Strawberry Candy

At last.

Strawberry season!

It's been two years, and my jam supply is dangerously low for a family of five that depends on a daily dose of PB&J to survive. On the other hand, my jam lasted two years, so go me.

This time, after making all the jam I wanted, it was time to venture into something new. Dehydrating. We are attempting to cut out processed sugars and other nutrient-draining foods, so having dried strawberries sounded like a worthwhile snack that would be inexpensive, delicious, and leave our freezer free for other things. Like the half a steer we're aiming to get next month from our friendly neighborhood farmer. Good stuff. 

No dehydrator as of yet, so:

-a bit of coconut oil wiped onto the baking sheet

-sliced strawberries

-evenly placed on a pan

ish.

  -in the oven at it's lowest setting. 

leave until the slices are beginning to harden, then take a spatula and flip. Pretend you're a professional while you're at it. 

I did several batches over the weekend, as it's yet another food that's easily set up and forgotten about for hours at a time; a favorite cooking technique.

Cook until no longer sticky (and thus won't rot in your pantry)

Place in your handy container and seal.

For me, my love of the mason jar endures, so here we are: 

Yum. 

My new best friend: Bone Broth

It's useful for colds, immune support, 

 milk supply, weight loss, and healthy skin. 

Miracle pill? 

No sir.

 It's back to basics with homemade bone broth!

It seems like we've all had it: that delicious chicken broth that someone makes for us when we're home sick from school. But that's not all it can be used for! I started making this in earnest when my middle guy was ready for solids. Just couldn't swallow the thought of putting him on baby cereal. There had to be something better. 

I asked a friend whose family runs a farm for advice, and started buying some beef bones. 

Look at those babies.

 Grass fed and organic deliciousness. $2.50 a pound, and you can keep making broth with the same bones until they soften, so that's several weeks worth of broth for our family.

Roast them bones for at least an hour around 350.  

Place them into the crock pot so you don't have to worry 

about forgetting it (key for this mama)

Add water and vegetable scraps: onion and carrot peels, celery ends. 

Leave.

Remember two days later. 

Strain and enjoy.

So good. 

When I was pumping for donation, I had a mug of this or water after every nursing or pumping session. Besides helping with supply, I was also able to lose weight at a healthy pace, while getting good stuffs into myself and my babies.  Look into 

Weston A. Price and his research into nutrition. http://www.westonaprice.org/

Good fats, baby. Good fats. 

Cheers!

Refresh and Renew

It's been a while.
Life happened.
Babies
Moving
Family
Growing
Life.
I decided to have another crack at it; maybe one day put this into a book for my kids, but right now I could use something else besides the couch and TV in the evenings after the wookies are asleep. And hey, I'm still sitting, but at least I have brain waves exercising. That's something.

Today is the Fourth of July.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy day of no picnic, no husband home, no kids for supper, no energy.

Happy day of trying again, even if that starts at nine-thirty in the evening with an excited toddler discovering poppers in the driveway while our neighbors set off fireworks.

Happy day of trying something new.

Here's to trying again, and writing again, and engaging again.
I'm so thankful for this country, and our freedom. But I have something more.
This is about our God, giving me independence from the slavery of sin, to be joyfully following as a slave to Christ. Being completely dependent.
It's been good to remember.