Healing

Proverbs 16:9 - The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.

Exactly one week and one day after we moved in to my parents home,

my dad fell off of a ladder.

He broke his pelvis.

He is in the process of healing.

I am glad I am here.

Thank you for your prayers for him.

Changes

Greetings from the newest Lilly Pad.

 

This is a 'what's happenin' in our life' update.

We do more around the pad than just cooking and eating!

Last year around October, my parents were making plans to build a duplex apratment and asked us if we were interested in renting one side and them living in the other side. 

I think my dad likes my biscuits (and cake and bread and cookies....).

After much prayer, we made the decision to sell our mobile home and move into one side.

You know how you make plans and then God has other plans....

We had decided in December that after the new year, we would put our mobile home on the market for sale.  On Christmas Day, Michael came down with a horrible cold, but he did not stop.  This cold soon turned into pneumonia - he stopped.  He had to heal.  After healing some, I guess his immune system was weak.  He then developed a nasty head cold.  All of this turned into about a month of 'pause' for us.  We did not put the mobile home up for sale in January.  We thought maybe we should wait until closer to the time that the apartment would be finished.  Maybe around summer time to put it on the market.  

My parents said that whenever the mobile home sold, we could move back in with them until the apartment was finished.  

During our time of 'pause', a lady called about renting one side of the apartment.  My mom told her that the apartment was already rented, but that her daughter would be selling her mobile home if she was interested - kind of jokingly.

To make a long story short, the lady came to check the place out, fell in love with it and bought it.

The Lord is so good and perfect. 

We moved back in with my parents last Wednesday (almost one week ago).

I wanted to share with you our building progress.  

I love building and all that is involved. 

I guess I love it so much because all I am in charge of right now is making sure they get water and snacks.

...and back rubs!

This will be a lengthy post with lots of photos and explinations so I can bring you all up to the current times.

Drawing the line.  They use string to mark where the footings are to be dug.

This is Michael and my dad.  They are making sure the line is straight.

The footings are being poured.

The brick are being laid.  This is taken on my parent's end.  They will have a basement. 

I do not care about a basement.  It is like the black hole abyss of 'stuff'.

They are painting tar on the foundation to waterproof it.

Mason, Hannah, and Cari enjoying the HUGE mound of red dirt in the yard.

The finished foundation on our side.

This is some kind of insulation between the brick and the green plate.

Laying down the first board.  This is called the 'green plate'.  It is treated lumber that goes around the whole foundation first.  This wood that is so close to the brick needs to be treated to prevent it from rotting.

Next is the floor joist.

Then they nailed down plywood to sheet the floor. 

The girls were happy to be able to walk around on the new floor.

Here they are building the first exterior wall.  They build it laying down and then stand it up using wall jacks.

This is a wall jack.

Here are the three wall jacks.  They are getting ready to lift up the first exterior wall.

This is my dad, my brother, and Michael.

Almost...

Done.

This is the back of the apartment.  From left to right:  The single window will be over the folding table in the combo laundry/bathroom.  The door is the back door.  This will lead from our bedroom to the back porch.  The double window is in our bedroom.

This is the second exterior wall.  The front of the apartment.  From left to right:  The small window is over the kitchen sink.  The middle is the front door.  The double window is in our living room.

It's break time.

These guys had a very long weekend of working.  They first started this weekend by sheeting the floor.  They now have three exterior walls and one load bearing interior wall up.  They are all looking forward to going back to their regular jobs!

I got to help pick up the interior wall.  They did not use wall jacks.  The wall was a little lighter weight because it did not have the sheeting on it like the exterior walls. 

I got a nasty splinter.  It took me about a half hour of digging with a needle under a magnifying glass to get it out.  I wrote 'leather gloves' on my grocery list.

Here is a look at both apartments.  They will be seperated by a double car garage on both sides.  This the back of my parents apartment on the left side and the front of our apartment on the right side.

Us standing at our living room window.

And you thought I only knew how to cook...

Homemade Fruit Rolls

If you have a blender and a food dehydrator you can make these!

You can make these fruit rolls with any single fruit or combination of fruit you like. 

This time I am using my Green Smoothie Recipe. 

If you can hold yourself back from drinking it, you can make fruit rolls with it.

Ingredients:

1 cup of white grapes

3 mint leaves (fresh mint is best)

Lime zest

(cut off the side of the lime about a half dollar coin size piece and just throw it in the blender)

1/2 banana

1/2 cup of frozen peaches

1/2 cup of frozen mango

2 cups of kale

4 pitted dates

1 cup of ice

 

Liquify.

 

Well... okay... you can drink a little.

 

Save at least two cups of smoothie for each 196 square inches of space (14x14). 

   

Since I already have some stored in my freezer, I just used these two cuties.

(You know how I feel about my freezer!)

I have a 'fruit roll' mat for my dehydrator. 

 

Smooth out the 'smoothie'... haha... to a thin, even layer.

I know... I know... looks kinda gross.

Do you know why it looks kinda gross and not bright shiny green? 

BECAUSE THERE IS NO FOOD DYE!!!

No weird ingredients that you cannot pronounce. 

No preservatives.  

No high fructose corn syrup (or sugar).  

No partially hydrated oils.  

No soy. 

No weird stuff hidden under the 'natural flavors' label. 

No nothin'... 

Just plain 'ol raw food.

 

I set my dehydrator for 135 degrees.

Shut the door.... 

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK...

Wait 5 whole hours.... 

I know.  Who can stand it?

 

You could do WAY more than one sheet at a time, depending on how many drying racks you have.  I just like to make them and eat them.  You can store them in a tightly closed container for up to a week.  Or you could keep them in the freezer for up to a year!!!

 

I check the fruit rolls during their drying process to make sure no sticky is left. 

I dehydrated mine for around 5 hours. 

You do not want it to dry at a high temperature just to get it done faster because the outside will get really crisp, leaving the inside of your fruit roll with some moisture.

This left over moisture will promote mold growth.

 

You DO NOT want to eat MOLDY fruit rolls!!!

 

When it is done - peel...

 

 roll...

 

and eat!

 

COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES

... and more COOKIES.

I've been baking cookies and wanted to share some of my favorites.

#1 FAVORITE:  Chocolate Reese Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

2 cups - all purpose flour

3/4 cup - unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon - baking soda

1/2 teaspoon - salt

2 1/2 sticks - butter

2 cups - sugar

2 - eggs 

2 teaspoons - vanilla extract

1 - 10oz. bag of reese brand peanut butter chips

Incase you don't already know, I will say this once.

These things are applicable to all my cookie recipes. 

I ALWAYS use salted sweet cream butter.

I ALWAYS melt the butter. 

I ALWAYS use EXTRA LARGE eggs.

The "white sugar" I use is raw sugar.  Not bleached.

The all purpose flour I use is organic unbleached.  Sometimes I use half - 1 cup of whole wheat, almond or coconut flour in place of some of the white flour.

You can add 1/4 cup of ground flax seed to these recipes.

Mix all the wet together in one bowl. 

Mix all the dry together in a seperate bowl. 

Then, mix together.

I use a medium size Pampered Chef scoop for the cookies.

I pack the dough into the scoop and scrape it off level.

I bake cookies on a Pampered Chef stone.

I use unbleached parchment paper under the cookies.

I bake the cookies at 350 degrees.

I bake the cookies for 9 minutes.

When 9 minutes have passed, I remove the stone from the oven and let the cookies 'finish' cooking on the stone for 2 more minutes outside of the oven on a cooling rack.  Then, I slide the cookies on the parchment paper off the stone and onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.

I FREEZE the cookies and eat them when I feel like it.

My kids like to eat the dough... I DO NOT like cookie dough!! 

Onto the next cookie recipe...

#2 FAVORITE - Coconut Almond Oatmeal Chewies

1 cup - white sugar

1 cup - brown sugar

2 - eggs

1 cup - coconut oil (or 2 sticks of butter)

2 teaspoons - vanilla extract

1 teaspoon - baking soda

1 teaspoon - baking powder

1/2 teaspoon - salt

2 cups - almond flour

1/2 cup - coconut flour

1 cup - shredded unsweetened coconut

1 cup - quick oats

When I scoop these onto the parchment paper, I normally mash them down a tiny bit with my fingers.  These tend to not want to spread out as much as the others so I help them out a bit.

#3 FAVORITE - Oatmeal Crazin' Cookies

2 sticks - butter

1 cup - brown sugar

1/2 cup - white sugar

1 1/2 cups - all purpose flour

1 teaspoon - baking soda

1 teaspoon - ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon - salt

3 cups - quick oats

1 cup - crazins (dried cranberries)

2 - eggs

1 teaspoon - vanilla

1/2 cup - chopped walnuts

 

 

 

#4 FAVORITE - Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

2 sticks - butter

1 cup - white sugar

1 cup - brown sugar

2 - eggs

1 teaspoon - vanilla extract

1 teaspoon - salt

1 teaspoon - baking soda

2 Tablespoons - hot water

3 cups - all purpose flour

2 cups - semi-sweet chocolate chips

#5 FAVORITE - Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup - creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup - shortening - I use all vegetable non hydrogenated

1 1/4 cups - brown sugar

3 Tablespoons - milk

1 Tablespoon - vanilla extract

1 - egg

1 3/4 cups - all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon - salt

3/4 teaspoon - baking soda

 

As you can see, I help these out too.  I mash them both ways with a fork.  This makes the classic peanut butter cookie pattern and helps with spread out a bit.

 

 

Enjoy!

The Harvest

Yesterday, I posted on my Facebook status that I froze 37 quarts of corn.  A friend of mine asked me if that was from my "small little garden".  Our garden is VERY small.  Praise the Lord for others who share their harvest.  My three stalks of corn did not product any edible corn.  I had two ears and both of them did not develop fully. 

I told her our pitiful little garden didn't produce much.  The Lord used her next comment to gently remind me of the more important harvest. 

She said to me "Tracy, your "pitiful" little garden (as you named it) grew more than you ate. It grew a lot of family time that will last forever. A plant will die. You gathered a crop and didn't even know it. :) ♥"

She is right.

Here are some pictures from our summer project. 

Michael built our garden box.

I helped fill the box with soil.

The girls helped plant.

I placed the markers.

Cari planted the potatoes.

Hannah planted the onions.

We planted some pretty flowers too. 

Who can resist all that beauty the Lord has provided?

I love these dirty little hands.

Our first tomato plant. 

The frost bit this one.  We moved it and planted a new one.  After some time though, this plant did produce two small tomatoes.

We planted some herbs too. 

We didn't use as much as I had thought, but the most fun we got out of these were picking them and sniffing them and rubbing them and smelling our hands every single time we walked out to the garden.  The girls would pick the little leaves or sprigs off and take them to people to smell.

Here is a picture after we planted it.

When the frost came, the next night, Michael built this extention and covered it with a tarp and placed to space heaters under it to keep it warm.  He doesn't do anything half way.  Space hearters??!!  Genius.

Our first sprouts.  These are green beans.

These are zuchinni.

Our first strawberry. 

We were waiting on this one to turn red.  I guess the mockingbird hanging out in our backyard tree had his eye on it too.  I caught him in action and ran him off before he ate the whole thing.

I carefully trimmed off the pecked part and washed and divided our first strawberry.  All four of us had a taste of the very first fruit that our garden produced.

The first sight of tiny tomatoes on the new plant.

I can already smell the zuchinni bread....

Tada... our first zuchinni.

These onions will find theirselves floating in some pasta sauce.

Cari is washing the onions.  She LOVES spaghetti, so she was more than happy to help.

These tomatoes are ripening in the sun by our back window. 

Here is the corn we froze.  Hannah helped me prepare it for the freezer.  Her favorite part was picking the silks off of the corn.  Again, praise the Lord for others who share.

Our garden grew...

Looking back through these pictures showed me just how much crop I really did gather. 

Crops of smiles, laughter, and memories.