What Have I Been Doing?

Last August I decided to take 2 online dual credit college courses -- Music Appreciation and Spanish 1.  Spanish was awesome, but I really enjoyed the music course because there was A LOT of writing to do and I was also required to attend 3 recitals.  Here are some pictures of 1 of the recitals.  Everyone was in period costume and played beautifully!

~~Laura

Barefoot Seamstress Is Up And Running!!!

More explanations to come soon like....  hhmmmm.... Chicken Pox and viruses???  The whole family is great now and we are back to posting!  My website is up!  Come on over and check it out!

www.barefootseamstress.com 

~~Laura

Lunch Time!

We don't have much time, but we thought we might share our "Elizabeth and Laura proof" lunch! It was completely gluten-free and totally delicious!  We have given the explaining to Muddy and so take a look at her blog in a bit.

Almond Milk

Mango Cherry Milkshake- with the Almond Milk

Raw Mexican Pizza

Elizabeth's Not Egg Salad

Raw Apple Pie

~~Laura

Updates!

After quite a summer, we're back to posting and that includes Muddy.

This week is VERY busy including orchestra, a raw foods class, violin, voice and tennis lessons plus school.....try to post as soon as we catch our breaths!

~~Laura

What can we say?

I know that "I'm sorry" really doesn't cut it this time. Our last break from blogging didn't have an excuse, but this time is different however. About 6 months ago we realized that Elizabeth had more food allergies than we could count. She and I also learned that we are gluten intolerant. All of this excess baking (and eating something that she was allergic to) really took a toll on Elizabeth and until recently she had been in and out of the doctor's office twice a week. Thank goodness she is doing better and is only going once every two weeks! We are now back to normal with a few additional activities that we can't wait to share! We have a lot of catching up to do, so hang around and see what has been going on around here. :-)

~~Laura

Part 8 Of Precious Things

Precious ointment, very costly, of chief odours pure and sweet,
Holy gift for royal priesthood, thus for temple-service meet;
Such the Spirit's precious unction, oil of gladness freely shed,
Sanctifying and abiding on the consecrated head.

January Women's Luncheon Bazaar

Tea Anyone?

Here are some of the tea cozies that I made for a women's luncheon bazaar in January. They are made out of fabric from the Homestead in Fredericksburg. I have sold out of most of them but am in the process of finishing some more that will be available in my shop very soon. I'll also have them at our next farmer's market March 21 at Grey Forest.

~~Laura

Dinner in a flash...

What do you do with navy beans?


We made a pot of navy beans a couple of weeks ago and ended up running late fixing supper. So here we stand at the stove looking at our pot of beans and asking the above question.


The Answer -- Polenta with Herbed Navy Bean Broth


Sounds pretty fancy huh? Actually we just started throwing things in that sounded good. We first sauteed carrots and celery in coconut oil. Then we threw in a bunch of minced fresh herbs with some onion powder (Daddy's doesn't like onion chunks). We added enough bean broth to taste and ladled it over leftover grits that we "fried" in coconut oil -- thus the polenta. Here is the final result.

















The verdict? Here's the answer - It was SOOOOOO delicious. Daddy has asked for a repeat.





~~Sisters

Part 7 Of Precious Things

Precious faith our God hath given; rich in faith is rich indeed!
Fire-tired gold from His own treasury, fully meeting every need:
Channel of His grace abounding; bringing peace and joy and light;
Purifying, overcoming; linking weakness with His might.

Beet Salad

I made a really yummy beet salad with broccoli, kalamata olives, and a lemon and olive oil dressing.  --simple and tasty --  It also cleaned out our refrigerator.

~~Laura

The Last Of Santa Fe

Here is the last of the Santa Fe posts. When we go to Santa Fe, we always go hiking--A must!

It's free and fun--this last time everyone but me was freezing --43 degrees at noon. That's not that cold, but when we left home it was in the mid to high 80's. I loved the weather but I'm warm natured.

45 minutes into our hike, we came to a stopping point. There was a fence and a box. You were to leave emergency contact information on a paper in the box in case of trouble. Since our rations consisted of only a couple of bottled waters and lara bars, we turned back -quick. We had none of the emergency items they suggested. And since we didn't wish to get caught falling off a cliff in the cold, we decided to call it quits.

I took all of the pictures below -- including this first one.

~~Laura

Isn't he cute?

Got Raw Food?

Different people have asked about raw food. Since our blog is about so much more than food, Muddy has offered to have her own blog dedicated to gardening and raw food. Since she has almost no knowledge of working a computer, I will be her "computer secretary". She won't be able to post often but she'll try to get something on each week. We actually started it awhile back, but we're just now opening it.

So, the big question is -- "WHAT IS THIS?"



Check out her blog to find the answer.

~~Laura

Tuesday's Box

Our Tuesday box is here! Today we got -

Broccoli
Grapefruit
Yellow Onions
Mixed Greens
Oranges
Grapefruit
Meyer Lemons -- Some in the box as well as a case
Sunflower Sprouts
Cabbage Micro Greens
Carrots
Romaine Lettuce
Collard Greens
Sweet Potatoes
Red Potatoes
Baby Turnips

YUMMY!

~~Sisters

My Laundry Guest

It was my job to bring down all the dirty laundry from upstairs. After sorting it all I then started a load.....closed the washing machine door.......turned around and....SCREAMED! To my surprise this thing appeared. Did it come from upstairs? Did it come from outside? (the utility room is inside the house between the family room and garage) Also, the last load that it could have come from was Daddy's closet.....ooooo.....yucky! What has Daddy been up to-- a new science experiment? Or a plot to scare his daughter silly?


~~Laura


P.S. -- After such a scare I was too shaken to take care of the critter. Muddy to the rescue-- she kindly escorted our friend outside via a cup. Thank you!

Once outside, the critter made friends with a scared little pooch, who had an intention to try to eat it. But 2 inches away from this horrible fate, our little friend made such a racket that Mr. Bingley ran back inside.

Finally Finished

"She looks for wool and flax, and works with her hands in delight."
Proverbs 31:13

It really was a delight to finish this. I love the way it turned out. I gave this as a wedding shower gift to our Pastor's daughter. I really wanted to give this to her and make sure that it was finished on time, so I worked at it until the wee hours the night before the shower, and Muddy raced off to get it framed the day of the shower. Whew!!! Muddy was given that task because Elizabeth and I were busy in the kitchen making 400 rosemary cheddar muffins, stuffed mushrooms and vegetarian sushi rolls for the buffet at the shower. :-0

It was a beautiful shower, and one we'll always remember.

~~ Laura

Tuesday's Box

"She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar."
Proverbs 31:14

Well, not too afar. And we don't bring it. It comes to us.

We really believe in eating in season and locally grown organic produce (including from our own garden). Lot's more nutrition, and much better flavor. It's even fun to anticipate and wait for certain foods to come in season -- like the first tasty strawberries or juicy citrus.

It's been hard in the past to stick to, but now with a wonderful new delivery service, we have everything brought right to our door. There's a company called greenling.com based out of Austin that delivers beautiful in season, locally grown produce to both the Austin and San Antonio areas. They get the fruits and veggies from local farmers who use organic practices in growing their goodies.

Our boxes are delivered every Tuesday afternoon right to our front door. The fruits and veggies are bigger and better than we can find in even Whole Foods as well as items not even carried in any stores around here. We've been able to try different varieties than we've ever eaten.

They have FABULOUS customer service, and everyone is so nice and helpful. The delivery guys even write personal notes on our inventory sheets attached to the boxes.

We've been signed up with Greenling's for around 8 weeks now, and get really excited every Tuesday as if it's our birthday, wondering what treats we'll find in our boxes.

One local produce box is good for about a family of four, but since we eat mainly fruits and veggies, we order two (along with cases of grapefruit and meyer lemons...yummm).

Here are a couple of pictures of our box a few weeks ago.

~~ Sisters and Muddy

Part 6 Of Precious Things

Then, exceeding great and precious are Thy promises Divine;

Given by Christ, and by the Spirit sealed with sweetest "All are thine!"

Precious in their peace and power, in their sure and changeless might,

Strengthening, comforting, transforming;  suns by day and stars by night.

Bandelier National Park - Part II

Here's the second part of the Bandelier pictures. These are from the nature trail in the park.
It was just breathtaking.

(still working on computer/photography--can't seem to get all the pictures upright)

~~ Laura

Bandelier National Park

Back to Santa Fe memories.

This was such a fun part of our trip--Bandelier National Park. It had cave dwellings that were so beautiful and interesting. We won't bore you with ALL of the pictures, just some highlights. Elizabeth and I were the only ones who were brave enough to actually go all the way into the high caves. We walked around in them--dark and small, but pretty neat. What history!

~~ Laura

Orange Tea

While Muddy was at a hair appointment, we decided to fix a special lunch. We didn't realize, until it was completed, that it was all orange. Thus the name orange tea.

The top dish was spiralized raw sweet potato with an asian sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds.




This dish was a raw dip that tastes like nacho dip. It's our version of a recipe we got from Serene's cookbook. It's made with red bell pepper, tahini, nutritional yeast, cashews and a few other items. We used peppers, sweet potato chips and carrots for dippers.

And, of course, we served both dishes with a pot of green tea (the only non-orange item).

~~ Sisters

Happy Late Birthday Elizabeth

Elizabeth's birthday hit right at the end of our Santa Fe trip. So instead of celebrating her 13th with a special ladies tea party, it was a combined Santa Fe vacation with shopping.

She bought some beautiful French linens and accessories for her hope chest. It was pretty funny in the Provence store. Muddy said just a couple of french words to the owner and he got excited and started speaking in French. Needless to say, the french part of the conversation ended there as Muddy doesn't remember many french words.

When we came home, we ate at one of our favorite restaurants in town that serves great salads and even better desserts. We ended her multi-day celebration with a presentation of more gifts to add to her hope chest.

Farmers Market Again!

Our second trip to the farmers market in Santa Fe in 2007. Only this time it was coooollldddd! What can we say, we're from south Texas.

We filled our ice chest and all sorts of corners of the van as usual with treasures from the market. Aahh! The smells and colors. We love it!

~~ Sisters

Horses, Horses, Horses

"She girds her loins with strength and makes her arms strong."

Proverbs 31:17

We took this verse literally while taking a 3 hour ride through the mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous and so isolated. When we were at the highest points, we couldn't see any of civilization including electric lines. Aahhh! Beautiful!

~~ Sisters

Picking up where we left off

We haven't posted for awhile so thought we'd start from where we left off. We've been busy little beavers at work and at play. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas fellowship. We're starting with our trip to Santa Fe in November and will work our way through our last market. There's plenty of in between to share! Hang on for a bumpy ride!

Yee Hawww!

~~ Sisters