Food

It seems my existence revolves around food.  Whether it’s eating it or preparing it for somebody else, it’s always in my forethoughts.  What shall we eat next?  What can I do to keep everybody eating their veggies?  How can I keep loosing weight?  What’s for dinner?  Jesus said not to worry about what we will eat or drink, but rather we should trust God, who knows we need these things.  I’ve been trying to take that approach and let my food prep be more spirit-led if you will.  I still make grocery lists and I still plan ahead (at least weekly) but I try to keep some things unplanned, so I can practice NOT worrying, instead I practice listening and letting the Holy Spirit inspire me.  It’s kind of fun, because surprisingly, He always gives me a good idea!  Always!

We joined a CSA this year.  That stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Every week we get a gorgeous box full of organic, locally grown veggies and sometimes fruit.  It has been a tremendous blessing!  I don’t always know what to do with the bounty I get, but I’m learning!

Roasted CSA veggies with butter and seasonings.  Scrumptious!

I’ve got tomatoes coming out of my ears!  I find them in my CSA box, in my own garden and my neighbor brings them over!  So I decided to dehydrate some.  I read that I can pulverize them and use the powder to make tomato sauce and tomato paste.  They turned out so pretty that I might just keep them this way.

Besides tomatoes, I’ve been dehydrating apples, nectarines and pears.  I find dehydrating to be the easiest way (besides freezing) to preserve food.  No sugar is needed and I can just keep everything right in my big pantry.

I’ve also been freezing onions, peppers and berries.  Squash season is starting, my absolute favorite!

Bless the Lord , O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits; who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Psalm 103: 1-5

He forgives, heals, redeems, crowns and feeds us! 

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

More on Trim and Healthy Mama

I’ve been having fun with some of the different foods that are encouraged to eat on the Trim and Healthy Mama plan.  Each time something turns out yummy I want to share it because I’m such a visual person and there are no pictures of food in the book!

This is Slim Belly Jelly which sounds disgusting to me.  The belly jelly part, I have plenty of belly jelly excuse me, the point is to get RID of the belly jelly.  Ha! It’s not pretty like this jelly either and what I made is more like jam anyway.  lol  It’s basically fruit, water, stevia extract and glucomanan.  Simmered up and thickened and then stuck in a jar and put in the fridge.  EASY!  We like it on our Trim and Healthy Pancakes, stirred in our yogurt and on my new favorite love:  Chia Pudding!

I honestly didn’t know how I was going to feel about this.  It’s rather ugly and kind of lumpy, like tapioca (gag).  But I was willing to try since Chia is so nutritious and I just want to be healthy and keep up with all these little people!  I bought this particular Chia seed at Trader Joe’s and the recipe is:  1 cup milk (almond, coconut, whatever you like, I used almond) and 1/4 cup chia seeds.  Then you are supposed to add 1/4 cup honey but there’s NO way I’m going to do that so I added vanilla and stevia extra, like 8 drops and stirred it up.  You just stir it up and stick it in the fridge.  And a few hours later you have a yummy, creamy, slightly crunchy bed time snack!  This is how I served it:

Just added a plop of my blackberry sugar-free jam (aka slim belly jelly).  My husband says it has a little tapioca like texture, almost. The seeds are little crunchy, not so slimy.  He loved the flavor though!  I also bought some Chia seeds from Costco and the pudding I made from that looks even thicker.  The kids all want their own, how can I refuse them?

Strawberry and I hosted a luncheon for her blog writers and we made it an S luncheon (S for Satisfying or Fat).

Here’s what we had:

Cornbread Salad with Dill dressing

Maca-foni and Cheese

Lemon Coconut Cake

               

The cake was so much tastier than we expected, especially when it was chilled.  There was a lot of left over so Strawberry has been eating it for breakfast!  Amazing that eating cake for breakfast is approved for THM!

The is the “corn” bread.  I didn’t actually like it by itself, but mixed in the salad it was delicious.  I think whole wheat bread is so much prettier.  I only used half the loaf in the salad so I sliced up the leftovers and put them in the freezer, maybe it would make a good grilled turkey and cheese sandwich?!

And finally, I wanted to show you these weird low-carb “rolls.”  They are mostly made of eggs but are perfect for hamburger buns!!  Mr. Taffy really likes them!  I didn’t add cheese to these ones but the original recipe has cheese in them.  They go together VERY quickly.  I still think whole wheat rolls are more beautiful, but these will do for now. 

I gave him 2, with chicken burgers on them, a side of corn bread salad and watermelon.  Watermelon isn’t plan approved but it makes my husband happy and I’m not going to complicate his eating anymore than I already have!  lol  He’s lost almost 30 pounds in less than 6 weeks!

I’ve also got some pretty lofty fitness goals.  We cleared out our family room and sold all the furniture in it and turned it into a workout room.  The only thing that is in there is the TV and an X-box Kinect machine.  Mr. Taffy bought us a workout program for it and I’ve been working on getting stronger by punching blocks and kicking walls and jumping rope.  Jumping rope is so hard for me!  There are three levels and I’m determined to master each level.  Well, yesterday I met one of my personal goals and actually made it through the entire first level without 1) stopping.  2) peeing my pants!  I was so happy!  I’m going to keep at it, I’m think if I can make it all the way through the hardest level I’ll be ready for whatever Israel throws at me! 

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

P.S.  I linked up the recipes in the pictures and text if you want to look at them!

Raspberry Lemon Mini Muffins {THM-S}

Since faithfully doing Trim and Healthy Mama for a month, I finally felt confident enough to be a little creative with a recipe from the book.  I’m not a very creative cook, I like recipes and directions.  Then if it doesn’t come out good…well, I can blame it on the recipe!  ha!  Good ole’ pride is the cause of that I’m pretty sure.  Anyway, this recipe is on page 264, in the chapter called Muffins, Breads and Pizza Crusts: Light White Muffins.

Here’s my adaption:

Mini Raspberry Lemon Muffins

2/3 cup coconut flour

1 tsp. baking powder

6 eggs

8 tsp. of Truvia (I used 8 little baggies, you can use more if you want too, I was trying to be frugal)

4 tbsp. coconut oil

3 1/2 tbsp. vanilla almond milk, unsweetened (I’m sure you could use anything here, coconut milk, half and half, etc.)

1 tsp. lemon extract

Zest from one lemon

Raspberries (I used fresh but I think frozen would be fine, they just might need to bake longer.)

1)  Add coconut flour and baking powder to food processor.  Pulse to combine.

2)  Add the rest of the ingredients except the raspberries.  Blend until smooth.

3)  Add one raspberry to each mini muffin cup.  Put a plop of muffin mix on top of raspberry.

4) Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.

I haven’t had much experience baking with coconut flour.  I wasn’t sure how the muffins should look when baked.  I just kept checking them and lightly touching the tops to see if they were “set.”  I let them cool in the pan for a couple minutes and then popped them out to finish cooling on the cooling rack.  They are much less crumbly than I expected.

My plan is to take these to the beach on Tuesday’s.  Strawberry and I usually have a salad with turkey bacon and sliced turkey lunch meat.  We’ll add these little muffins (3 each) and we won’t feel like we are missing out on dessert! 

I’m not sure these will pass the hubby-test, he doesn’t like the taste of coconut, but the children all liked them.  I had to let them taste them, but I doubt I’ll be sharing any more after that!  ha! 

Less of me, more of HIM,

Mrs. Taffy

P.S.  If you are new to THM, the reason these are an S (fat) is because of the eggs and coconut oil.  That’s why this pairs good with a salad with salad dressing, which would also be an S (Fat).

Easy Salsa Beans~Slow Cooker Recipe

Here’s an easy recipe for you to make during the busy holiday season.  Since I love beans so much, I get excited when I find a recipe that will incorporate dry beans.  I don’t know where I found this recipe originally but I changed it to suit our needs and don’t want to forget how I did it!  (smile)

I started the night before, in two separate glass bowls I soaked two cups of each black beans and pinto beans.  If you aren’t sure how to do this, it’s really easy: measure out the beans, add a little water to the bowl, swish it around with your hands, dump out the dusty water and add fresh water to cover the beans plus another inch. The beans are going to soak up all that water and may need more before you go to bed.

In the morning take some chicken breast, either raw or cooked and put it in the bottom of the crock pot. Next add the beans, that you drained first, don’t forget to drain them first.  Then over the top of that add a 32oz box of organic chicken broth, a jar of salsa (I used some that I canned during the summer, 2 cups of frozen corn and a can of tomato sauce.  Put the lid on and turn it on high.  Using cooked chicken, my beans were soft by Noon, I started cooking it around 7ish, so then I just turned it down to warm for the rest of the day.  If you use raw chicken it might take longer, you’ll know it’s done when you stir the pot and the chicken comes up falling apart. 

I served this with tortillas chips, cheese and sour cream.  It’s so delicious and EVERYBODY gobbled it up.  I’ll make burritos with the left overs and freeze them for lunches!

Here’s your shopping/pantry list:

2 cups dry pinto beans

2 cups dry black beans

Chicken breast-either 4 raw or whatever you have already cooked up.

1 32oz. box of organic Chicken Broth

1 Jar of Salsa

2 cups of frozen organic Corn

1 can of tomato sauce

Tortilla Chips, Shredded Cheese and Sour Cream

I hope this wholesome recipe helps a little bit during this busy season!  Even when we are really busy they still need to eat don’t they?  (smile)

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Playing with Pumpkins

Food gets me so excited!  Especially fresh produce.  The more the merrier!  Recently I purchased, ready for this…400 pounds of produce!  All at once!  Wanna see? 

I got 4-50 # bags of acorn squash and 2-50# bags of butternut squash.  I also got 100# of potatoes and 20# of onions.  I  guess that’s a little more than 400 pounds huh?

I’ve been reading about the Pilgrims and the incredible trails they encountered when coming to America, about how they had to grow and store all their food over the winter in order to survive.  It may sound funny, but they really inspired me.  Surely if they could do that, survive that, thrive in that, I can take care of and manage 400 pounds of produce. Surely.

I was honored to be able to purchase this food from a farmer, what I bought was part of his left overs from the year.  I spent a total of $148.00 on all this food, which still just sets me at awe!  All the produce came in burlap bags like the squash photo from the top.  It’s a handy way to transport them, but not so handy to retrieve, especially if I’m sending children out to get them.

  So in my garage I set up a table and portioned out some of the food into boxes.  All the potatoes are in a box so they stay nice and dark.  I also put the onions in a box.  One bag of acorn squash was divided between my big pantry in the house and chicken box from Sam’s Club.  All the produce is off the floor and covered with a sleeping bag in order to keep out the frigid winter air.

It’s not very attractive but I don’t care. (grin)

Since I’m showing you around my ugly garage I might as well show you my other food storage.

Buckets with bags of dry goods.  Mr. Taffy and I  feel pretty passionate about having a little bit of food on hand for eating and for emergencies.  We don’t live in fear, but I feel like part of my job as resident Homemaker is to make sure that there is food here, continually and Mr. Taffy always encourages me to stock up a little bit here and there. Plus it’s such a blessing to be able to go shopping in my garage and not be at the mercy of grocery store prices and the fluctuating market.

Along with the produce I ordered, the farmer gave me some canning pumpkins, or sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins, not sure exactly what they are called, but they are the kind of pumpkins that make delicious pies.  I don’t really make pumpkin pies but I love to put pumpkin in EVERYTHING else.  So even though it was a stretch for me, I spent an evening “processing” those pumpkins.  With a little help from my best girls of course!

I figured out it was easier to sort of “milk” the seeds out of the center of the pumpkin, rather than scoop out everything  all at once and separate the seeds afterward.  (I washed, soaked and roasted the seeds. My husband LOVES the salty pumpkin seeds to snack on!)

So slimy!  I think we processed 8 pumpkins, I still have 2 more, but I’m going to use them for my Thanksgiving Table.

I got to wondering if I could just bake the pumpkin pieces in my roasting pan.  Guess what?  It worked, beautifully!  I roasted them in two layers, with a sheet of tin foil in between.  I baked them at 325 for about an hour and the pumpkin came out of those shells as easily as could be!  After it cooled I ran the pumpkin through my Squeeze-O and then froze the pumpkin in one and two cup portions!  No added sugar or preservatives, just look at that lovely color!

It was a pretty messy job but I’m glad we took the time to do it.

Off to make some Pumpkin Bread! 

 

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Homemaking Helps~Chicken

Since I wasn’t taught how to be a homemaker and never even prepared a whole chicken (you know the kind that comes fresh in a bag, with or without the innards) until I was 28, I thought I’d share some things I do to make my life easier.

Today’s topic:  Chicken. 

I cook so MUCH!  I’m always cooking, always thinking about the next meal, always planning ahead.  One of the things that I have started doing that has a been a real blessing to me is preparing the chicken ahead of time and using it all week.

Like this morning, I usually buy those big packages of fresh chicken breasts from Sam’s Club.  Actually, I buy them by the case, but I freeze each tray and then use them throughout the month.  Last night I thawed out a big package of those fresh/frozen chicken breasts and this morning before breakfast I put the whole package in the crockpot, with salt, pepper and garlic. 

I cooked them on high until we were done with our morning studies, about 11:00 am.  I let them cool while we had lunch, then I cut them up and put them in a container then into the fridge. 

The great thing about doing this is that now whenever I need chicken for various things I’m making this week, it’s already prepared!  This week I’ll use the chicken for:  Mexican Chili, BBQ chicken Pizza, Chicken Fried Rice and I’ll use any left over for a quiche on Friday morning. 

If I’m feeling really ambitious I’ll get out both my crockpots and put a whole fryer into each of them and let them cook on low overnight while I’m sleeping.  Then in the morning, I let them cool while we eat breakfast and then debone them after breakfast, clean up the dishes and have a ton of chicken for: Soup, Enchiladas, Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, and more! 

Either way, it helps me tremendously when it comes time to actually make dinner.   And I find that I can make the chicken last longer this way too, one package of chicken breasts can last our family of 9 a whole week this way!  A little goes a long way!

Happy Homemaking!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

My New Favorite Way to Stay Organized!

I hope you can stand another review.  This one isn’t affiliated with any particular group, it’s just something that I found on my own that I’m enjoying so much I wanted to share it with you all!  Some of you have probably already heard of it, but me, well I’m asking, “where have you been all my life?” 

Cozi is an on-line calendar.  Free.  Michelle Duggar uses it with her MEGA family and it’s working for my little one too!  (Okay, well, maybe not little, but in comparison…)

I have a seriously low tolerance for learning anything computer related.  I really like the computer, but my attention span for learning programs is basically non-existent.  After signing up, I watched a 3 minute video and had it figured out!  I made a family calendar and put in the boy’s work schedule very simply.  You can add all of your family members so that you can keep track of who is doing what, when.  I have a grid schedule on my refrigerator that has been working very well, but it’s almost gone and the company that sold it is out of business.  My teenagers are getting busier and busier, it’s hard to keep track of where everybody is and what they are doing.  But as the resident manager it’s my business to know where they are and what’s going on from day to day.  Cozi is totally helping me!

Here’s a list of the things I like so far:

• Easy to understand and maneuver
• All the kids with internet access and can access our calendar and add their schedules and appointments.
• Cozi will email or text reminders for upcoming appointment.
• There’s a page to plan menus, and you can print them!!
• There’s a page to make grocery lists.  I have several lists going, so if the kids notice something is running out, like paper napkins, they can go into the list section and under Target write Napkins.  Or if they have an individual need they can write, “Socks for Banana Taffy,” and I’ll know who to buy them for next time I’m out.
• The Grocery Lists are printable too.
• There is a journal segment where you can put a picture and jot a quick note about happenings in your family, then you can turn it into a newsletter that they will email to whomever you want.  This is great option if you don’t have a blog or if you do and certain family members don’t read it but still like to know what’s going on.  lol
• There’s a free app for certain interfaces.  Not the kindle fire yet, but my husband has it on his smart phone and he will look at it and use it too! That’s a great thing!
• I set up a special list of to-do’s for Mr. Taffy and myself.  I don’t like to give Mr. Taffy more work than he already has but there are few things that I just can’t do, like fixing the printer issue with my laptop. 
• You can sync this calendar up with other on-line calendars.  So if your homeschool co-op or public school has an on-line calendar you can import those dates into your Cozi calendar with just a few clicks. 
• It’s so easy.
• It’s free!

 

 

I love anything that helps me with my job and Cozi is really doing that for me!  Maybe it will for you too? 

www.cozi.com

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is a strange holiday for us.  My husband doesn’t have a father, his parents were divorced when he was little and his dad had MS so he died when Mr. Taffy was a teenager.  They didn’t have much of a relationship if any.  I love my dad very much, he’s still living, but it’s a complicated relationship, as is any where divorce and remarriage is involved.  When we were first married my husband confided in me that he was afraid to be a father, after all he didn’t have any example what so ever and what details he does know about his father, he’s not interested in mimicking.  But isn’t God amazing?  Somehow He takes the thing that we are most afraid of and makes it our most wonderful accomplishment, our biggest source of joy and our most godly attribute.

We’ve been muddling along on this road called parenting, mostly not knowing what in the world we are doing and mostly just learning as we go.  Just like everybody else I think.  Still, my husband was so blessed this Father’s Day by the love of his children.  I didn’t take nearly enough pictures to do the day justice but here’s a few.

The Happy Father’s Day Banner.  Directions here.

A whole plate of deviled eggs!  These are his favorite.  He did share a few.  I made these for him.

He played many games with his little ones.  He hasn’t had much time to play with them lately so this was a BIG treat for him and them!

Strawberry Taffy made him a Rose Bush for dessert.  She combined three different ideas she found on pinterest.

He loved this!  He’s always wanting to buy rose bushes for our house, so this was very appropriate.

He and the teens went to a local archery place.  They bought a groupon a while back and really enjoyed their time together.  They all want to go back!

             

Then Strawberry and I made Mr. Taffy a BIG dinner.  She planned the menu, I just helped execute it.  We had these cheesy bacon noodles, chicken breast with butter sauce and peas.

(This is how meals are served at my house, I dish everything up on plates and my dinner helper passes them out.  This way everybody gets some food and I know exactly what my little people got served and ate.  This is my big family trick, this insures certain hungry teenagers don’t take more then their fair share.  They dish up there own seconds as they desire.  I do put some things on the table, like a salad or bread, but for the main dishes I always do this. )

Mr. Taffy’s Plate.  Not very colorful, but very YUMMY!

The kids gave their dad a new Disc for Father’s Day, so after dinner we went to our local disk golf course and they played through once while I stayed at the playground with the little people.  It was a PERFECT day! 

Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments; And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God. Psalm 78: 1-8

The greatest act of Fathering: That they should make the wonderful works of God known to their children, that they would know the commandments, that they may know HIM and stay faithful to Him!  AMEN!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy