Updates!

Well so much has happened! I cannot believe it has already been MONTHS since I last wrote.

March completely flew by!

April and May were filled with extreme tiredness and nausea because we found out we are expecting!

And here we are in the middle of June! Can you believe it? I certainly can't.

We are more than ecstatic to be welcoming our first child. As many of our friends know we have been hoping and praying for a baby since we got married last year. We have learned a lot about each other and we have been able to see the Lord's hand leading and guiding our lives. It is amazing how much He knows and that when we trust in Him, we also need to trust in His timing. We know that He has loved us and watched out for us throughout this entire process.

Since I titled the blog post "updates" I suppose I'll share the biggest updates which is baby news :)

As of this week, I am now 18 weeks and the baby is about the size of a bell pepper! It is still hard to believe there is this miracle growing inside me but I wouldn't want it any other way!

Here are the dates:

March 19 - We found out we were expecting! We excitedly called our close family to share our news

May 2 - We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time! We both cried and every day is making this more and more real!

May 9 - I felt my first "flutter" and yes, it really did feel like a butterfly!

May 24 - We got to take pictures of my growing belly and share publicly that we were expecting. We had already let most of our friends and family know but this was the day we made it "Facebook official"

June 12 - I felt little bursts of pressure from the inside, it is so crazy to think that those little feelings bring so much joy!

June 13 - Full ultrasound! We loved watching our little miracle's fingers and toes play and move around. The ultrasound technician said that the baby is sure a wiggle worm! (The baby most likely got that from her daddy :)

June 19 - Feeling the baby is becoming more and more regular. I even felt the baby as I was walking around at work!

This entire experience is a beautiful and wonderful miracle that I cannot believe I get to feel at this time in my life. I feel like I have waited for it for so long, yet now that it is here I am really wondering if I am ready?!

Do you have any favorite natural birth books that you read or uplifting pregnancy/labor experiences you want to share? Feel free to send this excited (and nervous) momma some good vibes!

Indian Butter Chicken

I absolutely love food and anyone who knows me knows this. I love to eat food, talk about food, prepare and cook food, and of course plan the garden and grow food!

My husband and I are trying to incorporate more flavors from around the world into our food. For a few simple ingredient changes you can travel from Italy to India and from Denmark to the Dominican Republic and I love it! A little while ago we took a day trip to St. Louis and ate at the most delicious Indian food restaurant right near the airport. If you ever find yourself in St. Louis and are looking for a fun experience you’ve got to try the India Palace! It is an 11^th floor restaurant in a hotel. Their lunch is a delicious, authentic buffet in a beautifully decorated venue. They have a regular dinner menu and create a more intimate setting with low lights and have large windows to watch the lights of the airport and the planes taking off. The staff are extremely polite and help to complete the ambiance. Now, I digress about the restaurant but it is really good!

Back to food! We ate the most delicious butter chicken there. I have been preparing Chicken Tikka Masala for years now but I was looking for a new Indian recipe to add to my collection and that’s where butter chicken comes in.

I made it for the first time the other night and it was delicious! It is super simple, using only a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry (I know I did), was quick to prepare, and it could classify as a “one-pot wonder” so here goes!

Serves 6

What you’ll need: aka ingredients:

1 ½ pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed 

¾ cup butter, divided 

1 onion, minced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garam masala

dash of curry powder

Honey to taste if necessary

In a large 12-inch skillet (I only ever use cast iron) and on medium-low, melt a few tablespoons of butter and caramelize the onion and garlic, takes about 15 minutes or so.

While that is caramelizing, rub the garam masala on the cubed chicken to coat.

Once your house smells divine, remove onions and garlic from the pan leaving behind all that delicious goodness.

Cook the chicken until no longer pink inside, about 4-5 minutes per side depending on the size of your cuts.

Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pan.

Mix together the tomato sauce and remaining butter in the pan – be care of splattering! Tomato sauce stains!

Once all the butter is melted, add salt, a dash of curry powder. Also, add garam masala to the sauce if it needs more Indian flavor and a little bit of honey if the sauce is bitter from the tomato sauce.

Add the chicken and onions and garlic back into the pan, mix together and serve over brown rice with naan bread.

Here is my husband's lunch picture the next day - 

it may not look like much but wait until you taste it!

{{P.S. A side note on ingredients, these were all organic and the chicken was raised without hormones and antibiotics. I'm not the kind of girl to count calories or stress out over serving size; however, I DO read labels to check what the ingredients are! I care how my food is grown and raised. So hopefully, this will be one of the only times I make this recipe with store bought ingredients. We are hoping to have meat chickens, if not this year then next. My garlic is already in the ground and growing wonderfully and I'll put the onions in in a few weeks. I prefer Kerrygold butter, it seems to be the best quality I have been able to find. We drink raw milk but I like the cream in it too much to part with it to make butter - but hopefully sooner rather than later we'll have our own milk cow! And you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be tomato sauce galore going on in my kitchen when tomatoes come into season! I told you I love food! :) }}

As far as a vegetable side, I think next time I make this, I’ll add a cucumber and tomato vinaigrette salad or perhaps a dill cucumber yogurt salad. If you have any recommendations please let me know!

I’d also love to hear about your family’s favorite international and authentic inspired foods!

Hey Ya'll!

Hello to friends, family, and soon-to-be friends! 

My name is Jessica, my favorite color is green, and my husband and I moved to the Midwest almost a year ago to start farming/homesteading/farmsteading - whatever the hip new term is!

Are we crazy? Probably a little bit (or a lot-a bit). Neither he nor I grew up working the land but we are eager to start becoming more self-sufficient. Within 3 months of getting married, we bought a house that sits on a beautiful 3 acres of land, a month later we bought a used chicken coop complete with 6 chickens and our little farm family keeps growing! We adopted 2 kittens from a family friend (which were supposed to be mousing farm cats and have turned into spoiled house cats) and a little while later we had a gorgeous blue English Staffordshire terrier given to us whose head is too big for his body. We discovered wild blackberry bushes and apple trees on the property and are ready to see what else the land can do for us!

Both of us are excited to share our adventure with you and who knows? Maybe you'll be able to learn something along the way!

For now, here is a picture of the feathered ladies who give us fresh eggs each morning and eat our kitchen scraps in the evenings.