Fruit of Labor...

It's strawberry season!

I love summer and the fruit "picking seasons" that come with it!

Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and apples.


So many berries...


Lil' Bug was on my back in the mai tei for the first bucket (yikes, was that a workout), but got cranky quick since we didn't eat much before leaving home...

...so back to the van to nurse...


...and then picking and eating some more berries...


...red, white, or covered in dirt - they're all yummy!

10.5 lbs from this trip...most went straight to the freezer for smoothies and ice cream. About a pound is dehydrating, and we ate the best-looking ones fresh.

The next trip will be for jelly and pie. :-)

Diaper Duty

It was laundry day after a rainy week...

We were very low on diapers while they hung on the line to dry.

So, enter the "back-ups" (prefolds with diaper covers) - which are unreliable in more ways than one...

...including staying on the designated bum.

But its wearer was more than content to be free of her "baggage"

and quite excited about it.

Birthday Fun

We celebrated Lil' Bug's first birthday early since my family was able to visit for memorial day! I'm not a fan of feeding refined sugar to anyone, and since this was going to be Lil' Bug's first sweetener, I chose to make a grain-free carrot cake sweetened with honey, and cream cheese frosting sweetened with maple syrup. I used this recipe from Grain-Free Foodies, but adapted the frosting since my dad doesn't do well with honey that hasn't been baked.

I have a sister that is avoiding dairy for now, so her piece is the naked one on the corner.

The frosting was a hit...

...and it was a lot more fun to play with the ribbon than open the presents...

Grain Free Food

A couple recent grain-free/dairy free/refined sugar free munchies I've enjoyed...

No Grain Honey Bread

I haven't baked much with coconut flour since it requires a large amount of eggs, but it was nice to be able to eat pieces of "bread" again for breakfast a few days in a row. It's a heavier pound cake consistency, and I browned it a little much, but it still tasted good! I'll decrease the honey next time I make it (I didn't use Stevia) since it was pretty sweet.

Chocolate Coconut Protein Bars

My pic makes these look kinda like logs of poo, but they're really quite tasty! :-) I followed the original recipe and they were a little dry, so next time I'll add more oil as is suggested in the comments.

Pizza

I've seen a lot of recipes for grain-free pizza using almond meal, but I used most of my almonds in yesterday's apple cookies, so I tried a nut-free version tonight.

Lil' Bug loved it!

My plate with cultured dairy...

...and Micah's with yummy mozzarella.

Food Processor and Rhubarb

Courtesy of UPS, my food processor box arrived bashed and ripped open. I've never seen a delivery guy run so fast to get away after quietly slipping it on our front porch...

KitchenAid always packs their appliances very well, so even though the huge block of styrofoam was cracked through, the processor wasn't touched...so I put it right to work!

Apple breakfast cookies were the first thing I used it for - and wow. What would have taken me an hour (to shred, grind, etc) took me 10 mins tops...and that time includes dealing with the wining child clinging to my legs.

Next up was rhubarb dream bars (half white flour/half whole wheat) and rhubarb pie (with a palm shortening crust and sweetened with some honey) - after chopping the rhubarb and realizing I'd done all of it, I felt like running outside to find more things to chop! And you know that "cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs" line? I always dread that part...inevitably I would have 5 interruptions before me and my fork even started to get the mixture resembling peas, much less crumbs. I was super-pleased (and completely floored) when it literally took about 8 seconds and it was done. Done! I should have made a food processor a priority a long time ago! Live and learn...

Settling in...

We moved! Two weeks ago, actually.

And since then I've unpacked several boxes between laundry, cooking, cleaning, fighting the ant invasion, and flying out to Utah for a week to see my new nephew and my once-again tiny sister. :-)

Micah has built me a clothesline and our garden has been planted...

And soon, Lord willing, my counter tops will be overflowing with produce from our garden instead of the farmer's market and health food store...

(all lined up to dry like good little vegetables and fruits after soaking in water and GFSE)

Lil' Bug enjoys the yard...she loves being outside...

Craigslist and eBay have been entertaining me recently...I sold enough to turn around and get a KitchenAid food processor so I no longer have to take all day to make my grain-free foods in a blender that can't handle the load of seeds and nuts.

This baby's gonna hit the shelf whirring when it arrives. :-)