If you come to my home and browse through my cupboards, you’ll still see that we are in this transition process.  But…there are far fewer boxed/packaged/jarred/canned goods in my cupboard! 

I used to think that if we made most things homemade, they were healthier for us, right?  Well, in some cases that is true, but we have decided to eliminate shortening from our diet altogether, and we are using natural versions of sweeteners now – organic maple syrup, evaporated cane juice, and raw honey. 

We’re also trying to use more whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour.  I’ve been grinding wheat berries in a $30 Cuisinart coffee burr mill to make flour because I can’t really afford to buy a $400+ grain mill right now.  It doesn’t grind as finely as purchased flour, but it is working for us so far.

We’re using coconut oil, red palm oil, and butter for our fats.  While it does mean that we need to adapt or throw out some of our old recipes, it also means we get to try some new recipes as well!

My husband enjoys having snacks to take in his lunch box to work.  He typically works a 10+ hour day, so just a little main dish (usually leftovers) or a sandwich won’t last him that long.  He’d come home as hungry as a bear!  I know that I won’t be perfect in making all of our snacks at home, but we are really going to give this a try, instead of having a pantry full of boxes and packages of "junk" like purchased granola bars, tortilla chips (we’re going to make our own this week!), pudding paks, fig bars (my husband loves those), etc.  We’ll try putting a homemade snack/treat in his lunch along with a mozzarella stick, nuts, etc. 

Here’s the recipe for the granola bars that I made this afternoon.  Brittany thinks they need a little bit of chocolate (she’s never been much of a fruit dessert type of person), but I think they are super delicious!

What I really like about this recipe is that I didn’t need to make homemade granola first, or buy granola from the store.  This is a really quick and easy recipe.  Maybe next time, I’ll add a FEW chopped up chocolate chips just for Brittany!

Delicious Homemade Gooey Granola Bars!

2 and 1/4 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking oats)

3/4 cup sesame seeds

1 cup chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, unsalted roasted peanuts, walnuts, etc.)

1 tsp. sea salt (I’m going to reduce this to 1/2 tsp. next time)

1/2 cup honey (I prefer raw, unfiltered honey but any honey would work)

5 Tbsp. coconut oil (it’s expensive, but this recipe doesn’t use all that much; I buy it monthly from a wholesale store – I prefer raw, virgin, unprocessed coconut oil)

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla (I actually forgot the vanilla this time, and it was STILL delicious!)

1 cup dried chopped fruit (cranberries, raisins, chopped figs, dates, cherries, pineapple – I used non-sulfite naturally dried organic cranberries)

Directions:

1.  In a 9×12" baking pan, combine the oats, sesame seeds, nuts, and salt.  Toast in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until light golden. ***Stir every 4 minutes or so to prevent burning.

2.  While waiting for the oats, nuts, and seeds to toast, combine honey and coconut oil in a saucepan and heat until coconut oil has melted and they are well combined, stirring frequently. 

3.  Stir the dried fruit into the honey-coconut oil mixture and allow the fruit to soak up some of the sweet sauce.

4.  Remove the oats, seeds, and nuts from the oven when they are golden brown. 

5.  Take sweet sauce away from the heat and stir in the vanilla.  Pour fruit/sauce directly over the toasted mixture.  Stir until well combined.  Press mixture into the pan with the back of a spoon. 

     Of course, I was intrigued!  Ann, an author!  I haven’t been able to spend much time with Ann, as she is a busy lady (and so am I), but I have noticed that she carefully crafts each sentence and paragraph in her books to truly "show" the story as it unfolds, instead of merely "telling" the story as some modern day authors tend to do. 

     I thoroughly enjoyed Book 1 in the "At Home in Beldon Grove" series:  The Edge of Light.  When Book 2, The Promise of Morning, was released in March 2010, I eagerly volunteered to read and review a copy of Ann’s book. 

     While some of the characters remain from The Edge of Light, new characters appear as well.  The book opens with incredible loss on the part of a mother and father who are visiting their deceased children’s gravesites.  Yes, "children".  Three children have passed away as the story unfolds.  More loss is to come, in more ways than one.  But some gains also come to visit, which are blessings in disguise. 

     Ann has done her research well in this story.  There are so many aspects of daily life in the 1840s that just naturally show up in the storyline.  I appreciate this subtleness that allows me to learn new things about the pioneer era.  Christians’ views on traveling actors, ministers, and the like really hit home because of Ann’s careful crafting of the details that are woven here and there.

     This second book in the "At Home in Beldon Grove" series has a different flavor, a different tone than Book 1.  While both books deal with loss, disappointment, and renewal, I found this book, The Promise of Morning, to save the "renewal" for the last bit of the book, while Book 1, The Edge of Light, seemed to have more hope earlier in the storyline. 

     For women who have experienced the loss of miscarriage or the loss of a child who has been born, they will easily understand the range of emotions that Ellie has throughout the story.  While some of it may seem harsh, Ellie basically travels through the circle of loss and grief that is so common to women in her situation.  Her behaviors and attitudes could easily draw criticism, but they are also the normal human reactions to deep loss and sorrow. 

     The one point that I need to make about this book is that it deals with a very sensitive topic that wouldn’t be appropriate for younger readers.  While I had no problem with my 11-year-old daughter reading The Edge of Light last year, we’ve decided to not have her read this book, The Promise of Morning.  Because I want to be sensitive and appropriate here, I’ll just say that one of the key themes in The Promise of Morning is that Ellie, the main character, allows her grief over the death of some of her young children to cause her to decide to no longer fulfill all of her marriage vows to her husband.  She decides that she does not want to risk pregnancy and thus possibly have another baby or young child pass away. 

     I’m sure that this was a thought that went through many women’s minds in the 1840s.  Grief is a horrible but necessary process, and I’m sure that grief caused some women to decide to sleep in a different room from their husband.  However, I personally thought that too much emphasis was placed on this theme in the book, to the point that it was embarrassing for me to even read about in a few places.  If you laugh because you’ve already read The Promise of Morning and you think that this is terribly prudish of me to say, I would counter that there is not enough shame and blushing going on in our country these days, even among Christians.  We are commanded in the Scriptures to be very careful of what we put in front of our eyes and ears. 

     I was in a local store the other day, and a young couple in front of me were checking out at the register.  She grabbed a heavy bag of dog food to place onto the belt, but was struggling a bit with it.  He grabbed it for her, to be helpful, but it seemed to irritate her.  She said to him, "I was getting it; I can do it right!  You think I can’t do anything right!"  He made a comment to her that was a compliment, but in a sexual way, and everyone standing around nearby turned red and got really quiet all of a sudden.  I was embarrassed.

     That’s a bit how I felt in reading some of the pages of The Promise of Morning.  It was not "racy" by typical worldly fiction standards, but we’ve decided to read the book orally to my daughters and leave out some of the paragraphs and sentences, because I want them to love Ann Shorey’s books without feeling embarrassed and needing to blush.  Don’t worry; my daughters know enough about the "birds and the bees."  But I don’t want them to think that all Christian fiction books are written just like worldly fiction books.  Books can be written about almost any topic, with a sense of innocence and care for others, if it is done in a subtle way. 

     For example, I won’t typically read books with swearing in them, because I don’t need to fill my mind with swearing language.  I appreciate those books where the author merely says, "After the hailstorm, he swore as he surveyed his damaged crops."  There’s no need to place the actual swear words into the story – we could all fill in the blanks ourselves, even if we don’t want to. 

     Maybe the publisher wanted a bit more "excitement" to take place in this story.  I don’t know.  I just know that there is so much inappropriate "stuff" in most books these days, that it is very refreshing to read a well-crafted story that has nothing inappropriate in it – a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to my friends and my children’s friends as excellent reads for Christian families who are striving to live godly lives. 

     However, this time, I will need to recommend this book, but with a bit of hesitation.  I would have felt more "refreshed" if one of the main topics had been left out altogether or very slightly mentioned in a cautious way one time only, instead of going into more detail. 

     Overall, I enjoyed reading The Promise of Morning by Ann Shorey.  I look forward to reading Book 3 of her trilogy when it comes out in another year or so.  God has given her an incredible talent, and I pray that she will continue to use her gift of of writing to glorify and honor Him.

     A complimentary copy of The Promise of Morning was given to me by Revell for the purpose of providing a review of this book.

     I have caught myself saying over the years that I did receive a decent education in the public school system…even though my children are learning SO much more academically at home than I ever learned at any school.  And we’re not even talking about how much they are learning about the Lord, themselves, relationships, and so much more!

     I have close friends, relatives, church family, and lots of other acquaintances who work in the public school system as teachers and assistants, and they are selfless, donating huge amounts of their own time and income to help their classrooms be successful.  I had quite a few teachers when I was in school that were wonderful!

     But if I ever get tempted to place my children in a public school setting (heaven forbid!), I’m going to get out this list from my own experiences in the school system and read through them again to knock some sense into my head!

     Here are a few of the things I experienced while attending public school.  I’m sure you could add a few to the list!  I won’t say which schools they are, because the negative events all took place within my county.

*science teacher who brought to lab class a 200+ lb. dead beaver that he had trapped (legally) and left it in the classroom for the weekend.  By the time we walked into that room on Monday afternoon on a hot day, you can just imagine what it smelled like.  He forced us all to stay in the class and do our biology lesson out of the textbook – which had nothing to do with beavers.  Two more class days of that, with no ventilation or hood or fan going.  Some of the girls were literally throwing up.

*science teacher who flirted constantly with a student and had a relationship
with her

*P.E. teacher who was so lazy about teaching class that we spent EVERY single day for three school years, down at the football field playing soccer.  Rain, shine, snow, hail, whatever, it was down there playing soccer.  When it rained, he would stay up in the covered grandstands and drink his diet Pepsi, to "maintain his girlish figure" – his words, not mine.  When it was hot, he would put on his short-shorts and rub suntan lotion all over himself and lay out on the football team benches and get a suntan and drink diet Pepsi while we played soccer.  He never taught us any soccer skills.  He allowed 12th graders to skip classes and come down and play soccer with us puny little jr. highers.  I didn’t need braces until one of those huge 18-year-old guys pushed me over (they were usually quite aggressive), stepped on my jaw (by accident), and my jaw and teeth were never the same.  A few years’ later, I had to get braces to solve the damage that had been done.

     I’m sure I could go on…and I did have some amazing, wonderful teachers who were caring, honorable, and supportive, as I hope I was when I was a teacher in the public school system. 

     But, this is only a smattering of what really goes on in the public schools these days.  Gay graffiti in school bathrooms, virtually no limits on PDA in the hallways and school dances, and on and on. 

     My husband was raised in a "WonderBread" family (you can probably guess what that means!), and I was raised in a family that ate white breads some of the time, and whole grain/whole wheat breads some of the time.  Please understand that I’m not trying to insult his family or my mother-in-love, who is a wonderful person!  That just seems to be a quick and easy way to explain the methods of cooking used in his home.  There was a period of time when my mom, a wonderful cook, prepared foods quite healthy for us, before we were in high school and she needed to go back to work.  And there was a time in my growing up years when we ate more white bread products, too. 

     I’m not opposed to whole grains and whole wheat…far from it!  I know some of my friends don’t eat any processed foods whatsoever, and soak their grains before cooking and baking with them.  I’m not quite there yet, but plan to eventually begin soaking grains occasionally for some recipes. 

     However, I do want to be sensitive to the likes and dislikes of my husband, too.  So…we haven’t completely gone the full "whole wheat" route of baking, etc.  I’m not his mommy, so I’m not going to force him to eat foods he really doesn’t like.  I’ve tended more to ease into some healthier cooking practices, and that has gone over pretty well.  He’s really not a fussy eater, but he does have some food preferences like the rest of us. 

     Anyway, being that our family doesn’t completely focus on whole wheat bread products, I couldn’t really justify purchasing the $200-$500 grain mills that are on the market right now. 

     I heard someone on the internet talk about using a Cuisinart burr coffee mill to grind small amounts of whole wheat flour in order to have freshly ground flour at home for immediate use.  I decided to give it a try! 

     Two friends of mine were headed to Costco in different towns, so I asked each of them if they would please pick up a Cuisinart Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill for me as they were on sale for $30.  I figured that even if this particular burr mill didn’t last terribly long, at least it wouldn’t have cost me a fortune to purchase.

     I’ve used the burr mill twice now, to make 1-2 cups at a time of freshly ground whole wheat flour.  I am very pleased with the results!  While I do think the flour comes out quite fine, I’m pretty certain that a pricier regular grain mill would produce slightly finer flour.

     A couple of my friends have offered to let me use their grain mills to grind my own flour, but I’ve declined.  I just have a hard time using whole wheat flour in homemade chocolate chip cookies and biscuits!  If I ground 10 lbs. of whole wheat flour, it would sit in a container for a few months and begin to go rancid.  I prefer to grind the 1-4 cups of flour I need at the moment I need it, so it is fresh.

     To use the coffee burr mill as a grain mill, simply pour 1-2 cups of wheat berries into the top hopper.  Set the grind to "fine", the finest level offered.  Set the "cups" measurement (cups of coffee, not flour) to its maximum level, and push the "Start" bar. 

     If you are planning to grind more than 2 cups of flour, I think it would be best to wait a few minutes between cups of flour, just so you don’t overheat the machine.

     Keep in mind that this coffee burr mill was NOT intended to be a grain mill.  If you choose to use it as a grain mill, Cuisinart will NOT be able to provide you a warranty, from the moment you begin using grain in it.  Since it only had a 90-day to one year warranty anyway (I don’t remember which), and I knew I wouldn’t be using this on a daily basis, and I only paid $30 for it, this didn’t concern me. 

     Now, the cleanup after you grind your flour is pretty important.  The burr mill comes with a small bristled brush to whisk out extra amounts of coffee remaining in the hopper and the other parts of the mill.  The plastic container which holds your newly ground flour can be easily cleaned in hot, soapy water, so that isn’t a problem.  Since I didn’t want leftover remnants of flour to remain in the burr mill, going rancid, and being added to the freshly ground flour the next time I use the mill, I decided today to begin using a can of compressed air to gently "blow" away the extra remaining flour.  It took only a few "puffs" of air to remove all leftover grains of flour in the mill itself.  Wonderful!  I would probably use only one can of compressed air each year to help maintain my coffee mill at its peak state of cleanliness! 

     If you’ve been wanting to begin grinding your own whole wheat flours, but can’t afford the expensive grain mills, I suggest that you give this frugal option a try.  No, it won’t be perfectly ground as fine as an expensive grain mill would provide, but it comes very close, close enough for my tastes. 

     Just keep in mind that the coffee mill itself was not specifically designed to grind grain.  Also keep in mind that some of the other Cuisinart coffee mills have had some problems with breaking down.  I’ve found that the more recent Cuisinart food processors are not reliable at all, if they have been manufactured in the last 1-3 years.  So, buyer beware.  But so far, this particular Cuisinart coffee burr mill seems to work fine and dandy for me, and we are enjoying the fresh whole wheat flour we are using in our baking!  Sounds like a great FRUGAL option to me! 

     If you would like to read the first chapter free of charge, to see if this is appropriate for your family, click here:

This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for a book review posted on my blog.

      The aprons were a bit on the tricky side, as my Mom felt like they weren’t designed as well as she would have made them herself.  So, we altered a few things and lined most of the apron so that it was thicker with two layers of fabric. 

     My daughters are anxious to wear them in the kitchen and for dress up around the house, but they also want to enter them in the county fair.  If they go ahead and wear them and wash them, they won’t score so well on their entry, so I’m going to leave the choice up to them.  They can fold them up and put them away in their "hope" boxes (large clear Rubbermaid totes), and bring them out for the county fair in August, or they can wear them now and not worry about the fair.  If I didn’t have a 30-year-old washing machine, the aprons might do okay being washed, but ours is so old, that I just wouldn’t want to ruin the aprons by repeated washings.  I suppose we could also hand wash them.  Sigh. 

      We are really enjoying going over to my parents’ house on Tuesdays for the girls’ sewing lessons!  We’ve chosen to not be involved in a sewing 4-H club right now.  I have the full leader’s 3-ring binder for 4-H sewing, and I wasn’t crazy about it.  For our weekly sewing lessons, my mom works with one girl, and I work with the other.  It’s a great time for me to refresh my memory of sewing skills learned in the past, since I don’t really ever make time to sew anymore. 

      Today, Kelsi cut out a bright pink fleece vest with my mom.  She liked the one that Mom made for her for Christmas SO much that she wanted to make another one!  She sewed the pockets on, and did the side seams plus some reinforcement stitching.  She really loves to sew, although we are finding that as she gets older, she does tire more easily now with sewing.  Seems like after about an hour, she’s ready to be finished sewing for the day.  Brittany is like that, too, although sometimes we encourage them to keep working for a few more minutes so they can accomplish one last step for the day. 

      When we go to the coast for a few days this spring, we are planning to take all of our sewing machines and learn how to do paper piecing with my dear Aunt Joanne.  I found a free pattern for this cute heart pillow from the website, www.YouCanQuiltThis.com in one of the emails they sent me, so we’re going to give it a try!  I think we’ll use different colors, though, as we weren’t too fond of the shade of green thrown in with the pinks and reds.  LOL. 

      Anyway, it’s a neat site for preteens and teens and adults, too.  If you have daughters in this age range, they might really like YCMT and might find some free and easy patterns on there to try for themselves.

     We’ll try to post additional sewing projects here on the blog as we finish them.  We’re really enjoying getting into sewing!

June Bug is a modern-day take on the captivating story of Les Miserables.  I first watched Les Miserables when I was in 8th grade, staying up late one evening with my dad.  It was a memorable evening because we didn’t have cable television, and decent, well-made movies rarely appeared on tv.  He enjoyed explaining some of the portions of the movie to me that I didn’t understand. 

I was very curious to see how Chris Fabry would interpret Les Miserables into his own story.  While the modern story, June Bug, has some differences from the old French tale, it also has many similarities. 

My daughters, ages 10 and 12, read this book before I did.  They really enjoyed the book.  My 10-year-old finds it difficult to read books that really capture her attention, but she is now begging me to purchase some of Fabry’s other books.  The character development was excellent; the twists and turns in the story kept me captive.  I was surprised up to the end of the book, and I shed a few tears when I finished the story.  I wish one or two events at the end of the book had resolved in a different manner, but I suppose that was because I didn’t want to cry, LOL. 

If you enjoy books with good character development, jerks and twists, and that allow you to become very emotionally tied with the plot and characters, you will enjoy this book.  It has a pro-Christian theme, which I enjoyed, instead of people’s religions always being slammed as in many modern day books.  I am looking forward to reading this author’s other works.