The Joys Of Family and Hearth

With all the recent articles about the negative effects of soda.. I thought I would share our alternatives. :) Now don't get me wrong, every now and then I love me a fountain coke.. call it PMS! :) However soda in general is just bad, and DIET is even worse. Your always better with real sugar then artificial!! YUK! Anywho, here's some healthy alternatives to soda.. 1. Water! yup and lots of it!! We do ice cubes that will slowly melt all day...so you have ice cold water on hand. Throw in some frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries... and it nicely flavors the water... naturally.. Add fresh lemon/lime wedges, fresh orange slices and even some grapes. Adds nice flavor to water. 2. Ice Tea.. We always have a pitcher of tea in the fridge. Usually a regular pitcher. (black tea)  And I prefer an herbal blend. :)  Herbal blends are of course better for you and super tasty. You can sweeten with an organic sugar, demerara, agave or honey! Agave and Honey are bot...

So what do you do the next day with any left over corned beef. Well you could make your own, corned beef hash.. I made that this morning, it was delicious!! I didn't take a pic of it tho!! And for supper, I took the leftovers and made open face sandwiches. You could also substitute the corned beef for pastrami!! :) So first thing first, toast some Jewish rye bread, why Jewish rye..cause it's the best! :) Lay in 13x9 pan, pour some thousand island dressing over top of the toasted rye, then add the corned beef or pastrami, a generous helping of coleslaw, then a thick slice of swiss.. bake 30 mins, take out of oven and ENJOY!! Don't forget to add a half sour pickle!! This recipe was adapted slightly from the original one shared with me by my friend Adrienne. :) From My Bella Cucina to Yours!!

 I just love the book of James. It's one of my favorite books of the bible. Why? you ask.  Well, I see myself in James a bit. He's practical. He's pretty straight forward. Here it is, now do it. Done.  How wonderful it is to have such practical wisdom!  I'm currently doing a ladies bible study at church, http://www.christianbook.com/james-mercy-triumphs-leader-kit/9781415872604/pd/872604/1282201201?event=100960SBF|780524|1025 I can not tell you how timely this bible study as come into my life. After all the struggles we have been through the past year, this has been such a pleasure. And what's not awesome about doing an in depth study in one of your own favorite books. Is God awesome or what? OK, off the tangent...back to James 1.  While doing the study last night, Beth Moore said something that hit me like a ton of bricks. You see the reason James is so straight forward in his book, is that he lived with Jesus, and missed all this... He missed it. ...

Hubby built me a FABULOUS, new Clothesline!!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went from 4 lines, about 15 feet long to 8 glorious lines 25 feet long!!! I can now hang a full days of laundry on the line! For me it's about 4 loads daily. Laundry is usually started right after my fist sip of coffee! :) Our dryer is currently down, and hubby hasn't had the time to fix it yet, so this clothesline has been a lifesaver as well as a money saver. I can't believe how much my electric bill has gone down, by not using my dryer or dishwasher. It's actually affordable now! :) Luckily for me we had a most mild winter. And I have only had to make a few trips to the laundromat to dry. Thanks Babe! :)

It always amazes me.. the power of food. I mean really there is such a power in food, being around the table to eat. But I wanted to talk about how memories can be evoked by food.  I  was talking with my cousin the other day and she brought up a simple food that she was eating.. And in my minds eye,(what is your minds eye anyway?)  I immediately had a flashback of being maybe 10 years old , sitting in my grandmothers kitchen as I watched her make me this soup. It brought back such fond memories of her.  Just the mere mention of a soup... Of course my next time I was  out to the store, I picked some up... :) I'm weird like that. But in my own defense.. I did have a sick little one. She loved the soup. I can remember waiting for the water to boil and then adding the golden egg to the water.. heehee.. My heart literally swelled with emotion. It's hard to tell too, but those are two boxes, each box is it's own serving of soup..and I can remember how much ...