Super Easy Recipe: Slow Cooker Applesauce

Growing up we called it a Crock Pot. My mom always had a Crock Pot, as an adult I had a Crock Pot, it was a Crock Pot. It was actually not until I was in my 30's that I heard the term "slow cooker". OH, so that's what it is...

But around here, you'll still hear us call it a Crock Pot. We also call tissues Kleenexes. I can't be the only one?!

Anyways, I decided this time around to make all of my own baby food. It's honestly more convenient for me. Good organic, no sugar, no grains, baby food is scarce unless I drive an hour. I prefer to just prepare things we eat. It works for us.

This recipe is delicious and not just for babies! The whole family will love it. Promise.

Slow-Cooker Applesauce
3 lbs organic apples - any variety that isn't too tart. I used Gala here. I like to play around and try different type of apples, even combining several. This can also be a great way to use apples that have been on the counter almost too long.

Wash, peel, core, and rough chop the apples. My goats and chickens don't mind if I'm not too precise here since they get the scraps!

Add apples to your slow cooker and set to low.

 Cook for 3 to 4 hours. Slow cookers will vary so you may want to try this recipe for the first time when you can be home to watch it. The time may need adjusted or you may even need to add some water. My Crock Pot is perfect with just the apples cooked on low for just over 3 hours.

Once the apples are done (easily mashed with a fork) I blend well with my immersion blender.

You can add a sprinkle of cinnamon here if you'd like. I haven't tried that with Baby O. yet, so right now I just make it plain.

Yep, that's really it! One ingredient. Perfection.

This recipe makes about 24 ounces. It's just right for our family for a week. There's 8 ounces for Baby O. and 16 ounces for the boys (if your family is big on applesauce you may want to double this). We store this in the refrigerator and it's generally gone within the week. You could also freeze portions in an ice cube tray if you're making this strictly for your baby.

What's your favorite super easy Crock Pot recipe??

The First 6 Weeks

It's been 6 weeks since my last what's-going-on-around-here update?! Appropriately so my last life update was titled Calm Before the Storm. My intuition was right on there!

If we're Facebook friends you've heard bits and pieces of what's been going on, but I'll elaborate here. Darran got a job hauling off scrap iron and junk for an estate. We expected it to be a 3 week job, but it turned into a 6 week job. Unfortunately this means he didn't make as much money on it as we'd hoped, BUT he did come home with many a treasure that we are going to need (and paid the bills and we should have enough leftover to buy sawmill blades and maybe a bit more, so woohoo!).

He's brought home everything from a wind turbine, to sawmill parts, to windows, to a back-up generator. It's been amazing! One man's trash...

However, he's been working long days, 6 or 7 days a week. This has left him pretty exhausted and left most everything around here to me. On top of my usual homeschooling, house-cleaning, 4 kid-wrangling, laundry-doing, blogging, cooking, and general mom-ing I had a lot to get started on for our spring and summer plans to go off without a hitch. It's been a tough 6 weeks, but I know it's only for a season and we've kept focused on the gorgeous light at the end of this tunnel.

When the seed and poultry catalogs show up I start pining for spring!

The first task at hand for me was garden planning. (I'll try to get a more elaborate post on that up soon. It's quite the different affair planning to try to entirely feed your family.) I ordered seeds. Ok, and ordered seeds, and ordered seeds. I have a bit of a seed-buying problem.

I also ordered sweet potato plants. They won't ship until May, and it seems people say it's impossible to grow them here. I guess I just don't know any better so I'll just grow them. I was super excited to find purple ones!

We had a cold snap the first week of February and were having lows of 15 to 20 below (and highs of 5?!). Keeping everyone with non-frozen water during that time was quite a trick. Ellie and Fiona as well as the chickens stayed in their houses most of that time. I don't blame them, I did the same.

Once the weather warmed up all the animals were feeling feisty. 

Ellie and Fiona decided while Darran was away was the perfect timing to be little twerps.

As Darran was often gone past dark it was sometimes my job to do evening chores. A few nights my sweet little angels decided they in fact did not want to go in their house. They proceeded to run off through the thick brush juuust far enough ahead that I couldn't get their collars. 

Ellie and Fiona weren't the only ones that decided to take this opportunity to run-a-muck. Goldie (ever the one that wants to be in the yard no matter the weather) chose to take every opportunity to sneak out while the boys fed the chickens. She'd immediately bolt to the yard and hide in the lilac bush or cedar tree where we couldn't get to her.

Much cardio was accomplished on wild goat/chicken chases.

Though it still looks like this outside, my mind is already on planting time.

We fully understand that we're up against a short growing season here and I've been researching like crazy and asking for advice from my garden guru Facebook friends. Aside from just getting as much out of what we do plant we also plan to grow many things that most people don't even try in this area, so I'm seeking out all the gardening hacks I can find. I've also found it a challenge to figure out how much to grow to feed our family.

I was ridiculously excited at the first sprout of the year! It feels like the new beginning that it is.

As part of that season-extending I started planting seeds in February. So far I've planted several varieties of tomatoes (144 plants, but who's counting?), peppers, and a few eggplant. I also planted some marigolds because they're great to plant around the garden to discourage pests. 

Next I'll be planting cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. Followed by melons (Everyone I have asked says I'm nuts, I'm OK with that. Just wait for pics of watermelons and cantaloupes next fall. I know they'll be here!), tons of squash varieties, cucumbers, and pumpkins. 

Hopefully everything else can fare well enough planted directly in the ground. Pretty sure my house will be jam-packed with plants by May as it is.

Valentine's Day came and went. Darran brought me presents. He gets me.

I've also been working on drawing out the house plans. It is much tougher to design a small house than a large one I've decided. We want a smaller house for many reasons, I'll keep working at it!

Darran took a beef down to slaughter (in his spare time, ha!) and we now have 620 lbs of our own home-grown, grass-fed beef in the freezer. Depending on how our other efforts go, that will hopefully last us a year+.

The chickens have also decided it's spring and are laying around 9 eggs a day. At least I know we'll have beef and eggs!

Red is thoroughly done with winter and enjoying the sunny days playing in the mud. I hate to tell her we're likely to get snow through May.

Normally we're big on gradual sun exposure. However, as Baby O. is very fair and all of our sun exposure is about to go up exponentially with all the outdoor work we have coming up, so I ordered ingredients to make my own sunscreen. I'll post the recipe as soon as I get it figured out.

I also ordered new running shoes and put a race on my May calendar. Because, why not? OK, it seems like a lot, but running is my stress relief.

I posted this on my Facebook after only the first week: 

People have asked me a lot lately how I do everything I do. My answer: my husband. Lol, he's amazing and we make a good team. And this week? With him gone so much? This mama needs a NAP! 

It's been a long 6 weeks. We're tired, but we're smiling.

Darran is off working on the sawmill right now and I'm sipping coffee, writing, planning for the week ahead, and listening to the baby monitor and the boys drawing at the table. Life is amazing. We are grateful.

Perfect Paleo Bread For Toast, Sandwiches, and More!

I think that when going Paleo the best thing we can do is re-frame how we think about foods. Instead of just making a whole bunch of replacements for what we're used to eating: breads, cereals, brownies... a better approach is to focus on new foods, tastes, combinations.

That's been my philosophy for my family as we transitioned to Paleo and definitely for myself as I'm trying to lose weight on Paleo. 

However, my boys miss sandwiches. I get that. So, I was working on an almond flour bread recipe that would hold together well enough to make a sandwich as the occasional treat.

Many, many loaves later I thought I had the perfect recipe. However, every stinkin' time Darran made my recipe it turned out better than when I made it! Seriously?!

So, I began stalking him when he made it to figure out what he was doing differently. I think I finally figured it out. I give you Darran's Perfect Paleo Bread...

Perfect Paleo Bread
3 1/2 cups unblanched almond flour (we buy 50 lbs of this kind and store in freezer/refrigerator) Make sure not to pack almond flour as you measure or you'll wind up with a too thick dough.
5 eggs (we have our own chickens, egg quality definitely affects the consistency of this bread)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon raw honey

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat eggs with mixer. Add in remaining ingredients. Mix well. Grease a glass bread pan heavily with coconut oil. Bake 40 minutes. 

 This recipe makes great toast. I just can't eat a dippy egg without toast, can you?

 Sometimes we have a little grass-fed butter and honey on it as a treat for breakfast. YUM.

 And yep, you can even make sandwiches with it!

Let me know if you try it.

 Feel free to share links to my posts or to pin them, but do not re-post my full recipes on your blog, Pinterest, Tumblr, recipe sharing sites, or any other website (or publication). Please understand that blogging is my livelihood. 

Natural Home Recipe: Homemade Powdered Laundry Soap

While I was pregnant I found that I had very little time or energy (or let's be honest, desire) to make my own laundry soap. I began buying Charlie's Soap and used that throughout my pregnancy and immediately after. While I love that soap it is a little pricey. 

I also hadn't been completely happy with my original homemade laundry soap recipe; it just wasn't doing a great job on our whites.

I tinkered. I came up with this:

DIY Powdered Laundry Soap
2 Cups Borax
2 Cups Washing Soda
2 Cups Baking Soda (No, I'm not picky about the type of baking soda for this recipe. Questions about aluminum and baking soda? Crunchy Betty has a great post on that here.)

 Yep, that's it. 

Scoop ingredients into your container and then put the lid on and give it a good shake. I sometimes mix it with a fork as well just to be sure the ingredients combine completely.

I use a Tablespoon as a scoop. (If you have an old Charlie's Soap container and scoop they will work perfectly).

Use 2 to 4 Tablespoons per load depending on the size of the load and how soiled it is. 

I have only ever used this in warm or hot water, so I cannot say how it would fair with cold water washes. Also, I only have a top-loading machine, so I cannot say how it would do in a front-loader. (If anyone tries this recipe in cold water or a front-loading machine please let us know how it does in the comments!)

I have used this recipe for about 5 months on all of our laundry except the cloth diapers. It may do fine for diapers, but I'm just not brave enough to try it (I'll share my cloth diaper wash routine in another post soon!).

 It does amazingly well! Even Baby O's white bibs come out great.

My laundry routine using this homemade soap recipe:

1. Pre-treat with Fels-Naptha. Any spots/stains that look like they may be a problem I pre-treat with a bar of Fels-Naptha. I simply wet the garment, scrub with the bar, and let sit a couple of minutes. Then add to the load.
2. Add the powder and let washer fill 1/4 to 1/2 way with warm or hot water before adding clothes. 
3. Add white vinegar in the rinse cycle. I used to make homemade fabric softener for this, but find that I don't really smell the vinegar or the essential oils once the clothes are dry. It seemed a waste of essential oils, so now I simply keep a gallon of white vinegar in the laundry room and add 1/4 to 1 cup to the rinse cycle (depending on what I'm washing, for example, hubby's work clothes get a full cup).

Have you tried making your own laundry soap? I'd love you to check back in the comments if you try this recipe!

Feel free to share links to my posts or to pin them, but do not re-post my full recipes on your blog, Pinterest, Tumblr, recipe sharing sites, or any other website (or publication). Please understand that blogging is my livelihood. 

Calm Before The Storm...

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This week was the calm before the storm. 

We did our chores. (In a pink fuzzy bear suit. Totally normal.)

It was homeschool as usual all week and Darran finished up a tractor he was working on. When work time was over there was lots of hiking, sledding, and playing in the sunshine.

We discovered Baby O's jogging stroller goes pretty danged good in the snow.

Red is totally over winter.

I tried to get back in the groove of a regular workout routine. I'm adding yoga twice a week. I think I'm going to need a little flexibility in my life.

My mother in law stopped by and brought Baby O a present.

Shock soaked up some rays.

Everything was basically business as usual around here and I made sure to enjoy every second. Because I knew what was coming...

Today is Sunday. Hello crazy-busy storm.

Darran is off getting equipment ready for a job he starts tomorrow hauling scrap iron. (I allowed myself to stress a bit this week about how we were going to buy some of the things we need to get started with the house. Sawmill blades, concrete... Silly me, it always works out.) Though we'll still need to keep our budget tight, this job should help pay for most of what we need to get started building, but it will also keep Darran gone more days and longer hours than we're used to.

And me? I am trying to wash diapers, clean the house for the week, write something for my fitness blog (and this blog of course), plan our homeschool week, do a bit of meal prep, and just overall get a jump on a week (or two or three) that I know Darran will not be around to help out as much as usual. All while wearing Baby O. in our Moby wrap because she is a bit fussy/cranky (teething maybe?) and trying to keep two rowdy boys in check.

Before I sat down to write this post I was beginning to feel majorly stressed. I took this time to give myself a little talking to. To remind myself to focus on being grateful for the amazingness happening in our lives right now and that it will all work out fine. Worrying and stressing will do nothing but make the journey less fun. I'm prioritizing what I need to get done and what I can let go of (this was supposed to be a Paleo recipe post. Sigh.). Most of all I'm reminding myself that this is merely a season in our lives and it shall pass. Meanwhile the light at the end of the tunnel is a beautiful sight.

So, bring it on crazy-busy storm. I'm ready.

HOME

Yesterday Darran, the kids, and I went out to hike around and check out possible sites for the house. Darran had 4 spots in mind for me to look at. He chose them for sensible things like proximity to existing water and best spots for solar/wind energy. I however was scrutinizing them for important things like how good was the view and the cell service. Priorities.

If we're friends on Facebook or Instagram you have already seen sites 1 and 2. Sites 3 and 4 had no view of Pikes Peak. Total deal-breaker for me.

View from site 1

View from site 2

I've fallen passionately in love with site 1. It's perfect. It's at the edge of the trees so there's a little shelter from the weather, but towards the east opens up to pasture. The view is beyond and, well, it had the best cell service. You know, in case I need to instagram a funny goat video, er, I mean, you have to be safe in case of an emergency!

Darran agrees it's a sensible spot. I will happily cook on my wood-burning cook stove and wash my dishes by hand while gazing out the window here.

More views from site 1:

This is looking East from where the house will be. I can just see a new goatopia here for Ellie and Fiona. Also, a new home for the chickens and maybe even the garden spot. Oh, and did I mention I want a milk cow?
All. The. Critters.

Where I want the house. Nothing is set in stone, but I'm in love with this spot!

Video standing where the house would go. No sound but wind, and a little shaky. Working on getting better with video!

Most of all: it feels like home already.

After that little excursion I'm so happy-excited-eager that Darran is lucky it's winter. Seriously, I'd be out there in a tent... hoping my laptop battery held up?

And now: the work begins...

Debt-Free, It's The New Black

After last week's post I have had a ton of questions about one thing: how we paid off so much debt in so short a time. I decided to just dedicate a post to this.

Please note, I am simply sharing my experience. I'm no financial expert. 

Darran and I did pay off about $80,000 in debt in just over 2 years. This included all of our debt except our mortgage. Credit cards, car loans, everything. How? How? How? Everyone wants to know. 

Well, this is what we did...

Get ON-FIRE passionate about it. I cannot stress this one enough. This process was not easy. Not. At. All. Had we not been so passionate about it we would have caved long before we paid it all off. I was so on-fire passionate; I was going to KILL ALL THE DEBT and nothing was going to stop me. Debt was the enemy, it was the one thing keeping me from freedom and everything I wanted in life. Sound a bit intense? Maybe, but I believe it's necessary.

Draw a line in the sand. The first task we performed was to cut up our credit cards and agree to no more debt. None. Ever. From that point forward we were committed to never again use a credit card, take out a loan for a car, or incur any type of debt ever again. I realize this may sound extreme, but again I believe it a necessary part of how we got this done. (We then scrounged and put $1000 in a savings account before paying any debt to have a buffer from the little things that just tend to happen in life. It may seem controversial, but we put no other money in savings or retirement during the time we were paying debt.)

The Debt-Snowball. I didn't believe it in the beginning, but the debt-snowball is essential. Basically the debt-snowball is writing down all of your debts from smallest amount to largest, then pay every penny you can to KILL the smallest debt while only paying minimums on the others. Once you've killed that smallest debt take all the money you were putting toward that (and every spare penny) and pay that towards the next smallest debt. On and on until you pay them all off. It works.

Sell all the things. Ebay, Craig's List, garage sales, wherever. We sold everything we didn't absolutely need or absolutely love. Every penny went towards debt. 

Become the Queen of Cheap. I became a master couponer and bargain shopper. If I bought anything (which I deemed absolutely necessary or I didn't buy it) I made sure to get the best deal I could. Shop around, use coupons, wait for sales, wait for a coupon AND a sale... Also, always pay cash. It keeps you mindful.

Be willing to forego luxuries now for freedom later. There was a lot of sacrifice involved in getting this done in 2 years. A lot. We cut our cable, we shut off our land-line phone, we didn't go out to eat, we saved electricity where we could, I made our laundry soap (which I enjoyed and still do), I was uber careful with gas in my car and didn't waste trips, we didn't buy anything we felt we could get along without.... We lived so, so, so lean. On what we were making we had to in order to free up enough money to get the debt paid. It may seem tough, but it's worth it more than I can tell you!

And that, in a nutshell, is what we did! Any more questions that I didn't answer? Feel free to leave them in the comments below. Again, I'm no expert and can only answer from our experience.