Homemade Larabars

Homemade Larabars. So good and so easy. I had quite a few recipe requests for the homemade Larabar picture I posted on Instagram this morning and so I decided to post the recipe here. (If you have an instagram account, go HERE) I have loved Larabars for a while, but their pretty spendy. Plus, I just love homemade food. It tastes better and is more than likely better for you. Hence me looking at the ingredients on the back of the package and thinking, "I could totally make this."  I was right. 

These bars are so moist and delicious that they put their store bought counterparts to shame. I know I'm a bit biased, but seriously these are tasty! Just a disclaimer, I followed no recipe and when it comes to amounts of ingredients used, this recipe is completely original. I hope you love these as much as my family and I do!



Ingredients:
~32 oz of dates (I used two packages of Trader Joe's Medjool Dates)
~18 oz of peanut butter (I used Adams Crunchy Peanut Butter)
~1/2-2 c toasted almonds
~1/2 c chocolate chips
~salt

Preparation:
1. Put a few slits in each date and then soak them in hot water for 10-15 minutes. The skin will easily come off and of course, take the pit out.

2. Next put half of your dates in a food processor and process until the dates are mush. It's ok to have a few chunks here and there. Put the mush into your kitchen aid (or other mixing bowl) and process the second batch of dates.

2. Once all dates have been puréed put them into your kitchen aid mixer and add the peanut butter. Mix thoroughly together. ***I would have added more peanut butter but didn't have enough. If you like peanut butter a lot then add a little more.

3. Next put 1 1/2 cups of your toasted almonds into your food processor and purée them until they are finely ground. Add the ground almonds to your date and peanut butter purée and mix. This is where preference comes in. Do you want your bar to be moist? Don't add more than 1 1/2 c almonds. Want your bars to be a little more dry? Add more ground almonds. Simple. (Just be sure to not add too many ground almonds. You want your bars to hold together and not crumble.) I made mine to be not really sticky when you touch them, but they are most definitely not dry. They are nice and moist.

4. Put your chocolate chips in the processor and grind them up until they are a quarter of their original size. (Again, this is preference too. If you want your bars really chocolate-y add more and so on.) Add to the mixer and combine. Taste your batter and you can see if you want to add salt or not. I added a few shakes from my salt shaker.

5. Line a 9x13 and an 9x9 pan with Saran Wrap or wax paper. Press your fruit batter into each pan. My bars are about 1/2 inch thick, but make them as thin or thick as you like. I then lightly sprinkled the top of the batter with salt.  ***You could even lightly dust the top with cocoa powder.  Mmmmm.   :)

6. Refrigerate for an hour. Once cold, pull the fruit purée out of the pan using the Saran Wrap and cut into desired sized bars. Store bars in fridge.

7. Try not to eat them all at once!

I hope you enjoy these and let me how how they turn out! 

Rainy Day

I woke up this morning, had a look outside, and my heart smiled. I love rainy days. Rainy days on a farm can mean many things. It means an excuse to stay inside, snuggled up with kids, and not feel guilty about not accomplishing all the to-do's of the day. It means comfy clothes and baking. It means a mini-vacation.

I love mini-vacations. Perhaps, a little too much.

Rainy days on a farm can mean other things too. Not so fun things like, feeding animals wearing muck boots and being ankle deep in mud and 'natural fertilizer' , finding a new lamb and having to coax mama with the new baby into the barn, while getting soaked and covered in after birth. Or having to fix fence due to clever animals finding and making new escape routes. Believe it or not, I have probably at least 20 more scenarios in my mind. I'll spare you.

Today is a relaxing rainy day. Thank the Lord.

I grew up farming. All of the 'not so fun things' are memories that come flooding back like they happened yesterday. Most of my life was spent on a farm. We raised everything...except chickens. (That's soon to change in a few weeks!) In my younger years, I really disliked being a farm kid. I didn't like the work, the lack of freedom, and the never ending to-do's.

Amazing how time changes everything and maturity play's it's role. My dislike has transformed to fondness of my upbringing, and can I say...I love my roots.

Here's my lovely Ella before the rain really set in. Don't you love her style? I do.

Now that the rain is here to stay, I'm off to go and bake some cookies.

Au revoir.

While Your Waiting...

The remodel that I've told you is taking place is still being worked on. Lord willing, in a few days it will be finished. Wahoo!

In the meantime, I thought that I might show a few pics of my lovelies that I took with Konni. I'm still enamored with her. What a gift to be able to take such gorgeous shots.

I took these photos the other day. I hope you enjoy these pics from the farm. I sure enjoyed taking them.

Goals and Achievements

Hi everyone! I hope you have had a great start to this new year. I will apologize now for my lack of posting. My family and I started GAPS last week and let's just say, I haven't left the kitchen except to nurse my babe and sleep. If you don't believe me, as my man.

***If your new here and want to read about my decision to go on GAPS, click HERE.

And while we're on the subject of GAPS let me just say...IT'S WORKING! I am so excited. We started last week and are now working our way into the full GAPS diet. It's has been a bit draining due to the amount of cooking I've had to do. It is a whole new way to me and therefore, there is a learning curve.

Now I know the world doesn't want to know this but, my son, has never really had a normal #2. And two days into the GAPS intro diet...bada bing bada boom...he's normal. And he's had normal #2's ever since. My girlie's is better too. Now for those of you who's children's #2 have always been normal, I applaud you. However, when I can literally 'see' that my kids' digestion is improving and things are normal for the first time, I pretty much start dancing and fist pumping the air. Not kidding. This is cause for celebration I tell you!

In case you were wondering, Seth and I are normalizing too. Enough about this conversation, I'm sure your verging on the side of too much info right now. And my hubby told me that I'm not allowed to say the 'P' word to him anymore. Soo...moving on!

I have some goals that I'm wanting to write out for the new year. Not necessarily New Years Resolutions, but things that I'd like to see happen. Or should I say...should happen. I love writing down lists and goals because it gives me something to cross off. I don't know about you but I feel just as fulfilled crossing off a 'to do' than I do actually performing the task. Is that weird?

Here it goes.


Home

• I'd like to make a weekly and monthly cleaning schedule so my time can be used more efficiently.


• Continue with GAPS diet until we've had a few months of great digestion, then transition my cooking to be in line with traditional eating.


• Clean out pantry 


• Get a grain mill


• Learn how to soak, sprout, ferment, and preserve anything


• Learn about natural ways of healing ailments. 


• Learn about the uses of essential oils.


• Read, read, read, and oh wait, read.


• Finish all the touch up paint in the house. Have I told you I despise painting. Any volunteers? Anyone?

Garden

• Get my hands on a heirloom seed magazine and order some seeds. Soon!


• Learn how to harvest seeds from my garden for future gardens.


• Help hubby build the racks for the green house.


• Watch the gardening video that is going to change forever how I (and maybe you) garden. (I ordered this yesterday and as soon as I watch it I'll do a review. Stay tuned!)


• Learn how to control the little buggers naturally. No pesticides here, thank you.

Farm

• Get everything ready for lambing in a few months. Oh, I hope we get lambs!


• Order and prepare for chicks. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to get chickens. Thrilled really.


• Have a few fencing parties and get some new fences built. I'd like a few more places to rotate my ladies. I really want to rotational graze my animals instead of having to feed them hay. Such a better and cheaper option.


• Learn how to holistically and naturally treat animals for things such as worms, parasites, minor infections, and so on.

Family

• I'm going to start homeschooling Jude this fall, so I am needing to figure out what curriculum I want to use. Any ideas? Anyone?


• Be more intentional with my time with my kids. Read, laugh, and play more.


• Try to have devotions everyday with my kids. Such a wonderful time when it happens.


• Take the kids to visit the elderly. We've done this a few times and we love it. It blesses our souls to see our young ones loving on the ones that can't leave home anymore. And as we all know, the elderly love children.

Spiritual Life

• Be in the Word daily.


• Be the helper that I am intended to me for my man.


• Talk always to my kids about the reason we live on this lovely and yet wretched earth.


• Memorize, memorize, memorize. Scripture of course.


• Help the kids to start memorizing verses too.


• Put my faith in action by loving on others.


• Give the Proverbs 31 woman a run for her money!

I'm not sure this needs a category per se, but I also am really wanting to grow my blog. I am going to try to schedule my days so I can have more time for this. I'd really like to post about every other day.  I've seen it grow over the past week and its been amazing. For those of you who are new here, I give you a hearty WELCOME!

These lists aren't exhaustive, but a good starting point. I may add a few things later on.  I'd love to hear of your goals and heck, I'd love to hear your achievements as well.

And since this post runs the risk of lacking utter cuteness I leave you with these lovelies.






Such blessings.

Don't forget! Just like your getting to know me through my blog, I can't get to know you unless you talk back. I don't like it when my kids talk back, but you can be the exception.

Goals and Achievements

Hi everyone! I hope you have had a great start to this new year. I will apologize now for my lack of posting. My family and I started GAPS last week and let's just say, I haven't left the kitchen except to nurse my babe and sleep. If you don't believe me, as my man.

***If your new here and want to read about my decision to go on GAPS, click HERE.

And while we're on the subject of GAPS let me just say...IT'S WORKING! I am so excited. We started last week and are now working our way into the full GAPS diet. It's has been a bit draining due to the amount of cooking I've had to do. It is a whole new way to me and therefore, there is a learning curve.

Now I know the world doesn't want to know this but, my son, has never really had a normal #2. And two days into the GAPS intro diet...bada bing bada boom...he's normal. And he's had normal #2's ever since. My girlie's is better too. Now for those of you who's children's #2 have always been normal, I applaud you. However, when I can literally 'see' that my kids' digestion is improving and things are normal for the first time, I pretty much start dancing and fist pumping the air. Not kidding. This is cause for celebration I tell you!

In case you were wondering, Seth and I are normalizing too. Enough about this conversation, I'm sure your verging on the side of too much info right now. And my hubby told me that I'm not allowed to say the 'P' word to him anymore. Soo...moving on!

I have some goals that I'm wanting to write out for the new year. Not necessarily New Years Resolutions, but things that I'd like to see happen. Or should I say...should happen. I love writing down lists and goals because it gives me something to cross off. I don't know about you but I feel just as fulfilled crossing off a 'to do' than I do actually performing the task. Is that weird?

Here it goes.


Home

• I'd like to make a weekly and monthly cleaning schedule so my time can be used more efficiently.
• Continue with GAPS diet until we've had a few months of great digestion, then transition my cooking to be in line with traditional eating.
• Clean out pantry 
• Get a grain mill
• Learn how to soak, sprout, ferment, and preserve anything
• Learn about natural ways of healing ailments. 
• Learn about the uses of essential oils.
• Read, read, read, and oh wait, read.
• Finish all the touch up paint in the house. Have I told you I despise painting. Any volunteers? Anyone?

Garden

• Get my hands on a heirloom seed magazine and order some seeds. Soon!
• Learn how to harvest seeds from my garden for future gardens.
• Help hubby build the racks for the green house.
• Watch the gardening video that is going to change forever how I (and maybe you) garden. (I ordered this yesterday and as soon as I watch it I'll do a review. Stay tuned!)
• Learn how to control the little buggers naturally. No pesticides here, thank you.

Farm

• Get everything ready for lambing in a few months. Oh, I hope we get lambs!
• Order and prepare for chicks. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to get chickens. Thrilled really.
• Have a few fencing parties and get some new fences built. I'd like a few more places to rotate my ladies. I really want to rotational graze my animals instead of having to feed them hay. Such a better and cheaper option.
• Learn how to holistically and naturally treat animals for things such as worms, parasites, minor infections, and so on.

Family

• I'm going to start homeschooling Jude this fall, so I am needing to figure out what curriculum I want to use. Any ideas? Anyone?
• Be more intentional with my time with my kids. Read, laugh, and play more.
• Try to have devotions everyday with my kids. Such a wonderful time when it happens.
• Take the kids to visit the elderly. We've done this a few times and we love it. It blesses our souls to see our young ones loving on the ones that can't leave home anymore. And as we all know, the elderly love children.

Spiritual Life

• Be in the Word daily.
• Be the helper that I am intended to me for my man.
• Talk always to my kids about the reason we live on this lovely and yet wretched earth.
• Memorize, memorize, memorize. Scripture of course.
• Help the kids to start memorizing verses too.
• Put my faith in action by loving on others.
• Give the Proverbs 31 woman a run for her money!

I'm not sure this needs a category per se, but I also am really wanting to grow my blog. I am going to try to schedule my days so I can have more time for this. I'd really like to post about every other day.  I've seen it grow over the past week and its been amazing. For those of you who are new here, I give you a hearty WELCOME!

These lists aren't exhaustive, but a good starting point. I may add a few things later on.  I'd love to hear of your goals and heck, I'd love to hear your achievements as well.

And since this post runs the risk of lacking utter cuteness I leave you with these lovelies.

Such blessings.

Don't forget! Just like your getting to know me through my blog, I can't get to know you unless you talk back. I don't like it when my kids talk back, but you can be the exception.

When You Love Someone

It's not a surprise. I love my hubby. I love him so much that I would pretty much do anything to make him happy.

I have had a severe cleaning and reorganizing bug lately and with that, I've taken it upon myself to show love to my husband and give him a surprise. One that he wasn't aware that he was asking.

Every so often he would make statements like, "My side of the room is a mess!", "Why is your side always so neat and mine is all cluttered?", and "I wish I could have this all organized."

Well, I finally took the initiative and did something for my man.

I thought for a few days of what I wanted to do, what I wanted his side of the room to look like, and what would best represent him. I called his mama and asked if she would send me some hunting pictures of Seth growing up.

And here it is-

What do ya think?

Of Guts and Diapers

I have been busy lately. Too busy. Between getting new sheep, reading numerous books, battling diaper rash, and trying to keep up on everything...this mama is spread thin. And to add onto it all, I've been feeling terrible. Downright cr@ppy. Pardon my French, but it is the best description.

I have had to temporarily cut out milk. I might have to cut out dairy altogether. If you knew how much I love and miss my daily glass of milk, you would know how I suffer. I love milk. I love the taste, how it stops the hunger pangs, how the rich creaminess of my beloved raw milk satisfies my sweet tooth. Alas, it is gone. For now. My gut cannot handle it. The few times I have broken down and had a small glass I end up paying the price for the rest of the day. I get cramps. Bloated hardly describes my midsection. Let's face it...I look like I'm 5 months pregnant when I drink my favorite beverage. So, so, sad.

Wait! There's hope on the horizon. I think I've found the cure and no it's not lactaid or pills. It's an amazing way to heal my gut, restore my digestive tract to normalcy, and make me able to eat and drink the things that I love.

Enter, the GAPS diet.

                               

This is quite the commitment, but when faced with a life without dairy...it's worth it. My digestive issues aren't the only reason that I'm doing this. In fact the whole fam is going to be doing this as well.

My son, who has similar issues like mine, has SEVERE allergies to oak trees. Last April, when the oak trees started to release all their pollen, my poor boy suffered terribly. And when I say suffered, I mean it. His poor eyes almost swelled shut, the skin of his eyelids were flush with his forehead and cheekbones, and were the color of a plum. You would have thought that he was in a boxing match...and lost.

In my research to figure out a way to help my son I soon realized that allergies start with a 'leaky gut' or in other terms an unhealthy digestive system. Hippocrates said, "All disease begins in the gut." And he's right. Allergies, be it food or environmental, have to do with gut health. Isn't this just thrilling, keep you on the edge of your seat, holding your breath, earth shattering news? I think so.

It has changed the out look of my son's life during allergy season. I hope to heal his gut so he doesn't have to take allergy medicine every year. It has given me hope to be able to consume what I love again, and not have to settle for second rate dairy substitutes.

If you are health conscious at all, if you are a wife, if you have children, or just plain want to eat real food, you should read this. It's is amazing and it is so wonderful to be able to learn how God created our bodies to digest food. Real food that is. This book paired with traditional eating is, in my humble opinion, the best way to eat and thrive. (Nourishing Traditions is a cookbook filled with recipe's for this eating lifestyle. And I haven't read this book yet, but I will soon, and I'm sure it will shape my mind toward traditional eating even more.)

Hence, why I am doing my best to convert my pantry, thinking, and cooking methods to be a traditional foodie.

And if this isn't enough of a lifestyle change, I thought I might add on another whopper.

Cloth Diapering.

Oh, yes...I dare. I even put in my order of cloth diapers, wipes, and etc yesterday.

And. I. Can't. Wait.

Seriously. They are adorable, save money, are better for baby, and I'm sure I can come up with more reasons as soon as I am becoming acquainted with my new cotton beauties.

The company I ordered from is Green Mountain Diapers and I am thrilled with their products thus far, and their customer service is impeccable. They answered all my questions and then some. If you are considering cloth diapering, I would recommend this company. Plus, my money supported another family owned business who happen to be believers. A win win in my opinion.

Here's what I got.

Prefolds.

                                             

Flip Diaper Covers.

                               

Snappi's.

                                       

And a myriad of other cloth diapering goodies that I won't list. These are the nuts and bolts of the set up.

You may think I'm crazy. I might be. I am excited about this and will do a follow up post when I get my goodies and put them to some good hard use.

So for now, I'm in the trenches of learning about the gut, healing the gut, and disposing of what comes forth from the gut. Gross. Too much info, ya?

Hope your week was splendid!

Pssst! Our green house was finished yesterday. Wait till you see it. It's prettier than the rest of our house. Seriously.  

***All pictures are from the Green Mountain Diapers website. Visit their site and have a peek at all the cuteness of babe's in cloth diapers. You may even find yourself ordering a few...

***I learned about GMD from a blog that I love to read. Visit it sometime. You will be glad you did.
      The Elliot Homestead

Autumn Has Arrived

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The 70's are much appreciated when the norm has been high 90's and sometimes 100+.  Isn't it so invigorating to be able to open the windows all day? Heavenly. The kids and I enjoyed our time outside today. We walked around the yard and took pictures. My lovely Leah was in tow, but I can't seem to get a good picture of her when she's in my arms. She's too cute to be posting mediocre pictures. You'll see her more soon...she's going to be 3 months in two days. Can't believe it.

The sheep were shorn today. I would have taken pictures, but the hubby and I had quite the time getting them in the pen. Not good. Once that was done, the shearer arrived, and we got down to business. My ladies look great however and I am hoping to get the ram here soon. Can't have lambs with out a Mr. around. And I very much want lambs, as do the kids.

I have been incredibly thankful these past few days. I just finished Hebrews last night (great book!) and also read a bit about a gentleman named Adoniram Judson. He lead a hard life to say the least. I have been thinking all day today about what this fine man went through and it made me very grateful for the life I've been given, for my healthy children, and for the salvation I've received. I am blessed.

Homemade (Paper Bag) File Boxes

So, today I decided to tackle our home office and clean it up a bit.  I moved the laptop to my room and set up our desktop computer in it's place.  We had our desktop at our business office, but it is has since returned home.  Needless to say, I got tired of looking at it sitting on the floor in a pile.  Once I finished cleaning up the desk, reorganizing, and put the computer together, I realized I was in desperate need of some file boxes.  We were stacking our papers in random areas that either needed to be filed at home or taken to our business office to be entered into the new business computer and then filed as well.  Papers sometimes were lost, misplaced, and even bills were late (not many) due to our lack of organization.  I think I am officially nesting because I normally don't have these urges to organize.  Clean, yes. Organize, no.  Anyway, I needed to go to the store to get a few things so I decided to buy a few file boxes.  The store did NOT have what I wanted and I wasn't about to pay $15+ on file boxes I didn't want.  On the way home I was thinking if I had something I could use or if I could make anything.  And THIS is what I came up with.  I'm pretty happy with it too!  Hope you like it and try it out.

1. You'll need a paper bag, scissors, and a stapler.

2. Cut off the bottom of the bag, leaving the sides intact.

3. CAREFULLY roll the bag inside out...unless you want to see your stores name on your box.  : )  And yes, this is easier said than done, but if I can do it...so can you.

4. Once rolled out, lay out the paper bag and flatten it.

5. Fold the bag lengthwise in half and make a solid center crease.

6. Then re-open the bag and fold the edges to the center crease.

7 & 8. Fold up the corners of the bag about 2/3rds up.

9. Once both corners are folded up, fold the flap down as tight as you can to the corner pieces. Do it to both sides.

10. Begin to lift the edges up to form the box.

11. Pinch the edges along the seam to make them sharp.  Do this to all 4 corners.

12. Pinch the edges all along the bottom of the box. This will help the box to keep it's shape.

13. Staple the flaps down along the short end of the box.  This helps the box to keep it's shape and makes it look better.

14. You have a finished box!

15. And Voila! The finished product!

I am VERY  happy with the way these boxes turned out.  They are the perfect size for your standard piece of paper...and I definitely didn't plan it this way.  It just happened!  I actually like the way these boxes look better than the ones I was going to buy.  They 'fit' my personality better and they didn't cost me anything to make!  A win win situation if you ask me.  Let me know what you think and if you are going to try to make one.

***If you are a very crafty person (I have my moments), I am sure you could come up with some wonderfully beautiful creations.  I'd love to see them!

Per Request: Property and House Pictures

Here's the kitchen when we got started.  Our original goal was to repaint existing cabinets and get new countertops.  However, when we started to chip off the tile, we discovered that the cabinets were rotten.  We difinitely didn't have cabinets in our budget, so my amazing dad decided to build us our cabinets.  And as you will see he did a wonderful job!

Here's a view of the dining area from our living room.  The walls were rediculous and shrunk an already small house.  We promptly removed them.

Here's another view from the front door.  The dining area is on the right and the living room is straight ahead.  Have you noticed yet that the carpet was originally pink?  Look at the edges...you'll see.

Ta da!!!  Our new kitchen, dining, and living room!  Doesn't even look like the same house right?  Seth made the butcher block island top out of rock hard maple and the rest of the countertops out of concrete.  He's a general contractor and does a lot of concrete. 

To say that I love my kitchen would be an understatement, but what I love more is that my kitchen was made by two people that I love dearly.  And I think they are very talented!

*Just a side note- we also remodeled the bedrooms and bathrooms, but this post is already long and the living room and kitchen (mainly) are the jewels of the house.  Although our office space (used to be the laundry room) and bathrooms are fabulous.  Maybe I'll post pics some other time.

And here's our living room.  So much better without the walls.

In the end of March, Seth and I (and family) started working on this house.  We gutted everything out of this house.  And by everything I mean...there are only two things left that are original.  It was so much work, but so worth it.  We love the house that the Lord has provided for us and are very thankful to be living here.  We bought the house with two acres and Lord willing in the next few years, we'll buy 18 more...acres that is.  The gentleman who we bought the place from wants to sell us 18 more to make it an even 20.  We'd love to, but have to save up for a while in order to do so.

Here's a few pictures of our view from our back porch.  Enjoy!

Pretty nice, huh?  :)  Our property line goes beyond the back fence about 90 ft.  When we buy the next 18 acres, we'll have all the property behind us.

Don't the clouds and the snow on the mountains just make you smile.  So pretty!  The tree peeking in on the right is our walnut tree and right next to it we have a pear tree.  Yum!

And last but not least, here are a few more property pics.  Lord willing, next summer we'll get started on the outside of the house.  And of course the property, fencing, and etc. will be always changing and made better.

This is the far left of our property.  There are blackberry bushes the line the whole fence and they are tasty!  Blackberry pie galore in the summer.  ; )

This winter Seth and I are going to be converting that little shanty into a chicken coop.  Chicks come in the Spring...cant' wait!  And this opening in the middle is going to be our garden area.  I am hoping to have this tilled and fenced off come Spring as well.

The front view of our house from the road.  Right now it looks as if a tornado has blown through our yard cause Seth has ripped all the fence and plants out and they are all piled up waiting to be burned.  We are going to re-fence the front yard and reseed it so it will just be grass for the kids to play on.  You can't really tell, but there are 55 rose bushes in our front yard.  Eeek!  Not good when you have two small children, plus I don't really want to care for them.  Sorry to those of you who love rose bushes.

The only real grass at our house.  And by 'real' I mean not destined for animal consumption.  :)

This is the little pasture that is right in front of the barn (the barn on top of my page is the one that is connected to this pasture, and is the one that I have the pictures of my sheep in).  (Neighbors sheep, not mine)  This will be included in the 18 acres. 

Hope you liked these pictures and I hope it gives you a point of reference when you see future pictures of the happenings at the Shepherds farm.

Have a great day!