Strawberry lemonade

My Dad made this last summer and I was immediately hooked.  Here's the recipe:

6 cups hulled strawberries. (I made my juice the same day I made my jam and accidentally used 6 cups pureed berries.  I now have strawberry juice with a hint of lemon.  Good but not what I was going for...)
4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice or 16 lemons.  If you have a juicer the best thing to do is throw the lemon in peel and all.
6 cups sugar

Heat to 190 degrees to kill off the bacteria.  Do not boil or you'll have yourself some jelly.

Mix 1 part lemonade concentrate with 1 part Ginger ale, Sprite, bubbly water or just plan old tap water.

Sit back and enjoy Recipe yeilds about 3 quarts.

Strawberry sorbet

Since my boys can't have milk I decided to try my hand at making my own sorbet.  It went well and is incredibly simple.

First disolve 1/2 cup water with sugar to taste.  I used about 1/2 cup.

Add a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Add in three cups of blended berries.  Taste to make sure you have the sweetness you want.  Remember that frozen berries become tart, so over sugaring just slightly will be perfect when frozen.

Put into freezer cups and freeze.  The recipe makes four cups.

It's delicious

That's what Man of the woods has named this treat. 

Take the foam that will be a substitute for a strawberry mousse and set aside.

Next melt some chocolate and break graham crackers into halves or fourths depending on how big you want the serving to be. Have the littles dip the crackers in chocolate and begin to make boxes with the chocolate as the glue to hold everything together.  If you use quarters then it will be a two sided box.

Once the chocolate has set.  scoop in the foam left over from the jam.  Drizzle more chocolate (and white chocolate just for fun) over the top.  Refrigerate and enjoy.

The secret to amazing jam...

Fresh berries.

A side from that I use the recipe that comes in the pectin package.  And I have no particular favorites between the gel formed pectin or the powdered pectin.  I usually choose by what is the most inexpensive.

But do save the foam off the jam.  There is a super yummy dessert that boys had a blast helping with....

What to do with 15 quarts of strawberries?

I shall tell you all week long.  =)

See the flower shaped berry?

But before we get to that a short tale of how I came about 15 quarts.  I have a wonderful aunt that gifted five quarts to me.  The rest I wish came from her fields, but alas I just couldn't make the three hour drive there and three hours back.  So I settled for the next best thing.  Grandpa B and my Man of the woods.

When I was the size Man of the woods is now.  My Dad took me strawberry picking for the first time.  I loved it.  Every year it was definitely one of my highlights.  Since they day I found out I was expecting my first boy, I began dreaming of berry picking with him.  So this year I got my wish.



The only proof Man of the woods came along.

Oh wait there's this one too.

In my minds eye the three of us would go and have a quiet restful time of berry picking.  Man of the woods would have a strawberry covered face, but be totally into picking for hours.  Ha!  he picked about twelve berries and then was ready to call it quits.  So we made him the official photographer, worm digger, and car watcher.  All in all it didn't take us very long to meet our quota.  And even though he asked about every five minutes if we could leave now as soon as we were in the car he said he can't wait to do it again next year!

What shall you do with all those berries? First things first I gave one quart away to dear friends.  Then I got to cooking.  I LOVE the smell of cooking berries.  More on that later.

Yummy recipes coming right up!

#s ??- #s??
~ cloudy days for berry picking
~ Grandpa to come all the way up just to pick berries with me.
~ Juicy berries.
~ Walking with Man of the woods for more flats.
~ flower shaped berry.
~ Man of the woods taking photos of Grandpa B's car so that he may never forget what it looks like.
~ A patient Grandpa.
~ Man of the woods looking forward to next year.
~ Laughter handling the fact that he's too little extremely well.

Berry season has begun!

Oh yes it is that time of year.  The time where my hands are perpetually stained with berry juice.  The boys only eat fresh berries, and this Momma begins the canning process.

These five quarts were a preseason gift from my Aunts fields.  Anybody from the the Oxford area I have tried all the fields in the area and these are the best, even compared to the places up here, her berries are hands down the are the best.  Check out the FB page for Fairwind Farms here.

#2426-2433-A gift of love; fresh picked berries.-Smell of cooking jam.-Watching the steam rise from a dusted off pressure cooker.-Sweet sound of jars sealing.-Dreaming of fresh bread & homemade jam.-Berry stained hands.-Smoothies with dinner.-Melt in your mouth berries throughout the day; a little piece of heaven with each bite.

Homemade doughnuts, EFA 2.14

Words cannot describe the simple joys.

2303.  Bread machines to do the dirty work.
2304.  Warm doughnuts on a rainy day.
2305.  Chocolate faces.
2306.  A collective "mmmmm, that's good."
2307.  Two awesome taste testers.

Expectations of Motherhood.

A friend stopped by today, swung in with a gift of chicken soup.  A preson I think of often, she has walked this road of motherhood slightly longer then I.  A person that lives only on Kingdom work and she too has a first born son.  I've watched her battle with the "christian trend" and what kind of Motherhood is right.  Something in the past month I've really had to focus on.  My ideas, expectations of what a godly mother looks like.

I've heard it said that at this small age my boys only need me and Strong man.  I've heard it said that those who send there kids to school are sending there lambs to be eaten by wolves.  I've heard it said that those who can't eat, sleep and breath in there children don't know how to be good mothers.

My son closer to four is asking about electrons and is learning about those planets made up of gas.  At two he was showing the Doctor where the screws went in the table and explaining what tools were used to put it together.  Just six months later when we went to the animal farm were he was more interested in how the engine of the tracter worked then feeding the goats, never satisfied with my simple answers...Little brother, he's a different story, he doesn't care about the how's and why's, he just plows through life with every cell in his body laughing as he goes.  The smallest of gifts or thoughful acts are taken in with so much joy you have to stop and wonder if he really might explode.  For him it's the simple things..Night and day these two are. 

I'm quickly finding that to inspire and grow one while trying to keep the other from jumping through the window is almost impossible for me alone.  I'm finding that I'm grateful to be alone when 1 o'clock comes.  I'm finding that preschool with these two boys is a task that might be a tad bit too big for me to do alone.

Ah but what does scripture say about this assignment called motherhood.  The goals are clear: teach them to be respectful (Philippians 2:3), responsible (Romans 14:12), and obedient (Ephesians 6:1).  Teach them to love the True God with all that they are (Deuteronomy 6:5)...The method to do this?  Simply by living an intentional life (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). What that looks like?  Well now that's all up to Strong man and I.

Tea time

As I was making a cup of tea for myself when the littles decided today was a good day to try some.

Let me tell you about this girl, Miss Artist, the same age as Man of the woods.  These two get along splendid.  Some days she comes to play dressed as a princess but quickly finds the armor and swords.  She fits into this family well.

We all enjoyed our time together.  A new experience for the boys.

Man of the woods pointed out the "blood" on the table.  Even a tea party can't take the boy out of them...=)

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children of ones youth.

~ Psalm 127:4

1140.  A simple cup of tea turned into a party.

1141.  Miss Artist the perfect little girl playmate for the boys.

1142.  Little boy hearts and perspective.

Epic fail, but good times

On days that we're all kind of under the weather and Daddy has to work a 12 hour day the thought of laying low and making some yummy applesauce sounded great.

So we cut up some apples,

 

nibbled on MANY,

 and started the apples cooking.

Then sunggled down to read some of these classics.

In fact we got so into our much loved books that I forgot about the cooking apples.

So they poured it out for the men to eat.  And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, "O man of God, there is death in the pot."  And they were unable to eat.

~ 2 Kings 4:40

1100.  Working in the kitchen with my small men.

1101.  Munching on apples.

1102.  Childrens books.

1103.  Snuggles with my boys.

1104.  Epic fails that were worth the quality time with my boys.

The most amazing tomato sauce ever....

...At least that's the goal.

Here's how it's made:

First you grab the biggest pot you have and hope its big enough as you're filling it with tomato halves.  I have a food mill so skins, cores, and seeds all get chucked in.

Next go to the fridge, open the door, and see what it is you have for fresh veggies.  In this case I used 7 plus garlic cloves, 2 onions, 1 1/2 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, and a bunch of carrots.

Throw some excitement in by having your toddler use his bulldozer to push your chunked veggies on the floor.  Pick up, rinse off and throw them into the chopper as quickly as you can.  The goal is NOT to repeat this step.

Use a bit of team work to chop all the veggies up. 

Take the blades with you when you dump the veggies into the now overflowing pot. By doing this you are avoiding the ER visit you would have needed had you left the blades with two boys.

Simmer the rest of the day.  Stirring often unless you want those who eat your sauce to think you not only made this from scratch but you did it over a campfire.  The clean up is also easier if you avoid the campfire taste (Believe me, I know from experience).

Since you have now been on your feet all day, after supper make an exception to the rule of sitting on the table, and put your sauce through the food mill.  Cranking the food mill can become tedious so invite the toddler to help.  The possibilities of what could happen are endless!

Take some pain relievers for those aching feet and go to bed.

In the morning start boiling the sauce down. 

As the sauce begins to warm add some sugar.  Whatever you think is good.  In my world it's all about what tastes good.

Open the spice cabinet give a dash of something here and pinch of something there.  A small handful of things every now and then are fine too.  For spices I used salt, pepper, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, thyme, chives, parsley, and paprika.  I also threw in some tomato paste to help thicken it.  (If you plan to can this sauce DO NOT use sage as it can turn your sauce bitter-Once again I know from experience.)

Simmer until the thickness pleases you.  Can, freeze, or use immediately.

The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us.

~ Psalm 67:6

1058.  Little hands helping in the kitchen.
1059.  Smell of home made sauces.
1060.  Cloudy fall days.
1061.  Little boys under feet.
1062.  Being able to watch the kidlets play while I work in the kitchen.
1063.  A Dad to call when I have cooking questions.
1064.  Strong man helping.
1065.  Being able to work with the produce of the land.
1066.  The feeling of accomplishment.
1067.  Jar lids "popping".

Settled

Welcome to my  new home. Only been here a few weeks but feel as if this has always been home.

 

This is what you see as you walk through the door into our living room. I love working in my new kitchen and have already canned many things here, but more on that in another post.

We have always wanted an open feel to our home and here we've got it.  You can't see it here in this photo, but to the right is a hallway leading to our bedrooms and bathroom.

The boys bedroom came out fantastic.  It begs for your smile when you walk in.  I was slightly worried since we tried to incorperate the favorite colors of both boys.  Man of the woods loving green and Laughter enjoying orange.

It worked well.  This is a very inviting little boys room that will grow with them I think, having enough space for them to play in there room rather then dragging everything out into the livingroom.

My favorite room; our bedroom.  Here the back of our apartment where toys are not allowed.  A place where I can feel like a classy adult as oppossed to the Mommy of toddlers (I love being both).

This hand made table cloth is the center piece of this room (excuse the cat ear).  It brings "home" to me here in the states.  Thank you my Romanian sister for the beautiful gift!

Everyday as I spend time in my home I am reminded of Psalm 67:7.  "God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth my fear Him."  Every gift I am given is to be held with an open hand so I can take this gift of mine and share it with somebody else.


971.  Friends on the hill building a home for my family.
972.  A unique love that only god gives.
973.  Children blending.

 

974. Community.
975. Prayer.

976. Holy Spirit.
978. Packing alone.
979. Neighbor sister sharing dinner with us.

980. Man of the woods thinking my banana bread is the best.
981. Cleaning with just God.

982. Lunch alone with my handy Mom.
983. Iced coffee.

984. Friends and family to watch the boys during these busy days.
985. Two Dads that gave there time and wisdom for me and mine.

986. Spacious new apartment more like a house.

987. Grammy to love the boys even though they were grumpy.

988. Friends to help move.

989. An ache free new bed.

990. Friend on the hill that's good to me even when I tell him water flooded two bathrooms.

991. Barn animals.

992. Fresh eggs.

993. Two well adjusted kitties.

 

997.  Boys that love there new home so much they don't want to leave.