Raspberries's Momaroo

Monday, July 14, 2008

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:12:22 GMT

So everything I made last week turned out great. I made a double batch of cereal bars which still didn't last long in this house. The bread was great, as was the rootbeer. The ice cream turned out fantastic! I added coconut milk and organic dutch cocoa powder to make it a coconut chocolate ice cream and it was divine! I didn't end up making crackers or challah bread. I will be doing that this week though!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:06:17 GMT

We had our very first Shabbat dinner this evening. It was great. We also attended a Messianic service for the first time as well and absolutely loved it. The music was beautiful, the Rabbi was wonderful and the people were so warm and welcoming. I also think I found a great new friend there. She lives nearby, and is as crunchy as can be. The Rabbi wants to come by our house this week to meet us and get to know us better. I just feel so blessed and was very moved by the service.

The towel under the plate in the middle was for DD1 since we were having something kind of messy. The papers on our plates helped guide us.

The glasses were a wedding gift from a friend of ours and have a little man and woman as the handles. DH drank a full glass, I basically had a sip of mine. :)

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:35:47 GMT

I just thought I'd share the websites where I got some of the recipes for what I'm making this week.

Rootbeer:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/ROOTBEER_Jn0.htm

Ice Cream ( I don't have a store bought ice cream maker):
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/thermo/ice_cream/ice_cream.html

Crackers:
http://www.garvick.com/recipesmm/cracker_recipes.htm

Bagels:
http://homecooking.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.recipesource.com/baked%2Dgoods/bagels/00/rec0027.html

Bread:
I'm currently letting the one above rise as a bread recipe (edited to add that if you use that one, it makes two loaves or one GIANT one lol) but when I first started I used this one:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/beginnersbread.htm

Yogurt:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/make-your-own-yogurt.html

Cereal Bars:
Cereal Bar

2 cups quick oats (or regular oats work fine too)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar ( I used to sucunat)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 - 1 cup of jam or preserves ( I used an all fruit jam so no extra sugar)
1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit *optional ( I didn't try this option personally so not sure how it tastes with it)
3/4 cup Butter

Optional
--Topping---
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp milk (I use rice milk)

Mix oats, flour, brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, baking soda and *dried fruit
Cut in or melt and add Butter
Divide mix in half, spread half into pan and pat down
Add layer of jam and top with remaining mix
Mix powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsp milk to drizzle on top when done.

Bake at 350' for half hour
Cut into bar shapes.

Baking Schedule

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:40:00 GMT

I've got a busy week of cooking and baking so I wanted to compile a little list here to help keep track of what I'm making on what days.

Tuesday (tonight):
Homemade Root Beer

Wednesday:
Bread
Yogurt

Thursday:
Cereal Bars
Crackers

Friday:
Challah
Ice Cream
Bread

Saturday:
Nada ;)

Sunday:
Bagels
Cereal Bars

So I'll see how this schedule works out and modify as needed. I'm usually so unorganized and then will spend a day making too many things and become exhausted.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:36:39 GMT

I just thought I'd share some pictures from the 4th of July. We didn't go anywhere to see fireworks, but Charlotte enjoyed playing with sparklers outside in her new Flag outfit that my Aunt bought her. Also included are some goodbye pictures from my last appointment with my wonderful Midwife Kelley.

The 4th:

Midwife Farewell :(

Which one is the doll? LOL

The Sabbath

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:55:24 GMT

I'm very excited to prepare this week for the Sabbath. Steve and I have never actually observed the Sabbath before, but over the last year I've felt called to delve deeper into my own personal Hebraic roots and that of my faith. As a result we've decided to incorporate things into our lives that will bring us closer to God and help us to fulfill His desires for our lives.

I need to get to Goodwill to see if I can get some candle holders. I found a great website that will help guide us through our first family Sabbath dinner:
http://fernshomestead.com/sabbath1.html

Steve is excited as well and is looking forward to his part in all of this. In addition to our family dinner we're hoping to attend services at a Messianic congregation on Friday evening. I'm going to be giving the Rabbi a call this week to get more details.

I also recommend to anyone interested in further reading on this subject, the site:
http://biblicalholidays.com/

It was recommended to me by some wonderful Messianic women I know. Happy Reading!

Monday, July 07, 2008

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:35:29 GMT

I always get a great laugh out of this and in part because it is so true for many people!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=arCITMfxvEc

Organized the Pantry

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:52:04 GMT

I organized the pantry with the nap time the girls had and took pictures! I had bought some mason jars last week to use for storage and on top of being air tight and glass, I think they're more aesthetically pleasing as well.

Eating Healthy Can be Cheap!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:15:52 GMT

Steve and I used to fall into the trap of thinking that eating healthy can't be done when you don't have money. Eating cheap boxed stuff just seemed to work better. You could seemingly buy more of it. With our budget scaled down and our desire to be healthy on the rise, we've reevaluated our ideas about food and money. We've found that we can actually feed our family of three on about 70 dollars a week (80 sometimes) and it can be ALL healthy, whole foods! Here was our grocery list from last week:

6 meats (chicken or turkey and they were natural, cage free, growth hormone free)
2 dozen eggs
Brown Rice
Apples
Bananas
Flax Seed
Salsa
Whole Wheat Flour
2 Packages of Butter
1 large plain yogurt
Whole Wheat Pasta

That was it. From that in addition to what we had at home we were able to feed ourselves just fine! I made our bread, bagels, cereal bars and yogurt from scratch using those ingredients plus what I had at home. Our dinners are a meat, some veggies and some brown rice or whole wheat pasta. We've also learned to limit our portion sizes to what they SHOULD be. So instead of eating a whole piece of chicken, we're eating 5 oz and it spreads out just fine for the next day's lunch as well. It's been really great to eat this way and has forced us to look at our food differently. Eating to live isn't of living to eat.

Today

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:07:59 GMT

Steve and I have a list of things we want to start doing (or not doing). They are:

3 days a week of FB (This one is for Steve as he's been losing himself in his Fantasy Baseball team)

Only online to check email during the day (We've been spending waaaay too much of our girls waking hours online. So so long as they're awake, we're not here)

No driving unless absolutely necessary (this isn't too hard as we don't have a car, but that means not borrowing my parent's car nearly as much. We've already been doing this for about three weeks and it's been great. I've been enjoying walking everywhere)

Drinking only water and tea (1 cup of coffee) (64oz) (We already do this for the most part, but once in awhile I'd sneak a juice in, but no more)

No white sugar, HFCS (No problem for this. The house is already stocked with Honey, Agave, Xylitol and Sucunat)

No TV (this is more for Charlotte than us. It works in conjunction with us not being online during her waking hours)

No Newspaper (online) (this, for me, is a matter of my sanity. I've been struggling with some anxiety and the news is rarely good news)

Movies only (I hate commercials. They work. I'd prefer to just rent a movie, watch it, then shut the TV off)

1 hour of cartoons a day (This is spent in the morning as we're just waking up and laying in bed and then showering for the adults)

Walk around the block at least once a day (seems simple enough. We already do a lot of walking, but this is more for those days where we don't have a set place to go)

Go to the park (weather permitting) at least once a day (Getting out of the house, again)

No eating out (We're broke, so no can do)

Read the bible every day (Now this should be a given. But I've found that I've been escaping by going elsewhere. I need to reshift my focus and lean on God)

Do a bible study chapter once a day ( I started a bible study here: http://www.onlinebiblecollege.com/site/ doing their free online bible study)

Declutter and thin out toys and general belongings (yard sale?)

Taking our vitamins and supplements every single day (I've been slacking)

Some of the things on this list were inspired by a fast a friend of mine is doing for the month of July, but it got me thinking about long term changes we need to make. In addition that Steve and I have been working on getting healthy and have already lost a bit of weight. Hooray!