4 Sweet Sisters

We've been making water kefir soda (WKS) for a couple of months now and I've learned a lot. 1. Make a fermenting container . Really important if you plan on making WKS! check this out 2.Play with the types of natural sugars out there: a) Sucanat - It was our sugar of choice because of the being rich in minerals. We found that it has to pungent of a flavor for making WKS. It actually ends up tasting more like a beer. We even tried adding more fruit syrup but it became over carbonated and we would ended up with exploded bottles! ** We do use it whenever we think our kefir needs a little extra feeding.** b) Sucanat with Honey - Much lighter flavor but it does have honey in it which can kill your Kefir and it's price is well to pricey now. c) Turbinado or Raw Sugar - This seems to have just the right amount for daily use. We tend to taste more of the flavor of the fruit syrup and less molasses. WKS taste like a sparkling fruit cider with this sugar. 3. Leave a good 3 inch head ...

My good friend Angela over at Loving Legacy was cleaning out her fabric stash a couple of months ago. Whenever she does this my 4 sweeties seem to come to her mind. It seems someone is always creating something around here. In this batch of odds and ends there was some very country looking patchwork fabric that the Little Chef just fell in love with. Not her usual style or colors but she really liked it! She even said it would be sooooo nice to have a skirt made out of it. I ended up having a free evening and this is what was created. She was so surprised. It's very simple. I was in no mood for a pattern. I doubled her waist size and tripled it (waist size) for the ruffle. I used and inch and a half more elastic than her waist. I wanted her to have at least 2 years out of the skirt. The Little Chef really likes it. We went out shopping last night and she wanted to wear it. She said it just somehow makes her feel different then when she wears it, even more so than a dress or skorts...

Yes, I do occasionally ponder things (okay usually way to much). So much so that I can miss the big picture because I'm stuck on a small blemish. If you feel I'm talking in code I may be (and do I even understand it?). This past weekend I squeezed in a fluffy novel about a newspaper owner who was being forced out of town by a set of Good O'l Boys. This newspaper woman loved to serve others because of her love of the Lord. Not from compulsion or legalism but for the shear joy of trying to ease someone elses burden. She was by no means a perfect herself. I needed this story. It reminded that love comes in many different ways, from a kind word and quick pray to feeding the homeless. Forward to yesterday. I have been struggling with some decisions we are going to need to make. Small blemishes compared to the Lord's big picture. I have been concentrating on myself so much and how it was all going to work out! While I was on the tread mill it hit me. Have I really learned...

I'm not sure if I should show you the picture or not. I tweaked a recipe from Tammy's Recipes and it is quite tasty. BUT (and it's kind of a big BUT) the color is just not right. So the pepperoni looks a little grey (gross) but again taste SUPER! So here goes nothing.... nitrate free pepperoni See how gray it looks? That's because I used Real Salt (sea salt) instead of curring salts which have all the nitrates and fake pink color (they do this so people won't mistake it for table salt). That pink dye also gives sausages of all types that nice color we are all so used too. All the flavor was still in there and I figured if I'm making this homemade I want it to be as healthy as possible for my family. So why would I add the nitrates? Because I didn't use the pink salt I can't just leave this out in my pantry like you could with some of the store bought stuff. If you do to try this recipe and decide to go "all natural" please make sure that you ...

That's right no excuses anymore for why I'm not blogging more frequently ( I'm secretly itching to make excuses but I won't). It's just our life right now. We have been super busy. While everyone elses summer gardens are winding down we are gearing up for our 1st big planting of the season. Fall/ winter here at our home usually starts out our growing season, followed by winter/ spring planting. Next summer I'm hoping to plant our beds full of sweet potatoes as our ground cover. This summer we added a large 3 1/2 x 24 foot bed to the front of our house behind the white picket fence we installed this summer. Lots of little yummy veggies are starting to poke their heads up :) We had intended to use a old work table to make a salad table, but I think it is way past it's prime and would take to much shoring up. So we've decided to either make a new raised bed out of pallets (if we can get our hands on some) or small round swimming pools ($7 a piece). I need m...

For some reason I've been thinking there is sunflower seeds in 7 grain mix. Anyhow I finally looked it up and here is what is really in 7 grain mix. Hard wheat, soft wheat, oats, triticale, barley, rye and spelt. I like using this mix for granola/cereal bars. Here's my recipe. 1 1/2 sticks butter (melted or softened) 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 cup honey 1/2 raw sugar, sucanat etc. 2 eggs 1 cup of re hydrated coconut (very wet) 6 cups 7 grain rolled cereal mix or rolled oats 1 cup raisins 1 cup sunflower seeds 1 (scant) cup chocolate chips 1 cup (approximately) oat flour (grind up oats quickly in blender) You can add or exchange all these ingredients. When I'm going Gluten Free I just use oats and seeds. The mixture should be wet. Pat into a large cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Cut bars, let cool in pan. Wrap individually or box up. I love them out of the freezer! Enjoy, Julie

I know I'm getting behind in updates again, but the Great Room Swap of 2011 has wiped me out. I've almost condensed 3 room into 2! I'll show pics once I finish getting this next school year wrapped and ready to go. That being said I wanted to share with you what happened this Sunday. As you know from my last post we have been testing and taste testing kefir soda and water. Friday night Superman and I put together a batch of each. Tinkering with the flavor of the soda. He was excited to have a taste on Sunday after church. As you can see from the first photo things did not go as planned! Sunday after church we opened the front door to the the stinky smell of sweet, cherry cheese. My first thought was, "wow that kefir is really fermenting strong this time". Until I reached our kitchen and found this..... Praise the Lord no one was in the kitchen when it happened. The bottle as you can see was shattered with shards strewn into the dining area. What a stinky me...