Cuttin' Up

Week of Silence - Week of Joy

2011-08-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

You haven't heard from me in over a week. Well there is a really good reason for that. Last Sunday evening, July 31st, I went to bed close to 11:30pm, and just as I was drifting off about midnight, I felt a large gush of water, which didn't take me long to realize that my water had broken. We were off to the hospital about 1am. I labored on my own for several hours without significant

Non-GMO Experiment - Ongoing

2011-07-29T14:16:00.001-05:00

This week's been very busy, but I'm still here. I've still been cooking and baking up a storm. I'm up to 11 dinners in the freezer and 12 breakfasts. I'm getting ready to make granola this afternoon and maybe some home made granola bars as well. So how have we done this week with cutting out our GMO's? I've continued to make almost everything from scratch, so overall we're doing well. We

Menu Plan Monday - "Wondering if I'll be here" Version

2011-07-24T20:40:00.001-05:00

As I'm sure most, if not all, of you know that I'm pregnant and ready to deliver any moment. As of today, I'm 37 weeks pregnant. While I'm not as ready as I probably could be, I am comfortable enough in what I've accomplished to this point that if I were to go into labor at any time, I wouldn't be disappointed. That being said, these plans are for if I don't go into labor any time during the

July's Financial Update

2011-07-13T15:32:00.000-05:00

Last month, when I had finished my post, we were hoping to pay off our lien on our house at the beginning of July. Amazingly, by the providence of God, we were able to pay off the last portion of the lien on our house! This is a wonderful blessing! We are now only one major bill (besides our house) away from being debt free! We owe about about $5,100 on a school loan from Steve's seminary.

Tuesday's Recipe - Non-GMO Baking Powder

2011-07-12T17:51:00.000-05:00

Some of you may not be aware that most baking powders contain GMO's. In my search to get rid of as many GMO's as possible, I began looking around for an alternative to regular Baking Powder. I found it here. It's so simple. - 1/4 C Baking Soda (I used Whole Foods 365 brand) - 1/2 C cream of tartar (I get this at the Amish Bulk Foods store for about $2.50 for 1/2 pound!) - 1/4 C arrow root

Menu Plan Monday - Getting ready for Baby Edition

2011-07-11T07:00:00.002-05:00

This week, my menu is focusing on meals which can be doubled or tripled in hopes of filling my freezer with meals for Nathan's anticipated arrival in 2-3 weeks. I also plan on doing my standard baking day on Tuesday to continue to fill my freezer with necessary items. Monday Breakfast -Homemade Granola - We're going to be taking my oldest son to the doctor as what started as allergies has

Non-GMO Experiment Week 5

2011-07-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

Well, even the best laid plans have hiccups in them from time to time. This week, while I have done better with staying away from GMO's (on the whole), I tried a new 'healthy food' called Kombucha. It's a fermented drink that's supposed to have health benefits of four different types of good bacteria. The bottle says to only consume one serving to see how you handle it (and it says nothing

Wednesday's Trip to Whole Foods

2011-07-07T11:57:00.000-05:00

I mentioned recently how I've been reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, so when I went to Whole Foods this week, kefir, yogurt, and apple cider vinegar were all on my list to buy. Why? I'm getting ready to learn how to soak my grains so as to break down the phytic acid in the grains. This acid will bind with calcium, magnesium and zinc in the digestion process to keep your body

Baking Day Results

2011-07-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, I worked on getting some things ready for Nathan's arrival. I got a LOT done, and while I was still standing at the end, I overdid it a bit. I spent my evening recovering with my feet up. I am thankful though, that I have a little something in the freezer for when Nathan comes. It's not much, but it's a start! Here's what was on the docket and what I actually got done. - 4 - 8

Baking Day Plans

2011-07-05T07:00:00.009-05:00

Tuesdays are my baking days. While I may have grandiose plans, which I'll enumerate below, I have to admit, my 'achiness and uncomfortable' factor in pregnancy has gone up exponentially in the last two weeks. I have much I want and need to do in preparation for Nathan's arrival, I do have to admit to myself that I am not superwoman and daily hour long naps are almost a necessity at this point.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-07-04T07:00:00.009-05:00

This week will be busy, but having a plan in place always helps. I have a podiatrist's appointment on Wednesday, a OB appointment on Thursday, morning long Bible study on Friday, and church on Sunday. All of which will necessitate crockpot meals for our main meal of the day. Fortunately in the past, I used my crockpot a lot so I have plenty of meals in that arsenal. MondayBreakfast –

Non-GMO Experiment - Week 4

2011-06-30T11:27:00.000-05:00

Wow, this has been a wild and crazy week! We started off the week without a functioning air conditioner. Since Tuesdays are usually my baking/extra cooking day and since we had no AC, I didn't bake or cook! What I did instead was continue to press through a book I found at my local library called Nourishing Traditions. I have heard about this book from various sources from blogs to

Planning for the Expected

2011-06-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

Sometimes the Lord throws you a curve ball when you were expecting a fast ball. We were reminded of this when this last week we found out that Steve's car was for all practical purposes 'dead'. Sometimes, however, God allows you a glimpse of what is about to come before you get there. This morning I almost had a panic moment. My due date for Nathan had been moved up about 12 weeks ago, and I

Non-GMO Experiment - Week 3

2011-06-24T14:56:00.001-05:00

This week has been every bit as busy as I anticipated and MORE. So what have I learned from this week? (1) I've learned that there is a time for convenience foods, but if I were to have cooked things ahead of time and frozen them, we would have had to use less convenience food than we did. I'm not sorry I handled things the way I did. I'm glad that I'm learning to plan for these hiccups and

Hard & Not-So-Hard Financial Decisions

2011-06-23T13:57:00.001-05:00

About two weeks ago, I wrote a post here with our Financial Update. I'm not sure it this is pride goeth before a fall, the post was not written with a haughty heart, but the Lord obviously still has much for us to learn. Within the past two weeks, we've found out that we may not be at Steve's 2nd job past the end of the year this year. $1200/month of income would be gone in an instant.

Crazy Week, Crazy Beginning

2011-06-20T23:02:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow and Wednesday, we're going to be attending the CHEF - Christian Home Educators Fellowship conference here in St. Charles, Missouri. We are so looking forward to it! It is going to have some amazing speakers and come wonderful topics! Jordan's so excited about it, she was still awake at 10pm tonight! That being said, Thursday, we pick my grandfather up from the airport. I also have

Non-GMO Experiment - Week 2

2011-06-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

This week has been crazy around the house and next week will be more so. I have made some accomplishments this week though. While Jordan (my oldest daughter) and I did not make crackers this week, we did find an awesome way to make tortillas! Once a week, I make scones from scratch for breakfast. This week, I started the tortillas. They are SO simple to make (yes, they take time). Once they

Reading List

2011-06-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

Several months ago, I came to the conviction that I should be reading my children's books before they read them for themselves. While this may not sound like anything huge, when you consider that we've bought or been given probably around 500 chapter books for my children, this is an intense undertaking for me to keep up with. I have made some progress. So far I've read Little House in the

Clarifying My Purpose

2011-06-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take a moment and clarify my purpose in this blog. Before I took my break in order to focus on my children's school, I posted any and every grocery deal from "the Big 3" in St. Louis. From here on out my focus is going to be sharing deals on healthy eating, regular toiletries, and regular paper supplies. By healthy eating, I will try to list deals for items which are organic and

Whole Foods Coupon Class

2011-06-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday, I had an opportunity to attend a coupon class at Whole Foods, put on by Jennifer Windler who blogs over at Healthy Life Deals. I've been couponing for about 3 years now. I could learn a whole new grocery store, it would be possible, but why should I try to go it on my own, if Jennifer was out there to help those of us who wanted to learn Whole Foods. The class cost me $10

Organic Produce

2011-06-13T14:37:00.000-05:00

I was going through the fliers that came out this week. Dierberg's has a few organic deals on fruits this week. Strawberries $3/1 lb. clamshell (Certified Organic) - $.50/1 printable = $2.50/lb. Certified Organic Blueberries $2.50/6oz tray. Earthbound Farms Baby Salads (Certified Organic) $2.50 Certified Organic Red Seedless Grapes $2.99/lb. Certified Organic Yellow Peaches or

Walgreens Diapers for $2.99

2011-06-12T21:47:00.000-05:00

I was going through the Walgreen's flier this week. You can find the majority of the deals at Money Saving Mom, but one thing I didn't find there is the Walgreens brand diapers for $2.99. The deal works this way. Buy as many Walgreens diapers @ $4.99 - $2 Walgreens baby coupon book (will take this off how ever many packages you buy) = $2.99 each! I will be picking up about 10 packages

Helps from a Friend

2011-06-10T16:25:00.000-05:00

Today, I wanted to share some information passed along to me by a friend of mine, Laura Green. She lived in Italy a few years back, and while she and her husband were there, they learned a lot about a more healthy way of eating. Here are her comments in regards to helps for learning to eat more whole, natural foods. If you are looking to cut out GMO's and eat a more natural, traditional diet

Whole Foods Trip

2011-06-09T17:32:00.000-05:00

Since we have decided that we want to cut most of the GMO's out of our diet, we are looking to substitute non-GMO comparable product. In our quest for this, we decided to go to Whole Foods for some real basics. Here is a picture of what I purchased. Care to ask how much this all cost? She told me the total. Since I wasn't adding everything up as I went along (as is my normal practice), my

Baking Day Finished/Continued

2011-06-08T16:48:00.001-05:00

Well, yesterday, I started my baking day. Here is a picture of the completed pudding pies. I just made the crusts, filled each one with pudding, chilled it, covered that with half a tub of whipped cream, and topped it with chopped chocolate chips. I also finished four loaves of bread, and a quadruple batch of granola. That granola will only last us one week! My husband loves it and will eat