With 2012 behind us and a new year ahead, we are reminded that much was accomplished – not in ourselves – but through Christ! It is important to look back at the work of God’s hand, the answered prayers, the opened and closed doors, the things we never could have done in our own strength that He brought about – lest we forget the goodness of God!

January 

We started a very restrictive 4-month family Candida diet, eating no gluten, dairy, refined sugar, etc.

February

Free mulch was provided in answer to prayer, for a family yard project!

We began preparation for the new orchard!

Dave and David traveled to Indianapolis to speak the students at Verity on business topics.

We celebrated Josiah and Timothy’s birthdays.

March

We attended a local conference at the JAARS center, where Jim Logan spoke on Spiritual Warfare.

We celebrated Dave’s birthday.

April

One year since our grandfather (Tina’s dad) passed away.

We started the preparations for our spring planting, and prepared the blueberry orchard for additional bushes.

Dave traveled to Arkansas to do a Raising Entrepreneurs Conference at Fort Rock Family Camp.

We planted our orchard!

May

Hannah and David shared a birthday.

We planted our garden!

We hosted our first local Raising Entrepreneurs Conference!

We watched our garden prosper.

We attended the Nashville ATI Homeschool Conference.

We completed our family Candida diet!!!

June

We reaped the first of our garden harvest.

Peach picking with friends.

Took advantage of incredible deals.
Made peach jam for the first time (beside freezer jam)

Celebrated Tina’s birthday

July

Held our 2nd local (a total of 4) Raising Entrepreneurs conference at JAARS with a record number of people in attendance!

Celebrated Sarah’s highschool graduation.

August

Tina, Hannah, and Sarah attended the Indianapolis ATI homeschool Conference.

Attended the Virginia FEW (Family Encouragement Weekend) Conference as a family!

A family that attended our July Raising Entrepreneurs Conference sent us a copy of the DVD “Back to Eden” which several members of our family watched – this was the beginning of our yard transformation!

Sarah, David, Bethany, and Jonathan competed in the local Bible Bee competition, after studying and memorizing Scripture for 3 months.

September

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine published our family hospitality article.

We traveled to WV and VA to visit the Staddon and Wilkes Families over Labor Day week! Watched “Back to Eden” again with the Staddons and got even more excited about applying God’s principles at home.

We surprised Tina with her own crossbow (Dave had just gotten one) as hunting season began. We started hunting (as a family) for the first time ever.

The girls visited The Billy Graham Library in Charlotte – which resulted in many more trips as a family and with friends!

Celebrated Bethany’s 15th birthday

October

We celebrated Jonathan’s 13th birthday, and had a “coming of age” (entrance to manhood) party!

God provided LOTS of free mulch from tree companies, and we began to transform our orchard, gardens, and build natural areas for spring 2013!

Sarah and Bethany celebrated national boss day with Dave (they work in his company).

Otto Koning came to visit, and we took him to experience a JAARS day, among other activities.

We made pumpkin butter for the first time – which resulted in our very own recipe, and a huge success!

The Sugar Nook bakers were given the opportunity to bake for their first 2 weddings – both in November!

November

We remembered the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 as voting day drew near, and began to pray fervently along with thousands of other believers – for our country America.

Hannah and Sarah voted for the first time!

We took our family fall trip to the NC mountains for the day, and took photos/spent time together.

The Sugar Nook baked pies for their first 2 weddings.

Dave, Sarah, David, Bethany, Jonathan and Josiah set off for a 3 day backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains of TN.

December

Planned and hosted our first Business Leader’s Conference at our home, which was a huge success!

Hosted our Traditional Couples’ Christmas Party

Celebrated 9 years of our company, Stelzl Visionary Learning Concepts!!!

Celebrated Christmas with the Staddon family from WV.

We shot and harvested (with the help of the Staddons) our 6th and final deer of hunting season!

Visited the Wilkes Family at Honey Brook Farm, leading up to the new year!

Celebrated Sarah’s 19th birthday.

2012 is another chapter closed, and we have so much to be grateful for (including many other things not mentioned here)! God has been faithful to heal, provide, prosper, open doors, and even close doors! He is a good God – He does all things well!

“We do not know what tomorrow holds, but we KNOW who holds tomorrow!”

If you are ever in the Charlotte area, please let us know! We would love to have you visit .

Apple-Berry Crisp

Serves 10

I posted this recipe on day 13, but wanted to share the yummier version we created this week! This recipe has the original oatmeal crust from our first recipe, but still includes the delicious crumb topping from our second recipe. Of course we made a few other changes along the way for further improvement .

To prepare the crust:

Brush 2 TBSP melted butter in the bottom of a 9×13 in pan.

Mix together 3-4 cups cooked oatmeal (we used steel cut oats) with 1 TBSP Agave syrup, 8 drops liquid stevia, and cinnamon to taste.

Spread in the bottom of the pan.

Bake @ 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until slightly crispy on top.

For filling, mix together the following ingredients:

3-4 TBSP melted butter

8 drops liquid Stevia (vanilla creme flavored)

1 TBSP Agave Syrup

3 oz Apple Juice

Cinnamon

1/8 cup (slightly heaped) Tapioca Flour

Prepare the fruit in a separate, large bowl.

4 cups yellow apples peeled, cored, and finely chopped

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Pour the filling mixture over the fruit and stir until thoroughly mixed.

For crumb topping mix together:

1/4 cup (4 TBSP) butter, softened

2 cups finely ground pecans

1 cup almond flour

3/4 TBSP Agave Syrup

6 drops liquid vanilla creme stevia

Pour the fruit filling mixture over the baked crust and sprinkle crumbs evenly on top. Cover with foil and bake @ 375 degrees for about 1 hour. Remove foil and bake 15 minutes longer.

Cool completely and refrigerate until cold!

Hannah’s Vegetable Soup

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

Layer the following ingredients in the bottom of a large greased crock pot:

3 lbs stew meat

4 large carrots, sliced

5 medium potatoes, sliced (we eliminated this)

2 onions, sliced

10 oz frozen green beans

1 cup frozen peas

1 can cream of mushroom soup (we eliminated this)

1 can cream of celery soup (we eliminated this)

1 jar gravy (we eliminated this)

Cook 5-6 hours on high, or 10-12 hours on low.

Note: We did 1 1/2 of the original recipe to feed 10 people (our grandmother is with us for four months). In place of the soups and gravy, we thawed the stew meat by placing it in a pot and adding just enough water to cover the meat. We later poured this water over the layers of meat and vegetables, in place of the creamy liquids. We also added salt and tapioca flour (to thicken the stew) just before serving. It was delicious – unanimously voted the best meal on the diet so far!!! I think it has to do with the fact that it includes MEAT!!!

This is day 13 of our Candida diet. We miss gluten, and we miss dairy, and we miss most of our favorite fresh fruits. But I think we all miss SUGAR the most!!! Why is it so hard to go without sugar? Probably because everything seems to have some sugar in it no matter how small the amount. We decided to put our ideas together and cook up something sweet. Since we are allowed to have a small amount of honey, agave, or stevia each week, we took a little of this, and a little of that, and… perfection! We came up with something that everyone LOVES. We look forward to Saturdays now. Our mom works wonders with health food. She played the main part in cooking up this delicious recipe, and I know we are all grateful!

The first version of this recipe started with our everyday breakfast (oatmeal!) for the crust, and included a fruity filling with ground nuts on top. Delicious, right?! It was really VERY good, and you would not have guessed it had an oatmeal crust. But this second version is really yummy with the crumb topping!

Apple-Berry Crisp

Mix together the following ingredients in a large bowl:

Stir together the following ingredients and pour over the fruit mixture:

Pour into a oiled (olive oil) 9×13″ pan (we used a glass pan).

For crumbs, mix together the following ingredients:

Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the filling. Bake at 375 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until bubbly (If you use a glass pan, you will see the liquid bubbling at the bottom and up the sides of the pan).

I promise it takes much better than it sounds!!! (of course we have not had white sugar for 2 weeks though, and we only eat a small measure of agave and stevia once a week )

Lentil Casserole ~

Serves 5

Combine all ingredients in lightly greased 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Cover and bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees. Add 2 sliced carrots, 2 cups sweet corn, and some celery, chopped small. Cook 30 more minutes.

Optional: Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and heat 5 more minutes until melted.

Note: We usually double the recipe to make two casseroles.

January 3rd marked the beginning of a 4 month challenge for our entire family. Due to a number of health problems that have been present among various ones for years, we decided to try eating a very strict diet that has already helped some of us in the past (It was the Candida diet that cleared up Timothy’s rash that he had from just a few weeks old, until he was 3).

One of the challenges of the Candida diet is finding a variety of recipes to use that taste good and that meet the given requirements . My goal is to share some of those recipes here, over the 120+ days of our diet.

Last night we had a recipe that we’ve really grown to enjoy (most of us anyway !) With a few minor changes, we were able to mix up a double batch of this delicious Black Bean Chili for supper. Probably the hardest part was eliminating the usual toppings that make it creamy, more flavorful, and of course just plain unhealthy…

Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

Directions:

Note; Rather than the usual sour cream, crushed corn chips and cheese for topping, we used rice or fresh avacado chunks…and of course a good healthy salad on the side!!!