Vegetable Beef Soup- Tasty Tuesday

What's a girl to do when Spring just won't stay sprung and the temperatures suddenly drop 40 degrees in one day?!?
Find your favorite crockpot soup recipe, and grab a blanket and a good book-while attempting to ignore the beating your veggie garden is most likely taking. So excited to share this recipe with you all today for a few reasons-first, its SUPER easy. If you can open a can and stir, you've officially been declared qualified to make this soup. Second, it's so healthy, this will get veggies, veggies, and more veggies in your family! Third, well, it's delicious. Of course. Way better than the canned stuff any day. Fourth, I'm a total sucker for anything slow cooker. Especially on a cold, lazy day that I don't feel like cooking but the show must go on. Anyone else?

Slow cooker Vegetable Beef Soup

-2 pounds ground round
-1/2 medium onion, diced
-2 (15 ounce) cans mixed vegetables (drained)
-1 (15 ounce) can Lima beans (drained)
-1 (15 ounce) can sliced carrots (drained)
-1 (15 ounce) can corn (drained)
-4 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
-2 cups water


1.) Cook ground beef and onions until browned. (If you're like me, and like to serve this for lunch but can't stand the look of raw meat before 9 am, do this the night before and stick it in the fridge. Next morning, just dump it in the crockpot.)



Alright all ready to go. Grab your trusty can opener and let's get started!!
Open away and start pouring in the crockpot, meat, then all the veggies except the diced tomatoes...

If you're like me, halfway through you'll get lazy and stop making the trip across the kitchen to the sink and isntead grab the empty bowl your cooked meat was just in and drain over that instead. I have issues folks.



Ok now give all those veggies and meat and good stir before we add our liquids and make a colossal mess on the kitchen cabinet.
Then add your tomatoes and water and mix it all up. Turn it on low and let it go for about 4 hours. That's it!!

I served this with a wrap on the side, but I think a nice baked potato with it would make a dinner also. Any meal that is a hit with my hubby, super healthy, AND easy to make is pretty great to me. Enjoy!!!

So excited to link up today with:

Lesson #425925 on trusting God

I wish I was one of those people who's biggest weakness was chocolate. Sure the ever-increasing pant size is a drag, but I would learn to live with that eventually I suppose. My biggest weakness however? Not trusting God.

You may never find a bigger worrier than myself. Somedays, I find myself unconsiciously just finding things to worry about while going about the laundry or the dishes. Who does that? Anybody else? Please? I come from a long, long line of worriers. Some families pass down genetic traits like blue eyes or blonde hair. The women in my family? Worry. That's what we do. It's kind of our thing. I am not proud of it, it means I'm not trusting God, that in itself breaks my heart. But I still struggle with it and fight that spiritual battle on my knees daily. At the beginning of this year, God was calling us to really step out of our comfort zone and trust him majorly.
It's like this...
Before we got married, we knew that raising up Godly children was a huge priority and desire for us. For our family, that meant I would stay home with them. Do I think that this is possible for everyone, or that you are any less than an incredible Godly mother raising amazing children if you need to/desire to work? Not. At. All. Please don't think that for one second. But for us personally, it was something we felt very strongly and very led by God to do. So we decided that after we got married, I would continue to work for some time while we kind of got settled in and situated, but not too long after I would quit my job so that we would begin to learn to live on one income-before children became a factor. So in Janurary, we both knew, it was time-but it sure didn't feel like it. We hadn't even completely unpacked yet after just acquiring a larger house (larger payments, larger bills). I wrestled with it night after night, crunching numbers thinking that surely the 24th time I calculate it something will somehow shift and this will all logically work out. It didn't. It never did. I didn't have a ton of support either. So many of people, very dear to me whom I love so much, couldn't understand it either (and still don't, and basically think I do nothing), why wouldn't I work when I could, when I could make our financial situation easier with more flexibility. Why? I didn't know, all I knew was that was what God was leading me to do . I had to obey.
My husband is an incredible, incredible man of God, and he does things that don't make "sense" a lot-simply because God calls him to, so he does. Just like that. Simple as day. I remember before we were even dating, knowing that as a personality trait of his. Watching him, with all his faith to move a mountain, and doing something that from the earthly eye looks crazy-because that's what God was leading him to do. I remember thinking-wow, I really admire that...could never do that kind of crazy stuff though. Little did I know. Little did I know. God must've smiled a little on that one. Anwyways, he works very hard for us as he ministers to students and teenagers. I don't think I could do what he does. He works with kids in crisis every single day. He's kind of my hero. Unfortunately, it doesn't equate to a huge paycheck. While my job was simply part time and not setting us up for luxury cars and mansions, it was a fall back. It was a nice "safety net" that covered over a few small bills, or unexpected expenses. I saw my saftey net going away, I panicked for weeks. But eventually, with much much trembling, I submitted my 2 weeks notice, promptly left for the day, sat in my car in my office's parking lot, and wept like a baby.
How would we ever make it? What in the world were we going to do?

Under all this worry and uncertainty though, I knew this was not only what God was leading us to do, it was also my heart's desire. Funny how those 2 things go together. You see, as silly and old fashioned as it may seem...I wanted to be a homemaker.
I see the home as so very important, and so very neglected in our society these days. We're all so busy working to get ahead and gain more, but aren't we really losing??
I see simple, seeminly meaningless chores like laundry and cleaning and cooking as a joy. Not because they're always "fun" but because they are a piece in the puzzle of creating a home for my family. I get to set the tone, I get to set the mood. (And please Lord, let that tone be YOU!)
It's what I've always seen, it's what I've always wanted. I remember being a very young girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old, on a beautiful Sunday in May-Mother's Day, when our preacher spoke directly to a women's heart. As he went over the value of a stay at home wife/mother, he said, don't call yourself a housewife-you aren't married to a house-you are a homemaker-for one way or another, for good or bad, that's exactly what you are doing...making your home. I still remember those words to this day. While I probably didn't say it out loud for fear of looking foolish, that's what I've always wanted. It's probably why I struggled through college-I couldn't find a bachelors in homemaking in the course catalog a single semester.
Funny how worry robs you of the truth, covers up and smudges out the true desires of the heart.

We've been making it though. I never know how, honestly. Each month I look at the big picture and am continually amazed and in wonder at how it's happening. While I can't find a "logical" reason, I know the reason. God is moving and working in our lives, honoring our decision to obey Him, even when it doesn't make "sense". Not only am I living out my dream of being a homemaker, but we are on this ride of trust that is scary, yes, but absolutely exciting and exhilirating as well. It's what happens I suppose when you do everything you can-work as hard as you can-and trust Him with the rest, obey Him, follow hard after Him.

I don't know why I'm so surprised, this isn't the first time He's been there and provided for me-not just financially either. In fact, I don't remember a time He was ever NOT there. Because that just wouldn't be Him. Maybe that's why this morning I was sobbing in my living room, going over who He is. I've never gotten "over it". Oh how I pray I never will.

Promises

There's a song on the radio a lot lately that has been hitting a nerve with me. One line in particular seem so to stop my thoughts in their track each time I hear it. I don't think it's even central to the main idea of the song, but God has seemed to make this phrase stick out to me each time I hear it.

All things work for the good
Of those who love God
He holds back nothing that will heal you
Not even His own Son
- "Promises" Sanctus Real


I've been thinking about that...He holds back nothing that will heal us. The thought floods me with comfort and joy and gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father who has promised to work out everything for good for those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) But it has me thinking, though the healing is what we're after, the path to healing isn't always easy. Sometimes, it's down right devastating. My heart is heavy thinking about times where I felt like life was over. Circumstances were crumbling. Situations weren't going like I had planned. Tears were overwhelming. Yet now, on this side of it, I see it differently. I see that God was using those situations-even the ones I hated-to heal me. To take the ugly parts of me and get rid of them. Even to heal me from the things that were hurting me, that for who knows what reason I kept clinging to and going back to.

I hope this encourages someone today. Maybe you're going through a devastating time and don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I pray this finds you. I pray you cling to the promse that He holds back nothing that will heal you, whether it feels like it at the moment or night...claim it...take comfort in it. Trust Him. He is your Living Hope, and maybe...just maybe, the thing you feel is ruining your life right now...could be the very thing healing you.

Hello again...

I cannot believe how long it has been since I was last here! The last time I wrote, I had no idea the changes that God had in store for our life. Looking back at my last post, I look at the date and realize it was that exact date it all began. That evening, hours after I last wrote, we found out we would be moving. Unexpected was an understatement. It was a door that only God could've opened. And open He did. Not only were we about to move, but we were about to move right then. The way it all worked out was that evening we found our new home, in less than 24 hours we were signing paperwork, in less than 24 hours from that we were packing up our belongings, and in less than 24 hours from that we were loading trucks and trailers of friends and families feeling overly blessed and grateful for all the help that showed up on our doorstep on a drizzly cold December morning. To say that God had unparalled favor upon us those few days was an understatement. Everything fell into place, as it seems to always do when God is in the middle of it.
It happened during a time I had a couple days off work.
It happened that moving day fell the exact day before temperatures dropped to below 20 degrees.
It happened that it was the one weekend my in laws and cousins in law could drop everything and help.
It happened that the morning of moving day came with 15 men showing up on our doorstep, how they even found out we were moving, I'm still not sure exactly. They were ready to work, with trailers and trucks, cutting down our moving time in half.
It happened. Thank You Jesus.

And before all of our moving crew left us, they gathered us in the middle of our new living room. They put us in the middle, joined hands in a giant circle around us, and prayed and prayed over us. For our new home. For our new life in this new home. For all God was sure to do in this new home. I just stood there in shock, weeping, how did this happen? How did God bring us here? Only in my wildest dreams...

So that explains my absence. The next few weeks I felt completely led to pour my heart into this new house of ours and truly make it a home. All of my friends and family were so gracious to try to fill my mind with reassurance that this Christmas did not have to be "fully decorated". We were feeling good to make a pathway through the boxes. But I had dreams of our very first newlywed Christmas in this beautiful new home of ours. I was determined. I set my mind to it and God gave me the strength and we did it! Unpacking, unpacking, unpacking was the name of the game for the first few days. Less than a week after we moved in though we got our tree up, and all the rest of the decorations as well. It was a beautiful Christmas season. We even got to host my husband's family and extended family for Christmas. I'm excited to say the only thing that did not get done was Christmas cards! Not too bad.

Too bad I'm not as eager to get it all down as I was to get it all up!!!