Monday, February 25, 2008

Sad Day / whats for dinner this week

Yesterday was a sad, sad day in our house. A dear friend whom we had come to depend upon more and more over the past 18 months expired. I fear it was my pushing her to work, "just one more time". On the other hand, we had shared many hours of work together and after only one , five minute potty break with my DH, broke for good. A coincidence you say? Either way, I am out a bread machine! Her impact is already being felt in our daily routine. My ds is mourning the loss of fresh bagels and cinnamon rolls. I am personally concerned about pizza day and bread baking day, and my DH is wailing about replacements. My bff (lol) is lending me hers while I take applications and do back ground checks. On this sad note, we will ask: What are you having for dinner this week? Big sigh.

At our homestead ~

Sat: Pizza w/ salad

Sun: Oven baked Salisbury steaks w/mashed pot & gravy

Mon: Spaghetti w/ salad (mom in mourning, to tired to cook)

Tue: Mexican chicken casserole with home made salsa and tortilla chips

Wed: Church/moms night off

Thur: Wisconsin Beer soup w/bratwurst and raw veggies

Fri: Crock pot sausage and potatoes w/salad

Other cooking this week includes; Banana Bread, cherry bisscotti, home made whole wheat tortillas, ranch dressing, oil & vinegar dressing, salsa, cinnamon rolls and cream cheese frosting, croutons and anything else we run out of!

Blessings, Beth Ann

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Potty Power!!!

The other title I had picked out for this entry was, "How to go quietly insane in the middle of a store... go underwear shopping for six people, of 5 different age groups! So that is what I did yesterday ~ LOL Glad to see I am laughing today, wasn't yesterday. Was like something out of a sitcom. I am trying to buy underwear for myself. I have one of the twins in a cart with me, yanking skivvies off hangers. I have dd trying to convince me she needs a bigger bra size. I have ds trying to get me to buy him new scrubs, asking "does this look girlie to you". And I have dh with other twin behind me asking me about the fiber content on a couple of shirts he wants to buy. Alas, I am use to this. For what ever reason, where ever I go people ask me anything and everything. I must look like I know something. I get asked about the health benefits of dried prunes at Kroger's. I get asked about the quality of hand cream at the F$M. I even got asked how to spell Patricia at the post office yesterday. The list could go on and on... I am just resigned to being in the know ~ LOL At least it is better than when I lived in this little town in northern MI, everyone there wanted to touch my hair. Long story.

Anyway, main reason of trip was to get the twins some undies and pull ups. I decided they were going to be potty trained if it killed me or not! Now wondering if I can make it to church tomorrow with two drippy, only half potty trained kids? It has been going pretty hit and miss, but still a little better the hoped for. I guess the best is the older kids have been helping, otherwise I would feel overwhelmed. I have b/g twins and girl twin picked princess undies. She was so excited that she slept with the unopened package last night! Then this morning she just held her pee so that her underwear wouldn't get dirty ~ LOL Then she switched over to going every 10 minutes to make sure :) My boy twin didn't quiet grasp the concept, but when he saw how much attention his twin got, he started to catch on. Now if only he could improve his timing...

Blessings, Beth Ann

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Michigan Poem

It's winter in Michigan
And the gentle breezes blow
Forty miles an hour
At twenty-five below.

Oh, how I love Michigan
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Michigan...

'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!!!


I recived this email from my cousin-in-law today, hope she doesn't mind me sharing it. Unfourtuantly she still lives there! We got out after 35 years of that stuff ~ LOL

Blessings, Beth Ann


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Whats for dinner this week/ Meat loaf recipe

It has been brought to my attention that I have neglected to post my menu this week. Sorry, see Crabby II entry for a valid reason as to why ~~ LOL



I have also had a request for the Crockpot Meatloaf recipe from last week. It is a popular meal around here. Matter of fact, my middle dd saw me getting the slow cooker out this morning and asked with an anticapery gleam in her eye, "crockpot meatloaf tonight?" It broke my heart to dash her hopes but she rebounded fine when I told her it was crockpot lasagna. First I will share the recipe, then the menu. Once again, sorry it is late.



Crockpot Meatloaf



2 lbs. ground beef

2/3 cup cream or milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup whole wheat bread cubes

1 tsp. salt

pepper to taste



Mix all the above ingredients well, shape into a loaf and set in vrockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with baked potatoes and a big salad!



Menu for this week: 2/16 to 2/22



Sat: Pizza w/salad



Sun: Oven baked: "Ritzy" chicken with brown rice and steamed mixed veggies.



Mon: Mexican chili potato burritos w/salad



Tue: Crockpot lasagna w/ garlic bread and steamed veggies.



Wed: Church/Mom's night off



Thur: Soup of the week/Wisconsin Beer Soup w/Brats and garlic cheese biscuts



Fri: Crab Alfredo Pasta W/broccoli



Other cooking this week ~ Home made tortilla shells, home made bread and home made ranch dressing. My oldest ds made no bake oatmeal peanutbutter cookies for a snack Sunday night ~ Yum!



Blessings, Beth Ann



Sunny Days




Here are a few more pictures from South Carolina. I chose to post these pics of the twins because of their big smiles! Just looking at these pictures brighten my day! Seems like we were just there and I can't wait to go this year! Only 7 1/2 months to go~ LOL


Quick health update: DH and I have been doing a quick walk before work every morning. With the hills on these streets, we any incline on any treadmill beat! Ofcourse I feel like I am going to expire when I reach the top, and my knee joints hurt going back down; but hey - we're being healthy, right? Also been staying in my calorie/points everyday as well as not eating after dinner, which is excuriating. Have you seen the TV advertisments at night? It is almost 98% fast food, other 2% is car commercials. Grrrrrrrrrr. On the pluse side, I have been making better progress on my stitching. I am currently working on a rose pattern my oldest dd picked out when she visited last summer. I had put it on hold for awhile, as I was working on a table runner with the natvity scene on it for Christmas. I think I will get some pictures together of my work and post them one of these days. Up in MI you can enter them in the county fair, I did and won many ribbons. Down here they don't do counted cross stitching, or not enough for it to be in the fair. Our county fair is mostly cooking, painting and photography. (Big Shrug)
Blessings, Beth Ann

Monday, February 18, 2008

crabby...part II

I would like a show of hands please, how many of you out there have kids that make you crabby? ... (humming theam from Jeapordy...) Praise the LORD!!! I was sure I was the only one (mow weeping quietly). Okay, I actualy feel better for just getting that out there.

We have been fighting the yuckies here over the week-end. It hit all three of my guys. Do you know how guys get when they are sick? Thats right, thats why only women have babies. Now picture three of them ranging in age from 3-15-40, acting that way. Getting a better picture here? Now picture another 3 yr. old and an 11 year old totaly taking advantage of this with mom. Finely, picture poor old mom trying to keep it all together, and not succeding. I really hate myself when I lose it. I try real hard to hold it together, but when I blow... whatch out below!!! Then they all walk around with a look on their faces like, "where did that come from?". Grrrrrrrrrrr

Okay, so by now you have figured out that we are talking the other kind of crabby. LOL Someone please tell me I am not alone in this and that I have a right to feel... grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Big sigh. Thanks for letting me vent, needed to unload on someone who cared ~ LOL And if it isn't you, I ment the other person who read my blog today.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Sunday, February 17, 2008

How to make the government mad...

... stay healthy and don't give them your money buy caving in to the scare tacktics employed by health care insurance companies!

We don't really do new year resalutions around here, but back before the holidays we realized we needed to make some changes; in so many ways. So we decided that the new year would be our springing board to try to implament them. We are doing so slowly, which I guess is the best way over all. First change was our food budget,and the quality of the food we eat. Many times over the past several years I have tried to maintain a healthy diet, mostly to be derailed by escalating food prices. Then after the twins were born, convience food became more of a staple than I am willing to admit to. So after much research into what is best and fits our life style, coupled with much encouragement from my friends, we are now mainly eating whole foods, and NO processed food, NO corn syrup, NO artifical sweetners and NO MSG. Occasionaly there is a slip, but we do our best. I've mentioned before that it is more labor intensive making everything from scratch, but the quality of the food is unsurpassed! I have also noticed that it sticks with you and fills you up.

Our next change is health insurance. When my dh changed jobs last year we lost our health coverage. That was so scary for me. Especialy after you consider what we had to pay for having the twins, with insurance at the time! But with God's help we made it through the year with out nary a doc visit. The few things we needed we paid for out of our own pocket, only God knows how. So with my dh year anniverary he now may enroll in the company plan. He called me in the middle of a minor corinary infarction when he learned the monthly price of this privledge. If we are only treading water now, how can we shell out that much each month? Well I started hyperventalating myself when he shared the good news. Our house was not a good place to be that day. As always, the next morning we were calmed down enough to come up with a game plan. Step one, google and research comprable coverage. Okay, so they aren't guaging us. Step two, how much do we really need? This is the part where they really try to con you. After much studying what it boils down to is that all the plans cost the same in the end with about the same amount of coverage, only difference is how fast you want to give them your money. My dh keeps yelling, "Canada". We have almost resigned ourselves to the enevitable, how much are you willing to gamble on you or your families health. Which brings me to step three and how it now conviently ties into step two. The best way to stick it to the health companies and to keep YOUR money in YOUR pocket, is to stay as healthy as possiable!

About ten years ago I was on a similar campagine with my health. I did great! Best shape of my life. Then the twins came. In my mind, right or wrong, many things are labled B.T. (before twins) and A.T. (after twins). It was a hard and high risk pregnancy. My body went to heck in a hand basket in many ways, one being gaining back all the weight I had lost before, plus some. My dh is a sympathetic eater and munched right along with me. You know how some people are blaming places like "McDonalds" for making them fat? I am blaming "Sonic". We don't have that chain up north, and I have never tasted such delicious fried food in my life! Not to mention their "Sonic Blast", so much better than a DQ Flurry. I am soooo in love with thier Extream Tots, tater tots covered in chili cheese, onions, ranch and jalapeno's! Anyway... We have known for almost 4 years we need to make changes, and have tried several things half heartedly. It was hard for me since I have always suffered from low selfesteam, and then I had two years of post partum depression with the twins. I had felt like space aliens had taken me over when I was pregnant, and continued to feel that way afterwords. But with two years of my dh unyielding love and support and my growing dependence and faith in God, we made it through. Now we are ready to take action!

We are going back to what works. Watching what we eat, counting points if you will (like wieght watchers) and a slow increase in daily activity. Just having a plan makes me feel impowered and less like a victem feeling sorry for herself. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Friday, February 15, 2008

Crabby





I know this seems out of sync here, but I am a little slow with the pictures on my camera (my camera phone is different). It seems to take me forever to use all the film up! ~ LOL I have just now got all my pics of South Carolina back. I will break them up over a couple of blogs to share with friends and family. I figure I will get them all posted in time to go again this year! :)


Every year we go, my ds looks forword to the crabs. Now I make the best crab soup I have ever tasted. Does my son catch enough for dinner? No! He is totaly into the catch and release deal. He can't stand to see any animal hurt or injured. The mens bible study group at our church were doing a unit using hunt as a way to reach some men. My son went twice, but just couldn't stand the whole idea of it all. Guess that will make him an excellent Vet in a few years. Anyway, here is my oldest ds hunting the elusive blue crab and a pic of my dh taking a camera phone pic to send home. There are a couple dozen varieties of crab along the coast. My son has also gotten some horse shoe crab and ghost crab. But it is the fiddler crab you have to look out for. They are the size of a half dollar piece and will come out of the salt marsh (behind my son in pic) and get into your shoes if you leave them outside and your wood pile. We found this out the hard way, and it only took once for us to learn to shake our shoes ~ LOL
Blessings, Beth Ann

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

"Baby it's cold outside"


Well, I didn't think we would see enough snow today to make this big a snow ball, but my middle dd worked all day at it ~ LOL We also have to cups in my freezer full of snow, I guess for a sunny day?
Right now I am taking a quick coffee break before we get ready for church. I make my own peppermint mocha coffee creamer (cheaper, healthier and yummier than the store brand), and stirring it with a chocolate coffee spoon I recived at the kids home school co-op Valentine party yesterday. It is soooooo wonderful, best thing I have had today. I just might make it to bed time for the twins yet!
Peppermint Mocha Coffee Creamer
2 cups half -n-half (I use skim milk)
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 cup sugar (or what ever sweetner you prefer)
peppermint extract
In a small sauce pan combine milk, cocoa and sugar. Heat on medium, stirring with a wire whisk until everything has blended well and the sugar has dissolved well. Remove from heat and add a few drops of peppermint extract)add as much or as little as desired).
Blessings, Beth Ann

Awesome Applesauce

Snowy greetings from Cannon County! Not much, just enough to make my car spin on the way home from dropping Zach off at the animal clinic for work. Just for a moment I thought I was in MI again! LOL



Well what better way to spend a snowy morning than by making home made applesauce. The hardest part is peeling, coring and slicing the apples. But even that was made pleasent by looking out at the snow as it draped my birdfeeder and bringht red cardinals and black caped chickadees paraded around in their winter finest as I did the chore.



This is a recipe that I came upon about twenty years ago when my oldest was only 4. Back in that day it was still safe to go door to door trick or treating. But even I sucumbed to the dreaded "razor blade in the apple" frenzy that engulfed a whole nation. So I decided the best way to be sure and to not wast food was to make... You guessed it, applesauce! Since then we have moved almost a thousand miles away from where we spent Halloween in snowsuits, and now attend Fall Harvest parties in just a flanel shirt :) But we still make the applesauce, and every time one of the children will say, "mom it smells like Christmas in here".



Awesome Applesauce



6-8 apples, pared, cored and chopped

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 cup water



Combine all ingredients in cooker. Cook on low 8 hours. This will leave it chunky and yummy on pancakes. If you want it smoother, let sauce cool and place in food processor with "s" blade and puree.



Makes 6-8 half cup servings

Sunday, February 10, 2008

"I'm gonna be a star!"



This is my mini doxin, Howard. He has big news. Really big news. Ginormous news, for a mini doxin! He is going to be on TV! Well at least at Joe's Place here in Cannon Co. I guess they run local advertisments on a loop there. Dr. Tate, whom treated Howie when he hurt himself, and who my oldest ds now works for, asked if Howard and his wheels could be in thier TV ad. I am still sketchy on the details, but my ds might also be on the comercial as well. Impressive.


Howard is a celebrity already at the animal clinic. They even ask my ds to bring him down occasionaly for "playdates". When ever we board him, he spends more time in laps than in the kennel. It's like the old TV show Cheers, when they all yelled, "Hey Norm", when that charecter walked in. They are all impressed that he has over come so many odds that many mini doxies never do after hurting their backs. I could go on and on about the little guy. He was my baby before I had the twins, when I thought I was done having babies. I guess he is a true testament to what you can achieve when you don't realize you aren't supposed to!


Blessings, Beth Ann

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Whats for dinner this week?

I was trying to do a funny parody of the Capitol One TV commercials, "whats in your wallet", with my title. Think I feel short. Oh well.

Sat: Pizza w/salad

Sun: Oven baked chicken w/ garlic & rosemarry roasted potatoes and brocolli

Mon: Mexican nachos with all the trimmings

Tue: Crockpot meatloaf with mashed potatoes and carrots

Wed: Church/Moms night off

Thur: (Valentines day) Soup of the week ~ white chicken chili w/ home made garlic and cheese biscuts. Also a heart shaped cake w/cream cheese frosting.

Fri: Pasta for the kiddies, spagehtti. Mom and Dad are going out on a late V-day dinner date :)

Other cooking for the week includes, but not limited too... Sugar cookies for the home school co-op V-day party and also for the Teen Library meeting; both my oldest ds and middle dd are members of that. So two V-day parties in two days for them! Who said home school kids are deprived?

Also on the agenda tonight as we are out is my home made granola, and some banana bread for breakfast befor church tomorrow. I always freeze the leftover banana the twins don't eat, and it makes wonderful bread. Something about the freezing makes it much easier to mash the naners. Speaking of freezing, I had a friend tell me to try flash freezing orange sections, as a healthy replacment for juice/popcycles. They are wonderful!!! I will never go back. From now on we will only have frozen oranges to suck on, no corn syrup fortified consumer chemicals on a stick for us!

Also more apple sauce this week as well. I find it works out well to buy a 3lb. bag of red and green apples every two weeks when I shop(my kids are split down the middle, 2 enjoy red and 2 enjoy green). That gives us plenty to snack on during the next 11 days. Day 12 the remainder and yes I also save uneated apples from the twins that were cored and sliced,gets made into the best apple sauce on the face of the planet. Day 13 sees the slowe cooked applesauce served with pancakes for a wonderful lunch. On day 14 we start all over again.

So, whats on your menu?

Blessings, Beth Ann

Thursday, February 07, 2008

"You dirty rat!"

Happy New Years, one and all! Chines that is ~ LOL It is the year of the rat. No, I don't know what that means. I know they run their animals in 12 year cycles, so it won't be the year of the rat again for another 12 years. I also know I was born in the year of the monkey. No, I don't know what that means either ~ LOL I really don't follow any kind of astrology one way or the other. All I DO know is that we LOVE Chines food at our house. A couple months ago my middle dd had an assignment for history while studying Chine, make an authentic eggroll. Well let me tell you something buddy... It was sooooo good we were excited to see this holiday on the calander and use it as an excuse to trot out the deep fryer. Okay, we almost never eat deep fried food , which I am sure is why these tasted so good! We also don't own a deep fryer, but I do have a great electric fondu pot of all things, which you can fry in! So Happy New Years to all, and a Yummy night!

Blessings, Beth Ann

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Tax time

A windy greeting from middle Tn. this fine Wendsday. We survived Super Tuesday and Super Twister Tuesday, as the media is calling it. We are so blessed to live here in Cannon Co. Due to the geography of the land, most "bad" weather tends to skirt us. Last night there were over 70 funnels reported through the south, with almost 40 in the northwest of this state. Yet all we saw at our home stead was a brief, sevier T-storm. Today the high winds continue with advisories in affect, but letour thoughts and prayers be with the families of those who suffered loss last night.

Mostly the weather has been wonderful here, unseasonably warm. Yesterday during lunch, a friend turned to me and said,"today would be a wonderful day to go camping". She is another caming nut like me, and she was right - if you overlooked the tornado warnings. It was 70, and our thoughts were definatly not on school or the kids we were supervising. Now with all that said, camping takes gas for our RV - YIKES!!! Our last big trip was the 1st of Nov. 2007, our annual South Carolina vacation. Then the holidays were upon us, then some cooler weather. Due to gas prices, we again will only take one big trip this year. You guessed it! Edisto Island, South Carolina. We are soooo crazy about that place. And I swear I will find a use for the ten thousand sea shells we bring back each year, along with random horseshow crabs, ghost crabs, and other sea life! We will take smaller ones during the year, like Chattanooga yet this month, but we will watch the gas needle. Which brings me to todays topic, wondered when I would get there huh, taxes and what to do with the returns. We are filing ours tomorrow, and will be able to plan what we can accomplish. We tend to get a good size one every year, due to being poor and having to many kids. So we have a good basic idea what we are working with. First thing - Filling Minnie Winnie up, $200 (probably last time before trip in Oct.). Next, making reservations for our Edisto Island trip. Third, fencing in the cat walk around our pool and installing a new gate to keep kids and animals safe. We have a beautiful above ground pool, that is completly decked in and atatched to our screened in sun porch. Now it the time to add the fencing, for safty, and add privicy from our new....neighbors. After all that I am afraid it all goes to bills. Actually could use all of it on bills, but somethings have to be done. We bought our house almost six years ago, and are in the last stages of remodoling it. Our next big thing will be to knock down our exsisting, freestanding, garage and replace it with a new two car garage with an 950 sq. ft. apartment above it. That way we can stop using our RV for our guest house, and my oldest ds will have his own place when he goes off to colleg in four years.

So, what are your plans with your tax money?

Blessings, Beth Ann

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Whats for dinner this week

Saturday ~PIZZA NIGHT Pizza (Buffalo Style Chicken, recipe in last post)and tossed salad

Sunday ~ OVEN BAKED MEAL NIGHT Parmesan chicken wingettes with mashed potatoes and steamed carrots.

Monday ~ MEXICAN NIGHT Beef Enchilada Casserole with salad

Tuesday ~ CROCKPOT NIGHT French Dip Sandwiches with colesalw (home made ranch dressing on slaw, recipe to follow)

Wednesday ~ LEFTOVER NIGHT Church/Mom's night off

Thursday ~ SOUP NIGHT Ham and bean soup with veg. eggrolls... to celebrate the Chines New Year!

Friday ~ PASTA NIGHT Seafood Alfredo with pineapple corn muffins and brocolli

Non-dairy ranch dressing (from Hallelujah Acres)

1 cup Vegenaise or Nayonnaise (I use Smart Balance)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbl.minced, dried onion
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup water

Whisk all ingredients together and chill until serving. Also good for dipping veggies into!


Other cooking this week includes but is not limited to: Dehydrated crutons, homemade graham crackers, susage and gravy, bagels and granola.

My son is quit the budding culinary genius. I told him if Veternary school didn't work out he should consider culinary school. Last week he made lemon square cookies. He liked them so much he wanted to make them again this week. He decided on two batches, one for home and one to take into the animal clinic to share with the workers. He also decided he wanted to try one batch with real lemon and the second with the jar stuff. He declared after the first batch, "nothing is better than cooking with fresh ingredients mom". LOL I am very proud of him, despite the fact that I know the only reason he learned to cook and bake was self preservation. After the twins were born I was to busy to do much cooking in the first two years. Now it is a matter of taste buds. He pretty much knows that if he wants something sweet, he will have to make it himself! Staying on this topic, I have one closing story to share with you... While checking my email today I heard my 3yr. dd ask big brother for a snack. He asked her what she would like. With out missing a beat she responded, "sugar". Grrrrrrrrrrrr Who did she get that from?

Blessings, Beth Ann

Pizza~bilities!

we are having this for dinner tonight. I always make two jelly roll pans of pizza every Saturday. One for the kids, half cheese and half pepperoni. One for just DH and myself. We are more adventurus than the children and enjoy spices way more as well (ds doesn't like anything spicier than ketchup). So I have been craving buffalo wings, this being super bowl week=end and all. Let we know what you think.

Buffalo Style Chicken Pizza

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cooked and shredded
2 oz. of your favorit bottled wing sauce
16 oz. blue cheese salad dressing (I make my own and recipe follows)
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
pizza crust (this makes enough for two round or 1 jelly roll/cookie sheet pan)

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine the chicken and hot sauce. Mix well. Spread blue cheese dressing over crust, then top with chicken mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, untile cheese is bubbly and crust golden brown. Let stand at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.


Beth's Blue Cheese Dressing

1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup mayo (I use Smart Balance)
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce
2 tsp. worchestershire sauce
2 Tbl. fresh chopped parsley
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. sea salt

In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Chill until ready to serve.

Makes 16 oz.

Friday, February 01, 2008

End of the week mummblings

Welcome to the first day of February. Will the ground hog see his shadow tomorrow? Don't be silly, he lives in PA. What do you think? LOL Either way, still 329 days before Christmas and 24 pay checks if you get paid every two weeks! Again, either way; good news ~ right? LOL

Well yesterday I had this really nice blog typed, with many of my famous recipes and apropriate antidotes to go with. About 30 seconds before I was ready to push the post botton, the weather knocked me of-line. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I know, my bad. I shouldn't have been on-line durning questionable weather to begin with. Sometimes I like to live "la vie la loca". Nothing usualy hits us here in our "holler". Most bad weather goes up Short Mt. and back down it, into Warren Co. Oh well, "Sa la vie".

Not feeling the love today, so will pare down my recipes and antidotes. I think I should try to share one a day or so, instead of waiting to the end of the week and posting everything. On thing I wanted to share for sure was my recipe for Date-Coconut Logs. It comes form my Hallelujah Acres cookbook, "Recipes for Life... From God's Garden" by Rhonda J. Malkmus. If your not familiar with the HA lifestyle, it is mostly eating raw. I personaly try to follow the 85/15% they recomend (usually do poorly at it), which is eating 85% raw food and 15% cooked food. This means the equivalant of 1 cooked meal a day, usualy dinner here. Sometimes the kids get squrrely, so I throw some whole wheat pasta at them or something. Mostly they are good sports and have grown to enjoy mom's home made/fresh salsa, guacamole, refried beans and ranch salad dressing. All excellent for veggie dipping. Not to mention my out of this world hummus and blue cheese dressing. But I digress...

Date ~ Coconut logs

2 cups dates
1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

In a food processor using the "S" blade,grind dates until a dough like consistancy is reached. Wet your hands, shape into logs; and roll in coconut to cover.

This makes abut 1 doz. 2-inch logs

YUMMY!

I made these yesterday, and they are half way gone. I don't have a digital camera, or I would add pictures now. I just picked up a disposable camera today so will add after I get them developed on to CD-ROM. One day it is my dream to have enough free time to buy a nice digital camera, and learn to use it the right way. I once looked at one, but when I saw that the user manual was almost half the size of my bible ( I have a large print ~ for almost blind people ~ Life applacation study bible) combined with the price , I quickly lost intrest!

Well I need to get going on dinner and diapers. I have my bi-weekly shopping to do tomorrow, but plan to drop by long enough to share my weekly cooking schedual and the awsome recipe for buffalo style chicked pizza I found. Tomorrow is Saturday after all, and that means home made pizza here at our home stead.

Blessings, Beth Ann