"The Ultimate Daniel Fast" Book Giveaway!

Good news for those of you who have been following my Daniel Fast posts – because this will be the last post devoted to the diet itself, I'm GIVING AWAY a copy of Kristin Feola's book, which I found so helpful during this process. (Read to the end of the post for details.) From here on out, I’ll continue to mention dietary victories or challenges, and might share a recipe or two as the need arises. But let’s get back to real life soon, shall we? :-)

Let’s start today’s post with a couple of tips I’ve learned (or had reinforced to myself) during this journey. If you’re trying to make a life-change in the way you eat or feed your family, these tips are a good place to start:

1. Use your crockpot for meal prep. The less time you’re in the kitchen in the hour or two before a meal, the less you’ll snitch and snack through those early hunger pangs! Open cans or throw in frozen meat when you’re already in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast or lunch.
2. Prep meats ahead of time. Cook chicken and shred a large quantity at a time; brown ground beef or venison in the crockpot in larger quantities; brown a whole 3 pound tube of sausage at a time, then store in zippered bags in the freezer for quicker meal prep when you’re in a hurry! This is invaluable when you need to throw together burritos or spaghetti in 20 minutes for a starving family. :-)
3. Set yourself guidelines determining what you will or won’t eat BEFORE you’re holding the restaurant menu in your hands! The best way to avoid fudging these guidelines is to have an accountability partner, too, to whom you know you’re going to report what you ate that day. If you’ve told your hubby on the way to the restaurant that you’re not eating cheese or drinking soda tonight, you’re unlikely to place that order when the going gets tough.

My menu this week included some favorites from the Daniel Fast plan (with modifications, of course), as well as some attempts at new recipes.. The kids had requested that I do another spaghetti squash, so that was Sunday lunch. My hubby cut it in half, so all I had to do was stuff it in the oven and put a jar of Aldi pasta sauce in a crockpot with some already-browned sausage I had in the freezer. Easy and healthy meal prep! And no… there were NO leftovers :-(

If you’ve been watching my boys in blue (Judy), you noticed that the Royals did a lot of winning this week! Here in KC, when the Royals score at least 5 runs and win, Papa John’s offers 50% off your order. They sure lost money on that deal last season! :-)  That meant that I got to test my commitment to one piece only…. Hhhmm….. But, I DID IT! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! TWICE this week, hot, yummy, fresh pizzas walked into this house, and TWICE I chose one perfect (lotsa pepperoni) piece, enjoyed it slowly, then walked away. Hallelujah!

Do you ever find the struggle over “what to eat” to be especially difficult when you’re over-tired? One morning this week, I found myself chopping veggies from 4-6 am, because I couldn’t sleep. When a missionary family dropped by mid-morning with their 7 kids I had carrot and celery sticks and lots of dried apple chips and banana chips to offer. I even chopped the veggies for the broth I needed to make before I could work on that day’s dinner and I cleaned up the kitchen a bit. Then I took a nap until 7 am. :-)

So many times this week, I was VERY grateful for the guidelines I had already set. Because I had told my accountability partners (my faithful blog readers) that I wouldn’t have dark soda, I chose lemonade at Pepperjax when my hubby took me out for lunch one day.  And because I had told you (and God) that I would only use my Daniel Fast treats for sweets, I made peanut butter cups to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and didn’t even lick the beaters! No snitching at all! Praise the Lord! [I do, however, have a zippered bag marked “MOM” in the freezer with two cookies and two of the Reece’s cups, just waiting for the future, when these guidelines are past. :-)]

The Daniel Fast book, which I mentioned early on in these Diet blog posts, continued to provide more great recipes this week. I made the zucchini soup, but added some milk and flour to try to thicken it up some. The flavor was different, but good enough. I ended up giving it to my mom, who loves to eat healthy but doesn’t always have the time for healthy cooking. I also cooked with Fennel for the first time this week.  Again, it was different, but good. The recipe started out as “Italian Style Broccoli,” which called for fennel, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil, oregano, and pine nuts. Since I had some veggies threatening to go south on me (and since the kids beg not to eat tomatoes), and I only had about a cup of broccoli, it turned into “Must-Go” (everything in the fridge ‘must go’). I threw in less than a cup of leftover steamed broccoli, about half a can of plain tomato sauce, and a half-cup of leftover cooked brown rice. It looked funny, and there was no way of identifying exactly what flavor it should have, but everyone cleaned their plates, and hubby took it for lunch the next day! I call that a win!

If you're interested in owning a copy of the Daniel Fast book that I've mentioned throughout these posts, here are three easy steps that will give you the chance to win one for yourself: 

1. Subscribe to my blog updates (see the buttons to the right of this post). Those of you who are already subscribed may skip this step.
2. Comment on any one of the Daniel Fast blog posts (going back to March 31), letting me know you're out there and reading!
3. Share any one of the Daniel Fast blog posts (going back to March 31) on your Facebook, twitter, or Instagram accounts, and TAG ME in your post.

Next Saturday, I will randomly draw ONE name from among those who have completed these three requirements, and they will receive a FREE copy of the Kindle book, compliments of your favorite blog author! :-) Happy sharing!