How to Make a Ball Birthday Cake

This year we had an "All Star" Birthday party theme for my son. I like to make their birthday cakes and this time I took pictures of the step by step process to share with you!

The finished product

Step 1-Bake a cake
Bake a 9x13 size cake. You can use a cake mix or your favorite made-from-scratch cake recipe.

Step 2- Freeze Cake
After the cake has cooled, remove it from the pan and let it cool completely. If you aren't making the cake the day of, then wrap it well with saran wrap and then foil and place on a flat rack in the freezer (this helps make it easier to decorate and keeps it fresh if you bake it a couple days in advance).

Step 3-Make Ball Shapes 
This is where the fun begins. Choose which balls you are planning on making. I did a baseball, basketball, football and soccer ball. Find household items that are the size/shape you want to use as your 'mold'. If you have cookware that is the right size and oven-safe, then you're in luck! :) If not, you can do what I did, I made my molds out of foil. First I found things that I could use for the shapes I needed and made sure they'd fit on the 9x13 base cake.

Trying out the sizes

After I shaped the foil cups, I put them in a pan to bake them in.

My foil cups

Step 4- Bake the Ball Cakes

Pour your pre-mixed cake batter (again whatever kind you like-although my tip is to avoid chocolate, especially if you are a beginner decorator, I made that mistake!) into the shaped cups you have made. I filled them about 1/2 way, but if you'd like them to be a little less '3D' then fill them 1/4 full. 

You'll have to watch them closely in the oven, because they are different sizes, they'll take different amounts of time to bake. I had to remove the two smaller ones to keep them from over baking while the other two finished. I would recommend putting them each on smaller pans to keep them separate.

Step 5- Frost the base cake

Choose a color that you'd like for the base cake and put a solid layer across the whole thing. 

Side note about frosting: it's best to mix your colors hours before you plan to use them because they get bolder in time. If you mix them as early as the night before it'll give you a better idea of what they'll look like and you'll have a chance to change them if necessary & give them time to darken before you're ready to use them. 

Step 6- Frost the ball cakes

Frost a solid layer of the appropriate frosting on the ball shape. Along the sides you can use a design tip on the sides to add some texture and easier frosting, if you like. I looked up pictures of each ball online to make sure I had the design on them done correctly. 

For the soccer ball I drew the shapes on with a toothpick so I'd know where to apply the black frosting.

This about drove me mad! It was tricky!

The tools I used to frost the balls all came from the Wilton Cake Decorating products. Here is a list of the tools in the order you'll need them:

-A frosting spatula, either straight or angled.

-For all the lines and edging around each ball I used the Round Tip #2. 

-For the sides of the balls I used Star Tip #16.

Step 7- Place the balls on the base cake

I placed the balls on the cake before I finished all the detail on them because I knew they'd get messed up in the transfer (notice my baseball). 

Balls were just placed on the base, needing some touch ups and finishing!

Step 8- Finishing Touches and Fixes

Add the finishing touches to the balls by adding the rest of the design or fixing blemishes that were caused by moving them. 

Oh dear, that hole looks awful!

Notice the ugly hole in between the balls? Yep, had to fix that. My solution? Easter grass in the center and along the sides of the ball to add texture & flair (but mostly because I had a problem to solve!) I must give credit to my husband, because he's the one that came up with the idea--genius, right? :) Problem solved.

Thanks honey!

I added a number 2 in the corner to bring in some more color and for my memory's sake! ;)

I added a quick border along the edge of the cake to give it a finished look. 

For the border I used Tip #104

Step 9- Take lots of pictures

Step 10- Sing Happy Birthday, Blow out candles and Enjoy!

I hope you're able to use these directions to make your own special ball birthday cake! If you do and chose to blog about it, please link people back to these directions to give me credit for my hard work to create this cake pattern! Thank you! 

Today I linked up to these parties:
 

Homemade Pizza

A couple weeks ago I shared with you the bread kit idea from The Grocery Shrink. This week I used the first kit. We made homemade pizza which turned out really good! I was sure to document it all for you too.

First, here's a quick sneak peak at my kitchen update! :) More before and after pictures coming soon...

Back to the pizza. All I did was pour the water and bread mix into the bread machine. Turned to the pizza dough setting and let it do it's thing. 

While we went and did our thing...a little trip to the park and ride on bikes!

 When we came home we took the dough out of the machine, let it rise for a few minutes:

Divided it into two pieces! Two pizzas come from one batch of bread mix. 

Then you need to find yourself a cute little helper like this one to roll out the dough:

My husband got busy putting the toppings on while I was taking pictures of my cuties before I had a chance to snap another picture, but you get the idea. Here it is the final product: 

It was yummy! It's so great to know what's in your food and make it the way you want for your family. The entire process from start to finish probably took just under 2 hours (but that included a trip to the park too). Actually "effort" time was probably about 15-20 minutes.

Bread Kits

Remember back a couple weeks ago, I mentioned in one of my menu blogs about a bread kit. Well, now I'm here to tell you all about it! :)

I found this idea at the grocery shrink, a blog I have referenced a number of times. This family is really extreme in some of their money saving ways, but they do have great ideas and I've enjoyed learning from her blog. This bread kit was a great tip!

Here's how this bread thing works. You start with your bread machine mix (which she gives you the recipe for) and then on the day you plan to use it you chose your bread "style" and add the remaining ingredients and follow the directions for that specific type of bread. Genius, right? I loved it! I hope you do too. Then you'll get to have some spreads like this on your dinner table with minimal effort:

The following is all straight from her blog post about emergency meals and having things on hand to make into quick meals.

Bread Machine Mix

4 cups of flour (half white and half wheat if desired, or all wheat)

1 teaspon salt

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon of yeast

Combine flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut in butter until very fine.  Stir in yeast. Package in a quart jar or quart sized baggie. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.  To use Place 1 3/4 cups warm water in the bread machine.  Add mix and run dough cycle.  This will make 2: 14-15 inch pizza crusts, 2 loaves of bread, one large loaf of Italian style bread, cinnamon rolls, bagels, or dinner rolls.  I like to plop this in the machine in the morning and delay the dough cycle so that the dough will be ready right at prep time for dinner.

Pizza crust:  Divide dough into 2 balls.  Roll out on prepared pans.  Let rise for 15 minutes.  Top with sauce, toppings, and cheese.  Bake at 415 degrees for 15 minutes or until cheese is golden on the top.

Bread:  divide dough into 2 balls, place into greased loaf pans.  Let rise Let rise until double 30 minutes-1 hour.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Dinner Rolls:  Divide dough into 24 pieces, shape into rolls.  Let rise until double 30 minutes-1 hour and Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Or divide into 2 balls, roll each ball into a circle 1/4 inch thick.  Cut each circle into 12 wedges and roll up crescent roll style.  Let rise and bake at 350 degrees fro 15-20 minutes. 

Bagels:  Divide dough into 10 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and poke your finger through the center to create a large hole.  Set on a floured counter to rest for 1 minutes.  Boil 2 quarts of water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar in a stock pot.  Boil each bagel for 1 minute on each side.  Drain on a dish towel.  Bush with beaten egg (optional) and sprinkle with seeds (poppy or sesame, chopped sunflower seeds, or a combination).  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Cinnamon rolls:  Divide dough into 2 balls.  Roll each ball ina rectangle 8″ x 15″.   Or about 1/4 inch thick.  Spread each with 4 oz cream cheese or butter.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar combined with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.  Roll up making it as long as possible.  Use dental floss to cut each log into 12 pieces and place in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Let rise for 1 hour and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown on the top.  Frost with a powdered sugar and milk drizzle if desired.

(Non-sour) French style bread:  Turn the whole piece of dough onto a well-floured (or use cornmeal) pizza slide.  Without punching it down, gently stretch it into a long loaf, tucking the edges to the underside so that the top is smooth.  Let rest for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.  Place a bakers stone on the top rack of your oven and a broiler pan on the bottom rack.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  When the oven is preheated, brush the top of the loaf with water, then sprinkle with parmesan cheese or seeds if desired.  Use a serrated knife to cut 5 slits across the top of the loaf.  Slide the loaf onto the preheated stone and quickly pour one cup of water into the broiler pan.  Shut the door immediately to trap the steam.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a nice dark crust has formed.  Transfer to a cooling rack and cool before slicing.

Homemade Laundry Soap-update

Last summer I shared with you that I was going to make my own laundry soap. Well, it has been 9 months now and I have about a week's supply left. It has workedfine for us, it hasn't been perfect, but for the price and the chemical-less benefits it has, I've decided to make a secomd batch. After this one runs out, I'll re-evaluate it again. The cool thing about this time was that I still had plenty of the ingredients left over from last time, except for the bar of soap, which cost about $4. So for $4 and an hour of my time, I have another 9 months or so worth of laundry soap!

Knitting

I've always been interested in learning skills that our grandmothers and their mothers way of life. Things like knitting, sewing, cooking from scratch, gardening and all sorts of things that was necessary during their  lifetimes. The sad part is that for us they've become some what of a lost art. I'm excited to see that there are people in our generation who are wanting to learn these skills again. Anyway, last year a couple ladies from our church taught a large group of us the basics to knitting and we made scarfs. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then, this year hats have been totally in season and in style, especially for little girls. So I thought I'd learn how to make some for my daughter. So, I called up my friend and asked for some more lessons! :) Here is the final result from my first knit hat:

I have several different style and colored flowers that I put on clips and will change them out to match her outfit. I figured that would be easier then knitting a billion hats! ;) I have totally fallen in love with this new hobby though and am currently working on a thinner white one and a multi-colored hat for her. I've already had a few adult requests too! ;) I've really enjoyed this aspect of learning new skills and finding our way to doing things the 'old fashion' (simple life) way. 

This hat would've cost me about $20, but I made it for about $2! :) And that doesn't even include the skill I've gained.

Soap Refill

While I was at the store shopping for some household items, I did some comparison shopping. I had the soap refill bottle on my list, but while I was there I wanted to see how valuable of a purchase that is. Wow! Is it ever worth it! Here's a little bit of the numbers for you: The cheapest bottle (generic brand) of hand soap, same brand that I was buying and same "kind" was a 7 oz bottle for $0.94, good buy, right? Not so fast...the large refill bottle is 64 oz for $3.84. I did the math and the smaller bottle is two times more expensive per ounce ($0.13 for the smaller bottle compared to $0.06) and you'd have to buy 9 bottles to get the equivalent amount as the larger one. So you'd actually end up spending $8.46 for the same 64 oz. of soap. I'll take the large refill bottle, please! ;)

Not to mention the convenience of having it on hand and just refilling your bottles when necessary. Also, this price comparison was done with the cheapest bottle, imagine how much you could be saving if you've been buying a more expensive brand or from a speciality soap store which could run $5-8 per bottle.

Sidenote: If you love the foam soap I found a great recipe for making it online. I haven't tried it yet, b/c I'm currently satisfied with my refill soap, so I haven't needed to & I don't have the foam bottles. Although, it would make mine last even longer, so maybe I'll try it! ;) Anyway, after finding out that it's basically a little soap and mostly water, I've decided it's a total scam and someone is making millions off of us buying about a tablespoon of soap per bottle. Just thought I'd give you that little warning! ;) So, if you'd like to make some, keep your foam-style-pump bottle and check out this recipe, it'll save you hundreds. The millionaires don't need your money anyway! ;) If you like a little more instruction or ideas of how to get the foam dispensers, try this site.

Laundry Soap Solutions

So I've noticed on other websites that people have had trouble with the homemade laundry soaps. A lot of people have complained about leaving clothes a little dingy, which I can see too. Others have complained about a foul smell, but I haven't noticed that problem at all. The Fels-Naptha smells strong in mine. Anyway, I saw a recommendation from Grocery Shrink newsletter where a lady  wrote about this great product called Mrs. Stewarts blueing liquid. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to probably get that to add to my laundry to see if it helps keep clothes looking nice and fresh. Thought I'd pass that on to anyone else who may be using some homemade laundry soaps. 

Bread Crumbs--Lesson Learned!

Common sense tells me that IF...

1. Stale bread molds quickly
2. Stale bread that was frozen, was frozen, to keep it from molding

THEN...

Bread crumbs made from stale bread should either
1. be used immediately
2. be frozen for future use

and NOT left in the pantry to mold

Yep....that's what common sense would do, but apparently not me. So, for those of you making bread crumbs, take it from me--you should definitely do what common sense would tell you to and NOT what I did! :-/

Just passing that on, in case someone else may have been tempted to ignore the advice of "common sense." :)

Pass the croutons, please!

I just got this idea from my friend Jessie and it's so good I had to share with all of you!

Remember all that old bread that you were storing in your freezer to make bread crumbs with? Well, here is another way to use some of it. Homemade croutons.

Cut up stale bread into cubes
Place it on some wax paper on a cookie sheet
Season with some butter, salt and herbs
Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, flipping them half way through

Almost as easy as bread crumbs! I think I'm becoming a big fan of stale bread. Who has another use for it?

My To Do List

I'm discovering all kinds of ways to save money that I had never even thought about. So, I'm making a list of money saving ideas to do as I get a chance. I'm sure this list will grow as I keep researching and learning more about cutting out unnecessary expenses and protecting our world.


Here's what I have so far:


*Make reusable swiffer covers--genius idea I never even thought of! Click on these links for ideas and patterns. Reversible Cover , Fleece Cover and Duster, Duster "how to"
*Make homemade dryer sheets
*Transition to homemade/natural cleaners like vinegar, baking soda, borax, washing soda, etc. for most, if not all, household cleaners
*Limit Paper Products: Use cloth napkins instead of paper (I'm hoping to make a few sets of cute ones out of scrap fabrics to save on the cost, unless I can find them at the $1 store or on clearance), cloth rags instead of paper towels (this is such an easy change and it costs nothing to use old clothes, old washcloths or towels instead of throwing them away or donating them). 
*Use Rain Water- we want to look into setting up a rain barrel or finding a way to store up rain water to use it for our garden. You can also plant a garden that soaks up the rain well, so there is less waste too. 
*Make/use a gray water system. This is basically a bowl that sits in on your sink that connects to a larger container under your sink. The purpose is to use your gray bowl when you're waiting for water to get hot/cold so you are essentially saving that water into a container rather then letting it run down the drain. You then use your gray water for cleaning, gardening, etc. 
*Find ways to reuse/recycle more products we use
*Start stretching our meats by trying recipes that add a stuffing to them. Never would have thought of this, but it makes perfect sense. You end up using less meat, but can get really full from meats that have extra yumminess tucked inside them. 
*Become a better grocery shopper--come prepared for what we really need/will use, use a coupon system, watch for specials & coupon combinations
*Organize my stockpile in the pantry and freezer to avoid wasteful spending and things going bad. 
*Plan weekly/monthly menus to avoid extra spending on "quick meals" or unused groceries and also to make meals based on local sales and planning in using our "stock pile". 


I've already started working toward some of these plans, but some will take more time. I'm excited for the possibilities these ideas open up. I'll be sure to give you updates on my progress and what I learn along the way. As always, I love hearing your ideas and suggestions too, so please fill me in! :) 


By the way, I'm currently addicted to Tipnut. That has to be one of the greatest websites. If you go to the   "household tips", you'll see a list of other sections like "frugal living", "green living", "homemaking" and some others, but that way you can browse things that may be more specific to your family's needs. It's fantastic! 


Happy saving, friends!

Canning, canning, canning...

This week I've been doing some canning again and I'm sure in the next few weeks I'll be doing even more! Last Wednesday my neighbor and some other friends got together to can pickles. This is the first time I've ever done it and it's really not hard at all! I didn't realize how simple it really is and if you like them whole it's very little prep work too. We just made dill this time, but there are plenty of mixes for other varieties as well. For the half bushel of pickling cucumbers my neighbor spend about $10 and we got 15+ pint size or quart size jars! Compared to the grocery store prices, which can be quite expensive, it was a great bargain. We did leave some whole, sliced some into circles and then sliced some length wise for "stackables". It was a great learning experience and doing it with great company made it extra fun.

Then, over the weekend we went to a local organic farm that is just up the street from us, maybe 5 minutes away. We love going there and have made it a tradition every summer since our oldest has come along. The thing that makes this farm special and extra fun is that they have huge berry patches and let you pick your own. They grow raspberries and strawberries, so we usually take home some of each. They are delicious and being that they are organic, local and fresh makes me even happier about feeding them to my family. This weekend we went with the intention of getting a good amount so we could use the berries to make jam. Typically berries are always a little bit pricier produce item, so we paid about $17 for all that we picked. This is also my first year making berry jams too. We did a peach and cinnamon preserves two years ago which was really yummy, but never just berries. It really is not difficult at all and takes very little time compared to other canning recipes. This is one I would highly recommend for a beginner. It's not overwhelming, could be done alone, takes very little prep time and can be totally finished in about 1-1 1/2 hours. Our final result was 16 jars of jam, 7 raspberry and 9 strawberry. One of my favorite things about the jams we made is that they are sugar free too. The sweeteners in them are honey and agave nectar which have a lot less negative health effects then white sugar. AND the recipe called for 3/4 C of honey/agave compared to 3 C of sugar! Great perk, right?!?!

We haven't tasted any of our most recent canning goods because both the pickles and the jam take a couple weeks to really set and get their flavor. So, I"ll be sure to post about them when we've tasted them to let you know how we like them.

Within the next few weeks we'll be doing some of my favorite canning projects: salsa and marinara. They are great money saving options throughout the year too. I'm planning on getting my ingredients at a local farmer's market that lets you fill a gunnysack (large cloth bag) full of the produce you chose for
$10! So, I'll be loading mine up with all the ingredients I need for canning that we don't already have in our garden. I'm excited!

Better than Gerber

Who ever thought paying $0.85 per serving of baby food was a good idea? I know it wasn't the parents! If you have or have had kids you know that those baby food jars add up insanely fast, especially if you have a big eater in your house. When our daughter was getting ready for that stage I learned about homemade baby food and figured we'd be trying that first, over the overpriced jars at the store. I know you can make the cereal from scratch too, but I found a store here where I could get that (even organic/all natural ones) for $0.99/box so I just did that.

I found that making baby food is really quite simple and a way to cut a huge expense from your family grocery budget. Due to the seasons my kids were born I was able to get most of my produce for them at farmer's markets or out of our garden, but that doesn't have to be the case. You'll still save a large amount of  money even using organic fruits and vegetables from your local grocery stores & even more if you chose to skip the organic ones.

This is what I did. I went to the store and got several things that I wanted to make for baby food. I'd chose things that gave a good variety of nutrition, color and tastes. So my basket usually had the following items in it: a bundle of spinach, a large bag of green beans, a bag of peas, a broccoli, a cauliflower, a butternut squash, a few sweet potatoes, a few avocados and then some fruit like pears, apples, peaches, mangoes, and maybe bananas. Usually I'd spend between $15-25 for all that produce, depending on sales and amounts. I was the "mean" mom that made my kids eat their greens first. So I started with all the bitter greens for my kids. I've heard that avocado is actually an excellent first food nutritionally and it happens to be one of the easiest to make. My reasoning behind the greens first was that if I gave them the things that had a stronger taste first then they'd enjoy the rest as they got sweeter, but would've already been used to the bitter ones and not turned them down every time they were on their plate. I don't know if it really works, there really is no science to it, but neither of my kids have been picky eaters, so maybe it did help.

*To make avocado: peel it, cut it up, put it in a food processor or blender and it's done. If your baby is able to have a few chunks in their food, you could mash it with a fork even. No cooking required! :)

Once we were home I'd get to cooking. Again, this is something you want to allow a decent amount of time for because it's easiest to do a lot of it at once to avoid having to keep getting all your equipment back out. Although, if it works better for you to do a little at a time then that works just as well.

First, I wash, peel, and chop what needs it. Once I have one of the veggies prepped I start steaming it. I've read that steaming is the best method of cooking to maintain nutrients compared to other methods, so that's why I went with that option. While the first batch was steaming, I'd be prepping the next veggie. After the first one was done steaming I'd dump it all into my food processor (you could use a blender too, but the consistency may not be as smooth), add a little bit of purified water and let it do it's thing. Once it was smooth, I'd pour the prepared vegetable into ice cube trays, cover it, label it and put it in the freezer. That was the process I'd use for the next remaining fruit and vegetables until I had either run out of time, produce or ice cube trays.

The following day I'd remove my "veggie cubes" and put them into freezer zip lock bags labeled with the contents and date and store until I was ready to use them. Then I'd finish the rest of what I needed to make. There were times that I'd make it all in one day and store it in sealed containers in the fridge until my ice cube trays were ready and just fill them the next day. Having them frozen in that individual size made meals so easy because I'd take out the number my kids were eating per meal and warm it up, add cereal and it's done. It's also pretty easy to take places because I'd put a few frozen cubes in a sealed bowl and by the time I'd need it it would be thawed or I'd ask for hot water to add to it to make it warm enough for them to eat.

By the way, that one trip to the store would usually get me through 6-8 months of baby food. Of course, I'd occasionally supplement with more bananas or avocados (which I never froze, but probably could have) or adding berries, melons and other items as they were old enough to handle them. You will get A LOT of butternut squash out of one and same with the sweet potatoes, it doesn't take very much. The spinach cooks down the most and will not be a large supply.

A few things to keep in mind. It's important that you wash your food processor between each vegetable because of possible allergens that you may not know about yet. It's also not a bad idea to rinse the water and start fresh in the steamer, though I never got that specific about it.

I did keep some jars on hand for the times that we just needed the convenience of the jar, but I'd found a place here (the same one that sells the cereal for $0.99) that had jars for $0.10/jar and then they went up to $0.35/jar, but still very cheap compared to the regular price at the store.

For me the benefits out weighed the time it took on one or two days to make the food. For starters, I knew what my kids were getting. Everything was fresh produce that had never had any sugars, salts, seasonings or additives added to it. It was only steamed fruit and vegetables. The price was also a huge plus as I mentioned above, the savings are easy to see. Finally, I don't really feel like we lost most of the convenient factor either since the individual frozen cubes were easy to use.

So if you have a baby or have a friend who has a baby ready to embark down the road of food, give them the heads up--making baby food is a great alternative to Gerber!

Canning 101

It's the beginning of canning season for most people with summer produce needing to be used. A few years ago my husband and I decided to start canning from our garden. Our first summer canned salsa and marinara because our tomato plants produced amazingly well that year. My husband had a favorite recipe for marinara from his days of being the assistant chef at an italian restaurant in his home town. So, that's the one we chose to can. We did have to adapt it a little to make sure the acidity levels were right for canning, but that can easily be done by adding lemon juice or vinegar (you can look online for the amounts according to how much you are making). The salsa recipe we just searched for some online and picked one we thought worked well for our taste. During our garage saling days that summer we came across a sale where a lady had canned for YEARS and was getting rid of all her supplies, including her canning bath, tools, jars, extra lids, everything you need. She was selling her things for $1 a box!! AMAZING! So we spent $5 and walked away with everything we needed for that first year. After that first time, we were hooked. Now each summer we can something, usually several things and we've been trying new things each year and have really learned a lot about canning and really enjoy the process, using fresh and home grown produce, having a supply to get us through most of the year and being able to serve something healthy and fresh to our family and guests.

Of course every year we learn something new and have adapted our recipes and methods some to make things more efficient so I thought I'd share some of what we've learned with you. If there are other canners with great ideas, please fill us in too. We're always looking for better ways to do things.

*Give yourself plenty of time. Canning is not an instant project. It's something you'll want to allot a block of time to. For many canners, days/weeks are a more appropriate and realistic time frame because of the amount of recipes and produce they are canning. We usually do ours throughout the season for a day or two at a time. This is not a project you want to start at 7 or 8 o'clock one evening when you have to work the next morning. The prep work is usually the most time consuming. For recipes like salsa and marinara there is a lot of chopping involved so if you have a chopper or food processor those come in really handy. Some of that prep work can also be done the day before if you need to spread thing out over a couple days.

*Have a partner or two is helpful during several stages of the canning process. If you have someone to help you, take them up on that offer!

*Blanching-this is a process that helps preserve nutrients in your produce and is also a method of removing skin from things like tomatoes, peaches, pears, etc. The general idea is that you boil them for a few minutes and immediately put them into ice water. The skin will be cracked and easy to just peel off your with your hands.

*Once you have your ingredients prepped, you are ready to start cooking. Depending on what you're making it could be just a few minutes, but most things need to boiling for a set amount of time to ensure it is safe and healthy and preserved correctly.

*While you are cooking your food you should have your jars and lids boiling in a large pot to sanitize them and prepare them for the food.

* About the time your food is about ready to pour into your jars, you'll need to get your jars out and on the counter with a funnel. Pour your food into your jars allowing for the amount of space required for your recipe. Wipe the lid with a paper towel to make sure there isn't any food interfering with the seal of the lid. Place your lid (that was boiling) on there and lightly screw on the band.

* Processing the food- each recipe requires a certain amount of processing (boiling) time in your pot according to your altitude, size of jars and ingredients. All that can be looked up in your canning recipe or online. It needs to be completely submerged and standing straight up. You'll need a rack or something on the bottom of the pot to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pan.

*After you have boiled your jars for the amount of time needed you pull them out of the pot using the special tools for grabbing jars. Put them in a place on the counter where they can cool and usually after about 12 hours you can make sure the seal worked (the lid won't pop any more). If it did, you're all done and you can store things for later. If not, you'll have to re-process the jars that didn't seal.

*I forgot to add the funnel to this picture, you really should have one on hand for canning. 

During the cooking and canning, you have several things going on at once which is why a partner is helpful to help make sure you don't miss a step and things are ready when you need them. Some of the more simple canning recipes are fruit and jams. There isn't as much to prep or cook, so if you want to start with something that is less overwhelming that would be my suggestion. You can usually find a jam recipe right on the back of a box of fruit pectin (found in the canning isle, used to preserve fruit and an ingredient in jams).

If you give it a try let me know how it goes! Also, if you have done canning before and have other tips, fill us in on that too.

Stocking up for winter

This week has felt like a "stocking up" kind of week. On Friday and Saturday I went garage saling for some clothes the kids will need this fall/winter and hit a few jackpots! For just over $20 I think I have most of what they'll need. Some dressier clothes for our son, it seems like he has plenty of every day clothes as handy me downs, but needed some nicer clothes for church, weddings, parties, etc. So, I think I got enough to get him through at least until Christmas present time! ;) For our daughter, I needed pants! I went to put a pair of her pants on from the spring a couple days ago and they were short....all of them. :( I figured I better get them before garage saling season is over, so that was on the list this week. I found her 8 pairs of pants at one sale, $1 each! :) I also got her several pairs of pjs (all princesses of course!), a couple sweatshirts and t-shirts. I'm thinking I may need to get her some more long sleeve shirts as we go through the winter, but there is always plenty of that on clearance throughout the season, and there is also Christmas! ;) For now, I think we're ready for the change of season for both of them, we're all stocked up!

Of course, the kitchen is another place to get stocked up. As I mentioned we had all the apples to use, so I decided to bake apple/cinnamon muffins with some of the pulp (I still have plenty left for another couple baking projects) I had from the juicer. While I was at it I figured I should also use the shredded zucchini I had in the freezer since last summer to use for bread. Then, I got a sweet tooth and figured cookies should also be baked. Yes, crazy, I know! I've always heard of people doing like bulk baking/cooking days and freezing everything and it was always something I had wondered about doing. Well yesterday, I did it. I pulled out all of the baking supplies and went to work. Now our freezer is stocked with 30+ apple muffins, 30+ zucchini muffins, 3 loaves of zucchini bread, 2 frozen batches of cookies (slice and bake kind of idea). Then the pantry has 2 batches of chocolate chip cookie dry ingredient mixes ready to have the liquid ingredients added at a moments notice or the first sign of a snow day to be baked and our counter has a batch of cookies calling us to eat them every time we pass them by! WOW! Of course, never forget the mess these things leave behind too...yes, I have that too. It was nice though to finally use those things that I have had and figured, I'll use them for baking and just never seemed to remember to do it. Now this year, I have them all prepared and at the first thought of company I have breakfast, snacks and dessert covered! The important things, right?

A few things I learned:
1. Don't do this if you aren't a multi-tasker, it requires thinking about a lot of things at once
2. Making similar types of recipes and just doubling/tripling them works better then multiple types of ideas
3. Clean as you go...you'll end up needing those same supplies again anyway, so keep cleaning them.
4. I wish I would've borrowed some bread pans for this project and I could've had more in the oven at a time and been more efficient.
5. Pray that this is the day your kids take long naps and wake up in a good mood! :)

Not that I'm at all ready to see the summer warm days full of playing outside, hanging out by the pool, sitting out on the porch in the evenings, BBQ dinners and suntans go away--but now I'm ready for the change of weather when it inevitably comes. I'm trying to embrace it...

All things apple

Do you have a supply of large kitchen appliances that take up half your kitchen space and seem to be used just a few times a year? Well, yesterday I put nearly all of them to work! I'm sure today and tomorrow they'll be getting used too.

Yesterday afternoon I spent a lot of time cooking! I had bought a large box of organic apples (I think around 30lbs) for $30 and they were needing to be used. Of course we weren't going to be eating 30lbs of apples in the next couple days, so I made an apple canning list. The thing I love about fruit is that you can make so many great things out of them. This year we decided to make juice (we have a juicer--one of those big appliances I mentioned), apple cider (my husband's idea, which I like), applesauce, apple butter (but that might not make the cut after all), canned apples (for baking cakes, pies, etc). I'll also have all the apple pulp from the juicer to use for baking muffins, breads and cakes frozen for future use. Well, all that meant I had to do some serious amount of cleaning, chopping, cooking, and canning to do.

A few days ago I juiced about 20 or so apples and that juice was in the fridge waiting to be finished or made into apple cider. So yesterday, I dealt with that by draining the chunks and putting it in freezer bags to pull out when we are running low on juice. It's basically the frozen concentrate idea because we'll have to dilute it with some water before using it too. I also juiced about another 20-30 apples, drained it and froze it to make into apple cider maybe today or tomorrow.

This was about the half way point in the box!

After cleaning up that mess and picking out all the "really ready to be used" apples that were still left I got to work on applesauce. How did we ever know how to do things before google? I had no idea how to make homemade applesauce or how to can it, so I did what most people do and googled it. Here is the recipe I found. Basically, you wash and slice your apples, put 1/2 inch of purified water or apple juice in the bottom of a stockpot and boil them until they become really soft.

This was probably about half the amount I used being washed.

Ready to boil/steam for a while. 

After they are cooked you pour your apples into a food processor until it's smooth or the consistency that you like.  Pour it back into the pan to keep it warm and add cinnamon to taste. I used one tablespoon and that was perfect for us. That's it, applesauce made. :) 

Then, we went through the canning process and now have 6 pints of applesauce for our pantry. 

That's a really nice final result from your hard work isn't it? And then there is this...

the mess you made waiting for you at the end! That's my least favorite part, but it'll be worth it to have so many great things on hand that are healthy, free from preservatives, extra sugars/salts, and unnecessary packaging. 

Not bad for a box of organic apples, right? So far we have apple pulp for baking at least several baked goods, several jugs of juice, a few jugs of apple cider (almost done), 6 pints of applesauce and another ?? pints of canned apples (still need to finish). The other cool part is that for nearly all of these things, other then some water and some seasonings, I haven't used any other ingredients! 

A grocery store scam!

Thanks to Rachael Ray I'm now using my stale bread! Several months ago I watched her cook up some great looking meal (like usual) and while she was cooking she threw out a fantastic tip. (Who says TV isn't good for anything?) Her meal was using stale bread that she had frozen, which in of itself was a great idea. BUT the tip I liked and used today was to use it to make bread crumbs. She basically puts stale bread in the freezer until she has a decent amount stored up and then throws it into the food processor and voila--bread crumbs. Easy, huh? Well, I've been compiling a serious amount of stale bread since then. You know the random hot dog bun that doesn't have a hot dog to marry it, the butt of the bread that only 10% of the world's population enjoys so the rest of us throw it away, the hard & deformed english muffin that got shoved to the back of the fridge. I know you've got them, people! Why not make something useful out of those poor sorry pieces of bread? Anyway, I did and I think it took me a whole 5 minutes to whip up a huge amount of bread crumbs. I grabbed my big bag of random breads that had dried out (watch out that you don't use any with mold on them!), threw a bunch in the food processor, poured it into a ziplock bag, labeled it and DONE!

After doing that today, I saw how easy that was AND how "unwasteful" making your own bread crumbs can be. Then I thought, what a scam! They've been selling us this stuff at the grocery store for years and charging around $2 a tin for stale bread! It's almost as big of scam as bottled tap water. So, there you have it, a really simple way to use something you were going to throw away and save you a few dollars at the check out line. Thank you Rachael Ray! Breaded chicken for dinner anyone? 

P.S. I should note to all my local readers: if you need bread crumbs, I'm sharing! :) I have a TON as you can see. Let me know if you want some.