Scenes from my kitchen

It's Friday, the end of the week and I had a bit of time this morning to reflect on how our week went. God is so good! I was also thinking, as I put my sprouted wheat into my food processor this morning to make bread, about the different things that came out of my kitchen this week. Probably not what an 'average' kitchen produces, so I thought I'd share a bit.



First, though, this really was a scene I could see from my kitchen as I was tidying a bit. My two youngest looking at my second oldest from the window, as my second oldest refilled our bird feeder. So sweet! And this really is not a posed picture. This is the kind of fruit we get to enjoy when we, as Moms, roll up our sleeves and, with God's grace, commit ourselves to making relationships a priority in our homes, according to God's word.





This is a scene from my food processor- Sprouted Wheat. Generally I don't take the time {these sprouts are 3 days old} to sprout my wheat and I just throw the wheat berries in my Nutrimill and grind up fresh, hot, tasty flour. I decided to make the time this week to try out a new recipe for my family- especially since we have officially hit the doldrums of winter and the only decent produce available is. . .bananas. Ugh! The extra nutrients my family will gain by eating sprouted wheat should help us hang on until things come into season again.





Another scene from my kitchen this week- Homemade Elderberry Syrup. Elderberries are wonder-berries and so good for immune system support! Generally I buy an awesome syrup called Berrywell to keep our immune systems at peak awareness during these winter months, but last summer a friend gave us a TON of elderberries. The boys and I stemmed and cleaned them, then froze them. This week I made my own version of Berrywell and I must say that we can't tell a difference between our homemade version and what we were buying. Making this ourselves is much cheaper, but working with elderberries is very time consuming and I believe that the Berrywell we were buying is worth every.single.penny.

Another scene from our kitchen- the initiative of our helpful 3-year old! We made a Target run yesterday and Langston helped put groceries away. Maybe I had just never realized that penne rigate needs to be refrigerated?

{And, no, I haven't learned how to make my own pasta yet. . .but give me an afternoon when the laundry is all caught up and math papers are corrected and I can guarantee you I am going to do it!}

Perhaps the strangest thing to come out of my kitchen this week- Homemade Deodorant. Wait!Don't click the 'close window' button at the top of your screen until you hear me out! {Still there? Hello?}

I've been looking for a natural deodorant for years, knowing how dangerous the aluminum and other chemicals in regular deodorant is for me. After trying many store bought 'naturals' with no success, I had almost given up. Okay, I had given up. Then last week, I found a Homemade Deodorant recipe on one of my favorite blogs and decided to give it a try. Of course, I tweaked things a bit {I am an obsessive tweaker} by adding essential oils of tea tree, rosemary and lemongrass.

The result? I cannot believe how well this works. I repeat: can.not.believe.how.well.this.works. How long have we been convinced that chemicals and companies can do better than natural and made at home?

I ended up with four sample size 'extras' because the container I used was a tad small. I was so excited about the success of this recipe that I told my husband I wanted to share the good news and extra containers of Natural Deodorant with everyone - and he promptly gave me one of those sweet if you do that you might not have any friends or family who will claim you any longer looks. Not that he would be one of those friends and family. I think. I hope.

Anyway, if you have made it this far and did not click 'close' when Homemade Deodorant first hit your eyes and if you would like to give this recipe a try. . .you can quietly and discreetly leave a comment at the bottom and let me know you are game. By the way, did you know that aluminum has been connected with breast cancer? And no wonder, when you consider the position of your arm pits on your body. {Mercola.com is a great place to start any research.} Am I trying to shame you into trying this recipe? Perhaps, but it is only because I care about your health.

Just leave the word 'Lemongrass' in your comment and NO ONE will even know what you are talking about. I'll figure out how to get one of these samples to you, along with the recipe I used.

Have a beautiful weekend!

P.S. Even if you are not interested in 'Lemongrass' and want to leave me a note to let me know that, despite my granola-ness, you are still my friend it would make me smile. :-)