Embracing Life

I remember as a little girl, Grandma L picking rhubarb fresh from her garden and eating it.  She made rhubarb everything! When I was 5 months pregnant with Connor, we moved into our current house.  The day after we moved, there was a giant snowstorm, my grandpa died, and Keith came down with the stomach flu. I was hoping that wasn't a sign that we should not have moved.  That spring, we noticed lots of green things growing on the side of our garage.  One of the "plants" ended up being a nice crop of rhubarb!  Over the years, but especially since Grandma has been gone, I like to pretend I'm a baker. :)  I've tried my hand with jam and bread - both turned out yummy!  But my favorite is her rhubarb crisp recipe.  However, one of the ingredients is strawberry gelatin - which unfortunately has food dye.  We are a food dye free home, due to Colin's intolerance of it and Keith's clean eating. So this year, I adapted the recipe to my new "All-Nat...

Beginning this month, I decided that I would make soup every Sunday for the rest of the winter.  So far it's been a so-so broccoli cheddar soup, a yummy creamy potato soup, and a delicious Italian stew! This past Sunday was the Italian stew, which I thought was great! It makes quite a bit, so there are leftovers for me to take to work, as well as to serve another night for dinner.  Ingredients: 11 ounces Organic Roasted Tomato Bisque 1 can Beef Broth 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning , crushed 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs 3 large carrots , cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups) 2 pounds beef for stew , cut into 1-inch pieces ...