The word "natural" is such a loaded word. Essentially everything comes from nature, even the things we don't specifically like and are terribly bad for us. But when we see the word "natural" on our food and clothing and personal care products we believe that these products are as close to their original state as they can possibly be. When I came up for the recipe for these muffins, I made an effort to use foods that were as close to their natural state as I could. With the exception of the whole wheat flour and vanilla extract, all of the ingredients are fresh (and some local). There is also no sugar in these muffins! The sweetness comes from the honey and grated apple.I used this method to substitute using applesauce in the muffins. You can also use real maple syrup instead of honey and the eggs can be replaced to make them vegan.

Chicken is one of the most versatile of proteins out there: you can bake it, fry it, turn it into a soup or stew, steam it, stir fry it - it's pretty much endless. And at 38 gram of protein per cup, very low saturated fat, and is naturally low in sodium, you can't beat this lean meat.

Even though I am going gluten free for Lent, I needed to share this recipe for my Tutorial Tuesday..I mean THURSDAY! I had wanted to make my own whole wheat bread last week to eat with the following day's dinner, but I am not a fan of having to sit and wait...and wait...and wait for my breads to rise. I also wanted to make some whole wheat bread since I had a large opened bag that I needed to start using up and we had been eating so much of the white stuff the past week. I went online and found the 5 Minute Flax Wheat Bread Recipe from momdish.com and decided to give it a try.

I began using My Fitness Pal last year when I started to exercise more - running, weightlifting and the such. It began as a way to monitor mostly my carb intake but U used it to keep track of all of the food I was eating, water I was drinking, as well as monitor my calorie intake and compare it to the approximate number of calories I was burning throughout the day. You never realize just how many calories are in certain foods, but, just as importantly, you never realize sometimes how little calories are in things as well. After a few months of posting I began to notice things about my body that were just feeling "off." I was having headaches and was going through periods of sleeplessness as well as feeling sluggish. I would have periods of off and on energy and sometimes my bowels would completely disagree with me. Coming from a family riddled with autoimmune issues, I know what the effects of food can have on a person. Luckily, keeping track of my food helped me to figure some things out and learn.

I was on the hunt this weekend for a spinach soup that was hearty but not creamy and not full of noodles or other grain. We have been trying to cut back on the grain intake again and I had already had my share of creamy soups during the week (lots of pumpkin and creamy potato leek). Plus, we had purchased a big bag of spinach at the market last Sunday and it needed to be finished before it ended up going to waste, and I was not about to let that happen. I was pretty disappointed at the recipes I found online as they required either orzo, noodles or ten cups of milk and most used ingredients I simply did not have on hand and was not about to spend money on. So, I decided to try something on the fly and I was actually quite pleased with the end result.

It's hard to believe that I have been canning now for two years. I began water bath canning as a way to teach myself to be more self reliant and to learn the art form of preservation that decades ago was the only way to keep our families nourished during the winter months. It wasn't really until the time of the second World War that tin canned good became the way of life. Form then on women were encouraged to purchase canned vegetables and meats from the ever growing grocery stores instead of growing and preserving foods of their own. Of course, for many people outside of the city and suburban areas of the country, much of the foods in the pantry come right from the garden and the hunt. I admire those people who remain closely connected with their food.

Throughout the entire month of October, Eamon had been "collecting" pumpkins and lining them up in sweet little spots throughout the house, occasionally trying to roll the largest one through the rest in an effort to reenact Linus and Lucy picking their carving pumpkin at the beginning of "The Great Pumpkin" Charlie Brown special. There were large ones, small ones, white ones, orange one, and...by this weekend, rotting ones. I had four decently sized baking pumpkins sitting on my living room floor just ready to attract critters of all sorts. So, much to his chagrin, mommy needed to do something with some of his pumpkins.

When starting off canning, a lot of people like to jump right into jams and jellies when there is something much easier and much more versatile to get your feet wet with: applesause.

Fall is such a wonderful time for apples. The orchards are plentiful and nothing beats the fresh aroma of cooked apples: whether it be a pie, a bread, a jam or a sauce. In addition, apples are economically reasonable, especially if you are lucky enough to have a pick-your-own orchard or a tree of your own. Even in the markets, apples usually range around a dollar a pound for the conventional varieties which makes them a good target crop to experiment with.

This weekend we took one of our trips to our favorite local orchard, Styer Orchard. The weather was perfect and the skies were clear all day...plus we were out of apples and I am in the mood to cook up some apple pie jam! (That post to come!!!)

The end of the picking season is quickly approaching so we loaded up the buckets with whatever was left. E had fun crawling under the little trees while mommy spent some time climbing up them. Plus, he got to ride the tractor wagon...twice! Unfortunately I only have a few photos from the trip to share, but the change of season was really wonderful to see.