Lemon Lime Popsicles

Wow!  These past few days have been so nice.  Today however it was hot.  89 degrees!  When you go right into those kinds of temps when you are use to 50 you notice.  The humidity makes you work slower.  The heat makes your mind dream about ice cream.  Well mine does!  Today we got alot done.  I have three awesome hard working young men.  I have one, 15 who out works me.  He divided and transplanted 20 hostas today by himself.  God bless that boy.  He sure blesses me.  The other two were busy making a make shift pen for the 20 chicks to free range before the coop is done.  And since we saw a HUGE raccoon the other night at the bird feeder we will make it extra secure.  I think we will be buying a gun soon.  And don't even send me hate mail.  After raising 20 chicks from day olds, cleaning their box every week, buying food, paying the electric bill for the heat lamp to run 24/7 & hand petting them I will do what ever it takes to get rid of predators.  No guilt. 

I also made popsicles!

Lemon Lime popsicles

juice 4 lemons & 5 limes

add about 1 1/2 c rice milk

about 1/2 c honey

Blend in a blender and add a good handful of ice.  You can just drink this and I did what was left over after making 6 popsicles.  So refreshing on a day like today.

 First time outside and the girls loved it.  They laid in the sun and stretched out their wings.  Ate bugs and dandelions.

Here is my herb garden, it's right out my back kitchen door.  If you can imagine, it was FULL of weeds.  I didn't have plant markers so I rummaged through my desk drawers.  Colored pencils!  You know you have 3 sets of them.  Really, what is it about a new pack of colored pencils even though you already have a pack at home that rarely get used?  Crayons too, my boys have just gotten older.

What do you do when the weather starts getting nice?

http://newlifeonahomestead.com/2011/05/mondays-homestead-barn-hop-this-weeks-happenings/
Whole New Mom

Farfalle with Corn, Asparagus and Jalapeno

I love pasta.  Do you?  I checked out from the library Scott Conant's New Italian Cooking.  There are only a few recipes I will try in it.  This is one of them and we all loved it.  I served it with a huge salad with an Asian dressing, cranberries & sliced almonds.  After working outside in the flower beds today I feel real good about serving this healthy meal.  Don't you just love hard work, good food and warm sunny days?


Farfalle with Corn, Asparagus and Jalapeno
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil then add 1 lb farfalle pasta and boil until almost al dente.  Save 1 cup of pasta water and drain the rest.

In the meantime add to a skillet with olive oil, 1 red onion diced and 1 seeded and chopped jalapeno.  Cook until tender about 5 minutes.  Add about 2 cups frozen corn and let cook until warm.  Add 1 lb small diced asparagus and cook until crisp tender. 

When everything is done combine the pasta, pasta water and veggies in a skillet and warm through.  Salt and pepper.


Angela's Asian Dressing
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 c Bragg's or other soy sauce
2 tbsp honey

Mix together in a mason jar with a fork.  Pour over salad.

Links
Strictly Homemade

Love Letters from our Father

Isaiah 43:1

But know thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 43:4

Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you
peoples in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 43:25

I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for
my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.

I think it is so humbling to think that He remembers our sins no more not for our own sake but for HIS.  So He can have a relationship with us He blots them out.  He makes all the sacrifices for relationship.

Homemade Soap Giveaway

As you may know I have found a new hobby, soap making.  To help me keep track of sells I started a soap blog.  To let you know what varieties are for sell. 

Wanna know the rules for the soap giveaway?  Well head on over and check out the rules.

http://www.homemadenaturalsoaps.blogspot.com/

Mixed salad with strawberries, walnuts, goat cheese

Before I get to the delicious healthy recipe let me ask you a question.  How many times have you thrown away a head of organic romaine lettuce?  I mean, after you find and pay a little more for a nice head of romaine lettuce doesn't it just hurt to throw it away after it has set in the fridge a few days to long and it turns brown and mushy?  According to Myra Goodman from Earthbound Farms there is a right way to store lettuce.  And since she is the founder and owner of organic lettuce I will take her advice. 

To extend the life of leafy greens, wash them and spin them dry to remove all the moisture.  If you plan on using the lettuce within the day leave them in the spinner.  Otherwise, place the greens in a plastic bag and add a sheet of paper towel, which will absorb any residual moisture.  Store in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.  The greens should stay fresh for up to a week.

Took several batches but these are those 2 romaine, red leaf, green leaf and 2 Boston lettuce I bought earlier today.

I huge bowl for tonight and another 2 bags for later this week.



Mixed LettuceSalad with Strawberries, Walnuts and Goat Cheese

1 quart of organic strawberries, washed & sliced

Mixed organic lettuce, washed & dried

1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

Mix everything in a big bowl.  Make dressing and mix that to coat.

Dressing:

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

10 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper

Weekly Menu Plan

I love to cook.  I love to go to the library and check out 10 new cookbooks at one time, make some hot tea, sit on the couch all night while the boys watch a movie and just salivate.  I mean make a menu plan and shopping list.  Sometimes I wonder if loving to cook is a curse.  I can't be satisfied with just making 10 good meals over and over again.  I think I should be able to though.  So I have picked out several recipes I hope to make regulars. We'll see?!

Thursday ~ Tangy Carrot Chowder (actually made this twice this past week)
Friday ~ Salad with strawberries, walnuts & goat cheese, baked hamburger patty
Saturday ~ Pizza out with dad
Sunday ~ picnic with friends in the park and KFC fried chicken (yeah so what) baked potato salad, corn and a pineapple upside down cake
Monday ~ Farfalle with corn, asparagus and jalapeno
Tuesday ~ Chicken and green olive enchiladas, Chili rice
Wednesday ~ Saigon Carmel Chicken, Jicama & orange salad
Thursday ~ Penne with chickpeas and rosemary, corn

What are your go to meals?

My favorite vegetable store show and tell

Today was my shopping day and since we were in Cedar Lake for music this morning I made a special trip to Produce Depot in Dyer.  Besides Whole Foods, and really I don't do to much fruit and vegetable shopping there, it's to expensive and I am finding they aren't carrying to many organic veggies there lately???  I stock up on other things there.  But wait a minute I was talking about Produce Depot.  I love this store.  The owners are supper nice and very accommodating.  Want a 25lb bag of organic juicing carrots?  They can get it.  Want a case of honey crisp apples?  They can get that too.  They make fresh bread daily with no preservatives, smoothies that can be made conventionally or organically, homemade soup. 

As I am driving home a post from a friend ran through my mind.  She had done the Walgreen thing.  I am not sure how it works but she got a ton of "stuff" for really cheap.  So I thought I would show you what I got today.  My food budget is $125 weekly and that includes paper products and dish soaps.  With a family of 5 and we try and eat organic as much as possible it is really hard.  Okay so I also have another $100 I spend at a dry food co-op monthly but still.  So how do I do it and not clip coupons?  First of all we buy a 1/2 of a cow.  We grow a lot of our own vegetables and freeze them.  We take advantage of local fruit in season and freeze that too.  Then we do our shopping. 

Today I stopped at Produce Depot, Costco and Walmart.  I spent more than usual because we were out of everything.  I really haven't been grocery shopping in a few weeks. 

Produce Depot $62.64

gingeroot

jicima

2 jalapeno peppers

5 red delicious apples (organic)

3 green peppers (organic)

5 red pears (organic)

2 mangos

2 green onion bunches (organic)

3 red onions

cilantro

huge bag of limes

6 lemons (organic)

2 5 # bags of apples (organic)

2 5 # bags of potatoes (organic)

bunch of bananas

strawberries (organic)

2 bunches of asparagus

7 naval oranges

pineapple

2 Boston lettuce (pesticide free)

red leaf lettuce (organic)

green leaf lettuce (organic)

2 romaine (organic)

I wish I could buy everything organic but I just can't.  There are some things I simply won't buy unless they are like apples, strawberries, corn, spinach & celery.  Here is a list of the Dirty Dozen in pesticide rankings.

Celery

Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Domestic blueberries
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach, kale and collard greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Imported grapes
Lettuce

The Clean 15

Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions

You'll notice that one of the things I won't buy unless organic is corn.  Yet it is on the clean 15 list.  Why?Corn is typically not a scale tipper when it comes to pesticide residues. But, take into account that 75- 90% of all domestic corn has been genetically-modified, that the average American eats 11 pounds of it, that most cooking oils include corn oil, and that most everything is sweetened with corn syrup, and suddenly, buying organic corn and corn products, makes more than a little sense. Eat local organic corn in season and freeze some for later, or, leave some kernels to dry, and plant them in the spring.  Buying organic corn is the only way to be sure the corn has not been genetically modified besides growing it yourself.

Hope this has been helpful.  Happy shopping!

Beautiful, Beautiful

This weekend I went on a woman's retreat with some women from our homeshool co-op. The speakers were wonderful. So many stories of God's grace. So many dead lives changed to alive ones.


I have only been to a handful of retreats. For me, women's retreats are similar to child birth. Quite painful. You know how God erases the full extent of that pain until you are on the birthing table again. Well, I forgot how much I really don't enjoy retreats. I don't enjoy being shown my problems. I don't enjoy going to those hurtful places when I have nicely folded them and tucked them under the bed for the winter. Those places you thought you had dealt with but really, really you haven't. Those wounds that are 26 years old and have never been shared.

I have never been so secretly happy to go home. Then that touch of love from Him. My youngest son plays the piano and he is rather good. My favorite song is Beautiful, beautiful so he asked me to buy it for him last week. In one week he learned it. On his own! He is only 11! As I walk in the kitchen he starts to play it. That was God's kiss to me today.
Thank you Father that you NEVER condemn but you ALWAYS love your children.  Even when it hurts.



Album: My Paper Heart  Artist: Francesca Battistelli

Don’t know how it is You looked at me
And saw the person that I could be
Awakening my heart
Breaking through the dark
Suddenly Your grace

(Chorus)

Like sunlight burning at midnight
Making my life something so
Beautiful, beautiful
Mercy reaching to save me
All that I need
You are so
Beautiful, beautiful

Now there’s a joy inside I can’t contain
But even perfect days can end in rain
And though it’s pouring down
I see You through the clouds
Shining on my face

(Chorus)

I have come undone
But I have just begun
Changing by Your grace

(Chorus)