by Marla Anderson February is a big baking month in our household. It’s the middle of winter, spring is on the way, and Feb. 20 is National Muffin Day. So let’s celebrate with some recipes. All of these are healthier and flavorful, and allow for decent replacer ingredients if needed for your household. Just give
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by Corina Sahlin Many people associate late fall and the holiday season with eating lots of food, feeling overly stuffed, children hyped up by sugary treats and gaining weight. And there’s the problem of friends and relatives visiting who might eat a gluten free or sugar free diet, and what, pray tell, are you supposed
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by Corina Sahlin One of my favorite ways to preserve summer’s bounty is canning peaches and beets with honey. These jars will be like liquid gold in winter, when the soil is bare and home-grown fruits and vegetables are a distant memory. We preserve peaches and beets by canning them with honey, which is healthier
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by Corina Sahlin I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to turn the oven on to bake meals in the summer. It’s already hot enough in the kitchen without adding heat from the oven. So we turn to lighter, fresher meals, which is perfect because healthy summer garden vegetables are abundant. Our family maintains
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by Corina Sahlin Maybe it’s the German in me, or maybe it’s the prospect of creating easy, quick, healthy meals for my family… Making and eating sausage is a big feature in our homesteading life. Even if you don’t raise your own pigs, beef or chicken, or if you don’t hunt game, you still can
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by Corina Sahlin The right kind of fat plays a very important role in your health. Saturated fats are beneficial to the body, because they insulate myelin in the brain, which helps with memory, mood stability and alertness, and they strengthen the immune system and help regulate hormones. That’s why I love lard! Compared to
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by Kate Ferry The history of cheese is as unique and lengthy as the different varieties to tempt your tastebuds. There is the creamy richness of brie encased in a fermented rind. The pungent and potent flavor of an aged blue cheese. The sharp cutting bite of a solid cheddar. The gooey stretch of a
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by Corina Sahlin If you like bacon, you can save a lot of money and get a tastier, healthier product by smoking your own bacon without nitrates.  It’s so much easier than you might think! You don’t need to raise your own pigs or own an expensive smoker. All you need is pork belly, which
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by Carol Frey We’re in a season of waiting and preparing. The mud is still deep but seed catalogs are pouring in, chicks and lambs will soon begin to make their appearance, and one day soon I’ll be doing early chores by morning light, rather than predawn darkness. I think it’s rather nice that amid
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by Carol Frey The rain is holding off for the moment, so the Varied Thrushes are hopping around my ancient apple tree, bobbing on spindly branches and pecking with a dainty ferocity at the remains of the apples I couldn’t reach. Down….Up-Peck! Down…Up-Peck! Every year I watch for the thrushes to come down from the
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