More Food

Mr. Perfect and I have been discussing the quantities of food we will soon be required to purchase and prepare as our children enter the pre-teen and teen phase. We have a few years, but we are already beginning to see the enormity of it! Our family of 6 with 4 children 10 years and younger can easily consume in one day: a gallon of milk, two loaves of bread, 3 cups of oatmeal, a block of cheese, 1/2 jar of peanut butter, a quart of strawberries, 3-4 apples, 3-4 carrots, a box of granola bars, 2 lbs of chicken, 10 potatoes, a half dozen ears of corn, and a gallon of sweet tea.

But amazingly, it took us a week to eat a homemade chocolate cake. (And I had the last piece!)

Our Daily Bread

I baked bread. And it was delicious! I have rarely had success baking bread. It is always too heavy, dense, and flavorless. This bread was so delicious that Mr. Perfect agreed we should no longer buy pre-made bread....we should bake bread everyday.

So what made the difference? First, I think I stumbled across a very simple, excellent recipe for a typical, sweet, white bread. I will link it here. Second, I'm homeschooling. Homeschooling makes a big difference, because I am at HOME! When I have made bread in the past, I have rushed the rising process. Before now I have rarely been at home for a 4-5 hour stretch. Now, I am at home from the time I get up until at least 2 pm everyday. Sometimes all day. So I can watch the dough rise without rushing, and it is beautiful!

Once the dough rises, it bakes and fills our home with that amazing, fresh, baked bread smell. And then it is quickly gobbled up by our stay at home family. When you feed six people breakfast, lunch and dinner in your home everyday, two loaves of bread are gone in a snap. Which gives me a reason to bake bread....daily.

Joyful Nomad

My dad has said that Mr. Perfect and me are Nomads. Wanderers on the earth, that only settle in one place for a short time. Our current situation (and many more before) give validity to his claim. We have lived in 8 homes, in 5 cities during our 13 years. At the moment, we are calling two locations home. They are miles apart, both physically and in description, a house that I always dreamed of and a furnished apartment. So in a very real sense, we are nomads.

This nomadic lifestyle can be unnerving to some. Leaving the home of their roots, and planting themselves in a new place. To me it is a fact of life. My joy does not come from my address.

Modern day nomads can live two ways: joyful or miserable. And this distinction comes from one thing, purpose. Miserable nomads are those who move from place to place in search for the greener grass. They are pursuing people, places and things that will make their life full and purposeful. They find someone, someplace, or something that gives them significance....for a while. Then, they move on, nomads on the hunt.

Joyful nomads are also in pursuit of purpose. But this pursuit is God's purpose. They seek after it, and often it causes them to be on the move. The joy is found in the purpose. Their nomadic life is valid, because the earth is not their home.

I am a nomad full of joy. I don't have it all together, and I do have days of despair. But overall, I am a woman with great joy. So why do I have such joy as a nomad? I follow the purpose I know God has for me. Basic purpose that He has revealed in His Word: 1) To love and worship God, and enjoy Him forever 2) To be a helper to my husband, uplifting him and enabling him to be what God wants him to be 3) To care for and train my children in the admonition of the Lord 4) To edify the Body of Christ through a local body of believers. When I focus on these, my life is meaningful.

Recipe: Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce

I made this pasta sauce a few weeks ago, and it was a hit!

Olive oil

2 Tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp Sugar

Chicken broth

Heavy cream

Basil

Salt and Pepper

Pasta (cooked al dente)

Peel the tomatoes and dice them. Chop the garlic very fine. Heat a pan to medium heat, add the olive oil (about 1 or 2 Tblsp). Add the garlic for one minute, be careful not to burn. Add the tomatoes and cook down a bit, maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Add a splash of chicken broth if the sauce, needs thinning. Add sugar to taste. Allow to cook down until all the ingredients incorporate together. Add basil to taste, chopped fresh is best, but dried will work too. Add cream, 1/2 cup or so until the sauce looks creamy and pink. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat until hot, then add cooked, well drained pasta (any type). Toss to coat, add more pasta if too soupy. Serve with a fresh salad and crunchy bread!

BTW, I didn't measure any of this when I made the sauce. So I'm just guessing on measurements. If you like a more tomato-y sauce, add less cream. If you need more sauce, add extra everything!!

Food Philosophy

I approach my life with clear cut philosophies of living. I believe in Jesus, and the sovereignty of our of God, and the manifest presence of His Spirit. I believe it permeates my whole life. I believe marriage is for a lifetime, and I can choose to uplift my husband and our marriage in a world that belittles them. I believe children are a gift, and I have a responsibility to raise them in the admonition of the Lord. I believe that for me schooling my children in a classical way is essential to this training.

But one area of life I am currently developing my philosophy is FOOD. Yes, food. I have been on a "natural foods" phase for about two months now. It has turned into a local, homegrown, natural, organic food hodge podge. It's hard to go from feeding your family the normal way, to feeding your family the local, homegrown, natural, organic way. Mainly because I don't know what I'm doing. So I have been trying to figure out my philosophy of food. I don't always buy organic (organic, free range eggs are EXPENSIVE, free range without the organic are within reason), I try not to buy fruits and vegetables if it is not locally grown (haven't had a banana in two months, I love bananas), and I still drink coffee (not locally grown) and Diet Coke (not remotely fitting into this philosophy at all).

I will be developing this philosophy as I learn more about foods, try new recipes, and assess how it affects the food budget. As of now the philosophy goes something like this: I will eat and feed my family naturally and with local foods, as much as possible, because the more we do this the better it is for us and the world around us.

Happily Ever After

I don't believe in fairy tales. Ask anyone who has talked to me about life, and they will confirm. Meeting that "perfect" guy, being carried away by love and romance, and riding off into the sunset. It's a sham. Anyone who tries to convince you that this is how truly happy life works is delusional, deceptive, or Disney.

On the other hand, I do believe in Happily Ever After. When you meet a man, are carried into marriage, and ride off into real life, there can be great happiness. Each day brings challenges. Some days bring deep hurt and heavy burdens. Other days bring annoyances and petty disagreements. But the days and years of marriage can bring amazing happiness. I met my "Mr. Perfect" 17 years ago, and we've been married for 13 of those years. I can tell you, they are the happiest days of my life. Not a fairly tale at all, but definitely happily ever after. I wouldn't want my life with him to be a fairy tale, those stories always end right at the beginning of the happily ever after.