Top Posts of 2012

It has been been an amazing, crazy, wonderful and fast 12 months of life with our growing family of 4 kids! I am looking forward to living & experiencing the new chapter of life in 2013 with my family here in Rancho Oasis for Youth.

Before you start looking through the best of 2012... let me express my deepest gratitude for supporting us by visiting our blogs and making your purchases through my links. It has been a blessing having you all alongside us!

Thank you so much for reading, leaving comments and being a part of the 'noisy' gang. We hope every one of you will have an AWESOME New Year!

Strawberry Pineapple Oatmeal Bake

Crispy Orange Chips (a.k.a. - Dehydrated Orange Slices)

Sweet n' Crunchy Roasted Chickpea Snack & Grain-free Cereal

Tangy Orange Powder

Pregnancy Notes: Super Happy Belly Tea

Carrot Cake Ice Cream

Pregnancy Notes: Whole Food Supplements

Easy Mango Blackberry Swirl Ice Cream Pie

{nut,dairy & grain-free crust}

Naturally Sweetened Cranberry-Oatmeal Crumble Bars

Spiced Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal 

Honey-sweetend Almond Orange Shortbread Cookies

Read More

NEW! GNOWFGLINS Dehydrating eCourse & GIVEAWAY

I am super excited about Wardee's new dehydrating class coming in January.

I have a dehydrator and have used it to dry my soaked nuts, make dried oranges (to make orange powder), dried pineapple, dried mangoes (to make mango butter), oats and herbs.

But I am looking forward to really put my dehydrator to work! Check out the lessons & topics... I will be learning how to dehydrate a variety of ways with fruits, vegetables, herbs, beans, grains, eggs, dairy, broth, meats and how to utilize them in cooking and fermenting.

Can't wait! What about you? Wanna join me?

But I'm sure you have some questions first, such as...

What's The Big Deal About Dehydrating Foods?
Good question! Dehydrating foods have many qualities and they...

• are lightweight and portable
• store well at room temperature... so you don't need a freezer or root cellar
• store for long periods of time, like a year or more!
• retain vitamins, enzymes and other nutrition that would be lost if they were canned
• are ideally suited for prepping, survival, camping or hiking
• perserve the harvest to enjoy bounty all year round... from veggies to fruits to herbs to eggs to yogurt to broth and more!
• "instant" foods you can throw together in a pinch if your circumstances prevent normal food prep
• require much less time and energy than other preservation methods
• and, of course, they taste great! (fruit leather or candied fruit, anyone?)

What Will I Learn to Dehydrate... Fruit Leather?

Drying foods covers a lot more than just making your own fruit leather! Did you know you can dry fruits, veggies, broth, meats, beans, grains, eggs, dairy, herbs, mother cultures, and more? You can even use your dried foods to make easy, almost instant soups, stews, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts.

Drying is a traditional practice that preserves the nutrition of foods — the naturally present vitamins and enzymes are retained, rather than being destroyed as they would be through canning or through high heat drying.

You can’t buy many healthy dried foods in stores. Instant soups and mashed potatoes are not “real” foods plus they include chemicals for shelf stability, texture, and taste. Many dried foods are sulphured to keep them soft and colorful.

To be fair, certain reputable companies make high quality dry foods — but these foods might be out of your budget.

It’s a great time to discover how to dry your own foods — you’ll save money, get a more healthful end result, and you’ll be better prepared for difficult circumstances.

Ready to join yet?

What's In The Dehydrating eCourse?

• 21 multi-media lessons — video demonstrations and detailed print tutorials and recipes.
• All recipes are nutrient-dense and incorporate the principles of traditional cooking — like soaking, sourdough, sprouting, little sweetening, and healthy fats.
• Ingredient and equipment notes.
• Suggested schedule.
• Detailed video and print dehydrating demonstrations.
• A selection of recipes that rely on dried foods — breakfast, main dishes, desserts, and trail food.
• Private forum for support and sharing — because this is going to be fun!

And What Will I Get If I Join?

• Access to every class we offer.
• Class enrollment doesn’t close. Enroll at any time.
• Total access to all available lessons from the get-go.
• Exclusive monthly thank you gift for qualifying payments.
• Bi-monthly learning bonus.
• Weekly lessons presented through multi-media tutorials.
• Exclusive members-only forums.
• Weekly email reminders (optional).

Weekly video demonstrations and print materials will guide you through the topics and lessons of this class. By the end of this eCourse, you’ll have a wonderful collection of PDFs and recipes — in fact, a whole dehydrating cookbook!

When Do I Need to Join?
Any time! You can join the class anytime! The class begins on Tuesday, January 8th of 2013 and lessons will be added weekly until it is complete.

When you sign up, you will have instant access to the lessons already released, plus the lessons in all the other classes they offer!

Now, are you ready to join?

Wait! How Much Will This Class Cost?
Become a member for as little as $8 a month! You will get video demonstrations and print downloads to help you master the tasks listed for the Dehydrating Class.

Remember, you will have unlimited access to all the other classes that have already been released! That's 7 classes available to you for only $8 a month! Basically, you will be paying a little more than a buck per class per month... that's a sweet deal if you ask me.

I have been a member for 2 years now and love how much I've learned from Wardee & her friends.

Now, quit stalling... are you gonna join me or what?  :o)

Check out these two videos that will show you how easy it is to dehydrate your bounty and enjoy them:

Now, the Giveaway...

Wardee is generously sponsoring a giveaway for a 1-month basic membership.

The winner will begin mid-January to get the most out of the dehydrating classes. Plus, he or she will have access to the other 6 classes available to GNOWFGLINS eCourse members!

Enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter below. This giveaway is available to anyone with access to the internet.

The winner will be contacted via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read More

Chocolate Peppermint Twist Cookies (honey-sweetened & naturally colored)

Christmas is almost upon us! Wow, time just flies. It has been so fun doing the Truth in the Tinsel advent ebook this year. My girls are really enjoying the crafts and doing a great job of summarizing the story leading to Jesus' birth. I'm already looking forward to next year's advent... I'm thinking of finding something new to change it up.

This past week I attended a cookie exchange party hosted by some missionary friends in the city. It was nice to enjoy some much-needed fellowship, catch up with friends and make some new friends.

It took me a while to decide what cookies to make and it had to be simple, easy to travel 

& healthy.

I googled around and decided to make candy cane shaped cookies using chocolate peppermint cookie dough and plain cookie dough colored with... beet powder.

Yep, you read that right... beet powder.

Now, don't make the yucky face... I know what you are thinking. They did not taste at all like beet!

I was VERY surprise. I was expecting at least some beet flavor, but... nada!

The beet powder did a good job of giving the plain cookie dough a light pinkish color. Even my girls were thrilled to have some "colored" cookies!

If my girls liked them... I'm sure you will too!

These cookies were lightly sweet, buttery and chewy. I'm sure some frosting on top would be delightful. Also, If you don't have any beet powder... skip it and enjoy white dough!

My family and I wish you all a very beautiful Christmas and a wonderful New Year to come!

Chocolate Peppermint Twist Cookies

(honey-sweetened & naturally colored)

makes 80-90 small cookies

Red Dough

3 3/4 cups whole white wheat flour or all-purpose flour

4 Tbsp beet powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup honey

2 sticks cold butter, cut into chunks

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Dough

3 1/2 cups whole white wheat flour or all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup honey

2 sticks cold butter, cut into chunks

2 eggs

1-2  tsp peppermint extract

1. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
2. In a mixer, cream the butter and honey. When creamy, add the eggs and extract. Once combined, slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape the bowl and don’t overmix.
3. Pull together the dough and scoop it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough together into a log shape and wrap it up in plastic wrap. Let it chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. Repeat with chocolate dough.
5. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly greased cookie sheets.
6. When chilled, pull both doughs out and cut slices. Roll out each slice into long ropes. Do the dough in batches and keep the extras in the fridge to prevent the dough from getting gooey.
7. Put together the ropes of red dough and chocolate dough. Cut the ropes about 4-5 inches long. Twist and press together gently to prevent the dough from tearing.
8. Shape dough into candy canes or any shape you want.
9. Place on greased cookies sheets and bake for 10-15 mintues.
10. When done, let the cookies rest on the sheets for a few minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Now I am curious to know what other foods I can use to naturally color my baked goods! Any suggestions and ideas?

Read More

Honey Sweetened, Almond Orange Shortbread Cookies

I am over at A Little Bit of Spain today with an easy & delicious recipe for buttery shortbread cookies. 

These amazing cookies are sweetened with honey, flavored with orange extract & zest and jazzed up with chocolate topped with more orange zest!

Head on over and get the recipe. Your family will love them and you will want to make several batches of these yummy cookies to give away as gifts!

Have a great Christmas!

Read More

Make it Yourself: Homemade Orange Extract

It is now orange season around here and my trees are simply overflowing with delicious balls of sunshine!

Last season I dehydrated orange slices and made some orange powder, both are fantastic for baking and flavoring your tea! I also made some orange extract, which I just opened and strained a few days ago.

After I got over the "hurdle" of making my own Homemade Perpetual Vanilla Extract last year... I became obsessed with making my own extracts.

I did some research and decided to try making extracts from orange, lemon, cacao and almonds.

All you need is vodka and a jar. So easy!

I planned to leave them for only 3 months, but then decided to leave it for another 3 months. Then basically forgot about them. I don't recommend doing that.

Now it has been almost a year (the date on the jar is Jan. 25th, 2012!) and thankfully extracts are pretty forgivable. I spied them after coming home from our USA furlough & decided to open up the orange extract to see if I can use it. I had the vision of using it in my shortbread cookies.

When I first opened the jar... a warm, sharp smell of orange tingled my nose. I had a little taste and the flavor was nice & smooth with a hint of bitterness.

Success!

I made some delicious almond orange shortbread cookies (recipe coming!) using the orange extract and it was simply delicious! The orange flavor stood out nicely without it being overpowering... just the way I like it.

Homemade Orange Extract

• 2 large oranges (preferably organic)
• Vodka (higher proof is better)
• 1/4 cup filtered water (will extract more flavor)
• Pint-size glass jar

You can do it one of the two ways with the oranges... Peel them or zest them. I peeled them because it was easier, but some like to zest the oranges to avoid the white part because of its bitterness. Either way, you will get a wonderful orange flavor.

Put the orange peels or zest in a clean jar, add water, cover with vodka and seal it tight. Store in a dark, cool place and shake it whenever you think of it.

The extract will be ready in about 6 weeks. You can leave it longer for a slightly stronger flavor, but no longer than a year!  ;o)

I am going to open up my other extracts and see how they turned out. Hopefully I will be sharing recipes with you in the near future!

Have you made your own extracts yet? What flavors have you made? If you haven't, try making vanilla extract or orange extract and experience how easy it is! 

Read More

A Simple Christmas Advent Experience

With Christmas time upon us, I wanted to share with you a wonderful, yet simple, Christmas Advent ebook that we are going through as a family and also with the kids at Rancho Oasis for Youth.

The Meaning of Advent

Before I share more about "Truth in the Tinsel" and our advent experience... let me tell you what the word "advent" means. 

It means "coming"... which came from the Latin word adventus. 

During the four weeks before Christmas, we are remembering the beautiful history of God's people yearning for thousands of years for the Son of God to come. 

Through this time we are reading scriptures, making crafts and acting out the stories to honor the first advent of Christ. It is also a time to remember, as followers of Jesus, to be looking for His second advent.

Our hope in His return. 

About Truth in the Tinsel
If you are thinking its too late to start the advent... you are in for a sweet surprise! Included in the ebook are different schedules you can follow and you can start anytime. 

Truth in the Tinsel will help you and your family to slow down and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. In it you will find daily scripture reading and simple directions for making ornaments with the kids. 

As each day comes and goes, the kids will learn to truly understand what the celebration is all about (the birth of Jesus) and get excited about the real meaning of Christmas. 

Please take a few minutes to watch this video the author put together to explain how to use the ebook. 


I love how this spunky gal made this advent ebook so simple and fun!

Our Experience So Far

Honestly... we are LOVING it! My girls are eating it up and having so much fun doing the crafts. They also love to act out the scriptures while my hubby is reading them out loud. 

I am enjoying it because it is all ready and done for us... we just need to make sure we have the supplies needed for the crafts and that's about it!

I also like the flexibility I have to make some modifications or changes on the crafts. I just use what I have and make it work! 

As I mentioned earlier, we are also using Truth in the Tinsel with the kids we minister to at Rancho Oasis. The author put together a Spanish version of the advent ebook and it has been a great resource for us!

Truth in the Tinsel on Facebook & More
If you decide to buy this advent ebook... you can also join the Facebook group and share pictures, ideas and encouragement with other families who are doing the advent.

If you have any questions or want more information... go to this post: Top Ten Questions, Tip & How-To's for Your Truth in the Tinsel Experience.

Have a beautiful and simple Merry Christmas!

This post contains affiliate links and I will make a small commission from each purchase... no charge to you! Thank you for supporting me and my family through your purchases on my blog.

Read More

Meet Our Baby Cuatro: Poema Alizay

Picture taken at 2 weeks old

Poema Alizay Beard

Born October 21st, 2012

3:05 AM

8 lbs 3 oz  •  18 inches

Family-assisted home-birth & full water birth (It only took four tries to see it happen... PTL!)

Britt, Iowa in the home of my parents, Wayne & Brooke Goranson.

Why Such A Funky Name?

While in Britt, I was attending a women's Bible study, lead by my mother, through the book of Ephesians. Each week we went through a chapter and the week we read through Ephesians 2... verse 10 really stuck out to me:

"For we are His workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (NKJV)

The Greek word for workmanship is poiema, where we English speakers derive the word "poem". We took the Spanish twist on the word and have named our daughter "Poema" (po-ay-mah)

We didn't decide on the middle name until day of the birth! We were really struggling for inspiration, so my dad sent us a long list of cool Biblical names with meaning.

No, Alizay isn't found in the Bible, so it wasn't on the list, but it prompted some research to find a name with the following significance. Alizay (ah - lee - zay) is a female name with Hebrew origin that means "full of joy."

So, with the secret parent decoder, Poema Alizay means:

God's workmanship/poem is full of joy. 

This idea really became concrete as Jon, my husband, was doing our daily family Bible devotionals the morning before Poema was born and the verses just "happened" to land in Psalm 139:13-16

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

 

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

 

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

 

You saw me before I was born.

    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

    before a single day had passed." (NLT)

Jesus, we thank you for another wonderful birth experience and our new baby girl. Thank you for all of our friends, family and supporters who can share in this joyous occasion. Help us to walk in obedience and accomplish the good works that you have prepared for us, including raising our kids to know and marvel in your presence. Bring unity in our family and rest to our bodies. Amen!

Bendiciones todos!

Read More