Hand Ground Peanut Butter

Peanut butter! Take peanuts, mash, like a drum, grind, stirring motion, with mortar and pestle. Takes just a minute for a small amount. This amount, about a cup, took about three minutes, but it was coarsely ground, for our oat groats breakfast. When there was just a small amount left, a few quick strokes turned it to fairly creamy goodness. Is this even a recipe? The best foods never are!

Here is our new old fashioned appliance. I told my kids that Adam and Eve probably used this!

What are we reading FOR?

Do we want a reader? Read to your child! A lot! Do we want our child to love reading long term? Mentor them into the love you have for reading: model it, share it. Do we want reading to be an integral part of who they are? Well, you can hardly help it. When we consider how books become part of us, what we read becomes essential, as discussed a couple of weeks ago.

"...to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." 2 Nephi 9:29

If we read the verse that come just before this one, we will give more careful consideration to the way you teach your child! And yet children are constantly learning, whether we teach them or not--and if we don't teach them, the world certainly will and we will not be happy with the results. Teaching children to hearken to the counsels of God should be the goal of every parent. So, what does this have to do with learning to read? Well, reading, like any tool, can be used for good or for evil.

When my daughter was 2, I started teaching her to read. I taught her mmmmm. I taught her eeeeeeee. I taught her mmmmmeeeeee. ME! It was amazing! She could read! Just a little word, but it was a start. And when she was older, she became a reader. She read first thing in the morning. She read into the night. She read during school time. She read during her free time. But when I found her reading during job time, I put down my foot. Too much reading! Yet, that was just what I had taught her to do! And then we were in the car. I spot a bumper sticker with unsavory words on it. Suddenly realizing that she could read that, I gently press the breaks and change lanes. There was a word I did not want her sounding out. Reading became a burden--not one we were not willing to carry, but a great responsibility, a tool to wield with wisdom. And it starts at day one. Whenever our children are reading, it should be for good, for goodness, to help them become a better person. The years we have when our children are little are so precious, so important, and so short! And excuse me for being blunt, but there are so many books out there written for children that are just not worth reading.

Really good education takes a lot of time, an immensely greater amount of time than the many shortcut versions that pass for teaching, but are really only producing a cheap product in a short amount of time. Any good idea taken out of context is dangerous. Sharing? Good idea! Forcing everyone to share...well, that is another post I will probably never write, but you get the idea. Reading? Good idea IF equal footing is given to what we are reading. The danger is, as the scripture says, that our wisdom is foolishness and we will not profit from it. The blessing, on the other hand, is that our reading can bring us in contact with the greatest minds in history, and even better, the greatest minds in eternity! What an amazing blessing!

Pineapple Salsa

1/2 of one fresh pineapple, diced
1 jalepeno, finely chopped
1/2 onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt to taste
Two dashes of black pepper
Parsley, optional
Stir in all ingredients and allow a few minutes for flavors to blend. Serve with chips, pretty served in a half pineapple, as shown in the picture above.

Seek ye out of the best books

Last week I read one of my favorite talks to my children. It is Your Refined Heavenly Home by Douglas Callister. I enjoy the way he illustrates how the very best culture and education the world has to offer has a touch of the divine in it. I keep mulling over the phrase that Pres. McKay was quoted, naming great authors the minor prophets.

I was touched to see the impression it made on my oldest daughter, as she asked for a copy of it. She loves education, and I think opened her eyes to the why of many of the ways of our home. She is very naturally drawn to ennobling thoughts, and I believe she was able to appreciate how this quality in herself is part of her divine makeup.

This is another part of our home that is "sugarfree." While we encourage our children to read every good book, I have worked really hard to build up a library with only the very best books. Since the quantity of books in our house is limited, and there is no other entertainment readily supplied here, this nearly ensures that our kids read a great majority of the books I feel are most inspired! I feel like a book belongs on our shelves if (and only if) it can be read over and over again, each time learning something new. It also needs what I would call a touch of the godly in it. It need to uplift, and also to inspire them to follow Christ. There are a lot of great books out there that should be read. Why waste time with less than the best? Even a few minutes a day with the most civilized minds in history brings out the civilized in everyone, including and perhaps especially mom!

Today I was reading The Journal of John Woolman. He was one of the early advocates of emancipation in the Americas, but this lesson applies to all. He wrote, "All the faithful are not called to the public ministry; but whoever are, are called to minister of that which they have tasted and handled spiritually." My children will be more prepared to minister to more people in more varied circumstances as they spiritually handle the highest and greatest of every discipline, as the best books will multiply their experiences. I am so gratefully for the ennobling books that have come into my life and my home, and the lessons they have and will teach my children!

Coconut Pie with Carmel Syrup

My husband took me to the Bonefish Grill in Destin, FL. While we were there, he ordered a coconut pie. I have been making coconut pie for several months now, but this had a sauce that reminded me of  sweetened condensed milk, like the kind served over flan. My children did some fabulous service for me, pleading for coconut pie when I asked them for requests for a reward. I was happy to grant that, as coconut pie is "as easy as pie," but, really, easier. What is easy about pie? Eating it! We happened to have this variation of a buttermilk syrup in the fridge that my daughter made last time she made pancakes (she is a gifted homemaker), and it was the perfect combination. Here is the recipe!

Easy Coconut Pie

2 C milk             

1/3-1/2 C honey             
 4 eggs          
1/2 C flour        
1 tablespoon vanilla                

1/2 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Blend the above in a blender for 10 seconds. Scrape the sides and blend for another 10 seconds. Add 1 C shredded coconut (I use unsweetened I ordered for amazon) and blend for another 10 seconds. Pour into greased pie pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. This pie makes its own pie crust as it cooks!  Drizzle with Carmel Syrup

(Instructions adapted from http://rileyfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/2013/05/easy-coconut-pie.html

Carmel Syrup 

(This makes a lot of syrup, as in it has lasted our family a month, using it on many breakfasts and desserts)

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups honey

3/4 cup buttermilk (you can culture your own by filling a quart jar with milk and about 1/2 a cup or so of buttermilk...just leave a half cup each time to keep up your culture start)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Stir all ingredients together, and boil for seven minutes.

Which garden will you cultivate?

Someone once asked Dad: But what do you want to save time for? What are you going to do with it? 

For work, if you love that best, said Dad. For education, for beauty, for art, for pleasure. He looked over the top of his pince-nez. For mumblety-peg, if that's where your heart lies.

Quote from Cheaper by the Dozen

I have decided that time is more like a wild garden that needs pruning than a piece of tofu that can be cut into sort of wiggly blocks. Especially when you have children, so many factors really can affect the dynamics of the home. You know how you get on to check facebook and an hour passes even though you know it has only been a few minutes? Time management is so elusive! But anyway, when I have just a few actual set times, like mealtimes and bed times, and letting the rest of the day keep to routines and general guidelines for activities, it seems to work better than trying to schedule every hour for what I want done. So which garden will you cultivate, or, as quoted above, what are you saving time for?

We recently made time in our lives for a kitchen garden. We have tried with varying success in every state we have lived in, but this year the Lord gave me the desire of my heart. Even though I had just had a baby, and things were very busy, everything just worked out. The spot was carved out, soil amended, seeds grown. It was a lot of work, but it has paid off (unlike some other gardens we have tried to grow...) and every morning the harvest seems just right for the needs of the day. I imagined it would be the type if garden where lots of things ripen at once, then nothing for a while, and sometimes that happens, but for the most part, what I harvest that day is eaten that day, and it is enough. It is all that is needed to fill our plates and our hearts. It is a miracle how God chooses to meet the needs of his children and I am very grateful!

Happy birthday watermelon cake

One of my daughters has requested watermelon instead of a cake for several years now. I like this year's version, as it actually looks relatively cake-like. We used toothpicks broken in half to attach the fruit to the sides.