Planting Update....

The last week has been crazy and I'm a little behind on updating so please forgive me. I took pictures as we transplanted our seedlings but I am just now a week later getting the blog posted... So this happened a week ago ;)

This is what my seed tray looked like with all the little seedlings popping up. The cilantro was slow and didn't come up with the rest of the seeds so I have pictured here the snow peas on the left and the pak choi on the right.

To transplant I loosen the soil under the seedlings with the popscicle sticks and gently remove the seedling to be transplanted into it's own separate container. This was the broccoli...

This is the snow pea...

Each plant now has room to grow and I didn't waste any seeds by using the "thinning out" method...

Their new happy homes in the sunshine of my bedroom window... The snow peas grow faster so I put them in the bigger round containers. I will probably transplant some of these to my outdoor cold frames this week. Stay tuned for updates :)

More Creations With Leftovers :)

So another experiment with the left overs in my fridge has turned out to be a success! About four days ago we had soft taco's with rice and beans. After sitting in the fridge for four days the thought of reheating them to serve for dinner was not very appetizing, especially after I noticed how dried out it all looked... So here's what I did.

I put the beans, rice and taco meat into my food processor with some sour cream, velveeta cheese and a can of spicy rotel. I pulverized it to mush and scooped it into the left over home made flour tortilla's and stuck them in the freezer. We ate the rest of the filling as dip and saved the burrito's for tonight. These microwaved perfectly and my kids have enjoyed their dinner. More left overs used instead of wasted! Yay!

The 2011 Garden Season Has Officially Begun!

What better way to spend a snow day than planting seeds? I love it! I took pictures to document the event and to share tips with fellow gardeners. Enjoy!

Step #1: Gather Supplies
To start off with these are my supplies. Yes unfortunately I use Miracle Grow potting mix... When I perfect the composting process I hope to be able to make my own potting mix but that's something I'm working on. I use warm water in my spray bottle and I have a plastic shelf tuned upside down to plant in. And don't forget the seeds.

Step #2 Prepare For Potting Soil
I line my shelf with newspaper to help soak up excess water since I don't have drainage holes in this planter. I transfer my sprouts to other containers so they won't be in this long.

Step #3 Dirt Work
I put a layer of potting soil down and spray it until it's good and soaked!

I am planting a few varieties of seed in this planter so I have it sectioned off with popsicle sticks.

Step #4 Sowing Seeds
I am planting Broccoli...

Cilantro...

Snow Peas...

And Chinese Pak Choy...

Step #5 Soak & Cover...
Next I soak the seeds with more warm water...

Cover with thin layer of potting mix and soak some more. I end up using the whole bottle of water. Good soaking is a step you cannot skip or the seeds won't sprout.

Step #6 Find a warm spot.
One of the warmest rooms in our house is the laundry room. With the dryer venting into the room it's moist and warm. With six people living under one roof I run the dryer quite a bit. On top of the refrigerator is also a good warm place to sprout seeds. Just remember that seeds don't need sunshine to sprout. These will be moved to a sunny location after they sprout.

Another good reason I put these here is I will be reminded to water every time I do laundry!

Come back and visit in a few days to see results :)

Logan is reading!!!

Green Beans in January???

Who can's green beans in January??? WE DO WE DO!!! We were fortunate to find a great deal on green beans $5 for a bushel so we had another canning day. We brought in two extra ladies to give them some hands on experience with the pressure cookers. The children liked bean snapping. We call them "The Whippersnappers." Green beans are a really easy plant to grow so look for us to have a gardening class soon too!!

We ended up with 13 quarts and 20 pints of green beans out of one bushel.
The best part... this jar contains green beans, salt and water... What's in your green beans?

Vickie is washing the beans....

Here we have "The Whippersnappers" snapping beans...

Happy Whippersnappers ;)

Adding the canning salt...

Babysitting the cookers....

I love the difference in colors...

Before and after a dip in the cooker...

Clean The Fridge Soup...

What do you do with your leftovers? Well here's an idea... Make soup! Tonight I had some various left overs that I threw together and waaalaaa SOUP.

Last Sunday we had roast for lunch. I took the left over roast and put it in the food processor and turned it to mush. I froze some of it and one container I put into the fridge for a soup base this week. I took the left over taco meat, beans for taco's and rice for taco's that we had for dinner Wednesday evening, combined it with the roast soup base and threw in some frozen chicken stock cubes. (I freeze my chicken stock in ice trays so I have handy sized cubes to use in different dishes.) I chopped 3 fresh carrots and one good sized potato to add to the soup and now we have a yummy meal that's enough for the family and a clean fridge! :)

Local Cannery Getting Started....

What a fun day! I had the privilege to gather with some of my good friends and can some BEANS! We had three pressure cookers going and canned 48 quarts of beans in 8 hours. If I had tried this with one cooker it would have taken three times as long!!! This is also a much cheaper and healthier way to process food.

I bought a 50 pound bag of beans for $32 which makes the beans around .64 cents a pound. I soaked 20 pounds of beans over night and some of the other ladies brought about 4 pounds of beans with them. This means there is about a half pound of beans per quart container. We used peppers I had frozen from my garden so that didn't cost us anything. We figured it up that each quart jar cost us .32 cents. We all brought our own jars and lids. We're going to work on a system for collecting jars and keeping tabs on how many everyone has so we don't have to haul them around everywhere. We're so blessed to have our local church facility to gather in to have canning days and store some supplies.

This is just one thing we're doing in our local community to help teach others how to live cheaper and healthier. These beans have very little salt and no preservatives. My challenge to the rest of the world... Find like minded people and start doing things together. Work together to enrich each others lives!!! I was so blessed today and I got some canned beans too ;) How about you?

The Canning Crew

Two easy recipes to use your canned beans!
Bean Dip
Take one jar of beans put them in a food processor with a quarter
block of cream cheese and half teaspoon of salt. Process it up and
you have instant bean dip.

Fancy Beans & Rice
Cook 2 cups of rice in a rice cooker with a quart of tomato juice.
Combine rice, one quart of canned beans a quarter of an onion
and some bell peppers. Add a little cajun seasoning, salt and pepper.
Cook on stove top until the onions and peppers are soft.

The Pepper Processing Station (Don't Rub Your Eyes)

Roomy Kitchen

Beans Ready For Canning

Getting the beans into the jars...

Getting the jars into the pressure cookers....

There are three pressure cookers working here and one pot of beans...

This is what the beans look like before and after... aren't they pretty?

The finished product...

We Will Survive!!!

(Singing to the tune of "I Will Survive" You know you know it)

We.... will survive!!! No matter how high gas prices go.... We know we'll stay alive..... We eat all our meals at home.... McDonalds is a no zone.... We will survive!!!! :p

Ok all silly stuff aside... Yesterday I filled my mini van full of gas and the grand total was $51.74... It hurt my heart. I know there's others out there with bigger vehicle's that are hurting too but I drive a mini-van... I hate paying so much for gas... :( Now we'll have to be spending many more days at home and no more eating out... We really want to get out of debt and living on one income means we have to budget and save to pay off our debt.

As I was preparing lunch I started to feel encouraged that YES WE CAN!!! save our pennies! For lunch my four children and myself are eating yummy stir fry noodles for approximately $1.74. That's like .35 cents per person! Now that is encouraging!!! I have smaller children so they don't eat massive amounts yet but from what I made today there will be no left overs. Here's how I did it...

I shop at discount grocery stores and I have a circle of friends who scout out good deals where ever they go as well. When they find a good deal they'll call and pick me up what they're getting too. (Thanks Vickie & Jennifer!) The ingredients I used break down like this...

Stir fry sauce $1.35 10 servings in a bottle = .13 cents
Soy Sauce .85 cents 10 servings in a bottle = .08 cents
One package of spaghetti noodles = .60 cents
1 lb bag of (12) carrots .69 cents = .11 cents (2 carrots used to prepare meal)
3 lb bag of broccoli $2.00 (I'm estimating this will be enough for 6 meals) = .33 cents
1 onion regular grocery store price .99 cents a lb and I'm estimating it will be enough for 2 meals and I'm not sure if it weighs a whole pound so this is estimating on the high side = .49 cents.

If I can do this and make my kids happy with their lunch for $1.74 then so can you!!! Start today!!! Talk to your friends, neighbors, co-workers... Start a network of people that you are involved with and utilize the discount grocery stores. Coupons are great but they take a lot of work (I've still not figured it out) but finding a good deal without the coupon isn't so hard if you're looking in the right places.

I used more broccoli than shown but I had to take a photo of the ingredients :)

Yes you can eat broccoli with a missing front tooth ;)

Ignore my messy kitchen and instead focus on the smiles of happy, well fed children :)

Want a bite???

We will survive!!! :)

Slow down... take time... wake up world...

Sound Teaching

We need sound teachers who are learned in the scriptures and teaching what God tells us without twisting things to meet their agenda. I'm so thankful for the sound teaching of No Greater Joy Ministries. Praise God he sends preachers and teachers!

The New Year...

The first day of the new year 2011 brought about a stirring in my heart. I am not going to start off a new year with strife and bitterness. Praise God I don't have to. In reflection I look back to October 26th of the year 2000. I am thankful for the crazy habit of journaling that I have. I am able to actually read what I wrote on that day and I wanted to share it here on my blog. :)

October 26th 2000 Thursday

We went to the church revival tonight. I'm so glad we did. I'm going tomorrow night and Saturday too. I really believe I'm saved. I was really unsure after the sermon tonight. I was confused because I didn't go up last time to pray to God. I went because Brenda went. I do believe that God made it happen that way. He made it easy when Brenda went up there so it wouldn't be so hard for me to go for myself. I've been saved and I'm a child of God and I'm going to Heaven. I just need to spread the word of God and help people who are lost to see what I've seen and realize this is the true and only way to Heaven. I'm really scared now because I know the devil is going to be working against me and try to drag me back down. There's going to be so many hardships and temptations I'm going to pray more so I can be true to God and be a true Christian. God is with me. He is on my side and knowing that I truly believe I can make it!

I was saved listening to Reg Kelly preach this sermon on the Hell of Hells.

This is such a blessing to read. I was born again that night. I knew I was a child of the Living God and that He saved me. Praise the Lord I have grown so much and learned so much. I've made many mistakes and fallen many times but I look forward to many more years of growing in grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory! Both now and forever Amen!

Genesis 3:1 thru 3:8 – Week 6 | Contend For Your Faith

Genesis 3:1 thru 3:8 – Week 6 | Contend For Your Faith

Not knowing is no excuse...

Proverbs 24:12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

When I was in middle school I lived in Las Vegas Nevada. One year we moved three or four times and each time you move you get to go to a different school... I remember at each school they would hand out the "school handbook." I would be admonished each time to read it because, "If you break the rules not knowing the rules isn't an excuse." This is something I tell people I encounter when it comes to reading God's Word. We have the Bible and not knowing what it says doesn't excuse us in the end.

Luke 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

There are places in this world that don't have the privilege of owning a Bible, yet I have at least ten in my own home. I've been given MUCH and I believe more is required of me because of this great blessing. Not knowing God's Word is not an excuse.

The Power of Prayer...

The power of prayer never ceases to amaze me... So often I feel so insignificant... like the problems of my loved one's and the world are just too big... I think... "What can I do? What can I do?" Always there is end though, "All I can do is pray." But why can't I get it through my head that prayer is not the end result when there is nothing else I can think of to do. Prayer should be my first option in all things.

In my last blog post I wrote about my obsessive journal keeping habits. Well this habit is a constant source of comfort for me. I like to read back and I'm always seeing God's handiwork in life around me. Last night I talked to my husband who is away this week for work, and I learned he had the privilege to have dinner with the owners of the company he works for. The night before in my prayer journal I had taken time to pray for him. I pray for Chris often but this felt special because I remember the thoughts as I was writing this prayer and I know that God was sending Chris special grace. I just thought this was so cool to hear Chris tell me about his dinner and know that God had already answered my prayer from the night before.

As I look around and see families in need and so many souls suffering I know I don't have to feel helpless because I don't have enough time, energy and money to help them all. I have the power of prayer and the true living God who works all things together for good who I can turn to for help.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

Journal Writing....

I am ever so thankful for my crazy journal keeping habit. I currently keep a personal journal that I write in almost every night. I also keep a prayer journal, prayer request journal, bible study journal and a journal for each of my kids and my husband. Yea yea I know... that's why I called it a "crazy" habit.

Keeping a journal is a very useful tool in looking back at the past and learning life lessons. I asked my husband Chris the other night, "do ya wanna know what you were doing a year ago today?" Of course he said yes and I proceeded to read more than just one entry. I even dug out the really early years when all I ever wrote about was how mad he made me. I love those one's because it makes me really appreciate my family now. I was on the verge of giving up right at the beginning. I would have missed out on so many blessings... I'm very thankful God gave me wisdom to become a better wife and mother. It's a wonderful thing to be able to look back at these times in my life and know that I made it through and I'm doing better. I give all the credit to God, without the wisdom of scripture and help from other faithful Christians I wouldn't be where I am today. I'm sure in five years I will take another look back and say "oh wow I've really learned so much since then."

Blessed By Fashion Sense!

Anyone who knows my 10 year old daughter will testify that she has a "unique" sense of fashion. Many times I have cringed as she presented herself "ready for church" or other events. Sometimes I let it slide but there are times I just have to make her change... Candy striped toe socks, flip flops, and orange skirt and a blue shirt... These are the atrocities I try to make Emily notice, but things like that really don't bother her. She really just likes to wear all her favorite things at once. She is also a fan of all things comfortable. She would live in sweat pants, stretchy pants etc... if I'd allow it. It's now a standing rule at our house that when I say to get dressed because we're leaving the house, there are no sweat pants allowed!

If you really know Emily you will also know that she is my biggest helper. I was very blessed to have a daughter as my first born. Especially since the next three are crazy little boys! Emily is know as "Memy" by her littlest brother Taylor. He sometimes even prefers her over his Mamma when things aren't going his way. Emily spoils him rotten! One thing Emily does super well is when things are hectic and busy during getting ready to leave the house, she will always help by getting Taylor ready to go. Today was no exception. When Taylor came into the bathroom to get his hair combed I took one look at him and was just overwhelmed with thankfulness. You might think I'm crazy but everything about what he was wearing shouted "MY SISTER LOVES ME." So as I'm typing and holding back the boohoo's I just have to smile and brag on my sweet Emily. It's funny how something so silly as what my son is wearing brought a huge blessing to my day.

Notice the too small tucked in dress shirt paired with sweat pants and snow boots...

Taylor removed his snow boots to reveal his colorful, totally Emily, mismatched socks...

Everything about this picture says to me.... "My sissy loves me!"