French Toast

This is my new favorite breakfast recipe...

4 slices of thick whole grain bread (I made mine with this recipe)

2 eggs

2 tbs milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1-2 tbs sugar (or honey, rapadura, sucanat, etc.)

1/4 cup cream cheese

1-2 tbs honey

blueberries or sliced strawberries to throw on top


1. Heat skillet on medium and spray with cooking spray or add a little butter.

2. Beat together in medium bowl: eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar.

3. Submerge slices of bread into egg mixture until fully covered but not too soggy.

4. Put onto skillet and toast on both sides until egg is fully cooked and lightly browned.

5. Put cream cheese and honey into microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 15-20 seconds. Stir together and pour onto your french toast.

6. Top with blueberries and enjoy!

Homemade Protein Bars

This recipe is super easy, versatile and very tasty!

Basic Recipe:

2 cups Almonds

3/4 cups Peanut Butter

3/4 cups Dried Fruit- I normally use raisins and dates

Honey to taste (This depends on how sweet your PB is)

1/4 cup Coconut Oil (or olive oil)

Nutritional Add-ins:

Flax Seed

Wheat Germ

Dried Unsweetened Coconut

Sunflower or Pumpkin Seeds

Pulse all your ingredients in a food processor until they are the right consistency to form a bar. If they are too dry and crumbly add a bit more honey and oil. If they are too sticky, add oatmeal or more nuts. Then press into an 8" square pan. Cool in fridge until they are hard. Slice and serve.

For a Treat:

Top with melted semisweet chocolate Chips. Let cool in fridge until they are hard before serving.

I never actually measure anything for these bars. I just throw some nuts, dried fruit, nut butter, some honey and then just whatever else I feel like adding. They end up tasting good no matter what.

Enjoy!

Summer Salsa

I recently began participating in a local produce co-op, which is a nice way to get high quality fruits and veggies for a lower price. While the deal is a good one, I still found myself with a big bag of produce that contained a few things that I don't normally buy. In this case, cucumbers and corn. Enter a fancy new recipe! I found a recipe here and modified it to come up with this super delicious summer salsa:

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and diced
1 mango, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (I really like cilantro:))

1 small green bell pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup frozen corn

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon rapadura (or sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

Mix together and serve chilled with tortilla chips. If you give the flavors a little time to meld, say two or three hours, it tastes even better.

I think I'll start using cucumbers more often!

Tornado Relief

Just wanted to fill you in on a Missouri blogger who is hosting a MEGA giveway for tornado relief. Check out Display Your He{ART} to enter.

Parenting Expert

This post is written both as a warning for people who do not yet have kids and as encouragement for anyone with kids who doubts their ability to discern the proper way of dealing with all of the gray areas of parenting.

Hi my name is Lisa Bass and I was a parenting expert....before I had kids! I read the books while I was pregnant and had it all figured out. I knew how to get them to sleep well at night, play happily during the day and never throw a fit or disobey there mama. I'm sure any experienced moms reading this are laughing already. I even remember being judgemental of others who had disobedient children. I wondered why people had such a hard time with it. Come on, its obvious, if your child is having a tantrum for something you said no to, just don't give it to them and they won't try that again. A child's will is much stronger than that. Oh, and if they aren't sleeping well just let them fuss a few minutes and they will fall asleep. Again, my kids didn't get that memo! This is only a tiny sample of what I thought I knew. I was perfectly prepared to have the best behaved, hardest working, smartest children in town. They were also going to sit quietly through church. The nursery is only for kids whose parents' have no control over them. (If you've ever been at church with us you're giggling by now.)

My point in all this. Pride is ugly. The Bible says "God resists the proud" (James 4:6) Ouch. It makes one think they know better than anyone else and it keeps them from seeking out wisdom from others' that have walked the road before. It keeps us looking inward for wisdom instead of looking to the creator of all. It makes it hard for us to admit faults and keeps us from turning around when we have started down the wrong road.

A wise woman I know told me to be wary of any parenting "experts" with a one-size fits all solution, who claim they have all the answers and find it possible for parents to achieve perfection in their own strength. Those weren't her exact words but thats the gist. I think that is some great advice for new parents or parents to be.

Of course, I believe its impotant to teach children right and wrong, to raise them to be hard workers and show them how to have a relationship with Jesus. I'm simply addressing the pride isue here which leads us right into the trap of legalism and keeps us from enjoying God's fullness.

My take on Muesli

Muesli is loosely defined by Wikipedia as "a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts." That's pretty broad, but here is how I do it and its a hit with my family!

6 dried figs
6 dates
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tbs. honey

Pulse first four ingredients in food processor until coarsely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and then refrigerate 2-24 hours to soften and absorb liquid. (I let mine sit at room temp. for 12 hours in order to remove phytates from the oats.)


Our family scripture this week: Let the words of mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Blender Waffles/Pancakes...

...a yummy healthy breakfast treat!

This recipe has been adadpted from a recipe I found here...

It is so delicious and easy. The best part about it is that you can incorporate grains that you don't normally eat (or don't really enjoy eating) We like to sneak rice and quinoa into these yummy waffles. This recipe needs to soak overnight, so make sure to mix them up in the evening if you want them for breakfast the next morning.

This recipe is awesome, in that it gives you the benefit of soaked grains, which is a very important preparation step to get rid of phytates, which bind to the nutritious parts of grains so that your body cannot absorb them. Read more on that topic here.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole grain wheat flour (or other whole grain flour like spelt or kamut)
1/2 cup rice (or quinoa) You put in whole, uncooked rice. This sounds really weird but, trust me, it works.
1 and 3/4 cups cultured buttermilk (OR 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 and 1/4 cups water)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbs. olive oil

Put the above ingredients in your blender and blend on high for 2-3 minutes and then let them sit on your counter for 12-24 hours. (The soaking process only effectively removes phytates at room temperature. At first it feels weird letting buttermilk or yogurt sit out for that long, but I have done it many many times and it tastes great.)

The next morning add the rest of the ingredients:

2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Blend for about a minute. If your mixture is too thick to blend add an egg or two.

Pour onto prepard waffle iron and cook according to your iron's directions. If you don't have a waffle iron these also make fabulous pancakes.

Serve with butter and real maple syrup or honey.

Azure Standard

So, I'm sure I'm probably the only one who just found out about this awesome company, but just in case you also missed it...http://www.azurestandard.com/

What is it?

Azure Standard is a place to order all natural and organic food for a lower price than one can typically find in a local grocery store or online. They have drop points all over the country (Ours is in Warrenton, MO less than half an hour from my house!) where you pick up your bulk order (placed once a month)

I found out about it from a friend and just placed my first order. I'm so excited!

I bought so much great stuff for really cheap. Ex. Organic apples for less than $.70/lb. 15 lbs. of organic PB (Unfortunately, that won't be hard at all for us to polish off.) 15 lbs. organic raisins and so much more!

Go to their website to find a drop location near you!

I still buy my wheat and oats from the Amish in Bowling Green. They have really great deals too. I'm convinced bulk whole foods are the way to go for health and money saving.

Our family's scripture this week: Psalm 23 (We are only focusing on the first sentence for Ruth.)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You annoint me head with oil; My cups runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Missouri Morel Fever!!

Crock Pot Yogurt!

I tried this overnight and wow! It was so easy and cheap. I made a half gallon of organic yogurt for $2! Check out ths link for the instructions:

http://www.nourishingdays.com/2009/02/make-yogurt-in-your-crock-pot/

I've tried a couple other yogurt techniques, but none were near as easy as this one. The directions are easy to follow and it yields near perfect results. If you consume much yogurt, you should try this to save money.

The end result is plain yogurt (nonfat if you use nonfat milk and whole if you use whole, which is what I did. We buy our milk straight from a farmer in town that is organic, raw milk for only $4/gal.) You will want to sweeten it with honey or stevia and fruit, like blueberries, strawberries and bananas. You could also use it as a replacement for sour cream in recipes.

I use my yogurt to soak my whole grains to remove phytates, making my baked goods more easily digestible and healthy. Read more about that on this blog:

http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2008/04/whole-grains-grinding-soaking.html

The blog I just mentioned (Passionate Homemaking) is an awesome resource for any mama focused on being the best homemaker they can be for their family. I strongly recommend checking it out and browsing its content for ideas that can help your family.

Adult Skirt to Toddler Dress Sewing Tutorial

Skill level: Easy

Materials:

1 adult skirt

coordinating 1.5-2" wide ribbon

2 pieces of elastic no wider than 1" (18" and 20" long for size 2T)

coordinating thread

sewing machine

For this tutorial I found a very full adult skirt with extra layers of fabric, so it would make a pretty and full little dress.

1. Cut off the elastic around the top.

2. Measure two pieces of elastic. One is for the chest and the other is for the middle. For a size 2T-3T, like the one I made cut one piece 18" and the other 20"

3. Serge around the top. (where you cut off the elastic) If you don't have a serger, iron down 1/4" Then iron it down again to make a casing for your elastic. Ex. If you are using 1" elastic iron it down 1 and 1/4" so the elastic easily fits through. Then sew down your casing, leaving a 1" spot open, where you will eventually put the elastic through.

4. Measure the width around the skirt where you want the waist to be. Take that measurement and add 1/2" for overlapping, and cut a piece of ribbon that length.

5. Pin the ribbon around the area where you want the waist of the dress to be. Sew the ribbon edges right sides together at the side seam of the skirt, so you don't have to worry about fraying. If this part is too tricky just overlap the ribbon edges at the side seam.

6. Sew the ribbon all the way around the waist of the skirt on both the top and bottom of the ribbon, leaving a 1" spot when you are sewing the bottom of the ribbon, to put the elastic through. Make sure you sew the top and bottom stitches around the ribbon far enough apart to fit your elastic through.

7. Time to string your elastc through both of your casings (the one at the very top of the skirt and the ribbon) using a safety pin to push it all the way around.

8. Once you get it all the way around, overlap the elastic ends and sew a couple zig zag stitches to keep them together.

9. Sew your casings closed (the 1" spot you originally left open to put your elastic through.)

10. Cut two pieces of ribbon for the straps. Mine were 9" but yours may need to be longer or shorter depending on the size of your child. Pin them on your dress where you like them. You may need to do this while your child tries it on to make sure the straps are where you want them. Be careful not to poke her with a pin! Sew your straps on and you're done!

What I've been up to

I've been sewing....a lot. I want to (eventually) post tutorials on how to make a lot of this stuff, but right now I do not have the time. Between two little ones, food to make, a home to keep, a Bible to study, a husband to love (and not in that particular order) etc. etc. I have time to sew a few garments and put them on my new etsy shop, but I'm finding little time to blog about them and make tutorials. But in the mean time, here are a few things I've sewn for my etsy shop ruthiebell.etsy.com

Oh and by the way I discovered an awesome new recipe!! Cheese Waffle BLT''s (with whole wheat flour and turkey bacon)

Here's the link for the recipe: http://jumboempanadas.blogspot.com/2007/05/w-blt-it-may-be-longer-to-say-but-itll.html

You should make them. They are delicious and healthy and take about 1o minutes!

I had a baby!
OK, so it was almost 3 months ago.

But, here is a picture of the little darling!

Johanna Faye 6 lbs. on 11/18/10
I had an ideal birth. Very quick and no pain medication or pitocin.
I'm thanking God for such a wonderful birth, precious baby and my sweet little family!