Book review coming your way soon!

Book review coming your way soon!

I just received a copy of Too Much Stuff from author Kathryn Porter and will be snuggling up with a warm blanket to read up on how I start "Winning the War Against Clutter." Stay tuned for more on this! It was also exciting to find out that Kathryn Porter and I have a lot in common, just a few things are chickens and homeschooling. What a small world.

Have a great week!

Beef Stew slow cooker recipe

It's finally cooling off here a bit so I've started cooking some hearty meals around here. I use my crockpot/slow cooker all summer long, but when it's time for school to start, I get that slow cooker crockpot really fired up! This time I made some Corn Free, Gluten Free & Dairy Free Beef Stew.
I found some flank steak on sale, cut that up into small pieces, cut up some organic carrots and added some garden fresh green beans. Poured in 2 cups of water (I don't always add water to my crockpot, but I wanted some beef broth to put in the freezer), added some fresh ground pepper, about 3 teaspoons of Grandmas Molasses (corn free & gluten free-had to call the company to find this out), 2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce (corn free/gluten free brand), 1 tablespoon of Bragg Liquid Aminos (tastes like soy sauce to me but with less sodium and it's also Certified NON-GMO liquid protein concentrate), if you don't have Braggs, just add more soy sauce, and finally I added a teaspoon of Sea Salt.
If you don't have the allergy restrictions you can add mixed veggies, corn, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes and whatever seasoning sounds good to you.

I'm sort of funny about my beef, I like it very tender. So I put it in the crockpot for 3 hours on high and then about 5 hours on low. You can just leave it on low all day or put it on high for 4 hour.

I did not serve anything with this since I'm sort of doing a rotation diet so as not to get another allergy started. But this would be good with the beef stew and juices poured over mashed potatoes, rice or brown rice pasta. 

Next week I will share my new dairy free, corn free and gluten free cantaloupe sorbet recipe.......SO EASY!!  I'm loving my new ice cream maker BIG TIME!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Moe

Are you a good mom?

I've been pondering that question for awhile now as I've been sick again with corn allergies sneaking up on me from somewhere. I've been miserable and tend to make everyone else miserable during this time. ( or so I think!)

I read a blog post about stay at home moms and as I read through it, I got thinking about what in my mind a good mom is and what a good housekeeper is. Well here is what I came up with, that I picture in my own mind when I think of a good mom and how my home should look.

A clean bedroom, toys picked up and kids playing well together.

The house is always neat, never any dirty dishes in the sink and bedrooms are neat.

Clean house, everything in it's place, bedrooms neat and tidy and no piles of dirty laundry.

 

Smiling happy kids, no dirty dishes, no piles of dirty laundry and clean bedrooms.

Where on earth did I ever get the mindset that this is what my life should be like with my family? Of course there is no dirty laundry, dirty dishes, piles of mail and magazines, messy cluttered kids rooms or toys all strewn about. These are FAKE homes, they are sets/props in which people/actors PRETEND to be homemakers, wives and mothers. Wow can our perspectives on life really be that inspired and convinced by years of media? I'm saddened that I allowed myself to believe this lie, of how things should be in my life. Is this what the Lord has for me? Am I reaping His very best for my life and my family?  Here is a link to the blog post, I hope it helps you to gain the perspective that the Lord has for you and your home. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2012/08/

May you find blessings in your family life this week.
Moe

Where has Summer gone?

Well, here we are almost to July and I can't figure out where Summer has gone. We are getting ready to send Grandma back home after her long stay, she was suppose to be here about a month, but then decided that she needed to stay until her grandson's birthday (she got here April 11), so we are sending her off the day after.

Where have we been? Well we spent an incredible week at a Joni & Friends camp with our son's birthfamily, spent 4 days visiting with some friends out of state, attended my 30 year junior high class reunion, spent a few days in Chicago visiting friends, went to 6 Flags Great America, placed in the
4-H food show and 4-H food demonstration contest and took our son to a few days of technology day camp. To say that I am ready to fall to the ground, would be an understatement.......lol. But we are having fun.

Our son met a little girl at the Joni & Friends camp, so they plan on writing to each other. She lives in another state so the pen pal thing should be fun. I need to get our pictures developed so he can send them to her, but silly me, I used a disposable camera instead of my digital, so I have to mail these off to get them developed. Pray for this little girl and her family, they are being raised by grandparents and two of her siblings have special needs. Her brother is in a wheelchair with Cerebral Palsy and her sister has a seizure disorder. So life is not easy for this family, but they are relying on the Lord.

Had a few tough things to deal with like EATING! lol......everything at the Joni & Friends camp revolved around FOOD! I got terribly sick 2 nights because they were popping corn, and for those who don't know, I'm allergic to corn and that includes popcorn!! lol. The hardest part of all this traveling was getting food that I could eat. I did eat at Chipotle Mexican Grill twice and did fine. I just had the rice and chicken. All gluten free, dairy free and corn free. Just had to make sure that they change gloves before making my food since they do serve corn tortillas. Most of our hotels had kitchenettes in them and I was able to do some cooking while at our friends home. I even brought along one of our farm fresh chickens to eat and a few dozen farm fresh brown eggs. YUM!

In getting back to life in the real world, my home is totally trashed! LOL. To say the least, we have been dropping and running, so next week we will be getting things back in order and up and running. I came across this great website and wanted to share it with you. Homemaking: The List of Must dos.
It was a real eye opener to me. I know, I only have 1 child, but laundry does still pile up and I still have tons of dishes to do from cooking from scratch each day. Take a look at the link and tell me what you think.

Have a great rest of the summer and plan NOW for your upcoming school year. Relax outside while the kids play and have your planner book out and jot down some ideas, ask the kids what they would like to accomplish this school year and go from there. It's not too late to hit a convention, just Google and find one near you.

Moe