Vacation OVER!

Hi Friends,
I'm so sorry it's been a while 4,000 miles on our poor Armada (I fear she is in her last months of life) later I am finally home and ready to start blogging again!  We had a great trip full of fun, yes even the 4,000 miles in the car was fun and full of adventure including:

What my family calls Rock Monster Rest Stop in Arizona, it's in the middle of no where: flat and boring and then all of a sudden rock mountains appear and then they are gone and it's back to flat, boring, nothing again!  It's a favorite place to stop on our drive, get out have a little dance party and then back in the car we go!

We stopped in my favorite place ever next!

Yes, I do love Disneyland, not Disney World or even CA adventure just Disneyland.  I love the history of the park, Walt seriously amazes me and his vision for what Disneyland could be before theme parks existed is astounding!  We played a few days in the theme parks.

Hung out with Olaf and had a ton of fun!  We love Disney and if there is one thing I miss living in Texas it's Disneyland!  My parents met up with us at the end of the week and watched our kids while we went to a homeschool convention.  Great convention with some amazing speakers and great information!  I love homeschool conventions I always walk away so encouraged.

After that it was up to Sacrament for Babies:

Babies:

And YES more babies!

Ben's sister had a baby, my best friend had a baby, my brother had a baby and there is actually one more baby that I couldn't post one here with another dear friend of mine that she is adopting, but adoption isn't final so imagine one more cute chubby sweet boy here!  And now that I'm thinking about it - this is a lot of boys, good grief people we need a baby girl in this mix!  I need bows and pink and ruffle bum bathing suits - I've tried with my oldest daughter but she just isn't having it!

Alright so after lots of squeezes and being drooled on and cuddled and snuggled we saw my Grandpa!  I love this man, what a heart he has for the Lord and I'm blessed to call him ours!

Then we drove up to Tahoe!

This was the view from our cabin, rough life, I know!  Spent a few days at the cabin with Ben's family and had a delightful time full of laughter, cuddles, and fun!

Then it was off to Carson City NV for time with my dear friend Melanie.  We packed in time with everyone we could while we were in Sacramento and then headed back to Texas, which thank the Lord was a pretty uneventful drive home.

We listened to several great audio books from Lamplighter's Theater (delightful I love everything they make, books, audios all of it!  If you have kids buy their books - it's quality reading with good characters and lessons.  They are hands down our families favorite books to read out loud together!)  I'll post another post with the books we read out loud in the car on the way to and from CA with my reviews soon!

This was our final night of driving before getting back to Texas and it was a glorious drive.  The car was hushed and everyone stared out the windows just looking with amazement at the beauty we were surrounded in!

Great vacation, but I sure am glad to be home and glad to have all that laundry done!  I've got a couple fun posts coming up this week (like my favorite counter cleaner and the DIY sunblock that turned me into a lobster, don't worry not sharing that recipe!) and a couple free giveaways too so stay tuned!

In His Grace,
Jenny

Summer Broccoli Salad

Hi Friends,
I love sharing healthy and delicious recipes with you and todays recipe is one of my favorite summer salads to make.  My recipe is a fun twist on a broccoli salad (except without the unhealthy mayo!)  This makes a deliciously light side dish for a summer barbecue or can be a tasty lunch by itself.  

I also appreciate this broccoli salad because it is packed with iron, something I'm always looking to keep naturally boosted and high in my system.

Ingredients:

• 1 large head of raw broccoli chopped small
• 4 stocks of celery chopped
• 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped purple onion
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 2 Tbs Coconut or Olive Oil

Directions:

• Add chopped broccoli, celery, and purple onion to bowl.  
• Mix in sunflower seeds, raisins, coconut or olive oil and garlic salt
• Squeeze juice of lemon over salad and mix
•  For a little extra lemon kick I love to put 1 tsp of the fresh lemon zest into the salad too! (I love lemon!)
• Chill for about an hour in fridge so the broccoli soaks up all the delicious flavors
• Eat and Enjoy! 

The Best Cookie Bar

Hi Everyone,
Happy Wednesday!  Today I'm sharing one of my families favorite cookie recipes and the best part on a cookie scale they are pretty healthy!  I'm serious - no butter, no eggs, and no sugar!  These cookies are made with raw honey and coconut oil (which I'm always trying to sneak more into my families diet.  - see below I'll give you a crash corse on Coconut Oil!) 
Let me talk honey for just a moment!  Raw Honey has many medicinal uses, is great for allergies, and makes a great face and body wash!  (yep it's true!)  However, honey at your local grocery store is NOT the best for your family.  Head to a local farmers market to buy honey or find a honey farm where you can buy directly from your farmer!  If you are struggling with allergies you want local honey because those sweet little bees are busy pollinating what is making your allergies go crazy - meaning when you eat this honey you fight your allergies from the inside out.  Moral of the story: Buy Raw Honey, you can taste the difference!
Alright now lets talk about coconut oil (I promise I'm getting to the recipe, but seriously these cookies are packed full of amazingness!)  Coconut oil helps brains function better!  (moms - we should be feeding this to our kids by the gallon LOL!)  Coconut oil also helps your body burn fat, help control blood cholesterol levels, can be used topically as a mild sunscreen and lotion, and it can kill viruses, funguses and bacteria which means a healthy body for you!

Alright now that I've given you a few of my reasons why I love coconut oil and honey lets get to the point of this post - COOKIES!!!

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups coconut oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (you could use maple or almond too!)
• 1 cup RAW honey
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups of flour (I use whole wheat, but you can use any flour)
• 2 cups of oats (I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oats , but again you can use any!)
• 1 Cup of White chocolate Chips
• 1 Cup of Butterscotch Chips (you can use anything regular chocolate chips, the cinnamon chips, you could add coconut, or dried cranberries, nuts - this is a super fun base recipe you can play around with and make all different types of cookies with, so have fun!

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into your mix and mix (I love recipes like this where you don't have to mix dry ingredients first!)
• Press into a 9 x 13 pan or you can roll them into cookie balls (I always pick the pan - it's quicker!  I've also found that we like our cookie bars a little thinner so this recipe can make a 9 x 9 and a 13 x 9 pan of thin cookies)
• Pre-heat oven at  350
• Bake cookie bars for 18 minutes
• Bake cookies for 12 minutes

There's the recipe hope you like it!  Post back and let us know how your cookies turned out and feel free to email if you have questions.
In His Grace,
Jenny
vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com

Farm Printable

Hi Everyone,
Just had to share this cute printable I made for a homeschool farm workshop.  It's an animal sounds game!  You can have your pre-schooler match the correct sound to the correct animal.  Super easy fun game to play with little ones.  I love printables like this!  They are small and can easily be kept in you purse for quick entertainment in a pinch (eating out, waiting at the dr.)

I've posted this printable over at Grow.  It's my families homeschool group that I'm a part of.

Click Here to download the printable!

In His Grace,
Jenny
vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com

Mango Salsa

Well, here in Texas it's starting to feel like summer.  We had a high of 91 yesterday!  With this summer heat comes my need for all things summer tasting which include my homemade blended strawberry lemon-aid (recipe coming soon on this one!) and of course my homemade mango salsa!  Mangos and I have  a sweet love affair all summer long and I simply can't get enough of them.

Here is my delicious Mango Salsa Recipe:

• 1 large mango (or 2 small mangos) skinned and diced small
• 1 can of black beans - washed and drained
• 1 cup of corn (can be canned or frozen, just drain the juice if it is canned)
• 1 red bell pepper - chopped small
• 1/2 purple onion - chopped small
• Bundle of Cilantro - chopped small
• 1 tsp. lime juice (or more to your liking!)
• 1 tsp. garlic salt (or more to your liking!)

Directions:

• Chop and prep everything then mix it all together!  
• Devour with tortilla chips or eat with tacos, it's great with mahi mahi fish too!

Homemade Dishwasher Soap

Homemade Dishwasher soap is another MUST in my house.  Keeping toxins at a minimum in my house is so important and unfortunately store bought dishwasher detergent is packed full of yucky cancer causing chemicals - no thank you!

I will say that dishwasher detergent has been one of the most tricky of all the homemade products to make.  Not that making it is hard, but being happy with the end result was the difficult part.  My water comes from a well and it is hard - I mean off the charts hard, so if this soap can keep my dishes clean - it can keep anyones dishes clean!

Another great bonus of my recipe is that it also serves as a great soft scrub for your sinks and shower!  I love it when one recipe can serve more than one purpose!

Here is the recipe:

• 1 Cup of Baking Soda
• 1 Cup of Borax
• 1/4 Cup of Citric Aci
• 20 Drops of Young Living Lemon Essential Oil
• 2 TBS Rice
• Fabric or small sachet

Directions:

• Mix everything except the rice together.  
• Put rice in a small sachet or make a small little bag out of fabric.  The rice keeps the moisture out of your soap and helps it not get hard!
• Put your rice sachet in the bottom of your container and fill your container with soap
• Use in your dishwasher just like you would use regular detergent!

Another super simple recipe that keeps toxins out of your home and your family healthy!

Questions?  Feel free to email me vintageburlapbarn@yahoo.com

Want to know more about Young Living Essential Oils.  If you are ready to sign up here is the link: https://www.youngliving.com/signup/?isoCountryCode=US&isoLanguageCode=en&type=DISTRIBUTOR

Please use my Sponsor ID and Enroller ID  # 1654496

Cooked Kale Salad

It's a rainy and blustery day today and when the weather gets this way all I want to do is stay inside and bake, snuggle under a blanket with a good book, light a fire, and relax.  My husband and I eat a lot of salads (no shock I know what else do you eat when you don't eat meat or dairy lol!)  But when the weather turns cold soups tend to take the place of a lot of our salad consumption.  One recipe I created last winter still is a big hit for us, as it combines the best of salad and warmth together. It's a cooked Kale salad and it is so delicious.

Ingredients:

- 1 Bunch Kale chopped (you can use any Kale I've made this with them all)

- 3 Carrots chopped

- 1 Zucchini chopped

- 1/4 cup Pine Nuts

- 1/2 white onion chopped

- 2 garlic cloves minced

- 1 cup vegetable broth

-1 lemon

- Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

- Add onions carrots and garlic to pan with vegetable broth and cook on low till they are soft enough (I tend to like my veggies a little more crunchy so I don't cook a ton)

- Add in the pine nuts and zucchini and let them cook for a few minutes (again as soft or crunchy as you want)

- Add chopped Kale

- Juice lemon over the top of the Kale (if you don't like a lot of lemon flavor only add in a half a lemons worth of juice, but if you like the lemon flavor go for the entire lemon)

- Mix and take off the heat after just a couple minutes.  Your Kale will go mushy fast so watch this close.  

- Serve on a plate and add Salt and Pepper to taste, it usually doesn't need much if any!

The veggies within this salad can easily be exchanged for other veggies.  Some of my other favorites vegetables to add would be squash, eggplant, or green beans.   

Hope you love it, let me know what you think!