Passionate Housewives Desperate for God

As a young first time mother, I was already 32 years old! I worked as a career woman until my young daughter was about 14 months old. It took me over a year to realize I couldn't do it all and I didn't want to anyway. I was a young believer who longed to be home with my baby, but finances, I thought, would not permit.

One sleepless night as I agonized and wrestled with God about wanting to be a stay-at-home mom, I asked the Lord, "What spirit is compelling me to quit my job?" The gentle and quiet answer I heard said, "The spirit of peace and of rest." After prayer, I concluded this was the Lord speaking to me, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't rely on your own insight."

You see, financially it was not feasible to make ends meet on paper, but after I took the leap of faith to quit my job we were able to some how make ends meet. It wasn't easy, but God was faithful.

Have you struggled to reconcile God's vision of virtuous womanhood with worldly myths that marginalize, mock and minimize the role of the homemaker? Twenty-two years later I sometimes feel like Elijah, the only one left with a heart for home.

Cultural messages often demean the high calling of homemaking and shout the message that a wife, woman, and mother has little worth compared to the successful career woman who out earns even her husband.

Modern media, culture, and the feminist agenda all lie to woman saying that you can have it all. Twenty some years ago I discovered that I had bought into this lie as I tried in vain to "do it all". Fortunately God gently delivered me from the bondage of the lie I had bought into and has since helped myself and my family with the mission to exalt, encourage and uphold traditional homemaking.

At last, in a delightfully fresh and honest way, a book addressing these issues head-on by talented, articulate authors Stacy and Jennie to prepare a book which provides a fresh vision for the hopeful homemaker. In Passionate Housewives, a former "Christian" feminist shares how she went from a die-hard homemaker-in-training to a dedicated career woman and then back again - after God gripped her heart. You will see the hollow counterfeit of whitewashed feminism and "me-ology" destroyed. But more importantly you will read a beautiful and captivating picture painted through Scripture of what the truly fulfilled homemaker who glories in the hopeful calling God has created for her.

This book will encourage and affirm all women who may struggle with their role of homemaking and mother, it is must-have reading for aspiring homemakers as well. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Discover what it means to be a passionate housewife "desperate" for God alone!

Download the preface to the book here.

Since you have visited my blog, please post why you would like to win a free copy of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, and link your blog into my blog, you will then be entered into the contest to win one of five copies of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God to be given away Saturday Nov 3.

To be eligible, you must be sure to leave an email contact so I can award the prizes!

News from a Southern California Fire Survivor

I just received the following email from a friend whose home was spared from the fires in southern California.  Let's not forget to pray for those who have lost everything.

Dear Marilyn,

I just wanted you to know that we have returned to our home after being evacuated Monday morning.  God is good and spared our home.
            We had a brief warning that we would be evacuated, so I started packing immediately.  I grabbed our adoption papers, our legal documents, my mill, my Bosch, a giant bucket of hard red wheat, my yeast, some vital gluten, and then I started thinking about clothes.  J

        It turns out it was good that I brought my bread supplies, as we were able to bake bread for the family who took us in and they loved the bread so much that they may start milling as well!  They'll be checking out your website soon, I'm sure.

            Please continue to pray for the families who have lost everything out here in Southern Cal.  It's devastating to say the least.  I've never felt more helpless in my life, but prayer and making bread helped more than you'll ever know.

        Praying kept me focused on Him, while making bread gave me the opportunity to bless those who took us in.  I always pray as I make the bread-from the time I start pouring wheat into the hopper until it comes out of the oven, I pray that the bread will be a blessing to those who eat it and that it will honor God in the process.

Reese Johnson

Take time today to count your blessings and  keep on praying.  Marilyn Moll

Menu Planning with Special Dietary Needs

Awhile ago, I told you about a great Menu Planning Service that is a Quick
and Easy Way To Get Dinner On The Table and Enjoy More Quality Time With
Your Family... I told you about the free report that you can pick up where you'll find
out the details, Plus:

--> Why not planning your meals ahead of time can cost you hundreds of
dollars and precious hours not spent with family and friends.

--> How a regular family dinner can result in a more loving relationship
with your kids, less trouble at home and even a reduced risk of school
dropout and teen pregnancy.


Click Here and you can still pick up your free report.


But, the owner of Menu Planning Central just made her service even better.
After you sign up for the free report, you'll get a chance to learn more
about what she offers. She now has a system where you can eliminate the
foods that your family is allergic to or doesn't necessarily like.

--> Dad doesn't like onions? No problem!--> Need meat-free meals for Lent? Easy to handle.
--> Allergic to dairy? Don't worry a bit.

Pick up your free report and find out more about how Menu Planning Just Got Even Easier.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

"I love baking and bread is a favorite. I happened upon your recipe one day and have been hooked ever since. It is fabulous! There is no other bread that can even come close. Wow! My kids are in heaven every time I make it. As well as being delicious, it is the easiest yeast bread that I have ever made!

My mother-in-law told me that it was the best bread she had ever tasted. My Dad tells everyone that I make the best bread in the world. I am thrilled that it is healthy: whole grain and no powdered or evaporated milk. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe." Lisa Reeves

Lisa's Favorite recipe is Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread

If you have never tried my recipe before, and you try baking it this week and send me a comment of how your family enjoyed this bread recipe, I will send you a complimentary copy of my new ebook A Beginner's Guide to Baking Bread.

This offer expires October 29, 2007. Email your comments to marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com.

Beat Boredom with Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  You see, I am a morning person, and I love the ease of preparing breakfast.  By dinner time, I'm spent, not ready to start another meal preparation if I don't have to.

I recently received a phone inquiry asking,  “What can I serve for breakfast besides eggs and cereal?” That question was just the impetus I needed to explain the nutritional benefits of kicking the breakfast cereal habit, for good and assembling a breakfast recipe assortment of tried and true, quick and easy recipes .

Here are a few suggestions for breaking up the monotony of having the same thing every day and making it healthy too!
Breakfast Burritos
Smoothies
French Toast Casserole
German Puff Pancake
Zesty Baked Eggs
Here is my favorite Breakfast burrito filling.  Make it ahead, and just warm it up in the morning.

Breakfast Burritos
I make this in bulk and freeze the filling in meal sized portions.

1 medium potato - cooked (leftover baked potato works easily)
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
1 small onon, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
dash cayenne
2-4 eggs, beaten
6 flour tortilla’s
1 cup Montery Jack  or Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Optional Garnishes:
Salsa
Sour Cream
Chopped cilantro

Cube the potato when cooled enough.  Brown sausage in large fry pan with chopped onion.  When meat is browned and onion wilted, add chili powder and cayenne.  Cook 10 minutes over low heat, and covered stirring often to soften the onion.  Drain the fat.  Add potato.  Add beaten eggs,  Stir until eggs are set.  Spoon 1/3 cup portions or so into a warm tortilla, top with 1 1/2 TB shredded cheese, a teaspoon of salsa and sour c ream if desired and roll-up.  Serve with fruit or juice.

A Food Foundation for Healthy Families

Last week my 14 year-old daughter, Mary, and I did some market research for boxed cereals. Our project entailed checking price per serving and reading the ingredients lists.

Surprisingly, the Instant Oatmeal package that claimed to be heart healthy and caught the eye of my daughter, had the longest list of unrecognizeable ingredients. It seems our modern convenience foods are often pricey, and not as healthy as the box and labeling imply. Wise moms must learn to be nutritionists.

In the 1930's a doctor by the name of Weston A. Price traveled the world to study the effects of the "modern" diet on dental health compared to more traditional diets. In doing so he found that modern diets played havoc with teeth. But he also found many more benefits to traditional diets other than healthy teeth. The differences between people who had eaten their ancestral diet from birth and people who had feasted on sugar, white flour products, and soft drinks were mind-boggling.

Dr. Price found that the traditional wholesome diets produced wide faces with jaws wide enough to accommodate all the teeth with proper spacing, few or no cavities, and wide heads to house their brains. They had happy demeanors and vibrant health. The more "civilized" diet contributed to narrow jaws with crowded teeth, cavities, and narrow foreheads.

Disease set in at early ages, and mental dysfunction was common. Dr Price wrote his research findings with hundreds of pictures in a classic 500 page book called Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
Dr Price’s book is highly readable and designed to preserve Dr. Price's worldwide investigation of the deleterious effects of processed foods and synthetic farming methods on human health, and the promise of regeneration through sound nutrition.

This bestseller contains guidelines for approaching optimum health and reproduction, now and through future generations. Dr. Price has been widely accepted as one of the foremost authorities in the development of degenerative illnesses as a result of the addition of processed foods to our diet. According to Dr. Price’s research there are common factors found in traditional diets.

Traditional diets include:
Nutrient-rich proteins from meats and organ meats from pastured animals
Raw dairy products from pastured animals.
Eggs from pastured hens
Traditional fats - butter, olive oil, lard, coconut oil
Chemical-free produce - fruits, vegetables and grains
Properly prepared grains, legumes, nuts and seeds
Bone broths
Lacto-fermented condiments and beverages
If all this information about traditional diets and sound health intrigues you, I hope you will join our seminar on Thursday.

Jen Albritton, CN, a very busy mom who has been researching, writing, and presenting on all topics of nutrition since 1996, is author of the Growing Wise Kids series for the Weston A. Price Foundation quarterly journal, and most importantly has a passion to teach moms the best way to feed their children and families, starting with the basics.

She has also agreed to be my guest this Thursday afternoon for a naptime Continuing Education For Moms Seminar at 3 pm EDT, and she will help us sort out the why’s and how’s of traditional diets. Jen will be explaining more about how to lay a foundation of health for your family economically. She will be available to answer questions, or you may email me at marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com ahead of time.

JOIN OUR FREE MINI-MOMMY Seminar:

Date: Thursday, October 25, 2007

Scheduled Start Time: 3:00 PM EDT, 2:00 CDT, 1:00 PM MDT, 12:00 PDT (Adjust for your time zone, please.

Dial-in Number: 1-605-475-4150

Participant Access Code: 754074

If you have never participated in a phone seminar before, here is how it works:

1. You dial in the phone number below to the seminar. (You pay only for the phone call.)
2. Key in the seminar access code.
3. Introduce yourself, it you wish.
4. Bring a notebook to take notes, a cup of tea, and have your questions ready.
5. Don't worry about background noise, we will mute that out!

If you would like to listen to the seminar with Jen but the timing of the seminar does not fit into your schedule you may listen to an MP3 recording of this seminar by CLICKING HERE. The recording should be available by Monday October, 29, 2007.

Grain Mill Comparisons

Blustery, cold Fall weather has arrived in Colorado.  For my family and I, there is nothing better than hot, nutty, fragrant whole grain bread fresh from the oven.  After making most of our family’s bread for over 20 years, I never tire of the smell or the taste.

Although a grain mill is NOT a pre-requisite for mastering bread baking,, one of the questions I am most often asked is, “Which grain mill is the best mill?”  With Christmas fast approaching, I know many of you are gathering comparative information to make the best grain mill choice for your family.

Grain Mill Comparisons: 

Micronizing Grain Mills
Micronizing mills are exclusively powered by electricity and utilize technology that originally was developed for the pharmaceutical industry to derive fine, uniform powders.  Modified for milling grains, micronizers are fast and capable of  milling grains into very fine, powdery flour at low temperatures.    My personal preference and baking experience has been exclusively with micronizing grain mills.





KITCHEN MILL Advantages - Large flour catch pan - holds 21-23 cups flour, strong reliability record, stores very compactly (if storage space is at a premium at your house you will appreciate this), produces high quality fine flour, mills all grains and dry beans, lifetime warranty on milling system/5 yr. warranty on the motor, mfg. in the USA.  This grain mill was my first mill and my husband's favorite.
Disadvantages: Smaller grain hopper, noisier than certain other mills.










NUTRIMILL- Advantages - Large flour canister - holds 21 cups of flour, life-time warranty, large grain hopper, slightly quieter than K-tec but has the same milling system, slide out drawer contains flour mills most grains and dry beans.
Disadvantages: higher price, takes a large amount of storage space, mfg. in Korea.







Wondermill - Advantages - Formerly known as the Whisper Mill, slightly quieter than The Kitchen Mill, large hopper capacity, six year warranty, high quality flour, grain feeds well into milling mechanism, produces flour quickly. My personal favorite grain mill. New models have a larger, more reliable motor.  This grain mill is my personal preference.
Disadvantages - Smaller capacity flour canister (12 cup), does not crack grain, must turn on mill before adding grain so the mill will not jam.




Steel-Cone Burr Mill
This type of grain mill also can be operated by both hand or electric power and offers the ability to adjust the fineness of the flour from fine to cracked.  Generally, the steel-cone burr will produce flour at a slower speed, but the electric version is also relatively quiet to run.  Steel cone burr mills can make fine flours suitable for breads, muffins, pastries, etc, but the flour may not be as fine as stone or micronizing mills.  These grain mills can also mill most whole grains and beans, but larger grains such as corn and beans will need to be cracked first, and then run through again on a fine setting if you want flour.

FAMILY GRAIN MILL - Advantages - versatile; available with handbase and other food processing attachments, adjustable fine to course mechanism so mill will crack grain, can be used with Bosch Universal with an adaptor or with K-Tec Kitchenetics without an adaptor, German made, quietest mill we sell, takes minimal storage space, very economical.
Disadvantage - flour may not be quite as fine as Nutrimill, Wondermill or Kitchen Mill, slower production of flour than high speed mills.

The above information is excerpted from A Beginner's Guide to Baking Bread by Marilyn Moll.

Click Here to purchase this ebook for $9.95.
This ebook Includes:

* How to Select Ingredients
* Selecting a Grain Mill
* Selecting A Mixer
* Step-by-Step Mixing Instructions
* How to Develop the Gluten
* Tips for the Best Bread
* Lots of Bread and Roll Recipes
* Troubleshooting Guide
* The Two-Stage Process
Item #6059    $9.95

Applesauce Making Marathon

The weather has turned a bit like Fall. Blustery, windy, and colorful leaves blowing around the yard. Most of the leaves on the walnut tree dropped in a couple days and are awaiting being racked up. That means it must be a good time to get busy in the kitchen preserving the harvest and preparing for the winter ahead.



My older daughter came home from college this week-end just so we could do an applesauce making marathon. We loaded up the stock pots and the Nutri-Steamer with chopped apples, steamed them until they were soft, ran them through the food mill, added a bit of sugar and cinnamon and into the canner they go!

Sounds easy, but it is a bit of work! We have 14 quarts and 8 pints for a half day's work. The smells are heavenly, the memories priceless and the work is worth it. Here is Laura with my younger daughter Mary.

CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR BUSY MOMS

Several years ago, a listener wrote to say she considered a phone seminar "continuing education for moms!”   Whatever age or season of life you are in, we are never too old for continuing education, are we?

Hence we began to see the need to record our phone seminars as many of you either can’t join us on Thursday nights, or just enjoy listening to a seminar on your Ipod or computer at a time more convenient for you.

Here is what a listener wrote after listening to Sue Gregg talk last year:

“I joined the Sue Gregg Seminar last night for the first time ever.  I really enjoyed it!!  Thank-You so much for helping all of us to learn to eat healthier.”  J. Spangler

After Reb Bradley talked about Child Training Tips last year, another listener wrote:

“Thank you so much!  Mr. Bradley is so interesting and insightful; I was blessed by his wisdom. I look forward to more of these phone seminars.” Tracy S.

One of my favorite listener comments:

“It is always so nice to sit down at the end of a busy day with a cup of hot tea  and indulge myself with a free seminar. It's like a mini-vacation and conference all in one! Thanks so much for ministering to us moms that are trying to, in turn, minister to our families."

At last, we have now compiled twelve of our most popular phone seminars into one album called Continuing Education for Moms - Volume 1 for one low price. This is your opportunity to listen an learn from all those live seminars!

If you have been too busy to call and listen to our Phone Seminars on Thursday nights and would enjoy Godly encouragement at a time that is convenient for you, we have prepared this Phone Seminar Collection compilation with you in mind!

This album of Phone Seminars includes the original recording of the following seminars.

1. Encouragement For Moms with Lorrie Flem, June 4, 2007.
2. Health Begins in the Kitchen with Marilyn Moll, May 3, 2007.
3. The Two-Stage Process with Sue Gregg, October 2006.
4. Healthy Water with Diane Carson, April 2007.
5. Cook Your Way to Wellness with Maria Atwood, February, 2007.
6. Future Christian Homemakers with Laurie Latour, March 2006.
7. 12 Week Holiday Planner with Sheri Graham and Ann Voskamp, October 2006.
8. Cleaning Without Chemicals with Sandy Tuin March 3, 2007.
9. Child Training Tips with Reb Bradley, September 2006
10. Canning Seminar with Lisa Vitello, July 2007.
11. The Hope Chest Society with Ruth Sundeen and Rebekah Wilson, January 2007.
12. Kick the Cold Cereal Habit, and Making Bread by Hand- February 2007.

Over 12 hours of listening and learning pleasure and encouragement.  Available either as a download or on MP3-CD.  Normally each individual phone seminar recording costs $5.00.

But this compilation of  Continuing Education for Moms CD- Volume 1 - a $60 value, is available for substantial savings for a limited time.

Click Here for a Downloadable Collection for $15.97

Click Here for a MP3 CD recording for $19.95.

Homemaking Helps for Busy Moms

The Urban Homemaker -64 page Magazine/Catalog filled with hundreds of resources, recipes, homemaking tips, and encouragement for busy moms has just been published.  One reader wrote:

"I received the new catalog today and I really like the new format.
You, and your business, are such a blessing to me and my family.
Thank you for your commitment to providing great products and wonderful advice."  Mrs. Lynne Kerr

CLICK HERE to see a copy of our  completely new and re-designed 64-page catalog of Resources for Homemakers to Encourage and Strengthen Families!

The downloadable catalog is complimentary.

If you are a new subscriber and purchase our paper catalog for $3.47, you will get:

1.   A coupon for $5.00 off a purchase plus
2.   A complimentary copy of my ebook entitled Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms.
In all this is a $15.00 value.

Attitude is Everything, right?

I have heard it said, “Attitude is everything.” I have not understood that phrase very well over the years, although God has faithfully taken me through some difficult wilderness experiences where my attitude was anything but edifying.

In fact, several months ago, Lorrie Flem, Publisher of TEACH magazine was my phone seminar guest and was talking about 13 Easy Things to Make Your Day More Productive and the subject of Child Training Sessions and Attitude adjustments came up but we simply did not have time to develop this important area.

Lorrie teased us a bit by explaining about how at her house , the training session isn’t considered successful or completed until “sparkly eyes” reflecting, a repentant and transformed heart, are evident.

She says, "Training our children's attitude is how we teach our children to learn to obey God, cheerfully and then we will be happy." So this Thursday night we are returning to this important topic of “attitude” and pleasing God.

We will be talking about how she first became interested in this topic of attitudes and why attitudes matter so much. If you know Lorrie, she is an expert in practical topics and will be giving us examples from the Bible where attitudes worked for good and for evil.

Most importantly, we will brainstorm practical ways to get out of bad attitudes and of course take time for audience questions. If you would like to ask Lorrie a question, please email your questions to marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com.

Phone Seminar Contact Information:

Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007

Scheduled Start Time: 9:00 PM EDT, 8:00 CDT, 7:00 PM MDT, 6:00 PDT (Adjust for your time zone, please.

Dial-in Number: 1-712-432-2455

Participant Access Code: 754074

If you have never participated in a phone seminar before, here is how it works:

1. You dial in the phone number below to the seminar. (You pay only for the phone call.)
2. Key in the seminar access code.
3. Introduce yourself, it you wish.
4. Bring a notebook to take notes, a cup of tea, and have your questions ready.
5. Don't worry about background noise, we will mute that out!

Think of the phone seminars as "continuing education" for moms!

NOTE:
If you visit my Blog between now and Thursday and leave a comment, you will have a chance to win a free copy of more than 12 hours of listening with our downloadable Continuing Education for Moms Collection. This is a $60.00 value!

If you post a comment stating what you have enjoyed about the phone seminars or suggestions for future phone seminars you will get two entries into the contest.

I will be giving away 10 copies of Continuing Education for Moms - Volume 1!

Pesto Lasagna-Great way to use tomatoes and basil

If your garden is producing more tomatoes than you can handle, here is a flavor packed way to use them up that my whole family loved. PESTO LASAGNA
Although this is a vegetarian dish, you could easily add some ground meat or sausage to the ricotta cheese mixture. Here is the recipe link.
articles.urbanhomemaker.com/index.php?article=413

Too busy to cook?

A few weeks ago my oldest daughter was scanning the help-wanted classified ads and found a listing for a Personal Chef. She responded to the listed phone number and was among several finalists interviewed for the job. To her credit, she did not claim to be a professional chef, just a girl who can enjoys cooking and has mastered some basics.

Yes, she got the job. It turns out Grandma did the screening/hiring process for busy daughter, mother of twins. After meeting the family and a tour of the kitchen, mom had trouble locating her cookware and other kitchen items. You see, this family has been eating out seven days a week for years.

So far, they love Laura's menus and cooking. The first week she relied on my Week One menu from Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms Book. I was afraid she wouldn't be cooking gourmet enough for them.

Would you believe it, today's Business section of our local paper featured an article on the growing profession of Personal Chef's who can earn a good living! I am so glad I taught her to cook, but never dreamed she could make money doing it!

Do you know anyone using a Personal Chef?

Marilyn Moll
The Heart of Homemaking

What a Mom Says in 24 Hrs condensed to 3 minutes

This video done to the tune of the William Tell Overture is a must listen to if you need a laugh!
Click Here to listen to the William Tell Mom Sayings

Love it!

Marilyn Moll
urbanhomemaker.com

Skunk in the Garage

Last night, after dark, my daughter and I got ready to take a walk up the road. Fortunately we leashed up our huge dog inside. As we headed out the door through the garage, Sadie (an 85 pound lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback) pulled hard on the leash towards the back of the garage instead of out the driveway like she usually does.

Well t hat immediately alerted me to trouble and as I looked up, I saw a small black animal move across the back wall of the garage.

My quick instincts said, "that's a skunk!", and fortunately, before Sadie caused the skunk to do what skunks do, we were back in the house safely. That is no easy feat with a strong and powerful dog like Sadie.

When we came home, my daughter Mary accidentally let her into the garage and again saw the skunk and I thought we would definitely have a smelly encounter in the garage between dog and skunk.

God was on our side! We opened the garage door and called Sadie through another door and all was well.

That put me onto the internet searching for natural skunk deterrents. What we settled on was leaving the door open, the light on, and leaving a radio playing loudly, all night. It worked!

Ohhhh.... such is life for a city girl in the country! Can you relate?

Marilyn

Free Child Training Seminar with Pam Forster of Doorposts Tonight

October 4, 2007

I want to invite you to a Child Training and Character Building Seminar with Pam Forster of Doorposts, tonight! It's free.

Pam and her family started Doorposts 1990, with the If-Then and Blessing Charts. They were originally designed for their own family’s use, but friends kept telling them that they needed to share them with others!

Pam and I will be talking about the importance of establishing a scriptural foundation for developing the character in your children, and explaining how to use many of the tools she has created.

We also will be taking time to answer your questions about character development and child training. You can email your questions to me ahead of time at marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com.

I hope you will join us for an evening of encouragement, information, and insight this Thursday Night.

The contact information is below.

===============================================================
For Instructions in Righteousness By Pam Forster Combo Offer
===============================================================

Purchase For Instructions and Righteousness, The If-Then Chart and Blessing Chart and receive a Complimentary copy of Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms Spiral Bound Cookbook, a $12.95 value!

Hurry, this is a limited time offer and will expire Tuesday, October 9, 2007. Both books and charts make great gifts!

Phone Seminar Contact Information:

Date: Thursday, October 4, 2007

Scheduled Start Time: 9:00 PM EDT, 8:00 CDT, 7:00 PM MDT, 6:00 PDT (Adjust for your time zone, please.

Dial-in Number: 1-605-475-4150

Participant Access Code: 754074

If you have never participated in a phone seminar before, here is how it works:

1. You dial in the phone number below to the seminar. (You pay only for the phone call.)
2. Key in the seminar access code.
3. Introduce yourself, it you wish.
4. Bring a notebook to take notes, a cup of tea, and have your questions ready.
5. Don't worry about background noise, we will mute that out!

Think of the phone seminars as "continuing education" for moms! Here is what one listener wrote:

It is always so nice to sit down at the end of a busy day with a cup of hot tea and indulge myself with a free seminar. It's like a mini-vacation and conference all in one! Thanks so much for ministering to us moms that are trying to, in turn, minister to our families.

Fondly,

Marilyn Moll
The Urban Homemaker

Convection vs Microwave Oven, what do you prefer?

October 4, 2007

On a discussion list I follow, many posters have been saying they have replaced
their microwaves with small toaster ovens that also have a convection feature.
The people sound quite delighted.

I had a gas/convection combo oven at one house and didn't really find it advantageous for baking bread.

However, I received this email today from someone inquiring about convection ovens:
"I am looking at ways to be able to have good home cooked
meals. During the spring (our busiest season) we will be working 12-14 hour days and we live 15-20 minutes from our business.

My family enjoys 'some' crockpot meals. I have been looking at the roaster ovens for making casseroles and then cooking them at the greenhouse while we are there to have them ready. I was wondering about the convection ovens (I found one on sale)."
What has been your experience with convection ovens and what would you suggest?

Marilyn

What is happenning with wheat prices?

Last week, I noticed the bread I occasionally buy when I run out of my yummy homemade, had gone up 50 cents a loaf, a whopping 25% increase on bread since August! In my most recent newsletter, I wrote about how my wheat supplier had had to raise prices about 25% recently.

Yesterday, another grain supplier wrote to us saying:
"Wheat prices are very unstable and are climbing daily. We have no choice but to raise our prices. This also affects the price of flour-which in a few weeks will affect the price of our baking mixes. It's is a merry-go-round. "
If ever there was a good time to start baking your own bread, now is the time. The cost of the grain is only a small portion of the cost of bread and baked goods purchased in the store.

Commercial bread and baked items include the cost of the plastic disposable packaging, the bakery’s overhead for producing the bread, the transportation costs to ship the bread from the bakery to the store, the bakery manager's salary, and other costs of purchasing ready-made breads.

If you are able to save just $10.00 a week on commercial breads and baked goods by making them yourself, you will have a $520.00 nest egg, more than enough to justify an investment in a grain mill.

How are you handling these large price increases on bread and cereal products?

Prize winning KEY LIME PIE Recipe

I won second place in a pie baking contest this week-end during our Mountain Harvest Festival.
This recipe is so easy and delicious you really should try it if you need a quick dessert.

3 egg yolks (no white)
1 - 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 Cup Key Lime Juice
1 - 9" Graham Cracker Crumb Pie Shell (commercial or homemade)
Whipped Cream or 1 Cup heavy whipping cream

Stir the egg yolks and lime juice into the sweetened condenses milk in a medium sized mixing
bowl. Pour the mixture into a prepared graham cracker crust. Bake at 350°F oven for 15 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes. Refrigerate to chill.

When ready to serve make whipped cream with 1 cup heavy whipping cream, sweeten slightly with
powdered sugar if desired and top the Pie. Garnish with lime slices if desired.

Serve. Makes eight servings.

This is really easy and I have received MANY compliments for this easy recipe. Try it!