Freebie & a giveaway!

Fellow homeschoolers Rick & Marilyn Boyer have a new book out! They are offering a free chapter for you to read and also a chance to win a copy of the book.
 click here for freebie & a giveaway!

If you have never checked out the products over at TheLearningParent.com you are really missing out. A few of my all time favorites are: The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer, Proverbs People by Marilyn Boyer and I highly recommend any and all of the MP3's or CD's of either of them speaking. I keep them on hand to listen to when I am having a rough day, they help me to keep homeschooling in perspective and keep me from getting burned out. As you think about your up coming school year, stop over at thelearningparent.com and see what fits your family.

"Hey everybody!!

The Learning Parent is having a giveaway on our new book, Portraits of Integrity this week and we are also giving a free chapter to ALL Facebook "likers". Would you consider telling your Facebook friends about the giveaway and free chapter, please? You can link to this blog post that has all the details: 

Thank you so much! We really appreciate it!

- Marilyn

P.S.: Don't forget you can get a free chapter for yourself too even if you've already "liked" The Learning Parent."

How to Fix Your Husband

I'm just relaxing in the recliner recovering my my small surgery and having been corned by the meds that they gave me, I'm not up to doing much besides surfing the web on my mothers laptop. I came across this great article on a blog called How to Fix Your Husband.  Click on the link and check it out. I don't agree with all the comments at the end of the article, there seems to always have to be some joker or someone nasty on the net posting something  :O(

I thought the article had some interesting points and some nuggets of truth. After 21 years of marriage to a wonderful man, who at times has needed an overhaul or a tune up, the blog post was a reminder of some things to me.

God is always in control and after 21 years of marriage, I've found that prayer, diligent prayer and not just little "God help me!" prayers is the best help and lifesaver/life giver I've found.

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16.

Just an added note here, notice that Scripture says "YOUR" faults and not HIS faults.  That is a real stinger ain't it?

Tell me what you get out of the article and share your thought on it here.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Moe

Weigh in day

Today was weigh in day for our chickens, two of them were 1 lbs 3 oz, and the rest were all around
3 lbs, 8oz. So they are looking pretty tasty......eeerrr, ummmm, lol. I mean looking good  ;o)
They will be fully grown and ready to go the week of May 24.

As for names so far we have

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken Noodle Soup

BBQ Chicken

Fried Chicken

Chicken Salad Sandwich

They are enjoying their time in the sunshine and fresh air. Though it's been a bit frosty in the mornings, they are doing well. The hens DO NOT LIKE THEM! lol. We had them in the yard next to the girls nesting boxes and they were screeching at them.

We even weighed some of  our hens and they all tipped the scales at OVER 5#.

Off to bake some gluten free/corn free bread.

Moe

Neat recipe site

By now you know that I am a sucker for any recipe website.....lol. I can't pass one up, I've got tons of cookbooks, I just need to use what I have. hahaha. But then along comes a website like this Angelas Kitchen from my friend Megan. I clicked on it and looked around, saw some a gluten free, special diet, whole foods, and traditional menus with recipes. Off to the side I found some others including CORN FREE!!  (they have soy free, pork free and many others too!) What a wealth of info!

So check her out and see if you can find something new to eat, she even has once a month cooking plans.

Moe

Sugar & Spice & every thing nice

My frugal gal friends have given me a tip about Penzeys.com a wonderful looking spice company. They have a very nice catalog that you can request, they have coupons and specials. They also have retail stores, none near me, but you might look them up. The catalog is not just a selling point for their products, it contains readers stories and recipes. It's well worth requesting.
I have not ordered from them as of yet, spoke with a helpful customer service rep today regarding gluten/corn in their products and I was referred to an email address. So I am waiting to hear back from them.

I cooked up one of the recipes Classic Saffron Rice and it was WONDERFUL! I used some ground Saffron that I got from a friend that went on a missions trip down to Grenada, I plan to take her a bowl of it to sample when I see her tomorrow. Everyone here liked, had a nice mild flavor, next time I think I will add a touch more. The recipe can be found in the latest edition Spring 2012 catalog. I don't have permission to post the recipe, so just call or email them and ask for a catalog. The issue that I got offers a coupon $5.00 off a purchase of $10.00 or more! I plan on using that if I get good news on the products not containing corn/gluten.

Recipes can be found here for many yummy looking dishes.

Please let my readers know if you have ever bought anything from Penzeys Spices.

Thanks & Bon Appétit,
Moe

Just sharing..........

Where are your priorities? This blog post that is in this link from a fellow blogger over at http://peacecreekontheprairie.com is an interesting thought.

I'm enjoy blogging and getting comments, but I try not to allow it to run my life. The Internet is very easy to get sucked into. Seems like a time waster that Satan allows us to use. Sometimes a good tool and most often a time waster.

Please think on your Internet usage and think about if you need more face time with your kids and less screen time? I know we watch how much screen time our kids get, but what about the screen time that mom and dad get?

I've had some days where I am online a lot, looking for ways to find corn free, gluten free, yet I have a gazillion recipes that I could be using. I think I am going to stop looking for recipes and try using what I have on hand.

What do you think?
Moe

Feeling down & out? This is just what you need!

This might take a minute to load. Have a wonderful week!! Moe

Hello Monday & a busy week

This week my mother is coming to visit for about a month and a half....longer if we can talk her into it! Once she gets around her grandson she does not want to leave  :O)

We are working on getting the butchering chickens moved outside this week, they are getting so big! And thinking about getting in another bunch, but not sure.

Spending part of the week dealing with medical billing stuff. Fighting insurance on a few things like a $1,000+ ambulance bill that they don't want to pay for when I was transferred from a small hospital to a larger one, allergy testing that they don't think was medically necessary......lol, even thought that solved like 95% of my problems.

So sounds like a fun and busy week combined.
Have a great week!

Moe

Cooking Flops & how to unflop them!

Going to attempt to make a loaf of bread today without corn. That is a hard one when you are gluten free as corn is such a wonderful ingredient. I've not had a slice of bread in over a month and must have one! lol. So here goes!

Well......I'm back....lol. No bread!  I ended up beating the egg whites for too long, so I made Meringue Cookies instead!

These were really good! The kids kept coming back for more, so you know that they were good! lol.......Kids won't come back for seconds on something that does not taste good. I used farm fresh egg whites and they are filled with chocolate & peanut butter chips......YUM!

Onward to the bread, here it is cooking in the oven. I won't be able to taste it for several hours since the recipe says that it's way too gummy to eat when warm, so it's suppose to cool for a few hours.

I'm hoping for a taste as good as Panera Breads......but since it's gluten free, I won't get my hopes up. The best gluten free bread I have ever had was from Schar, but it's around $8.00 per loaf and I just won't pay that price for bread. My husband works way too hard to waste almost an hour of his paycheck for a loaf of bread!! I might just have to snag an end off this bread and try it when it comes out of the oven. YUMM!

Taste Testing.....Here we go!

This was very yummy! I know I said that I would make cupcakes, but I ran out of time and took some gluten free/corn free pound cake out of the freezer. The pumpkin butter was not too sweet and not too spice filled, it was just right.  Grandma Hoerners is a keeper! I plan to purchase the Pecan Pie Filling too, it does have citric acid in it, but does not seem to cause a corn reaction in me (not all citric acid is from corn). Can't wait to get my order!

Moe

Freebie from a friends blog

Lynns Kitchen Adventures blog is offering a really cool menu planning print out for FREE! Can't beat that. She also has lots of neat things over there. Check her out she has regular recipes and a section with allergy recipes. Very tasty ideas.

I notice that I feel much better about having to follow a restricted allergy free diet when I plan ahead. If I don't plan and then meal time comes around, it's very hard to just grab something and eat it. I had a rough patch today. I made up a big batch of chicken, potatoes, celery and carrots in the crockpot. It was wonderful, but we were running low on the veggies, so I thought I would add my favorite Asian rice noodles. Cooked them up and had a small bowl of them with some butter on top, I felt not so great for awhile, fuzzy brain, racing heart, aching joints all the sudden, flushed face. Our son grabs the noodle bag out of the trash and says

"MOM!!! These have cornstarch in them!"

I was shocked, I don't know what I was thinking when I bought them!  It's plain as day, WATER, RICE, CORNSTARCH. Nothing hidden, but I sure did goof and now I am paying for it.  And I ruined a yummy batch of food that I made for myself. Oh, well my guys will enjoy it.

Live and learn.

Moe

What is customer service?

Well I think we are so use to what Clark Howard would call "Customer No Service."  But today I got customer service from Vision Forum. Our son had saved up his chore money and placed an order last week. One of the items that he got was multi function compass survival kit and he could not figure out how to get some of the pieces out. There were no directions with it, so I posted on the Vision Forum Facebook page and asked about it. Within a few minutes my telephone rang and it was Vision Forum!!! They were calling with some tips on using the compass survival kit. Our son was outside playing and I called him in to take the phone call. He is now outside running around using all the parts to the kit.

I would highly recommend Vision Forum for all your boy and girl toys & books. Sign up for their emails and they will send you out coupons and discounts along with a Deal of the  Day. They are the first booth that we hit at the homeschool conventions and everything that we have bought has been a hit when given as birthday or Christmas gifts. We really like the Soldiering Through History series.

So if you are looking for high quality items for your boys and girls or grandchildren, look no further than Visionforum.com and they have great customer service too!

Moe
Deuteronomy 6:7
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Gluten Free Easter Candy link

Gluten Free Easter Candy check this out and find out what goodies you can have for Easter. Of course they don't have a corn free listing, but those of you who can eat corn, enjoy your Easter treats.

According to Hershey, they are corn free and gluten free.

Moe

Corn FREE & Gluten FREE products

Corn FREE & Gluten FREE products

I do need to add a small disclaimer here, this product does contain Xanthan Gum & Citric Acid, which can contain corn and can cause allergy issue with those that are very sensitive to corn products.

Awhile back I was at the Amish Salvage store and I came across a jar of Grandma Hoerners All Natural Pumpkin Butter, it was 18.2 oz for $1.25. The ingredients looked safe, but with corn you just never know, so I bought it figuring my guys could eat it if I was wrong. I called the company the other day and they were very quick in getting back with me. I spoke with Matt Beyer and asked my normal corn questions.....lol. Since I call so many places and they are clueless about corn allergies and tell me "Why would we put corn in our product?" They are thinking corn as in corn on the cob........hahaha.  Well Matt knew exactly what I was talking about and even shared some other corn free products that they sell. I did a little happy dance while on the phone with him, I'm sure he thought I was bananas
(oh wait, I can't be bananas since I'm allergic to those too!). Here is the website to check out the products Grandma Hoerners carries, now they do have some products that do contain corn, so make sure to read the ingredients.

Tomorrow I will do a review of the Grandma Hoerners All Natural Pumpkin Butter. I plan on making some cupcakes and then using my Cuisipro Cupcake Corer that I bought from Amazon.com. Love that thing! It really perks up gluten free cupcakes!! I will bake the cupcakes and then core out the middles and fill with the pumpkin butter, sounds good? We shall see.


Have a blessed day and remember what the Easter season is really about.
Moe