Are you looking for a healthy alternative to cereal? When you read cereal box labels, do you cringe and only imagine where the ingredients came from?

Here’s a homemade granola recipe packed with a nutritional punch. It’s so easy and my family begs for it! Thanks to my friend, Kim for sharing this with me.

Using your crockpot/slow cooker. Spray or spread oil in the crock.

In a mixing bowl, combine:
3 cups oats, old fashioned
1/4 cup wheat or oat bran
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup Flaxseed meal (I buy the whole seed and grind up, cheaper this way)
1/4 cup oil (preferable butter or coconut oil)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup apple juice, cider, or water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cocoa

Mix well and place in crock pot. Cook on low setting with lid slightly ajar (I use a wooden spoon). Stir occasionally over 2-4 hours. Cool and store in airtight jar/container. Use within 1 to 2 weeks. (It probably won’t be around more than a day or two if your family likes it). I keep it the fridge.

Using the crockpot results in a more chewy granola. If you prefer for it to be crunchy, you can spread the mixture on a cookie sheet and put in oven at 225 degrees for 20-30 minutes with the oven door open.

Also the above recipe is a fairly small amount, so after you try it and if your family likes it, you can increase the volume. I normally triple the recipe and it will last for several days.

If your children are accustomed to eating really sugary cereals, this won’t be that sweet. You can increase the honey and add dried or fresh fruit. Also, if you don’t have these exact ingredients you can mix it up and try out some other things. I’ve found it’s a fairly adaptable recipe.

Enjoy!

Thanks for this link Lisa, at Ancient Paths.

It definitely has peaked my interest.

~Ma

Hanging out at the swing..

We had a great week camping with friends to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot). Lots of time to visit, talk, sing, pray, eat and play! The children went on several hikes on the 85 acre farm. They even built a succah out in the woods on their own. There were many special moments. One particular moment was neat when several of the children (on their own, not directed by parents) gathered together with their own instruments and began to play and sing worship songs together.

We returned on Thursday and unloaded the vehicles and tried to get everything put away.  I’m still working on that!

Yesterday, the children built miniature “succahs” out of graham crackers and dried fruit and nuts.   They turned out very cute.  Morgan even used pretzels to resemble a fire inside the succah.

Decorated succahs

Building....

It’s been awhile since we gave any updates.  My mind is often blogging, but unfortunately there’s just not enough hours in the day to actually get on the computer and type… in between the gardening, canning, and caring for the normal day-to-day with little children, and nursing a three-month old.  Amazingly, he expects to be fed every 3 hours!  Usually he needs me about the time I’m trying to load the canner with the next batch of jars.

I must admit, I’m not good at multi-tasking…but often I have ten things going at once and it drives me crazy!  Then I must take a breath and at the end of the day let the undone stay undone….sigh…

It’s been an exciting, busy and sometimes stressful summer.  Our garden has done well.  We are so thankful to YHVH’s blessing on our harvest.  Here’s a recent picture from the summer…

This is my second summer to use my pressure canner.  I really enjoy getting our pantry stocked up.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding to preserve food this way.  Most all of our jars belonged to Paul’s grandmother.  A few years ago they were passed on to us.  We are so thankful!  I often think of her when I’m filling the jars.  These are the very same jars she labored over for her own family too. 

That very thought comes to mind often when I think of women of the past.  I realize more and more everyday that we have no clue what is real work.  Maintaining a large garden to feed your family year round was a necessity just a couple generations ago.  A couple other bloggers whom I frequent have great ideas to share on this very subject…visit them at Vaughnshire Family blog
and Country Hearts Blog

Here’s little excerpt from Country Hearts at Home….very thought provoking…

“I realized that I had become dependent on the local grocery stores to provide my every need as far as food goes. I was beginning to wonder, how would I provide food for my family if something happened and the stores were not able to keep the shelves stocked? Am I ready to feed my family during a local, national or economic disaster? As the keeper of my home, these were serious questions.
Furthermore, how am I preparing my daughters to be keepers of their future homes in regards to this issue? Surely I can teach them how to make weekly/monthly menus and grocery lists or teach them how to find the best deals through coupons or weekly sales. Those skills are very important when if the grocery stores are overflowing with food, but what if that was to change some day? Perhaps this would not happen in my lifetime, but what about my children and grandchildren? What kind of skills can I pass down to the next generation that will be of great value during a difficult time? “

For me, in addition to these reasons there are also other reasons for learning these skills. When you preserve your food, you know exactly what has been done to it and what has been added to it. Once you make the initial investment in the items you need (canner, tools, jars), you are preserving food much cheaper than what you would spend to purchase the food, plus factor in the nutritional value and there’s just no comparison.

If canning is something you’re interested in doing…I encourage you to try it out. It’s pretty simple and a great skill to learn!

Feel free to send me questions if you have any about canning.
Blessings to you~
Ma

Our daughter wanted to post about her garden.  She decided she wanted to do her own garden this year.  Paul tilled her a spot and she’s done the rest of the work.  She has grown everything from seed except the tomato plants.   I think this is pretty impressive for an 8 year old.  I know I never could have done this at that age.  So here’s what she had to share

Hello,

Here  are  some  pictures  of  my  garden.   I  am  growing the following:

corn

green beans

tomatoes

squash

cucumbers  &

peppers.

So going on, my  corn  plants  are  so  tall.  They  are  as  tall  as my brother, Josiah.  My  tomatoes  are  great.  In fact , I  have  little  baby  tomatoes!

I  hope  you  like  this  post.

God  bless  you  &  your  family!

Morgan

Fried green tomatoes sounding good?

Wow, what a year this has been.  Moving to a new house in January, we had no idea what (if any) garden we would have this year.  Paul wrote in a previous post here here about what we are attempting to do. To our amazement, we have an even bigger garden and lots of great help this year.  We have been blessed immensely to cross paths with some very Godly families who desire for their children to learn some great work skills.  So Paul is getting the opportunity to “mentor” a couple young men in our garden endeavors this year.   It’s also a great time for our young children to work alongside some older children too and see a model for working hard.  It’s amazing what work young people can accomplish when they are eager and motivated to learn.  Here’s some great homeschooling opportunities!

The never ending job of weeding...welcome to organic gardening

400 feet of green bean plants (600 planted in all)

Bunny rabbit's view of the green bean plants...

Squash plants

Cabbage

Young warrior working the soil

I love this picture with the horses in the background.

Tennessee is truly a beautiful place.

Even though our garden is behind schedule, we are excited about the coming weeks and the harvest, Lord willing.  It further helps us understand the process of growing food and the reminder that most of the time we live under the illusion that food just magically appears at the grocery stores.  In reality it takes many weeks, lots of time, energy, and sweat!  And ultimately we can toil, but it is the Lord who gives the increase.

So how are things growing for you in your garden?  We’d love to hear from you.

~Ma

We are beginning to harvest some kale from our garden.    We’ve had so much rain around here and are VERY behind on getting the warm weather crops planted.  Our cool weather stuff has faired pretty well…especially the greens.

Like any green, be sure you start out with a TON of this stuff because it will cook down to nothing!  This a fabulous recipe from my friend’s cookbook.  Thanks Kris!

My four-year-old prefers to eat the kale raw–actually he likes to get down on his hands and knees and eat it right out of the garden.  It’s true…I wish I had a picture of it!  If I can remember, I’ll take the camera to the garden next time.  The rest of us like it cooked up with some yummy butter and garlic.

• 2 bunches of kale
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 Tblsp olive oil or coconut oil
• Celtic salt to taste

Saute garlic in butter in iron skillet on med-hi.  Add kale and olive or coconut oil and add a top/lid.  Stir frequently so garlic will not burn.  Add salt and lid simmer for 30 minutes on low.  Kale should be soft and tender.

Enjoy!

~Ma

I can’t believe the baby is almost 2 weeks old.  We are enjoying his sweet newborn snuggles. 

~Ma

I love these pics of Paul holding his new son soon after his birth.  Can’t you just see how proud he is!

Our midwife got this great shot of him.  Hey, he looks great for being up all night and helping deliver his son at 4:00 am!

Big sister and brothers stayed with Meme and Papaw during the night, but couldn’t wait to get home and hold their new little baby brother.  I love this picture…I’m calling it “Goldie Locks and the Three Brother Bears”

Eli is already asking when Jesse will be crawling.  He also ran to his room and got a big truck for Jesse to play with.  The truck was a big as Jesse!

This makes momma cry…

Hope you enjoy the pics…please leave a comment (yes, you)…we’d love to hear from you!

~Ma

We have been patiently waiting for the newest addition to our family. The Father has blessed us with a baby boy, Jesse Paul. He was born at 4:01 am this morning weighing 8lbs 8 oz. Mama did great and Jesse came through safely. Praise YHWH!!! 

Check back in the next day or so for the birth story!