Oh my, Butternut

I hardly take the time to make blended soups, but OH this soup, people. You won't wanna stop. It takes some time to do the roasting and blending, but totally worth it, folks. And yes, it's not fall - but this soup makes me want  fall!

You have the option to make it with coconut milk, heavy cream or any other creamy substance, it's delicious either way. I adapted the recipe from here because I like me some more garlic, onions and butter, baby!



Nourishing Butternut Squash Soup 
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• One medium Butternut Squash, cut in half
• 1 onion, peeled and cut in fourths
• 4-5 garlic cloves, peeled
• salt and pepper (for roasting onions)
• 1 Tbs. Olive or Coconut Oil
• 2 cups of Broth
• 3 Tbs. Butter
• 1 tsp. Cumin
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 3/4 cup coconut milk, heavy cream or any other dairy substitute. 
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut the squash in half and remove the insides. Lay flat (cut part down) on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. In the mean time, chop onion and peel garlic, coat with olive oil and salt and pepper. When the 15 minutes are over, throw the veggies on the other side of the cookie sheet and roast for another 25 minutes. When done, you should be able to easily poke a fork into the squash.
3. When cooled, scrape the squash into a food processor or blender along with the roasted onions, garlic and broth. Blend until smooth.
4. Then melt the butter in a pot and add blended squash, cumin, nutmeg, ginger, salt, pepper and milk. Heat, serve and enjoy!

              - Sarah

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

 "If you're afraid of butter, use cream."

- Julia Child

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

 

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”

Chewy Brownies that You Won't Want to Share!

It is very important to me that my brownies are chewy. Very chewy. We takes our sweets seriously around here and this is our favorite, chewy brownie recipe! In fact, we've never had better! It reminds me of back in the day when I used to buy Ghirardelli's brownie mix because it was the only chewy brownie out there. Homemade brownies would never cut it, but not anymore!  I mean, how can you go wrong when you mix chocolate chips with peanut and almond butter? You won't be able to stop eating these!

Chewy Almond Butter Brownies

1/2 c. Almond Butter
1/2 c.Natural Peanut Butter
1 egg
1/2 c. Honey
 1/4 c. Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 - 1 c. Chocolate Chips (depending on your sweet tooth!)

The way in which these are baked is very important. I have made these over and over to perfect the chewy aspect of brownies. So follow carefully!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all ingredients in a mixer. Grease 8 x 8 glass baking dish with coconut oil or butter. Make sure to grease well. (I am not sure how an aluminum or stainless pan will turn out.)  

Now this is important: After spooning batter into pan, scrape most of the batter to the middle to make it look like a hill. Most of the batter need to be in the middle of the glass dish. If you do not do this, the batter will rise up the side and it will be uneven and dry. (who knows why it does this, but I have had success with the hilltop brownies!) They come out very even and chewy.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool and enjoy with a glass of raw milk!

"The cross is the greatest gift God could bestow on His Elect on earth.  There is nothing so necessary, so beneficial, so sweet, or so glorious as to suffer something for Jesus. If you suffer as you ought, the cross will become a precious yoke that Jesus will carry with you."

        -  St. Louis de Montfort

Linking up at Fill Those Jars Friday,  Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday and  Real Food Wednesday.

Go Ahead, Have a Little Muffin with your Butter

I dare you. It's so good you can't just eat one. 

 These are my go-to, memorized, crowd pleasing muffins. They are just sweet enough to eat as a breakfast muffin, and perfect for a birthday party cupcake topped with icing. They will please the people who never want to touch a gluten free bake good or healthy desert! They won't even know they have been duped! 

We eat ours with butter. Lots of butter. If you have 30 minutes to spare then you can make these all-star muffins!

 

 

Vanilla Bomb Cakes {GAPS, Paleo}

6 eggs

3 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup melted coconut oil or butter

1/2 cup sifted coconut flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt coconut oil. Combine eggs, vanilla, sea salt, baking soda and honey in mixer or bowl. Blend well. Add sifted coconut flour. Mix together and slowly add melted coconut oil. I often have to "whip" mine to smooth out the lumps and incorporate all the coconut flour. It will be the consistency of cake batter. Keep mixing if your batter is lumpy or separated. Bake for 15 minutes. Makes 10 - 12 cupcakes. 

Enjoy!!

Linking up at Pennywise Platter

"Joy must be one of the pivots of our life. It is the token of a generous personality. Sometimes it is also a mantle that clothes a life of sacrifice and self-giving. A person who has this gift often reaches high summits. He or she is like a sun in a community. Let those who suffer find in us comforting angels." - Blessed Mother Teresa

Cod Liver Oil: A Testimony {guest post}

My name is Sarah and I am a wife of a soldier. We have to two small boys with a little one on the way. My family and I started on the GAPS diet this February. It was a scary and hard decision to make, but I knew that God was calling us in that direction. A little ways into the diet, I was playing with my youngest. As he laughed I saw a spot on his bottom tooth, and my heart sank. In my mind I was picturing a visit to the dentist with him. I balked at the idea. I could literally feel shudders and a repeat of his hospital stay when he had pneumonia at two and half months. It was to date, the worst experience of my life, and definitely of his. I wanted to spare him any type of trauma, as he still isn't over everything he went through at the hospital. 

God was providing for us, however, as I had just read an article from Sarah at  The Healthy Home Economist, that she healed her son's cavity using fermented cod liver oil from Green Pastures. I had my husband look at our son's tooth and I told him I was going to order the cod liver oil. If it worked, awesome! If not, cod liver oil is good for brain function. When it arrived I got a baby spoon out, filled it up and gave it to my baby. Surprise, surprise! He loved it! As my sister-in-law appropriately said in regards to this, "He's a garbage disposal of nasty!" I couldn't agree more because I struggled to get it down! All my troubles paid off with visible results occurring just a week later! The spot on his tooth was smaller, and even my "doubting Thomas" husband agreed that it was so. Of all the results that I have seen while being on the GAPS diet, the effects of fermented cod liver oil is by far the most amazing! 

This experience has left me in complete awe of God. Last year I would have thought that this sounded way too far fetched, but it makes so much sense that God would provide a natural way of healing cavities. We knit our bones back together after they break for goodness sakes, so why couldn't we heal a decaying tooth? 

Fermented cod liver oil does more than just heal cavities. This February and March were brutal months in Colorado, as far as respiratory viruses go. I worried that my little one would succumb to pneumonia again this year. I asked God to give me a way to protect him from a repeat. When friends were continually taking their feverish babies into the doctors for earaches and horrible coughs, my kids were okay. A friend of mine took her son in (he's a couple months older than my youngest) and he was on the brink of pneumonia. I knew if my son was going to get a repeat of pneumonia, it would be soon. I was hoping that the cod liver oil strengthened his immune system enough that he would be alright. When my kids did get the inevitable cold, the worst that happened was my oldest got earaches in both ears (which I treated with garlic oil). No antibiotics were needed and I didn't take them to the doctor. I know with that mommy instinct that mothers get, that things would have been a lot worse had we not been taking cod liver oil!   

Sarah is a dear friend of mine from way back when. She is a wonderful, God fearing Momma who does so much for her children. I am always inspired and uplifted every time I speak with her. I asked her to share a little bit about her experience on the GAPS diet and taking fermented cod liver oil. Sarah has seen many improvements in her family's health and will be a regular guest here sharing about her experiences! Don't forget to leave her some comment love!

Chewy Almond Flour Cookies!

We love these cookies! In the past my almond flour cookies have come out flat, but not these babies! They are chewy and truly gooey. 

For those who have dietary restrictions: They are gluten free, grain free, dairy free and low sugar. If you replaced the chocolate chips with raisins they would be really healthy!

Chewy Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies 

2 1/2 cups almond meal. I used Trader Joe's.

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup coconut oil - in a solid state

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup honey

1 cup of chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries, whatever you like!

1. In a seperate bowl mix the dry ingredients - almond meal, salt and baking soda.

2. Whip your solid coconut oil. (since it's summer I had to refrigerate the oil ahead of time until it was solid.) You want the consistency of whipped butter.  Add your egg, vanilla and honey.

3. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

4. Scoop big balls onto greased pan, bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. 

5. Cool completely before eating. I refrigerated mine until they were cold. They might be too crumbly otherwise. Enjoy!!

This recipe is so easy your toddler can do half some of it! (provided you like messes!) 

And your baby can happily watch!

We baked these before we went to the river beach, and enjoyed them when we got home. My husband loved them!

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." - Romans 5 3:-5

Linking up GAPS legal Thursdays and Simple Lives Thursdays

Summer Smoothie Goodness

Summer is finally upon us in the Northwest! We were outside all day today, plan to be outside all day tomorrow and the next. It was a long, cold June!

Having grown up in the California desert, the heat is literally scorching. The summer I left home was triple digit temperatures for an entire month!

Coconut Milk

What is your favorite summer smoothie?

We keep it simple over here. Two ingredients. My kind of recipe!

Coconut Banana Smoothie

 

1 Can Coconut Milk

and . . .

Bananas! 

We blend these ingredients in our blender with ice.  The kids LOVE it. Even the pickiest eaters won't say no. It's a great way to get the yummy goodness of coconut in your children. They make great frozen treats in popsicle molds.

Read more about the benefits of coconut here:

The Many Benefits of Coconut  - The Wellness Mama

Where do we buy coconut milk?

You can find it at almost any grocery store in the Asian food section or at Trader Joe's. We buy ours from Amazon, it's the cheapest option if you like it as much as we do:

Native Forest Organic Classic Coconut Milk

  What are your favorite ways to enjoy the sun?

“May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.” 

-St. Therese of Lisieux

Coconut Lemon Meltaways

My dear sister wrote out this recipe and mailed it to me. Don't you love getting snail mail? Such a simple joy in life! She LOVES these cookies and I am going to make them for a friend's baby shower. Let me know if you try them too! (She said they literally melt in your mouth)

Coconut Lemon Meltaways

Makes 22-24 cookies

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 c. Almond Flour

1 1/2 c. Dried Shredded Coconut

1/3 c. Coconut Flour

2 big pinches of sea salt

    Mix dry ingredients together and set aside.

Wet Ingredients

6 T. Honey

4 T. Lemon Juice

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 T. Lemon Zest

Mix together with mixer or food processor. Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry mix until well incorporated.

Mix in:

1/4 c. and 1 T. melted coconut oil.

Form small balls of batter and warm the oven to 170 degrees. Bake cookies for 1 hour, then chill another hour before eating. ENJOY!!

She found the recipe  here. 

"Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm."

- Psalm 98

Spiced Coconut Squash Muffins

This recipe has been adapted from The Well Fed Homestead recipe. Make sure to check out her sight, she has so many wonderful recipes!

1/2 c. melted coconut oil

6 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. cooked, pureed butternut squash (or any squash for that matter!)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. coconut flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tin. Beat eggs, add in vanilla, honey, squash, spices, salt and baking soda. Mix together. Slowly add in sifted coconut flour and coconut oil.

Divide batter evenly between 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 15 - 19 minutes or until no longer wet. Enjoy with a huge slab of butter if you prefer!