A giveaway at one of my favorite blogs!

Y'all should go check out The Legacy of Home anyway, but be sure to go today and enter this fab giveaway.  A book called Raising Real Men and Hero Tales audio CD's.  Hurry!  :-)

A new (to me) use for milk kefir - biscuits!

We're loving our journey into the world of kefir.  Water kefir flavored with a good organic grape juice is my favorite, while the children favor the mango lemonade.  It's fizzy and fun, incredibly easy to make, and so good for you!  It costs pennies to make a quart every day, and it's so tasty that we'd drink more if we had it.  Completely guilt free juice/soda.  Oh yes, I said guilt free.

We've only just begun to venture into milk kefir.  If you've never had it, I would describe it to you as drinkable yogurt.  You should be able to find a reasonable substitute to homemade in a better grocery store, but as always, homemade is best.  Milk kefir is made a pint at a time.  You can use cow's milk, goat's milk, or even coconut milk.  I whisk a good raw honey into mine after it's done, the children will drink as much as I'll give them.  It's another fantastic source of good bacteria and yeast.  Something our commercial food system has succeeded in eliminating from our food chain.  We've pasteurized, homogenized, non- and low-fatted our way into being the most unhealthy nation on the planet.  But I won't get started on that right now.  Others have already done it, and have done a better job of it.  I was intrigued by this blog post, and my journey towards a traditional diet began.  It's been a year-long process, and we're healthier for it.

But.... that's not why we're here.  We're here to talk biscuits, people!  Which, if I'm to be honest, isn't the best thing for you.  The processed white flour is so so bad.  But with melted butter and cheese in biscuit form?  I don't wanna be good, y'all.

None of us was in the mood for milk kefir today, so I needed to find a way to use today's batch that didn't involve drinking it.  With raw milk being $10 a gallon, I'm not wasting anything made with milk if I can help it.  I wondered if I could substitute kefir for milk in a biscuit recipe.

I made a biscuit today that tasted exactly like Red Robin's Cheddar Bay biscuits.  The children and I agreed that you would never know the difference, they were that good.  I found that I wound up using twice as much kefir as milk.

Here's how I did it.  You can add, delete, and substitute as you like.  You can leave out the cheese and garlic, roll them out and cut them to have regular old biscuits.  If you don't have kefir, you can use 3/4 to 1 cup milk.

Ingredients

2 cups flour, sifted
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt, plus 1/8 tsp.
1 cup finely shredded cheddar jack cheese
1 T. granulated garlic, plus 1/2 tsp.
1 to 1 1/2 cups milk kefir, unflavored
1 stick butter, not softened, divided

Sift flour.  Measure 2 cups sifted flour into small bowl.  Add baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt, then sift again into a large bowl.  (Some salt will remain unsifted, just dump it into the bowl.)  Cut in 1/2 a stick of cold butter with pastry cutter until butter and flour are well combined.  Mix in garlic, then mix in cheese.  Slowly stir in kefir until you have a nice sticky biscuit dough.

Drop dough in large spoonfuls, a little more than 1/4 cup of dough for each biscuit, onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 14 minutes at 400 degrees, until they're just cooked but still quite white.

When almost finished baking, melt other half of the stick of butter in a small dish, sprinkled with 1/8 tsp. salt, 1/2 teaspoon garlic, and parsley if you wish.  When biscuits come out of oven, brush them with melted butter and return them to the oven to bake until they're golden brown.  Set the timer in 2-minute increments each time.

Hypocrisy

I'm listening to a fantastic sermon by one of my favorite preachers, Voddie Baucham.  Their church is going through Romans, and what Pastor Baucham has to say about chapter 12 has just been swirling and whirling around my brain and heart for months now.  The sermon is called No Room for Personal Vengeance.  Please please listen to it.

One thing that occurs to me as I listen is that the following point by Pastor Baucham is valid, whether we're talking about American Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldiers they've just eliminated, or if we're talking about brothers and sisters writing each other off over being blinded to our own sinfulness and hypocrisy. 

The point:

There is an ugly hypocrisy in considering my own sin worthy of forgiveness but deciding that someone else's sin is worthy of wrath. 

Whether that person be someone in my own home, someone in my neighborhood, someone in my church, or a terrorist in Afghanistan.  Whether we like it or not,
 

God does not have a scale on which He qualifies our sin.  

There are not levels of Hell.  

Without Christ in my heart, I would go 

to the same Hell as Osama bin Laden. 

  

 (So would you, by the way.)  

Know why?
  
Because apart from Christ, our sin is no different than anyone else's! 

My sin of disrespecting my husband in front of my children is viewed as IDENTICALLY SINFUL to our holy and righteous God, as the sin of using an airliner loaded with innocent people as a missile!  It is not God who has decided this sinner is worse than that one.  It is human petty selfishness and self-righteous haughtiness that has placed the sliding scale fee on forgiveness.

How quickly and easily we forget the thief on the cross!

Find a verse in Scripture where God says to the victim of an injustice, "Go ahead and desecrate the body of that Philistine you just killed in my name.  You're the victim and you deserve to do it."  Or, "Yes, this person has treated you shamefully.  You don't have to go fix their dishwasher for them, even though they desperately need the help and you're capable of giving it.  If you've decided they're undeserving right now because of their treatment of you, why then of course let's go by your standards instead of mine."

You won't find it. 

What you will find:

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.  On the contrary; "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  Romans 12:17-21

"Do not say, 'I'll do to him as he has done to me;  I'll pay that man back for what he did.'"  Proverbs 24:29

"It is mine to avenge;  I will repay.  In due time, their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."  Deuteronomy 32:35

"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him."  Proverbs 24:17-18

There are SO many more.  So. so. many.  And trust me.  I've tried like crazy to avoid them.  So what do you think He keeps immersing me in for 6 months?  Yeah.  It's been crazy up here in my head.  But I'm thankful for the lesson.  God is gentle with me when I don't deserve it.

I'll end this with one of the many profound statements I heard in this sermon (giving God all the glory for the wisdom He's given Pastor Baucham):

"You just remember that when that day comes, and Christ exacts revenge on sinners, your posture will not be of one with a raised, clenched fist, saying, "Get 'em!  Get 'em!  Get 'em!"  But instead, your response will be of one who falls to his knees, as you see Christ exact revenge on others that He should have exacted from you.  And you will recognize that the One Who is exacting the justice is the One Who was stricken, smitten and afflicted because of YOUR SIN.  You will not - you will NOT - in that moment rejoice in your own vindication, but you will only rejoice in the vindication of God."  -- Voddie Baucham

I shudder and am rendered speechless. I am overcome with the knowledge that it is my sin that put Christ on the cross.  Without Christ in my heart, I stand before God no better than what human society would consider to be the vilest of creatures, most worthy of the world's hatred and deserving of His wrath.

Oh amen. And amen again.

Sarah Mae over at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee has posted something so timely, I had to share it with you.

Yes, God makes our roles clear.  Yes, His expectations of us are clear.  Yes He did take our current culture into account when He penned His Word.  No, our current culture has no bearing on what God expects of us.  No, we don't get to shake other women by the collar and judge them for not living up to our expectations. 

When God is ready for someone to deal with an issue, God will touch that person's heart.  If we travel through life showing Christ's love, maybe that person will be drawn to us and ask how we "manage."  But if we travel through life smugly pointing fingers at that person?  Mmmm-hm.  No bueno.

Who says they can't understand what's going on in church?

Whispered to me in church after our pastor finished reading the account of Christ's birth in Luke chapter 2:

Jonah:  Mommy?  Did you see an angel when you got pregnant?

Speaking of feasting on the cheap...

There's a giveaway at one of my favorite blogs.  Here's a blurb from her post:

Mary Ostyn is the mother of 10 children and blogs at Owlhaven.net. Her book is packed with 200 recipes and helpful tips. The book is described as "A Penny-wise Mom shares her recipe for Cutting Hundreds from your Monthly food bill."

Go check it out!

Feast on the cheap

Set a few sliced onions to caramelize in a hot skillet.  They like to be drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt and pepper, so by all means... indulge them.

Let them get all nice and brown.  Not quite ready yet...

Now tuck them into the Monterey Jack cheese that's been heaped on your tortilla like a silver lining...

Leave behind a few stragglers for munching on while you wait for your cheese to melt.  You won't regret it.

 

Blanket liberally with sour cream and salsa...

My only regret is that I had no guacamole.

Love is color blind

The favorite red shirt...

... goes great with the favorite blue leggings, favorite lavender skirt, and favorite black snow boots...

... and the favorite dancing partner.

Jonah joins 'em.

When your loose front teeth won't tackle a cookie...

... go for Plan B.

When you can't beat 'em?  Join 'em.

Dates with Mom RULE.

Fun at the park with friends

Leaves.  Who needs more than a pile of leaves?

Oh.  And friends, too.  Leaves and friends.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

OK, how far have we walked?  If I can get it to the van, I bet I can fit it in... I bet I can...

Thrifted fun

I don't know who Millie was, but I'm sure I would have enjoyed her company.

I'm fairly certain the angels agree.

Mud bath

Mud.  I've been wallowing in it lately.  And I do mean wallowing, y'all. Scalp deep in the mud, not especially inclined to come out of it.  I've jumped in with both feet.  The mud that is resentment.  And more than a little self-pity.

And I am waaaay down deep in there. 

Shaking my head back and forth so it gets all in my hair.  Wiggling around so it gets in all the nooks and crannies.  Yes, there is no part of me that isn't touched by the mud somehow.  In the ears, up the nose, in between the toes.

Funny. 

How comfortable the mud is, I mean.  It wraps you up and entices you to abandon all else but the wallowing.  Keeps you focused on the mud, hopes you don't remember your direct line to clean Water.

Education shapes our children. Who is shaping education?

I have been scouring the Word for an instance where God told the Israelites to send their children to the Philistines for 40 hours every week to be molded and formed by them.  You can guess what I found.  Yep.  Nothing. 

Time and time again, the Lord made it clear that we are not to pollute ourselves with the values, "morals" and standards of the world - He even commanded entire cities destroyed to avoid it! - and yet Christians everywhere put their children on a bus and send them to the enemy camp for 8 hours every day.   

We, as families, as a nation, as a weakened church, are reaping what we've sown.

Feeling Corny! (or, how to freeze corn for the winter)

Free corn, just picked that morning!

 
The father of a friend of mine works with an organization called Second Harvest to help secure food for local food banks.  He calls around to local farms to see about crop donations and occasionally winds up securing more than the food bank (or the local mission) can use and calls in the troops to come haul it away.  Which we are only too happy to do.  ahem.

My sister-in-law, Melissa, and I were able to put away enough corn for the winter on Monday, thanks to that farmer's generosity.  We had such a good time praising God together while we worked to see that our "lamps don't go out at night!" 

Everyone helped shuck the corn.  What a great opportunity to teach the concepts of working with a happy heart, finishing a task, and working together as a family to help take care of each other.  (This is also one way we teach our boys that they will someday be responsible for providing for their families.)

Roman and Jonah keeping at it

 

Lily, Annabelle, Jonah, Roman and Mary-Beth

Grandma (my mother) came to help with round two, after a lunch break

Blanch the corn for 3 or 4 minutes.

Cut corn off of cobs, then measure it into freezer bags.  Fill until just covered with water, then seal, doing your best to remove all the air.  The water will help combat freezer burn.

Even baby Ellie-Anne did her best to help.

I think this was my favorite part of the whole day!

Look at God's bounty!  Isn't that wonderful?  What a blessing it is to be able to put away this much corn.  We all had the sense that something more important than "free corn" was going on, and the children knew that they were a part of it.  And more importantly, they knew Who provided it and were more motivated to help, learning their first tangible lesson about giving God the glory. 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Jonah's first original composition...

And how it made her feel...

Some just can't see the forest for the trees

More of what I was talking about Tuesday.  Only she says it so much better! 

Child rearing is soul winning... or not (an article at the LAF website.)


The more I hear, the more I read God's word, the more I realize how little I know.  This issue of just how deep is the job of child rearing is heavy on my heart lately.  There's so much more to it than just making sure the children get breakfast, naps and Jesus, not necessarily in that order, keep their rooms clean, darken the doors of the church twice a week and recite all their AWANA verses perfectly.

No, it's so much more! 

I'm trying not to be militant about it, realizing that God in His vast tenderness brings us all to the same point but at different paces.  He doesn't expect us to have it all figured out (thank you God!) and He doesn't expect us to affect a complete black-and-white transformation in EVERY area we're not getting all at once.  (Super duper thank you, God!)

No.  Can't be militant.  But it's SO important!  Please read this woman's article, you'll see what I mean.

The buck stops here!

How many Christian parents know that religious instruction is our responsibility?  A responsibility that cannot be handed over to a church, a school, a Sunday school teacher.  It is our job, folks.  Ultimately, it is actually the father's job, but we mothers spend far more time each day with our children (especially we homeschool mothers) and so we should take on a share of that responsibility as well.

One thing I'm going to be starting in our homeschool is The Child's Scripture Catechism.  You can find it here at the Bluedorns' website, Trivium Pursuit.  We usually pray, then work on our AWANA sections, and then go straight to reading/spelling.  I think now we'll put the catechism before the AWANA sections.  Or maybe we'll do it just before bedtime?  I don't know for sure.  I haven't had a chance to discuss it with my husband yet, I'm still thinking about it.

A few sample questions...

1.  Who made us?
...the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground...  Genesis 2:7

3.  For what are we made?
...glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's...
1 Corinthians 6:20

17.  How can we learn to do what is right in God's sight?
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed thereto according to thy Word.  Psalm 119:9

66.  Is the Holy Ghost in Scripture called God?
...why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost... Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.  Acts 5:3,4

118.  In whose name must we pray?
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.  John 16:23

I'm thinking of memorizing one or two each week, with discussion about what they mean and a search for more Scripture on each topic.  I'll be using either NIV or NASB because those are the versions my children are memorizing.  In situations where the meaning, flavor or intensity/gravity of purpose seems to be too different from the original languages and/or the KJV, I dismiss the contemporary translations and stick with the trusty KJV.

Here's a good article on the LAF website (which prompted my post) that talks about the importance of teaching your children the basic tenets of our faith.  She uses a different catechism, which looks like it covers all the bases, but with the notable exception of leaving out Scripture references on which to base the answers.

I'd love to hear from you all about how you incorporate religious instruction into your daily lives!

Such wisdom.

"Peter Pan and Wendy Float Away Over the City" - find it here

Mary-Beth (my Kindergartener):  Jonah?  What do you do in 1st grade that you don't do in Kindergarten?

Jonah (my 1st grader):  Pretty much the same thing, except that you live your life more.

I have no idea what that means.  It amuses me, though, because they're both sitting at the same table during school time.

I'm so tight I squeak. No, really!

 "Market Day" by Will Moses

I fail at so many things.  Sooooo many.  Oh so many.  But one thing I'm good at is stretching my husband's dollar as far as it will go.  He works his tail off to support our family, goes out and slays dragons for us on a daily basis.  I feel like it's the very least I can do to show him respect for that hard work.

"She sees that her trading is profitable, 

 and her lamp does not go out at night."  

Proverbs 31:18

So what does that even mean? 

It means to make wise choices at the store or in the marketplace.  It means to seek out deals and stock up on them, so that when times are tough, your "lamp will not run out of oil" so to speak.  If our country went deeper into the hole it's currently in, could you feed your family for a year with what's in your pantry and freezer?  How about a month?  A week?  (I don't know where *I* am on that scale, just asking the question.)

I'm not saying we should worry about this, not at all.  It's not about worry. 

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Each day has enough trouble 

of its own."  Matthew 6:34  

It's about wisdom, y'all.  It's about being prepared for any hardship that may come our way.  Our own, or someone else's!  If you have a bit of back stock, you'll be able to help that young single mother down the street when times are tough for her.  You'll be able to stretch out your hands to the needy like that Proverbs 31 woman did (see verse 20).

Remember the ten virgins from Matthew 24?  Yes, that parable is about way more than just keeping the oil stocked.  But there's also the very basic lesson of... well... keeping the oil stocked in anticipation of needing it later.

I thought I'd share some ways you can help bless your husband by stretching his dollar as far as it will go.

Canned goods  Find sales and stock up.  I mean, stock up in a big way.  Canned beans on sale at 3 for $1?  Diced tomatoes at 2 for $1?  Buy all you can.  If there's a limit, go back later and get more or send your adult children to buy them for you.  If that's a hardship, cut something else out of your budget that week and buy $20 worth of beans (if the expiration date isn't too soon). **  Then try not to use it unless you're in a rough patch.  If the expiration dates are coming on, use cans from the front of the stack, buy what you'd use that week at the grocery store, then stick the new cans at the back of the stack.  Basic stock rotation.

Bulk food section  Buy as much as you can from the bulk food section.  Things like pasta, rice, beans, salt, sugar, oatmeal, flour, spices, dried fruits, etc.  I filled a quart jar with ground cinnamon for $1.25 this week.  A small 2-ounce container of ground cinnamon costs twice that much.  Score!

Dried Beans  Did you know that you can make 7 batches of refried beans yourself, for the same price as two cans of already prepared beans?  There are tons of recipes out on the web.  Find one and try it, you'll never go back to canned.  Plus, you can make huge batches and freeze them for later.

Bean soup is a favorite around here, and an absolute staple in fall and winter.  Start with a chopped onion, brown it in olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot.  Add 3 cups of dried beans, some salt and pepper, and two or three smoked ham hocks, then fill to the top with water.  Put the lid on and bring it to a boil.  Let it simmer all day, checking periodically to see if you need to add water.  About an hour before dinner time, fish out the hocks and take the meat off the bones, adding it back to the pot.  Discard the fat, skin and bones.  Add 3 or 4 diced carrots.  Now make yourself some biscuits or Butter Dips (our favorite!) and have yourself a huge meal for less than $5.

You can substitute split peas or lentils (or a combination!) for the dried beans.  Don't add the peas or lentils until about an hour before dinner, when you're pulling the ham hock out.

Meat  Great meat sale?  Buy as much as you can afford, then freeze what you aren't going to use.  Just be sure to re-wrap it at home so it will survive the freezer for a while. **

You can brown your ground beef with a chopped onion and let it cool, then freeze it for later.  So handy on taco night!  You can double your recipe on meat loaf night, then freeze one for later. 

Prep chicken breasts in the way you use them in your recipes and freeze it for later.  Boiled and diced?  Boiled and shredded?  However you use it, prep it and freeze it.

When you boil your chicken, why not make the most out of the electricity and water, and make chicken stock to be used later?  For a 3-pound package of chicken, I add 3 or 4 ribs of celery (just ripped in halves or thirds), 3 or 4 carrots (don't bother to peel, just break in halves or thirds), one medium onion (cut into wedges, don't bother to peel), 3 cloves of garlic (don't peel, just smash once with the side of your knife, about 12 peppercorns and salt to your taste. Fill to the top with water, lid on and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for at least 3 hours (more if you have the time), removing the chicken when it's done. When the stock tastes like you like it, turn the heat off and allow it to cool. Scoop off as much fat from the top as you can. Pour the whole lot through a strainer, then ladle into freezer containers. There! You've boiled your chicken, and you've got stock to use for later!


Potatoes  Great sale on potatoes, but you won't use them before they go bad?  No problem!  Buy those potatoes, then process them and freeze them for use later.  Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes for stews, blanch in boiling water for one minute, then remove from water and allow to drain.  Lay out flat on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and allow to cool, then place tray in freezer.  After potatoes are frozen, put them in freezer bags (Food Saver would be handy, or these ZipLoc Vacuum Bags, they work very well too), label them and keep them in the freezer.  When you make a stew later, add the potatoes about 20 minutes before serving time.  They don't take as long to cook and they taste just as fresh as the day you bought them. 

You can do the same with hash browns (just smaller dice, follow same procedure as with stew potatoes) and mashed potatoes.  Make huge batches of mashed potatoes, let them cool, then parcel them out into freezer bags.  Lay the bags flat while they freeze, then you can stack them, or stand them up file-like in the freezer.  Stand them on a towel so the edges don't crack open.  Just remember to pull the bag out in the morning for that night's dinner.

Corn  Last year I found a wicked deal on corn on the cob, 12 ears for $1.  I bought as much as I could, then blanched it all, sliced it off the cobs, and froze it.  We had summery fresh corn with Thanksgiving dinner!  What a huge treat, and so inexpensive.

Coffee  I'm a bit of a coffee snob m'self, so I won't tell you to buy cheap coffee.  If you told me you have a certain brand you'll drink, and you won't consider compromising?  I'd more likely bless you than curse you.  ;-)  I will say, though, that making your latte at home is a wise choice, and it's generally cheaper to buy beans in bulk and grind them at home.

Cereal  In short?  Skip it.  I thought I was saving money buying cheap cereals for breakfast, but the children were starving again an hour after they ate.  Add the cereal to the constant snacking, and I wasn't saving a dime.  We do oatmeal, wheat farina (Cream of Wheat), Zoom, homemade pancakes with jam, toast and eggs, anything but cereal.  We do still have some sort of awful-for-you sugary cereal on Saturdays.  The children love to pick out their Saturday Cereal, and that's not a hill I choose to die on.

Ditch the drinks  Stop buying juice, soda, bottled water (unless yours is unsafe), Kool-Aid, etc.  You don't need it, you'd be healthier without it, and it takes up so much room in the grocery budget.  We do occasionally splurge on soda, but it's rare.  We drink water with meals, rarely milk.  I have orange juice in the freezer right now, but only because it was ridiculously cheap.



Have a limit  Don't just fill your cart and let the chips fall where they may.  Decide how much you HAVE, and stick to that amount.  Keep a tally going while you're shopping so there will be no surprises at the checkout counter.  I hate having to tell the checker I have to put something back.  Ugh!

Craigslist  Don't forget to check your local orchards and farms.  There is free produce listed on my local Craigslist all the time.  Call around and ask about gleaning programs.  Sometimes an owner will be glad to have you come out and take the last of a crop for free, so he doesn't have to deal with it himself.  That happened to me last year with cherries, apricots, pumpkin, squash, pears and apples.  I canned enough of those items that I haven't had to buy them one time since last spring.  Except apples, that is.  We can never have enough apples on the counter.

But I'm broke!  If your budget doesn't allow for stocking up in a big way, don't lament just yet.  You really can do it!  You can start slow by buying one extra of something you use on a regular basis and then putting that extra aside.  Meat, canned goods, staples, bathroom supplies, etc.

Prayer!  It's listed last, but it's the most important.  Pray!  Pray right there in the car, before you go into the store.  Have the children pray with you.  It will be a great way to show them just exactly Who provided the grocery money, and will teach them to show respect for their father by making wise choices with the money he worked so hard for.  If your budget is so tight that you'd rather cry than shop (you're not alone!), pray as you put each item in your cart.  "Lord, you know we're broke.  And *I* know you always provide for our needs.  Please help me see how this is a blessing.  Help me to be content with what I have, and show me how to use it wisely today.  Please bless my efforts as I endeavor to show my husband respect in this area.  I want to do everything as unto You, Father.  Please guide me in this area as well."

If I've forgotten anything, feel free to add your own wisdom in the comment section!