My Valentine's Dinner Recipes

Many of you enjoyed the pictures of our home Valentine's dinner that I put on Instagram and Facebook. Many of my male friends were lusting - you must repent!

I'm going to share with you how it all came together. For some of you, this may seem basic and you could do something far more elegant. For others, this may be helpful.

STEAKS
We had rib-eyes in the freezer, but I prefer sirloins, as they are less fatty.

I don't usually do this, but for Valentine's, I marinated the steaks in a bit of Worcerstershire and soy sauce.

Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder (that's my favorite combination for most things)

My husband barbequed just right.

SAUTEED MUSHROOMS
My mother-in-law taught me how to saute the best mushrooms.

WARNING: This is NOT whole, real food here, and we only eat these on special occasions.

1. I break off all the stems and only use the caps. The stems go to the pigs. NOTE: Mushrooms shrink when you cook them, so make sure you start with enough mushrooms - my pan was full at the beginning and mushrooms were stacked on top of each other, but the pan was half empty by the end of cooking.
2. Melt two sticks of butter in a saute pan.
3. Add diced onions & minced garlic.
4. Add mushroom caps.
5. Sprinkle GENEROUSLY salt, pepper, & garlic salt - don't skimp here!
6. Put a lid on and let them saute for about 15 minutes or until they are all tender. Walla!

The key: Mushroom caps must be floating in butter!!!

ASPARAGUS (there's many ways to make asparagus, but this is how I do it most of the time)
1. Melt a little bit of butter with some olive oil in a frying pan.
2. Add minced garlic.
3. Break of woody ends of asparagus spears. Place them in the pan.
4. Toss them around so they are well coated.
5. Sprinkle with salt, lemon pepper, garlic salt, and onion powder (you could add diced onions, but my kids freak at the sight of onions)
6. Cook until tender, but not limp. They are best when they maintain their bright color.

BAKED POTATOES
I bake my potatoes in the oven, no foil, at about 425 degrees. Depending on their size, they could take up to an hour. If I'm in a hurry, I'll microwave them first for like 10-20 minutes, then put them in the oven to finish.

I like my potatoes to have a slightly crisp skin.

So for the last 15 minutes of baking, here's my trick
1. Pull the potatoes out of the oven and drizzle olive oil on top of each potato.
2. Sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt.
3. Bake for remaining 15 minutes.
Delish!

We topped our potatoes with:

• freshly grated cheddar cheese (I like the taste of cheese better when I grate it myself than buying it already shredded)
• real bacon bits - I take a few slices of bacon, and cut bite-sized pieces with my kitchen sheers. Then I fry the pieces in a pan. Once they are really crisp, I drain them on a paper towel.
• chopped green onion
• butter, of course
• sour cream, if you like

We had some sparkling cider to go with dinner, and See's candy for dessert! There you have it!

My Favorite Blog Posts from 2012

Everyday,  my email box fills with several blogs I read and glean knowledge and inspiration from.

Today, I want to share some of them with you. I'll break them down by category.

Light a few candles, brew some tea or coffee, curl up on your sofa with a blanket and your laptop and be inspired!

parenting
51 Things You Can Do That Will Bless Your Kids - Finding Joy
5 Ways to be More Present Today - Finding Joy
Kids and Electronics - What Age and How Much is Too Much? - Smockity Frocks
I Gave Myself Away Because of a Dare Wanting to be Loved - Mom's Mustard Seeds
7 Ways to Invest in Your Kids - Finding Joy
Ten Commandments of Courtesy for Kids (and Adults) - Smockity Frocks
Keeping Kids Safe on the Homestead - New Life on a Homestead
Preparing Our Children For Marriage - Renewing Housewives
A Tearful, Joyful, Hopeful Letter to My Teenage Self - Inspired to Action
20 (more) Motherhood Tips - Finding Joy
Hope Chests 101 - A Practical Check List - Raising Homemakers
22 Activities for the Country Toddler and Preschooler  - The Prairie Homestead
How to Instill a Strong Work Ethic in Children from a Young Age  - Keeper of the Home
How Do Large Family Moms Manage Everything?  - Smockity Frocks

finances
Save Money by Purchasing White Linens and Towels - Being Frugal
Fun Fund: Saving Money for Entertainment and Travel - Being Frugal
How We Afford to Mini-Farm on One Income (Part 1)  - The Prairie Homestead
How We Afford to Mini-Farm on One Income (Part 2) - The Prairie Homestead
10 Ways to Live More Sustainably - DIY Natural
Analyzing the Family Budget - Homestead Revival
On Producing Rather Than Saving - Nourishing Days
50 Ways to Make Money  - Bible Money Matters

health
Make Your Own Cough Syrup - Raising Arrows
10+ Natural Cold Remedies - Keeper of the Home
Natural Remedies for Cold & Flu Season - Little Natural Cottage
Allergy Relief for Ragweed Season (or any Allergy Season) - Sprittibee
How I Healed My Son's Skin Infection (Without Antibiotics) - Keeper of the Home
How to Treat Bug Bites Naturally - Keeper of the Home

personal
Will I Ever Change? - Sarah Mae
The Rushing Mom Embraces Today - Finding Joy
Why It Is OK to Take a Mom Break - Finding Joy

beauty
Your Lips But Better - The Small Things Blog
Tips for an Easy Fall Wardrobe  - Simple Design

country living
Our Journey to Agrarianism - Nourishing Days
Homesteading Wherever You Are - New Life on a Homestead
Pioneer Homes - Little Homestead on a Hill
Roundup of Homesteading How-To's  - Smockity Frocks
Is It Easier? - Simply Living For Him
The Garden Plan - Homestead Revival

homemaking
Household Cleaning with Vinegar - Holy Spirit-Led Homeschooling
My (Simple, Natural, Frugal) Cleaning Cabinet - The Prairie Homestead
Quick Homemaking Tips - Raising Homemakers
Clothesline Options - Homestead Revival

food
Just Add Water - Lemonade Makin' Mama
Extending the Family Table - Plan To Eat
Real Food Substitutions - Keeper of the Home
10 Things You Should Make Homemade - Gricefully Homeschooling
Managing Your Kitchen - Raising Arrows
Scenes from the Kitchen - Nourishing Days
Preserving Food - Raising Olives
Stocking Your Freezer - Gricefully Homeschooling
A Plan for Stretching the Meat Budget - Plan to Eat
4 Cheap Healthy Meal Plans for Families - Christian PF (Personal Finance)
Reducing Food Waste at Home...and a Meal Plan - Blissfully Content
Ultimate List of Easy Slow Cooker Recipes - Hodgepodge
Buying Meat in Bulk - Homestead Revival

Fall and Crockpots Go Hand-in-Hand

Fall means back to school, extra-curriculars, including sports, and never enough time to put dinner on the table. For us, we have one son playing winter baseball on Mondays and Fridays, my husband playing softball on Mondays, gymnastics on Tuesdays from 4:30-5:30, music lessons on Wednesdays from 4:30-5:30, and I have worship team rehearsal on Thursday evenings. It's nearly impossible for me to have the time to cook. 

Enter the crockpot! I love my crockpot! Probably one of my favorite kitchen tools!

I will say, though, that it isn't easy finding real, whole food recipes for the crockpot that don't have cream soups and other yucky things in them. That sent me on a quest this month.

And here's what I came up with - my October 2012 menu with lots of crockpot recipes: October 2012 Menu.

Our family loves a hot bowl of chili over Frittos (ok, so they're not real food, just comfort food) with shredded cheese and onions on top (only us adults add the onions).

Last night, I made potato soup with celery, onions, broccoli, cheese, and bacon. It was delicious!!!! And with the crisp, cooler weather, it felt oh, so good!

Our Weekend To-Do List
What will the Seiler family be doing this weekend?

• Planting some fall seedlings in our new garden
• Continue work on the future pig pen with anxious anticipation of the three Hampshire/Duroc cross piglets we have on order that will be arriving beginning of November.
• Cleaning chicken coop
• Picking up my daughter's new Holland Lop doe rabbit so she can begin her rabbitry. My son already has his two Mini Rexes and has his "business" started.
• Washing both cars and getting oil changed in one
• Visiting my husband's grandfather with alzheimers
• Picking up school supplies for next week's lessons

September Menu & Chore Chart

I was late getting my September menu completed this month - just finished it last night. But thought I'd share it with you anyways. We're trying to transition to all organic, and since we don't buy as much processed foods, and cutting down tremendously on snacking, the budget hasn't seen that much difference. This month, I've been shopping once per week, which is new for us, but necessary, as my husband does not get paid once monthly anymore, but every two weeks instead. I shopped exclusively at Sprout's this month, and I loved it!

SEPTEMBER MENU


Here's the kids' chore chart - ever changing, especially as we settle into the new house and routine.

SEPTEMBER CHORE CHART

And some pictures Holly (my sister-in-law) and I took of the kids before she left.

My Week, Including a Few Bummers, and Some Yummy Homemade Strawberry Jam

We're on our second week of school, which has gone very well so far! We're having a good time, and there's several aspects I'm really enjoying:
1. All of my children are doing computer-based math, which is a first for our family. This has made a HUGE difference for me, as I spent the bulk of my time schooling the kids in the area of math. It's just time-consuming. All the boys are doing Time 4 Learning, and Hannah (my 8th grader) is doing Teaching Textbooks. So far, so good!
2. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Vintage Remedies for Tweens, as I knew I would. It's a total blast, and the kids are applying so much of what they're learning.
3. So far, I like my Bible curriculum, Bible Study Guide for All Ages. I wish I would have purchased the pieces that supplement it, though, such as the timeline and music CD. That would probably make it more enriching.
4. My kids are LOVING their new music classes at a nearby music studio, Newsongs. They are all doing very well. I'm grateful for exposing them all to music from a young age and teaching them each some foundational parts of music, as it is paying off. Their teachers are impressed with their rapid learning pace.

There's a few things I already want to tweak about our schooling:
1. I've been doing my lessons for history and science and Vintage Remedies on Tuesdays, and the projects for those lessons on Thursdays. But that is making for a very busy Thursday, hard to squeeze everything in, a bit chaotic. I may have to do my lesson and projects for history on Tuesday, and lesson and projects for science and Vintage Remedies on Thursdays, and see if that feels more balanced.
2. I tried out our state-adopted Language Arts curriculum this year for the first time. So far, I'm not impressed at all. It's just like I remembered it from my school days - boring, and somewhat pointless, and full of busy work that seems to have no value. I'll hang in there a while longer and see if I feel better about it over time. If not, I may need to make an adjustment there.

In our Vintage Remedies class this week, we did some cooking in the kitchen. We made a delicious "real food" strawberry jam with natural pectin. It was absolutely amazing and super easy!!!

Ingredients
1 green apple, cored and grated (this will provide the pectin)
1 quart strawberries
1 cup organic sugar (jams need real sugar because it is a natural preservative)
3 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

Begin by removing the green ends from the berries. Combine the sugar, berries, juice, and apple in a large saucepan. (When sugar boils, it expands, so make sure the pan has plenty of extra room!) Place the pan over medium high heat to bring the mixture to a boil.

As it boils, some foam will form at the top of the pan. Remove this from the pan with a slotted spoon. Keep stirring while it boils so the bottom does not burn! After 12-15 minutes, check for firmness. You can do this by dropping a small amount of the jam on a cold surface such as a plate. If it is runny, the jam is not ready. If it is thick - like a blob of jam - it is ready!

Scoop the hot jam into clean jars or containers. If you place it into canning jars, you can put them in a water bath and store the jam in the pantry. Otherwise, you can put the jam into pretty jars and keep in the refrigerator.

BUMMER #1: On the same day, we attempted to make homemade whole wheat bread in my bread machine. However, half way through the cycle, my bread machine started smoking and smelling awfully burnt. It's pretty old. I quickly turned it off. It was dead. The machine had seen it's last. I am so sad! Obviously, that bread was ruined.

BUMMER #2: Today, as I attempted to take photos of my strawberry jam for you with my Canon camera, it died. It's been acting funny for a while, always saying the batteries are dead even after putting in new ones. Now, I cannot get it to turn on at all. It tries, but immediately shuts off. SO SAD AGAIN! My Blackberry has a camera, but it often takes pictures much darker than it should. But it's all I have now. Boo-hoo.

Around the farm, the chicks are getting big and beautiful, with all their colorful feathers. There is one or two we suspect may turn out to be roosters, but still too soon to tell. They are starting to eat scraps from our kitchen, pretty much anything I chop up very finely for them. Tomorrow is coop-cleaning day. Whoopie!

The tree-house building is still coming along! They've got most of the bridge finished between the two trees. New ideas of what to add keep coming. For history this week, we had a Scottish Nationalism project, which led to the children developing their own Seiler tartan pattern, painting it on a large piece of cloth, and they plan to use it as their tree-house flag.

My father-in-law received a gate opener for his birthday this past week. We all cannot wait until it is installed. Then we won't have to get in and out of the car to open the gate every time we leave or come home. We hope to get it installed next week. Another whoopie!

And that's about it around the Seiler home. 

Loving this Book, Visit from Cousins, & a New Chicken Coop

LOVING THIS BOOK
Thanks to a review from 100 Days of Real Food, I ordered a book entitled French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon. The subtitle reads, "How our family moved to France, cured picky eating, banned snacking, and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy, healthy eaters." I'm only half through it, but I'm loving it! So far, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to teach their children to eat what is served to them and enjoy a wider variety of healthful foods. We've already started implementing some of the ideas from this book in our home. Can't wait to read on!

VISIT FROM COUSINS
On Wednesday, my sister-in-law and her three children visited our new home. They were in the area (they live up near Portland, OR). My children don't get to spend a lot of time with their cousins because of distance, so this was truly a blessing. They always have such a great time together.

This is my youngest niece, Adeline, playing on her Mommie's cell phone.

This is my oldest and youngest sitting together.

A little friendly cousins game of volleyball.

Coco suggesting they play badminton instead.

All the Duncan grandchildren together - yep, that's mine who is crying and refusing to take the picture.

The girls have to stick together in the midst of all those boys running around. They got away and had some girl time and laughter.

NEW CHICKEN COOP
Last week, I told you we were having a chicken coop delivered. We got it on Saturday, and it's so awesome! The girls (hens) love it, and immediately went in and set up home. They were scratching here and there making it just right. They are very happy! We bought barn red paint to paint it.

This is the back, which actually opens to clean it out.

There's three nesting boxes on each side, for a total of six.

Tour Our New Country Home (Pt. 2) & Our First Country Scare

We're all moved in, and slowly getting settled. Yesterday, I gave you a tour of the outside spaces of our new country home, Heritage Farm. Today, I'd like to show you the inside of our beautiful home. Then, I'll share with you a little scare we had over the weekend.

Come on inside...

This is our entrance - the front door

This is the view when you walk in the front door - you are in the living room/dining room

This is our (messy) living room

Standing at the dining room table, this is the view of our kitchen. The kitchen is quite small, so I added these bakers' racks to help store larger items. I LOVE them!

View from the kitchen out to the back porch

Standing in the hallway, this is the view of the kitchen and out to the back porch.

Headed down the hallway to the back of the house, the first door on the right is the kids' black and white bathroom.

A little further and to the left is Noah & Nathan's Playhouse Disney bedroom. It was already painted this way, and they liked it so much, they wanted to keep it. (Again, still unpacking.)

The next door, on the right, across the hallway from Nathan & Noah's room, is our master bedroom and bathroom. We have a beautiful view of the backyard. We also have the desk in our room.

The next door you come to as you walk down our hallway is the original door to the garage, which was converted to living space. Currently, my husband's parents are using it as living space (until we build our own house).

These built-ins were already here, along with the wall art. My husband's parents use this area as a kitchen. They were even able to fit their pub table (in the left of the picture).

These built-ins were also in my in-laws converted living room space. So nice!

If you keep walking through my in-laws living room, there's another separate small room. Currently, my sister-in-law, who is a missionary, is staying in this room. She will be leaving at the end of the month for a two-year term in the Comoros Islands. At that time, my in-laws will take over this space to use for their office and other storage.

Back to the hallway, the next thing you see, past the converted garage, is this lovely view! These built-ins were also included already, and they store SOOOOO much stuff! I'm in love!

I even found this space across from the built-in bookshelves to hang my homeschool posters.

The next door on the left is Joshua & Luke's bedroom. Their window looks out at the front porch.

Josh & Luke have these wonderful built-in desk & shelves in their bedroom.

And at the very end of the hallway (which is L-shaped), is Hannah's teeny-bopper heaven. Her windows look out to the front yard. The house is so well insulated that we hardly hear her singing at the top of her lungs to her music. Unfortunately, she hardly hears us when we call for her, as well.

I didn't show you our laundry room, our hallway pantry shelves, or the master bedroom, but hopefully, you get a feel for how our home is laid out. I was fearful that going from 2600 sq ft to 1800 sq ft would be too difficult, but I absolutely LOVE the size. Having so much outdoor space makes everything feel roomier! I'm very comfortable!

Our weekend scare...

Several months ago, a gentleman in our church gave us an adult-sized go-cart, as his children were grown, and they no longer wanted it. It sat in our city-home garage all this time, wondering if we'd ever have a place to drive it.

Then this property came along, and all of a sudden, we had five acres to play on with the go-cart. Dad and the kids fired it up and took it for a spin, and everyone had a blast. On the 4th of July, the go-cart was the highlight of the party. Everyone had fun driving it around!

Hannah taking Dad for a spin.

Josh loved to drive 5 year-old brother Noah around. Joshua can't reach the pedal to make it go very fast, so they put around.

Well, on Friday, we had a little accident. Joshua turned a little too sharp left, and Noah, who WAS wearing the seat belt, fell out on the other side somehow. The back tire ran over his arm, giving him a really bad road rash. He also scraped the other forearm and elbow pretty bad, as well as his forehead and the tip of his nose. I was concerned about the large road rash, and decided to take him to the ER.

When we got there, they decided to treat him in the trauma unit, just because he was ran over by a go-cart. I really didn't sense he had any broken bones or any head injuries, but they wanted to be safe rather than sorry. They put him on a gurney and wheeled him off to a trauma room which had 12 doctors and nurses waiting for his arrival. It was straight out of a scene from "Trauma: Life in the ER." They cut his shirt off, put a neck brace on him, and started examining him from head to toe, documenting every scrape on his body. It was crazy!

He was amazing! He didn't cry at all (except for right after the accident while at home), he answered all their questions, and did everything they asked him to do. They put in an IV, took x-rays of his chest, back, and both arms, as well as a CT scan of his head. He endured it all. They said, "We've had patients far older than you that do not behave this good."

Thank our precious God, all those x-rays and scans and blood tests came back perfectly normal. It was just a soft tissue injury. After about three hours, they finally began to wash his wounds and bandage him up, and that's when the crying began. They did give him morphine, but it didn't seem to help. He hated the cleaning of those wounds!

Nana tried to make Noah happy with this teddy bear. Joshua felt so responsible and was really sad.

Little brother Nate was very worried about brother, and asked Papa to bring him up to the hospital towards the end.

That morphine is nasty stuff! Not only did it make him itch everywhere, but it knocked him out for the ride home. Later that evening, he threw up.

We are all so grateful to God that Noah didn't have any more injuries! He's not happy to change the bandages each evening, but his arm is already beginning to heal. He's getting LOTS of pampering. He's very loved by his whole family! Today, he played just like he always does, jumping on the trampoline, running around, and acting goofy. Kids are so resilient!

My New Favorite Breakfast

I want to share with you today my new favorite breakfast! It's amazingly tasty, healthy, and packed FULL of vitamins! It gives tremendous immediate energy as well! And best yet, most everyone in my family loves it!


MOVE UPDATE: Before I tell you about my favorite breakfast, I will let you know that we're STILL waiting for keys to our new farm. Hopefully, we get them tonight or tomorrow. Progress is being made, it's just slow. I cannot wait to get out of boxes and to live in a place that is tidy and put away again!


MY FAVORITE BREAKFAST: OK, my favorite breakfast is a Green Smoothie. Now let me just say that, for most of my life, I haven't cared for smoothies at all. I've never really been into them.

So why did I start drinking them? Well, I'm becoming more and more aware of the extreme benefits of eating what God made - and ONLY what God made for us to eat. Every first of the year, our church does a 21-day fast, and I usually do the Daniel Fast. I feel so good on the Daniel Fast, and always lose a significant amount of weight.

Now, I'm not a vegetarian or anything, but I do strive to make the majority of what I eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. I feel the best when I eat this way. My body performs better.

Green smoothies are like an extreme dose of vitamins shooting through your body. It's so awesome! My husband and I both report feeling much more energy throughout the day when we start with a green smoothie.

So what's in my green smoothies? Well, first, let me say, they really aren't green in color. The name "green" comes from the fact that vegetables are included.

My green smoothie recipe is more of a template than a recipe. It really just contains whatever I have on hand. I am subscribed to a blog called The Green Smoothie Girl, and I got my template from her. I use a Ninja mixer right now, but it doesn't do a very good job getting things really smooth. It leaves a few chunks. I would love to get a BlendTec or VitaMix blender someday.

The template pretty much goes like this:

STEP 1: Start with filling the blender with about 1 cup of filtered water. Add any sweeteners or other liquids or powders. I use agave nectar for a sweetener, as well as local honey (our family has horrible allergies, so local honey helps with this). I add Flax Oil, or ground flax seed, as well.

STEP 2: This is where I add all the vegetables. I typically add a handful of both spinach and kale, one large carrot and a celery stalk (with leaves), and a pinch of alfalfa sprouts. Some days, I get all of this in there. Some days, I'm out of one thing or another, but whatever I have is what I put in. Then I blend that all together for about 90 seconds.

STEP 3: Now it's time for fresh fruit. I reach into my fruit bowl and add whatever I have. Usually, that includes one whole peeled orange, a peeled banana, a cored apple, a cored pear, a pitted peach, and I usually add a quarter of a lemon WITH the rind, as lemons have tremendous health value. Then I blend that all together.

STEP 4: Lastly, I add my frozen berries. This is where the color changes to an appealing purple/pink. I buy frozen strawberries in large bags at Costco, as well as their organic mixed berries. I add about six strawberries, and then pour in about 3/4 - 1 cup mixed berries. I blend it all up for as long as it takes to get the consistency I like (which, in my current blender, doesn't really ever happen, but I get it close).

Every day, my husband and I shoot to drink 4 cups of this smoothie. We may only do 2 cups at a time, but we try to drink the remaining 2 cups later in the day. My kids just drink as much as they want. If I have leftovers, I've recently enjoyed making those into frozen pops for the kids. I ordered these Norpro Silicone Ice Pop Makers, and I love them! You can even fill them with applesauce, ice cream, fruit, yogurt, pudding, just about whatever.

So that's my new favorite breakfast. I hope you give it a try and experience the benefits our family has experienced. Let me know what you discover!