Author: The Urban Homemaker

“I have been making bread for years. Yesterday I wanted to find a recipe to use with my Montana White Wheat, and I found your website. My husband and five children could not believe how excellent your recipe turned out! It is the whole wheat miracle I have always searched for. Thank you so very much for sharing.” Sincerely, Kirsten Farmer

Are you thinking of baking some wholesome whole grain breads and looking for a way to get started?

Listen to this complimentary MP3 audio Whole Grain Bread Baking Tutorial by Marilyn Moll for secrets to the best bread.

Here is what others are saying:

• My family has been looking for a way to eat healthier but still have bread. This is awesome we give it an A++++++ and 10 thumbs up.
• I have been reading the rave reviews of this bread for years. Normally my family does not enjoy w.w. bread, but this recipe is the exception! THANKS!!!
• Wow Marilyn, I’m impressed. It’s so good that now this is the only bread I WANT to eat. My kids like it too. I was hoping it would pass for their daily PBJ sandwich bread and it did!

Find us on Twitter at TheUrbanHome and tell your friends!

About five years ago I was introduced to the politically incorrect nutrition classic Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Dr Mary Enig and the Weston A Price Foundation.  The first myth they busted for me was that healthy fats do include butter, beef tallow, coconut oil and unrefined olive oil and of course that Real Milk was both healthy and safe.

Today I wanted to tell you about a homeschool mom, Kristen Michaelis AKA Food Renegade who adores the “living books” model of education promoted by Charlotte Mason. She is also a professional writer and fitness coach  who has combined these three passions to create the first and only Nutrition textbook and ecourse for teens of this kind.

Kristen talks about the basics:

• The major macro-nutrients (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) & how your body uses them.
• The micro-nutrients like vitamins, minerals, enzymes, & their affect on health.
• The nutrient density of Real Food
• Industrial vs. Pasture-based animal husbandry
• Industrial vs. Organic agriculture
• The basics of Real Health
• Sneak Peak Video about Healthy Fats and Oils (Watch the Video)

Interested?  Check it out.

Disclaimer:  I make a small commission on purchases.

What you will find in this 171 page ebook:

• Blank monthly and weekly calendar pages for planning your year
• Weekly “To Do” lists showing exactly what needs to be done each week
• Thanksgiving and Christmas Menus forms
• Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Recipe Card forms
• A Holiday Self-Evaluation form
• Shopping Lists
• “Sheri’s Tips”- tips to make your holidays meaningful, shared throughout the ebook
• Christmas Craft and Gift Ideas
• Memory Making Ideas for the Family
• Holiday Journal Pages
• Many, many forms such as:
  Christmas Gift Shopping List
  Gift Making Checklist
  Christmas Card Checklist
  Holiday Wardrobe Planner
  List of Baked Items to Share/Give Away
  Favorite Meals to Freeze for Later
  Decoration Ideas
  Needed Supplies to Purchase This Week
  Holiday Baking Schedule
  Kids’ Gift Idea List
  Christmas Gifts to be Shipped
• PLUS!!! Two bonus weeks with family tradition ideas, menus, and
• PLUS!!! Some of our favorite holiday recipes!
• PLUS!!! Holiday Coloring Pages!
• Free 14 Page Planner Sampler
  

Buy once, and never buy another holiday planner again!

Or Purchase 5 ebook Holiday Combo Set and Save!

As the gardening season winds down, you might want to try fermenting some veggies instead of canning them. It is so much easier and less time consuming.

Basically a dill crock is a variation on fermented veggies. If you don’t have dill or a grape leaf you can still make the fermented veggies and keep it going.

Can you believe my dog loves these naturally pickled and healthy veggies which are loaded with high quality pro-biotics?

This is an easy project and it is easy to maintain – so be brave and give it a try..

Here is the simple instructions:

1. Use a half gallon jar or crock.

2. Make a brine of 2 Tbsp salt, 6 cups water, and ½ cup cider vinegar. The brine is used to cover all the vegetables in the crock.

3. Grape Leaf – Place a small layer of grape leaves in the bottom of the jar to help keep veggies crisp, if desired. It is not essential.

4. Dill: Place a layer of dill on top of the grape leaves.  Also optional – other herbs or no herbs can be used.  Try a bit of thyme if you have it instead.

5. The Vegetables: Almost any crisp vegetable can go into a dill crock such as carrots, onions, garlic, cauliflower, peppers, green tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, etc. Green Beans need 3 minutes of blanching because otherwise they turn out too tough or hard to chew.

6. Time: One you fill the jar or crock with the vegetables, pour in the brine, screw on a cap tightly to the jar or weigh the vegetables down with a plate and rock to hold the vegetables under the brine.

7. Store the vegetables in a closet or cupboard for 5-6 days up to 2 weeks. If a white foam appears at the top do not panic, this is normal, just remove the foam and the vegetables are ready to eat.

8. Refrigerate and enjoy!

9. Start a new crock with some leftover brine and salt/water solution and use up those delicious veggies long after the season ends.

10. Let your nose be your guide. This is not an official USDA method, but a time-tested method used for centuries.

“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.”  Ps 34: 17

My grandson, Job Edward Coble, was born to my daughter and son-in-law (Laura and Brandon Coble) this morning at 5:00 CT at 6 pounds 1 oz.  He wasn’t breathing too well so he has been transferred to a hospital in Nashville to prevent possible pneumonia.

Please pray for speedy recovery, doctor’s wisdom, especially comfort for the parents as they haven’t been able to hold him yet.

May God get the glory, AMEN.

Ed Note:  Kelly the Kitchenkop.com has been a big fan of The Urban Homemaker for years and frequently takes time to brag about her Bosch Universal.   She has often provided written summary/transcripts for my phone seminars in the past and always taken time to drop me a note with helpful tips that I share with you.

Now it is her turn to teach YOU all the basic concepts of Real Food Cooking based on the book Nourishing Traditions.

Remember this is a ROOKIE class, so it will be basic, fun, economical, and comprehensive.

CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THE CLASS SCHEDULE or Watch Kelly tell you the top 10 Reasons to Take the Class

Take a look at the preview video.

Learn Simple Real Food Concepts and Transform your Life and Your Health
It’s like having a Titus Two Mentor right in your own Kitchen!

Disclosure:  I will receive a very small commission for class sign-ups.

I invite you to watch this brief but intriguing documentary on the true cost and environmental implications of bottled water.

I never really stopped to consider the cost of bottled water.  I think we have been sold a bill of goods to believe that bottled water is more pure and safe than our tap water.  When I see a bottle of water in the store, I never considered see the enormous amount of oil, the landfill waste, and the exorbitant cost behind each bottle.

Stop and consider these chilling facts about bottled water:

• Up to 40 percent of bottled water is filtered tap water. In other words, if you’re concerned about what’s in your tap water, just cut out the middleman and buy a home water filter.

• Each year, according to the Pacific Institute’s Peter Gleick, making the plastic water bottles used in the U.S. takes enough oil and energy to fuel a million cars. And that doesn’t even include the fuel required to ship, fly or truck water across continents and state lines.

• Three-fourths of the half-a-billion plastic water bottles sold in the U.S. every week go to the landfill or to incinerators. It costs our cities more than $70 million to landfill water bottles alone each year, according to Corporate Accountability International.

• Bottled water is subject to fewer health regulations than tap water.

“(P)ause and consider the insanity of a global economy where 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water while other people spend billions on a bottled product that’s no cleaner, harms people and the environment and costs up to 2,000 times the price of tap water.” Anne Leonard

As we know, tap water, which is more economical and environmentally friendly than plastic bottles, can still contain many contaminents unsafe for human consumption.

Consider an investment in a Multi-Pure,  home water filteration system.  It only costs 8 cents a gallon, doesn’t create any envirnomental hazards, and provides some of the safest and cleanest consumable water!  Multi-Pure offers many models for a variety of budgets. 

One of my favorite models is the Aqua-Dome!

Click here for additional information.

The Aqua Dome is a convenient counter-top model that filters up to 750 gallons for just $224.95.

My mom’s been using the Model 750 SB (stainless steel housing, under the counter mount) for 16 years.

Either way – both models filter the same number of contaminants, they are NSF certified, have a 90 day money back guarantee, and a lifetime warranty!

Check out my Multi-Pure Website!

The following is written by Guest Writer Jill Cooper

As a single mother of two, I started my own home business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income.

I am often asked what are the top lessons I would give a family or even a single person who is dealing with a tight budget. Here are my top tips for living on a small income.

• Stop spending.
• Don’t think that using a credit card or getting a loan will make it better. Going into more debt will not help you get out of debt.
• Get rid of your pride. You may have to shop at garage sales for a while. You may not be able to have your kids in sports and you might have to say no to friends when they want you to go to an expensive restaurant. Pride is a sin. God didn’t kick the angels out of heaven because they murdered someone or were doing drugs, drinking or smoking but for pride.
• Stop worrying about what others think or whether or not you are making a good impression. We constantly tell our kids not to give in to peer pressure but we do it all the time. We Christians can be especially bad about worrying what other Christians are going to think of us. That is the same as when your kids worrying about their peers.
• Cut back on everything. You can save 50% on your grocery bill before you even go to the grocery store by simply exercising good portion control with your food. It is better for you, too. Go from a 30 minute shower to a 5 minute shower. Not only will you save on utilities, but your skin will thank you.
• This should be number one: tithe. Right now when others are panicking about their 401k’s or about what their stocks are doing, I don’t have a worry in the world. I have invested my money in Someone who has promised that no matter what happens in the world, including with finances, I and my children will be fed and taken care of. He has demonstrated His faithfulness over and over. To me, my tithe is the best savings a person can have.
• The real test of a person’s character occurs during hard times. Keep your integrity, be responsible and be trustworthy and honorable whether your situation is your fault or not, whether it is fair or unfair. Proverbs 22:1 says “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.“

I once received a notice of foreclosure on my house. I had 2 weeks to come up with $35,000 and I couldn’t sell my house. I didn’t have $35. I wasn’t sure what to do. If I lost my house, my kids and I would literally be out on the streets. After a few moments of panic, I prayed and God told me what to do. One of the first things I did was to call the banker and tell him I wanted to start up our old business, which I knew nothing about and had no money for supplies, no customers and a limited market.

What loan officer do you think would say, “That’s great– forget the foreclosure and you don’t even need to make a payment until your business is up and running well”? None that I know of, but that is exactly what he said. We had banked there for a while and, because of that, he knew I always paid my bills (the foreclosure was because of my husband’s debts he incurred when we were separated).

The loan officer said “Jill, I know you and trust you to pay so I’m not worried.”         Everything God tells us to do is for a good reason and it is usually for our good. He wants us to have a good name because He knows at times when things hang in the balance, a person’s good name can tip the scale in the right direction.

• Don’t decide you are going to change your ways and then expect God to suddenly produce a miracle and make all of your debt go away. God loves you, but He is also a just God. He expects you to pull your weight and if you spent 5 years carelessly spending, you may have to work extra long and hard for 5 years to get yourself out of your mess.

It would be like telling my teenage son to clean his room. After a month goes by, he is out of clean clothes, can’t find anything and has been grounded by me for failing to do what I told him to do. He tells me how sorry he is, insists he’ll never do it again and repents all over the place, but he still has to clean his room, which is such a big mess it is going to take twice as much work.         I forgive, but he is perfectly capable of cleaning it himself, so he has to clean up his own mess.

Here’s something to think about:   In Matthew 6:24, the Bible says “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” We always think that this verse relates to having lots or money, that it only concerns the wealthy or those seeking wealth, but it can pertain to the poor and those in debt, too.   Be careful.

What controls your waking thoughts? God or money? What do you seek after more? God or a way to pay your debts? What do you talk about more with your family? God or how the bills are piling up “in these hard economic times”? Do you spend all of your money eating out, playing a game of golf, buying your kids sports uniforms and dance lessons and having your nails done or do you first tithe?

I have found most people give their money to whoever or whatever has their heart and soul. I don’t say these things to condemn you but to get you thinking, “Do I have things mixed up? Can I do something differently? Do I need to change something, even if it is something small?”   We guard our families in so many areas. Don’t let Satan sneak in the back door with this and destroy you, your family and your testimony.

Ed Note: As a single mother of two, Jill Cooper started her own home business without any capital and paid off $35,000 debt in 5 years on $1,000 a month income. Jill and her daughter Tawra Kellam are frugal living experts and the editors of http://www.LivingOnADime.com/.