Author Archives: Shesourceful

Unknown's avatar

About Shesourceful

I want to empower women to use our God-given intuition and wisdom to creatively steward our most valuable blessings.

Not Your Childhood’s Breakfast Cereal

Posted on by
11

Chocolate Cereal from Tanya Dawn Flickr photostream

Many of us have cereal memories.

Perhaps you were the poor kid who had to break your teeth on Grape Nuts (AKA Gravel Nuts) and only got the pleasure that is Honey Nut Cheerios on special occasions.  Or maybe you were the one who had to make the painful decision between Cookie Crisp, Cap’N Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, et. al. – ultimately deciding based on the color the milk would turn.

Well, I was the first kid, but I had plenty of the second in my neighborhood.  =)  I was that child who would stare longingly into my friends’ candied pantries and ask if we could PLEASE eat something before we played.  

And now I am raising those children.  But that’s for another post…

In the meantime, our family has come up with a new alternative to boxed breakfast cereals that everyone seems to be happy with.  (Except for the hubs, whose price-love and desire for TJ’s Honey Oat O’s has yet to be broken…)

Continue reading →

BOOK BITES: Like Dew Your Youth

Posted on by
4

Product Details

First things first.

God bless Eugene Peterson for all he did for Christendom by writing The Message (among many other things), but his publishers need to repent for coming up with a horrible title for an excellent book.  It’s even worse when you are verbalizing it to people.  “Like… Do… What?”

It originates from the scripture “From the womb of the morning, like dew your youth will come to you.”  (Psalm 110:3)  If you think long and hard about it, you may eventually be able to read between the lines.  Still, not every Bible verse is book title material.  (And we won’t even mention the cover…)

Redeemably, there is a subtitle and it gives a much better idea of what the book is actually about:  Growing Up With Your Teenager. Continue reading →

RECIPE: Nourishing Citrus Smoothies

Posted on by
6

images

Before we lived on the East Coast for eight years, I was a California girl for eleven.  And yet during that initial residency in the Sunshine State, I was never much of a citrus person. Now that we are back, however, I’m all over the citrus.  We even lived on Citrus Street at one point.

We’ve inherited a (sad) orange tree that I plan on not neglecting soon, friends with bags of lemons to give away, an intrastate gift of delicious grapefruits from my parents tree and a recent glut of limes from my favorite farm stand’s dollar table.  With this overabundance of vibrant spheres of Vitamin C sourness (#overthetopeuphemisms), I have been forced to find ways to consume them.  

Enter our friend, Vita-Mix.   Continue reading →

The Overwhelming Resource for “All Things Postpartum” (Part 3)

Posted on by
3

(I began our ever-growing and far from complete journey into the world of pregnancy, birth, and babies here, and then continued it here, and am trying to wrap it up below.  Wish me luck.)

So now that I am 2 months postpartum with my fourth little miracle, I figure it is time to finish this postpartum blog post.  It’s always great to review the amazing information that is out there and to see it from a fresh perspective.

And many congrats to the sweet new babies that have joined us recently and the ones that are on the way!

Continue reading →

A Very Chocolate-y Lent

Posted on by
4


We began observing Lent as a family just a few years ago, having grown up in an evangelical background that didn’t acknowledge much of the liturgical calendar.  Though we don’t want to get all religious/legalistic about it, there is value in celebrating along with the universal and historical church.

In the past I would thoughtlessly give up a few of my favorite vices: TV, chocolate, Facebook, and Girl Scout cookies.  (Does anyone else think it’s odd that they come out during Lent each year?)  But I have recently felt encouraged to make Lent about more than just my trendy, superficial sacrifices.

Instead of giving up chocolate for Lent this year, we’re using it as a teaching tool with the kids.   Continue reading →

RECIPE: Chocolate Deliciousness

Posted on by
12
DSCN4489

This stuff surpasses any label you could try to burden it with.  It’s thicker than pudding, less sugary than a ganache, denser than a mousse and easier to make than a custard.  I know, I know.  People always say a recipe is easy and then they start saying things like “prepare a water bath,” “separate the white from the yolk,” or “sift the dry ingredients.”  (What?  I don’t sift.)

Well not this time.  This recipe is TRULY easy.  It’s all of four ingredients and requires very little heating.  And it’s healthy, what with all the dark chocolate, eggs & coconut.
I whipped it out again for another of my husbands birthday desserts and this time made it dairy free.  He gave it his ultimate food compliment:  “Restaurant Quality.”   Continue reading →

The Elves and the Homemaker (Or “Getting Chores Done While You Sleep”)

Posted on by
6

I recently read the Brothers Grimm tale, The Elves and the Shoemaker, to my kids. It’s one of the Grimm boys’ less intense stories about the poor shoemaker who goes to bed having cut the last piece of leather to sew his last pair of Jimmy Choos before he goes broke.  And that evening two little elves sneak in and sew the most beautiful Manolo Blahniks that he is surprised to find on his work bench the next morning.  He sells them for a huge profit, purchases 2 pieces of leather to cut for 2 more pairs of Louboutins and the little elves come and sew more.  And sew on…  (All shoe references are credited to random, useless knowledge of celebrity fashion and not my closet.)

Though this is a sweet little tale about helping those in need and being grateful for help received, the elves eventually moved on to other pursuits.  Making cookies in a little tree perhaps.  But it made me wonder how I could get me some little elves.  (And I don’t mean that slightly creepy Elf on the Shelf that took this Christmas by storm.)

Continue reading →

Coconut (Kefir) Soda

Posted on by
5

DSCN4377

With all things coconut trending in the food world and all things probiotic gaining popularity in the health arena, this little dandy is a delicious, simple drink that has wonderful health and digestive benefits.  (As if the benefits of regular coconut water aren’t RIDICULOUS enough…  Sheesh.)  And it can be a great first fermentation experiment for the culturing newbie because it’s easy-peasy-coconut-squeezie.

(If you are wondering what kefir is or you know just enough about it to be a little scared, here’s a simple primer.)  Otherwise, let’s do this!

Continue reading →

The Much Anticipated Birth Story

Posted on by
11

Not quite sure why it has taken so long to put my fourth birth experience into words…  Obviously a little busy around here and New Girl has decided that her awake time will be right after I put the others’ to bed.  But I think the procrastination is due to the energy that it takes to put such an intense, amazing experience into words.  I’m determined to try, though; and to do so before I forget too many of the gooey details.  And “gooey” is just the beginning of the Too Much Information that you are about to ingest, so if you don’t have the stomach for it, you may want to just watch this and call it a night.

Where to start…   Continue reading →

Book Bites: Les Miserables

Posted on by
10

“It is rare for those who have sunk so low not to be degraded in the process, and there comes a point, moreover, where the unfortunate and the infamous are grouped together, merged in a single fateful word.  They are Les Miserables – the outcasts, the underdogs.  And who is to blame?  Is it not the most fallen who have most need of charity?“ – Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, pg. 640

I have just come from seeing the musical film version of this amazing story and it sufficiently blew. me. away.  I don’t even have the energy or words to explain why – just see it yourself.  Now.  And bring tissue.

But part of the reason I believe I enjoyed it as thoroughly as I did is because our book club chose Victor Hugo’s UNABRIDGED literary work (Yes, all 1200+ pages) as our bonus summer read last year.  It is now one of my favorite books of all time and adds a new depth to the musical, 1998 film, and this most recent adaptation as well.

Continue reading →