…she provides food for her family…

I picked up an old fashioned photo album from the thrift store today. Remember when people used to have real photos? Now its like, “here look at my phone, here is my daughters dance recital.” In other words, the thrift store was full of photo albums.

Of course the album’s cover design was a delightful modern bouquet of faded 1990′s pastel glory. So, I had to get crafty with it. Isn’t that the point of getting a thrifty score?

It went a little something like this

Our Family Meals. 31 meals collected just for us. I am hoping this “family cookbook” will simplify my process in providing food for my family.

Love,

Jess

This post was linked up with Somewhat Simple

Proverbs 31:15

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

Just checking in to say I’m busy working on verse 15.

I came up with a recipe file of 31 family meals.

I started feeding the babies baby mush cereal. Leah likes it the best.

I made a portion of {birthday} food for my worker.

I am giving myself a lot of homework for this verse so I’ll be writing on it for a while. (or until a different verse catches my attention more )

Coming Up: Menu planning, freezer inventory, shopping list, coupons, recipes

Love,

Jess

Onto the task before me…try to learn about the wisdom found in Proverbs 31, hands on.

Proverbs 31:14

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

photo credit: anthropologie

Like merchant ships she brings food from a far – basically grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping with 4 kids 5 and under!? Not. going. to. happen. Can you even image the scene? Cart wheels squeaking, breast milk leaking, children fighting, babies crying. Even on a good day, where would I put the food?

Enter online shopping

I am fortunate to have a local service in my community that provides pick-up or delivery service. The small fee I pay for having someone else shop the aisles for me and bring the food to my house, is worth every penny.

Shopping online provides the opportunity to watch my finances. I can easily “put back” items that have put my budget over. I can also stick to my list a lot better when I don’t have the chance to roam to the “other side” of Target. You know what I am talking about…holiday decor, clothes, clearance end caps and toys.

Add extra help

Even the thought of taking all the little ones (in this freezing weather) on a small trip to restock fresh foods or small items can really wear me down. I try to ask for help whenever I need some assistance. I love my friends and family!

The wisdom

Being wise is knowing when to push yourself and knowing when to set your limits. I set my sails to gather food, I just require a crew to help me navigate the way home.

Love,

Jess

I’ll be back with more grocery and meal planning adventures.

Proverbs 31:12

She gathers wool and flax and works with eager hands

Today, I had a  yummy mid-morning snack.

Recipe adapted from the back of the Hodgson Mill Flax Seed box:

• 1/4 cup Millled Flax Seed
• 1-1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Couple shakes of cinnamon
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 -1/2 cups finely chopped apples
• 3 tsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I think I’d skip the nuts next time)
• 1/4 cup cut up butterscotch chips (mini-cinnamon chips would be better)

Blend dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine egg, vegetable oil and milk. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in apples and nuts and chips. Batter will be thick. Fill well-greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes (Mine only took 14 min. in a dark muffin tin) or until top springs back when touched. Yield: 12 muffins

Okay, onto WOOL!

Love,

Jess

I “gathered” wool from Mill End Factory Outlet.  I looked for felt fabric that I loved, but I guess modern felt is made of 100% Acrylic. So, I purchased a yard of Ralph Lauren wool from the remnant pile. Beats finding a sheep to sheer, no?

I picked up a box of flax seeds from the grocery store. Thanks to my Mom I figured out that flax is all over the place in the health foods niche. Nice. I guess I’ve spend too much time buying Jell-O and non-dairy coffee creamer to notice.

Anyway, let my eager hands work!

I’m thinking muffins with flax and some sort of accessory with the wool.

I had to literally buy thread and needles to even entertain the idea of making something with fabric. Plus, do flax muffins taste like cardboard?

We’ll see how it goes!

Love,

Jess

Okay, so I’m not a “baker”. You know the type, homemade everything for anything (MOPS, potlucks, neighbor gift, dessert, birthdays). At times, I’ve been envious. But, I know my place in the store bought section of the potluck line. I am glad that “bakers” have a gift and can use it to provide lovely goodies for their loved ones, really, I am.

I, on the other hand, have been gifted with the skill to get messy. Hence, the nick-name, Messy Jessy, that I self-proclaim from time to time. My blood pressure does not rise nor does my voice at the mere sight of Play-doh encrusted table tops, paint filled hands or craft glue pooled on random pieces of paper.

Which brings me to my point. I can bake with kids. Splats, missed measurements, over blended ingredients…whatever the case, I’ll do it. Why? Cause it is darn fun! It’s like playing kitchen but for real. Since, I have no expectation of something “turning out” I can relax and let the experience of baking with kids be super rewarding.

Our pink heart cookies (above) actually turned out and I am pleased that our efforts paid off. However, I think I ate way too many of them…also a valid reason I am not a “baker”.

A few tips, if you are wanting to try baking with little ones:

1. Use pre-made dough or measure your dry ingredients on your own before the madness begins. If you are like me, your brain will shut off because it’s too busy making sure no body slips off the chair or can reach for the sharp knives, to notice if you put 2 cups of flour or 4 cups of flour into the bowl already.

2. Allow plenty of time. Plenty, plenty, plenty. Baking with little kids is not something to do on the way to your event, in which, you signed up to bring the baked good in question.

3. Use timers. Okay, fairly obvious here. But, I promise, you will get distracted sweeping up spilled sprinkles that weren’t supposed to come out until frosting time or playing legos in a different room entirely & forget about the oven!

4. Bake with LOVE & PATIENCE. If the words, “Don’t touch that! Careful! Let me do it!” even cross your lips…it might be time to take a breather. Chill…it’s just frosting! However, in the area of hot stoves, electrical outlets/appliances and sharp knives…you get to be as demanding as ever. Cause Mama said so, that’s why!

5. Pour milk and enjoy! Let your kids eat their creations (before lunch if the case may be). Waiting until after dinner would just be torture!

Love,

Ahem…Messy Jessy

• Blue tinted 1% milk
• Purple “berries” from Berry Kix
• Dried blueberries
• Grape Jell-O
• Grape jelly in tortilla
• Blueberry yogurt with a fruit snack

This muffin tin (cupcake liner) lunch added a much needed levity to our day. Pencil on the wall, book torn apart, car doors being locked…oh my!

Thank goodness for sunshine and artificial colorant!

For more Muffin Tin Meals go to Junior Mints and Reeses.

I can’t wait to try the Family Heritage theme for next week’s MTM post. We are Irish, German, French, Norweign, Scottish. Oh My!

Molly loved her pink flowered shaped muffin "tin". er.... I loved the tin, she loved the apple sauce.

Ry had: Apple Sauce, chicken strips, blue jello, mac-n-cheese, carrot, fruit snacks, gold fish and pickles. (No theme, just a snack lunch)

The TV bit the dust (figuratively). It was very nice to have simplicity on the forefront of my mind as I unplugged the TV. Two whole days. Well it was a start anyway. I spent two days detoxing my almost four year old from morning cartoons (while Mommy gets ready for the day) and mid-morning cartoon (while Mommy puts Molly down for a nap) and an afternoon movie (while Mommy gets quiet time during Molly’s second nap).

The hardest part was admitting I was getting sucked back into a TV = Babysitter mode that I used while Molly was a newborn (last summer). Back then I really was okay with that lifestyle because I needed to do what ever it took to function and I knew it would be short lived.

So to break in down. I sought TSP out to help gear my motives in child-rearing, life-learning and house-keeping into a healthy and happy direction.

3 Steps in Keeping it Real, Real Simple.

1. Good Food: I hopped on board with Meal Planning Mondays, grocery shopped with healthy snacks in mind and started giving a mid-morning snack and an afternoon snack with water or milk. I filled their bellies with yummy food that helped keep their energy even-keeled.
2. Good Company: No dishes, laundry, blogging, emailing alone or at all for that matter. I focused on kid time, fun activities and lots of books. It does make for a long night of catching up but putting off the daily grind for daily dialog is welcome in my home anytime.
3. Good Rest: Ryan took afternoon naps again. I am not sure how this happened. I am grateful for the peace in the house during the one hour in the afternoon that he overlapped rest time with Molly’s nap.

Our group is loosely based on the concepts from Cooking Among Friends. At each meeting we discuss and vote on the next months menu.

Each person is assigned a category to cook within each month. We then go home and whip up the approved recipe for as many families as were in attendance at the meeting. Which means usually 10 during the winter and 5 during the summer.

We all have the same amount of money to spend on the ingredients to try and make it fair for all.

Thanks to my good friend Ness who started this group in her home I have come to know and cook for many new friends. Ness is a major recipe contributor to a website for freezer cooking.

It has been a huge blessing to always have meals on hand that are fully shopped for, cut up, prepped, seasoned, marinated, mixed and cooked. The best for me is having a smaller grocery list. Oh and not having to think quite so hard at 5 with the age old question, “What’s for dinner?”

Here are my recipes for my July exchange.

• Tex Mex Shrimp
• Strawberry Daiquiri Pie