Living Word

So often as I read the Bible it seems like a specific passage pulls me in, speaks to me, prompts me in some way. Lately I have been camped out in Ephesians. A friend called and wanted to talk about something in Colossians, we did, but I immediately returned to Ephesians. And I cannot say why, except that it seems to be where the Lord wants me right now. There is a prayer at the end of chapter 1 that speaks to my heart right now, a prayer for spiritual wisdom.

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1: 15-23 NKJV

Making Baby Finger Food

Back in July I detailed the process and cost of making sweet potato baby food. But now Baby is getting bigger and insists on feeding herself as much as possible which is a messy and time consuming venture for her, but she has fun. So now I am making batches of food she can feed herself.

One of the best is sweet potatoes cubes, mainly because she loves them and sweet potatoes were on sale last week.

It is SO simple.

Buy sweet potatoes.

Peel them.

Put them in french fry cutter if you have one.



Cut these fries into cubes.

Put in bowl, toss with olive oil.


Spread out on cookie sheet (it is actually quicker to do 2 cookie sheets of cubes spread out with a bit of room around than to crowd a cookie sheet).

Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes.

Cool.

Flash freeze (line cookie sheet with waxed paper, spread cubes out, put in freezer) then move to freezer bag.

Now you have a bag of yumminess ready whenever you need it!

Pantry Part 2

Before Baby was born I had done a thorough job of stocking our pantries, and this included cleaning supplies and toiletries. For the most part that held us longer than expected. I had hoped to be back to my usual shopping after Christmas, but with Baby's continuing hip dysplasia and life general it was just too much. At the end of the 1st quarter in the year, we found out that Mr. Pear would be taking a mandatory pay cut, as was everyone in the company, and the pantry became even more important, and much of it held out. Sure we had to buy diapers, wipes, toilet paper, and small amount of assorted toiletries, but somehow it held out better than expected.

This fall some serious holes appeared and I ended up having to pay more than I would like for staple items, and it got me thinking about our pantry situation (and back to serious coupon shopping and CVS!). I was fairly well prepared for Baby's arrival, but not so much for economy's impact on our family. I could have been doing a better job all around, and living in Southern California we should be better prepared, so while some things are not possible to do right now (like invest in a Berkey water filtration unit), some things are, like having a more well rounded pantry.

So here is what I have in the garage now:

This is the book case by the freezer
(that Christian Books Box is canning lids)

This is the shelf and a half of cleaning supplies...
...mostly laundry, dish soap, and toilet bowl cleaner

Actually the cleaning supplies look pretty good still.

I keep paper goods like kleenex and toilet paper somewhere else and the toiletries are under our bathroom sink.

Now that the fruit seasons are coming to and end my goal is to start stocking the pantry with canned and dried goods, as well as some baking supplies. And last night I made a trip to Target for a few odds and ends and Ronzoni pasta was on for $1 a box, and I had $1 off 2 coupons so I picked some up. That with some other purchases already have the book shelf looking better.

Oh, and if you are wondering where cereal and stuff like that is??? It is on top of my top cabinets in the kitchen after the first winter when we had mice in the garage.....

How are you creative with storing your pantry supplies? How do you think you could do a better job of being prepared for life's eventualities? What do you consider a must have in your pantry? What tips do you have for me?

In Kitchen Makeshift Pantry

Remember when I said I would show you how we managed to find room for all the fruit we preserved this year? Well, this is that post. And in fact, the cabinet where we stored all that goodness, or at least the bulk of it, it is the one under the counter in that picture.

It looks like this on the left:



To the right of that box of peaches is where all my cookie trays, muffin tins, half sheet pans etc are kept. Basically I made lots of room by stacking the boxes on top of each other to go 2 high. Really, there was no other option. Also, on the bottom you can see all that extra space in front that does not exist in the top shelf? That is because I stacked loose jars in the back, behind the boxes where little hands cannot reach them!


If you are wondering what is underneath the cookie sheets and to the right of the rice and 4 dozen pints of pears you will find the place my BOSCH mixer usually resides, and behind that:

Flour was on sale for a better price than Costco, so I picked up 10 x 5 lb bags and stored it in the grocery bags to protect the flimsy paper from my cooling racks and general other cabinet mishap...


Now, that is clearly not all my canning, in fact, that one was the easiest because the top was jars and sheet pans, and the bottom left was a big box of oatmeal and some cracked rye, so not much to relocate.

The other spot was a chore. I started by taking out all the canned goods that were in the metal from the manufacturer and anything else that could be stored in the garage.

Then I once again stacked my canned goods.

When you open the cupboard door it looks like this:



If you move the cereal on the top shelf you will see my quarts of tomatoes and salsa:


The second shelf is home to the pear fruit cups:

And the bottom shelf is home to the rest of the pears:


It may not be the pantry of my dreams, but it works, and it holds all the canning I did this year. I do have a few ideas on where to get more space for next year, but that is next year.

For this year I am really happy with the results.

Plod Plod Plod, its a Plodder!

I have been trying to upload pictures to show how we found room for all our jars and what our "pantry" looks like, but our internet is so slow that it is almost going backwards, so I will try again tomorrow. In the mean time we are almost done our apples (pictures on that too) and are working on sweet potatoes (pictures on that too).

So pretty much everything I want to blog about involves pictures...which I cannot load.

So instead I will go to bed nice and early, which is really what I need.

Multitude Monday 8

I am thankful for:

68. The surprising abundance of our little California garden.

69. The amount we managed to preserve this year.

70. Mornings like this one are more the norm as 2 little girls bless me by just being.

71. The Lord continuing to speak through His Word, and the comfort and encouragement that comes with that!

72. A digital camera that works.

73. A husband that encourages me to just try it, what is the worst that can happen?....

74. ...and then encourages me to take a rest and few quiet days when the projects tire me out!

75. Being able to begin the day by reading the Bible to our girls after breakfast.

76. Canadian Thanksgiving...when asked what she was thankful for Miss Pear (4) named everyone at the table and everything on the table....

77. That God is sovereign, and no matter how things look from our perspective He is still God.

I Love Pasta

We LOVE pasta around here, it is a family favorite...you can tell if you look at my pantry, I believe there are close to 20 packages there at the moment....So I am always on the look out for a deal on pasta and good coupons!!!

If you are too, check out It Pays To Eat Pasta giveaway to win groceries, and even if you don't win you can still print off $1 of 2 Ronzoni coupons which make it a great deal at Target even at their regular price!

The crud has come to visit

Well, the crud that is going around has found its way to our house, we are praying it will not stay long because we don't have the time to be sick! (Does anyone ever?)

And I don't just mean the 6 dozen apples on my counter waiting to be dried either!

So I will be back next week with the pictures of how we found room for all that canning, the state of the rest of the pantry and my plan to stock it, and how we decided what to do with the fruit when it was on sale.

See you next week!

This Summer's Canning Summary

This year I decided that I wanted to somehow preserve more of summer's bounty to bless my family all year round. Even though we live in California we have essentially the same selection of fruit as the rest of the country, which is to say it is the best in the summer. So canning started in July with Million Dollar Relish, and ended Friday with a marathon canning pears when they all of a sudden all started ripening at once in the fridge!

Friday's work was the big day and at the end our kitchen counter and bar looked like this:

For those of you wondering that is:

• 2 pint jars
• 17 half pint jars of diced pear
• 46 quarter pints of diced pear (for special snacks for the girls who love fruit cups).

Which explains why there is no picture of the rest of the kitchen after this was complete! Although I am proud to admit that I did not order take out for supper after this...I pulled a frozen pizza out of the freezer instead!

The final count of what we canned this year is:

1. Million Dollar Relish (2 batches): 18 pints, 4 half pints (this is approximate, we have eaten some, so I am guessing.)
2. Bread and Butter Pickles: 8 quarts
3. 7 Day Pickles: 8 quarts...but I think I missed counting 1....so possibly 9
4. Peaches: 22 pints (we also dried a ton and froze 8 pie fillings)
   
5. Salsa: 3 quarts
6. Tomatoes: 8 quarts (plus we dried and pureed some to use in soups and in substitution of tomato sauce and paste, it was a trial to see how it goes)
7. Pears: 59 quarter pints, 17 half pints, 56 pints (plus froze 2 apple pear crisp fillings)

We were officially done canning when I ran out of canning jars! Since Friday 2 quart jars have become available, but they can just wait for either more tomatoes to ripen if we don't eat them or next year.

The only casualty we had was one brand new jar developed hair line cracks while it was processing. It sealed beautifully, but it will be eaten first!

Now we are into apple season so I am making apple chips (dehydrated apple slices) and am planning on freezing apple pie filling and apple crisp filling.

What do you love to freeze/can/dry or preserve some other way to help you in the winter?

My Morning

My morning was a busy and satisfying one.

While I was making breakfast this greeted me on the fridge:


It is Miss Pear's rendering of what "God with us" looks like...that is her and Jesus holding hands.

After breakfast we:

• had Bible time
• read about Canadian Thanksgiving in an excellent picture book and read a couple more picture books
  
• got more apples in the food dehydrator,
  
• planned for Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend,
  
• planned for company next weekend,
  
• made this cake:

Pineapple upside down cake from The Cake Bible

• had school time where Miss Pear declared math to be both fun and easy.
• played more
• had lunch
• started Canadian Rye Bread

So now, if you will excuse me, I think I need a nap!

Multitude Monday 7

54. We are done canning pears and found homes for all of them.

55. That Miss Pear has an excellent pediatric cardiologist.

56. A fun card and paper craft party with friends Saturday night. The theme was Christmas and I made two of my favorite Christmas desserts!

57. It is apple season so we have started making apple chips in the food dehydrator - they are so good and Miss Pear loves them for a snack - she was asking for them before I even got the first batch out!

58. An apple peeler where you turn the handle so I can have a little 4 year old helper who is so proud to be a helper!

59. That even though we are all a but under the weather it is a really mild version of it and not a big deal! Just lots of rest.

60. That God blessed us with a kitchen that is an excellent tool for serving our family. Our kitchen is not a show piece and is not for decoration, it has to work hard.

61. For warm cuddly quilts in cool nights.

62. For a little 13 month old who gently rubs her head against against my leg to get me to pick her up or play peak-a-boo with her.

63. For the knowledge that we have a High Priest who understands what we face and intercedes for us.

64. Really cute fleece to make a blanket for Miss Pear for Christmas (and it was on sale!)

65. Really cute flannel to make handkerchiefs for when we are sick so that our noses don't get so raw (also on sale!)

66. Finding all the supplies needed for a special Christmas craft our very first stop (we are making a set of felt mitts with one mitt being Miss Pear's hand and the other being Baby's hand that will be connected to make a Christmas tree decoration).

67. A sweet family to love.

Friday Night? Really?

Honestly, I am not sure where the week went. On Tuesday I posted about Miss Pear's upcoming cardiology appointment here and sent out a more detailed prayer request to our church and friends, and somehow that made it all to real again, and it was overwhelming. It is better now, still weird, but God has given me strength and peace to make it not quite so overwhelming.

And it was a busy week.

I am officially done canning as the pears were finished today and the last of the tomatoes were pulled out of the freezer earlier this week and canned too. (Okay, so the tomatoes were not planned and I just got mad at them when they jumped out and landed on my toe...it probably was not premeditated on their part, but none the less, they were in quart jars within the hour).

It is a good thing we are done canning too because:

1. I am officially out of canning jars in all sizes from quarter pint through quart.
2. I am going to have to be very creative in finding homes for the last of the pears that were canned today. I have some ideas and I foresee the purchased canned foods going out to the book case in the garage that serves as a pantry.

Tomorrow night a friend and I are teaming up to have a Stampin' Up party with a third friend being the demonstrator. The theme is Christmas so I will be making 2 traditional desserts in our family to share and we will all be sharing different Christmas crafting ideas we have for this year (and hopefully ordering supplies!)

So that is where I have been.

I will hopefully have lots to share with you next week including some pictures of how I manage to cram all my jars of canned goodness into my kitchen! Oh what I would not do for an old fashioned pantry!

Miss Pear's Upcoming Cardiology Appointment

Can you please join us in praying for Miss Pear's cardiology appointment October 22?

This is the follow up to the one a year ago where they discovered she may need to be referred to a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. Actually, the doctor said it was more of a case of when she was referred, not if. But we have been praying for a miracle, a miracle that would defy all medical odds that the membrane would either shrink or disappear completely, both completely unheard of medically.

But God is still in the miracle business, and it is Him that we put our trust in.

Multitude Monday 6

There is something wonderful about praising and thanking God. I want to be purposefully thankful with specifics, even though there are generalities and always things that I am thankful for. God, my salvation, my husband, my girls all count and are the always ones! I want to find the rare gems in each week that are unique to that day, to that time, and note them.

I want to purposefully and wholeheartedly thank and praise God for His goodness to me!

So here is some of what I am thankful for from this past week:

44. In this unbelievable heatwave that is just ending we have had air conditioning that works wonderfully! (And the heat wave is ripening all my tomatoes and peppers!)

45. My husband returned safely from a successful business trip.

46. My tomatoes are not just producing (after it looked like we were going to lose them this year), they are producing abundantly! So far, in addition to eating as much as we would like I have canned 4 quarts of diced tomatoes and 3 quarts of salsa. That might not sound like much until you consider that I live in Southern California so my garden is actually just a raised flowerbed!

47. I found the next book to use for Scripture Memory with Miss Pear - it is again a book with a verse for each letter of the alphabet that explains the scripture, and this one has some basic doctrine worked in.

48. We were able to fix our dishwasher for $4.

49. God is good, always, no matter what, no matter how it looks. And He always takes care of His children, regardless of how it looks from our perspective. This is a lesson that God has been teaching me and I think I am finally getting it!

50. God can always be trusted, especially with my fragile heart and soul.

51. 5 dozen more pears to can and eat!

52. My crochet assistant...or comic relief!

Crochet Lessons

My family gave me a DVD of crochet lessons for my birthday, and I am diligently working to learn. However I often face setbacks when someone little, who shall remain nameless plays with my yarn and practice work, gets tangled up in it, and then crawls away...the end results look kind of like this:


It may not be the most productive work, but it certainly is fun!

Do your children...er...help you with your crafting too?