Start Simple TODAY

Hey Y’all!

Whew can yall believe 2024 is almost over?!?! Man it has been a blur, I have not written in a while, but stay tuned! 2025 will be filled with much more content, recipes and hopefully some live classes coming soon locally too! I will post more soon, but I am going to be hosing a local bible study starting in January on the Genesis Prescription - by The School of Christian Health. I am nervous but so excited! Starting something new, taking a risk can be hard. One of the core things of the Genesis Prescription is movement, while I have really focused on the other elements, I have literally just dug my heals in on working out… I hate it… I don’t have time for it… all the things! If there is an excuse not to work out I have it!

On November 30th after being full of Thanksgiving treats, and honestly feeling totally blah, something just clicked….I didn’t have to wait until January 1st to start working out… I say that every year and it never happens anyway. I got up & just went for a walk nothing crazy, I just moved my body, I walked to the end of my street & back. Instead of sitting back down & watching tv when I got back. I still watched the movie with my family, but I laid down in the floor and did a work out in the floor while watching our show for about 30 minutes. I have continued this every day, a walk and some sort of weighted work out for 30 minutes. Pinterest is a great free resource for finding quick easy workouts with and without equipment. Keep it simple don’t go all out and crazy! Do what you can with what you have, it doesn’t have to be perfect! You don’t have to have the right clothes the right shoes or anything else, you can do so much with your own body weight and just a regular pair of cheap tennis shoes! You don’t need the fancy equipment!

November 30th walk

I will have to admit I had some great inspiration for getting started though! While I have really changed what I put in my body, how we eat and our household products, exercise is like the monster I just did not want to do! I have 3 beautiful friends who are my sanity from college! They are the ones who know too much & will never get to leave :-)! They all 3 are such Godly women, great mommas & are beautiful inside & out! They have all 3 prioritized working out for years though where I have not. We all met up the beginning of November and did a quick workout one morning together, it was so much fun, I was thinking “man I wish I could do this everyday… if only I lived closer to them where I could work out with them everyday I would do it then…” excuse after excuse why I don’t do it. We took a picture after our work out and I hid my arm behind one of their arms to make mine look better (photo evidence below), it was so funny at the time, we all cracked up! It was my motivation though… I have to make an effort, I am not going to get healthy and strong by not adding exercise into my life.

That is NOT my arm, I am hiding mine! :-)

While December is filled with so much joy and Christmas spirit, let’s be honest mommas it is STRESSFUL! Just doing the short workouts I have it is amazing the difference in my stress level this year. Days where I know our afternoons will be crazy and I will not have time to get a work out in, I have been taking a shake to work (yes with my raw milk) and going for a walk on my lunch break. I pack my tennis shoes and just walk around the building a few times. Somedays I pop in my headphones and listen to my book or a podcast, somedays I just put on calming music and pray while I walk. I keep it simple, I don’t even bring work out clothes, I just go in whatever I am wearing at work that day. I find I am so much more productive too in the afternoons if I just will get out of my office for 10 minutes, walk and get a little sunshine!

B & I taking a walk during lunch one day she was in town with me so I had a walking partner that day!

God gave me this body and made me, it is my job to nourish and take care of this one body I have the best I can. So there is no time like the present! Start now! don’t wait until tomorrow, take a 5 minute walk around the block to start, rest and go back for another round if you can. If you do these small things everyday you will be amazed at the change in your mental attitude and how you feel.

Bread of Life

John 6:48 “Yes, I am the bread of life!”

Okay y’all let's talk about bread! Jesus himself declared that he was the bread of life in John, so we need to give the humble loaf some love. Sure, everyone these days is scared of carbs, but think about how different flour is now compared to the olden days. Back then, you had to mill your own grain by hand - can you even imagine?! That's why my Christmas wish was a grain mill from my mom, much to her amazement at my request. I told you, we are going back to the basics in a modern way. I was so excited! I had already bought wheat berries for myself and took them to Sonora for Christmas with me! After some trial and error (okay, maybe more than just some), I finally got it right and let me tell you, the flavor was out of this world. We had a lot of conversations about bread over the holidays as I was playing and tweaking, but one thing my mom said stuck out in my head, she said “Bread used to mold when I was a kid, and I pulled bread out that had been in the cubbord for months and it was not moldy.” Soooooo that begs the question.... what on earth is in our bread today?!?! I am planning a year of fresh bread in our house! Everything from sandwich bread, sourdough, hamburger buns (this one is omg!!), tortillas and more!

So all this to say yall might get tired of bread from me by the time this year is up! I am starting off with the basic old Sandwich Bread because school starts back for most of us next week and we know sandwiches are the go to, especially the 2nd semester! Let's be honest because once spring hits so does the crazy chaos! The time between Christmas break and about Valentine's day is like the calm before the storm to me! But I digress back to bread. This is my basic bread recipe, I use two different size loaf pans, two regular and one long loaf pan that basically ends up being 1 1/2 loaves in it. you can add a little more or less depending how many pans you have. Only have 2 then split the recipe in half & you will have two big fluffy loaves, if you split truly into 4 smaller pans like I have you might have smaller loaves because my one long. This recipe is best with 2-3 pans for full fluffy bread!

Download Recipe PDF Here

Welcome

Introducing The Healthy Hacienda:
A Journey to Healthier Living

I am Courtney Dennis, and am so excited your here. This journey has been a dream of mine for a long time, and after much prayer, I felt that God was calling me to take a leap and step out of my comfort zone to pursue something new while sharing His infinite glory.

As a wife and mother of two beautiful children, my goal for 2024 is to build a healthier life for my family. It's not just about food, although that's a significant aspect, but it's also about our home, our daily routines, and returning to our roots.

I believe many of us are searching for a way to return to the simplicity and wholesomeness of life that we once knew, where we prioritized our health and real, whole foods as created by God. My prayer is to get back to basics, such as gardening, canning, baking bread, and making tinctures, to heal my family in the traditional way.

I hope to share our family journey with you and provide guidance and resources to help you build a healthier life for yourself and your loved ones. I will be sharing recipes, tips for gardening and preserving food, and advice on natural remedies and self-care practices.

In addition to online resources, I hope to host both local & live workshops where we can come together as a community to learn and grow in our pursuit of health and wellness through Christ. I truly believe that by supporting each other and sharing our knowledge and experiences, we can create a healthier and happier world.

Thank you for joining me on this journey to healthier living. Let's take this step together and make positive changes in our lives, one day at a time.

Peace & Blessings Always,

Courtney