Mother Love

Ok, first of all…the title of this post is a little misleading. Forgive me for that.

Because I’m not going to tell you how to feel beautiful.

I can’t tell you how to feel beautiful, because beautiful is not a feeling. We think it is. We think beautiful is a feeling that is there on some days or some occasions or sometimes only on some moments…and the days that we don’t feel that feeling, it just feels so…yucky. It feels so purposeless…like somehow I am failing miserably at the very thing that I was designed for.

I’ve talked about beauty countless times before, and every time that my heart centers on that topic, I’m amazed again at just how central beauty is to my existence. It is so vital to the health and life of my heart, and that, my friends, is a good thing. It’s how I was designed to be.

But somehow in the course of life and in the crazed ways of our culture, beauty has lost it’s…well, beauty. It’s become something entirely different than what it was created to be. Beauty has become cheap and plastic and fake and actually completely unattainable in our culture. The world has taken something to essential and so valuable and so core to the heart of a woman and turned it against her.

Our beauty is used against us, and that makes me mad.

It’s used against us because we have beauty and we are beauty…but all the voices of this world only laugh and mock us for daring to entertain that as truth for even a second. “…you? beautiful? it cannot be true because you don’t have the right hair or facial structure or body type or engaging personality…you look nothing like beauty…you are a mere shadow of what you are meant to be.” And when we listen to that, it leaves us only two choices: try harder or stop trying at all. Care too much or care not at all. Neither option will give you the life of purpose and joy and beauty that our Creator created us for.

Your beauty can only be taken from you if you believe it to be taken from you.

Once again, I’m not trying to sound all guru here…where you just believe something and it will be so. But actually that’s really the deal here. Beauty is a state of existence and cannot be taken from you…I don’t care what you weigh or what you look like or how little or how much makeup you wear or if you have wrinkles or acne scars or cellulite or deformities or anything else that our screwed up society tells you is a flaw. Your beauty cannot be taken from you. Period.

We have reduced beautiful to a feeling, when all along, beautiful is a state of being. It is a characteristic of woman, every woman. No one is exempt, no matter what.

We have reduced beautiful to something physical, something you can see. But I say this: you cannot see beautiful, you can only feel beautiful. I know that sounds like a contradiction because I’ve just said that you can’t actually feel beautiful, but what I mean by that is that I don’t see beauty in another person with my physical eyes, but I feel her beauty with my soul. Think of the women you know that are physically gorgeous, but yet they are hard and driven and leave you feeling empty instead of filling up your soul with life and grace and femininity. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be that kind of woman. I want to be the woman who gives life…not through my appearance, but through my heart.

This might show my age and inner teenager, but as I was writing this post, I literally pulled up the song Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney on YouTube…it completely took me back to those hilarious days as a teenager feeling like you were on top of the world with the music blasting and friends laughing and your whole life in front of you (please tell me i’m not the only one who used to love this song). Those were good days…but these are better. Anyway, I feel like this song captures the idea of beauty so well: “i don’t want another pretty face, i want you and your beautiful soul.” Beautiful has nothing to do with your face or body, but everything to do with who you are.

You can’t feel beautiful, because it’s not a feeling.

I know this whole idea is so so SO much easier to say than to do. Trust me, I feel it too. I feel that raging battle every day inside of me to let the world give me the standard and to do all that I can to meet that standard. But I know this…even if I were able to somehow meet all those standards of the perfect hair and face and body and essentially turn into a Barbie doll (ew), I would still not be satisfied. My soul would still not feel beautiful, because beautiful is not a feeling.

And that’s why I can’t tell you how to feel beautiful…I can only tell you to be beautiful, because that is what you are. But I believe this: that the more I realize that beautiful isn’t a feeling, the more beautiful I will actually feel.

What about you: do you tend to see beautiful as a feeling instead of a state of being or a characteristic of yourself?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Is it weird that I spend all day looking forward to eating dinner?

Because I totally do whenever we have CHIPOTLE.

Like many, many other people in the world, we are in love with Chipotle and eat there at every chance we get. The closest one to us is over forty-five minutes away (boo for our taste buds, yay for our wallet), so it’s not too often that we actually get to stop and eat there…but when we do, we savor every bite.

And during the weeks that we don’t get to have the real-deal stuff, we make it at home. It’s our favorite dinner, hands down, no question. It might not be exactly what you get in the actual restaurant, but it’s pretty stinkin’ close. Close enough that we both get so excited for dinner that we actually text about it during the day, hehe.

I actually had never thought of attempting to make Chipotle at home until we were visiting some family in Illinois last summer and my aunt whipped up this super tasty burrito meal that was made from a Chipotle inspired recipe. It was so yum and fresh and GOOD, that I immediately went home and made it for ourselves, and haven’t stopped since. We probably eat this on average at least once every two weeks…sometimes more. And since I always make double what we eat in one meal, we often spend the next day or so eating up the leftovers for lunch or dinner. We love that!

I’m not sure which component you would consider the star of the meal…maybe the spicy chicken, or the cilantro rice, or the seasoned beans…but for me, it’s the guacamole. I live for that guacamole. If you try to have this meal without the guacamole, then I feel like you should call it something else besides Chipotle. Chipotle is guacamole.

…although I do have a small confession about said guacamole…it’s a little embarrassing, but also kinda liberating. I buy pre-made guacamole. I know, I know…guac is one of the easiest things to make and only requires a handful of ingredients. But when I realized that I could buy pre-made guacamole at a local grocery store that was completely free of additives and preservatives that are found in most of the packaged guacamoles I’ve looked at before, I was hooked. It’s tasty and easy, and I don’t have to worry about buying pounds of avocados only to realize that half of them are browned and rotten on the inside when I go to make dinner. Worst thing ever!

So it’s up to you…buy your guac, or make your guac, but just make sure you have guac. It’s the most vital element to this meal, in my humble Chipotle-obsessed opinion.

There are a few different components to this meal, but each are super easy to put together. I usually do the rice, beans, chicken, and sauteed veggies in that order, but you could do them in whatever order feels right to you.

Chipotle Chicken

2 large chicken breasts
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (like this)
1 lime
2 T. olive oil
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
fresh cilantro

Blend together chipotle peppers, juice from one lime, oil, vinegar, cumin, salt, and cilantro until well mixed. Pour over chicken and allow to marinade for thirty minutes, or up to twenty fours hours (which is preferred). Cook on medium-high heat in a skillet until done (i like to let mine get a little charred in spots…tasty!). Let the meat rest for a few minutes, and then slice into bite size pieces.

Chipotle Cilantro and Lime Rice
1 cup basmati rice
1 lime
salt
fresh cilantro

Cook basmati rice according to package instructions. Once rice is cooked and slightly cooled, add juice from one lime, salt, and chopped fresh cilantro to taste. Toss together and serve.

Chipotle Black Beans
1 – 15 oz. can black beans
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika

Rinse and drain the beans (this is optional…you can use the can liquid if you like to do that), and add to a small pot. Add one-fourth cup of water (only if you’re not using the can liquid), garlic, and spices. Stir together and heat on medium heat until hot.

Chipotle Sauteed Vegetables
1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
1 T. fajita seasoning

Slice the onion and peppers. Heat a sauté skillet on high and add your choice of frying oil (i use coconut oil). Once hot, add the veggies and allow to sit undisturbed for a few minutes (i like to do that to get a good char on the veggies, which i like…you can stir them more frequently if you aren’t into the char). Stir fry the vegetables until crisp tender, and add the salt and seasonings.

Notes:

– You can use any kind of rice here actually. Basmati is what the restaurant uses because it a “loose” kind of rice…another words, it won’t get gummy and stick together like rice so easily does.

– Using fresh cilantro is key here…the dried kind won’t cut it.

– To create the extra-creamy sour cream that Chipotle has, whisk the sour cream with a hand whisker or immersion blender until creamy and runny.

Additional sides:
– lettuce
– sour cream
– guacamole
– shredded cheese
– salsa
– burrito wraps

Once everything is prepared, it’s a free for all on creating your own signature Chipotle meal. We often do burrito bowls and skip the wraps, but you’re into a burrito, go for it!

Just don’t forget the guacamole.

Enjoy!

What about you: are you as obsessed with Chipotle as we are? Are you as obsessed with guacamole as we are?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!