Homemade FRUIT SNACKS!

Today I became "that Mom" you guys. I actually made homemade fruit snacks.

Fruit snacks have been a thing of the past over here on the homestead. They're like a long lost friend, one that was bad enough that we needed to leave it behind, but yummy enough that we wish we could still be BFF's.

I decided it was time to make some good 'ol fashioned fruit snacks just like our great-grandma did.  Or did she?  Well, either way these things were delish and BONUS, they provide some awesome nutrients like grass-fed gelatin, which provides the body with a complete protein and even aids with digestion too!

Recipe below, yo...

Weekly Meal Plan 5/20/2013

If you're new here, you may want to get caught up on how I do meal planning.  If you are a die-hard reader bordering on stalker, then let's just get right to it!  

It's getting hot around these parts and I am cravin' salads!

I love eating leftovers the next day because I save myself time by turning dinner cleanup into packing the next day's lunches and let's face it, life is just plain easier when you only have to worry about providing a healthy breakfast & dinner! Real food can be easy! Let's begin, shall we? 

Sunday

Spring Quiche

LEFTOVERS from Saturday dinner.

Perfect Roast Chicken

Monday

Yogurt, fruit, nuts.

LEFTOVERS from Sunday dinner.

Chicken Alfredo on spaghetti squash pasta.

Tuesday

Whole-wheat french toast, raw milk.

LEFTOVERS from Monday dinner.

Big garden salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and Lavender Lemonade  

Wednesday

Scrambled eggs, sourdough toast & raw milk.

LEFTOVERS from Tuesday dinner.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Thursday

Yogurt "orange julius" smoothies

LEFTOVERS from Wednesday dinner.

Tuna & Avocado Salad 

Friday

Cream cheese cinnamon waffle sandwiches

LEFTOVERS from Thursday dinner.

Homemade Pizza Night -- here's a great dough recipe

Saturday

Grain-free muffins

LEFTOVERS from Friday dinner.

Snack choices this week:  Grain-free granola bars

Desserts this week: Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini cake, Homemade Ice Cream

How to raise Grass-fed Lamb like a boss.

I never EVER thought, in the history of the world, that I would become a PRO at raising grass-fed lamb. But alas, here I am. Like I've said before, once I got the farming-itch (not to be confused with a gross kind of itch) I couldn't stop. I'm rapidly turning into the weird goat lady. Never heard of it? It's like the new cat lady. Except for being an old-maid, there's usually a reluctant husband in the background (that secretly loves goats!) Right Kevin?  Right?...

Blueberry Lemon GELATO!

Holla! I finally learned how to make GELATO.  You guys.  I am in love. It's like heaven in my mouth, I tell ya'!

In my research I found that gelato is really just a lighter custard. Instead of using cream, you use whole milk, which still gives it a rich flavor while keeping it very refreshing.

It's like a creamy sorbet.  A deliciously, heavenly, creamy sorbet. Geez, no wonder people travel all the way to Italy to eat this stuff!  Right after I took this picture I promptly sat down on the ground out of view from the kids and ate this sucker all by myself before dinner. Dinner was spoiled, but between you and me it was totally worth it.

Here's the handy dandy recipe for ya'.

Blueberry-Lemon GELATO
Serves 8

Ingredients:
5 egg yolks (refrigerate/freeze the egg white for a meringue on your next pie)
1/2 c. raw cane sugar or honey
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. whole milk (nutritionally organic is better, raw is best)
2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 lemon

Directions:
1. In a saucepan, combine milk & salt. While stirring occasionally, heat until it just starts to bubble.
2. Using a hand mixer, blend egg yolks & sugar till creamy and well blended. Add blueberries and blend to desired consistency.
3. Just when milk starts to bubble, remove from heat, add vanilla & let cool for 5 minutes, then slowly add to egg yolk/blueberry mixture.
4. Add the juice & zest of one lemon.
5. Mix till well blended, then pour into an ice cream maker like this one or this one.
6. Proceed to devour (preferably hidden from the kids.  Well, okay you can give them a little bit I guess;)

Where I bought my glass ice cream tumblers

Germ-a-phobia: Why sterilizing your environment could be making you sick

The place was nursing school, in the dreaded Microbiology 205 class. It was me vs. a public restroom.

I was about to test the bacteria count of (what I thought) was the worst, most disgusting filled germ-fested place I knew. A college campus toilet.

I learned a lot of things in that class.  Like how to grow stuff in petri dishes.  And how to tell the difference between staphylococcus, botulism & listeria. And probably most importantly, that a public restroom wasn't nearly as full of bacteria as....