Beyond the Garden Gate

  Hi dear one! Today I decided to share my precious (channeling lord of the rings here- youur cousins would be proud of me lol) easy small batch spiced apple butter recipe It’s small batch because well by now you know I can’t stop myself from stuffing English muffins lathered with it, so I guess is more for my own good  I use the  slow cooker  because as a mom it has become my best friend, I’m sure you will relate (it will take a few years but you’ll get there too) Our friend from  “tea with toddlers”  blessed us with a bag of extra apples today after her tea partt… if you read their post you will understand why they were, well, done with apples LOL so that means more spiced apple butter for us whohooo This recipe can be canned, if you double or triple it but since it’s small it’s not worth it (shhh don’t tell anyone- specially grampa- but I’m still terrified to can, I need someone to come to my house and walk me through it like I’m 5 lol) what I do is I freeze it in  mason jars  leavi

  Hi dear one! A few weekends ago we went apple picking and after 13lbs of apples we have been making one of our favorite breakfast non stop. The good thing is apples freeze well so I peeled and chopped up a bunch to have them handy and ready for quick use. I love apple picking, it has been a dream of mine to go and blessed that in the Pacific northwest I get to enjoy it  This year was not smoky and we landed on a pretty full apple tree with a ladder magically placed by it lol so picking was extra easy and surprisingly quick. Recipe : 1 cup oats soaked and rinsed (I soak them while I wait for the water to boil) Apples peeled and cubed or shredded 1/4 c raisins 1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon 1 TBS brown sugar 1 TBS Butter Optional chopped walnuts when served Watch “Fall Favorite- Apple spice oatmeal!” Video Enjoy! Luz Ps: share with us what is your favorite way of making oatmeal?

  Hi guys, I know I haven’t blogged here since 2014! I ended up switching to blogspot but I am having a hard time uploading photos there with the app and as a busy mama I work better with apps than turning on my archaic computer So let’s see how this goes and maybe I’ll set up camp here again! Whohooo crossing fingers (update I did! just brought my blog archives here… happy reading!) Oh, yes that’s right I almost forgot to explain the flowers lol turns out I decided to stop waiting on my dream of opening a flower shop someday and went ahead and opened it this January and I am having the best time ever playing with flowers and bringing joy to people with each delivery! If you want to more find me in Instagram @luz_voehl and don’t forget to say hi! Oh and I will be following my hubby’s advise and make the posts like they are letters to my little one! Luz

This past few weeks I have been struggling emotionally and I realized it's because I have been too busy focusing on my problems, my frustrations, what I need to do tomorrow, etc. I have gotten caught up in ME and that is a sure formula for discouragement and depression. I went to confession and the priest sent me to give more, I was left in a frustrated state lol I already give, why would he tell me that?! What was the point of the Holy Spirit telling me this when it has nothing to do with my emotional struggle!?, I clearly didn't get it at the time, I felt like it didn't apply at all to me (and I was very annoyed... ask my hubby lol) BUT didn't take long to show me what He meant thanks to a friend sticking a wooden spoon in a box of old vases she gave me...  My sister had a collection of spoons, she had spoons from all around the world and would have loved this one from Africa, and when she passed in such an unnexpected and surprising way the biggest lesson I learned f