Tithing: Test me in this by Douglas Lablanc

This book was pretty good. This book includes ~20 interviews with people in ministry leadership roles from all walks of life. He interviews liberal church pastors, conservative church pastors, rabbis, poor, rich, old, younger, etc. Although they are all from different walks of life and have very different views on the secondary issues of faith, they all believe in the power of trusting God with your tithe. The theme of Malachi 3:10 in all of their interviews is encouraging. They each have their own amazing story of what God can you if you just trust him and follow his basic instructions. I would highly recommend this book to people who are looking into where tithing fits into their faith and the impact it can create on their life financially, emotionally, and intimately.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book to review from booksneeze.com. I was in no way obligated to write a good review and the comments and opinions listed above are my own.

Recipe update

Hello everyone...

So it has been way too long since I have posted. Life secretly filled my blogging time with other things (like cleaning the house and baking).

I have about 20 recipes in my started posts file. I need to finish them and get them all posted for you. I have completed my 52 new recipes and I'm sure gone over. My goal by the end of the year is to update the recipes and everything else on my to do list for you.

So.... stay tuned

Book Review: The Treasure of God's Word

The treasure of God's Word; Celebrating four hundred years of the King James Bible by Jack Countryman is a great gift or book to display on a coffee table. He has categorized some of the best verses into great, easy to decipher categories such as love, compassion, patience, etc. Each category has five to fifteen verses written out. In between all of the verses is a wonderfully written history of the King James Bible. It discusses why it was made to standardize the Bible under the decree of King James, how it was deciphered, written, edited for its original draft and throughout the years. (They also discuss the humorous unintentional edits during copying ... like commandment 6- thou shalt kill). I was amazed at the effort and length of time many men were dedicated to create the book in its best and most authentic means.

Overall i really enjoyed this book. I thought the author did a great job picking poignant verses for each category. I also thought the history of the King James Bible was well written, informative and concise.


Note: I did receive a free copy of this book to review. The opinions written above are my own and I am in no way compensate for a good review.

Book Review: Your Money God's Way by Amie Streater

"Your money God's Way: Overcoming the seven money myths that keep Christians broke" is a great book about the 7 myths that cause Christians to not be financially successful. The myths or counterfeit convictions include -God is an ATM, The Scarlett syndrome, savior or enabler, and the self righteous slacker. She does a wonderful job about describing different personality types of people and how they are misrepresenting the bible and God's plan for us to put our self in financial ruin.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I think her intended audience is someone who is going through a tough financial time. For myself, not hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt or about to lose our house, or with some huge financial scar in my past, found some of her writing a little long winded. But, I was able to glean a lot of useful information and confirm a lot of my thoughts about the importance of financial security.

This is a book i will definitely keep on my bookshelf for a while and recommend to other.

Note: I was given a free copy of this book to review and read. The thoughts and review of this book, are my own and i am in no way compensated for a positive review.

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Mans Soul by John Eldredge

This is a wonderful book. The Author, John Eldredge, does a great job describing the need for men to be masculine. How are the physical embodiment of God's masculine side. He describes their need for "adventure." He also looks at the loss of "becoming a man" in today's society by the lack of fatherhood and over protectiveness of mothers.

I must say, I loved this book. It really opened my eyes to how I as a help meet (soul mate) should encourage and support my husband on his adventures to a masculine heart.

This book also look at how women are the feminine side of God and how we crave the attention and "white knight" to come and find us just as God craves us to fight for him.

All in all this book was a huge eye opener in the a deeper level of support in the wife husband dynamic. I will truly take a lot a way from this book and apply it in our lives.

Note: I was given a complimentary copy of the book to review. This review is my own opinion and I was in no way compensated for a good review.

Thru November

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account- we currently have not met this goal. We were able to put some into savings but not as much as we would have liked. This will definitely be a big goal for next year.

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- We finally got money together to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary trip. All we have to do now is figure out where and when. Any suggestions?


3) Make 1 extra house payment- We also completed this. My small additions to each payment added up to ~1.5 house payments. Yea us!!

4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)-

5)Never use a credit card - We did have to use the credit card a few times this year for some of the many breakdowns but we have all of the credit cards paid off in full and will go into the new year with only a house loan.

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We still are just using the push mower. This Will be a goal for next year. We hope to buy a new one in April or so.

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer- Not done.. this maybe could have happened.. but them someone (who is 14 months, cute adorable, and shall remain anonymous) unplugged the freezer right before our trip making us loose everything in our fully stocked freezer. I guess life happens.


9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. Replaced by 9b.
9b) Pay off minivan in 12 months- We did it!! We paid off the mini van in less than 12 months. YEA!!!!!


10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- We did well in this category. I think all in all we made about $300-400 selling things at yard sales and on Craigslist.


12) Start a savings account for a new car- well we were able to put $1000 down with the money that we started to save. but this goal is now complete


FAMILY

1) Go on two weekend family vacations- We only made it on one.. but we were able to see both families one in the summer and go home for both holidays. All in all a job well done.

2) Visit both families at least once- Completed July 1-13th


HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer- Completed in July
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer- completed in May and July


3) Grow a successful garden- We did ok.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. - We bought a ton of tomatoes from a local farmer and were able to can lots of spaghetti sauce, salsa, bruschetta, etc. We have really enjoyed it. We hope to can even more next year.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- Not quiet there, but I'm getting there.

2) Make two dresses for Hannah- Completed in May
3) Learn a new hobby-
4)Make 2 books on picaboo-I have Titus's baby book completed. If I can only figure out how to get it on our new computer, I will order it. The second book has not occurred.. but I am still really motivated to do so.

5) Read the entire bible- I did awful at this. i made it thru Deuteromety with audio books and haven't made it any further.

6) Get more involved at the church- I am still praying and waiting for this.
7) Read 7 books - Ive read 4 or 5 books this year. I should be getting one more from my book review club and i borrowed one from my grandmother I hope to finish. So this one may still happen.

AARON

1) Hunt something- Completed in May
2) Process one animal - Completed in May

3) Make a rocking horse - nothing yet.

OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- We have done this so far. We will not be continuing it next year. (Aaron dreams about store bought bread). I think we will still make it often but I would like to have some on stock so making bread all the time isn't the burden it has become.

2) Make 52 new recipes- Completed. (see posted before this one). I hope to post all the recipes this month.

July

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account- So i have come to grips that this will probably not happen this year. But i still want to save some. We'll see.
2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- Waiting on the reimbursement.. still.. grrrrr insurance company.

3) Make 1 extra house payment- This month I did an additional ~5%. Total ~50%

4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)-

5)Never use a credit card - Only work expenses that I will get reimbursed for

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- Waiting to see what happens with the insurance reimbursement. Right now the push mower works and could get us through his summer if needed.

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer- This one might not happen either. Its still something we want to do but realistically, $500 isn't enough to purchase either.
9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. Replaced by 9b.
9b) Pay off minivan in 12 months- Slow and steady wins the race. I have set up a way of doubling the payment. Unfortunately i didn't realize it until now. The bank has a weird way of depicting their payment schedule. I hope to have an automatic payment taken out biweekly to help this.
10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Nothing this month. We are going to re post everything in August.
12) Start a savings account for a new car- well we were able to put $1000 down with the money that we started to save. but this goal is now complete


FAMILY

1) Go on two weekend family vacations- No vacations this month
2) Visit both families at least once- Completed July 1-13th
HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer- We started out second batch at the end of the month. It is in our guest bedroom bubbling away.

2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer- We have made 3+ batches of root beer. We are still struggling with carbonation so i will try a few new things in August.
3) Grow a successful garden- We are restarting the garden in August
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. -
No more canning in July. Hopefully some in August

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight-July was not a good month for me. But i am at the same point... no loss.. no gain.. i guess its better then gaining.. but still frustrating.

2) Make two dresses for Hannah- Completed in May
3) Learn a new hobby- I have decided Soda making is going to be my new hobby. I love doing it, and I really enjoy the blend of cooking and science.

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am up to June in Titus's baby book and still have no idea what other book i want to make. Working on it.
5) Read the entire bible-

6) Get more involved at the church- i signed up to help with the children's ministry. hopefully they will call me soon

7) Read 7 books - 1 down, 6 to go ( i have started the second)

AARON

1) Hunt something- Completed in May
2) Process one animal - Completed in May

3) Make a rocking horse - nothing yet.

OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- We did it. We are doing really good on this goal

2) Make 52 new recipes- I am up to 32. Recipes will follow.

BBQ Dog Treats

Seeing that i currently have a ton of BBQ sauce in my house (8 bottles from house party + ~8 bottles of Kraft I got free with coupons earlier) and Job needed some more doggie treats, I was excited to find this recipe that would take care of both.



BBQ Bone Dog Treats are nice. They make the house smell like good BBQ and Job really likes them. I would reccomend. It doesnt make quiet as many as my old recipe, but its a nice treat for Job and a way to use up some BBQ sauce.

June Update

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account- life's unexpected things are making this hard. It is still a goal but is starting to look unachievable this year.

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- Still waiting on insurance money

3) Make 1 extra house payment- This month I did an additional 10%. Total ~45%


4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)-


5)Never use a credit card - No credit card use in June

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- Still using the push mower. Maybe when the insurance money comes back we'll upgrade

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer- After watching Food Inc and King Corn, Aaron and I both motivated to start eating more grass fed meat and supporting local farmers. This will be a huge change to our food budget so we are doing it slowly. This is still a priority of mine.

9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. Replaced by 9b.
9b) Pay off minivan in 12 months- Slow and steady wins the race.

10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- We have had a couple people interested in buying some more stuff, but nothing yet. Hopefully in July.

12) Start a savings account for a new car- well we were able to put $1000 down with the money that we started to save. but this goal is now complete


FAMILY

1) Go on two weekend family vacations- We leave July 1st to visit family

2) Visit both families at least once- See above.

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer- Aaron is enjoying his first batch and plotting his second.

2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer- We made a batch of root beer and ginger ale this month. Both were successful failures. The root beer tastes great but did not carbonate (i let the activated yeast sit out too long). The ginger ale is very fizzy but taste strange. We need to tweak the recipe some. Hopefully we will get a second batch in on both before the trip up north.
3) Grow a successful garden- Its in partially. I will call it a work on progress.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. -


SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- I'm getting there. I have started my EA sports Wii game. Right now I am really sore.
2) Make two dresses for Hannah- Completed in May
3) Learn a new hobby-

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am up today with May for Titus. I need to focus on what I want the other book to be. I have a couple half started
5) Read the entire bible-

6) Get more involved at the church- Still searching for my place.

7) Read 7 books - Well I have ten great books i want to read. Again, its just finding the time. I hope to be better about this.

AARON

1) Hunt something- Completed in May
2) Process one animal - Completed in May

3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- We are doing really good on this. Its hard to remember that we need it, but Aaron and I have both become expert bread makers.

2) Make 52 new recipes- With 6 months left, I am right on track.

Another Goal Complete: Root Beer

Last weekend Aaron and I tried making a batch of root beer and ginger ale. Both were semi successful and semi failures. The root beer taste great but I let the yeast sit out too long before mixing it in. So, the root beer did not carbonate. The ginger ale carbonate up very nicely but it has a funny taste. I'm not he biggest fan of the recipe. It has a nice ginger taste, but the lemon added is over powering. I think next time I would reduce the lemon amount and only add the juice, not the entire lemon.

This coming weekend we are planning on making another batch of root beer. Hopefully we will have some to bring home while visiting family. Pictures will be posted soon.

Book Review: Lies the Goverment Told You: Myth, Power and Deception in American History by Judge Andrew Napolitano

This book is about the 17 top lies the government has passed onto the American people including that "all men are created equal", "its only a temporary program", and "I'm the government, and I'm here to help." He discusses how the men and women in government have warped the government to be self serving instead of selfless. He gives many real examples of how laws and authority have been abused and covered up.

I thought the book was eye opening. I always new there were problems with our government, but he did a wonderful job putting face to some of the issues. While I may not feel as strongly about some of the issues as he does, it does show you how some kind of government reform and accountability is necessary.

Overall i enjoyed the book, mostly. I did find the book a little hard to read at times, but that might have just been me.

Note: I was given a complimentary copy of the book to review. this review is my own opinion and I was in way compensated for a good review.

Recipe #24- peanut butter oatmeal cookies... with fiber

So, I had a box if All bran bran buds that I wanted to use up. After some searches, I came across a couple recipes. The first one I tried was this... Fibertastic Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.

The cookies turned out pretty good. They are a nice chewy oatmeal cookie.. not the flat gooey kind. The peanut butter is subtle and the all bran can not be tasted at all.

We will definitely make these again. They are a good and they contain very little refined sugar.

Enjoy!

Dresses for Hannah

I finally got around to making some dresses for Hannah. OK, so these were really easy but i made them and Hannah LOVES them. She asks to wear the "cherry dress" every day.

Making Beer Part 1

Aaron has been very productive in May with completing goals.

This month we also tried making our first batch of beer. Below are some pictures for the initial steps. On Friday (May 28th) we will bottle the beer. Seven days later we will get to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

For the first batch Aaron went with "Fat Man's Porter"

The recipe was given to us by the brew shop where we ordered all of the ingredients
The malt and hops brewing made the house smell wonderful.

The yeast packet.

After everything had boiled for an hour, we poured it into the brew tank, added cold water, and added the year.

We have turned the guest bedroom into the brew room for a few days. (Catron Mom-if you look in the background you can see your two new cake plates)

The lid is sealed securely and the air lock is filled with vodka to make sure no bacteria gets in. Yes this is the only reason a huge bottle of vodka is sitting next to the beer container.

And now we wait. Once the yeast is done working, we will siphon off the liquid, add sugar, and bottle. Then the bottles sit for 7-10 days to carbonate the beverage. Then we enjoy.

Making Sausage

As most of you know Aaron saw a wild pig in our yard and was successful in detaining it a couple weeks ago. From the pig we got 32 lbs of sausage. Here are some pics of that process.

We made many different kinds of sausage including

Italian sausage, bulk

breakfast sausage, bulk

hot Sicilian sausage links

polish sausage links

southwestern sausage links

maple breakfast sausage links

apple leek sausage links

I think that's it. but i could be forgetting one. All in all we are really please with how all of our hard work turned out. We will be enjoying all of the this "free" sausage for the next few months.

"free" is in parentheses because the pig was free but i was amazed at how much stuff you need to make sausage we did not have on hand. So after the sausage stuffer (that had to be next dayed to the house), casings, and pig fat we broke about even if we would have bought the sausage at the store on sale. BUT.. we now have everything to make more in the future.

Aaron and I had a great time learning how to make sausage. I don't think we realized before this how involved it is. Aaron is all excited about sausage making and wants to try a few more recipes from our sausage book.

May Update

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account- life's unexpected things are making this hard. It is still a goal but is starting to look unachievable this year.

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- Well, Aaron had to have his wisdom teeth removed in April. Although this was a planned expense, we were not planning on having to pay 100% up front and then file for insurance afterwards. So, this money went towards help pay for this expense and when we get reimbursed from insurance, the money will go towards this goal.


3) Make 1 extra house payment- Slow and Steady wins the race. An additional 6%


4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)-


5)Never use a credit card - We had some work expenses in April that we used the card for but we plan on paying off in full when we receive the bill.


6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We have now realized we can not fix the lawn mower. So, we are selling it on craigslist and getting a new one. Right now we bought a push mower to get by. Let the savings begin

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer-

9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. Replaced by 9b.
9b) Pay off minivan in 12 months- 35.3% complete thanks to selling the Aztek

10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Sold the Aztek which pushed us way over. We also sold the hitch haul.

12) Start a savings account for a new car- well we were able to put $1000 down with the money that we started to save. but this goal is now complete


FAMILY

1) Go on two weekend family vacations- No real vacations this month.

2) Visit both families at least once- Waiting for July and starting to look into the winter holidays

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer- We made our first batch of beer on May 23rd.
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer-
3) Grow a successful garden- Its in partially. I will call it a work on progress.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. -


SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight-
2) Make two dresses for Hannah- I made 4 dresses thanks to Walmart fabric. Hannah loves them.

3) Learn a new hobby-

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am updated on Titus's baby book and have worked a little on the other.

5) Read the entire bible-

6) Get more involved at the church- Still searching for my place.

7) Read 7 books - Well I have ten great books i want to read. Again, its just finding the time. I hope to be better about this.

AARON

1) Hunt something- Done thanks to a pig in our yard
2) Process one animal - Done thanks to the same pig. We now have 32 lbs of sausage in our freezer.
3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- None is May.

2) Make 52 new recipes- Up to ~24 that i can think of. I'm sure there are more but i didn't write them down.

Recipe Catch up

so I have not had the time to take pictures and blog bout every new recipe we have tried this year. I really wanted to and then life happens. But here is a quick overview of the recipes we have tried the last few weeks.

12 honey oatmeal bread from the bread machine- good and easy
13 lemon roll cake- YUM!!! thanks mom for helping
14 peanut butter cups- good and healthy. They are from good and lite. A nice alternative to icecream
15 mexican lasagna-YUM!!! one of our new favorites. We will definately be making this again.
16cranberry breakfast cookies- they have a weird taste which i think is from the dried cranberries i used. But Hannah loves them so she gets to have cookies for breakfast.
17 raspberry bread- Ok taste but the seeds are weird to me.
18 strawberry bread- good. would make again
19 whole wheat blueberry streusel muffins- YUM!! I will definately make these again. but i did follow the advice of the commenters. Increase the oil to 1/2 c and increase the sugar to 2/3c. It made 15 for me.
20 sausages. So really this should be 6 or 7 different recipes but since this also fulfils another goal i felt like we were cheating by countingit both places. So they only count as one recipe. But we made....
breakfast bulk sausage
italian bulk sausage
maple breakfast sausage links
polish sausage links
hot sicilian sausage links
southwestern sausage links
(there may be one more but that is all i can think of)
21 Vanilla ice cream in my new ice cream maker. Milk, cream and sugar has never tasted so good in only 30 minutes.
22. Whole wheat tortillas- Aaron made these and they turned out great. Truely better then anything you can buy in the store. My plan is to start making them fresh instead of buying. And thanks to Jesse and Alica, we now have a tortilla press to help out.
23. Broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken breasts

April Review

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account-

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- Well, Aaron had to have his wisdom teeth removed in April. Although this was a planned expense, we were not planning on having to pay 100% up front and then file for insurance afterwards. So, this money went towards help pay for this expense and when we get reimbursed from insurance, the money will go towards this goal.


3) Make 1 extra house payment- Slow and Steady wins the race.


4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)-


5)Never use a credit card - We had some work expenses in Aril that we used the card for but we plan on paying off in full when we recieve the bill.


6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We have decided to not buy a new lawnmower. We are working on fixing our old one.

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer- After some research I have realized $500 will come nowhere near to buying half a pig of cow. But, this is still something i wish to do.

9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. Well, we bought a minivan in April. I love our new car, but we had to get a loan. I am hopeful to have this paid off in 1 year. I am pushing to try and have it paid off within this year, but we'll see.


10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- none this month

12) Start a savings account for a new car- well we were able to put $1000 down with the money that we started to save. but this goal is now complete


FAMILY


1) Go on two weekend family vacations- No real vacations this month.


2) Visit both families at least once- we have officially planned to visit both families in June and July.


HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer-
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer-

3) Grow a successful garden-
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. -


SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- April was not a lot better. But without much work on this subject I am now 25% of the way to my goal


2) Make two dresses for Hannah-

3) Learn a new hobby-

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- Maybe in May


5) Read the entire bible- Stil nothing in April. I hopeful that in May i can get part of it read. I am also thinking abuot listening to it on book on tape.


6) Get more involved at the church- Still searching for my place.

7) Read 7 books - Well I have three great books i want to read. Again, its just finding the time. I hope to be better about this.

AARON

1) Hunt something-
2) Process one animal
3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- None in April

2) Make 52 new recipes- I now have ~18. Recipes to follow

March Review

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account-

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- still waiting to see how everything with the tax rebate falls. Hopefully we will have money to set aside for this.

3) Make 1 extra house payment- For some reason, i did not have to make a house payment this month. I think when we were on maternity leave, i got one payment ahead. So, this month when i tried to go online and pay, it told me no. So, when i am allowed to make my house payment, i will hit it with some extra money.

4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- I have decided to drop this goal. I never could get started keeping a record of all the applicable purchases and i think its too late to start. I am still doing whatever i can to save money. March was full of some great deals at publix (spend $20 save $100+). I will continue to find these great deals and stock up when prices are good.

5)Never use a credit card - We did not use it in March. YEA!!!

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- WE DID IT! Aaron bought his new chainsaw on Mar 4th. He has already used it a couple times.

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We have decided to not buy a new lawnmower. We are working on fixing our old one.

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer- After some research I have realized $500 will come nowhere near to buying half a pig of cow. But, this is still something i wish to do.

9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- As of now, we still have no debt. Aaron and I are going back and forth on getting a new vehicle, so this may change, but i hope that it doesn't. p.s. If anyone would like to donate us a excellent condition minivan, we would graciously accept it.

10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- DONE in February

11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- none this month

12) Start a savings account for a new car- still waiting to see how the tax return is divided and see whats going on with my not being able to make a house payment. If all things work in our advantage, we may be able to have some money towards this goal.



FAMILY


1) Go on two weekend family vacations- We went on our first family minivacation on March 1st and 2nd. We had a great time in Orlando (yes, even through the pneumonia and cramped hotel room)



2) Visit both families at least once- we have officially planned to visit both families in June and July.


HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer-
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer-

3) Grow a successful garden-
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. - we did can tangerines but that's it so far.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- With travel, family, and sickness, I did not have a chance to weigh in. I will hopefully be better on this in April.

2) Make two dresses for Hannah-

3) Learn a new hobby-

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- No more done. Hopefully in April
5) Read the entire bible- I never seem to have time. But i need to make it. I am still keeping this goal up here and hope to be better about it.
6) Get more involved at the church- Still searching for my place.

7) Read 7 books - Well I have three great books i want to read. Again, its just finding the time. I hope to be better about this.

AARON

1) Hunt something-
2) Process one animal

3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- I did buy croissants this month, but do they really count?

2) Make 52 new recipes- Well i only got to 11 officially. Really there were many recipes i tried but never thought about to blog on. I will though and then will all count towards my April total.

Recipe #11 Cinnamon Rolls from the Bread Machine

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs i follow daily, LifeAsMom. Jessica also has a great food blog Good and Cheap Eats. One recipe she makes often are homemade cinnamon rolls where the dough can be made in a bread machine and the rolls can rise overnight int he frig. This way, in the mornings all you have to do is let them sit on the counter top for 20 mins and then bake for 20 mins. They are really good too (plus you can make them 100% whole wheat and they taste great).

Here is the recipe. And here are some beautiful photos of my cinnamon rolls. I made them the morning of our yard sale as a special treat. I also have a batch in the frig waiting to come out this morning for us to eat this morning.

Hannah thought it was cake and ice cream because

1) it does kind of look like cake, and

2) I asked her if she like the icing and she thought i meant ice cream

So naturally, Hannah at all of hers and half of Aarons.

A new goal (Am i crazy?)

Hey everyone, so after a lot of thinking, I want to add another item to my personal goals list.

Read 7 new books this year. Audiobooks do not count.

To help with this goal I signed up for booksneeze.com. It's a website that give free books to bloggers to read and then review. Hopefully by the end of May you will see my first review.

Sally

February Review

So here is a summary of how we did in February.


This month a couple things happened to help push us forward.
1) We filed our taxes and got a large return (yea second baby!)
2) Work suprized everyone with raises
3) After much worrying, it looks like the PA Department of revenue is not coming after me for tons of money. But, I'm still waiting on the official word.

FINANCIAL
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account- some of our tax return may go towards this. We are still waiting to see where it is going to go.

2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary- We are hoping to accomplish this with our tax return. We are still waiting to see if the car needs fixed and other things before we officially designate the money towards this.

3) Make 1 extra house payment- Put an additional 9.6% towards our mortgage. Total ~15%

4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- I still have no idea. One of my goals for March is get this in order

5)Never use a credit card - Again I had some work expenses (booking stuff for a trip) that I put on a credit card. But we have not used it for any personal use.

6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw- Thanks to our tax return, we have money set aside for a new chainsaw. Aaron will probably go pick it out in March

7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower- We have money set aside and are now actively looking for a great deal on a used lawnmower

8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer


9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- Still no debt-YEA!!!

10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)- I put the check in the mail on the 24th to pay off the balance. I love not having this hanging over me anymore.


11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Our yardsale was good, but not wonderful. It rained all morning so the turn out (both people selling and looking) was low. But in 2.5 hours, we were able to make $100. We still have a lot of stuff that didnt sell, so it is going into the closet for Augusts big commuity yardsale.

12) Start a savings account for a new car- This is getting moved up as a huge priority. Our Aztek is starting to cause us some problems and will need to replaced within the next year.

FAMILY
1) Go on two weekend family vacations- My job is sending me to Orlando Mar 1st and 2nd. We have decided to go a day early and make it a little vacation. We plan on visiting the Orlando Science Center, playing in the hotel pool, and having a great time. (check it out, i finally learned how to use the linky thing. Yeah me)

2) Visit both families at least once

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer- no beer yet, but we have read up on it a lot. Hopefully this spring

2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer- Not yet. Aaron did get a book on this for his birthday so hopefully in March or April

3) Grow a successful garden- We started some seedlings inside for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and spinach. We plan to plant them outside in March.

4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- not a good month. Too much baking. March is going to be much better


2) Make two dresses for Hannah- no time in February but this is still very important to me

3) Learn a new hobby- Still no idea what

4)Make 2 books on picaboo- i didnt get a chance to update the books for February. Hopefully in March.

5) Read the entire bible- not a single chapter in February. BAD SALLY

6) Get more involved at the church- Still looking for the right place. Please pray for my guidance to the right area

AARON

1) Hunt something- no opportunities this month

2) Process one animal

3) Make a rocking horse


OTHER

1) Make our own breads (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- We did not buy any bread this month. YEAH!!!. I am getting better about having bread on hand. Aaron has also helped out a lot with this goal. I have also started using my bread maker to make the dough so all I have to do is form it and bake.

2) Make 52 new recipes- I now have a total of 12 new recipes. I still need to post the 12th one.

Recipe #10 Homemade King's Hawiian Bread

I don't know about you but I love King's Hawaiian bread. It just has a great texture and flavor. I came across this recipe on my favorite recipe website recipezaar.com.



So here is the link to the website.



The bread turned out okay. It has a good taste. I forgot to set a timer when I put the in the oven so i went by the color. They should have gone another 5 minutes or so to completely cook the inside of the bead. We will enjoy snacking on them this week.

Recipe #9 Fiesta Cheesecake

This recipe comes from my kitchen aid mixer manual. It is a cheese dip not a dessert cheesecake. I made it for our Sunday school Christmas Party (that is in February). The dip turned out really good. It has a great flavor and looks really nice. I wanted to get a pictures before it was devoured at the party, but we ran out of time. We will definitely make this again for a get-together.

(It really is a million times better than what it looks like in these photos)

Fiesta Cheesecake

2x 8-oz cream cheese, softened

1 package taco seasoning

3 eggs

2 c shredded Marble-jack cheese

1x 4oz can green chilies

1 c sour cream

1 c salsa

Place cream cheese and taco seasoning mix in mixer bowel. Mix on speed 6 for 1 1/2 mins with flat blade mixer. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn onto speed 4 and add eggs, one at a time, beating 15 seconds between each addition. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cheese and green chilies. Turn to stir and mix 15 seconds.

Pour into a greased 9 in spring form pan. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until knife comes out of the center clean. Remove from oven and spread sour cream over top. Place back in oven for 5 minutes. Cool 15 mins. Refrigerate 3-8 hours. Before serving, remove outer ring and spread salsa. Serve with taco chips, if desired.

Yields ~20 servings

Recipe #8 Baked Tilapia with corn and tomatoes

EDIT: Here is a link to the recipe with pictures so you can see how beautiful it really is.
http://www.startmakingchoices.com/recipes/recipeDetails.jsp?action=recipe&recipeid=4239&view=view

Aaron found a recipe that he wanted to try in a ConAgra coupon booklet I got in the mail. This recipe is really simple and cheap (they save it can serve 4 for less than $10). This meal cost us approximately $4.

Baked Tilapia with Corn and Tomatoes
2c frozen whole corn kernels, thawed
1x 14.5oz can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, undrained (we used mexican blend diced tomatoes)
1/2 c chopped white onion (we reconstituted some dried onion)
1t dill weed, divided
1/2t salt, divided
Pam cooking spray (we used some olive oil)
1 lb tilapia fillets, 4 oz each, thawed
1/4t ground pepper
3 c cooked brown rice (we used white because it was quicker)

Preheat oven to 425F. Combine corn, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 t dill, and 1/4 t salt in a bowl. For each packet, lay 2 20x12 inch sheets of aluminum foil on top of each other. Place about 3/4c corn mixture in the center of each sheet of foil. Spray both sides of the fillets with pam and sprinkle with the remaining dill and salt and pepper. Place fillets on the corn mixture and bring up short sides of each foil packets and double fold the tops. Double fold each ends to seal packet, leaving space for steam to gather. Place packets on baking sheets and bake 20 mins or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with fork. Open packets carefully to allow steam to escape before opening fully. Place fish and corn/tomato mixture from each packet on dinner plates and accompany each with 3/4 c rice. Serve immediately.

Review: The people in the house who like fish, really enjoyed this meal. The people who are not big fish lovers, found it just okay. We will definitely keep this recipe and make it again. Its a great way to serve fish that is healthy and in expensive.

P.S. I was going to take a picture of Aaron's beautiful work making this dinner, but he ate it all before I could get one. Maybe next time.

January Update

Here is an update on how we did in January

FINANCE
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account
2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary
3) Make 1 extra house payment- I paid an extra 5.45% towards this goal
4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- Wow I spent a lot this month. We had to restock on a lot of staples and we gave three meals to friends plus some extras for parties and such. Hopefully next month will be drastically less.
5)Never use a credit card -didn't use for us. I had to buy some things for work. But i was reimbursed promptly and i plan of paying it off in full when the statement arrives.
6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw
7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower
8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer
9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- YEAH NO ADDITIONAL DEBT!! (OK, so its been a month, but it still makes me happy)
10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)-Paid our regular payment plus a little extra. Still $2000+ to go
11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Set up for a yard sale next month. Its amazing how one small house can accumulate so much stuff you never use. We also tried to sell two slides and a camera on Craigslist. No luck, but we are working towards this goal.
12) Start a savings account for a new car

FAMILY
1) Go on two weekend family vacations- Nothing planned yet, but we do have some Christmas money set aside for this purpose.
2) Visit both families at least once

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer
3) Grow a successful garden- Nothing in the ground yet, but we have started planning on what we want to plant.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.- We received 6 grocery bags of grapefruit a couple weeks ago. We have all of them sliced ad juice. This week we are going to can the fruit and freeze the juice.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- I am 12.5%$ of the way there. I am definitely learning self control with all of the wonderful baked bread and sweets around the house. I want to start working out but am having trouble finding time. This is my mini-goal for February-start a semi regular workout schedule.
2) Make two dresses for Hannah- No dresses yet, but i did have some sewing time with a lady at work. We made a little bag together.
3) Learn a new hobby- Any suggestions on a new hobby? I have no idea what this will be yet
4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am up to date with Titus's baby book.
5) Read the entire bible 11 out of 260 chapters read. I know this is pathetic. I need to work on finding time to set aside every day to do this.
6) Get more involved at the church. - I really want to do this. But, I'm hesitant to commit myself to too much. They have opening for things i think I would like to do but I just don't have the time to do. Hopefully God will lead me to the right ministry. Too bad there isn't a baking ministry.

AARON
1) Hunt something (Armadillos do not count)- Our neighbor called about a wild boar bothering his pigs. He hunted but was unsuccessful because of the daytime and surrounding obstacles (houses and cars). But the year is still young.
2) Process one animal
3) Make a rocking horse

OTHER
1) Make our own (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- So far we have not bought any bread. This is going to be a much harder goal than i first anticipated.
2) Make 52 new recipes- I made 7 new recipes this month.

Some thoughts from this month. I am excited about everything that we accomplished or started in motion this month. I know its easy to make a list and dream, but i think because of this list we will accomplish great things this year. I now realize (as Aaron warned me) how ambitious my list really is. I am very thankful of his support and help in my crazy dream of accomplishing all of this. I already would have failed if it wasn't for him (who knew he was an expert bread maker).

Recipes #6 and #7

On Thursday, the guys in my lab and myself got together for a potluck lunch. One of the guys brought in his grill and we all pitched in some money for steaks. We grilled them and chicken breasts. Along with the meat we all brought in one side including mac-n-cheese, baked potatoes, potato salad, squash casserole, and fruit salad. And I was in charge of the desserts.


At 7 pm on Wednesday night i still had no idea what i wanted to make. Finally i remembered I had Lynn's cookbook. So I opened it up and was again stumped... on which pies to make. I finally picked the triple chocolate mouse pie and the blueberry banana creme pie.


Both were amazing. I got rave review on both. The bigger hit of the two was the blueberry banana cream pie. Everyone loved unique yet obvious combination of flavors. Both are definite hits that i will make again.


For the recipe.... See her newer cookbook (the one we got at Grandma Nell's 100th b-day party). I did have to slightly modify the recipes both nothing that would drastically alter the taste. (My pans were too small and I had to reduce the amount of blueberry pie filling on top)



Side Note: Our lunch together was great and we ended up with a ton of leftovers. We could easily have a second meal with all of the food present. We are already planning out next luncheon together.

Recipe #5 Oatmeal Raisen Cookies

I think I finally found an easy amazing oatmeal cookie. I always find it hard to get the perfect mixture of crunchy and chewy in an oatmeal cookie.

Again, I found this recipe on recipezaar.com. If you want to look it up search or recipe#35813

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2c flour

1t baking powder

1t baking soda

1t salt

1c butter, softened

1c sugar

1c dark brown sugar, packed (you must use dark brown sugar. I think its why they are so good)

2 eggs

2t vanilla

3c oats (not instant)

1 2/2 raisins

In a medium bowl, mix four, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a large bowl mix butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla together. Mix on med to high speed to cream. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in oats and raisins.

On a greased cookie sheet scoop 2T worth of dough into mounds spaced ~2 inches apart. Bake 11-13 minutes at 350 until the cookies are a nice brown. Let them cool on the sheet for 2 minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: I used my large scoop which is probably ~1T. It made 3 1/4 dozen cookies that were a nice size. They took ~9-10 minutes to bake.

Recipe #4 Key Lime Bread

I was looking through my frig and found a partially used bottle of key lime juice that i wanted to use up. I was in the mind set of making bread that could be frozen for quick breakfast, so looked online and found this recipe. It was on my favorite recipe website http://www.recipezaar.com/

I hope you all enjoy. If you want to look it up on recipezaar, it is recipe #249793.



Key Lime Bread



2/3 c butter, softened (i used margarine)

2c sugar

4 eggs

2T lime zest (because i only had juice, i skipped this)

2 T key lime juice (I added 3 to make up for zest)

1t vanilla

3c flour

3t baking powder

1 t salt

1c milk (we were out so i reconstituted some dry milk)

1c chopped nuts



Glaze

2/3c confectioners sugar

1-2T key lime juice



In a large bowl cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add lime peel, juice, and vanilla and mix well. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternating with milk. Fold in nuts

Pour into 2 greased 9x5 pans and bake for 50-55 mins at 350 or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool completely. Make glaze and top when cooled.



Notes: I did not remove my from the pan (it was late) and they turned out fine.

We ate this one quickly. The second one is in the freezer with glazing instructions waiting to be eaten another day.
I loved the bread. Aaron liked it. Hannah only at the top part with the icing. I will definitely make this again. Its great if your in the mood for key lime.

Recipe #3 Grapefruit Bread

We were bless with three bags of wonderful grapefruits from a guy I work with. He has 30+ grapefruit trees in his backyard and had to pick all of the fruit because of the extremely cold weather. I am planning on making grapefruit marmalade, but found this recipe and was intrigued. The bread turned out really good. Its a dense bread with a light citrus taste. I took a loaf into work and everyone loved it.





Grapefruit Bread

3c flour

1/2t salt

4t baking powder

3/4t baking soda

2/3c honey

1/4c margarine, softened

1 2/3c rolled oats

1 egg

1 1/4c grapefruit juice

1 walnuts, chopped



In a medium size bowl mix the dry ingredients. Set aside. In another bowl cream margarine and honey. Add egg and mix. Add oats, juice, and flour. Mix together. Fold in nuts. Pour into 1 9x5 loaf pan and bake for ~1 hour at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.



Note: When I made it, I added the oats to the liquid mixture (honey, margarine, egg, and juice) and let it sit for a minute to soften them. I then added the flour mixture.



Note: If you let the dough sit for a minute before baking (like while waiting for the oven to heat up), your dough will get really big. The texture will seem a little funny too, but don't worry it's still good. It's just all the baking powder working.

Recipe #2 Albondigas Soup

The second soup Aaron made for me was a recipe I copied 3 years ago. I do not remember where I got it. Albondigas soup is basically a mexican meatball soup. The recipe is below and i highly suggest everyone try it. It is amazing and makes a nice big pot. Also, it reheats really well and is just as good if not better the next day.

Albondigas Soup

1lb lean ground beef

1/2lb pork sausage (we used 1 lb accidentally)

1 onion, chopped

1 egg, beaten

1/2t salt

1/4t garlic powder

1/4c milk

1/4c fresh basil, chopped

1/2c corn meal

6-14oz cans beef broth (we used beef bullion to make the equivalent)

1-8oz jar salsa

1 onion, chopped

2-14.5oz canned peeled and diced tomatoes

1/2t basil

1/2t oregano

1/2t black pepper

1/2 white rice (not instant)

Mix together beef broth, salsa, 1 onion, tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 mins.

Mix together the ground beef, sausage, onion, egg, salt, 1/2t pepper, garlic pepper, milk, fresh basil, and cornmeal. Mix well. Form into tiny bite-sized meatballs.

Add the meatballs and rice to the broth. Simmer covered very slowly for 1 1/2 hours.

Note: I would add the rice for the last 30 minutes instead of the entite 1 1/2 hours. Its was a little mushy for my taste.

This is great with corn bread, day old bread, and cheese quesadillas.

Recipe #1 Tomato Soup

Last week, Aaron made two wonderful soups. The first was a tomato soup. It was absolutely wonderful. I had asked Aaron to make tomato soup. I was planning on just pureeing a can of Italian diced tomatoes and heating that up. But Aaron found a recipe on line that was slightly more involved and a hundred times better.



So, here is the recipe as found online with our changes in the parentheses.

Creamy Tomato Soup
4c chopped tomatoes (2 cans diced tomatoes. We used one regular and one Italian)
1 sliced onion
4 whole cloves (minced garlic)
2c chicken broth
2T flour
2T butter
1t salt
2t white sugar

In a pot over medium heat, add tomatoes, onion, garlic, and chicken broth. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the tomato mixture and put through a food mill. (We pureed it in the blender and then ran it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the chunks).
In the empty pot melt the butter. Add flour and mix until a light brown. Slowly add the tomato puree into the pot. Season with salt and sugar.

Enjoy!