The fruit...

The weather has been just absolutely crazy this spring. We had hot days back in February followed by snow. And it seems like the wind just won't stop blowing. With gusts up to 23 MPH and 46 degrees, it just doesn't feel like spring. And on top of that, there is a frost warning tonight.

My only concern is the local peach orchard where I work in the summer. This frost could kill the trees. But like everything else in this world, we have to put it into God's hands. He knows what will happen. So if y'all could pray for the peach trees, strawberry plants, and all the other farmers that will be affected by this weather that would be great! : ) In the mean time we will leave it up to God and trust his perfect judgement.

Has anyone else had insane weather this spring? Feel free to leave a comment.  : )

Covering up the strawberries

The peach trees in bloom

Fly with Christ!
Rachel : )

Finally...

The ground finally dried up enough for us to plant our garden yesterday! Better late than never! I love gardening. There is nothing like the feeling of warm, freshly tilled dirt between your bare toes. Or the taste of vine ripened tomatoes still hot from the summer sun. No question about it. End of discussion. Period.

 

 Our Garden...

 Squash and Zucchini

 Sweet Bell Peppers

 Okra (my favorite!)

 Eggplant... If anyone has any tips about growing/harvesting eggplant, please let me know!  : )

 Jalapeno Peppers

Tomatoes!

And Blueberries!!!

 Here is Smokie playing in the dirt.

Fly with Christ!
Rachel : )

Juicing {Waldorf Salad}

Dad and I bought a juicer on Saturday! It is so much fun to watch the fruits and vegetables go in whole and come out as a juice. You do have to be careful not to juice fruits and vegetables that have too much natural sugar in them. This would cause your blood sugar levels to spike.

Our favorite recipe so far is called a Waldorf Salad:
5 pieces of kale
2 celery sticks
2 apples
{P.S. We make this recipe to serve 4 people. Don't think that you have to drink it all by yourself!}

 Wash the ingredients. You don't have to cut the core out of the apple, but we do.

 Run all the ingredients through the juicer.

And VOILA! Fresh juice like you would not believe! The taste is incredible and it is healthy!!!

Bonus Recipe! Apple Cooler:

1 Cucumber

2 Apples

4 sprigs of fresh Mint

1/2 inch piece of Ginger Root

*Run all ingredients through the juicer and enjoy*

Fly with Christ!
Rachel : )

Orange Rolls!

Happy 10th Birthday Eleanor! (you make me feel so old)

Yes, the 14th was Eleanor's birthday.(I am really behind on these posts) One of my presents to her was homemade orange rolls. I got the recipe from Janet at Simply So Good except I made a few alterations. I used half whole ground flour and half unbleached white flour. I also made the rolls a little bit bigger and put them in a 9x13 glass baking pan like you would for cinnamon rolls.

Fly with Christ!
Rachel : )

Apple-Walnut Muffins: Part 2

PART 2: THE MUFFINS

Yeah, yeah... I can hear you now. "Great muffin mix, Rachel. But, um, how do I bake it?" Fear not good people, help is on the way! Baking them is equally as easy as making the mix. Here we go! : )

I have listed two ways to prepare the mix. The first way comes from the magazine and makes a small (and I mean really small) batch. I made up the second way for a larger batch.

Batch # 1:
2 Tbsp. fat-free milk
2 Tbsp. reduced-fat plain yogurt
2 tsp. canola oil
YEILD: 2 muffins

Mix the milk, yogurt, and oil together. Add to 1/2 cup muffin mix.

Batch # 2 (with pictures):
1 egg
2 Tbsp. oil
1/2 to 1 cup milk
YEILD: about 12 large muffins or about 24 small

 Muffin mix, oil, egg, milk.

 Put 2 cups of mix in a bowl.

 Create a well or hole on the center and add the egg, oil, and milk.

 Mix together in the hole.

 Stir in the rest of the muffin mix. Can you see the pieces of apples and walnuts? I'm getting hungry right now.

Scoop into greased muffin pans.

Batch #1 & #2:
Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Serve warm.

Fly with Christ!
Rachel : )

Apple-Walnut Muffins: Part 1

PART 1: THE MIX

YES...yet another muffin recipe. But wait! This one can be made ahead of time!! It makes a super speedy breakfast. (it's also healthy) This recipe came from the August/September edition of "Healthy Cooking" from Taste of Home. The original recipe makes about 3 cups of mix or about 12 muffins (which equals one meal for us). I have tripled the recipe for this post. You can also make an even bigger batch if you need to. They didn't last long to long for us. : )

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup chopped, dried apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
P.S. I used a gluten free baking mix instead of the AP flour, and about 1 3/4 cup of demerara instead of the 2 1/4 cup sugar.

 Dried apples, walnuts, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Chop your dried apples into little chunks. Also chop your walnuts.

 

 Mix it all together.

 Put into your container of choice (I used a Ziploc bag), label and date. I told you it was SIMPLE!

Part 2 is coming soon!

Fly with Christ!
Rachel : )

Blueberry Muffins

Here is another simple muffin recipe! (If you haven't caught on yet, we really like muffins over here) This recipe can be made with or without blueberries(though they taste better with them), and can be used with a number of substitutions (see the bottom of this post for possible substitutions).

1/2 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup blueberries
YIELD: 12 muffins

Ingredients: Milk, egg, flour, salt, butter, blueberries, sugar, baking powder, vanilla.

Melt your butter either on the stove or in the microwave.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.

Next mix the egg, milk, and vanilla together. If you are out of eggs, you can substitute flaxseed. Take about one Tbsp. of flaxseed per egg (ground in a coffee grinder or food processor) and stir with a little water. Then mix with the remaining wet ingredients.

 Add your wet mixture to your dry mixture with the butter, and mix well.

 Then stir in the blueberries.

 Scoop into greased muffin pans.

 Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.

Substitutions: 
1/2 cup butter = 1/2 cup coconut oil
2 cups AP flour = 2 cups whole wheat or gluten free flour
1/2 cup sugar = 1/2 cup (or less) demerara, honey, agave necter, etc.
1 cup milk = 1 cup rice, almond, or soy milk
1 egg = 1 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 cup fresh blueberries = 1 cup frozen blueberries

Fly with Christ!

Rachel : )

Blueberries

Some of my favorite fruit in the world (besides apples) are blueberries. You can do so much with them. Here are some pictures of our blueberries from this year. I just love watching them go from blooms to green and finally blue. God amazes me every year with the transformation of a garden.

God bless!
Rachel : )
P.S. We just got back from vacation on Sunday. We had so much fun! I will try to post my pictures soon!

Garden Pics!

Here are some pictures of our garden.

El's Carrots

Jet Star Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes

My poor little eggplant plants look worse than the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But we have eggplant!

Eggplant

Eggplant

Bell Pepper

We have picked over 17 gallons of green beans this year! God is so good! : ) We have recently had some rain here. I'm hoping that it will be enough to keep the plants alive.

Green beans

Bean plants

Squash and Zucchini

Blueberries

Pear

Let me tell you a little story about this plant. A few months ago, when we started to see life in the garden, we noticed these plants popping up in our compost pile. We had no idea what they were until we saw little pumpkins! We figured they were from last Halloween.

Smokie

Smokie in action.

Our lima beans are also coming in! We picked about four gallons so far. They taste SO good!

Lima Bean blooms

Lima Bean blooms

Lima Beans

God bless!

Rachel : )