Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How to Soak Corn Meal for Better Digestion

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Taco Corn Fritters

I’ve shared how to soak wheat flour or oats to aid in digestion. (I’ve also shared that I’m not a die-hard grain soaker, I just do the best I can.)

I’ve been asked several times recently to share how to soak corn meal for easier digestion. Soaking corn is different from soaking wheat flour or oats. For some reason I’d never looked into it much. What, did I think it would be difficult? FYI – it’s not difficult. I figured it out after about ten minutes of reading my Nourishing Traditions book on the subject of soaking corn. I took a few pictures of the process, but really? They turned out silly. You do not need a full picture tutorial to show you how to pour pickling lime into water. Your five year old could do it.

I said all of that to say, “Sorry I didn’t share this four years ago. It’s not that hard.” 

How to Make Lime Water to Soak Cornmeal:

  1. Pour 1 inch of pickling lime into a half gallon jar.
  2. Fill the jar with water. Put the lid on the jar because next you need to…
  3. Shake the jar.
  4. Let the jar stand overnight until the lime settles. 
  5. The clear liquid at the top is your Lime Water.
  6. Store in a cool place (but not necessarily the fridge). 

To soak your cornmeal using Lime Water, it seems to me that most of the recipes in the Nourishing Traditions book recommend that you stir together 1 cup of cornmeal with 3/4-1 cup of Lime Water and allow it to sit for 7 hours before stirring in the wheat flour and cultured dairy and then continuing to soak for another 12 hours or so.

Now, just so you know, I shared this because I had some requests, and I’m always happy to learn new things in the kitchen. Will I be practicing this soaking of cornmeal thing much?  I’m not sure.  I wanted to share the idea with you in case you’d like to look into it more, but I don’t see the huge, incredible benefits to make this worth my efforts. If YOU see the huge, incredible benefits of soaking the cornmeal each time I make Cornbread or Taco Corn Fritters, please do pass them on. I’d really love to learn!

What all do you make with cornmeal?

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Buoyancy in Marriage

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Are You Buoyant?

Unsinkable…ness – Matt’s Thoughts

Do you remember the little jingle “The unsinkable taste of Cheerios, not a lot of sugar to weigh down those Cheerios”? (The off brands are unsinkable too by the way.)  You push it down with your spoon and it slides to the side and floats to the top in defiance. You cover it with banana slices and BAM it pops up next to the banana slice with arrogance. You struggle to destroy it and all the evil that lies within it by taking it to Mt. Doom in Mordor where the ring was forged and…oh, sorry, wrong ring.

So, Cheerios – and the off brands of it – are buoyant. Seemingly no matter what is done they overcome and rise to the top. Does that describe you? Do you choose to rise to the top, or do you allow circumstances to dictate your mood? This is a mindset in life that has implications in marriage. People in healthy marriages rise to the top instead of fighting each other. We achieve this by recognizing who the enemy is, joining forces with our covenant partner and relying on the faithful Lord – the original rotfl.

The enemy is Satan, the accuser*. We are in the trench side by side with our spouse defending each other by building each other up with appreciative actions and words. Satan wants to tear down our marriage relationship and friendly fire is one of his most effective tactics. In our family a verse we often quote at meal times is, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). The children think we are directing this teaching at them, but I need this drilled into me to help me keep my aim away from Laura.

On my own I don’t have that unsinkable…ness, but the Lord is faithful and buoys me. It’s a matter of me letting go of my selfishness and living by His Spirit. As with living by the words in James 1:19 this is easier said than done. If we allow, God’s grace changes us to be more like him day by day.

Lord of the Rings – Laura’s Thoughts

Admittedly, I know a lot more about Cheerios than I know about Mt. Doom in Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Four boys and thirteen thousand (off brand) Cheerios later, I’ve seen the buoyancy of Cheerios a few times. And yet, Matt got me thinking about the Lord of the Rings.

Our wedding rings symbolically bind us. They represent the covenant we made with each other and to God on our wedding day.

We have two choices:  We can let God be at the center of our marriage, and let Him give us the grace to react and respond to our spouse in a godly way – or we can let Satan creep in and chink away at the beauty of the bond that our wedding rings represent. We can buoy, even when we don’t feel like it, even when it hurts, even when it’s hard – or we can give in to the selfishness that at the time seems the easier choice.

The question we must ask ourselves is this:  In our marriage, who is the Lord of the Rings? Is it God – or is it the Deceiver? Are we allowing God to help us rise to the top, or are we carelessly sinking into a pit of selfish living?

 *Read Rev. 12:9-12 for insight on the accuser and how to overcome him.

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. Please send the link to your husbands, or if it’s easier, we’ve created a downloadable article for you to quickly print off and share. Print Healthy Marriage Tips A to Z – Buoyancy.

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Safe Bug Block and Why We Want to Avoid Toxic Bug Block

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Oh, mosquitos. They are horrible, making a fun picnic or outing much less fun. Bug block to the rescue, right? Sure. But is all bug block safe for our skin?

I’m super picky about anything that goes on our skin. Why? Because our skin is our largest organ. Because what goes on our skin goes into our body. Because what goes into our body effects our overall health. Thanks to our son, Malachi, we’ve learned how to treat our skin well so that our overall health will be better. It really is amazing how important it is to take care of our skin.

So while I’m not a fan of mosquitos, I’m even less a fan of spraying harmful chemicals all over my family to avoid bug bites. From Parkinson’s to cancer to behavior issues, I feel that the possible issues that we can face as a result of bug spray are not worth the risk.

I’ve told you all about how the MadeOn Lotion Bar has saved my poor, dry, broken out hands and have made them continually soft and free of pain. I love MadeOn and am so thankful to have learned about their wonderful company and products.

Recently, I had the chance to try the MadeOn Bug Block, which is just as safe, just as non-toxic, just as easy to use as their Hard Lotion Bar that I love. Not that this matters one way or the other with how it works, but can I just say how much I love the way Bug Block smells? Yes, it really smells good. Even my boys said this, and trust me – my boys aren’t so much into caring about how products smell. (Unless it’s bacon…)

made on bug block
Great, so it smells good – but how does it work? Well, here’s my story:

Last week, we sent Asa (our 14 year old) outside with orders to remove all of the green overgrowth on one side of our house – not a fun job, and one that is typically quite mosquito filled. I handed him the MadeOn Bug Block and had him rub it all over his arms and neck and face. He spent a good part of the morning outside with vines and mosquitoes for company. Fun.

Later, I went out briefly to help all the younger boys haul off all the branches and vines that Asa had taken care of earlier. I really only planned to be outside long enough to give some direction, so I didn’t take the time to use the Bug Block. Mistake. I ended up staying out longer and helping more than I had intended, so one hour and several mosquito bites later, I came back inside.

While I tried not to scratch, I asked Asa how the Bug Block had worked. His response was, “Hmm. I don’t think I got bit at all while I was out there. Maybe there just weren’t any mosquitoes?”

Oh no. The mosquitoes were there. I didn’t see them either, but I felt them. Remind me to put on Bug Block next time. It totally kept the mosquitoes away from Asa.

So that’s my MadeOn Bug Block story. It works and it’s completely non-toxic and safe for you and your kids. How wonderful that we can take care of our skin and avoid bugs at the same time. Summer is saved!

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Stop Complaining

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Monday, I was talking on the phone with a friend while simultaneously trying to fit my week’s supply of milk into a very full refrigerator. With one hand holding the phone and the other hand working to rearrange the leftovers and eggs and dressings so that all of the milk jars would fit, I let out an exasperated, “Ugh! Why is my fridge always so FULL!?” My friend, in her loving and wise way said, “Well, when you consider the alternative…”

Huh. No kidding. Was I really just whining about having a refrigerator full of food? Shame on me. 

Why is it so much easier to complain than to have a grateful heart? Why do we tend to complain and whine about things which are actually blessings? 

We complain when the weather is so hot that we feel like we’ll melt and all we can do is long for cooler days – but come winter we’ll be complaining of the cold. If it’s raining, we’ll really want it to stop, but if it’s not raining, we’ll complain that everything is too dry. When the wind blows too hard, we complain that our hair is going to be messed up, but if there’s no breeze at all, we’ll complain about how still it is.

When we stand at our closet, trying to decide what to put on, we complain that we have nothing to wear – then later we’ll stand beside our piles of laundry thinking “woe is me” thoughts about all the clothes that need to be washed.

We complain about all the stuff all over our house that is causing clutter and making a mess – then we complain that we don’t have enough money to buy more stuff.

We complain when the roads are bumpy or full of pot holes, when the snow hasn’t been cleared well and when the streets need to be repaved – but talk to us about the taxes we need to pay in order for this to happen or the detours we’ll have to take so that the work can be done – and we’ll complain again even louder.

We complain that we never have time to ourselves and wish we could just get a moment’s peace without somebody asking us to do something or calling us on the phone – but when the phone is silent and we’re home alone, we wonder why we feel lonely.

We complain about all kinds of things we have no control over and seem to think that maybe complaining might help us feel better, but instead, it just makes us grumpy. We complain about all kinds of things we DO have control over, but really just wish we didn’t have to put forth the effort to make the changes happen.

I’m glad Jesus wasn’t a complainer – can you imagine? “I wish all these needy people would just leave me alone for a change and stop asking for miracles – they’re wearing me out. And this fish – can’t we find something to eat besides fish for a change? And for goodness sake, could someone please get me something other than a rock for a pillow?”

Complaining is an easy habit to get into and a hard one to break. Ha! Something else to complain about. ;)

Or, how about we all work together on being grateful and make a conscious effort to stop complaining?

Think of the peace we could all have if we just decide to stop complaining.

We are blessed! Be grateful!

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Making Homemade Mayonnaise (is not my gift)

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Who knew making homemade mayonnaise for the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge would tempt me to say naughty words? I held myself back though, and merely gave dirty looks to the ingredients in my blender that were not even trying to become mayonnaise and through gritted teeth hissed, “Would you guys emulsify already!?!?!?”

It wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except that I attempted to make mayonnaise at least four times before I could accomplish “mayonnaise emulsification”. We went through a lot of olive oil in the process, and subsequently, a lot of tuna.

Why tuna? Well, I wasn’t going to waste all those ingredients every time I had mayonnaise emulsification failure. Instead, each time, I stirred the runny, stubborn ingredients into a few cans of tuna, added some of my home canned pickle relish and called it lunch. It worked, all but one time. Yes, there was one time I did have to throw the ingredients out. That was the time I was so determined to whip the ingredients long enough and hard enough to become mayonnaise that the ingredients got so hot inside my food processor that the eggs got cooked, causing scrambled eggs to float in my olive oil. Mmmm. Gross as it is, I just had to take a picture – because I’m weird like that:

A perfect example of what not to do.

Regarding a healthy mayonnaise recipe, I do have one to share with you, and I’m sure that after all my previous, inspirational statements, you’re all ready to jump right in and give this a go. Based on all my trial and error, I have a few tips I think you’ll find helpful.

  1. I believe that if I had an immersion blender, this process would work much better. But I don’t have one and I refuse to buy one just to make mayo. If you do have an immersion blender, save yourself some frustration and use it for this.
  2. Pour the oil into the running blender so slowly you think you might fall asleep while pouring. About the time you think you’re pouring slowly enough, slow down.  Slow dripping oil is key for making mayonnaise.
  3. Get your eggs at room temperature before starting this process. 

Homemade MayonnaiseYum

2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon sucanat
1/2 cup olive oil

Place the egg yolks, salt, vinegar and sucanat into a blender and run on high speed for about a minute. S-l-o-w-l-y pour the oil in while the blender is running. I’m talking, let the oil drip into the running blender at a horridly boring pace. Just stand there, with the blender running, dripping oil for several minutes. Don’t get impatient or you’ll be making tuna.

My mayo turned out very yellow in color because of our lovely free-range chicken eggs, which are rich with nutrients. 

This mayonnaise did taste very good, as well it should have after all the work it took to figure out how to make it. But I will never be known as the Mayonnaise Queen, nor will I ever be asked to speak at the Heart of Mayonnaise Convention. I’m also pretty sure I shouldn’t be your “I’m having trouble making mayonnaise” questions go-to gal. I do not believe making mayonnaise is my gift, nor do I wish to become a professional mayonnaise maker. 

But, I am pleased to say that I figured out a healthy mayonnaise recipe and now I can move on to try and conquer the remaining recipes in the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge.

Have you conquered mayonnaise before? What’s your favorite use for mayonnaise? Ever given your mayonnaise dirty looks?

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Gratituesday: Eye to Eye

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I promise you he wasn’t this tall two weeks ago. Close, but not quite.

It hit me a few days ago that something was different when I’d have conversations with Asa, our oldest son who just turned 14. And then I figured it out. I am looking him directly in the eye when we talk now. He’s done it. He’s caught up to me. And if he keeps going at this rate, we won’t be seeing eye to eye for long. Instead, I’ll be getting a neck ache when we visit because I’ll be looking up to meet his eyes.

He’s pretty proud of this accomplishment and who can blame him?

I’d just like to restate what I said last year when Asa turned 13 (you know, back when he was shorter than me). Having a teenager is a joy. It is not all gloom and doom like so many people warned us about. I will admit that I’ve been taken aback by all the new territory we’re venturing through – all the new parts of life that include having a teenager (you know, like the “girls think my son is cute” part). Good gravy. I try to have an “Oh isn’t she sweet” attitude, but typically I tend to have more of a mother bear snarly, “Back off Sistah!” thing going on. He is only 14, ya know. Good gravy.

There is much we need to help guide him through, and as tough as the diaper years were, sometimes I’d like to run back to that time because even though I wasn’t getting any sleep, at least I felt more in control of the decisions our kids needed to make. Asa will be a high school freshman this fall. I feel a weight of responsibility as we are on our last few years of raising our son to be a godly man. I feel inadequate as we begin to figure out the moments to let go, while at the same time, offering guidance and what I hope is wisdom as he becomes more independent.

Well now, look at me getting all weepy. It’s just that, he’s my first baby, you know? And we see eye to eye, can you believe it? Thankfully, we still see eye to eye about spiritual matters too. I pray constantly that Asa will continue to grow in his walk of faith.

God is good to walk this journey with us. I’m thankful that He can protect Asa with a more powerful stronghold than I ever could. I’m thankful that God saw fit to give Matt and me the opportunity to raise this teenager. Bless Asa’s heart, we don’t know what we’re doing. We’re practicing on him before we raise three more teens in just a few years. But God is faithful and promises to make up for our weaknesses. Yes, even in parenting.

Especially in parenting.

God is good. 

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

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please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Buying in Bulk – Do You Have the Space?

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Before I can talk about the foods I like having on hand and the foods I purchase or preserve in large quantities, I think it’s best to let you know a little bit more about our family’s storage capabilities. God has blessed us with a large house that has a large storage room. We have (through the years) invested in not one, but three large freezers. We have a large pantry and a large kitchen and after you’ve typed the word large this many times in the same paragraph, it begins to sound funny in your head. Large. Large. Is it just me, or does the word large sound funny now? (It’s largely possible that it’s just me.)

I say all of that (in large part) to let you know that I’ll be sharing what works for our family – then you can take that information and do whatever will work for yours. Even if your house and storage abilities aren’t as large as mine, you still may be able to swipe some of my ideas (or learn something from all the brilliant minds who leave comments and share what works for them!). But make adaptions based on what God has blessed you with. If you have a small home with minimal storage, you’ll have to get more creative. For instance, you could sell your couch and build your own living room furniture from your bulk purchases. Fifty pound bags of wheat and oats would make very cushy chairs. Five gallon buckets full of rice and beans could serve as your end tables and you could use jars of coconut oil and canned peaches as book ends. Bags of pasta would be fine accents on your “wheat and oat couches” – you know, like pillows? Adorable. 

Or not.

Don’t ever ask me to come help you decorate your home. It’s clearly not my strong suit. Moving on…

Why do we have three large freezers? Well, we’ve found that it’s an investment that has saved us hundreds of dollars each year. We bought them used, and if you recall, they are as ugly as can be – one of the reasons we got them for such a low price. Having them has enabled us to purchase high quality meat in bulk quantities. Even more exciting, when we’ve been blessed to get our hands on free strawberries or peaches – when our garden has been producing bumper crops of green beans – when we are able to get a great deal on a year’s supply of corn to put up for the winter – we’ve got the freezer space to handle the quantity. By the end of summer, our freezers are crammed full of produce, much of which we’ve grown ourselves or purchased for a very reasonable price from local farmers and gardeners.

So, what if you don’t have large freezers or a large pantry or storage space? I was kidding earlier (mostly) about building furniture with your bags of oats, but there really are some great and creative ways for you to make good use of the space you do have. Take a look at how beautifully Jodi has decorated her home with her canned produce. 

I think this is gorgeous:

A colorful close-up:

Think about the usable areas of your home. Can you slide some food containers under your beds? Are there some closet floors that could house some buckets of dry goods? Can you think of a cute way to stack a few containers in a corner of your kitchen? Any chance you have an open wall somewhere that you could purchase an inexpensive shelf that you can decorate with food like Jodi did?

While you may not have the space to store 500 pounds of wheat (our year’s supply!) like I can, I bet you do have a few (or more) bulk storage possibilities in your home.

I’d love for you all to share your tricks and strategies for food storage in your homes. Share what type of home you live in and how you make good uses of your storage spaces.

And really, can’t you just picture the coconut oil jar book ends?  Adorable.

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Menu Plan for the Week

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peachcobblerforvdaysm

Peach Cobbler, our special Father’s Day breakfast!

Here’s our menu plan for this week:

Sunday, June 19
Peach cobbler, milk
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn, chocolate chip cookies
Beef brats, “angeled” eggs, cream cheese salsa dip, corn chips, fruit, homemade ice cream

Monday, June 20
Simple soaked pancakes, blueberries
Spanish rice with chicken, mock frozen yogurt
Sourdough pizza (using the no-knead dough in the Sourdough A to Z eBook), tossed salad

Tuesday, June 21
Scrambled egg sandwiches, oranges
Black bean taco salad, cantaloupe
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans, watermelon

Wednesday, June 22
Creamy orange cooler, cinnamon toast
Meat and cheese burritos, fruit salad
Salmon patties, ranch potato wedges, peas

Thursday, June 23
Blueberry streusel muffins, bananas
Homemade pizza pockets, carrot sticks with ranch dressing, apples
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus

Friday, June 24
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Taco corn fritters, watermelon
Hamburgers on homemade whole wheat buns, baked potato fries, raw veggies with ranch dip

Saturday, June 25
Homemade funnel cakes, fruit
Leftovers
Lamb roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy

And now, a quick shout out to some of our sponsors:

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Appreciate Your Spouse

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Welcome to our first post in this 26 week series, written by my husband Matt and me. We’re excited to be working together on this and in case I haven’t mentioned it lately – my husband is awesome.  ;)

Appreciate Each Other

Show and Tell – Matt’s thoughts

In grade school Show and Tell was when the boys brought cool toys from home and told us about them. I could hardly wait for recess to play with them. The girls brought items that I thought were silly and boring. Obviously, there were differing perspectives involving Show and Tell.

In marriage we need to show and tell our spouse of our appreciation. This isn’t necessarily what I would appreciate my spouse to do for me. We need to crawl into the mind of our beloved by asking, “What could I do for my sweetie that would make him/her feel loved?” If I’m unsure then I need to ask my spouse how he/she would like for me to show and tell my appreciation.

If we aren’t doing this, we take for granted the roles that our spouse plays and the holes that our spouse fills in our life.

We all know Laura enjoys cooking. Bonus for me – she is good at it. Amazingly efficient too. I, on the other hand, measure everything out precisely and find it challenging to prepare more than one item at a time. I sure appreciated Laura’s work and proficiency in the kitchen…meal after meal. How did she know I appreciated it? That’s where I needed to show and tell. Eventually, I learned that she enjoys cooking even more when I express my gratitude for her work and help with the clean-up. She really feels loved and appreciated when I say, “Thanks! That was great,” and then I hop up and start rinsing dishes and/or get our boys going on their clean-up chores. In a healthy marriage, the husband and the wife both seek out ways they can show and tell their appreciation often.

When we practice this, we empower our spouse to continue doing the action or having the attitude that we praised them for. In our case, neither of us enjoy doing our taxes, but Laura thanks me profusely for taking care of that. My motivation for doing our taxes comes directly from her words of appreciation. When I’ve finished I can’t wait to tell her and receive some appreciation.

How Could You Not Appreciate Seeing My New Stuffed Pink Bunny During Show and Tell? – Laura’s Thoughts

You know why I feel appreciated by Matt? Because he’s intentional about showing and telling me what he appreciates. Appreciation doesn’t just happen. I’m not sure any element of a healthy marriage just happens without being intentional. Showing and telling our appreciation takes thought and work – which means we often need to do things we don’t necessarily love doing. What, you think Matt really just loves rinsing dishes? C’mon. But he does the job cheerfully, because he loves and appreciates me. And boy do I appreciate the way he appreciates me. After all, we have a lot of dirty dishes at our house. ;)

Now regarding grade school Show and Tell and the adorable toys I would bring to bore the boys – here’s something else I think we need to appreciate:

God made men and women different – on purpose. Instead of scoffing at our differences, I believe we need to appreciate how God created us to complement one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, we need to show and tell our spouse how we appreciate that they are different from us.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that Matt can handle doing the taxes when I’d never make it through the first line of instructions without my eyes glazing over. Yep, God knew what He was doing when He made us with differences. 

And now, I believe I will go show my appreciation to Matt by making one of his favorite meals. Which he will then show me his appreciation by rinsing the dishes I dirtied. Ah, the appreciation never stops around here. :) 

What are some ways you can show and tell your spouse you appreciate him/her?

Ladies, we know you’re reading here more often than the guys. ;)  We’d love husbands to read this article as well. Please send the link to your husbands, or if it’s easier, we’ve created a downloadable article for you to quickly print off and share. Print Healthy Marriage Tips A to Z – Appreciate.

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Whole Wheat Blueberry Streusel Muffins (plus a little project announcement)

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blueberry_streusel_muffin

A few months ago when I went to my friend Tracy’s Shelf Reliance party, I ordered a big can of freeze dried blueberries for an excellent price. I love having those blueberries on hand – and they work perfectly in these Blueberry Streusel Muffins.

Blueberry Streusel MuffinsYum

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard or soft white wheat)
1/3 cup sucanat  (you can use brown sugar or honey if you prefer)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh, frozen or freeze dried

Mix dry ingredients together well. Add egg, butter and milk, stirring until all ingredients are mixed. Gently stir in blueberries. Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with Streusel Topping and bake in a 400° for 20 minutes.

Streusel Topping:

3 T. sucanat or brown sugar
1 T. butter, softened
2 T. chopped nuts (optional)

This is one of those easy recipes that your kids can help you make. I feel like it is super important for you to get your kids into the kitchen with you so that they can learn the basics of cooking.

In fact, you wanna know a little secret? I’m frantically working on a (big) new ebook/curriculum that guides you in depth through teaching your kids to cook. I hope to have this project finished in the next few weeks (months?) so that you can have it when the new school year begins – hopefully?! (UPDATE:  Here it is!)

Anyway – now you know. I’m not sure why I didn’t tell you earlier – it’s too much fun to keep a secret! I’m super excited about this and hope to create a resource that will be helpful to all. I’ve even “borrowed” some little girls to help make the book a little more well rounded. :)

This may be one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on – combining two of my favorite things in the world:  kids and cooking. Stay tuned for more information about this book as I get closer to finishing it. And if you hear me squealing at any time during the next few weeks, it’s because I really am having that much fun with this project.

Yeah, that little darling in the above picture is cute enough to make all of us squeal. ;)

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