He Is Risen! And April Arrives!

Being an enthusiastic gardener, I rely on the vegetables I grow in my garden - both canned and frozen - to eat from my pantry. There's nothing quite like the feeling of gathering the vegetables I need for a meal from my pantry and freezer during the winter. 

Do you make a lot of soups during the winter? We thrive on soup and eat at least 1-2 soups a week. I've gotten creative with my soup recipes as we've been doing keto, so that we can use the abundance of vegetables we have on hand.  My husband and I have adapted to a potato-free diet.  Instead of potatoes, I now use cauliflower to thicken soup - and believe me, it's delicious! We initially struggled with the absence of potatoes in our meals, but the positive effects on our health have made it worthwhile.  

Cauliflower Chicken Soup

2 cups chicken, cooked, shredded

2 quarts chicken broth

1 cup zucchini, sliced (I use frozen)

1 cup carrots, sliced (I use canned)

1 bag riced cauliflower (I use frozen)

1/2 cup peas, frozen

1 cup spinach

1/2 cup corn (I use frozen)

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp garlic powder

2 Tbsp heavy cream

In large stockpot, cook peas, carrots, corn, cauliflower, and zucchini in broth until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients, and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste the soup, and add salt/seasoning as desired. Serve. 

NOTE: Nutritional yeast is the healthiest and best tasting alternative for chicken bouillon. It is yellow in color, and adds the best flavor to your soup. Buying chicken bouillon will be a thing of the past for you, once you start using nutritional yeast! 

Keto Biscuit

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup Bob Mill's Paleo flour

1 egg

2 Tbsp milk of choice

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp stevia or sweetener of choice

Melt butter in a microwavable bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Grease two 6-oz ramekins and equally divide the mixture into ramekins. Bake each in the microwave for 90 seconds or longer, until the top bounces back, and is no longer moist.  My microwave takes about 2 minutes.  Repeat for second ramekin. This makes enough for two biscuits.  If desired, can be baked in the oven at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, or until browned.

Miss Kitty's favorite perch! She loves watching the Stellar Jays. I have quite a crew of them coming now - 5 pairs, 10 birds. They love eating the suet I put out. 

It's bonfire season! We have enjoyed several bonfires already this year. Ryan plays the guitar, and as he plays we sing along! 

Our daughter-in-law roasted some marshmallows. Dan and I exercised restraint and did not eat any. 
They did look so good though! 

Morning views on my walk! 

I've been working on my garden and uncovering my garden decor by removing the tarp. I gather all my decor and store it under a tarp for the winter, as it helps to keep the snow damage minimal. Every year, I have things that crack because of the ice/snow melt. It is a lot of work, but is great once it is done!

This past weekend, we began removing numerous dangerous trees that were close to our home. My husband and son did most of the work, but we had an experienced sawyer come in to take out the trees closest to the house. 

The trees were huge! This is looking from our house towards the garden.  

The trees were taken down all around our house. This is looking at our home from the road angle. 

Using our tractor and a chain, the trees were hewn into lengths that could be hauled by the tractor, and placed into the burn pile we created outside my garden. 

This is how it looked after we finished moving the trees. I raked up all the pine cones, branches, needles, and general mess from the downed trees. Needless to say - it was a lot of work! 

I made this short video of the trees falling, thankfully all went well.  I pray as each one goes down- because you just never know what they might do! 

Riley and I went for a little errand to town, and on our way back home, we saw the elk in a neighbor's yard. 

 

Their fur looks matted, and they are in the process of shedding their winter fur.  They are happy, as we all are, to see the green grass growing! 

Miss Bejeweled, my neighbor's puppy that I watch while she works actually sat still long enough for me to get a good picture. She is growing so fast, and getting more adorable every day. 

New life is appearing all around us - it won't be long and we'll have daffodil and tulip blooms! You can see some of my china plate flowers on display here :) 

Danielle and Zak came over to visit us for Easter, and we enjoyed a dinner and bonfire together. 

They brought our "grandpup" Mr. Serbius who is a corgi! Isn't He precious! He keeps us all very entertained with his antics!

On Easter morning, the sunrise was so amazing! Both cats gathered at the window as the sunshine was so brilliant.  Of course, their real interest was all the downed trees outside the window and the many birds that were inspecting all the changes made with the downed trees. 
 

On Easter Sunday, I saw these crocus poking their heads out of the leaves - how exciting it is to experience such beautiful blooms after a long dark winter! As we remembered the Long Week leading up to Resurrection Sunday, we reflected on the cost of Calvary to our Lord and rejoiced on Sunday morning that He has risen, and He lives forevermore. 

Isn't it an amazing thought that the Lord chose springtime to die, be buried, and rise again in newness of life. It speaks of the Lord's greatest joy for us as a believer.  Out of death, and things that seem to be dead, He can bring forth new life.  A seed does not look like it can do much, most of them are so tiny! But out of that tiny seed comes forth new life that brings food and nourishment for us!   

And as we await the Lord's return, we see that His coming was fulfilled at Passover, His Spirit was sent on the Feast of Pentecost, and we hope that at harvest season, His return may take place at the Feast of Trumpets when He will return with the trumpet call at the time of harvest.  Of course we don't know the day or the hour, but Jesus did say - there were signs of the season we could look for. I'm looking for His return, how about you?  

I hope you will enjoy this beautiful composition of prayer and devotional songs that I just recently made.
It helps to stop and focus our hearts on the Lord with music that leads us into the worship of Him.  

I pray that all of you are enjoying a blessed first day of April, and that no one has played any mean April Fool's jokes on you... but I'm always up for a good chuckle. :) Happy April to each of you!