Merry Christmas!

Keep Your Perspective...

This picture was taken by my oldest daughter E while we were driving along a country road in our new state of West Virginia. I think she has a good eye.

~

Here's my thought: I get grumpy every day because.......why.....? Funny, it's hard to identify the reason but I think at the root of it I feel like a failure anytime the family doesn't meet the ideal that I have in my head that is my blueprint of "The Successful Family."

~

Examples:

-bickering sisters

-breakfast at noon (not exaggerating)

-dirty kitchen

-school still being done at 8 pm (again not exaggerating)

-missing devotions

~

My mental blueprint does not have these elements in it. Every time I miss the mark I label it as "FAILURE". I know this is irrational but there it is. Here is where I need to think about this picture and "Keep My Perspective." Things may be dark, they may be imperfect, but in spite of all "failures" am I still looking upward to Christ and pointing my children upward to Him too? If all else fails, is that happening? If I get all bent out of shape because of every shortfall I will not be looking upward or pointing upward, I will just be an irritable shrew that people want to get away from.

~

So. I will relaaaax. I will major on the majors. I will ask God for direction (back to that cool picture again...God can speak to us in spite of our weaknesses, He can point the way and be certain we get the message).

~

And, when faced with a perspective, I will look up...I will choose joy.

The Big Move

Why no posts?  Well, in a nutshell, the hubs got a great new job in West Virginia starting as soon as we can get out there so I've been a little distracted.  It has been a huge task to wrap my life in cardboard, but very theraputic.  I've unloaded a bunch of excess that I don't use or love.  I've basically laid hands on every single material item in my life and asked myself, "Is this worth hauling across the country?"  Let's just say that Goodwill loves me.

Here I am, with my tools of the trade (note the archer's stance...)

You'll see my most favoritest packing tools in the picture:

1.  McDonald's Fry Boxes:  Fry boxes rock.  No one who has ever moved with fry boxes will deny this fact.  They are small and crazy strong...perfect for books and other heavy stuff.  We found a McDonald's with a cardboard dumpster that was outside of the restaurant and I basically chuck a kid in there and they fish them out from all the other inferior boxes.  My husband and I have a pet peeve:  boxes of various sizes.  I mean, some variation is required, but we didn't want to monkey around with 23 different sizes of boxes...it makes for tricky stacking.  Also, we have fry boxes left over from previous moves that are still holding stuff and they're as stiff and strong as the day we got them.  Like I said, fry boxes rock.

2.  Sharpie Marker:  A thicky for scribbling out other people's writing on the boxes and a fine point for my own labeling.  Watch out for the thicky...it could make you high....it's really smelly.  You might pack the cat or something if you use the thicky for too long so hold your breath when you're using it.  Oh, the thicky doesn't call itself "thicky" it calls itself "Magnum" because it's trying to be all manly. 

3.  Tape Gun:  Super easy for all the miles of taping I have to do.  Love it.

4.  Gardening Apron:  This little thing is really handy.  It's got 3 pockets, one holds my box cutter, one holds my masking tape and scissors, and the last one holds my sharpies.  This way I never misplace my tools....ya know, I should use this at Christmas.  Along this line of thinking I ought to get a holster for my tape gun!  Yeah! 

Well, anyhow, you won't be hearing much from me for a bit yet as we treck across this great country of ours and get settled among the foothills of the Appalacian Mountains.   Once settled, I'll return to get real with y'all about the ups and downs of life on this side of heaven.

Delicious Dill Dip

Here's a recipe for a nummy all natural dill dip:

1 c sour cream

1 tsp dried dill weed

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

Stir together. 

Devour.

If you try it and like it, consider making a batch of the dip powder at once.

Here's the quantities for a little jar of dip powder:

6 Tbsp dried dill weed

3 Tbsp garlic powder

3 Tbsp onion powder

6 Tbsp salt

Add up to 1 Tbsp of dip to 1 cup of sour cream and....devour.

Prayer and Bible Study

Praying to God and hearing from God in His Word is the heartbeat of the Christian life.  It's the "lub-dub" of coronary Christian existence.  You can't separate the two.  Without the Word of God, our prayers dwindle away into banalities and self-oriented nothings.  Without prayer our Bible reading becomes pedantic & intellectualistic and barren and fruitless.  We must hold the two together.  (John Piper)

The "After" Picture

Several blog posts back I showed you the true condition of my living room.  Well, I got all the kid's clothes tubs put back in the garage and Mt. Never-Rest went bye-bye, and even the coffee table is back where it should be:  in front of the couch.  So, here's the after picture, for what it's worth:

Num Num Black Bean Dip

Another slam dunk recipe from "Honest Pretzels":

2-15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed (or 3 cups)
Juice of 2 limes
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 c tomato juice/V8
chopped cilantro

Put beans, tomato juice, garlic, cumin, salt, and lime juice into food processor and blend until smooth. 

Serve with corn chips/pita wedges/tortillas/veggies and sprinkle cilantro on top for flavor.

A Bread Miracle!

Bette Hagman is a genius.


I have a daughter who is sensitive to gluten.  She doesn't have celiac disease but she does have a disorder that causes her to react to gluten.  Once we became aware of the fact that our daughter can't have gluten we have provided her with gluten-free alternatives.  For bread she eats rice bread.  She may also be sensitive to artificial ingredients, so we have a very limited selection of rice breads that we can buy for her...basically ONE brand of bread which has all natural ingredients.  The bread is okay as toast or fried on a griddle, but it's not great.  I have wanted to give her bread that she can really enjoy eating and thanks to Bette Hagman, tonight I was able to do just that.

Bette Hagman has written an entire cookbook on gluten-free breads.  I have tried my first recipe tonight and it knocks the socks off any homemade white bread I would ever imagine eating.  It was so delicious I was actually a little jealous that she would be getting this all the time while we are stuck eating regular wheat bread!  (Yes, we could all eat her bread, but it's more expensive than wheat so I'll save it just for her...most of the time!)

Here's the cookbook:

The recipe that I started out with is her "Basic Bread".  The ingredient list is far from "basic" let me tell you.  Here's all the ingredients in one place:

Let me tell you what's in this loaf:

-sugar

-egg replacer

-garfava flour

-sorghum flour

-xanthan gum

-tapioca flour

-salt

-corn starch

-apple cider vinegar

-yeast

-eggs

-butter

(and milk or water, your choice)

She has you make this "bread mix"...like that "Make-A-Mix" cookbook from long ago.  I pre-measured pretty large quantities of most of those ingredients shown above and stirred them together in a giant bowl.  Then measured just a couple of cups of the "bread mix" into another bowl, added the remaining ingredients to it and whipped it up good in the blender, poured it into a bread pan, let it rise, baked it a while, and Voila!  A gluten-free bread miracle!

This isn't a great picture but here goes:

The slice looks weird because I spread it with butter to make it look more scrumptious but instead it just looks..."glumpy".  Can you see how "holey" it looks?  It's just the most tender delicious stuff ever.

Thank you Bette Hagman for all your hard work.  My daughter's life is better for it.

Honest Pretzels

I'm trying to feed my family better.  My goal is organic meats and veggies, pastured milk, no artificial anything.  That makes for expensive eating...especially compared to what we were paying for food before.  We ate the processed foods that were cheap:  hot dogs, mac n cheese, frozen pizza.  We have a tight budget so every dollar counts. 

One idea I had to increase health while keeping spending down was to cook some meals vegetarian.  One of the most famous vegetarian cookbook authors is Mollie Katzen.  She authored the Moosewood Cookbook.  If you want to cook vegetarian, she's the one to go to I guess.  Anyhow, never having been a vegetarian cook I decided to go to her for some recipe ideas.  Easy recipe ideas.  Easy and cheap recipe ideas.  What I discovered was a cookbook she's written for kids called "Honest Pretzels".  Kid cooking I can do.

So far every recipe I've tried from there has been a home run.  It's all delicious! (Except maybe the tomato soup recipe...it seemed curdled and not smooth.  Blech.  But that may have been my fault because I may have let it cook too long with the milk in there.)  She does use white flour and sugar, but that's easy enough to sub out.  The kids love the food and so do us parents.

I do have a certain degree of guilt using this cookbook because I'm standing there alone doing the recipes instead of having quality time with one of my 4 daughters cooking together like the author intended.  I really stink at involving them in the cooking.  I'm working on improving in that area.

Here are some of our favorites from her cookbook:

-Yogurt Pancakes
-Grilled Cheese and Broccoli Sandwich
-Cream Cheese and Apricot Sandwich
-Apple Yogurt Salad
-Guacamole
-Creamy Corn Soup

My Dogs Are Barking!

So last summer I thought I'd stepped on a stone and bruised my heel. I waited for it to heal but it only got worse and eventually both feet were in pain. Finally I went to see the doctor and he confirmed what I suspected: plantar fasciitis. I'm sure I have the worst case in the history of feet. Sometimes it hurts so bad I walk like I've got a serious physical handicap. In fact, for all intents and purposes I AM handicapped to some degree. The intense pain has handicapped me.

-

So, first I started out with exercises and pricey shoes. I'm told I can never pad around in barefeet again....ever....in my life. Harumph. I believe that people were designed by God to be barefoot. I don't think He designed us to need $100 shoes with good arch support. But he also didn't design us to be carrying an extra 50 pounds of body fat for most of our adult lives, either...so there. It's my own fault I suppose for being overweight AND barefoot. If you're overweight, I advise you look into shoes with good arch supports and wear them...to avoid this terrible agony later in life.

-

Anyhow, so 3 pairs of pricey shoes were purchased and I was full of hope that my days of pain and limited mobility would be over. Nope. I'm sure I'm better off with the pricey shoes, but I'm still DYING by the end of the day.

-

So, then I tried this "Sports Rub" with Emu Oil and Peppermint Oil. It claims to help with muscle aches....and it does. I'm in pain, I rub some on my feet, the inflamation reduces and I feel better! ....temporarily. But temporarily is better than never so I've been rubbing regularly. My feet smell like your Grampa's candy dish. Mmmmm....yummy. But, the painful inflamation is the reaction of my feet to something going WRONG down there and even though the lotion reduces the pain, the "wrongness" is continuing and the pain returns.

-

Today, however, is a day to hope for a change. Today I received my very own pair of custom designed orthotics. I finally hobbled my way to a specialist and he had a nurse tape my feet and see if I felt any better. I really did feel better for a few days until the tape stretched out so he believes these things will help me. At $450 a pair I hope they do! They are sorta "floppy" and already seem to be peeling off at the heel so I'm not sure how they are going to make "the difference", but I really hope that this is the magic bullet.

Yummy Healthy Chili

We made some yummy chili tonight and wanted to pass on the recipe. This will make a nice, big pot and served the 6 of us with some to spare. We would have had more to spare but we were famished since I couldn't get dinner on the table until 8 pm and there was no butter for making cornbread so all we had to go with it was the blop of sour cream you see in the picture and some corn chips I had on hand....so, we really snarfed up the chili.
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 c onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 c celery, diced
4 cloves garlic
1 lb ground beef
2-28 oz cans diced tomateos
4-6 Tbsp chili powder
2 1/2 c water
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp salt
4 tsp honey
3 cans undrained kidney beans (or other beans)

Saute onions, green pepper, celery, and garlic in olive oil. Brown beef. Stir it all together and simmer on low for two hours, stirring occasionally.