Monday, September 23, 2013

Tailgate Themed Couple's Shower

We are officially at the 2 month mark! Only 2 months until I become Mrs. Jason Ellis and these days couldn't fly by fast enough. 

Speaking of wedding events, we had such a fun weekend this past weekend! 
Some amazing hostess, who are great friends of ours threw Jason and I a couples shower. 
It was SO. MUCH. FUN! We had a ball. 
It was a tailgate theme full of Mugshots burgers, all kinds of chips and dips, beautiful sunflower cup cakes and many more fun things here and there. 

The Craig's House was so beautifully decorated and they did such an amazing job making this night special for us!



Our amazing gift from Melissa!
Sweet Sunflower and E cupcakes, compliments of Miss Blair. 
Jason and his awesome new grill!!



It was so beautiful!
With Ms. Crafty herself!

Our hostess! We are so thankful for you all!

Playing a gift opening game--we did pretty good!


Our first piece of our dishes to receive!

Jason and I are so over joyed and thankful for all the people investing into our relationship and helping us make lasting memories before we tie the knot :) 

Saturday, September 14, 2013

The Schlesinger's Wedding

Last weekend, Jason and I had the privilege of attending all sorts of events celebrating the marriage of one of my closest friends, Whitney, to her long time man, Max. 
It was such an amazing weekend full of laughs, quality time, and sweet reminders of the Lord's love and grace for His people. 
It was the first wedding I've been in for years and I forgot how much fun it is being "behind the scenes" of everything--(as I like to call it). 

I am so thankful and blessed by my friendship with Whitney and it was an absolute joy to be around for this most important day in her life. It was so perfect! 

Whitney and the Bridesmaids at her couple's shower
On her Bachelorette Trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas!
Bachelorette Trip
Her bow bouquet 

The Bridesmaids' Luncheon


All the bridesmaids--I had so much fun with these ladies
Of course, getting our nails and toes done!

Rehearsal--and my handsome date :) 
Absolutely beautifully decorated! 

All crying messes--bless us! 
Beautiful, beautiful bride! 
The best man there ever was!
With Jason and I getting married soon, we've been reading "The Meaning for Marriage" by Tim Keller and there is endless, wonderful, information/stories/scriptures that he shares and it was so fun getting to share those little bits of insight with Whitney. It was so sweet getting to pray over her and Max's new family, and it was such a great reminder of The Ultimate Bridegroom and what life is really all about.


I am forever thankful and singing praises to The Lord that He gives His grace to two sinners and allows them to enter into this covenant relationship and through that, coming to a deeper and sweeter understanding of the gospel and how He loves us. It's a beautiful thing! 

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Jason and I have changed up our eating style over the past...almost 3 months.
We read a book titled, "The Primal Blueprint" by Mark Sisson and it really opened our eyes to a lot of food facts that we were not aware of--really important, interesting things! 

The basic concept is that we don't eat: grains, legumes, or processed sugars. We try to eat as locally and organically as possible. It's actually been really fun going to the Farmer's Market every Saturday Morning and finding good "primal recipes"! So far, we are liking this life style change and it's something we plan to implement forever. If you are the least bit interested, I suggest reading the book because there's so much more to it than just what we eat---the shoes we wear, the way we walk, the amount of time we need to run (it's not as much as you would thing), how you work out, how we need sunlight, how important sleep is, all these things that just seemed to flee my mind! 

So far, we've gotten 4 cookbooks that we really like to use and pull recipes from and some of our favorites that we cook are: cauliflower "fried rice", spaghetti squash with grass-fed beef, Cauliflower Pizza

With that being said, I want to share the pizza recipe with you all in hopes that you will give it a try! It's a healthy, really yummy alternative to an all time favorite. If you know me, at all, you know how much I love pizza--so coming from me, you've got to realize the merit behind this ;)
Cauliflower Pizza
Crust:
2 ½ cups of grated cauliflower 
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cup finely shredded mozzarella (we’ve found that finely shredded works better for the crust whereas regular is best for the topping)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

Directions
Heat oven to 425 degrees.  
Line a pizza pan (15 inch) with parchment paper
Grate the cauliflower using a grater (we use a Ninja Blender where we pulse the cauliflower that works perfectly) until you have 2 ½ cups of cauliflower that’s the consistency of rice
Place the grated cauliflower in a large bowl and microwave for 8 minutes, until it softens
Remove and let it cool some
Mix in the 2 eggs, mozzarella, Parmesan, salt and pepper (here lately I've also added garlic powder and red pepper flakes)
Once combined, pat into your pizza pan until evenly distributed
Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes. The key is to have the crust a golden color
Once your crust is golden, remove it and add your toppings
Toppings:
¼ cup organic tomato pizza sauce
½ to 1 cup of shredded mozzarella
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
Meat topping (we have used pepperoni and bacon and both have been great)

Top the pizza with the sauce, mozzarella, crushed red pepper flakes, and your choice of meat topping
Bake in the oven for 10-11 minutes until melted

**update**--we've recently made a veggie version and it was amazing. The only thing we did differently was once the crust was cooked and the sauce was added, we put spinach leaves on there, just enough to cover the whole pizza (make sure they are laid flat). Then proceed as normal, adding the cheese and red pepper flakes. We used orange & yellow bell pepper and mushrooms to top it all off. All of these were thinly sliced. 
It really is delicious! One pizza easily feeds 2 people. 
Let me know what you think if you decide to branch out and give it a try! 

Monday, September 9, 2013

RYM-"Reign of Grace"...2 months late!

This post is well over 2 months late and I hate I waited for so long! Poo on my and my blogging, or lack there of! But nonetheless, here it is for you all!

The 2nd week in July,  Jason and I were chaperones for our youth group and their trip to RYM (if you've never heard of it, click the link)--and it was A GREAT WEEK! We both enjoyed the week so incredibly much. Jason had 8 boys in his room and Mom and I had all the girls in one room. 
On the  bus on the way down 
The theme of the week was "The Reign of Grace" and I feel like we couldn't have asked for a better theme! I believe that grace is such a hard concept for a lot of people to understand. I know that I find myself STILL being amazed and left in awe of the grace that God shows me every. single. day. Needless to say, I was so thankful that our youth, and myself was able to spend a week doing nothing but focusing on God's intense love and grace that He shows His people.  
Elbert McGowan, the RUF minister at Jackson State University was the main speaker and he was PHENOMENAL! 

Here are some pictures to sum up the week for you all! 
Gaga Ball

Some of my girlies waiting for lunch


Jason and his boys for the week. 
I love dis picture :) 
Doing a little crab catching one night
One night at RYM, our group dresses up to go out to eat. We have ourselves from L to R: Jo (from little Women), Madison, a hippie, a cow girl, another cow girl and a hippie!
Panama Jack and Hippie Ellen 




It was a great week and we loved being chaperones together! Getting to know all these youth and where their hearts are and seeing their love for The Lord was so exciting.

My hope is that many seeds were planted that week and I know that my God is faithful to complete the work that He's started!