Wallpaper Love

Okay, so I've been wanting to redo my entryway/ hallway/ landing and dining room for years. The striped wallpaper is original to the house and wasn't hideous, but wasn't something I would have likely picked out on my own. However, living with it for 9 years now, I think it is time for an update, but I never could imagine anything else on the walls... until I saw this on The Painted Hive:

 

I am totally in love with this wallpaper. I wish I knew the brand! But now I have something to look for. Joy.

Cornmeal Pie

I found this recipe at Chicken's in the Road - Farm Bell Recipes. It reminds me a little of a Chess pie that I love to make at Thanksgiving time.

Turned out pretty, yes? Well, my fluted edges could use some work.

Cornmeal Pie

1 deep dish or 2 regular unbaked pie shells (see below)
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 Tablespoons cornmeal (stone-ground preferred)
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Mix all ingredients (except nuts) in a heavy saucepan. Bring mixture to a slow boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 3 minutes. Add nuts if desired. Pour into pie shells and bake at 375 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to fully cool before serving.

Note: The original recipe called for 2 unbaked pie shells. I made two Spelt Pie Crusts and lined my two pie plates with them. Then I made the filling. One batch of the filling filled only one of my pie shells. So I made a second batch of the filling. Either my pie plates are really large or the lady who posted the original recipe used small pie plates. So, I don't know. You decide.

Also, I used this Spelt Pie Crust Recipe for the first time. It was okay. I felt like there was too much fat in the pie crust and it made the crust too soft. So, next time I will try this recipe for Easy Vegan Spelt Pie Crust.

This pie was a nice ending to our menu of Southern Fried Tofu, French Green Beans, and Rutabagas.

Liberty

Time for Starting Seeds

It's that time of year again. Actually, I've been putting it off for a couple of weeks now. I plan to plant my peas in the garden tomorrow. I usually shoot for Valentine's Day for Pea planting. So, today I went to our local Wal-mart to check out the selection of seeds and was thrilled to find that Seeds of Change has a display of organic seeds! I mean, I've ordered from their catalog before! The display wasn't huge, but it has all of the most common seeds you would want to order. For $2.00 a packet!

I still have plans to order a few seeds from my favorite seed company - Baker Creek Seeds. You can download their amazing 196 page 2012 catalog here. I would love to be able to visit their farm and village during Festival time. I appreciate the fact that the couple who owns the company are Sabbath keepers, too.

I spent some time this morning planning what to plant and where to plant. In the spirit of the Victory Garden, I am planning to not only utilize my 12 (4 x 4) raised beds in the back yard and my large containers, but I am planning to plant my front flower bed with bush beans and cabbage, another flower bed with squash and pumpkins, plant an old stump with melons, and if I can get my husband to agree, I'd like to plant a 10' x 25' or 10' x 50' space in the front yard with corn. At the suggestion, my children were like, "Mom, do you know what neighborhood we live in???" Meaning, I assume, that we live in a nice neighborhood and who wants to see corn growing in the front yard? It doesn't bother me. I am a farm girl at heart. I have 1 1/2 acres to my name. Most of it is sloped on the mountain or shaded by huge oak trees. I can't plant corn any where else. So why not join the Front Yard Garden Movement?

Menu Plan

Sometimes I really hate menu planning. I love to cook. I love to eat. I love feeding my sweet family food they love to eat. But sometimes actually coming up with what to eat is a real chore. Needless to say, menu planning is very helpful because it is even more of a chore to figure out what we are eating five minutes before everyone is ready to eat.

I must be tired this afternoon. Mentally tired. Maybe because we are currently working on high school math in our homeschool and its 4:30 in the afternoon.

Lately, rather, the last few months, I have had to spend even more time in the kitchen. Sometimes I feel like I spend at least six hours a day in the kitchen  (sometimes more) just cooking and cleaning. Since Sarah has gone wheat free and mostly vegan for her health I have to prepare two of everything, very often, and it takes forever. Gluten free foods cost so much, we can't afford for everyone to eat them. So when we have pasta, I make a separate dish for her. It's okay. I really don't mind. I love her more than anything in the world and spending more time preparing food is soooo worth her feeling healthy and normal.

Here's my latest attempt at making a yummy gluten free sandwich bread:

 Unfortunately, it tasted gross. I have not yet found a sandwich bread using gluten free flour that tastes good. I was excited about this recipe because I had made pizza crust for her and that turned out nice and tasted good as a pizza and had a good texture. So, I thought, why not try it as a loaf of bread? Yuck. I don't know. I am planning to try making my own Brown Rice Flour Mix soon. Something about the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour is just not appealing, the smell, the taste, the texture. Sorry! I think I prefer the King Arthur Brand Gluten Free flour, but unfortunately, we bought several ( a lot ) of the Bob's Red Mill flour when it was on closeout at Big Lots, because the price was so much lower than at the health food store. So, I need to find a way to use it up. Maybe some sweet breads would taste better.

Anyway, back to the whole cooking and meal planning thing...

The fact remains, cooking takes time. For instance, my husband requested Lasagna last night, which Sarah cannot eat. I hate for her to feel neglected without just as delicious food to eat, so I made her a single dish of Eggplant Parmesan. It took me about three hours to get dinner on the table. We'll have Eggplant Parmesan again (all of us later in the week).

There are days when I really want to just have something quick and easy like hot dogs or veggie burgers, but since she can't have them, I try to keep prepared meals in the freezer for her. Like her favorite enchiladas, gluten free pizza crust and toppings, gluten free oatmeal patties that can be eaten with gravy, rice
So here's the rundown for this week:

Sunday:
B- Tea Towel Biscuits with Milk Gravy  and Spelt Biscuits with Tomato Gravy (for Sarah)
D - Vegetable Lasagna, Salad, Fresh French Green Beans with Fingerling Potatoes (Eggplant Parmesan for Sarah)

Monday:
B - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ( a very rare treat)
L - Leftovers
S - Fruit, Cream of Wheat

Tuesday:
B - Sourdough Blueberry Muffin, Scrambled Eggs
L - Southern Fried Tofu (from Earth Fare in Johnson City, TN - its amazing!), Fresh French Green Beans, Cornbread, Mashed Rutabagas
S - Salad with Boiled Eggs and Beer Bread Toast

Wednesday:

B -Oatmeal with dried fruit, walnuts, and soymilk
L - Eggplant Parmesan, Salad, Garlic Cheese Biscuits
S - Leftovers, Cereal

Thursday:
B - Toast and Fried Eggs, Veggie Sausages
L - Chickpea Salad Sandwiches (tastes like Tuna), Fruit
S - Pancakes, Pecan Oatmeal "Sausage," Tangerines

Friday:
B - Cereal, Yogurt, Toast
L - Fruit, PB&J Sandwiches
S - Black Bean Soup, Cornbread

Sabbath:
B - Cereal
L - Potluck - Oatmeal Meatloaf, Pickled Apples, Scalloped Potatoes
S - Leftovers


Desserts:
Georgia's Cornmeal Pie with a Spelt Pie Crust
Strawberry Pretzel Salad (made with gluten free pretzels)
Raw Vegan Chocolate Cream Cake

Baking: 
Amish Friendship Sandwich Bread (gluten free experiment and wheat flour versions)
Spelt Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits
Beer Bread

If you didn't notice, in an effort to be healthier as a family, help myself and my husband lose a little weight, we are eating our biggest meal at the lunch hour and a lighter meal in the evening when your metabolism slows down.

What are you cooking this week? Be sure to stop by Organizing Junkie for hundreds of ideas for meal planning!

The view from my back porch this morning...

...was incredibly beautiful. Despite the fact that this winter has been unseasonably warm, and we are used to getting snow every week during the winter... yesterday it snowed and snowed. I think we got about five inches or so accumulated.

 This was the view from my back porch as the sun was coming up this morning. Gorgeous! See the pink and white mountains with the clouds resting on top?

Here is the same view about an hour later:

What you can't see in this photo is that the little town of Harlan is just below the tree line there in the valley. 

The girls went sledding yesterday afternoon and are currently out there enjoying the snow and their sleds. Hmm. They asked for a carrot and some raisins - to build a snowman, I suspect.

Here's me, the height of fashion wearing pink, green, and blue stripped pajama bottoms, a green and brown flannel shirt, and green muck boots - standing on the back porch with Lucy who looks like she is kissing Charlie, the next door neighbor's pup. Lucy is our sweet, sad little dog. She's mostly blind and deaf (and dumb.)  Charlie likes to spend her days at my house. See how she's sitting on the porch next to me, like she belongs??? That's okay, we like Charlie. You can also see some of our firewood ready to be burnt up today.

Here's my husband scraping the snow off the rental car so he can go visit his brother Steve in ICU this morning: (No, he wasn't too keen on my taking his photo, hehe.)

So while I was standing there taking pictures of Mykal, I noticed over next to the driveway, my first flowers of spring peeking out of the snow!

Hannah and Laura have been spending warm days building this fort:

 They have a lot more planned for their fort, but it stayed pretty dry in there:

 Here is our little bridge that leads over the path to the fort:

 One of these days maybe there will be a little fish pond under the bridge!

And finally here are some more random pictures from around my yard:

 

When I made it back to the porch to come inside, Charlie was still there saying, "Welcome back!"

 

Apple BBQ Sauce for Canning

I am still canning all those apples we bought back a few months ago. Who knew life would be so crazy the last few months? I've hardly had more than one day a week (if that, some weeks) to work on the canning. Thankfully I only have about 5 bushels of apples left and seven pumpkins left that need preserving.

So, since we have enough apple sauce and apple butter to last us a few years, I was racking my brain trying to come up with a new recipe for the apples. I get bored easily.

This original recipe is what I came up with: 

Apple BBQ Sauce

8 cups applesauce
6 cups brown sugar
32 oz. tomato sauce (or two 15 oz. cans)
1 1/2 cups vinegar
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. garlic powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. liquid smoke
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. black pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Mix all ingredients together in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until thickened. It smells wonderful!

Fill sterilized pint jars with the hot BBQ sauce, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Process 20 minutes in a hot water bath. Be sure to add five minutes for each 1000 feet elevation. I have to process mine for 25 minutes because we live at about 1600 feet.

Yield: 6 - 7 pints

Love Bug Valentines

I found this adorable printable valentine this morning. If I had seen these earlier, I would have used them for my daughter Hannah who loves all things Bugs. However the cards she did make are super cute, and I am very happy with them. We had our Valentine social last night and it was a lot of fun!

However, if you are needing a last minute idea, these would be great for any boy or girl (in my house) who loves bugs.

Visit Dandee Designs to download the file.

7UP Biscuits + Gluten Free Version

7UP Biscuits in a cast iron skillet.

Okay, so I recently discovered this recipe on Pintrest and from the look of the photo I knew I had to try it. I have made these biscuits several times now and they are sooooo yummy! Light and fluffy. Buttery with a perfect golden, crispy sweet crust. Oh my.

See how light and fluffy?

I made two batches of these yesterday, plus a gluten free version for my daughter to eat on all week. I don't use Bisquick so here is my version:

7- Up Biscuits + Gluten Free Version

2 cups all purpose flour OR all purpose Gluten Free flour mix (I used King Arthur brand.)
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (or butter or margarine) - I used Earth Balance natural shortening.
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-UP (or Sprite or Ginger Ale)
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put 1/4 cup butter in iron skillet or 8 inch baking pan and melt in oven. Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Add 7-Up and sour cream. Mix together until just combined. If the dough is too dry you can add a small amount of 7-Up to fix that. The dough should be soft and not dry, but not too sticky either.

Pat out dough on a floured counter about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out biscuits. I used a 2 inch biscuit cutter and got twelve biscuits from the dough. Remove skillet from oven and place cut out biscuits in hot butter being careful not to burn yourself! I usually keep a pot holder over the hot handle of my skillet to prevent myself or anyone else from carelessly grabbing the handle. Ouch!

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until biscuits are a nice golden brown.

About the Gluten Free Version:

There was very little difference in the texture or taste between the two. The only real difference was that the wheat flour biscuits rose a little higher, but perhaps some xantham gum would help that, which I presently do not have in my cupboard. The taste and texture was incredible and my daughter was thrilled! The photos above are of the wheat biscuits.

Here are photos of the gluten free biscuits:

The texture of the gluten free dough is nice and soft just like the wheat biscuits. 

Here they go into that melted butter. Yum!

Twelve biscuits ready to bake! 

See how beautiful and golden brown these gluten free biscuits are?

See the nice fluffy texture and the perfect amount of crumble? Really. These were delicious!

I shared this recipe with Gluten Free Wednesdays, It's a Keeper, Tasty Thursdays, and This Chick Cooks. Be sure to visit !

Fabulous Valentine's Day Printables

I love to make Valentine's Day special for my family. I have found so many wonderful freebies this year! In fact, I have found so many great ideas I'm having a difficult time trying to decide which ones to use! How about Valentine's month? Sounds like a good idea!

Here are a few of my favorite finds - the some of the ones I'll be using this year:

Love is... Subway Art

 Strawberry Cake

Printable Cards

 Valentine Pretzels

Love Coupons 

I've Got a Crush on You!

Felt Fortune Cookies

Glow Stick Valentine's

Glow Stick Valentine's

Paint Chip Bookmarks 

Some of these ideas I'll be using for our church Valentine's Social on February 11th and others will be used for our family celebration at home. I also have some sewing projects to finish up this week for Valentine's Day, but I'll be leaving the decorations up all month long. So much fun! What are you doing for Valentine's Day this year? If you are looking for yummy menu ideas for the 14th, be sure to check out my printable menu!

Plus, be sure to check out my Valentine's Day pinboard on Pintrest featuring over 300 ideas! I shared this link with Happy Friday at Susie QT Pie's. Be sure to visit!

Brazilian Cheese Bread - Gluten Free

As I have mentioned before, we are cooking gluten free for my daughter Sarah. It has been a real challenge! However, I have been so blessed to find recipes she loves. I typically make a recipe for her and freeze the leftovers so she can pull them out whenever she needs something quick or whenever I am not making a meal that is strictly gluten free for the rest of us. Honestly, gluten free products and flours cost so much, we can't afford to all eat this way.

My husband (who does the grocery shopping) had brought home some packs of bagels and English muffins for the rest of us and I needed to find a bread that Sarah would enjoy that would have a comparable "chewiness."

For a first attempt, this recipe was incredibly easy and super delicious! In fact, I split a couple of rolls between the rest of our family for the "taste test," and the bread was a hit with everyone. Even my husband suggested I regularly make them for everyone to eat.

This recipe is a traditional recipe made in Brazil and is naturally gluten free. The Tapioca Flour used was difficult for me to find. We live in a small town, however even in the health food stores we visit a couple of hours away didn't carry it. However, I finally found an inexpensive source - an Asian market in Knoxville. Tapioca Flour will be a staple in our house from now on! I am anxious to experiment with this recipe, possibly making similar breads out of it. I am thinking gluten free Italian Bread, and possibly trying to shape the rolls into a bagel shape with wet hands. I'll let you know if it works. Also, I believe that you could substitute the cheese with your favorite and even leave out the garlic. So here's the recipe:

Brazilian Cheese Bread

1/2 cup olive oil or butter
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups tapioca flour
1/4 tsp. granulated garlic
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 beaten eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pour olive oil, water, milk, and salt into a large saucepan, and place over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately, and stir in tapioca flour and garlic until smooth. Set aside to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Stir the cheese and egg into the tapioca mixture until well combined, the mixture will be chunky like cottage cheese. Let rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Drop rounded, 1/4 cup-sized spoonfuls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

This recipe yielded 8 (4 inch flattened) rolls for me. 

You can see in the photo above how similar in appearance the inside is to an English muffin, and the bread is chewy like a bagel. Yum!

Note: I flattened my "scoops" out somewhat on the baking sheet (before baking) to resemble English Muffins when sliced open. I had a bunch of English muffins in the pantry and was in the mood to make some vegetarian Eggs Benedict.

Here is a photo of this incredible bread with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce:

(This photo would have looked nicer if I had planned for it and picked a different colored plate! But it tasted delicious!)

I'm linking up with Gluten Free Wednesdays, This Chick Cooks, Real Food 101, What I Whipped Up, and  Real Food Wednesdays. Be sure to check out these sites for some great ideas for eating healthy!

Penguins Unit

We started our Penguin Unit today. On January 11, 2012 we were blessed to have the opportunity to visit Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN while at the KYTN Conference minister's meetings. One of our favorite exhibits was the Penguins. So, I am working on a Penguin Unit for Hannah and Laura, who are crazy about anything God has created! Below you can watch one of our experiences with the penguins at Ripley's. They were sooo cute! In this video, my girls Hannah, Laura, and Emily had some fun with one particular penguin.




Here are some Penguin Freebies that Homeschoolers can enjoy:

1. Mr. Popper's Penguins from the Homeschool Share Blog.
2. Arctic Animal Lapbook from Homeschool Share
3. Penguin, Penguin Early Reader from Starfall.com
4. Penguin Lapbook from Lapbook Lessons
5. Printable Book of Penguins and Penguin Craft Idea from Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

For more ideas, check out my Pintrest Penguin Page! 

Happy New Year!

Wow, can you believe it is 2012? Where does the time go? Today, January 2, is the first day we have had what feels like winter weather. Snow flurries are floating through the air, with the promise of snow this afternoon. This has been a weird winter. We usually have snow weekly starting in late November. Last year was sooo cold and there was so much snow! It has felt like fall. Christmas day we were wearing short sleeves outside!

We had a big group for the holidays - one week with 30 people in the house! Our family has grown so big and just keeps growing! Oh, and we had 6 dogs in the house and a crew of 3 workers who replaced all of the windows in our house (we have 53 windows) and replaced our old shutters with new ones, and wrapped all of our windows with vinyl siding and replaced the old siding on the sun room with new vinyl siding (we have a brick house).  I'll have to share photos later.

Anyway, so do you have any New Years resolution's written down or in your head? Resolutions are kind of lame when you consider the fact that for most people, the resolutions last all of a week. I still like to reconsider my life - where I am at, where I'd like to be and set goals for improving the quality of my life.

I've done this for years and I know that any time I re-evaluate my life, things change for the better. So, what are some things I am wanting to do in the new year?

1. Memorize chapters of the Bible. I have started this a few weeks ago. It's slow for me because I have a horrible memory! No joke. I thought that memorizing more Scripture would help improve it, but so far I am still struggling. But it is worth the effort!

2. Take walks several times a week with my kids, if not every day.

3. Sew more. I have several projects in mind.

4. Finish two or three more novels. I wrote a new novel (85,000 words) this past summer in 25 days, and completed half of a second, which I hope to finish by the end of January. I'd like to write a book every 3 - 6 months. After years of wanting to write a novel, I finally decided I just have to make it a priority and do it. Also, will be searching for an agent soon. My busy schedule is my worst enemy when it comes to writing, though.

5. And Finally, get more organized than ever. Need I say more?

So, how was your Christmas and what plans do you have for this year?

Pumpkin. Cinnamon Roll. Cake.

I think the title says everything we need to know.

You can find the recipe for this yummy recipe at the Picky Palate.

In other news... last night was movie night at our house. We watched Hachi: A Dog's Tale. This is a must see movie. Have you seen it?

Honestly, I bawled my eyes out. For ten minutes. After the movie. I was sobbing so hard I was shaking. I love my dogs.

Conversation with...

... my husband this morning:

Me: I'm cold.

Husband: What do you mean you're cold. It's 66 degrees in here!

Me: I don't know. I'm just cold. It's like 40 degrees outside.

Yeah.