I LOVE FALL!!

I love the fall!  I mean, I really LOVE it!  The coolness of it.  The art of it - all the beautiful colors!  The smell of it!  All of it!  I feel so much better inside and out in the cooler weather.  Although, praise the Lord, our summer was super mild!  I don't think we ever got into the 90's.  Whoo Hoo!

So, we are still trying to eat healthy, although I have not abstained from sugary desserts like I had intended.  I need to pray about getting control of this area.  However, I am doing much better than I have been doing.  Still trying to get the hang of the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating.  It isn't that hard, once you get the concepts of carbs, fats and how they interact with your body.

I have not been using my Wonder Washer that much either!  I need to go to my original plan of having the kids do their own laundry and then all I have left are my and my husband's clothes and towels.  It does work great, though.  Only 2 minutes for a large load and 30 seconds for the rinse!  WOW!

I am working on my ETSY shop a lot!  I have kinda slacked off a bit this summer, but our bank account is screaming - "Get back to work!".  I am expanding my line of roving quite a bit.  I'm also going to start on my first digital instructional video!  I am excited about that.  I'm going to do a basic spinning class, I think.  It would be a great gift combo with a spinning wheel!  We will see.  Ben, my now 9 year old, has agreed to film me.  We will see about that, too!  LOL.  I don't know if he will have a steady enough hand.  Anyway, I am grateful for his willingness.

I have completed 2 baby blankets this summer.  And, on the urging of my family and friends, I have added custom baby blankets/wall hangings to my shop.  I am not sure if this will work, but we will see!  I did enjoy creating each blanket a lot. 

 

I have discovered, through Stacy Makes Cents, a great meal planning site.  In the past, I would do a menu for the week, but I would forget where the recipes were - book or computer,;  which book;  which website?!  This site does away with that!  Your meal plan, recipes and shopping list are all in one spot!  And it is super easy to import recipes as you stumble across them on the internet.  Just one click!  The site is Plan To Eat.  Check it out!  There is a 30 day free trial, then it is just $4.99/month.  Well worth it, I think.

I am going to sign off and enjoy a cup of Creamy Pumpkin Pie tea before homeschool starts!  This is wonderful with cream and honey!  Yum!!  And the aroma is fantastic!  I highly recommend this organic blend by Shoshanna at the Bulk Herb Store!

TTFN (as Tigger would say - Ta Ta For Now)

Challenges

Ther are some challenges with going chemical/hormone free in your eating - namely cost and taste.  Yes, cost is what keeps a lot of families from going natural.  However, if you overcome cost, you are still left wanting in the area of taste-at least for a newbie.  I have 3 goals for my new c/h free lifestyle.  The first is to eat c/h free on a budget of $60.00 a week for a family of 4.  Secondly, I want to be able to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and snacks that my family will love.  Lastly, I want to share it all with my dear readers.  I want to eventually post menus with recipes and costs.  

For now, my success and failures in the past 2 days.  Homemade pineapple ice cream - UCK!  Ok, I followed a recipe for this one.  The recipe called for 2 tablespoons of liquid Stevia.  I thought that was a lot, but, hey, it's a recipe that someone has tried and liked!  I did use coconut milk in the place of evaporated milk, bot the aftertaste of the stevia was terrible!  It was not edible.  That was Monday evening.  This morning, I made an oatmeal casserole for breakfast.  Success!!!!  This was a winner.  Even my picky eater ate it! Here is the recipe:

1 organic apple cored and sliced

1 c. raisins

1/2stick of butter

2 eggs

1/2 c of maple syrup

2 T. wheat germ

2T. Flax seed or flour

3 c. oatmeal

2 t. baking soda

1t. sea salt

1 c. Vanilla Almond Milk

2 t. cinnamon

Grease a shallow casserole dish.  Layer the apples and raisins in the bottom.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a mixer.  Pour this mixture over the fruit.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. 

The apple, raisins, butter, eggs, wheat germ, oatmeal, and Almond Milk were organic.  Kroger has an organic brand that is relatively inexpensive.  I buy a lot of my groceries from Kroger.  They also have c/h free meat.  

This afternoon, I gave the ice cream another try.  This time I used honey instead of stevia.  I didn't add any fruit. I used vanilla almond milk in place of evaporated milk.  It was a lot beter, but not much taste.  We added some leftover breakfast casserole as a topping and it was really quite tasty.  Next time, I will add a little more honey and another teaspon of vanilla.  

As soon as I perfect the ice cream, I will share the recipe!  Coming tomorrow - Awesome Organic Chili!