El's Braces

Eleanor got her braces on Thursday! They are light blue. They are along her top teeth and most of her bottom teeth. She said that it only hurt a little. (She's so brave!) She also came home with bags and bags of new blue clothes to match. (Mom felt bad for her.) I had trouble getting her to smile. Don't forget to comment and tell her what you think!

 (Stephen was not too happy) :(

 (Fun with photos)

God bless!
Rachel : )

Corny Carrot Muffins

They don't sound very good, but they are! I make these for breakfast and everyone loves them. The recipe is from "From the Kitchen of Two Sisters" by Danielle & Lindsay Voeller. I can't tell y'all how much we LOVE this recipe! (Did I mention that these are healthy?) So here you go. Today I didn't use the raisins, but they still taste good with them.

Wet Ingredients:

1 - 1 1/2 cups rice milk or milk

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup flax seed mixture or 2 eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter - melted

1/2 cup honey

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry or spelt flour

2 cups cornmeal

2 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

MAKES 2 DOZEN MUFFINS

Ingredients: cornmeal, salt, flour, butter, eggs, baking powder, rice milk, carrots, honey.

Here is a tip about the carrots. I usually use one bag of baby carrots and put them in the blender for a few seconds.

Till they look like this.

Mix your wet ingredients together with a whisk. (Or use the food processor)

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and raisins (if using).

Dump both mixtures together and mix well.

Pour batter into greased muffin pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Today I filled up two regular muffin pans. (24 regular sized)

Two mini muffin pans. (24 mini sized)

And 4 more muffins.

YUM!!! These are best if served warm.

I really hope you enjoy them! This recipe can also be made with all whole wheat flour instead of half flour and half cornmeal.

God bless!

Rachel : )

Life in the Garden

Our garden is coming in y'all! I am so excited! : )

Our tomato plants look happy and so do our sweet peppers!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Sweet Pepper

 We also decided to plant two eggplant plants this year.

Eggplant

 

 We have cute little green bean and lima bean plants poking through the soil. : )

Green Beans

Green Beans

Lima Beans

 And here are some fruit pictures!

Peaches

More Peaches

Apples

Apples

I can't wait for the blueberries to come in. There is nothing like fresh blueberries in cobblers, smoothies, muffins, and pancakes. YUM!!!

Blueberries

God bless!

Rachel : )

Homemade Strawberry Jam!

There is nothing like homemade strawberry jam. YUM!!! I used fresh strawberries from Jones Orchard. I got this recipe from a 4-H activity book. It is so good! I hope you enjoy making the jam.

• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1 package powdered pectin
• 1cup water
• 4 cups sugar

Ingredients: Strawberries, powdered pectin, sugar, water

 Jones Orchard Strawberries! : )

Wash your strawberries.

Cap the strawberries by cutting the stems off.

Put the strawberries in a bowl and mash with a potato masher or a fork. You can also use a blender or food processor (like I did).

 Blend to your desired chunkiness.

 It should look like this.

 Mix in your sugar. I used half granulated sugar and half demerara (cane sugar). I also used a little less than 3 cups total of sugar. It still tasted really sweet.

 Sugar and strawberries. Yum!

 I put mine in a bowl for easier stirring. Set aside for about 20 minutes and stir occasionally.

 Today I used Ball Classic Pectin. I have also used Sure-Jell. Either one will work.

 Put your water and pectin in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

 Boil for one minute stirring constantly.

 Pour the pectin mixture into the strawberries. Stir for about 3 minutes.

 Pour the jam into clean freezer containers 1/2 in. from the top.

 Enjoy your jam! : ) 

You can freeze your jam for later or eat it fresh on homemade biscuits! 

God bless!

Rachel : )