Week 37

Experiment and have fun!

It is SO important that you enjoy eating the excellent quality real foods that God has provided for us.  Don't forget that you are not being deprived but that you are blessed by this knowledge.  This week get your hands dirty in the kitchen and whip up a new dish.  I have lots of possibilities for you - pick something that looks good to you.

Jon and I decided we should come up with a good basic yellow cake recipe that could be used for a birthday cake.  Our goal is to make it with freshly ground 100 % whole wheat pastry flour, pure honey or maple syrup, and real butter - all foods created by God with minimal processing - instead of white flour, sugar and margarine .  Since I had excess white patty pan squash, it became part of the experiment too!  We had lots of fun with this experiment and we aren't done.  I am not giving you the recipe yet because it is still in progress but it was certainly yummy eating our experiment.

For this first try, we decided to ice it with the chocolate pudding that Jon has been making.  I knew this would not work well but I had no butter softened to make icing (the pudding was too soft and the top layer slid off!) and we wanted to eat the cake with some icing.  We had fun eating and laughing and making a mess.

Last summer's experiment that became a regular treat was making chocolate milk and this summer strawberry/peach sherbet.  Jon's high school graduation gift is going to be a Vitamix blender.  He loves experimenting and whipping up new concoctions in my Vitamix, using it almost daily.  He definitely wants to take one to college.

I have posted many of my recipes and I have SO many more to post and really there is a limitless number of recipes because the ingredients I have on hand changes each week and each year as does my mood and my inspirations for different dishes.  Now remember that before my sons were born, I did not know how to cook anything.  So if I could learn to cook meals from scratch and have fun doing so, I know that you can too.

Thus my challenge to you this week is to experiment (invite a family member or friend to help you) and have fun creating and eating a new food dish or concoction made with only real, quality ingredients (don't forget I have provided a list of foods and ingredients to avoid).

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."  Proverbs 17:22