New Name, New Website!

Hey everyone! I have moved the site to https://puretraditions.wordpress.com . I no longer have the name Going Back To The Basics... It is now Pure Traditions! Don't forget to "like" my blog on Facebook at www.facebook.com/puretraditions . Thank you all for your support and continued reading. Hope to see you over at the other site!

A Delicious Fall Recipe : Stuffed Apples

Fall is coming, and there is nothing like having apples in the fall. Soon there will be apples everywhere! So why not make some stuffed apples for dessert (or breakfast!)?

Makes 6 servings

• 6 apples
• 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1/3 Cup chopped nuts (i used almonds)
• 1/4 Cup Dates
• 1/4 Cup Raw Honey
• 3 Tablespoons melted Butter
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 3-6 dried cranberries per apple (Optional)
• Granola for topping
• 2 Cups of water

Peel and core top of apples.
Sprinkle apples with lemon juice.
Combine nuts, dates, honey, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg in food processor and blend until it forms a paste.
Place apples in slow cooker. Fill apples with the paste and put cranberries in each apple. Sprinkle tops with a light dusting of Cinnamon.
Pour 2 cups of water in bottom of the slow cooker. Cook on low 4-5 hours or until apples soft.
Serve with granola on top, and enjoy!! These are even better when you use local apples and local honey!

Bread Machine Sandwich Bread

 

   It’s that time of year. School starts, and you need to make something for lunch for your kids, and yourself. Most people grab the pre-sliced store bought bread and make a quick sandwich. When people think of making bread, they think of hours of work for flaky crumbling bread. But with technology these days, we have this amazing invention called the Bread Machine. You put all the ingredients inside the bread machine and it kneads it and cooks it for you (and it doesn’t heat your whole house!). This recipe is very simple, and I have been using it for awhile. Oh, and it tastes delicious!
Bread Machine Bread:

• 1 Cup Warm Water (about 110 degree's F)
• 2 Tablespoons Raw (local) Honey
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (bread machine yeast works too)
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
• 3 Cups Bread Flour ( I use whole wheat all purpose)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon Salt

Put water, honey, yeast, and oil in bread machine and let it sit for 10 minutes or until it starts bubbling. It should look like this:

(note, the big “bubbles” are actually from the oil. It’s oil not bubbles)

Add the rest of ingredients and turn your bread machine either on rapid or regular bread setting.
After a few minutes it should look like this:

Then the waiting begins! When it’s done you will have a delicious loaf of bread, homemade with very few ingredients! Oh and it’s fresh! You will want to store it after a few days in the fridge if it’s not gone by then, because it doesn't have preservatives in it like the store bought bread does.

Ripples Along The Shore, The Quilted Heart Series #3 : Book Review

Picture from http://waterbrookmultnomah.com

  Ripples Along The Shore, is the third book in The Quilted Heart Series. Caroline Milburn is a civil war widow who lives with her sister Jewell, who's husband is grieving loss from the war also. Caroline wishes to start her life anew by joining the wagon train west, but one thing stands in her way to that goal, Garrett Cowlishaw. 

Will Caroline be able to leave the small town and start a new life? Or will one man stand in front of her dreams? This last book in the series is a predictable book, but is a fun little read nonetheless. This book is one you would want to read if you want a light read. It ties in the characters from the other books, and the reader finds out who is leaving with the wagon train, and those who are staying behind. 

This book lacked depth for me. It had great potential for a great book, but just wasn't written well and the characters weren't developed enough for me to give this book a "Five" star rating. It is a short read that can be easily finished within a few hours, and for me , that isn't a good thing. I like to have a good book that will keep me interested and guessing as to what will happen, this one is way to predictable. I would give this book a 3 star, since it is a cute little book, but lacked the depth. 

 * I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review*

Info about the book here.

You can purchase the book here through Amazon

New things coming!

Hello all! Thanks for being patient with me while i get my life back in order. I will be posting more recipes in the future. I will be focusing more on "Real Food". That's why i called my blog going back to the basics. I will focus on things that our ancestors did when it comes to food, and living. I'm excited to get this blog up and running better too! Thanks again to all my readers out there for your patience. Exciting things are coming!

Porcupine Treasures

Hey guys so sorry it's been forever since i've written last. Life has been crazy. I haven't felt like writing much since my surgery, but now i'm healing (physically and emotionally) and when I get back from my week vacation with family i'll write some more. In the meantime hang in there and don't give up on reading!! I did go in to the Dr. the other day for a post op appointment and they said everything is healing well. This is good news for me. I'm ready to be better again. I can finally start exercising slowly again.

In other news i started a new business called Porcupine TreasuresHERE . I'm selling on Etsy right now and you can check out my shop HERE.
. It's just getting started so i don't have much products but I hope to have a lot more in the future. I'm selling jewelry right now and hope to sell maybe kids clothes, aprons, and such in the future. Check out the facebook page for my business

Thanks again for being patient and reading my blog. Check back later for more updates! Thanks!

Broken Heart Made New

There has been a song that has helped me through these past few weeks. It's inspired me, and helped me get through each day without feeling sad. Here are the lyrics to Hawk Nelsons song. You can listen to it Here.

                                                    "Every Beat Of My Broken Heart"

This is not what I asked
Not what I prayed for
Are you listening now?
'Cause all that I've built,
All that I've bled for
Is coming undone

But what if it had to be broken
Before my heart could be open?

Maybe the shattered parts
Are the places where Your love starts
And now I am closer to where You are
With every beat of my broken heart
Oh, oh

Maybe it's not what i would've chosen
And I won't understand
But I'm trusting You now
Cause all that I know is
I am safe in Your hands

But what if it had to be broken
Before my heart could be open?

Maybe the shattered parts
Are the places where Your love starts
And now I am closer to where You are
With every beat of my broken heart
Mercy is here with me
Even if I can't see it now
I am closer to where You are
With every beat of my broken heart

So break me all the way
'Til we are face to face
When Your work in me is through
Then all that's left is You

Maybe the shattered parts
Are the places where You're love starts
And now I am closer to where You are
With every beat of my broken heart

Mercy is here with me
Even if I can't see it now
I am closer to where You are
With every beat of my broken heart
Oh, oh

I am closer to where You are
With every beat of my broken
Beat of my broken heart

This song has helped me realize that I haven't been fully relying upon the Lord. Sometimes He allows things in our lives to "break" us so we can see Him more clearly. We become so self centered that our hearts harden towards the Lord. When our hearts "break" and something happens in our lives that wakes us up to the Lord, we come closer to Him. He loves us so much. It's a love like no other. One that He gave His son for us. I know we hear that a lot, but losing a baby that I never got to hold, made me realize even more the sacrifice of our Lord. Think of Jesus' mother, who got to hold him, raise him, watch him take his first steps, first words, first scratch. And then she had to watch as a crowd yelled "crucify him!". This was her son! Could you imagine how broken her heart was as a mother? God's love for us is even stronger than that between mother and child. You see, Jesus was His son too, but in human form.

We hear from church all the time that "God loves us". We get so used to the idea of God loving us that we forget about it. We put it aside for later. Until something "bad" happens in your life and then you say "it's ok, God loves me, i'll get through this". And then once we get through that stage, we go back to our self centered lives, and enter the cycle again. I have an idea, lets break the cycle. Lets have a passion for God like no other. Lets wake up the church, lets reach out to those hurting. Lets become a "New Testament" church. A group of people who meet, worship the Lord, helps others (with no self interest in trying to make themselves look better), and reach out to those who are searching for love. Everyone wants to be loved, the sad part is, they don't realize they are loved, loved by God. Why don't they know? Because "church" people are to caught up in building numbers (people and dollars). Oh I've seen it in church's, where you can walk in and no one ever says hi to you. You are just another number to them. And then their worship service is more like a concert that makes them look good. And the people around you aren't singing or hardly, because their hearts really aren't into it. Yes they have a few good people in the church. But you come away from the sermons needing more. They are what I call "fluffy" sermons. Sermons that are meant to please people, not grow them. Preachers are afraid to step on peoples toes. How can we grow if we aren't challenged? 

We have gotten so far away from God, and His Word, that we get comfortable in our routines, forgetting that we need God every day of the week. We need Him every day, not just on Sunday. We need to change how things are in church's that are "fluffy".  "But i'm only one person! One person doesn't make a difference". Yes one person does make a difference. There is a pebble. The pebble says " I can never have an impact on anything". The pebble is then thrown in the water, and it creates ripples all through the pond. You see, even though you are one person, you can influence those around you. You can make a difference. 

Remember this, no matter what you are going through, God loves you.