Grain Free Raisin Cookies

We all want a sweet treat during the holiday season!
Thankfully, there are some delicious recipes out there that will help if you are trying to keep your family on track.
I honestly can't remember where this one came from...I think a friend sent it to me.
The batter is just as tasty raw as it is baked, and sometimes we just eat it by the spoonful right out of the fridge!

Grain/Gluten-Free Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:
10 TBSP grass fed butter (not as tasty with grocery store butter, nor as good for you!)
1/2 C raw honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C almond flour or meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda (not GAPS legal)
1 C shredded coconut (you can leave this out, we like it in!)
1 C raisins

Directions:
Dump it all in a bowl, make sure the butter is very soft first, and mix, mix, mix! Get your kids to help, this is a great, fool-proof recipe for them to make!
Bake at 350 for 10 min. ***Cool on pan***
(That is very, very important. The butter needs time to re-harden slightly before you try and move them)

Stuffed Shells

As promised, here is the first of many recipes I want to share.

Our GAPS/grain-free journey is possibly nearing it's end

BUT

I've learned a lot

and added some great, nutritious recipes to my repitoire!

This recipe is called 

Stuffed Shells...

and the "shells" can be bell peppers, steamed cabbage leaves, or any other cup shaped veggie you can imagine!

We used green bell peppers...

Ingredients:

1/2 lb grass fed ground beef

3 large mushrooms

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 C chopped spinach

1 1/2 C ricotta cheese (I used kefir cheese)

1C shredded mozzarella (I used raw grass fed cheddar)

1/2 tsp parsley

1 beaten egg yolk

4 bell peppers or 8 lg cabbage leaves

2C tomato sauce

Directions:

Steam cabbage leaves if that's what you are using.  Brown beef and add veggies. Cook till soft. Mix ricotta (or kefir cheese), half the mozzarella, and parsley in a bowl, add meat mixture. Pour a little of the tomato sauce in the bottom of your baking dish. Stuff your veggie shells with the mixture (or roll your stuffed cabbage leaves), set on the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce over the tops and add the rest of the shredded mozzarella. Bake at 350 till cheese is melted.

Tips: I would recommend steaming which ever veggie "shell" you decide to use prior to filling and baking. The first time I did this, the green peppers took FOREVER to cook.

{I adapted this recipe from one over at Modern Alternative Mama's place. Check her out!}

It's about time!

Yesterday was my birthday.
It made me think about endings and beginnings
and it made me think about how much I had missed writing about our journey
during my hiatus.

I'm ready to pick back up again!

So...
here's a little bit of this
and a little bit of that...

We took an amazing vacation to Hilton Head Island at the end of August/beginning of September.
It was all about the ocean! I had three pairs of wide eyes and thirty curious toes discovering everything there is about the seashore.

It was without a doubt the most incredible trip ever. After the initial discomfort of figuring out the island, enjoying our time together was effortless.  Our condo was right on the beach, and it was off-season, so we had a little strip of heaven all to ourselves.

We saw coastal wildlife, plenty of dead sea critters washed ashore (even a dead armadillo!) and got our fill of watching the magic of a sand dollar burrow it's way into the beach.

We saw an indignant puffer fish, a baby flounder, noisy blue crabs, oyster beds squirting up at the sun, and curious dolphins.

...and a really cute bunny by our boardwalk!

We went on a road trip south one day and toured the deep mystery of Savannah in a yellow trolley.  The city seduced us with it's magical canopy of trees and soothing green squares.  Forsythe Park amazed us and we spent an hour or so gazing at the white iron fountain...and giggling at the partially nude mer-men and long necked geese sculpted at the bottom!
At the end of the day, our ears ringing with tales of fearsome pirates and desecrated graveyards, we wound our way deeper into the city and enjoyed flavorful local fare for dinner.

We also took time out from the beach to go see Fort Pulaski and Fort Sumter, squeezing in all the history we could in the all too short week we had.  Gazing at century-old brick, molded by hands, and scarred by canon balls, we took a step back in time and appreciated our past all the more.

On the way back north we breezed through Charleston and gawked at the stunning waterfront residences. Having no more than a few hours in the city, I rolled down my window and had Marvin drive slowly as I photographed everything beautiful (which was everything I saw!)

The very last day of the trip, Marvin surprised me with a tour through one of Charleston's few remaining precious gems, a plantation home called Drayton Hall.
It's been left in it's natural state, only preserved, not restored. Original sun faded paint partially covering the hand carved mahogany ornaments on the walls, and no furniture to distract the eye from the architectural loveliness made for a veritable feast for my eyes! Sadly, our jaded tour guide rushed us through and I wasn't able to satiate my photographic appetite!! But it was still awesome...

When we got home, it was time to jump right in to our school year. There are definite advantages (like cost!) to taking a vacation at the beginning of everyone else's school year, but also disadvantages. Our homeschool co-op that we participate in started the week we got back, and I felt oh-so-rushed and pressured to rapidly undo the post vacation disaster that overtakes the house when one returns from a trip.

This time around at the co-op, I'm teaching a class, so there was even more prep and pressure involved! Fortunately, I had spent time in the summer planning out the entire two semesters in great detail, so I was able to be a bit more relaxed on the first day.

The kids did great, last year Benji was extremely clingy and I could go NOwhere (not even the bathroom) without him attached to my side, and Alec nervously used walkie talkies for several weeks to find me. This year, OH MY GOODNESS! It's like I have entirely different children!

I don't see Alec all day at all until it's time to go home, and I hardly see Benji and Ava unless I"m walking them to their next class. It's amazing what little time and patience can do when there are frustrating developmental stages with a child!

The class I'm teaching is going well, it's my first time working closely with teenagers...They are awesome! I've enjoyed every minute (mostly!) of it so far, except for the fact that we never have enough time in class to accomplish what I want to.

I finally got my curriculum choices for this school year narrowed down for my three...I had a major hitch in my giddyap a few weeks ago, though, when Alec found a history book on the shelf and positively BEGGED to use it instead of what we had planned.  Thank goodness we hadn't ordered anything yet!

You know you're doing something right when your child is begging to use a history book! So...we're derailing from our grand plan (which was to switch everyone over to Sonlight) and heading down the now familiar path of an ecclectic school year. A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

Benji's remedial exercises for reading are coming along very nicely, and Ava had her very first formal reading lesson today. Although she already knew what I was teaching her...that girl has a mind like a steel trap and has been listening in to her brothers lessons her whole life!

We are still doing the GAPS diet...have been since May. We did try and stick closely on our trip, but had a few "illegal" meals, too!  I promise I'll write about all that soon. I have some great food photos and recipes to post and lots to share about how going grain free has helped our family.

I've also recently learned that I have hypo-thyroid (low-functioning) and while to some that may seem dismal, I'm actually quite relieved. I've been feeling like something just wasn't right ever since Ava was born and this answers and explains a whole lot.  I'm looking forward to sharing this new journey to healing with all of you!

I'm finally feeling like I've got a pretty good handle on the routine of our life at this moment...but I know that won't last long! God has a habit of shaking up my snow globe the moment the flakes settle!!

And now, because it's the end of a long day of school, house cleaning, food making and violin practicing...I'm heading to my pillow!

'Night all...and thanks for reading!

disLike

I was recently having a conversation with someone about a meal we were planning and the topic came up of whether or not my kids liked a particular food. This person happens to have similar ideas and beliefs about food that I do, but it brought to mind a pet peeve of mine that has been growing rapidly.

In our house here is what we teach the kids about food:

God gives us food

Food does not need to taste good, but it must be healthful

Whole food is the only healthy choice

thus

we need to eat our food as close to it's natural state as possible

By making healthy choices, we are honoring God with our bodies

By making healthy choices because we are told to, not necessarily because we want to, we are being obedient to our parents

This translates occasionally into some mild mealtime battles. For most children, regardless of how aware of whole foods they are raised, trying a new food can be quite challenging. Since we are very firm in our lifestyle choice of eating whole food, we do not allow complaining, whining, or refusal to try new things.

The phrase "But I don't like it!" does not hold any currency at our table. We gently say, "I'm sorry you don't like that food. You need to eat it anyway because it's good for your body and because you need to obey your mommy and daddy."

Because we eat the way we do (which is not the norm in our country), we frequently have friends come over with children who are curious about what's on the table. Often, this scenario has played itself out in front of me:



guest child,"Mommy? What's that?"

parent, "Oh, it's such and such"

guest child, "Oh! I want to taste it!"

parent, "Oh NO, you won't like it."

or

"Oh, I don't think you should, you've never had that before."



What? "you won't like it"???!!! I really and truly can't even wrap my head around that mentality. Why in the world would you not only discourage your child's natural curiosity but also squash their desire to try WHOLE, NUTRITIOUS FOOD??



I could probably understand if it were the other way around, if I was serving up a big helping of processed grain, refined sugar, msg and high fructose corn syrup, and the parent, bless their heart, was trying to discourage tasting that. But this? Really?



(when I say "food" here, I'm referring to whole, traditional, nutritious foods)

It frustrates me and saddens me to no end to see parents putting their preconceived notions about food, or personal dislikes of a food onto their children. For example, my husband hates tomatoes. Since boys always want to be like Daddy, we are very careful not to let the boys know just how much Daddy hates tomatoes so that they will try them and develop their own opinion. All three of the kids actually don't like tomatoes right now, their choice, but we serve tomato stuff anyway and I just tell them, "Well, you're not old enough to like them, but you will when you are more grown up."



At the end of the day, our goal with our children is to accomplish the realization of a new meaning of the word "like".



Like: the ability to enjoy and eat whole, nutritious, traditional foods because they are the best choice, and God's choice, for a healthy body.



Conversely, the word "dislike" or phrase "I don't like that" translates to this:

the sinful flesh refusing to be obedient to God's design for the body, an ungrateful spirit rearing it's ugly head



So, when my children are served something they object to, their thought processes should run something like this:

Oh, this is not my favorite thing to eat. But I'll eat it anyway with a happy heart because I like foods that Mommy and Daddy tell me are healthy, and because I want to be obedient.



I do not believe in coddling, or cooking for, the appetite of my children. Occasionally we will allow them to participate in meal planning, or have a favorite meal for a special occasion. Largely speaking, though, I cook and serve what I deem to be the best, and healthiest foods for the

family, and fully expect cheerful obedience and "liking" of what I serve!



Our goal is raising kids with a grateful heart, and a taste for simple, nutritious, life-giving foods.

Grain Free Delicious!

We've been grain free here since May. This post is not to share why, although I will eventually, but to share one FABULOUS recipe that will make you so delighted!

These are grain free cupcakes. The original recipe is for a nut butter muffin, and then for chocolate avocado pudding. Since I am the way I am, and can't leave anything as it is, I changed everything up a bit and made these tasty cupcakes.

I honestly can't remember where the recipes came from, so if you are reading this and it is your recipe, please leave a comment!!

Ok, so moving right along...

One thing I will say before I share the recipes is that nut butter is expensive. We generally don't use peanut butter here because of a couple family members being sensitive, and because most peanut butters contain aflatoxins, a type of toxic mold. Instead, we use almond butter or sunflower seed butter, both raw if we can find them. For us, they are healthier choices, and the extra cost is worth it.

(you can read more on this here and find healthy peanut butter here)

So are you ready? Drumroll please...

Nut Butter Cupcakes

(you can use half of the sweetner and they can just be nice, neutral muffins)

1 jar nut butter

1/2 C raw honey

3 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

2T raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

That's all! 

Yep, that's all the ingredients! I was totally amazed the first time I made these!

Method:

Combine all ingredients except for the vinegar and mix well. You can use a whisk and some elbow grease or an electric mixer. Add vinegar or lemon juice and mix well, then pour into muffin cups or greased muffin pan. This makes 12 good sized muffins. Almond butter makes poofier muffins than peanut butter, not sure why.

Bake at 350 for around 15 min. They are done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely and then frost with...

Chocolate Avocado Frosting

2 ripe avocados

1/2 C raw honey

1/2 C organic cocoa powder

2 T fat (coconut oil or butter, melted)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Add ingredients to food processor and blend. I ended up adding a tad extra cocoa (maybe 1/4 C?) because it still tasted a bit avocado-y to me. This is super thick and is very satisfying because of the fatty avocados.

Personally, I stored these in the refrigerator. Nut butter can go rancid, and we've all seen what avocados to when exposed to air for any period of time. I just put them in an airtight container and they were fine and just as tasty right out of the fridge. Of course there weren't many left to refrigerate after my kids realized how yummy they were!

If you make this, please comment and let me know how you liked it, or if you changed it up at all!

here comes the SUN

Good friends, good food, good weather

smiling faces, tinkling laughter

blessings from the One who knows what is best

It will go all too quickly...

last weekend

we packed this

and this

and set off to explore

to find what was in the water

what was on the water

how to move the water

 what was on land

and how to have a really good time no matter how hot we are!

company for dinner

hot kitchen,

the loud fan lies to my skin

chopping board

 silver knife, emerald lettuce

my hair dances in the breeze and sticks to my face

ruby red watermelon drips on the floor

fragrant onion sings in the pan

salty slivers of anchovy

 creamy golden egg yolk

big yellow bowl on my black counter top

 forks for 12

 bon appetit!

two black puppies

7 happy children

plastic cups sweating on the table

sharing memories, making new ones

steamy summer night

 bare feet picking up gravel on the sidewalk

car doors interrupt the humid silence

voices drift across the dark dry grass

let's do it again soon!

Are You Getting in Your Own Way?

That curious contradiction of "dying to oneself"...

The person inside of you dying so that you can be reborn...

Getting in your own way, stopping yourself from overcoming, achieving, listening, bending, being humbled...

My selfish wants and needs are very often a loud, ugly voice, crowding my thoughts and blocking my ears to the truth

Over the past months, I've been slowly, very slowly dying inside. Rejoice with me over the things I've learned and the new person God is allowing me to become!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My desire to have an easy to feed household has been snuffed in favor of having a healthy household. No longer do I take shortcuts in the kitchen, ignoring possible allergens or sensitivity triggers. We have now been largely grain-free for close to two months, following loosely to the GAPS diet parameters.

The Lord lead me to this place of sacrifice in the kitchen, and my reward is more peaceful children, not clamoring for food every five minutes, more calm, less apt to tantrum over tiny things. I feel amazing, I actually get a hungry feeling (haven't had proper digestion in YEARS) and nearly all my fibromyalgia-type symptoms have vanished. (I will share more on these health issues in our family later.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My desire to have a just for me work area has changed in favor of having a just for school work area. After struggling with the kids over disrespect and disregard for the seriousness of school, the Lord impressed on my heart the need to completely designate ONE room in the house as a classroom.

Taking apart my dedicated art/sewing table/workspace was like ripping my arm off. Tears flowed, but redemption came. Obedience that requires sacrifice bears delicious fruit!!! We now have a beautiful turquoise table and orange and white chairs in our new classroom and the children sit peacefully around it and do their work, largely without complaint.

{quick note on this: while having a dedicated classroom may improve your personal home educating experience, I'm by no means saying that this is a cure all or surefire way to get your kids to settle down and work! This is just the way obedience in that area looked for our particular family. I'll share more on this later, also}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My desire to "look pretty" upon leaving the house has been replaced by a desire to "look practical" and be on time! I still don't leave the house in pj's or sweats with mismatched shoes but I've left with no or minimal makeup or with just a simple braid or ponytail in my hair in order to place more priority on getting my children out the door peacefully.

This is an area that is difficult for me, due to my extremely low self-esteem and self consciousness over my body size. Over the years I've grown in this area, but my voice inside still kept shouting loud enough that I couldn't really hear what the Lord was trying to gently whisper to my soul...

"You are precious in my sight, you are beautiful in my eyes, you are unique, no one has or will be created like you, so there is NO COMPARISON! Just be, and listen to me...my voice is truth!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My desire to have obedient children so that I could feel gratified and in control has been replaced with a desire to see them turn their hearts toward Jesus at all costs. The cry of my heart to the Lord during discipline issues has changed from "Lord, help ME know what to do here!" to "Lord, help this child to listen to you! Open this child's ears to what you have to say through me!" I can now hear this truth, softly spoken in my heart...

"Discipling and disciplining your children has nothing whatsoever to do with you, you are merely a tool placed in their lives to enable them to learn of Me and hear my voice speaking to their hearts. It doesn't matter if you are being physically or emotionally assaulted by your child, your feelings are not the issue. Their hearts are infinitely more important!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These all big areas! Big enough to write at least a whole post on each...which I may do at some point.

For now, I'm humbly thankful to my patient Heavenly Father for lovingly and gently leading me on these paths.
This is only the beginning of my adventure in dying but it's a good start...

When I'm tempted to argue with myself, or trip over my own feet, my turquoise table is my ever-present reminder that...

Obedience that requires sacrifice bears good fruit!