Ningxia Red is one of the most amazing products that Young Living has to offer, in my opinion (and they have some pretty amazing stuff!)

Baked Beans have got to be one of the most delicious, and easy, make-ahead dinners you can throw together (surpassed only by All-Day Beef Stew in my menu planner). You can use them as a main dish, and throw some foil-wrapped red potatoes in the oven about 1 1/2-2 hours before mealtime for an almost effortless meal. Or, they make a great side dish to beef, game or turkey sausage. Serve with some fresh or lacto-fermented vegetables (such as Ginger Carrots--sorry, haven't posted the recipe yet), and you've got a meal that busy moms dream about.

Double Chocolate Spelt Pancakes with Saskatoon/Green Bean Purée and Naturally Sweetened Whipped Cream. Quadruple yum!

Tonight, as Jason was putting the boys to bed, I was methodically hulling the two gallons of almost over-ripe strawberries Mike had brought up from my uncle and aunt's berry farm near Ponoka tonight. I have never had so many fresh strawberries in my possession at once before. We go through a fair amount of strawberries in frozen form, which we throw into our breakfast smoothies. However, I think the combination of the excess strawberries in hand--what seemed almost a decadent amount--and the new-found bravery I have found in my kitchen since hitting on this cookbook idea, made me a little reckless.

Did you know you can make your own beans? It's easy, it's fast, you can start 'em cooking in the morning before you leave for work, and you have a nice side (or main) dish ready when you get home. Then you can double the recipe, freeze the leftovers and throw them in everything from soups to chilies.