Garlic Bread Sticks

We love pairing spaghetti, lasagna and soups with bread sticks. These bread sticks are so easy to make and I always get SO many recipe requests. They are loved by many....hope you will share them with your family so they can love them too :)

Garlic Bread Stick

- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 Tablespoon of yeast
- 1 Tablespoon of honey
- 1 Tablespoon malted milk (i skip this ingredient)
- 1 Teaspoon salt

Directions:

- Mix yeast and water together in a bowl. Let sit about 10 minutes.
- Add honey into the yeast water and stir until dissolved.
- Stir in all other ingredients and mix until ball is formed. I use my kitchen aid, works great!
- Separate the ball of dough into small sections and roll out into a long bread stick form with your hands.
- Place on a greased sheet and let rise for 20 minutes.
- Bake @ 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Topping:

- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 Teaspoon of garlic powder (we use simply organic garlic salt)
- 4 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
- 1 Teaspoon parsley or dried/crushed spinach.

Directions:

Melt butter and then mix in all ingredients. Brush on while the bread sticks are baking and then once right before serving.
ENJOY!!

Healing Properties of Breastmilk

So the past week has been a rough one....Ian, myself and the boys have all been sick :( Yucky noses, sore throats, goopy eyes and the whole nine yards. Thankfully we all were able to avoid fevers and slept quite well at night!

So this leads to me ask.....have you ever read about the healing properties of breastmilk? God truly made it a "perfect" food for our little ones, but not only that, it can actually cure many different things! Breastmilk contains so many antibodies that help fight off infection. When applied topically, it can fight off viruses and bacteria. Statistics show that a breastfed infant will have a lower chance of cancer & heart disease later in life. The list goes on and on.....

Well this past week our little men have had red, watery, goopy eyes, not only during the day, but at night too. I am currently nursing our 3 month old and decided I would put drops of breastmilk in their eyes. I actually felt quite silly as it didn't dawn on me sooner, they went a whole day with no treatment! I did this to both boys, a few times and within 10 hours they looked about 75% better. We have continued to do this throughout the week and they are almost 100% better.
So thankful to be able to use natural remedies at home! Are you a nursing mommy? Maybe the next time your little one is in need, your breastmilk will be at their aid!

Jett Ukiah at 5 days old

Raw Milk

You have never had real milk until you have a glass of raw milk! Our family has been drinking raw milk for almost a year now and will never go back to pasturized milk. We are so thankful to have friends that work hard in providing this food for us! Imagine milking two cows, by hand, morning and night!? I have often dreamed of having my own Jersey, but for now we will continue to purchase it :)
The creamy, smooth, delicious flavor of raw milk is really quite hard to pass up! We started researching the benefits of raw milk and were sold. After tasting the difference we will never go back. I have included some great sites about raw milk so check it out and see for yourself how truly beneficial real, raw milk is!

The Health Benefits of Raw Milk

There's little mention in the mainstream media these days, of traditional foods having healing properties. Sure, there's a ton of hype touting unfermented soy products, vegetable oils and supplements as modern saviors, but in reality, these items have risk-to-benefit ratios like many drugs do.

Few people are aware that clean, raw milk from grass-fed cows was actually used as a medicine in the early part of the last century. That's right. Milk straight from the udder, a sort of "stem cell" of foods, was used as medicine to treat, and frequently cure some serious chronic diseases. From the time of Hippocrates to until just after World War II, this "white blood" nourished and healed uncounted millions.
Clean raw milk from pastured cows is a complete and properly balanced food. You could live on it exclusively if you had to. Indeed, published accounts exist of people who have done just that. (For the rest of the article go to Raw-milk-facts.com)

Visit Realmilk.com and Raw-milk-facts.com for more great information about this SUPER FOOD!

Homemade Dye Recipe's

Here are some wonderful ways to naturally dye homemade playdough. We have experimented with different berries and spinach. From experience, the spinach didn't work as well as I had hoped, so I may have to play around to see what I can find! Next time around we are going to use the bark and dandilions! Will post to let you know how they turn out! Some of these recipes/pictures were taken from Skiptomylou.org.

Rose petals

Roughly tear up the petals from about six red roses and put in pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Beetroot

Chop up one medium sized beetroot and put in pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 10 minutes. Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Blueberries

Put a big handful of blueberries and a cup of water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Blackberries

Put a big handful of blackberries and a cup of water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Cranberries

Put a big handful of cranberries and a cup of water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Turmeric

Put approx two teaspoons of turmeric in a pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Oak tree bark

Put a big handful of oak tree bark in a pan with a cup of water (its best not to take it directly from the tree - if you scout around you will find plenty on the ground). Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20-30 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled put through a strainer and add to playdough mixture.

Homemade Playdough

My son Sebastian absolutely loves crafts and a favorite is play dough. I don't know what the ingredients in store bough play dough are, but I am sure preservatives and food coloring are at the top of the list. That's something that we dont want in our house and so we make our own. It literally takes no time at all and lasts for a very long time. My mother-n-law gave me this recipe and it works great!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup natural dye water*
1 cup of flour
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup of salt
1 teaspoon cream of tarter

Combine all ingredients in a skillet. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to pull away from the sides of pan. It will then become a thick consistency and look like play dough. Stir until it forms a ball. Dump play dough into a bowl and let cool. Will keep up to 3 months in tupperware, unrefridgerated.

We used blackberries this last time around to color our play dough. Not only is it much healthier than handling food coloring, but it's also fun to see what you can find around your yard to use for coloring! The blackberries were picked last summer on my family's ranch and turned the play dough into a dark pink! So pretty!
*See my natural dye recipes!

Homemade flour tortillas

Not only are homemade tortillas fun to make, they are also very yummy to eat :)
I decided that I was tired of spending $3 for a pack of 10 organic tortillas. We could easily go through those in just a couple days, depending on what the weekly menu was. I found this recipe and was happy that it didn't contain vegetable shortening. I did tweak a few things to fit our taste. We make all kinds of dishes with them including tortilla pizza, enchiladas, and burritos. These tortillas are soft and fluffy, and smell delish. Using organic ingredients I can make a tortilla that my family loves, is healthy and much cheaper!! Recipe taken from Homesicktexan.blogspot.com!
Cook away!!

Texas Flour Tortillas (adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)

Ingredients:
Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Method:
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.
Slowly add the warm milk.
Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.
Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.
Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil.
While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.
Makes eight tortillas.
*I dont roll out until thin, we like them a bit thicker, especially along the edges! It makes for a very fluffy tortilla!!! Enjoy!

Books

I LOVE reading. Though with two busy, fast growing boys I seldom find the time to do it, unless it's at night :) Yep, I am one of those devoted, crazy, readers who'll stay up till 4:00 a.m. because the book it just to good to put down! I am in love with a few different authors and have read many of there books 3-4 times. A few of my favorite authors are Francine Rivers, Robin Lee Hatcher and Traci Peterson. There is something about their writing that makes you feel as though your living as the characters. And the more I read their books, the more I wish I was a pioneer woman ;) Hope you enjoy reading these books as much as I do!

 

Mark of the Lion Series- Francine Rivers

Redeeming Love- Francine Rivers

Loving Libby- Robin Lee Hatcher

A Love to Last Forever- Tracie Peterson

A Lady of Hidden Intent- Tracie Peterson

When Love Blooms- Robin Lee Hatcher

*Free book offer at robinleehatcher.com/freebook.html. Pay only $3.75 s&h and receive one of her books! I have never used this offer, but it's an awesome deal! Great for gift giving :)