Provident Living "Specialist"?

I am the Provident Living Specialist in my ward at church.  This is the official calling name, but I am by no means a "specialist."  I'm more of a dabbler.

I was asked to put together a night for the women in my ward (church group) to get together and learn about Provident Living.  We must meet our physical needs before our spiritual needs can be met.  What better way to do this than by pampering ourselves a little?  I decided to make this a "Spa" night, and after much group deliberation, we decided to call it "Spa-Ville."


So, what is Provident Living anyway?  It is basically self reliance.  This includes everything from education, to finances, to physical health, to food storage and gardening.  I pretty much get to do anything I want!  Wahoo!

So, to start of, we are taking care of the physical health.  We will be going over nutrition in the form of green smoothies, (yummo!) fitness in the form of Yoga, and wellness in the form of aromatherapy and massage.  Here is some of the information I will be handing out after explaining to the women my ideas of provident living.

I am really excited to get this Provident Living thing kicked off in our area.  We will soon be coming together in book clubs, cooking groups, knitting groups, foodie groups (good excuse for a girls night out), gardening clubs, and many many more!  

I will be updating this blog as I journey through this calling of mine.  Hopefully I can soon become the "Specialist" they called me to be.

Wheat Berry Deliciousness

What can you do with those wheat berries once you have soaked them?  

You can eat them as they are, but not too many or you will get a sick stomach.

You can boil them for a delicious hot cereal!  For this yummy breakfast I made, I boiled 1/2 cup of wheat berries in 1 cup water for about 10 minutes.  After draining excess water, I added a little raw honey, blueberries and bananas, and it was the most filling breakfast I've had in a long time!  It was delicious too.  That was a bonus.  

You can grow wheat berries into sprouts to eat as a snack, or add them to salads.  Simply put them in a jar in a light place in your kitchen and cover the jar with cheesecloth and a rubberband.  You can use old (clean) nylons to cover the jar as well.  You just need something you can drain the water through.  Fill the jar with cold water, swish around, and drain twice a day.  This prevents the wheat berries from getting moldy as they begin to sprout.  

In about 3 days you'll have sprouts like this!  They are yummy and much sweeter than I expected.

My kids ate these all up in one sitting, and one of them ended up with a stomach ache.  I don't recommend eating too many at a time, but they are that delicious!

What the Wheat?

What on earth am I going to do with the pounds of wheat in my food storage?!  I have so, so much and I have not been great about baking bread lately.  I haven't done it once since we moved into this home in June 2012.  

Well, that's not entirely true.  I have made Artisan Bread many times, but I haven't made the hearty whole wheat bread I used to make.  I've got to get on that!

In the mean time...I decided to try some new things with my wheat.  I had the urge to grow wheat grass, juice it, drink it, and be super healthy.  So, that's what I've been up to.  Here are the steps on how to do it.

Step 1:  Soak the wheat in cold water for 10 hours.  Then rinse, and repeat.  Twice.  After soaking for 30 hours, the wheat will be soft and chewy and starting to sprout roots.  At this point you have what are called "wheat berries".  

Step 2:  Planting the wheat berries.  I placed a paper towel in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, put nearly 2 inches of nutrient rich soil on top of the paper towel, and then spread the wheat berries on top of the soil.  Spray the wheat with water until moistened but not soggy, and cover with newspaper.  The wheat needs to be covered to keep it dark so the roots go searching for nutrients deep in the soil.

You'll want to check and be sure the soil stays moist so the wheat can grow, but not too wet or it will mold.  After about 5 days of this, you'll end up with green shoots coming up.

Step 3:  Place the wheat grass in a sunny spot in your home so it can green up and grow grow grow!  Keep the soil moist.

After just one day in the light, this is how mine looked.

Four days later, my grass is 5 inches tall!  It's thickening up quite nicely too, and I am just waiting for it to be ready for harvest.  Once the grass begins to sprout a second blade, it is ready to clip and juice.  There will be another post about that as soon as I get to make some!

Wheat is so amazing.  I love making it into bread, wheat berries, sprouts, and now wheat grass!  Want to know what else you can do with those wheat berries?  Click here!  

Grilled Chicken Avocado

I made the most delicious sandwich today and I thought I'd share with all you foodie's out there.  I love love LOVE cheese.  Melty cheese.  It's the one thing I crave the most, and it's good on practically anything!
After too many days of no melty cheese, today I just had to have some.  I also had to use up some avocado I've had for a few days.  I pulled some things out of the fridge and this is what I came up with.  My new FAVORITE lunch!

Grilled Chicken Avocado

I started by searing fresh mushroom and sliced chicken breast with a little butter in a frying pan.  I then sliced the avocado, buttered the whole wheat bread just a little, and spread some shredded mozzarella cheese on one slice.  The chicken and mushrooms went on top of the cheese, followed by the avocado, a little more cheese, and a dash of garlic salt.  I then cooked the sandwich like a regular grilled cheese, and ended up with my favorite lunch to date.  

I do believe it would have been better with bacon on it, but I am trying to be healthy. (gearing up for swim suit season) But, a garden fresh tomato would have made it even better than it was.  

Oh, how I long for garden fresh tomatoes again!

Summer, where are you?!  Come quick!

I miss you.

Ginger Crinkle Cookies

You want to taste the best thing about fall?  Try making these deliciously chewy Ginger Crinkles!

It is impossible to eat just one of these.

I made a batch of them and just ate close to 10.

They are dangerously delicious.

Here is the recipe for your enjoyment!


Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves (I add a little extra, cloves are just too yummy!)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup raw sugar


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cloves.

Add the coconut oil, butter and the brown and granulated sugars to the bowl of a standing mixer. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Slip in the molasses and egg and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour mixture by scoopfuls and beat until combined.

Add the raw sugar to a small plate or bowl. Roll the dough into balls that are 1 inch in diameter (1/2 ounce in weight), then roll in the sugar. Place 12 balls on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies 9 to 11 minutes.  Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then continue cooling on wire racks.

It's a close call between this cookie recipe and my apple pie, but the cookies come out on top right now.

What is your favorite Holiday recipe?

Still Filling The Jars

My apple tree is happy.  Don't you just love those colors?!

I keep thinking I have done the last of the harvesting this season.  Not so.  I gathered enough apples to bottle another four quarts of applesauce and two quarts of apple juice.  There are still a bunch of apples in the tree that I just can't reach.  I'm hoping they fall before they rot out.

We are emptying the grape juice and applesauce bottles much faster than I would like, so it was nice not to put empty bottles on my storage shelves.

I've been adding the purple grape juice to my green smoothies, it makes them so delicious!  It also makes them purplish/brown smoothies instead of green.  That part is not cool.  But they taste amazing.

What do you put in your green smoothies?

What's for dinner?

So, I was on my way to Costco this afternoon, and it wasn't until I was on the freeway that I remembered that we already used up the "Grocery" budget for September.  It was probably the hardest thing I did all day, but I got off the freeway at the very next exit.  (It's rare that I exercise this amount of discipline)  I went home and found something we already had on hand to make for dinner...

It ended up being super delicious, almost everything was from the garden!  We had grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade tomato soup, butternut squash with apples, and pan seared zucchini.  I love fresh zucchini seared in a little olive oil.  Yum!

Tomato soup.  This was a first for me, and Oh. My. Gosh.  You guys, this is the best thing I have ever made!  I have always loved canned tomato soup, but I wanted to try making my own since I had a big bowl full of tomatoes from the garden.  I roasted them in the broiler, puree'd them, and made me some soup!

A little touch of fresh picked basil made it just perfect!  Seriously, SO delicious!

My cute son brought me a bowl of basil with a little marigold in it.  Already bringing me flowers...this boy knows how to melt his mamma's heart.

Butternut squash with apples was my favorite part!  No, my second favorite.  The soup definitely won the taste battle.  It was all so delicious!

What did you have for dinner?