Applesauce from Scratch

The UB and MP helped me make homemade

applesauce this week. It was so very simple and

super delicious. I think we'll be making more, 

I'll certainly make some for The MN to taste 

when she is just a wee bit older, very tasty. 

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Starting off my day making this amazing red velvet cake. 

It's ridiculously good, I only make it once a year. So happy. 

Vitamix

After years of thinking about it and planning to get

one I finally jumped in and spent a lot of money to

get a high powered blender. So far so good. Our 

smoothies have been extra smooth and made very

quickly... excited to try out some soups. 

The MP has a Happy Belly!

love love loving this site

we've been able to make and eat

cookies and cupcakes that are actually delicious 

(gluten and sugar free, fantastic and beautiful)

What a Difference a Day Makes

Went to a natural healer and learned a lot about The UB and MP. We have struggled with a few issues for a long time and have asked more then one Doctor for help. Finally found someone with a gift and he helped tremendously. So a very long story short we are now temporarily off gluten and sugar. We'll go back on gluten eventually and let ourselves eat a tiny amount of sugar. Our lives are totally changing and I couldn't feel better about it. Made Gluten free bread today and found it was fairly painless and tastes quite good. Life is such an interesting journey and so full of little gifts and blessing. I'm learning so much every month and it feels we are making some amazing steps in a right direction. I really never cease to be awed and inspired by how much good can poor into our lives if we are open to God and what he can send us.  I just heard a rooster crow outside my kitchen window as I type this, I'm still so surprised that this is my new life, but I'm excited too. Really looking forward to starting our own garden 

Sunday Night Treat

Homemade Hot Cocoa

It was perfectly delicious and simple 

Advent Day 10

Watching The Grinch & eating these cookies made by

Aunt Brooke, find the recipe and image here, so good!

           

Mexican Hot Chocolate

                               Making this soon!

2 (12oz.) cans evaporated milk
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 cup chocolate chips

In a saucepan whisk milk, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg & pepper over medium heat. When hot (not yet boiling) stir in chocolate and stir until melted. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 min. Whisk and pour into sturdy mugs and dust with cocoa powder and serve. 

Advent Day 4

Making "Moose Balls" a delicious traditional mix of 

chocolate melted and mixed with cool-whip and rolled

in crushed nilla wafers then frozen... so good. We love em. 

The UB's Pick

At the grocery store miraculously The UB begs for vegetables. This week he wanted white turnips, beets, cabbage and brussels sprouts... none of which were on my list but if he wants food this good I always purchase it! (Sadly he also begs for marshmallows nearly every time he sets foot in a store) 

Not sure how we will eat this? 

Maybe I'll let him have it like an apple. 

These are very good boiled then sliced and eaten with 

sprinkled feta cheese.

We usually eat this sliced up in a salad.

And these lovelies are so 

delicious when made like 

the recipe below.. we all 

eat them up like candy. 

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

This is super good! 

The MP helped me make it last week. 

I can't get enough, a perfect dish to pair up with grilled cheese sandwiches. 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup all purpose flour

4 cups chicken broth

3 1/2 cups half-and-half

1 1/2 cups marinara sauce

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes or 10 small vine ripe tomatoes diced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, or 1/2 t. dried basil

coarse sea salt and ground black pepper

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook while stirring for 5 minutes to slightly brown the mixture. Whisk in the broth. Increase the heat and cook and stir until thickened. Decrease the heat to low, stir in the half-and-half, and simmer for 20 minutes. 

2. Stir in the marinara sauce, tomatoes, and basil, and cook until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve as is chunky-style, or puree in a food processor or blender if you prefer a smooth soup. 

plan for tomorrow morning

from tidyMom

Pumpkin Pancakes with Black Cinnamon Syrup

Yield: 16

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1-1/4 cups buttermilk
• 4 TBSP melted butter
• 5 TBSP canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• few drops of orange gel food coloring
Black Cinnamon Syrup (recipe from Not Martha)
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup water
• black food coloring gel

Instructions

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with no stick spray.
2. Combine eggs, buttermilk, butter, pumpkin, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Use an electric mixer to blend ingredients.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet
5. ingredients and blend with mixer until smooth. Add just a few drops of gel food coloring until you get a nice orange (it doesn’t take much).
6. Pour or scoop the batter onto hot skillet, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.
7. When the batter stops bubbling and edges begin to harden, flip the
8. pancakes. They should be golden brown. This will take from 1 to 2 minutes.
9. Flip the pancakes and cook other side for the same amount of time, until
10. golden brown.
Black Cinnamon Syrup
11. In a saucepan combine all ingredients except for the food coloring gel. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously.
12. As it starts to heat, add in a little of the black food coloring and mix in, add more until it’s as dark as can be (it doesn’t take much). Allow it to boil for a few moments until the mixture has thickened.
13. Remove from heat and allow to cool enough to put into a Squeeze Bottle.

Notes

Note: You can make the syrup the night before and warm it by dipping the squeeze bottle in a bowl of warm water.

White Chili

                                Recipe Here

I think we will be eating a lot of soup this winter. We are
really in over our head, super scared to face the snow here.

Orange Playdough

           Warm and Soft and Smelling Delicious! 

treat

Lately every day The MP says, "I need to make my daddy a treat!"

and she will start mixing together whatever she can get her hands on 

then cover it in rainbow sprinkles. Yesterday I helped and we made these.

They turned out okay, hers were adorable with their sprinkles! 

kicking a UTI without antibiotics

drink some uva ursi in a full glass of water once or twice a day (or take it in capsule or tea form, I ordered the liquid from amazon... it's a good one for kidney stones too)

drink several glasses of no-sugar cranberry juice and lots of water

drink a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water once a day

take it easy rest with a heating pad on your lower abs or back near your kidneys 

                            hot water bottle

take a daily hot sitz bath with 5 drops of lavender essential oil and 5 drops of rosemary essential oil

take a dose or two of ibuprofen through the day to reduce inflammation and treat the pain

A couple of days following this recipe works brilliantly, just used it last week. It's super simple and so much less expensive then the doctor... plus I think it's very good for the body to limit antibiotics when and where you can. Home treatments when they work (and it's generally often ask my sister Dayna!) are so fantastic and liberating. 

Coconut Oil

Do you know this is the greatest stuff? I've been using it as an all over moisturizer, even face (it is naturally anti-aging) It's perfect to brush a babies teeth with, good to gargle when you have a sore throat, , cures foot fungus, great for removing make-up, excellent to cook with and a fantastic natural hair conditioner. Great to rub on your gums, it prevents gingivitis... I'm loving this oil so much we buy it in bulk and use it for nearly everything, I'm sick of all the chemicals and synthetic junk we've been conditioned to believe is normal... (shampoo, lotion, make-up, toothpaste etc...have you looked at the weird-o ingredients?) Coconut oil is so pure and delicious and good for you in a thousand ways. You can read about it all over online, I've included one little quote below from marksdailyapple

"Coconut oil has been found to help normalize blood lipids and protect against damage to the liver by alcohol and other toxins, can play a role in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases, and is associated with improved blood sugar and insulin control and therefore the prevention and management of diabetes. In addition, coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. On a more superficial level, meanwhile, coconut oil is thought to help strengthen mineral absorption, which is important for healthy teeth and bones, and can also help improve the condition and appearance of the scalp, hair and skin when ingested or topically applied."

Read more 

green smoothy

Making and drinking our smoothies daily, so good...

I'm loving the healthy recipes in Robyn's books, tonight

we are trying out the black bean brownies for FHE, they 

smell delicious so we are full of hope for these healthy treats!

Family Home Evening

Tonight we will be eating chocolate cake  

And listening to a Prophet, Thomas S. Monson

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I love all the breakfast ideas here... we decided to go with

Shamrock and Gold Pancakes, The UB and MP loved em.