We had a super productive weekend!!!  We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned this house!!  Whew did it need it!

And I made applesauce and salsa.

And a lady called and asked if I wanted some peaches.  Well, of course I wanted some peaches!  I told her I’d take whatever she wanted to give me.  (She wouldn’t let me pay her either!)  Boy oh boy did she give us some peaches. 

This was only half of them! 

Sunday, August 31
Oatmeal with apples and cinnamon
Roast, gravy, corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, fruit

Monday, September 1
Whole wheat waffles with peach syrup (I’m going to experiment to make this!)
Beef and cheese burritoes, cantaloupe
Cookout with some friends!

Tuesday, September 2
Scrambled eggs, homemade turkey sausage
Grilled cheese sandwiches, cherry tomatoes, strawberry-peach slushies
Shepherd’s pie, salad

Wednesday, September 3 - Thursday, September 4
We’re going on a quick fun family trip!!  I can’t wait to tell you about it on Gratituesday!!

Friday, September 5
Fruit-kefir smoothies, granola
Homemade pizza
Cheesy beef and rice, steamed carrots

Saturday, September 6
Giant breakfast cookies
Hamburgers (on homemade buns), onion rings
Lamb chops, baked potatoes, green beans

This week I’ll post about freezing and canning all those peaches.  (If I ever finish freezing and canning all those peaches!)  And I’ll show you how to make applesauce!

With all this fruit in my kitchen…you can just imagine the party all the little fruit gnats are having!  Anybody have a solution for those pesky little critters?  (Aside from “hurry up and get your fruit canned and frozen”?!)

Find many other menu ideas at Organizing Junkie!

Just so you know…even though we all know junk food is terrible for you (and I go on and on about how and why to eat real food)…there are still some things that I love and indulge in every once in a while.  Like Nacho Cheese Doritos…and Hot Tamales…and Whoppers.

They’re horrible…and I know that…and I don’t eat them much because I know better.  But sometimes I just want something naughty.  Because I do.  And I wish I didn’t, but I do.  Hmph.

So, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite naughty foods are. 

And then let’s everybody go eat a carrot.

Here’s the promised graham cracker recipe!  These crackers are crunchy-crispy…and taste SO GOOD!  Oh, I hope you love them like we do!

Okay, and if you love the Honey Graham Cracker recipe, you’ll LOVE the fact that you can also make CHOCOLATE Graham Crackers!!!  Just add 1/3 cup cocoa to the recipe.  YUM!!!!

Whole Wheat Honey Graham Crackers 

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice)
1 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ t. cinnamon
4 T. honey
¼ c. water
1 t. vanilla
1 stick butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Melt stick of butter in a pan on the stove.  Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 
4. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla and melted butter.
5. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed. 
6. Cut two pieces of Parchment paper the size of the cookie sheet.
7. Lay one piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
8. Place the ball of dough on the parchment paper.
9. Lay the other piece of parchment paper on top of the ball of dough.  Squish dough down a little with your fist.
10. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough between the pieces of parchment paper.  Roll until the dough covers the whole cookie sheet.

Malachi is finishing up the rolling for Mama!

11. Remove the top piece of parchment paper.  Cut rolled dough into 2 inch squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters, being sure to separate the shapes from the surrounding dough a little.

Here’s a shot of the chocolate graham crackers
cut into squares and ready to bake.

Malachi is using little cookie cutters to make “animal crackers”!

12. Bake in oven for 18 minutes.
13. Turn oven off, but leave crackers in the oven to get crisp.
14. Remove from oven after 30 minutes to one hour.  Break graham crackers apart.
15. Store in a air tight container.

Here’s a plate of the Chocolate Graham Crackers. 
(Got milk?)

My kids get SO EXCITED when I make these!  They are a GREAT snack to have on hand!  Try them and see what you think! 
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Visit Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday tips.

I recently received these questions about our Shaved Ice Business from Julie…

Does someone work for you?   What are the hours?  Since you use all natural real foods, what kind of flavorings do you use for your business?  What does your establishment look like?  How much does a shaved ice cost?  ….the list goes on and on…  I’d love it if you’d do a blog sometime (with pictures included) that tells about your business now that it’s up and running. 

Here are my answers (finally):

1.  Yes, we’ve hired three different teenagers to work for us so that Matt can continue to work his regular job.  Also, Asa works there sometimes and does a great job.

2.  At the beginning of the summer our hours were 11 am to 9 pm every day except Sunday.  (Oh, and except for Wed, when we’d close down early for church…and Thurs when we’d close down early to take the shaved ice machine to the Farmer’s Market.)    Now that school has started, we’re only open after school from 3:30-6pm.

3.  We have both 100% fruit juice for our shaved ice flavors and also sugar filled, dye your tongue a weird color flavors too.  We’ve been so glad to be able to offer our customers a healthier option if they want it.  Our 100% juice choices are:  orange, pineapple, grape, cranberry and apple raspberry.  Other choices are strawberry, cherry, lime, blue raspberry, pink lemonade, and bahama mama.  (I probably forgot a few in there somewhere.)  Many people like to have a combination of flavors.  (My favorite is the pineapple/orange mixed.  Or the cranberry/grape mix…can’t decide!)

4.  We purchased a concession trailer and re-did the sinks to make everything up to code.  (Of course I mean that Matt re-did the sinks….I just washed the new sinks afterward.)  Our set up is nothing fancy, but it works just fine.

5.  We sell a small shaved ice for $1.50 and a large for $2.50. 

Overall we’ve been pretty pleased with our new little business venture this summer.  We haven’t had as much business as we were expecting/hoping for…but remember all that road construction I talked about?  That kinda messed us up a bit.   But, it’s been a great experience and we’ve learned a TON about food service. 

Now, everyone come on over and have a shaved ice!

When you’re trying to eat a healthy diet…figuring out exciting lunches can be a challenge.  And…if you are trying to pack a healthy lunch to take to school or work…it can be even more of a challenge.

You’ll find quite a few great lunch ideas over at Nourishing Gourmet today…and here’s the idea I’d like to share. 

This yummy Black Bean Salsa is delicious, good for you, and super easy to put together.  Pack it up “to go” with some blue corn chips, some fruit and a Peanut Butter Honey Bar, and you’ve got a great lunch that’s easy to take anywhere.

Black Bean Salsa

1 cup dried black beans
5 tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 cup frozen corn, steamed and cooled
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Soak beans in water overnight.  Drain and cover with fresh water in saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes.  Drain.

In large bowl, mix together beans, tomatoes, onion, corn and cilantro.  Stir together.  Store in refrigerator.  Serve with corn chips or baked tortilla chips.

Make this salsa even easier by using canned black beans and canned corn…then all you have to do is quickly throw all the ingredients into a bowl and stir!

Mmmmm…I LOVE this stuff!
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More Works for me Wednesday here!

During the six years we’ve lived in this house, we’ve had this ever growing pile of brush and sticks accumulate in our back yard.  It’s ugly, a nuisance, and it keeps growing. 

Yesterday, Matt was finally able to borrow a Chipper from a friend.  We were so excited to bring it over and work on making our big brush pile shrink!  Bring on the CHIPPER!!

Matt said it’s actually pretty fun to use…which is a good thing since we have such a big pile of fun waiting to go through the chipper. 

And when he’s done…we’ll have a big pile of mulch…which means he’s turning a big, ugly, nuisance pile of brush into something helpful and useful.

I was watching the ugly sticks turn into a nice pile of mulch (by this really loud machine that just obliterates those sticks like nobody’s business) and it got me to thinking…

I have some areas of hurt and bitterness in my heart that are ugly and can keep on growing into a bigger and bigger “pile of brush” if I continue to let it.  I want to just run all that hurt and bitterness through a big chipper.  I want to just stick it in there and let it be torn to shreds so that my heart can be whole again.  Because if I don’t…the pile will just continue to grow and become uglier.

And then I want the “mulch” that is kicked out of the chipper to become something useful and helpful.  Something with a purpose. 

God promises that I can do that.  He can help turn my hurt into forgiveness and my bitterness into peace.  And for that, I am grateful.

Bring on the chipper.
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Join us for Gratituesday!  Read the details here…and come link up with us!

I just finished having a most wonderful visit with a friend of mine who stopped by unannounced. 

She needed to drop something off for me, and she was ready to say a quick hello and then be on her way…but I’ve wanted more time with her lately, so I made the quick decision to invite her in to have lunch with us. 

Immediately after the words, “Come in and have lunch with us!” came out of my mouth…my head began to spin with all of the reasons I might not should have just hastily asked her into my home.  Things like:

*We were almost finished eating, and like usual, there wasn’t much food left!
*School had erupted all over our living room floor in the form of books and pencils and notebooks…and all of Malachi’s toys from the morning.
*I was in the process of making tomato sauce, and all of the dirty dishes from that…plus our breakfast and lunch dishes were ALL OVER the kitchen. 
*Dirty tomato sauce towels were hanging out in various places on the kitchen counters and floor.
*Fruit gnats were having a party in my bowl of tomato compost.  They invited the whole neighborhood of gnats to join them.  And…
*For Pete’s sake…what if my guest needs to use the restroom?  I’ve gone way too long without cleaning it (anything longer than two days without cleaning the bathroom when you have four little boys is too long).

It’s amazing what thoughts can go through your mind in the matter of 30 seconds isn’t it?

And yet, I resisted the huge urge I had to apologize for my messes.  We’d been working hard all day with school and tomato sauce.  I did not need to apologize for doing life. 

And my friend didn’t see messes.  She saw school.  She saw tomato sauce.  She saw lunch.  She saw our life. 

And so…in the next 30 seconds that it took for me to come to grips with that…I relaxed and forgot about the messes and sat down with my friend for lunch.  And for two hours we enjoyed one another and shared our lives. 

And that…is what true hospitality is all about.

More Kitchen Tip Tuesdays here.

Would you believe…I actually think we have a fairly easy-going week this week?  I can’t think of anything extra we have going on that would effect the way I plan my meals.  When does this ever happen?

Huh.  I don’t know what to do with myself.  Could it be that we’ll actually have some evenings free to get extra work done in our yard?  How about that?

Here’s the menu!

Sunday, August 24
Zucchini bread
Tuna casserole, peas
Potluck Picnic - Sandwiches, flourless peanut butter cookies

Monday, August 25
Whole wheat pancakes
Black bean salsa* with blue corn chips, watermelon
Deer steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies

Tuesday, August 26
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Summer veggies and fruits, whole wheat soft pretzels
Chicken tostadas, fresh tomatoes

Wednesday, August 27
Honey wheat muffins, pears
Meatballs, corn on the cob, green beans
Cream pasta with tomatoes, fried okra

Thursday, August 28
Granola, smoothies
Chicken salad, cucumber salad (cucumbers, mayo, vinegar, salt), carrot stix
Spaghetti, zucchini

Friday, August 29
Peanut butter honey toast, apples
Homemade pizza, peaches
Spaghetti squash with chicken cream sauce

Saturday, August 30
Breakfast cookies
Cheeseburger macaroni, peas
Steak, baked potatoes, corn on the cob

On the blogging menu for this week…I’ll share the recipe for my homemade graham crackers which I promised!  You are SO gonna love ‘em!  And I’ll share how I make my *black bean salsa!  And… don’t forget Gratituesday!

Check out more Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie!  (Be sure to check out the giveaway of one of my ebooks while you’re there!)

Here’s what I’ve been thinking. 

You know that we’re beginning to get busy with soccer season.  You know that I’ve been gardening and freezing and canning fruits and veggies.  You know that I have a new baby nephew.  You know that we started school and that we’re off to a good start.

Now I want to know a bit more about what YOU’VE been doing lately.  Leave a comment and tell me something like:

“Laura…I recently just bought a new pair of tennis shoes.  They are blue and gray.  We took a short trip to a nearby theme park last week and my son threw up in the back seat of our mini van on the way home.  This Wednesday, I baked an upside down blueberry angel food cake and it’s super tasty.  Tomorrow we’re headed to my in-law’s house for a birthday celebration.  I think I’ll wear my new tennis shoes.”

See, because if you’ve been hanging out here for a while, I like knowing what’s been going on with you lately.  And if you’re fairly new to this site, I like getting to know you better. 

So, share!  Share!  Whatever interesting (or mundane) information about your life that you’d like.  I’d love to hear about it!  (In fact, we’d all like to hear about it, right?)

After all this talk about how you should eat real food and stay away from not-real food…many of you are asking WHERE I get all of my real food and how I find it to be affordable.  I decided my Frugal Friday post for this week would offer some suggestions about great real food sources!

Now of course, I only live in one place.  So, I don’t know all of the real food sources you might have in your community, and every community offers different things.  I’ll just tell you what I do…and hopefully it will at least give you some ideas!

1.  I grow as much produce as I can and preserve it for the winter.  (Check out this post about putting up corn and this post for putting up green beans…then stay tuned for more posts about putting up more produce.  It IS that time of year when I always have a very achy back from freezing and canning foods for hours.  Ah, but I love it!)

2.  There are many things that I can’t grow myself that others around me are growing…and they are happy for me to take their extra produce off of their hands.  So might I suggest to you:  Mooching is a great way to gain access to awesome, often organic produce. MOOCH as much as you can.  Woohoo for mooching.   (P.S.  Is that the right way to spell mooch?) 

3.  What I can’t grow or mooch…I try to find at our local Farmer’s Market.  Often if I buy in bulk from some of the venders, they offer me a discount.  LOCAL PRODUCE IS THE BEST!!  Supporting local farmers is a great thing to do!  Go load up at your Farmer’s Market!!

Okay….that was mostly all about produce.  Now, on to my resources for other real foods:

4.  Health Food Coops.  There are several out there.  My favorite by far is Azure Standard.  If you’ve hung out here much you’ve heard me talk about them over and over.  They don’t service every U.S. state, but they are expanding all the time.  They have great customer service and great prices on great foods.  They even have organic produce for VERY reasonable prices.  Go to their website and check them out.  Give them a call and see if there’s a coop near you.  If not…talk to them about starting one.  That’s what I did.    They make things very simple.  I love Azure Standard!  (Really, they should be paying me to say all these things…)

Here’s a picture of my Azure Standard order this month. 
Check out that gallon jar of raw honey!!

I also am a part of a Frontier Coop, which my friend organizes.  I order a few times a year from them, mostly spices, vanilla, shampoo and dishwashing stuff.  (Soon I’ll post more about the soaps and cleaners we use and where I get them all.)

5.  Local Farmers.  Oh how I love them.  These people work HARD so that I can have fresh free range eggs and chickens, grass fed organic raw milk, grass fed organic hormone free beef and lamb…all for very reasonable prices.  I found most of these farmers pretty much by just asking around.  But, there’s a great website called Local Harvest which may help you find what local farmers in your area have to offer.  Even if the farmers you find through their site don’t have exactly what you’re looking for, they might be a good resource to finding other farmers. 

6.  Local grocery stores.  I don’t have any cool stores like Whole Foods within 90 miles of me (bummer)…but I do find a few organic foods I need at our regular grocery stores and of course at Walmart.  And, a couple of years ago I called one of our grocery stores and talked to the produce guy who happily ordered cases of organic produce for me.  He even gave the produce to me for a price less than what he would have charged if he would have shelved the items for normal sale.  My friends and I then divided up the cases and ordered as often as we needed to.   It never hurts to ask!

Okay, that pretty much sums up my sources for the food we eat.  Here’s a link to a post about our food budget and break down of what we spent where.

Anybody else have a great suggestion about resources for real food?!