Food Storage Part 1 of 3

Oh PEAS AND CARROTS!!

I finally dehydrated some veggies and they came out great. I used 1 bag of frozen peas because I couldn't find fresh. The only thing is because they were frozen I did not blanch them before I dehydrated them and I just put them in some cool water briefly to get the icicles off. They turned out nice and green and they taste great.( seeing as how they are dehydrated now)





I also dehydrated some carrots. They came out bright orange and kept their good slightly crunchy texture and flavor. I used 2 lbs of carrots and that dehydrated filled up 1 8 ounce jar. The peas were 1 bag of peas which also when finished filled up a small 8 ounce jar.

Food Storage Part 2 of 3

CANNING BUTTER!!!
So We learned in food storage class how to can butter and I could not belive how simple it is. I also thought what a great thing to have because sooo many recipes call for butter and if we end up without electricity we will still be fine.

Step 1 is to melt the butter in a saucepan over med. heat until melted and simmering.Let it simmer for a minute and then take your heated jars( you put them in a warm water bath until you are ready to use them.)and fill the jars with the melted butter. Place the lid on and tighten until finger tight. You then flip them over to seal.You will need 2 1/2 8 ounce jars for 1 pound of butter.
This is what it looks like after you just put it in the jars.



The most important step in all of this is you have to turn the jars ( not shake) back and forth a few times every 5 minutes to keep the butter from separating...Once the jars are cool enough and sealed you may put them in the fridge to continue cooling but you have to continue to turn them until solid...
This is the turning process...





You will know when you are done when the butter has solidified and turned a milky yellowish white color. Then you can place on the shelf like any other canned good. I was told the shelf life is around 2 years.

Food Storage Part 3 of 3

MAKING STRAWBERRY JAM=) YUMMY !!!!!

Well I decided to take a leap and after going to a food storage how to class on Jam making I tried it myself. I loved it. The first batch came out horrible of course but the the following 3 came out beuatifully. The first one is going to be used for ice cream etc. because it did not set properly.

This is the Sure Jell that is used to actually make the jam set and jell.



These are the jars I got from Wal mart. You heat them up so that when you put the hot jam into them they wont break. It also helps them to seal.



The last batch I did after the kids had come home from school and I thought it would be fun if they all got to help. I love the idea of them helping because it is something I think they should learn to do and what better way than actually doing.



Our Gorgeous bowl of Strawberries



Chace's job was to cut the tops off of the strawberries.



Makai's was to dish out the sugar.



Shaylyn's job was to blend up the strawberries. We don't like chunks in our jam so blending it was our way of eliminating chunks=)



SMILE!



These are some of the jars upside down waiting to seal.



These are the final product. Amazingly yummy for our first attempt. We can't stop eating PB&J. It is that good.

Cabbage Update...

Its still growing. It is so fun to go out every day and see a new big leaf or more budding from the middle. I love it. So Here it is another week later and a little bit bigger.

It's Growing

Chace's cabbage plant is actually growing. If you look at the picture in our garden post and then look at this picture you can see how much it has grown in only 1 week. WOW. we are so excited because that means that with a little garden soil added, our garden is hopefully going to grow some nice veggies.



These other pictures are of a Tomato plant that Cr's grandmather started for us and as you can see it is also being productive.Yeah. We should hopefully have nice juicy tomatoes in just a few more weeks.Salsa anyone?=)

You can see the tiny, tiny little green buds..you can actually compare their size to my pinky finger.



This is a little bigger than the last ones and is starting to yellow



and this is the biggest one on the plant right now. Getting even closer to being done

Its that time of year again!!STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL!

The Strawberry Festival was so fun again this year. The best part of all was this was the first year Cr was off work and so he got to go enjoy it with us.Grandpa was also able to come which was also a special treat. Then we figured since everyone else was going why not invite Oma to come too. Anyway they had lots of fun things for us to play, ride and build. Oh and of course don't forget the chocolate covered strawberries. Yum.

This was Buddy a sheriff's department talking boat. He talked to Shaylyn about water safety and wearing a Lifejacket.



Our " Murphy " girl was a big hit with all the kids and she behaved like an angel. Here she is chillin in the shade.



The Home Depot Builder. This was a big hit with the kids last year too. They get to build something at the Home Depot spot and then they get to take it home with them.



Shaylyn chose to build a Treasure box.



She had fun putting the stickers on.



She had to go show Grandpa her cool treasure box.



Grandpa making a race car track with Chace.



Makai and Daddy had a good time making a tool box together. Gotta love the fact that Daddy was there=)






Shaylyn getting on the bouncy house.



Shaylyn got to meet the Chick Fil a cow! ( I LOVE Chick Fil A)



Shaylyn LOVED the Pony ride. Smiles!





Playing the Pop the Balloon game...one of many neat little games for the kids.





Makai and the Rock Climb. He went all the way up and rang the bell.



Shaylyn and a chocolate covered strawberry. Yummy!



After we left the festival we decided we had not had enough fun so we decided to go to the Zoo. We wanted to check out their new water play area. Talk about awesome. We loved it. There was enough water to get very wet but not enough to be concerned with Shaylyn drowning. They did also have a few lifegaurds in and around the water too.
The kids did not have time to walk around the rest of the area before they closed but I walked around to see what else was there.
They still had a dry playzone to climb through and they had a beachy area you could dig and build sand stuff. They also have the petting zoo area which from what I could see they have added a few animals from last time we had gone. They also still have the junior detective area where they get to prtend to be veterinarians and play with all kinds of different props etc. and they have a sand dig in there too. They also have cages with reptiles and other small animals. All I can say is it is worth the 100 bucks for a family year pass. Love it=)












Some VERY POOPED KIDS AND PUPS!!!!!!

More Recipes and such

so I had a chance to try that Granola bar recipe I said I was going to try in the last post. WOW. They are very yummy. The first batch I made had everything the recipe called for including the dry fruit.I did add about 1/2 to 3/4 of cup of almonds though. I found when they were done that the sunflower seeds were a little overpowering so I decided the next batch I would reduce the amount of sunflower seeds I put in. I am also not a dry fruit lover ( Cr likes dry fruit so I made those for him) and so I decided I would try the recipe again doing things slightly different and making them in a way I would like. So I reduced the amount of sunflower seeds and instead of putting in almonds I put in Macadamia nuts and baked those along with the other nuts. I also put into the mixing bowl with the oats a cup of White chocolate chips. Needless to say...YUMMO! ( I stole that from Rachael Ray)I am going to try another batch and put the almonds back in and just use semi sweet chocolate chips and see how that one comes out. Oh and you should know by now that Ilike to know if I am saving money by doing this. I already know they are healthier but with my budget if they aren't cheaper we will stick to the unhealthy stuff=)Anyway when I compared..WE like the Nature Valley chewy bars..they are 6 in a box for 3 something and you get a total of 7.4 oz. A batch of homemade weighed in at about 24 oz. When I took the ingredients I used and broke it down into individual serving costs I was at about 23 cents a granola bar. The store brand in roughly 60 cents per bar. So Now I know they are healthier and cheaper. You should keep in mind that to purchase all the ingredients to begin with can get pricey..around 20 dollars to begin with, however with the ingredients I can make 3 to 4 batches before having to purchase more nuts etc.Happy Granola Bar Making. ( here is the recipe again for those who need it) Here are the pictures of the finished product.

This is the White Chocolate Macadamia nut ones..



These are the dried fruit ones. They still taste good to me, I just pick out the fruit.



I also wanted to share the news about the Wheat Grinder I got. I used it the other day and showed the flour to our Food Storage and Baking Guru at church. She said that it was a medium fine flour and that my bread may come out slightly course. She said to try putting it through the grinder one more time. So it will be more time consuming but I think overall it is still going to work just fine for us and considering we couldn't afford the 200 dollar ones..this one will do just fine. This is the picture of the Grinder and of the Wheat after going through the grinder once.





I wanted to share this because I thought it might be something others may be interested in. my friend Raquel found these products on Amazon.com from a place called Barry Farms. She said I should check it out and I ended up buying several things from them. I got 3 one pound bags of Cheese powder at only 3.99 a piece, a one pound bag of sour cream powder for 6.79, a bag of Wheat Gluten( for bread making) for 3 something and 2 bags of 5 oz citric acid( used to treat fruits before you dry them)for 1 dollar a piece. My whole order with shipping was $25.26. The pictures are slightly decieving online because the bags look very big but in reality a one pound bag of cheese powder is only about the size of a can of pam spray. However it will still make a lot of servings of food because you only use small amounts at a time. We have already used some on popcorn last night to make cheese popcorn. Yummy. Anyway I just wanted to share the info in case anyone else wanted to buy some but maybe wasn't sure where to get it or what they would get if they did. Some other websites I found cheese powder on wanted 16 dollars for a pound so that is another reason I am sharing this info so you can get it for cheaper. Good Luck hope the info helps.