I couldn’t resist. My favorite season is spring, but my favorite season to decorate for is fall! So, when I found myself choosing a First Friday Freebie for you, I couldn’t make up my mind. Take advantage of my indecision today because I got both!
Let’s take a look at them.
The slatted wall hanging on the left measures 13.5” X 9” (not counting the twine hanger) and invites your guests to “Gather Here with Warm Hearts”. The metal section adds some sparkle and shine against the rest of the rustic wooden slats which are all connected with twine, enabling the whole thing to collapse accordion-style for storage. This is great if you have limited space as I do. On the right you’ll see “Leaves are falling – autumn is calling” on a 6” square wooden box that can either perch on a shelf as it is 1.5” deep or hang on the wall.
When I say I was undecided, I really mean it. I started out with three items and ended up falling in love with one and keeping it for myself. Just true confessions here.
To enter to win the “October Two-fer” wall décor, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “Make mine a double, please!” You’ll need to leave your comment before midnight TONIGHT, October 6th, 2023.
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
Haven’t subscribed yet? You’ll need to do that before entering to win. Head to the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can fill in your email address and then watch for your confirmation email.
If you’ve missed my recent post, you’ll want to visit my Food Freedom page and get the recipe for “Lime Sillies” which only takes seconds to make.
ANNOUNCING: The September First Friday Freebie went to Ruth in St. Louis, Missouri! Ruth didn’t have a way of getting a photo to me, so if you’d like to see what she won, check it out here. Congratulations, Ruth! I hope this finds a great spot on your wall during “sweater weather”.
Be sure to share my blog with friends and family through all your social media. They’ll never know about it unless you do. If you save things on Pinterest like I do, hover over the photo and “pin it”. Hey! The world needs to know. People have enough news every day to drag them down. Give them something smile about.
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, October 6th, by leaving a comment which says, “Make mine a double, please!”
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
We’ve been doing a few things to beautify our porch and also screening it in. We’re thinking we may not see much of Phoebe June when she finds out she can get out there and glory in the fresh autumn air. You get out and do the same and remember – October is a gift!
I probably should have passed this one on to you at the beginning of summer so you could enjoy it in the summer months, but since we enjoy it year-round I decided to go ahead and share it now that it has a name.
I’m quite a lot like Anne of Green Gables when it comes to names. I like a little romance or beauty in a name rather than something ordinary. I, like Anne, would never have called it Barry’s Pond when I could’ve re-named it The Lake of Shining Waters and what is a better name for a blooming orchard than The White Way of Delight? It’s like she’s in my head.
I gave up soda a long time ago – decades in fact. After a while, I actually grew to detest the stuff and the way it made me feel. However, I do somehow miss the bubbles and had to content myself with the occasional bottle of sparkling water because I’m way too frugal to drink it all the time.
Then I did some bartering one day with a friend who was doing a rummage sale with me. I traded her some tea tree oil I’d over-bought for a Soda-Stream. We had lots of fun with successes and fails as we tried various additives and blends to flavor the sparkling water we could now just fizz up in our own machine. (There is a cartridge that you trade in when it’s empty so after your initial purchase you pay only half price when you make the swap.)
We found it to be economical. We started our first cartridge around July 4th and didn’t run out of bubbles till the middle of September!
Flavorings seemed to be the sticking point. Smuffy is super picky on taste. I am super picky on healthy add-ins. Some of the ones you buy turn your carbonated water right back into soda!
After a while, I just threw something together one day as a “lime thing” and ended up loving it. Then I started serving it to guests and they liked it, which is good because when they come to my house I don’t stock “junk” drinks.
I knew this was ready to pass on to you when Lil’ Snookie gave it a name. All on his own, when he was still two years old, he began to say that anything with carbonation in it had “sillies” and would ask Pookie, his mama, if he could have sillies in his drink.
Now he’s grown to love my invention and almost every day asks me if he can have “Lime Sillies”.
And there you have it! It needed the perfect name and now it’s ready to share. No free printable necessary for this recipe because this is all you do –
Lime Sillies
1. Pour 1” to 1 ½” inches of Real-Lime or fresh lime juice into the bottom of your glass. (Everyone has a different preference as to how much lime they prefer.)
2. Add a tiny pinch of mineral salt (not the table salt gunk).
3. Add 1 doonk of THM Pure Stevia or any on-plan natural sweetener.
4. Add a couple of drops of pure vanilla extract.
Swirl the glass well or stir the mixture with a spoon before filling the glass with cold, carbonated water. Add ice if you wish.
NOTE: You cannot add the ingredients to the water. You have to add the water to the other ingredients. For some mysterious reason, dropping the sweetener into the carbonation makes the contents of the glass explode all over the counter. Ask me how I know.
Also, with a SodaStream, you must carbonate only plain water. Adding any ingredients to the water prior to pumping in the carbonation will result in more exploding things. Ask me how I know.
There you have it – Lil’ Snookie’s Lime Sillies! Fix a glass and head for the porch on these beautiful autumn days.
I fully disclose that I am a THM Certified Lifestyle Coach and at times receive financial compensation as such.
If you need support in your journey to better health and weight loss, head to the Contact page or my Food Freedom pages on Facebook and Mewe and let me know. I’ll give you all the info on group sessions which I conduct locally in person on a weekly basis. Private coaching can be done in person or by phone. Share with friends and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!
The Trim Healthy MamaPlan is a great way to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and certainly to lose weight safely and sustainably if you need to do that.
Leave a comment after you sip your Lime Sillies and let me know how you like it. Do you have a carbonation machine of any kind? What are your favorite flavors to add that keep it healthy and make it tasty?
We have arrived. It’s “relief month” here in the sweltering Midwest. September means that there is a chance that perhaps even half of the days this month won’t be those that enable you to fry an egg on the sidewalk in less than a minute. A few of them may even leave your hair without the frizzies. One or two might even get you out of your flip-flops. Today it is a certainty that you can enter to win my First Friday Freebie.
Let’s take a look at it.
I’m a believer in positive confessions, so join me in announcing “Sweater Weather” even if it hasn’t actually made itself felt yet. This round wooden declaration of crisp days to come measures just under 8 inches in diameter. The white inset is metal with cutout lettering and leafy embellishments. It’s just the thing to prop on an easel, tuck into a shelf or hang on the wall using the attached metal hanger or even its twine extender. This is just one of Hobby Lobby’s great fall items.
This time, instead of just getting one for you and wishing I had one just like it, I went ahead and bought an extra for myself. Now I’ll have no regrets when this one leaves my house for yours!
To enter to win the “Sweater Weather” wall décor, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “I can’t wait for sweater weather!” You’ll need to leave your comment before midnight TONIGHT, September 1st, 2023.
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
Haven’t subscribed yet? You’ll need to do that before entering to win. Head to the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can fill in your email address and then watch for your confirmation email.
If you’ve missed my recent post, don’t forget to check out the results of Smuffy’s kitchen remodel! We are both glad to have the bulk of that ordeal behind us and I can’t wait for you to see how my design and all Smuffy’s hard work turned out!
Be sure to share my blog with friends and family through all your social media. They’ll never know about it unless you do. If you save things on Pinterest like I do, hover over the photo and “pin it”. Hey! The world needs to know. People have enough news every day to drag them down. Give them something smile about.
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, Septemer 1st, by leaving a comment which says, “I can’t wait for sweater weather!”
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
Enjoy every bit of pleasant weather coming your way. I know I’m going to try. Life for me will fluctuate between getting outdoors to enjoy these days and closeting myself to do final edits on my novel series. More news on that in the days ahead!
This was to be my real “TAH-DAH!” moment, complete with video tour, but for some reason my six-minute video refuses to load to my computer. Others have, but no, not this one. I started to get into my “I’ll conquer this one” mode and then remembered how I am trying to simplify my life after being held hostage by this kitchen for so long and gave up. Photos will have to do.
We are 99% finished with Smuffy’s grand kitchen makeover! It’s been a long, long road – years in fact. I won’t count them because every time I do it makes me cry.
Here are some photos of how things turned out. Due to the lighting, the cabinetry appears at times to be more yellow than it actually is. They are a creamy white with antiquing. Actual paint colors, along with the process are explained in the links below that cover the journey through this whole process, so be sure to click on those to see the “before” photos to appreciate what miracle Smuffy performed and the “during” photos to see what we endured!
I’m sure if you look closely, you’ll see areas in the trim and such that still need a little work. I’m happy to say that most of those are completed now. I just keep telling Smuffy that I’d like to have the final touches all finished before something actually breaks.
This photo is a straight shot of the kitchen through the double archway of the dining room. I wanted a homey look where I could display some of my farmy and shabby family heirlooms without them looking out of place. I think I’ve achieved a look I won’t get tired of anytime soon. The sink base is my design. All the beautiful walnut backsplash is from a tree Smuffy dragged home from the woods and he did the whole thing himself. I chose to add travertine tile down the middle as an accent. I think it’s the highlight of my new kitchen. That, and the furniture-style sink base cabinet which I got to use my artistic talents on. All the cabinets and pull-outs are designed by me and built by Smuffy from scratch and the painting and antiquing is all done by me. Since this photo, the pull-outs you see through the mesh doors have received a dark wood tone so they now “disappear” into the recesses. Did I mention that Smuffy replaced the windows and added all the beautiful framing on them? Yes, he’s pooped. As you can see, Phoebe June is nodding off because this story isn’t about her.
This is a look at the east wall where you can see Smuffy’s custom pantry and the roomy drawers he built. I love this door which is actually a casement window out of an old house that we stumbled across in an antique mall. Smuffy made all the adjustable U-shaped shelves and I wallpapered the inside of the pantry. Getting all the shelves and contents in there just right took me an entire day! The pendant light you see here is my mom’s old milk strainer from down on the farm.
Here’s the west wall with the refrigerator, wall oven and dishwasher. Not many people put their wall oven above their dishwasher, but necessity is the mother of invention, is it not? I almost wore a hole in my graph paper trying to figure out the appliance placement problem. There ended up being a compromise between my grand design and Smuffy’s “do you want me to be 105 when I finish this kitchen?” exclamation and that pitiful puppy dog look in his eyes. At the far end of this west wall is valuable counter space with Phoebe June’s Diner below and cookbook shelving above. This is a fabulous step up considering this area used to be an exit to the side entry of the house, making it unusable as kitchen space. I have the doors closed in the photo, but above the wall oven is a fabulous built-in Smuffy made which has square cubbyholes that can hold rolling pins, bottles, drying mats and such and above those are tall slots for all the cookie sheets and baking pans. Being a tall cook, having all that up there is perfect for me.
Here’s how things look at night when I can turn off the ceiling light (and yes, that is a “fandelier” up there, but somehow it looks way oversized in the photo) and turn on Smuffy’s under-cabinet lights along with the lighted glass upper cabinets. He has those all wired to switches just as he’s done in the pantry so that not only makes the kitchen look really nice at night, but also spotlights the work areas! I must also brag on another of his hand-made pendant lights. I handed him the old pulley from our barn along with my mom’s old colander and showed him a ton of Pinterest pictures. I think they turned out great and I think Mom would approve of both her contributions to lighting. Smuffy also made the walnut shelving you see on each side of the window. On there you can see the little blue metal box which is my mom’s lunch pail from her one-room schoolhouse days. Also on display are my grandma’s butter churn and mom’s old cookie jar. That little mug goes way back also. I remember being so little I could hardly lift it to drink from it.
My kitchen is a working kitchen. Practicing clean eating and being a certified coach with Trim Healthy Mama means daily meals prepared from scratch. The counterspace I gained has made a huge difference and oh! the joys of getting to have a gas cooktop! I also chose a dishwasher with bottle jets and a third rack and am asking myself where this marvel has been all my life. And the refrigerator! I hear a lot of folks complaining about Samsung refrigerators and felt squeamish about getting one, but when I saw this baby with French doors on both top and bottom, the design won me over. Plus, the lower right freezer section is “flex” and a push of the button transforms this from freezer to refrigerator and back again! I said a prayer when I ordered it that God would send me a peach and not a lemon. We purchased it locally so we could have hometown service on it and a good service plan and we’ve been happy with it.
Smuffy does more than just build things. My Life With Smuffypage is loaded with stories that will make you laugh, cause your hair to stand on end and probably bump us up to the top of your prayer list!
Leave a comment! I’d love to know what you think of what our efforts have wrought and hear your thoughts after seeing the “before” and “after” photos. Are you planning a kitchen remodel? What great ideas are cooking in your brain for design and function?
August is fading away, but Midwest Storyteller’s First Friday Freebie winner is just getting started – on Chapter One, that is!
Let’s meet her now –
Vikki from Boonville, Missouri!
Congratulations, Vikki! I hope you enjoy your journey through your autographed copy of Diane Yates‘ latest novel, Love’s Fate! Diane tells a good story so be sure to rate and review the book on Amazon. I want to give a special thanks to Diane for donating this copy of her latest release as August’s gift to you!
Lest my readers assume that here at Midwest Storyteller we give away a super-cute babies along with the monthly First Friday Freebie, this is to be be the ignored as media-hype. Neither Diane Yates nor myself would condone such a thing. The baby came attached to the winner and why would anyone disturb such preciousness just to have one’s photo taken. Thank you Vikki for giving us an “Oooh!” peek at the freebie and an “Awww!” peek at that grandbaby.
Vikki had her name drawn after she commented on the freebie offer as directed in the post. I require that little bit of effort on the part of my readers in order to prevent spam and make sure you’re on your toes and paying attention.
You can comment as directed on my post on the first Friday of the month also. That is all any subscriber needs to do to enter to win. If you’d like to see other past winners and their gifts check it out hereon my Freebies! page.
You can see the original First Friday Freebie offer here.
Disappointed that you didn’t win a copy of Love’s Fate? This latest novel and all Diane’s books can be found at dianeyates.com and at iheartpublishing.com which promotes authors with books that hold to traditional values.
Be sure to subscribe to Diane’s newsletter so you can keep up with all her writings!
Not yet a subscriber to Midwest Storyteller? Hopefully, my freebies, not to mention the stories, recipes and other great content, will entice you to become one – freebies are for email subscribers only.
NOTE: Subscribe with an email you intend to keep and check the week after the drawings. This is my only means of notifying winners. If it isn’t up to date, you may not get your gift!
Computers, tablets, smartphones – they each give this blog a different appearance, but you can easily find the subscription area in the menu under “CONTACT”. Confirm your subscription when the email arrives. If you’ve don’t receive a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
Subscribers get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post that offers the Freebie and you’ll be entered to win.
Freebies help me reach more people. I need you to help me share all the fun with your friends and family. When you share on MeWe, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, you’ll give them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free.
Coming up on September 1st, you’ll see the new Freebie. Enter to win that day. A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight. Then, check your email in the days following.
Smartphone reminders help.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
Subscribers, be ready to enter to win on Friday, September 1st, 2023.
Due to circumstances that shouldn’t have been beyond my control, I’ve had some sort of “can’t get the freebie into the hands of the winner syndrome” this summer. Oh, well, better days ahead.
Let’s meet the July’s winner –
Christine from Boonville, Missouri!
Congratulations, Christine! I hope you make good use of having a pocket-sized U. S. Constitution for yourself and a couple of extras for someone who might need to know what makes the greatest country on earth the greatest country on earth! I always think these make the most meaningful gift I can offer in July as we celebrate the founding of our nation.
Christine had her name drawn after she commented on the freebie offer as directed in the post. I require that little bit of effort on the part of my readers in order to prevent spam and make sure you’re on your toes and paying attention..
You can comment as directed on my post on the first Friday of the month also. That is all any subscriber needs to do to enter to win. If you’d like to see other past winners and their gifts check it out hereon my Freebies! page.
You can see the original First Friday Freebie offer here.
Not yet a subscriber to Midwest Storyteller? Hopefully, my freebies, not to mention the stories, recipes and other great content, will entice you to become one – freebies are for email subscribers only.
NOTE: Subscribe with an email you intend to keep and check the week after the drawings. This is my only means of notifying winners. If it isn’t up to date, you may not get your gift!
Computers, tablets, smartphones – they each give this blog a different appearance, but you can easily find the subscription area in the menu under “CONTACT”. Confirm your subscription when the email arrives. If you’ve don’t receive a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
Subscribers get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post that offers the Freebie and you’ll be entered to win.
Freebies help me reach more people. I need you to help me share all the fun with your friends and family. When you share on MeWe, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, you’ll give them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free.
The next freebie winner you’ll see won a free book – not mine (mine’s not out yet) – and that is an example of how sometimes someone is gracious enough to offer a freebie here on my blog. I love it when people do that!
Coming up on September 1st, you’ll see the new Freebie. Enter to win that day. A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight. Then, check your email in the days following.
Smartphone reminders help.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
Subscribers, be ready to enter to win on Friday, September 1st, 2023.
These are the days of change. This is the time of year that we all look back at the fun of summer or its grueling chores in the hot sun and ahead to crisp days that haven’t quite arrived but tease us with a day here and there of “nice”. Treasure the last days of August.
It’s August. I don’t know where you live, but there might be a good chance that it’s hot in your neighborhood. When it’s hot and steamy like this, what better time than to be thankful for air conditioning (and I hope you have it) and stay inside and read a good romance. Oh, but what shall I read, you ask? Let me do my part to help you decide. If you love a romance, you’ll love this month’s First Friday Freebie.
My dear friend and fellow author, Diane Yates, has a brand new book out and she’s graciously offered an autographed copy for you as a free gift.
Diane Yates writes award-winning inspirational romantic fiction and nonfiction with endearing characters who find courage to overcome obstacles and emerge victorious. Her Fate Series, published by IHeart Publishing, begins with Melissa’s Fate and continues with Impossible Fate. The third book in the series has just released last week. Diane is the author of two biography/memoirs, Pathways of the Heart and All That Matters. She served two terms as President of Ozarks Writers League and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She teaches writing workshops and has spoken at various organizations. She and her husband Rick have served for years in youth and adult ministries. She has three children and eight grandchildren. You can follow her at www.dianeyates.com. Today, she’s offering you her brand new release –
To Deborah, who lost her sister, Aliyah, to a Christian cult, the only thing worse than a Jewish Christian is an Arab Christian. But Amir, banished from his Arab-Israeli family, falls in love with the sad, beautiful Jewish Deborah at first sight. A bond forms between them despite their religious and ethnic differences. After Deborah’s sister left, her parents, Yosef and Esther, have loathed each other, and nothing can ignite feelings of love between them. While David Drake and Aliyah return to her homeland as missionaries, David’s sister, Melissa, tries to reach teenagers with the message of abstinence, but her own marriage threatens to derail her mission. Little do they all know what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has planned for them and the Fate of their love.
To enter to win an autographed copy of Love’s Fate, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “I love a love story!” You’ll need to leave your comment before midnight TONIGHT, August 4th, 2023.
You may remember that Diane has previously offered books here at Midwest Storyteller as First Friday Freebies. Perhaps you were the winner of Pathways of the Heart or the sequel, All That Matters, memoirs about her mother’s life. If you haven’t read those and the earlier books in Diane’s Fate Series, be sure to check those out at www.dianeyates.com
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
If you are new to Midwest Storyteller and haven’t subscribed, you’ll need to do that before entering to win. Head to the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can fill in your email address and then watch for your confirmation email.
My own love story is my Life with Smuffy, so head to that page if you want to find out what life has been like with this man of resource and adventure. You could start with our Smokin’ Hot Honeymoon. The thing I enjoy most is knowing I’ve made you smile, so be sure to visit my Laugh! page to brighten your day and find some fun to share with others. If you save things on Pinterest like I do, hover over the photo and “pin it”. Help me get the word out!
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, August 4th, by leaving a comment which says, “I love a love story!”
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
NOTE TO READERS: This recipe is a family favorite that appeared here on my blog prior to myeating according to the Trim Healthy Mama plan or becoming a THM Certified Lifestyle Coach. I am sharing it here again now that I have THM-ified it. While it tastes fabulous, remember that it is a “Crossover” if brown rice pasta is used and that you will need to adhere to serving sizes on the pasta in order not to consume too many carbs in this meal. The best way to eat your fill is to serve this recipe over THM’s Ancient Wisdom Noodles, Zoodles or any “on-plan” konjac noodles found in stores!
It’s time for another great recipe! This one is one of my inventions, and will appeal to everyone who likes things flavorful. While not hot and spicy, it certainly isn’t bland.
Why Saturday, you ask? No particular reason, except that Saturdays around our house seem to turn into project days, with Smuffy working on his and me working on mine. Smuffy likes to sleep in on Saturdays before launching into some DIY project that makes a lot of noise and is likely to stink up the place. I’m just thankful that only a couple of them have landed him in the emergency room.
It has always amazed me that no matter how late Smuffy sleeps, the “rumbly in his tumbly”, as Winnie the Pooh would say, speaks to him at the same time every day. Though he may have slept till ten and lingered over breakfast, he reappears at noon on the dot, looking weak in the knees and asking what’s for lunch.
I’ve wondered if it isn’t triggered by sound. For years, Smuffy has come home for lunch, Monday through Friday at noon on the dot, to the tune of the neighborhood church bells. They chime various lovely hymns a couple of times a day. Perhaps on Saturday, at the sound of the noon bells, he thinks he’s hungry. Have the bells trained him to eat at noon, no matter what? I think that’s how they do it with rats in a maze, although perhaps not with hymns.
Often, I’ve stood there, wondering what on earth I’m going to fix so that I can get on with my own project. Neither of us wants to go out. Meat is frozen. My mind is blank.
Then came this idea. I threw it together so fast I hardly knew how I did it. Smuffy says it’s hearty, healthy and “restaurant good”. It must be, because he likes variety, yet I can pretty much toss this together on any busy weekend and he’ll happily gobble it up. That’s really saying something, considering it has no meat! Smuffy likes meat – a lot!
You can make this a meal by using it as a side dish alongside your chosen meat or fish as your protein, or you can save a little room in your tummy for a chocolate or chai collagen trimmy afterward. Another option would be to incorporate some cooked chicken breast into the recipe.
Also, it has no dairy! I know some of you have been waiting for recipes like that. With no sugar and the only grain being brown rice pasta if you choose to use it, the healthy eaters can’t go wrong. See my note at the top about pasta vs. other noodle options.
A few notes before we start:
Don’t get hung up about it! I make this with what I have. I’m giving you the perfected version. Make it this way the first time, just so you know what you’ve been missing. Then, you can always try some of the things I’ve experimented with along the way, such as zucchini instead of spinach, etc. We would never make it without the sun-dried tomatoes. We think they really make the dish.
Don’t be a snob. Use fresh mushrooms if you can, but if you’re out, by all means use canned mushrooms.
I did not grow up in a kitchen where everything was the finest and best (although most of it was homegrown), but I’ve learned something. Though I’m frugal, I’ve learned that it’s better to pay for good ingredients and have good food I enjoy. It’s so much easier to say no to junk food when I’ve just created something healthy and delicious. That’s why I’m recommending brands on three ingredients. Jovial Brown Rice Pastas are fabulous! They came highly recommended by America’s Test Kitchen. Through the years, I’ve tried innumerable substitutes for white flour pasta. This one is the hands-down winner. Jovial Pasta People– I love you! Smuffy says he can’t tell the difference between it and “regular” pasta. I’ve bought the spaghetti and the lasagna noodles and they’re both great. Once you try this, you may want to check around for a bulk price. Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil, one of the top two olive oils recommended by America’s Test Kitchen, has become a staple item in my kitchen. Ah – the flavor! In case you haven’t heard, there’s a whole big deal out there concerning olive oils and which companies you can trust. You may not be getting what you think in those beautiful bottles. Colavita is the real deal, and it makes this recipe delicious. I get it at my local supermarket in bottles and also in bulk, where I can get a deal on large tins. The Select olive oil found at Aldi is also nice. Trim Healthy Mama’s Ancient Wisdom Noodles are wonderful in this recipe, although since a lot of folks are also wild about them, they are out of stock at times. I did find another brand of konjac noodles once in Sprouts that also have that bit of oat fiber that makes all the difference in the texture so check there if you can’t get any THM. Other brands of konjac noodles will be “on plan” as well as spiralized zucchini. Somehow, I tend to think the zucchini version of this recipe would be a bit lacking.
Speaking of oils (and we’ll cover this in more detail in a future post), there are three oils in this recipe for a reason. Butter adds flavor, but tends to burn. Coconut oil resists burning and keeps the butter from browning without changing the flavor. I keep both kinds of coconut oil on hand – refined and unrefined (or extra virgin). You’ll want refined for this. Olive oil, though not a trans fat, does (just as most of the other oils do) turn to a trans fat when heated. It should be used to “dress” the dish when finished.
Don’t be lily-livered and leave out the “heat”! There are not enough red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper in this to make it spicy, but we find it necessary to give the recipe that certain what-cha-ma-call-it that has you making yummy-nummy noises while you eat it.
Let’s get cooking. This goes together in the time it takes your water to come to a boil and your pasta to cook. Don’t forget your FREE printable below.
Saturday Pasta
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon refined coconut oil
½ large onion, (slice thin, then quarter the slices)
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, snipped into small pieces with scissors) I use the ones in the bag and reconstitute them in warm water for a bit while I work on the rest of the recipe.
1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms or, preferably, fresh mushrooms
In a large skillet, heat butter and coconut oil over medium heat. Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil if you are using the brown rice pasta. If using Ancient Wisdom Noodles, rinse and drain them into a colander and they’ll be ready to toss in when you need them.
Add onions to the skillet and stir.
In a small custard cup, pour a little water (approximately 3 Tablespoons)over the sun-dried tomatoes. Microwave them on on high for one minute or heat them in a small pan on the stove to reconstitute them. Set aside.
Add mushrooms and olives to the skillet. Stir. Lower heat so that onions do not begin to caramelize.
When water reaches a full boil, add pasta and ½ teaspoon mineral salt. Cook according to package instructions until al dente.
Meanwhile, pour one to two tablespoons olive oil into a large pasta bowl. Add red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Stir. Set aside.
Add spinach to the skillet. (This will fill the skillet.) Cook and stir until spinach wilts and mixes with the other ingredients. Add sun-dried tomatoes (with liquid) to the mixture.
If you used pasta, drain it and add it to the pasta bowl. Toss to coat with the flavored oil. Add the skillet mixture, scraping the skillet clean with a spatula.
If you use Ancient Wisdom noodles, stir them in to the skillet mixture and heat, allowing them too cook a little and take on all the flavors.
Toss all the ingredients together, then dress with olive oil. Season to taste with additional sea salt and more olive oil, if desired.
Serves – well, that depends! If preparing a Crossover, the six ounces of pasta would be three servings in order to keep within reasonable carb limits. If using the Ancient Wisdom Noodles, you’ll have an “S” meal and you can eat your fill and decide if you want to count a package as a single serving or share. If you’re making this to share with others who are trimming down, use two packages of noodles and go a little heavy on the other ingredients for a bigger batch.
Don’t forget your FREE printable recipes! Just click on the arrow below.
SUBSCRIBE in the right side bar if your on your computer or on the CONTACT ME page if you’re on a phone or tablet so you won’t miss more delicious recipes.
What a hectic summer! It’s been that way for all of us. So much so that getting First Friday Freebies to their winners became delayed due to their vacations and other events.
Here they are at last, so let’s meet the May and June winners –
Ginger from Prairie Home, Missouri and Vikki from Boonville, Missouri won the months’ free gifts respectively.
Congratulations, Ginger! From the photo, it looks like you’re enjoying the earrings.
Congratulations, Vikki! I hope you are enjoying the bumblebee kitchen helpers and managed to keep them from being snatched by a certain family member you’d suspected might take a fancy to them. This sort of thing does happen once in a while. Just remind that person that subscribing and entering to win is a more honest way to go about getting a First Friday Freebie.
Ginger and Vikki had their names drawn after they commented on the freebie posts as directed in the posts. I do have to make it just a little tricky each month in order to prevent spam and make sure you’re on your toes and paying attention..
You can comment as directed on my post on the first Friday of the month also. That is all any subscriber needs to do to enter to win. If you’d like to see other past winners and their gifts check it out hereon my Freebies! page.
You can see the original First Friday Freebie offers for the ones Ginger and Vikki won here and here..
Not yet a subscriber to Midwest Storyteller? Hopefully, my freebies, not to mention the stories, recipes and other great content, will entice you to become one – freebies are for email subscribers only.
NOTE: Subscribe with an email you intend to keep and check the week after the drawings. This is my only means of notifying winners. If it isn’t up to date, you may not get your gift!
Computers, tablets, smartphones – they each give this blog a different appearance, but you can easily find the subscription area in the menu under “CONTACT”. Confirm your subscription when the email arrives. If you’ve don’t receive a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
Subscribers get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post that offers the Freebie and you’ll be entered to win.
Freebies help me reach more people. I need you to help me share all the fun with your friends and family. When you share on MeWe, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, you’ll give them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free.
Just a shameless plug here. When my soon to be released novel comes out (the first in a three part series), it won’t be free. Well…perhaps one special copy might just pop up as a First Friday Freebie? We’ll see!
Coming up on August 4th, you’ll see the new Freebie. Enter to win that day. A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight. Then, check your email in the days following.
Smartphone reminders help.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
Subscribers, be ready to enter to win on Friday, August 4th, 2023.
Enjoy the rest of summer. We complain about the heat, but as my sweet mother always said, we’ll be wishin’ we had it back one of these days!
Now, didn’t that “Help”? Let’s push on with better grammar…
I fully disclose that as a Certified Lifestyle CoachI do, at times, receive monetary compensation as such. See The Fine Print on the “About Me” page of this blog.
I first shared these thoughts a few years ago, but I’ve decided it’s time to revisit this bit of common sense and encouragement.
I first thought to name this page of my blog “Stayin’ Alive!” Love those Bee Gees! Besides, if one doesn’t accomplish at least this much in regards to one’s health, all other attempts are pretty much useless, if you get my drift.
I soon ditched that idea. There’s more to life than stayin’ alive! What’s the point of being here if your quality of life stinks? I decided on “Thrive!”
I got serious about my health during pregnancy. Up until that point, I’d stuck strictly to the See Food Diet. If I saw it, I ate it. Tall and slim, it never seemed to affect me. My dad once told me, as he watched me eat, that someday I’d stop growing up and start growing out and then be sorry about my appetite! I ate three square meals a day – big ones! No one had better leave a box of doughnuts anywhere near me.
But now, I knew that whatever I fed myself, I also fed the baby. Yikes! I spent a lot of time at the library. The baby came (all eight pounds and three ounces of her) along with an epiphany. I needed to keep her healthy till adulthood. And, (DUH!) why feed my child one way and myself another? The adult population seemed to be made up of a bunch of sick people, anyway.
I recently read of an umbilical cord study which showed that a couple of hundred toxins were detected in the cords and the samples were not taken from moms who were addicted to drugs or alcohol or had experienced anything most people would consider hazardous. They were only moms who used foods, shampoos and body products that most in our society walk into stores and buy without batting an eyelash.
Take a look at this photo. Note your first impression.
That’s the image that came to me. We can’t run on bad fuel! Yet, we live in a country where no one seems to grasp the concept. Or, if they do, they don’t care!
Can you imagine? Your friend Gwendolyn tells you that she hates the smell of gasoline, dislikes waiting in line at the service station and once even dribbled gasoline into her brand new shoes. She’s switching. From now on, she’ll run her car on lemonade. She likes lemonade. Tastes better, smells better and isn’t quite so icky between the toes.
You stifle a snort of laughter and get down to business. Somebody’s gotta talk Gwennie out of this madness. Doesn’t she know she’ll ruin a valuable machine with a crazy notion like that?
Gwendolyn won’t listen. Her plan is good for her, she insists. She leaves. You call several friends. After howling with laughter over Gwendolyn’s stupidity, some compassionate soul in the group says, “Listen! Don’t you think we ought to call her mother or somebody? I mean, somebody’s gotta stop her!”
I gave myself a “talkin’ to”. It went something like this: “You are kind to yourself. You are smart enough to learn. You are important to your family and you need to be the best you can be.”
Poor Smuffy went kicking and screaming all the way, suffering through strange herbs drying on the kitchen counter, whole wheat everything and tinctures galore. He told me once that the thing that kept him healthy was positive confession. Each time he’d cough or sniffle, I’d come running with some form of what he termed “stump water” and he’d call out, “I’m okay. I’m OKAY!”
Despite my efforts, I got that call from the doctor nobody wants – a cancer diagnosis. I’d studied various aspects of health, but hadn’t paid much attention to what may open the doors to cancer. I had no family history and besides, I ate good stuff! With my terrific appetite, I ate the good stuff and had room left over for some of the bad stuff.
People told me I was too young for cancer. I asked myself, “How old is old enough?” The answer, I concluded, was NEVER! After surgery, I endured chemo and radiation as “insurance”, more or less, according to the doctors. I’m sure there will be a future blog post on that nasty little interlude.
People like me are called “survivors”. I rejected that term from the beginning. It left me with an image of someone emerging from a jungle – burned, bitten, half-naked and hunted – running for a lifeboat that may or may not spring a leak. By the grace of God, I’m a WINNER! I am kind to myself. I am smart enough to learn. I am important to God and my family! I’m going to thrive!
I’ve learned much over the years, and it has turned my health around. In blog posts here on my Food Freedom page, you’ll be receiving a lot of great health information to chew on so that you can make your own decisions and take charge of your health. I am not your doctor and don’t pretend to be, but only hope to share helpful information. You’re smart enough to do your own research. You may see a few posts with some foods that contain ingredients that I’ve eliminated from my diet as I’ve grown wiser and learned what the real “frankenfoods” are. I’ll be editing those to help you out as much as I can.
So…about your reaction to the photo. Did you want to scream, “Stop, you idiot!”? Yet, we, almost never stop friends when it comes to food. Cars can be replaced. You only get one body. Why treat the finest, most intricately-designed, valuable piece of machinery ever invented – the human body – as though it were disposable?
Since the purpose of Midwest Storyteller is to take you to a better place, I want to share what I did as a first step. I gave up soda. Why pollute my body with a non-food item? A sugary soda has as many calories as a full meal. (Sorry, but I’d rather have food.) Artificially sweetened, it’s dangerous stuff, and I want to thrive! It’s been decades since I’ve had a soda. I don’t miss it. I do enjoy, however, Stayin’ Alive!
Americans have a big problem. Take a look at this aisle in my local grocery store.
That’s an entire aisle! All soda! They don’t devote this much space to bread, meat, cheese, etc. Yes, America has a problem, but you don’t have to. We can’t fuel up on junk because we feel like it or because, like Mount Everest, it’s there. We are as capable of making the right choices with our bodies as we are with our cars.
Okay, enough tough love. I believe in you. You are kind to yourself. You are smart enough to listen to the “real you”. You are important to God and your family.
You are also strong! Here’s the challenge: Choose one thing – just one – and take that step. Stick with it for thirty days. Whether it is to give up soda, lay off the sugar, exercise for 20-30 minutes three times a week or get more sleep, you can do it! (That last one is a personal struggle of mine if you came here for true confessions.)
Since I first shared this idea with you, I’ve been introduced to the common sense, sustainable world of Trim Healthy Mama. After a couple of years reveling in not having to exclude any food groups (except for “frankenfood”), enjoying hearty fat-based meals, satisfying my muscles and hormones with carb-based meals and learning how to make yummy desserts while kicking sugar to the curb, I became a Certified Lifestyle Coach. Ooh, did I mention that I lost that last annoying ten pounds I thought I’d never lose without constantly listening to my tummy growl? The Trim Healthy lifestyle is something you can definitely do all on your own and I’d recommend that you start with the book, The Trim Healthy Mama Plan and begin your journey. It’s written so anyone can understand the science of “why” and without that, we all lose motivation.
If you do decide you’re better off not going it alone, contact me. I’m happy to coach you privately in person or by phone and if you’re within driving distance at our local weekly group sessions.
Comment, letting me know you’ve chosen one way to live a better life. Or, share something you’ve already done that might encourage others. In thirty days, comment again, letting me know that you’re not only Stayin’ Alive, but determined to Thrive!
SUBSCRIBE, because it won’t be long before I throw myself a little online party, celebrating the twenty-four years that stretch between me and that cancer diagnosis.
