For Mari

Just had to post this from my dear friend Joan, for my dear daughter Mari.

I wanted to embed it, but it messed up my pages here to do so. So just click the “Silent Night” link.

Josh Groban Silent Night from Theology Girl on Vimeo.

May you all have a Blessed time reflecting on the Incarnation of Emmanuel this week.

Read my Clear Vision musings this week for more on the HolyDays we Celebrate.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
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I’m Blessed

Little things can be such blessings. This one is both little and free, but I am blessed none-the-less.

I just found out that SermonAudio has an interface for my iPod Touch (and the iPhone). Whoo-hoo! I can listen (and also save my favorites) anytime without downloading to my computer first and syncing.

I love SermonAudio for great teaching of God’s Word, and I love my iPod Touch for being SO handy and useful to me. Put the 2 together and WOW! I’m blessed!

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
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Taco Salad – Friday Food

fridayfood2.jpgA quick one dish meal (well, after the beans are cooked, it’s fast) and Good for You-Naturally!

Lisa’s Taco Salad

  • 1/2 – 1 large head torn Romaine Lettuce

  • 3-4 c. cooked, drained and cooled Pinto Beans

  • 1 chopped Tomato

  • 1/2 – 1 chopped Green Pepper – optional

  • 1 can Black Olives – slice them

Toss together. Add Dressing (below), toss and chill.

Just before serving add 1/2 or more large bag tortilla chips (approx. 8 oz), crushed. Toss well. (Adding the chips just before eating keeps them crisp. But this is fine if you serve later also – after the chips are soft.)

Dressing: 1.5-2 cups or more Homemade Mayo & Taco Seasoning (below) & Not-Milk to thin.

Shake or stir together well.

Taco Seasoning:

  • 2 t. dry onion

  • 1 tsp chili powder

  • 1/8 t. ground red pepper (or less)

  • 1/2 t. dry garlic granules

  • 1/4 t. ground oregano

  • 1/2 t. cumin

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
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Best Ad I’ve Gotten this Season

This truly is the best ad I’ve gotten this Season. It brought a smile to my lips. 🙂

 

bailout.jpgIsn’t it about time you got you very own
BAILOUT!

Yes indeedy. Just in time for the New Year we are offering you and your hot tub Bailout savings on filters, accessories and more. Don’t let your spa fall victim to “the worst economy since the Great Depression” (are you as tired of hearing that line is we are? …and just what was so Great about the Great Depression anyway?). Let us help you keep your spa “afloat” with our end of the year Bailout sale! After all, it looks like we’ll be needing all the stress relief we can get in 2009.

from the place we order our spa supplies from – HotTubWorks.com

No-Bake Cookies – Friday Food

fridayfood2.jpgYummy, easy Good for You-Naturally!™ cookies that your children will love to make.

Lisa’s Good for You-Naturally!™ No-Bake Cookies

  • Put in a large saucepan:
  • 1/2 c. unsalted butter, preferably organic
  • 3/4 c. raw, unfiltered honey
  • 1/2 c. not-milk

Cook 3-5 minutes over medium heat, stirring often.

Mix in well:

  • 1/3 c. raw carob powder – sift out any lumps
  • 1 tsp. real vanilla
  • 1/2 c. organic nut butter – (nuts only, no additives) almond,peanut, or other

Stir in until evenly coated:

  • 3 c. organic rolled oats
  • 1 c. organic raw coconut shreds – (no additives)

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper. Let set or chill until set.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Order Christian & Home Ed Resources here

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Family Nativities

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It’s time! I decorate wholly with Nativities this time of year. I LOVE the Incarnation of Emmanuel (even though I don’t particularly care for it being celebrated at a time we know he wasn’t born.) But I’ll take any opportunity that I can get to preach Christ!

I’ve added at least 1 Nativity each year of my adulthood. I have over 35 nativities!

One problem you can run into in doing this is small children. We have plenty – and have had all but the first of those 31 years – and now have grands too. So I’ve looked for and added plenty of “child proof” nativities that they can handle for those places that are “in-reach” of the little ones. I put my glass “pretties” up higher.

I have wooden nativities, plastic nativities, resin nativities, fabric nativites in addition to the more fragile glass, ceramic, and pine cone nativities.

I highly recommend having a child-proof nativity that your children can play with and reenact the story of Jesus birth. This will help them to interact in the meaning of Christmas for themselves, rather than seeing that the “Jesus” part is something for grown-ups that “we can’t touch”. And leaving them to only the “gift-getting” part.

Here’s a whole section of Children’s Nativities. Yes, our children have the twaddly plastic “Veggie Tales” one, in addition to others. Order one today – for your decorating, and as a gift to your children that shows the true meaning of the HolyDay and that they can play with.

AND if you order through ANY of our CBD links (which the Nativities below are) you can get FREE shipping with a $25 or more order, until Dec. 8th. Just choose Standard Shipping for your order, and enter the Promo Code:

You can also use our CBD Search Boxes or any of the links on our Recommended Resources catalog pages, to order Christian books, music, videos, gifts, and homeschool resources.

Here’s a couple I like and below are pictures of my Nativities (from a few years ago.)

664872: Wooden Nativity Playset Wooden Nativity Playset
By The Learning JourneyInvite young children to experience first-hand the birth of Jesus! With highly durable, quality wood construction, this 19-piece nativity set will provide hours of fun. It includes a three-dimensional stable and figures. Recommended for ages 3 and up.
38081X: Nativity Puppet Glove Set Nativity Puppet Glove Set
By Roman, Inc.Children can reenact the Nativity story with cute and fuzzy puppet gloves, each finger featuring a felt character from the story. Child size gloves are suitable for Sunday School, for children to play with in church, and for making the Christmas story come to life for little learners.

My Nativities

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Pizza – Friday Food

fridayfood2.jpgWhat could be better than Saturday night Pizza – and here’s a Good for You-Naturally!™ recipe.

Lisa’s Good for You-Naturally!™ Pizza

Pizza Crust:

1 1/2 c. water
1/2 t. unrefined salt
4 c. + whole wheat flour
scant Tbl. instant SAF yeast
1 1/2 t. extra virgin olive oil

Mix. Add more flour as needed to knead.
Knead. Rise – 15-20 minutes is fine, while you prepare your other ingredients. Divide in half (makes 2 “hand tossed” type crusts – 3 or 4 if you like THIN crust). Roll out on corn meal covered Pizza Peel. Top with sauce, toppings and not-cheese. Bake 450° on baking stone for 8-10 min.

Pizza Sauce

  • 2 c. tomato sauce (organic, no salt added)
  • 1 small or half medium diced onion (organic)
  • 1/2 tsp. ground oregano (or 1 tsp dried leaves) (all spices should be organic, if possible, and definitely not irradiated)
  • 1/2 tsp. dried basil
  • 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/8 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. (organic cold-pressed extra virgin) olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp. (raw unfiltered) honey

Toppings

We like many different veggie toppings (organic, if possible, and fresh). Many times we just do quick and easy – black olives, mushrooms, green peppers, onions. Zuchinni, carrots, broccolli, cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach are some other favorites for some of us. Soy mozzerella (or raw goat’s) cheese can top it all, if desired.

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Friday Food – for Thanksgiving

a couple days early. I thought you might like these before Friday this week.

Yams and Pumpkin are 2 of our favorite fall foods – and “musts” on our Thanksgiving table.

I grew up on the typical “Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes”, yams with maple syrup (fake, “pancake” syrup) and marshmallows. I never knew how sweet the potatoes were by themselves, not needing any further sweetening to make them GREAT!

Freedom & Simplicity™ Mashed Yams

We bake them, pull the skins off, and mash them with butter and a bit of sea salt and pepper. A sprinkle of nutmeg on the top for festive serving finishes this off. Put them in the oven in a glass casserole dish to heat through. What could be easier? YUMMY!


Pumpkin Pie is a must for Thanksgiving. (We love Pumpkin Bars too, but I’ll save that recipe for another day.) This pie can be cooked in a crust or crust-less for a Pumpkin custard.

Lisa’s Good for You-Naturally!™ Pumpkin Pie

Crust:

  • 2 c. freshly milled, organic whole wheat pastry flour
  • Mix in: 1 tsp. unrefined salt (Real®, himalayan, or celtic)
  • Cut in: 2/3 c. unsalted butter, (preferably organic)
  • Add: 5-7 Tbl. ice cold, purified water (starting with the smaller amount, only adding more if needed.)

Mix together, just until mixed. Don’t over mix or over handle. Form into a ball, roll out – on pastry sheet, or between wax paper. Place in pie pan. Trim edges. Pour in filling.

What to do with the leftover crust dough? Make Nothin’s. I made these with my mom when I was little. Roll out the leftover dough, cut into strips – aprox. 1/2-3/4″ wide, 3-5″ long. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and Coconut Sap “Sugar” or Sucanat (yes, it was with sugar in the old days.) Put on a Baking Stone or cookie sheet, and bake at 400° approx. 10 minutes.

Filling:

  • 11/2 – 2 cups (approx. – 1# can) organic pumpkin (not pie filling)
  • 1 cup not-milk (homemade almond or other milk substitute)
  • 2 Tbl. melted unsalted butter (opt.)
  • 2 large free range, organic eggs (use 3 if they are smaller)
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp. real vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cloves (opt.)

Beat eggs. Add other ingredients and mix well, with mixer or in blender. Pour into pie shell (if desired.) Bake at 400° for 45 – 55 min. until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. If crust is browning too fast, cover with silicone pie crust shield. Pie will set more as it cools.

If you have to have whipped cream on top, make it real whipping cream (or full fat coconut milk whipped cream), add a few drops of real vanilla, and drizzle of honey or maple syrup and beat until peaks form. Chill bowl and beaters before whipping. Stop beating before cream turns to butter, soft peaks are better than breaking it down into butter.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Order Christian & Home Ed Resources here

Thanksgiving’s Coming!

And we all know (at least in America) what that means – a tendency toward not only (if even) gratefulness for our blessings, but also towards gluttony. The “rich man’s delicacies” are not only a danger, but a reality, in many of our celebrations. Too many rich foods, too many cooked foods, too many “deceptive foods”. But most will say, “I’ll start a diet ‘tomorrow’.” “I’ll ‘be good’ after Thanksgiving – well at least until a week or 2 before Christmas.” or “Oh well, it’s the holidays. I’ll eat what a want for the next month, but then I’ll crack down.”

Our celebrations don’t have to be void of feasting (that is not gluttony), but neither do we have to have a defeatist mentality, and succumb to a month of gorging ourselves with deceptive foods. Enjoy reasonable amounts of your holiday foods on Thanksgiving (or any other “feast” day), but then help your body recover, by consuming a large, if not total, portion of your foods as living, raw foods, for the next several days. It would be a good idea also to get on a fiber cleanser to help “clean house” and get rid of accumulated wastes that have built up in your body.

On the holiday:

  • Start your day with raw, fresh fruit/vegetable juice or BarleyLife, to get a good nutritional boost for the day.
  • Try to stick to raw fruits and vegetables, or other Good for You-Naturally!™ raw foods (see below) for the rest of the day, besides the feast meal.
  • Drink plenty – a LOT – of pure water throughout the day.
  • At your feast meal, take only small portions of the “worst for you” foods that you just can’t pass up.
  • Take larger portions of the Good for You-Naturally!™ foods that are available, especially the raw, living foods available.
  • Make sure there are plenty of Good for You-Naturally!™ choices – that you enjoy! – by preparing them yourself. (This is after all a special meal, not a deprivation meal.)
  • Don’t overeat. When you are full, (in fact before you are full,) STOP! There is no reason to gorge yourself. There will still be food available to you the day after. If there is something you really want to eat, but even in taking small portions didn’t get to, wrap up a small portion of it, and save it for Friday.

On the day (or several days) after – (it takes 3 days of only raw foods to neutralize 1 steak meal; I’m sure 1 Thanksgiving meal is no better than equivelent to that):

  • Start your day with raw, fresh fruit or vegetable juice or BarleyLife, to get a good nutritional boost for the day.
  • Fix a nice fresh fruit salad for breakfast.
  • A great raw veggies salad luncheon.
  • Snack on Good for You-Naturally!™ raw foods.
  • Have a different, large, fresh veggie salad for supper. Add a few steamed fresh veggies, if you’d like. And if you must, a baked potato or other Good for You-Naturally!™ cooked food.
  • If you must, eat your small portion of the one food you saved over.

For your Good for You-Naturally!™ snacks or even meals – Plan Phi into your pre and post holiday foods. It’s a ready to eat, quick, convenient, 80% raw, organic, filling, snack or meal food, perfect to help us through the Holidays! Snack on it instead of all the not-so-Good for You-Naturally!™ foods while you are preparing, or waiting for the feast foods or over those days after.

Order your Phi now!

Apple Cinnamon Phi and Cranberry Phi are perfect flavors for the holidays! PhiPlus is a good every day snack! (PhiPlus and Cranberry Phi are certified organic. Apple Cinnamon Phi contains many organic ingredients, but is not completely organic.)

If you want something 100% raw – try the:

  • Fruitalicious (sweet and yummy low pressure and sun-dried fruits) or
  • Trophiphy (delicious tropical treat of mixed nuts and topical fruits) or
  • Veggielicious (low pressure dried mixed vegetables – for a crisp, convenient raw veggie snack).

Also try a Cake of Dreams – a Good for You-Naturally!™ twist to the traditional Christmas Fruit Cake.

The Cake of Dreams is an exceptional combination of delicious all raw fruits, berries, and nuts, seasoned with a hint of cinnamon, topped with coconut and pecans, and drizzled with a heart healthy chocolate. A wonderful healthy holiday treat that will have everyone coming back for more!

Christmas will be here before you know it and The Wholefood Farmacy offers you a wonderful way to give the gift of health in a convenient and delicious way. When you shop on your Wholefood Farmacy website, you will enjoy the relaxation and convenience of shopping from your own home, and your loved ones will enjoy the rewards of healthy and delicious whole foods.

Price: $24.95

Have a blessed – and healthy Holiday!

Order your BarleyLife, Phi and other Wholefood Farmacy foods today and I’ll try to get you a couple recipes for Thanksgiving by tomorrow – rather than waiting until Friday.

For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Order Christian & Home Ed Resources here

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