Free Bread DVD

I meant to share something with you on the bread post.  If you are even remotely interested in milling your own flour to bake bread, you can order for free a great DVD from Bread Beckers about the nutritional benefits of milling your own flour and about what the Bible says about wheat and bread.  It's fascinating.  The link is here.

Homemade Granola Bars

 Have any of you noticed that packaged granola bars are getting smaller?  Not to mention, less healthy?  I have been making homemade granola bars for years.  They are easy to make.  A 9x13 makes more than a box of granola bars.  They are filling and they are healthy.  And the Fish Sticks love them.  So do their friends because folks ask me all the time for the recipe.

I have tried many, many recipes for homemade granola bars over the years.  Some ultra healthy, some not so healthy and some that tasted like cardboard.  My tried and true recipe is the one my mom made for us all the time growing up.  It's kind of a 2 step recipe but easy to make.

First you make a batch of the Granola Mix:  (I mix mine up in a gallon Ziploc bag.)

4 c. rolled oats

1 c. coconut

3/4 c. wheat germ (I substitute whatever I have on hand like ground flax seed, oat bran, etc.)

3/4 c. almonds

2/3 c. brown sugar (can substitute sucanat if you prefer)

optional 1/2 c. dry milk

Granola Bars

5 1/2 cup granola mix (above)

1/2 c. brown sugar/sucanat

1/2 c. honey

1/2 tsp. almond OR vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

12 Tb melted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

optional 1/2 c. peanut butter

optional 1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips

Mix honey, extract, salt and butter (and peanut butter if you like).  Add to mix, sugar and granola mix in large bowl and mix well until dry ingredients are coated.  Press into greased 9x13 pan and bake for 15-20 minutes on 350.  Before cooled, you can sprinkle chocolate chips over top and spread when melted to form a coat or just leave them as is.  I have also tried mixing the chocolate chips in the bars and that is good too.  Makes 18 bars.  Wrap individually or serve from pan.  If they are crumbly, put in fridge.

Going Healthier

For years I read about the benefits of baking your own bread and milling your own flour.  I learned how to make bread in 2000 while living in Asia.  I decided one day to follow my Betty Crocker cookbook and try out some bread recipes. I found that I liked it and it wasn't too hard.  That was the days before my Kitchen Aid so I got a good arm-workout from hand kneading.  I tried basic bread, dinner rolls, biscuits, french bread, cinnamon rolls and even bagels.

Milling my own flour kind of scared me.  It seemed a huge step to take and so I put it off for years, all the while reading about the wonderful health benefits of freshly milled flour.

While pregnant with number 6, I tried to eat especially healthy to prepare for my first home birth.  I found a friend through my raw milk co-op who baked freshly milled bread for me.  I expected to gag the dry stuff down for the health of it.  Boy, was I shocked when I tasted it.  Honestly, the first warm loaf did not make it home.  We scarfed it down together in the car.  It was delicious!

About a  year later, I asked my friend to teach me how to make bread and mill my own flour.  I got a mill and wheat grains for my birthday and she spent the day with me.

I have no clue what made me so scared to take the plunge because what I realized is that I already knew how to make homemade bread.  The difference was pouring grain into a mill, pushing a button and waiting for flour to come out!  It was that simple.  The bread was superior to what I had been making and the nutritional value couldn't even compare.

So we are hooked.  I make about 4 loaves every 2 weeks.  I sometimes make dinner rolls and homemade pretzels too.  My goal is to totally wean our family off of using white flour for baking and substitute with the good stuff.  We are not quite there yet.  Sometimes mixing water with pancake mix just sounds more simple to me in the mornings.  I'm not quite sure if my famous chocolate chip cookies will be as well loved if I make them whole wheat, but we are taking baby steps in the right direction.

Thinning the Peaches

 

I would not describe myself as a girl oozing with metaphors but I've got one for you today.

This past spring, life was hectic.  I don't like hectic.  I like peaceful.  I like staying at home.  I like lists.  I like schedules.  I like an open calendar.  It seemed that my calendar was filled with things and I was scrambling to get in our normal home school day.  Naps were skipped sometimes and usually resulted in miserable, irritable evenings (her and me!).

So onto the metaphor...

This is our peach tree in our fruit garden.  We planted it several years ago and it was just a stick with roots when we got it in the mail.  A few years later it was filled with delicious, juicy, sweet peaches which we enjoyed well into the winter from our freezer.

Then last year the peaches oozed with snotty-looking gross stuff and worms.  Some stinkin' varmits found a home in each flower bud and ruined each succulent fruit.  I was pretty mad.  Not a single peach to enjoy.

This year we decided to save the peaches and spray pesticide faithfully on our tree.

Do you see what we have now??  

But one painful part of this process is when the branches get too over-laiden with fruit, they will break if you don't pick off baby peaches and throw them away to lighten the load and make room for growth.  That's a hard thing to do, especially after last year of having to buy peaches.

But it made me think about my spring.  All the running around and things on my calendar were all good things.  Ways to serve others.  Involvement in our Christian school.  Going to field trips with my kids and attending their performances and chapels.  Working on paperwork for our adoption home study.  Reading books that my friends just authored.  All good stuff.  It just was that sometimes too much of that good stuff can make life crowded so that the things you do aren't as sweet because there's too much of it.  My attitude wasn't always one of service as I sought to serve others because it was crammed between a double header baseball game.  Had I thinned my commitments a little, it would have made for a sweeter Mama, a cleaner house, better meals, more energy for My Man and happier children.

Sometimes I just have to step back and remember my priorities as a homemaker.  

God.  My Man.  My Fish Sticks.  Then the rest.

I can make my home filled sufficiently with ripe, sweet, goodness by keeping my priorities and thinning out when things start to crowd the branches.

Not always easy to do, but much better than small, hard, bland peaches, don't you think?

Vanilla Update

Guess what?

My homemade vanilla extract is finally ready!!

It smells wonderful and looks so yummy.

Had to put some in a smoothie just for fun.

Can't wait to try it out in my famous chocolate chip cookies!

If anyone is game to try it out themselves, I have vanilla beans and will sell for $1 a bean.

You'll have to get your own vodka.  :)

Harris Teeter Run

Sorry I didn't take a picture to go with this post, but I put up the groceries before I thought of it. 

I ran to Harris Teeter to return a Redbox and grabbed a few sales while I was there.

They have General Mill cereals (some) for BIGI.  Normally they only accept 1 coupon with BIGI but my coupon was $1 off 2 so they accepted that.  The cereals came to $1.19 a box.  They also had their own name brand of cereal for 2 for $3.  The ones with more sugar seemed to come in the smaller boxes but when purchasing the larger boxes like cheerios, rice crispies, etc. it was a really good deal.

Triskets were BIG and came to $1.34 a box....My Man's favorite!

Kraft BBQ sauce was $1 and I had a coupon from 5/6 for $1 off 2 so it came to 50 cents a bottle.  I stocked up for the summer with 6 bottles.

Sargento Sliced Cheese was $2.29 a package and I had a 30 cent coupon from 5/20 that doubled so it was $1.69 each.  Great for grilling burgers!!  I got 3.

Mardi Gras napkins were $1.99 and a 55 cent off coupon that doubled from 3/18 made them only 89 cents each.  I got 3 of those also.

I got a few HT 2 liter sodas for a rare treat because they were 5 for $4.

Barila Pasta was $1 and I had a 75 cents off 2 coupon and got them for 25 cents each.  Six of them!

Needless to say, my "few" items made for an overflowing buggy.  A young mom said to her husband at checkout, "Look at her loaded buggy."  Little did she know that I only paid $56 and saved $61.  Anytime I save over 50%, I consider that a really good shopping experience.  Anyone else running into some good, summer deals?

Deals for the Week

Last week I took a week off of couponing.  Just had too much going on with the end of school wrap up.

Kroger had Aquafresh for $1.00 and there is a $1.00 off coupon in Red Plum 5/6 so I got 3 for FREE.

Faithful Provisions listed that Ball Park hot dogs were $1.25 and with a $1 off 2 coupon, they would be 75 cents each.  I was ready to stockpile on hot dogs but when I got to Kroger, I realized they were not on sale for $1.25.  :(

Since summer is upon us and we spend many hours on the water at the lake house, we go through lots of sunscreen.  I was fresh out and ready to rack up for the year (plus some).  Walgreens had BIGI on 2 brands (Banana Boat and Hawaiin Tropic) of sunscreen and matched with a coupon, I could get them for about $3 a bottle.  They had another deal with Coppertone.  The bottles were $9.79 each and if you bought 2, then you could get $10 back in Register Rewards.  I got a bit frustrated at my cashier because she scanned the Banana Boats extra instead of doing the Coppertones because she made the assumption they were the same price.  Not only were they NOT the same price (and she charged me an additional $5 for the mistake) but I didn't get the Register Reward.  Thankfully I caught the mistake before heading out the door.  She had to re-ring me and I saw I was technically charged $15 over!

The Ecotrin aspirin was $1.50 each and buy 2 and get $2 RR.  There is a $1.50 off coupon in 5/6 RP so I had a money maker of $2 getting those.

The Teenu Gel was $7 with a $7 RR and Youtheory Collagen was $7 with a $7 RR.  They were out of the Teenu Gel (which is a first aid cream) but I got the Collagen for FREE.

Colgate was $3.99 with a $3 RR and I had a 75 cent coupon so it cost 24 cents.

Skintimate was $2.99 with a $2 RR and I had a 55 cent coupon so it was 45 cents.