(And All My) Work Be Praise

  Read last year's list here. This year was definitely divided into segments: the first half of the year, when I read a ton of chick lit while nursing Tessa, and the last half of the year, when I tried to keep ahead of middle grade literature. I'll note my thoughts on appropriateness here and there, in case it would be helpful! I have four strong readers, ages 6-11, so I'm not just pre-reading for the oldest, but for whether we can all pass it around. Age ranges are for our family (I consider Levi to be 12, in terms of his reading maturity) -- you might be okay reading things earlier or later. Feel free to ask for more specific thoughts! The Bible The whole thing, twice for the NT You can read about the Bible reading plan I follow here: https://biblereading.christkirk.com/ Christian Non-Fiction *Eve in Exile *Worship by Ligon Duncan (started but not finished) Adult Fiction *Weird Sisters *Tombland (the last in the Shardlake series I read last year) *The Interestings (not ...

Have you seen the Christmas ornaments "celebrating" 2020? Toilet paper rolls, face masks, quarantine, social distancing, distance learning . . . all of the bizarre things of this year "commemorated" to be chuckled (or cried, depending on your year) over for Christmases to come. I cannot count how many times I have uttered (or heard uttered) the phrase, "what a weird season." And a long one, too -- a season we're not out of yet, though I join with those who are optimistic for an upswing by the end of January or so. This morning we sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing  at church, and ever since my praise team rehearsed it on Thursday, I can't stop thinking about the second verse: "Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I'm come." The story of the Ebenezer stone from 1 Samuel 7 is one I've carried with me since my divorce in my mid-20s, when a friend gifted me a small stone with reference to Samuel. "Thus far the Lord ha...

Today was "use up random ingredients" day -- a third of a jug of apple cider, the bottom cup of a jug of orange juice, blueberries that had been at the bottom of the freezer for a while. I made apple cider waffles (quadrupled the recipe) and orange-blueberry bread (instead of muffins, because honestly I just didn't feel like scooping batter into muffin tins). This isn't my usual orange-blueberry muffin recipe , so I can't vouch for it yet, but it smelled yummy while baking! Between the last ten weeks of prepping/baking and the bulk pork purchase, our garage freezer is now stuffed to the gills! That puts me in a great place for the holiday season: plenty of food on hand for easy breakfasts and dinners, and Fridays freed up for holiday prep. Of course, I don't anticipate much actually happening  for holidays this year (thanks, COVID), but it's still nice to feel a little ahead of the game in early November! I'll have to remember this next fall. :)

We've done a variety of things in November to keep a running gratitude list leading up to Thanksgiving. Take note that not a single thing here is Pinterest-worthy in any way. I'm a firm believer that a roll of butcher paper and a box of markers, maybe a cookie cutter and some scissors if time allows, is more than sufficient to accomplish discipleship. 2012 tree  (when I had a 3-year-old, 2-year-old, and five-month-old) 2013 leaves  (when the new toddler would've ripped anything off the walls) 2014 chart  (when Sid the Science Kid was all the rage in my house) In November 2015, we were packing up our house to move to Minnesota. There was no time for projects. In November 2016, Calvin was a month old and I was absolutely swimming in new-baby-hood. There was no mental capacity for projects. 2017:  The Thanksgiving Alphabet. This was the year we put "baby" on the list right before I found out I'd miscarried. Some holidays carry sadness, you know? 2018: I couldn...

I finally  got to the baking I've been planning for weeks. First a full dehydrator and instant pot full of apples (for rings and applesauce, respectively), and then apple biscuits , orange zucchini bread and apple pecan bread . I made up the apple biscuits through cutting them out, then flash froze on a cookie sheet, to be stored in a ziploc bag for baking in the future. I doubled the apple pecan bread, and the orange zucchini bread made two loaves as written, but I only have three loaf pans. So I did half the zucchini batter as muffins. And, the exciting part for me, this week we replaced our toaster oven [the old one died] with a larger one that can fit an entire 9x13 pan. You know you're a dedicated homemaker when a new toaster/convection oven is the highlight of your week! So big and so shiny! And it fits my big stoneware pans! Baking haul, plus messy counters behind. The truth is, with my crew, three loaves of bread and twelve muffins is probably only two or three breakfa...

As I mentioned in my homeschool curriculum post , Silas and Toby are using Galloping the Globe  as their core guide this year. We're learning a lot about animals and their habitats, a few key people and people groups from each country, assorted facts about assorted other things . . . and food! The Galloping the Globe  text has a few recipes included, and I purchased Eat Your Way Around the World   and the Usborne Children's World Cookbook . (Note that the latter, while a beautiful book as Usborne books always are, is not terribly helpful for unique recipes.) Our first continent to study was Africa. Here's what we ate: Kenya : peanut bread Morocco: couscous with chicken, orange and date salad, honey-glazed carrots, date bars, mint green tea, square flat bread rgaif Bonus: we sat on the floor and ate off the coffee table! Nigeria: banana fritters Egypt:  shish kebabs and rice casserole biram ruz beef and onion kebabs, plus watermelon (which is grown there) Stay tuned f...

Apples, apples, apples. I got through all the pears, but still have probably 20 pounds of apples in the garage -- and that's after  making a sizable dent today! In a whirlwind of multi-tasking, I made, in this order: * apple cinnamon rolls (currently rising in the fridge to bake tomorrow)  *peeled and sliced rings for the dehydrator (ours has four trays, so however many apples that is . . . ) *a stock pot of chicken broth using the carcass from roast chicken earlier in the week (which of course has nothing to do with apples, but needed to be done) * apple butter (about a quart and a half, after it was all blended up) I spent the afternoon working on food for our geography studies, but I intend to post about those foods separately! A busy busy day in the kitchen -- so, as a side note, special thanks to whomever it was on Facebook who mentioned that there's a new season of the Great British Baking Show out. I don't remember who you are, but I'm grateful!

Technically, this isn't a *Friday* cooking post. Last Friday we took advantage of the glorious weather go to to the zoo . That turned out to be a great decision, as this past Friday, we had our first snowfall. Seven days from t-shirts and shorts to snow.  At least it melted by the afternoon! I did want to share quickly, though, about my favorite homemade hamburger buns  that I baked last week. I double the recipe to make 24, which lasts us three meals. I use all white whole wheat flour, freshly ground, and they are soft and delicious!  I also made two more batches of pear-apple sauce, and a big pot of these cinnamon pears  for the freezer. And lastly, this afternoon I whipped up this apple twist bread on a whim, for the sheer joy of baking something yummy! (Well, and because I still have dozens upon dozens of apples left in the garage.) I did one as the recipe said and one with pizza sauce and cheese . . . except that the cheese turned out to be moldy so I had to cu...

Between the boxes of apples we picked from my parents' neighbor's tree and the boxes of pears gifted to us by a dear friend at church, my Friday cooking is now more about using the produce than filling the freezer! (The freezer is getting pretty full anyway, and we have half a hog coming next month. We've been getting a quarter cow from farming friends for a few years, but this is our first time buying bulk pork!) I did another full pot of applesauce, but in the crockpot, and I swapped out about 1/3 of the apples for pears. It's delicious . However, I didn't peel the fruit, and the pear skin is a bit tougher than the apple skin. I don't mind it, but I think some of my kids will protest. I'll probably do another batch this week (soon, since the pears are starting to bruise!) and peel the fruit first. Much better than apple-pear sauce, though, is the pear fruit leather . We have a dehydrator, but it only has one solid sheet for drying purees, so I used two big...

I'm so proud of myself for sticking with this. I'm not doing a ton each week, but every little task completed helps! Today I made: A double batch of my favorite granola Two pumpkins, roasted whole to puree  A double recipe of these cinnamon apples . I don't think I used enough water in the instant pot, because I tried twice and even though I didn't get a "burn" notice, it wouldn't come to pressure. It got hot enough inside to cook the apples a little bit and thicken the glaze, though, and I think they'll end up just the right consistency after being heated. 16 cups of raw sliced apples made 8 cups of cooked cinnamon apples. I think I'll freeze most of it for pie, and some of it for a side dish with pork chops. Yay for fall food! Okay, it doesn't make the prettiest picture.  But can you imagine the cinnamon smell?!

Applesauce! We went apple picking in my parents’ neighbor’s yard last week and brought home a sizable box of apples. They’ve been collecting fruit flies since, so I needed to act fast! I didn’t measure anything so I can’t exactly give you a recipe, but into the trusty instant pot I put: a cup or so of water, a few healthy splashes of lemon juice, several large dashes of cinnamon, and enough cored-and-quartered (but not peeled) apples to reach the “max fill” line in the pot. Six minutes cooking time, full NPR (took about 40 minutes), a minute or two with the immersion blender, and I have three quarts of applesauce. 👍 I left enough space in the jars that I can freeze them for future use.  So, I’m not any farther ahead on breakfast than I was last week, but my house smells fantastic! 😁

What I really needed to do today: deal with the two remaining zucchini on my counter and bake ahead for breakfasts.  What I actually did today: threw some frozen chicken breast and a few other ingredients into Ziploc bags for quick "dump" meals.  First, a stir-fry for a family with a newborn: *In a gallon Ziploc bag: one red pepper, sliced half a large onion, sliced a tablespoon each (more or less) of ginger and garlic 2-3 chicken breasts, sliced *In a smaller bag or small jar: 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tbsp cornstarch *Stir-fry the chicken and veggies until cooked through. Whisk the sauce until smooth, then add to the skillet. Cook until thick and bubbly. Serve over rice. Then I made up two freezer bags from this freezer cooking blog post , the Thai peanut chicken and the cranberry chicken. I chose these two solely on the basis of what ingredients I had in the pantry and fridge! As I said last time, I'll most likely do these in the instant pot rather than t...

For years, I have tried to jump on the "morning basket" bandwagon and/or use our time at the breakfast table productively. I'm choosing to take it as a sign of growing maturity and wisdom that I have stopped fighting our natural household rhythms, without any guilt. We don't do breakfast together, and that's okay for us. When we did  occasionally manage to start our mornings together, the focus was on Bible and catechism memory work. Obviously, I don't want to lose that, and I struggled for a while to find a system that would work for us. I honestly don't know how I came up with our current system, but one month in, it seems to be working reasonably well for this season! Bible memory work is now a part of our "habit training" system. This idea I "stole" from Life As Mom : the morning and evening "high five." The three oldest have five simple tasks they must complete before bed and upon waking. I'm pleased to report there h...

In my last freezer cooking post , I mentioned using my instant pot instead of my crockpot for a recipe. This sparked a conversation on Facebook, and a friend (hi, Kelly!) asked if I'd done a post on instant pot recipes. I hadn't, since I haven't blogged much since I got my IP! So here it is. WHY I LOVE MY IP 1. While recipes do take longer than you'd expect (because you have to wait for the pot to come to pressure and release pressure), I can start it in the morning with a timer, or I can start it at 3pm when we typically finish our school day, or I can start it at 4:30 just in time for dinner (depending on the recipe). So flexible. 2. Flavors are bolder, without being diluted by crockpot-lid condensation. 3. I haven't had water spill over a pot of rice in three years. (I'll never go back to making rice on the stove!) 4. I don't have to thaw meat! [Cue happy dance.] MY FAVORITE RECIPES (an ongoing list, as I find things I love) BEEF 1. Chili. I barely even u...

Today I made a meal to take to a family with a newborn, so not everything I made was for the freezer. But I think all meal prep falls under the "freezer cooking" heading these days. :) Here's what I made today: * banana wheat germ mini muffins (This was a new recipe for me, and it's a winner!!)  * zucchini, carrot, apple muffins (This looks like a fussy recipe, but it doesn't have to be. I didn't bother with oat flour this time around.) *one jar of refrigerator pickles, out of cucumbers from my mom's garden and a recipe from a lady at church *2 gallon bags of orange chicken, from an old Kraft magazine (It says slow cooker, but I'll do it in the instant pot. I doubt I'll ever use my crockpot again, after the wonders of the IP!) And for the family with a new baby, as well as our dinner tomorrow: * rosemary olive oil bread *dark chocolate butterscotch brownies (also torn out of an old Kraft magazine) *hamburger vegetable soup, for which I used 2 pou...

Isaac has a friend from college with whom I am a casual social-media acquaintance. (You can read beautiful, faith-filled writings at her blog .) This weekend, I shamelessly plagiarized one of their family's fun traditions: YES DAY! We made some adaptations to suit our family and planned the BEST DAY EVER. (Yep, all the capital letters.) A few rules: 1. Daddy has a budget in mind, and he'll let you know if we're getting close. 2. Everything goes back to normal at 6:30pm on Saturday. So, no animal acquisitions, no wall painting, and night-before-church baths and bedtimes still stand. 3. COVID restrictions remain in place, as well as a bit of family democracy when choices have to be made. It would've been fun to do the whole day on a whim, and Isaac would've been 100% on board with that. But since we have a baby who naps and too many little ones to run to the grocery store repeatedly, we made a big list the day before of things they'd like to see happen. Then I too...