Settling, Baking and Traveling

Here is the view from my kitchen!

Well I finally feel 95% put together in our house. I have four boxes that I really can not unpack until we get our desk moved in and get another shelf. Three of them are the pottery that my dad made and a Russian Tea set. I got the kids room situated with all of their toys in it. Let me tell you I love having them play in their room and not having all of their toys all over my living room. I have organized all of my craft/sewing stuff pretty good. I am excited to get the kids quilts started. I did my first official cleaning of the house with everything in it on Monday and it was not too bad. I think our square footage is about 850 maybe 900. I do not think I would want any bigger of a house, too much to clean. The nice thing about when we did move in I was able to throughly clean everything before I even unpacked one box. It was nice knowing that things were clean when I put things away.

Eric is loving his job and God is definitely providing wonderfully for us up here. I am doing my best to keep our bills down. I have been shopping at the Farmer's Market and loving it. As I had mentioned I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and I have been very compelled to buy local even more than before. I have really been away of where my food is coming from and it is causing me to make more of our breads and things. The Health store in SLO has a large bulk food area with good deals. I bought about $20 worth of flours and I made a tasty fresh peach crisp, two loaves of GF bread and granola bars. I know that I am saving money, supporting the local community and eating better too.

The best was that Eric really liked the bread and said that he would love his sandwiches on that bread! He will now be GF at home. Bread was really the only thing that I was buying for him that was not GF. He eats everything else that I make for dinner which is GF. So he will be GF with everything he eats at home, which I know will be better for him in the long run. I am also trying to go dairy free with the kids and I. Corn and eggs seem not to be a problem with them but dairy definitely seems to cause problems. The bumps on Kira's arm are back so I think it might a calcium deposit or something.

I made the best granola bars that taste the closest to Nature Valley Honey and Oats crispy bars.

Super easy and yummy. Kira called the Oatmeal cookies.

Here is the recipe

GF Granola Bars

4 cups GF Oats

2 cups GF Flour mix

1/4 cup Packed Brown Sugar

1 cup chopped Raw Almonds

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

3/4 cup Canola Oil/Vegetable Oil

3/4 cup Honey

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add oil and honey mix well until totally coated. Spread out on a baking pan/sheet to the thickness desire. Press to compact. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes for chewy or 20-25 for crunchy. Cut immediately while soft and let cool and will crisp up.

Depending upon the thickness 30-40 bars.

Kids loved these and Eric liked them too for his lunch!

Well we are taking the train down to OC to visit and go to Enzo's Ortho appt. We leave tomorrow morning and it will be a long trip but at least the kids will be able to walk around and not have to be in car seats. I plan on packing a boat load of food, videos and stuff to do.

Have a great week!