Recipe - Potato Cauliflower Curry

Sauce:
Some broth or water in the bottom of a pan
Add some onions and garlic
Saute until soft
Add 1-3 Tbls curry
1 Teas - 1 Tbls ginger (if you use fresh ginger, saute it with the onions and garlic)
Stir this for a bit and then add some water - enough to make a "sauce" - probably a cup or so
Make another cup of water with 1 Tbls arrowroot and add this
1-2 Tbls coconut cream concentrate (optional - just great coconut flavor!)
Stir until thick - if it is too thick for you, just add more water a little at a time

Steam:
You can be steaming this while making the sauce
1 head cauliflower
about 5 potatoes cut into small pieces


Put the potatoes and cauliflower in a pretty bowl and pour sauce over. I put this in a glass container, poured sauce over and put it in the fridge - we had it tonight (2 days later) and it was wonderful!

New - recipes

Ok - this blog is going to double (for now) as our family blog and recipe/ "what do you eat" blog. We get so many questions about what we eat, how we do it, and recipe request we decided to just put it here to save time... now, if we get really crazy, we might one day have a separate blog for this foodie stuff - but for now, here it is..

Today we spent a good portion of the day in the kitchen doing our "once a week" cooking. We try and cook up some soups and main dishes on Saturday to make life easier on us during the week - we actually just started this about 2 Saturdays ago, but it is working great. Katie loves to bake, so today we did a "bake off" with three gluten free dessert recipes we found. We usually adapt the recipes to fit our family (like using honey instead of sugar and coconut oil in place of butter, etc..) - I will post the original recipe and the adaptations when I can (i.e. when I remember to)



This is Flourless Chocolate Banana Cake from SouthernHopeFarm

3 large eggs, separated
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup honey
¼ cup coconut oil
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2
bananas) (no need to mash really)
½ cup cocoa powder


1. In a vita-mix, whip egg yolks, honey and salt on medium
for 1-2 minutes
2. Add coconut oil and mashed banana and blend for
another minute or two ( we just added banana without mashing)
3. Blend in cocoa powder
4. In a bowl, whip egg whites to stiff peaks
5. Gently fold contents of vita-mix into bowl with egg whites
6. Grease a 9-inch springform pan and pour batter into pan (used glass 8x8 )
7. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes
SouthernHopeFarm




These are Coconut Flour Brownies
Got this recipe from HERE

Brownies Made with Coconut Flour
1/3 cup coconut oil (or butter) (we used coconut oil - expeller pressed)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 eggs
1 cup sugar (we subbed 1 cup honey)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
1 cup nuts chopped
In a saucepan at low heat, melt butter and blend in cocoa powder. ( Katie and I just used warmed coconut oil and beat in the cacao)
Remove from heat and let cool .
In a bowl, beat together eggs, honey, salt and vanilla .
Stir in cocoa mixture.
Add well sifted coconut flour and whisk the batter well until there are no lumps.
Fold in the nuts.
Pour batter into a greased 8" or 9" square baking pan.
Bake at 350' for 30-35 minutes.


This is an adaptation of "Fudge Pie" from Whole Foods For the Whole Family
3/4 cups cacao
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup expeller pressed coconut oil
3 eggs
1 Tbls vanilla

Beat with mixer or process in food processor. Pour into pie plate and bake 350 for 20-25 minutes.
This one is so simple that Bella put it together and beat it with the hand mixer.

Now - we did a taste off between the Coconut Flour brownies and the Chocolate Banana Cake - Me, Bella and Card liked the Chocolate Banana Cake - it was moist and tasted a little like a warm banana... with chocolate..and honey...YUM!
Now, Daddy and Katie liked the brownies - they were very dark chocolate tasting... also quite YUM!!
Jack enjoyed everything and when I asked him which he liked better he replied "Cake Me"... meaning - he wanted more of anything I would pass to him :)

Hip Chickens

Yep - our chickens are wearing the finest in Chicken Jewelry - certified, real, not plated, Styrofoam...

Ponds Done

Well - almost... they still need a little work - but they are lined! Thanks to all who helped - Harris boys, Glen, Greg, Bill and Jake....

The babies enjoy using Dad-Dad's dirt piles as a slide - this was before the rain, rain, and more rain we have been enjoying lately

Dad-Dad and Jay having a talk about ponds, barns, etc..

Papa Perkins

My grandfather has been diagnosed with cancer - it has spread all over and they have said "take him home and make him comfortable". Here are the kids with him a couple Sunday's ago - please pray for him as we try and talk to him about his salvation.....

Went to visit him today and he was looking pretty good. Got him to talking about the times in Livingstone - he owned a trailer in Livingstone just down from the lake. We would go up during the summer and fish, swim, and just have fun. Played "Sorry" till all hours of the night, had fresh catfish each night for dinner - it was a great time. Where does the time go??? Just the other day I was a little blonde headed girl riding in my papa's boat out to "Pine Island" to swim while the adults did the "fishing thing" (which I grew to love later ). I would spend hours swimming around (almost got stuck under the boat once, dont mention that one to my parents!). Then the nights spent out on the boat with my dad and sometimes my Uncle Brady. I would usually fall asleep on the floor of the boat - how did they know to bring blankets and a pillow?? They were probably glad that I stopped talking for a bit :) Ahh - I can almost smell the pinecones in the woods that surrounded the trailer. What a blessing to have such wonderful childhood memories!

Restoration Farms

A day out visiting some friends - and something about butchering a hog, but I doubted you wanted to see any of those pictures...

"Here, let me show you how..."

Girls room - DONE!!

Greenbeans in the Garden

We have been listening to this for days now - since we saw the West girls in Inherit the Land...

Greenbeans in the Garden by The West Girls

The amazing belly button...

It's an inny


until he eats!!

Raw Ice Cream

we blended frozen bananas, some expeller pressed coconut oil, chia seeds and some ground flax ( a recipe I found HERE along with a really neat post)

then we laid in some supplies - raspberries, raw chocolate sauce, raw homemade granola, and goji berries

put all that goodness atop our ice cream



and then we dug in! Bella is more the "stirred" ice cream type while Card is more the "get it in my tummy right now" type....

'round here

we hear nothin'.........

The Polenta Covered Hot Dog

so we realized a while back, when Will was quoting a line out of "Blues Brothers"..you know, the one where the guy orders two WHOLE fried chickens and a coke.... that our son (Card) has never had fried chicken. He asks "Daddy, what IS fried chicken"....
Now a few days later we realize another "food" that he has never had... he came home and told Will - "and Dad-Dad had a hot dog covered in polenta!" (for those of you who don't know, polenta is just coarse cornmeal that we usually make in the mornings -also known as grits) He was, of course, referring to a corn dog......

Happy Birthday Holly

Love the action shot...Bo just wanted to say Happy Birthday too!!



checking over the goodies with her birthday buddy



Greg, Holly and Hanna pray over the meal (Lord please turn this Cheeto into a carrot stick on the way down... I know you Schnak's get it...)

Holly and her birthday buddy Hanna - everyone in their family has a birthday buddy...good thing there is an even number of folks...for now anyway :)

and this is for the girls - complete with his "phantom tattoo" on his arm :)

Whoops, I forgot

that I had actually taken a few pictures before I opened my new camera :)


the kids helping dad open his gift


Jen and Georgia aka Peaches


The whole group assembles around Aunt Barbara each year as she hands out gifts. Here are Card, AJ, Lelia, Bella, Mrs. Bobbi and baby Keilee.

Happy 40th Anniversary Bill and Colleen

Bill and Colleen celebrated their 40th anniversary this year! These cookies were made by our good friend Launa Barrett - who makes the best soy-free cookie icing :)

Christmas Day

Then Christmas day is spent with just us in the morning and a visit from Dad-Dad and Mom-Mom (and this year Lil Mom-Mom also) in the evening.

The kids with, what seems to be, the favorite gift. This is a Plan Toys Victorian Dollhouse and was for Katie and Bella.....

but the boys seem to have moved in on the action too! The girls don't mind sharing and since Card got a Plan City fire engine, he is always on call to put out the ineveitable house fire :)

after gifts and such, mommy played around with her camera

This years Christmas

We spend Christmas Eve at Uncle Bobby and Aunt Barbara's house each year. Their is an ever increasing number of children there and our kids love seeing them each year. It is just really neat to watch each others kids growing up - we were just kids ourselves "hanging out" with each other - right Jen?? What happened??

The very first picture taken with my Nikon D 90 that my dad and husband bought for me! This camera is amazing. And what better subjects than 2 of the people I love the most :)


here is a small picture of the camera - it is awesome.... the kids are LOVING mommy having a new digital to take all the pictures of them she wants too....


and now on to more serious subjects....

like getting a hold of that ball!!

Jen playing with two of my kiddoes - it is such a blessing to spend time with friends and family each year.


Ah ha - you thought you would not see the photographer huh?? Lelia insisted that she have a picture with me and her Princess picnic set (which I have no idea who gave it to her, but she loved it). Lelia belongs to Damion and Mrs. Bobbi (as we refer to her in our house, since there are now Mrs. Bobbi and Uncle Bobby....) and is as sweet as can be. Damion and Bobbi also have AJ, Keilee and a new baby on the way! Sweet family - hope you get to feeling better soon Bobbi!

Some December pictures

Seems I am updating more on a monthly basis than the planned weekly basis - oh well, the kids are not complaining about the extra time with mama :)
Some of our recent pictures - this was last month at the Boytim home...






















We found this huge tomato plant growing out of our mulch pile!















with beautiful tomatoes all ready to eat - we hurried and picked them before the first frost of the season...yes, the first frost here in TX came well into December

Bella working on some school work. This picture of her was featured in our monthly homeschool newsletter- her and Card are doing so well this year!

A Jay Bird in flight!

and last but not least - we eat in this house... here is one of our local diners enjoying a typical meal.