more milk if needed and enjoy your creamy pumpkin pie oats!

Dinner Winner-Vegetable Pot Pie

We LOVE this recipe at the Martin house! Adapted from "Clean Food" by Terry Walters . We also love this cookbook, it's never failed me and this recipe is quickly becoming a fall staple. Seriously, and we've even had a few non-vegetable eaters tell us that they love it. It takes some advanced prep for roasting the squash. The chopping is the hard part, the cooking is easy.

My two "what are those" food highlights are delicata squash and arrowroot powder.

Delicata=delicious! This is one of my favorite winter squashes, with creamy pulp that tastes a bit like corn and sweet potatoes. Size may range from 5 to 10 inches in length. The squash can be baked or steamed and the skin is also edible.

Arrowroot powder-one of my "go to" thickners. Made from the Arrowroot plant and used as a gluten-free replacement for wheat flours in baking. It is also considered more desirable for gravies, sauces and pastries than some of the more common starches and flours. It thickens at a lower temperature over cornstarch and flour. It doesn't mix well with dairy. Substitute two teaspoons of arrowroot for one tablespoon of cornstarch, or one teaspoon of arrowroot for one tablespoon of wheat flour. It's acutally nutritous as is the only starch to contain calcium ash, making it a preferred in baby foods. It's alkalizing as well.

Ingredients:

2 med delicata squash
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 TB of mirin
1/2 lb of green beans trimmed
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen corn
3/4 cup water
2 TB Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 TB of arrowroot powder
Fresh ground black pepper
1 frozen 9 inch pie crust, defrosted-I used organic spelt

Preheat oven to 400.

Roasting Squash

Wash squash well, cut in half lengthwise, removed seeds and rub each section with oil. Place cut side down in a glass baking pan or cookie sheet and roast 25 min or until soft throughout. Remove and set aside.

Preparing Filling

In Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until soft (about 3 min). Add carrots, celery, and mirin (rice wine) and saute another 3 minutes. Cut green beans into bite size pieces, add to pot along with corn and saute 5 minutes or until beans are starting to soften. Chop squash into bite size pieces and fold into mixture.



In small bowl, whisk together water, liquid aminos, and arrowroot until smooth. Pour into pot with veggies and stir until liquid starts to thicken. Season to taste with pepper. Remove from heat and transfer to a casserole dish.



Finishing

Crumble pie crust over top of casserole and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 8 or until top is lightly browned. Serve.

Are You Hungry? Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Oh yes, I am about to change your lives with this one my friends. I got this recipe from Angela's blog. The smell is incredible, and you'll surely be in heaven from the first bite!

Ready?

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups of organic turbinado sugar (I used brown rice syrup and mixed in with wet ingredients)
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten (veganize and add fiber and make a flax egg, 1 TB of ground flax in three TB of warm water, let sit for 15 min)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil-safflower is my personal fav for desserts
2 cups finely chopped peeled apples

Topping:

1/4 cup organic turbinado sugar or maple sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter or margarine-I use Earth Balance non-soy

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Combine eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.



For topping, combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle 1 teaspoon over each muffin.





Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.







I had to get them from every angle, so delightful! Enjoyed with this, a steeping cup of Sencha Green Tea.



Happy Harvest!

T4A2010

I don't even think one blog post can truly sum up the conference. It could take ten, bear with me! I mean it took me about a month to fully wrap my mind around it!

INCREDIBLE! We learned so much in two days! Our eyes were so opened to the desperate situation at hand 167 million orphans, a number growing monumentally everyday. Staggering. We, the church, have a calling on our lives. One of my favorite statements said, "If God is the Father to the fatherless, then we, the church, are the mother to the fatherless."

I had prayed that my heart would be refreshed to the reasons God has called us to this adoption. After so much paperwork and support raising, I am just tired. We aren't even waiting yet, and I am tired. God really pressed in that He hasn't called us to adopt because of our infertility issues...that's the means. He's called us to be His bride, to answer the call and love and care for the orphan. Yes, of course this may be our only means of family, so there is deep desire for children tied into feelings of loving the orphan...but all the same it's a calling.

If you don't think God's serious about the believer's call to love the fatherless:

Deut 14:29-"And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do."

Deut 26:12-"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled,"

Psalm 68:5-"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation."

Psalm 82:3-"Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute."

Psalm 146:9-"The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless ,but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin."

Isaiah 1:17-"learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause."

James 1:27-"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

At the last session, Matt Carter, asked this question. "Why? Why does God have an enduring passion for these children?" He answered that with this quote and it grabbed me! "The global orphan crisis is one of the major hindrances and barriers to seeing the Great Commission fulfilled in our lives." We're called to "go"...that's it. We have this beautiful gospel picture of being adopted into the family of Christ by the willing sacrifice of our Savior and the spilling of his blood on the cross, and we have to "go and tell" the world! 167 million orphans, fatherless, destitute, alone. How can we the church stay silent and do nothing? I think the greater question is what if we don't?

20-60% of 15-24 year olds that came from orphanages are HIV infected.
19,000 children a year age out of the foster system here in the U.S.
Almost 50% of orphans are adolescents, 12% are younger than 5
Almost everyday 5,760 more children become orphans
Every 2.2 seconds another child ages out of the system with no family to belong to and no place to call home. In Russia and Ukraine 10-15% of these children commit suicide before age 18.
Every 15 seconds, another child in Africa becomes an AIDS orphan.

(statistics from UNICEF)

These should make you uncomfortable. Oh Jesus, move us to action. "Adoption is one of the clearest signs that the church could give of the gospel." How can we as the body of Christ be missional for this cause? There are hundreds of ways and some don't even involve your cash. There are foster families who are tired and need a break. They have tangible needs of money, clothes, beds, cleaning. There are other families who have already adopted or are in the process and God has placed this call on their lives and they need your help, monetarily, a night out, encouragement, prayers. When is the last time you blew someone away with your generosity?

What would it look like if there were no orphans?

Together for Adoption Conference-This Weekend!

Check it out at www.togetherforadoption.org. Jacob and I are so excited to be apart of this incredible event here in Austin this weekend. It's going to be amazing with experts from across the country speaking on everything from transracial adoption to raising support to the empowering the church to support adopting couples. I can't wait to tell yall all about it. Pray for us and all the volunteers and speakers traveling from everywhere for safe travels.

Also, I've been a little under the weather so I have been taking care of myself, but wanted to tell you that we raised $680 for the garage sale!! Yeah! Support has been coming in from friends and family and we're incredibly blessed.

Soon to be waiting after we apply to the Abba Fund and get a loan from them.

Bless yall!

Martin Family Garage Sale-This Saturday September 18th!!

Precious friends. We are having our adoption support garage sale this weekend! Others have been so generous and we have a lot of stuff...now please join us in praying that it SELLS!

If anyone has good "garage sale" advice....please send it my way! This is my first ever garage sale.

Bless yall!

Support

Updates, updates. I hope I haven't lost all of my readers due to my lack of blogging. Work has been insanely busy for me and we've also been super busy. Our life in blurbs:

-We didn't get approved to switch to the minority only program with our agency. It's a small program with limited families. What does this mean for us? God could definitely still put a child of another race in our family, but he just wants us to raise $37,500 for his greater glory!

-We traveled to Wisconsin last weekend to see Jacob's dad's family. His grandparents and aunt and uncle live on the family farm. Everyone else came in to see us as well. We had a great time, well other than Jacob's dad breaking his ankle in three places and needing major surgery with pins and plates while we were there.

-Jacob started Fall semester this week. YEAH! Keep him in your prayers.

-We had our college leaders over for dinner last night. All 7 of them. We had a great time getting to hear their hearts, what God is doing in them, praying with them, and encouraging them. We know God is going to do incredible things this semester in our city and on campus for His name and renown.

-I had a little thyroid issue come up. The Lord really pressed into my heart to have it checked and I did, and it was just starting to decline. I was insanely tired, a little down, and gained 8 pounds in one month! I was put on medicine to help correct it and have done some natural supplementing and therapies as well. It's really an answered prayer. Thyroid malfunction is a fertility killer, so good thing to figure out for all kinds of reasons. I did the blood work yesterday to see where my levels are after six weeks on the medicine. Our doc thinks it got out of whack from our miscarriage last year.

-Yoga is my bf. I love, love, love it. I was doing it three times a week and since I've been so busy that's declined. But this week, I am back. I sleep better, feel like I can breathe better, got stronger. Yes, please!

-We sent support letters out last week. Jacob and I prayed over them and asked God to open people's hearts to give for our adoption. We have an overwhelming feeling that God is going to blow us away!

-Our little Lola girl was fixed two weeks ago, broke my heart. I cried when I left the vet. She cried all the first night and I thought I was going to lose my mind. Two days later, she was her normal self.

-Fall garden planting commencing in T minus one week.

-We start at our new satellite campus for church tomorrow and I am serving in the nursery rocking babies! We opened a campus in a low income area of Austin. We renovated a building and put in a non-profit center to office there. It's an amazing vision that our pastor was given year's ago. J and I feel called to be apart of this and be light in this neighborhood so that the gospel can penetrate the hearts of these people.

-Did I mention we are having a garage sale as part of the fundraising for our adoption? I am thinking Saturday September 11th, but still working the details out. If you are in Austin or Houston and have stuff you'd like to donate, please email me and we'll gladly pick it up.

Did I mention that we have to raise about another $23,000 for the adoption? If God is calling you to love the orphan by helping us adopt....please also email me. Be apart of God's great story and His glory and the life of the child He has for us.

-I am so ready for Fall! Soup and cool weather and football (yes I know, I even miss it). I am counting the days to like November...when it finally gets cool here.

God has continued to reveal to me the depths of faith wrought in waiting on Him and his plan. Waiting is so hard. I should have nothing to complain about because it's only been two years of waiting for Him to bless us with a child and others have waited far longer. I just know He's going to do something incredible because He already has in us. He's so good. He's so patient and loving. Stay tuned in our lives...for the best is yet to come.

Bless yall!