I am SUPER excited about this weeks bundle of the week. It is on healthy eating!

Healthy snacks, I can’t wait to dig in. I am always looking for snack ideas.

Beans is another area that I have been thinking about lately. I usually just cook pinto beans and we have them with mexican rice or as tostadas. I want to try different types of beans. I have made a few soups with beans and of course chili, but I am interested in trying more bean recipes.

Desserts I am sad to say are my weakness. I enjoy sweet breads, but since going no wheat, I haven’t had much. I tried a few recipes, but I am still experimenting. Although I think the ebook uses wheat flour, I can always try substitutions. On a more positive note, I can make them for the family! I went back to look at the description again and found that there are some with no grains. Yay!

I have been interested in soaking and sprouting, but haven’t gotten around to actually doing it, so this ebook will be a welcomed addition.

How many of you plan on camping this summer? Let me see a raise of hands…mine is included. This ebook is just in time. I can’t wait to read all of her tips on eating healthy while camping, not to mention the preparation.

Yip, I am definitely grabbing this bundle. I hope you do too. Below is a more in depth description of each ebook.

This week at BundleoftheWeek.com, add five Kitchen Stewardship ebooks to your library at a fraction of their regular price! Whether you’re already a fan of the talented Katie Kimball or just hearing about these ebooks for the first time, this collection of real food ebooks includes not just recipes but plenty of information to empower you on your real food journey — and it’s available at almost 80% off retail this week only. Plus, purchasers will receive a special coupon code to purchase Katie’s latest ebook, Better Than a Box, at just 50%!

From soaking grains and using beans to stretch your budget to dozens of snack recipes for busy families on the go and tasty desserts that won’t leave you feeling deprived, Katie’s ebooks offer recipes and kitchen tips for every meal of the day.

P.S. Even if you’ve already got one or two of these ebooks in your collection, this collection offers a great value for the remaining books. And you’re welcome to pass on your duplicates to a friend or family member to encourage them in their real food journey as well!

Healthy Snacks to Go (2nd Edition) by Katie Kimball
With over 45 healthy snack recipes and ideas including traditional granola bars, iron-packed Popeye bars, and a dozen “larabar” style variations, Healthy Snacks To Go is the resource you need for healthy snack ideas. Complete with time-saving tips, frugal options and allergy notes, plus diaper-bag friendly snacks that are toddler-approved, this will become your “go-to” cookbook to keep your cupboards filled with nourishing yet quick choices.

The Everything Beans Book by Katie Kimball
This comprehensive resource explaining everything you want to know about beans and legumes. In The Everything Beans Book, you’ll find recipes for homemade beans and rice, refried beans, wraps, Mexican fare, soups, pasta dishes, and even a dessert, plus frugal tips and substitution ideas! Beyond recipes, this ebook also offers over 20 pages of information to facilitate your new love of beans and make sure you can cook with dry beans without any stress.

Smart Sweets by Katie Kimball
Katie’s goal with Smart Sweets: 30 Desserts to Indulge Your Sweet Tooth is to give you options that are way better for you than you’ll find in the grocery store, usually better for you than another homemade version, and sometimes downright good for you. You’ll find less sugar, healthier sweeteners, whole grains, soaked and sprouted grains, no grains, probiotics and even some vegetables in these desserts recipes, without sacrificing taste or enjoyment!

Is Your Flour Wet? by Katie Kimball
In Is Your Flour Wet? Soaked, Sprouted, or Soured: Grains Recipes from Our Kitchens to Yours, Katie offers a basic introduction to soaking, sprouting and sourdough, plenty of how-to tutorials and more than 45 recipes from a variety of real food bloggers, including breads, snacks, pancakes and waffles, oatmeal, cakes and more!

The Family Camping Handbook by Katie Kimball
If you’ve always wanted to try camping as a frugal family vacation but are nervous because you have little ones, The Family Camping Handbook will show you how to survive and even thrive out in the woods with young children. You’ll find an overview to help you get started camping, packing and to-do lists and, of course, real food adaptations to standard camping fare. This ebook includes a total of 36 camping recipes and techniques, including paleo/primal/grain-free adaptations.

The Kitchen Stewardship bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 5/27. Get yours today:

 
Happy Eating,

My mom and her parents.

I wasn’t sure if I should make it fictional or write about my mom. I decided it would be easier to write about my mom. Once I began writing, tears started coming to my eyes. I could have kept writing, but had to make it brief because it is an example, but then it hit me that Mother’s Day is tomorrow and and here I am writing about her. What a great time to share a glimpse of my mom.

So, here it is, what I wrote for the instructor’s guide.

An example outline might be:

My Mother

• Where she grew up
• Her family growing up
• Meeting dad
• Her appearance
• Taking care of her family
• Things I love about mom
• Her interests and hobbies

My mother grew up in a small town in California. She was the oldest of three girls. Spanish was her mother tongue until she started school, where she was told to speak only English. At home, they started speaking English and soon my mom wasn’t as fluent in Spanish anymore.

She met my dad in her late twenties. After marrying, they had five children, four girls and one boy. Being a mother was her mission in life and she did it well. She took care of my father and us children and I cannot remember her grumbling once about her responsibilities as a homemaker. Cooking was one of her talents and I miss her home cooked meals very much.

My mom was a beautiful person inside and out. She had a big heart and loved us dearly. There are many things I love about my mom, but one that I cherish is her strength. Not so much physical, but spiritual and emotional. She endured trials, but I always saw her come out of them much stronger. She never burdened us children with them.

She was a wonderful seamstress and would make our clothes and dolls. She also enjoyed reading. It was a favorite pastime and her bedtime routine. Writing was another hobby of hers and she kept many journals throughout the years. I wish I was as diligent as she was because they are a treasure to me now. She also wrote poetry.

I cherish my mom and the memories I have of her. She will forever be my hero.
 

That’s me with the pony tails.

It isn’t the greatest memoir, but it serves its purpose in the guide.

I pray y’all have a great Mother’s Day!

Many Blessings,

So, they might take a while to load and they will have my old web address. But, they are still great to use for Mother’s Day.

Mother's Day Notebooking Pages - Ruled (21)

Mother's Day Notebooking Pages - Primary Lined (16)

Note: For some reason, the download doesn’t show right in the browser (I tried Firefox and IE), but it should be fine if you save it to your computer and open it from there…I hope.

Other Mother’s Day Links

My Mother’s Day Lapbook Find my Mother’s Day lapbook and coupons on this page.

The History of Mother’s Day – this is an article written in 1913.

Mother’s Day Unit Study and Lapbook

A fun one week unit study and lapbook on Mother’s Day..

You will have fun:

Day 1: What Is Mother’s Day
Day 2: The History of Mother’s Day
Day 3: Celebrating Mother’s Day
Day 4: Preparations for Mother’s Day
Day 5: Goodies for Mother’s Day

This is a great compliment to the lapbook I have on this site.

Mother’s Memories Lapbook

Right now this Mother’s Memories lapbook is only $1, regularly $13.

This lapbook is for Mom! What a great idea! You create it as a keepsake for your kids, full of YOUR memories. How neat is that. And, I know your kids will love it.

 
Happy Mother’s Day,

     

I am not sure if my son would consider this a favorite since he does not like kielbasa. MaryEllen and I are the ones who enjoy it the most, so it is one of our favorites.

This is another tried and true recipe that has made it to my ‘keep’ folder. We’ve been enjoying it for many years now. I only make it once in a while because the kielbasa I buy has sodium nitrates in it and I try to limit the nitrates.

I like it too because it is a fast meal, done in 30 minutes or less. The times I put in the recipe below are approximates, but I consider it a 30 minute dish.

Polynesian Supper

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 pound fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into ½ inch slices
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• ½ cup beef broth
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (20 oz.) unsweetened pineapple chunks
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• Hot cooked rice

Instructions

1. Cook the sausage, onion and green pepper until the sausage is lightly browned.
2. Add tomatoes, broth, brown sugar, garlic powder and pepper.
3. Drain pineapple, reserving juice
4. Stir pineapple into sausage mixture.
5. Bring to a boil; cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
6. Combine cornstarch and reserved pineapple juice until smooth.
7. Gradually add to sausage mixture.
8. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
9. Serve over rice.

3.2.1230

Since I am trying my best to eliminate grains from my diet, I had this the other day with quinoa. It was pretty good. The family had rice, but maybe next time they will try it with quinoa…Donnie had cereal. LOL!

Enjoy,

 

I added the tomatoes to the bottom. They are doing great.

I haven’t had any problem with bugs other than a few spiders trying to take up residence. Oh, and some dark colored lady-bug type critter. Don says they are stink bugs. Ugh! I have been flicking them off because I am not sure if they are good or bad for my plants.

I’ve been meaning to look them up to find out, but procrastinator Cynthia hasn’t gotten around to it yet.

Needless to say I am excited! I love the green look.

I check the ph twice a week and adjust it if necessary. It is very minimal upkeep. Next week, I will clean the tank and check the filter.

We do plan to garden tomatoes and cucumber outside of the tower too. I was hoping to do carrots, but it doesn’t look like we will get them in the ground this year.

How is your garden coming along?

So, this week I have a set of Awesome Bible Adventures DVD’s.

The Giveaway will run from Friday, April 26th to Friday May 3rd.

These have only been watched one or two times with one never being opened. You can read reviews at Amazon here.

Titles are:

• Samson’s Super Strength/God Destroys the Tower of Babel
• Noah’s Incredible Journey/Joshua’s Awesome Victory
• Moses Receives the Ten Commandments/Moses Great Escape
• Jesus’ Amazing Miracles/David’s Mighty Battle
• Escape From the Fiery Furnace/Lot’s Amazing Adventure

 
What Do I Do To Enter?

Not much, just leave me a comment below, share this giveaway on FB, Google+, Twitter, using the Rafflecopter below. And if you haven’t already, LIKE me on FB, Google+, and Twitter.

Through April 27, or while supplies last, save 35% on each Elsie Dinsmore book. Or, save 50% when you purchase the complete Elsie Dinsmore 12-volume library!

Here is a snippet from the website:

“The 12 books in our Elsie Dinsmore library begin with Elsie as a young heiress to an enormous fortune, with the wealth of the world at her fingertips. But she is also a motherless young girl living with her grandparents, and what she most desires is her father’s love. As her relationships with her earthly father and Heavenly Father grow and she matures into a young woman, Elsie’s adventures take her from the Southern plantation of her childhood through the Civil War and to Europe and across the United States.

A fiction series beloved by Christian girls for more than 100 years, Elsie Dinsmore will make a wonderful addition to your own daughter’s library — or perhaps even your granddaughter’s someday. Don’t miss this final opportunity to purchase these hardback books from Vision Forum before they are gone for good.”

So, if you have been putting off collecting these, now is the time.

Happy Reading,

The Ebooks included in this gardening bundle are:

• Frugal Gardening 101 by Phoebe Hendricks
• Apartment Gardening by Jami Balmet
• Simple Food {For Spring} by Shannon Stonger
• Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving Ebook by Laura Coppinger
• Gardening Notebook by Andi Schneider

“Whether you’re a new or experienced gardener, this week’s collection includes a variety of gardening tips for everyone! Learn how to garden without a big budget or a lot of space, discover tips for organic gardening and preserving your harvest, and get organized with custom printables. But don’t wait because this bundle is on sale for 75% off this week only!“

Here is a short summary of each ebook included in this gardening bundle.

Frugal Gardening 101 by Phoebe Hendricks
In Frugal Gardening 101: A Comprehensive Guide to Vegetable Gardening Without Breaking the Bank, Phoebe shares her passion for gardening and proves that vegetable gardening doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s a comprehensive guide that shows you how to garden organically for very little with tips for buying, starting and saving seeds, organic pest and weed control and more.

Apartment Gardening by Jami Balmet
If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to have a garden with limited space, Jami’s ebook will show you how! Apartment Gardening: A Practical Guide to Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces is a beginner’s guide to everything you need to know about container gardening, including more than 100 pages of how-to advice to help you start your container garden today.

Simple Food {For Spring} by Shannon Stonger
Simple Food {For Spring} is more than just a cookbook. In addition to 28 grain-free recipes (complete with full-color photos!) highlighting spring produce, Shannon also encourages readers toward a more sustainable and homegrown living through her introductions to cleansing, foraging, dehydrating greens and more.

Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving by Laura Coppinger
In Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving, Laura shares her tips for a successful, organic garden, including how, what and when to plant. Beyond gardening, you’ll also find her strategies for making the most of your farmer’s market plus canning tutorials and recipes to help you preserve your harvest.

The Gardening Notebook by Angi Schneider
In addition to a how-to guide for gardening beginners, Angi has created the perfect spot for recording all of your notes and research for your garden. With more than 50 pages of printables, The Gardening Notebook is the perfect way to organize everything you need or want to remember for your garden!

The Gardening bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 4/29. Get yours today.

Blessings,

She also is having a 50% off sale on all nature study notebooking pages. So whatever you are studying this month, next month, or the months to come, this is a great time for a great deal. Use coupon code: nature50.

It uses what is called aeroponics. There is no soil! Water from the reservoir goes up the middle tube and showers down on the plants. The water is full of nutrients that you add.

Right now in our tower there is kale, celery, spring mix, argula, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, dill, parsley, cilantro, squash, bell pepper, romaine, and a few others I cannot think of on the top of my head.

I can’t wait until they are ready to harvest.

The very bottom empty slots are for our tomatoes once they get big enough to go into the tower. That should be any day now.

Here I am with my new tower garden. I am one happy camper..er gardener.

The basic tower comes with five tiers. I bough the extension so I could plant more.

Yip, I cannot wait until they are taking over the tower. I love the look of green plants.

Don has already said that if this works out we will have to invest in another one next year.

This would be great for small areas or patios. I am thinking of my sister in California.

We are still going to do a garden bed although we are running a little late. I want to grow carrots and other root vegetables. The tower doesn’t grow root vegetables for obvious reasons.

Happy Gardening,