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I haven’t been posting much this summer about things I’ve bought at garage sales, mostly because I’m only getting a couple of item each week. Garage sales around here just haven’t been too good this year so far. Well, today I did really well. I got a bunch of winter clothing for me and for Riley! Maybe things are finally starting to pick up!
Here’s what I picked up for Riley:
3 pair Fruit of the Loom Long John sets $1 each (white, blue motorcross)
1 pair Carter’s PJ’s with dinosaur $1
not shown because I left them by accident in Marty’s truck, 1 pair PJ’s with snowboarder camo $1
1 Faded Glory Blue Stripe short sleeve T $1
1 Ranger brand Camo short sleeve T $1
1 Faded Glory gray stripe short sleeve polo $1
1 Levi’s brand camo short sleeve T $1
1 pair Levi’s Jeans $2
1 pair Faded Glory camo shorts $1
1 pair khaki shorts $1
Here’s what I got for me =):
1 Liz Baker Melon colored cardigan $3
1 Faded Glory Fair Isle Sweater $1
1 Bobbie Brooks red stripe sleeveless sweater $0.75
1 Sag Harbor lime green stripe cardigan $1
1 Liz Baker blue and black stripe cardigan $2
1 White Stage multi color stripe sleeveless sweater $1
1 River Ridge Trading Company red print broomstick skirt $3
1 St. John’s Bay denim prairie skirt $1
1 Faded Glory yellow long sleeve t with crochet trim $0.75
Recently, I bought some water kefir grains from Cultures For Health. I was really impressed with them, not only do they offer a lot of different cultures such as water kefir, milk kefir, and yogurt, but they provide quick service as well. I got my water kefir grains very quickly in the mail. If you need cultures, I can HIGHLY recommend Cultures For Health. The water kefir culture comes to you dehydrated. Before you can use them to make water kefir, they must be rehydrated. Rehydrating them is really simple. The first thing you need to do is to dissolve 6 tbsp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp. molasses in 4 cups of warm spring water. I simply put mine on my stove top and heated the water and sugar until the sugar dissolved (don’t boil). You want to use spring because it has a higher mineral content which the kefir grains like. You DON’T want to use water with any chlorine. I also chose to use organic sugar and organic molasses. The mineral content of your ingredient is important, especially if you want your kefir grains to multiply. The molasses has lots of extra minerals and so it really encourages them to grow. BUT, you can leave the molasses out if you want.
Now that you have the sugar water prepared, you need to let it cool to room temperature in a glass jar. Once it’s room temperature, you can pour the kefir grains in and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon. You don’t want the grains to touch anything that’s metal…kefir grains and metal don’t mix! Cover the jar with a coffee filter or towel and secure with a rubber band. This is so it’s still exposed to the air, but critters such as ants and fruit flies can’t get in it. Now, the mixture needs to sit for 3-4 days until the grains are nice and plum and the mixture has a bit of bubble to it. Don’t let the mixture sit longer than 5 days. Once the grains are all rehydrated, you can make your first batch of water kefir!
Here’s a picture of the grains after they’ve been soaking for 2 days:
When they are finally rehydrated and ready to make water kefir, I’ll post again with how to make water kefir! Looks like mine will be ready Saturday or Sunday, so I will probably post about it again on Monday.
I got the idea for this recipe, because I wanted to make Apple Cinnamon Jelly and all I had was powered cinnamon. The powdered cinnamon doesn’t incorporate well in the jelly (it all floats to the bottom of the jar…not so pretty!). I remembered that I had the Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice tea bags and thought that would be a YUMMY ingredient. I didn’t have much to lose, and if it turned out bad, I could always feed it to the dogs…lol! Well, this stuff is WONDERFUL and to top it off, it has NO added sugar! Marty says it tastes like apple cider made with candy red hots and came out a pretty red color!
Cinnamon Apple Spice Jelly
5 cup apple juice
5 Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice tea bags
1 to 1 ¼ boxes no sugar needed powdered pectin.
In a stockpot, bring the apple juice to a boil. Take off the heat and add the tea bags, cover and steep for at least 10 minutes, but up to 15 minutes. Squeeze tea bags well before removing. Add the powdered pectin and stir to mix well. Return mixture to a full rolling boil, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim off foam with a metal spoon. Quickly pour jelly into hot, sterilized jars, filling to 1/4 inch from top; wipe jar rims. Cover immediately with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process jars in boiling water bath 5 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Makes 2 pints & 1 half-pint or 5 half-pints.
Please keep my aunt, Jan Chapman in prayers. She’s in critical condition, but had been moved to her own room, palliative care team coming in today. This is my Mom’s sister and we are all very concerned. Will update my facebook/twitter with updated news when we receive it.
Marty’s boss has a fig tree right outside his office. He and his wife don’t eat the figs, so usually the workers just pick them and eat them as snacks. This year Marty asked him if I could come pick the figs so I could make jam. He said yes, so last Friday, the boys and I stopped by and picked a bunch. We decided to make Strawberry-Fig jam with them and BOY is it delicious!! This recipe is 100% sugar free and uses apple juice and the sweetness of the fruit alone.
Strawberry-Fig Jam
3 cups chopped strawberries
3 cups chopped figs
1 cup apple juice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 box pectin and about 1/4 of a 2nd box.
Prepare your jars by sterilizing them by boiling them in your water bath canner. Prepare the lids by putting them in a pot with water that was boiling and has been removed from the heat for several minutes. Leave the lid in the water until ready to use. In a large pot, mash together the strawberries and fig. Sprinkle the pectin over the fruit and heat on medium-high for 5-10 minutes until fruit starts a full boil. Stir all the while to keep from burning. Add 1 cup of apple juice and the cinnamon and bring to a hard boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and test for jell. Let stand for 5 minutes and then stir completely. Fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch head room. Put on lids and rings. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. Remove jars and let them cool. Makes 2 pints and 1 half-pint or 5 half-pints.
07-30-09 – UPDATE:
This is absolutely the most yummy jam ever! My boys are absolutely in love with it. I just wish I had enough figs to make more!
Thursday, we got to finally taste our sauerkraut and it really turned out pretty good! It’s still crunch and pretty sour! It wasn’t quite what we’re use to. But good none the less. What I was most impressed with, though, was the sauerkraut making jar. I purchased it from a company called The Raw Diet Health Store . Let me tell you, this jar did great! I can HIGHLY recommend it. I’ve personally known several people who tried making sauerkraut before, in crocks and jars, and they had a terrible time. Usually with mold and it going bad. This was my first time making it, and I figured that it wouldn’t be very good the first time. But boy was I wrong! The sauerkraut making jar from The Raw Diet Health Store, worked like a charm. It was easy and took out most of the guess work. I was also really pleased with the service from them, it was a quick and easy purchase and the jar arrived REALLY quickly. So, if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to make sauerkraut, I can’t recommend this jar enough. In fact, I’m thinking about purchasing a second jar to use for making pickles. I’m excited to try some other lacto-fermented recipes using this jar!
We love to make homemade yogurt around here out of raw milk from our goats. I decided to make some Labenah and thought I’d share the steps with you. It’s a really simple recipe…anyone can do this cheese!
Pour the yogurt into a reusable coffee filter set inside of a measuring cup (see above).
As you let it sit, the whey will drip out of it. I put mine in the refrigerator to drip
This is how it looked this morning after left to drip, about 18 hours. I’m serving it with supper, so I’ll let it continue to drip until them.
this is how much whey I’ve gotten so far (18 hours of dripping). I’ll store it in a canning jar and use the whey for my Nourishing Traditions cooking.
We’ve been making our own toothpaste for about a year and we just love it. It’s so easy to do and if CHEAP!! I brushed with it this morning and my teeth feel really smooth and clean. I got the recipe for this toothpaste at Seeking the Old Paths.
For this recipe you will need:
Coconut oil
Baking Soda
Essential Oil or Flavoring of Choice
Stevia
I also bought these Glad Ware mini round containers to put the toothpaste in.
The first thing you do in place about 2 tbsp. of the coconut oil into a bowl. You may need to soften the coconut oil a bit to make it easier to mix. I had to do this to get it where I could mix in the other ingredients thourghouly.
Next, I added to the coconut oil about 3 tbsp. of baking soda.
Next I added the stevia, I used about 4 packets of “Only Sweet” brand stevia. YOu can use more or less depending on personal preferrence.
Next, you want to add the essential oils and/or flavoring. My kids really don’t like strong mint toothpaste…Riley says it’s too “spicy”. So instead, I opted to add Pure Vanilla Extract and just a few drops of spearmint essential oil. This way it had a slight minty taste, but not over powering. Vanilla Mint flavored toothpaste!! YOu can flavor the toothpaste with any number of essential oils and/or flavorings. I want to try lemon and cinnamon sometime. Just make sure whatever essential oils you use are safe to consume! If you try this recipe with other flavors, please let me know how they turned out!
This is how the toothpaste looked after I’d added all the ingredients. Give it a taste and adjust the stevia and flavoring to your taste.
Pour it into the container you plan on storing it into. These Glad Ware containers were the perfect size.
I wrote the name of the toothpaste on top of the container and then popped in into the refrigerator to thicken back up. Coconut oil is a solid up to about 75-80 degrees. After than it becomes a liquid. You don’t have to store this in the refrigerator, I just wanted to hurry it up getting thicker again. To use the toothpaste, just dip your brush in to get some paste on your brush and then brush your teeth as usual. This paste doesn’t foam up like the toothpaste you’d buy at the store, but it does leave you teeth clean and smooth. People have been using baking soda to brush their teeth with for years. Coconut oil also has antimicrobial properties which is helpful to control germs in your mouth. But, most important, IT DOES NOT CONTAIN FLOURIDE! If you want, you can make a container for each family member, so everyone’s not dipping into the container, or portion a recipe out into smaller containers for individuals. You can also make it without flavoring and then mix in specific essential oils in the individual containers so everyone has their favorite =)
Last week, we got our new kraut making jar in the mail. I just LOVE this jar for many reasons. First of all, it’s very reasonably price. Right now, it’s on sale too – Regular price: $29.95 Sale price: $24.97. The second reason I really like it is that it just uses regular gallon sized jar, so I can use different jars and still use the same lids and such with it. So I can store the kraut in the jar and then start making something else in another jar.
So, this weekend we decided to give sauerkraut making a try. I call this my Sauerkraut Experiment #1. Our first batch should be ready on Thursday evening and I’ll be sure and post about how it turned out =). If it turns out yummy, there will be no sauerkraut experiment #2…lol!
The recipe I used is one that I made up using several different recipes and made it according to how my family likes their sauerkraut. I adapted a couple of recipes from Wild Fermentation and the recipe included with the kraut jar. For this recipe, you will need:
5 pounds cabbage
2 pounds carrots
3 tbsp. Real salt
1 tbsp. Caraway seeds
1 tbsp. Celery seeds
1 tbsp. Dill seeds
spring water
Grate the cabbage and carrots as fine as possible (I used a hand cheese grater).
Mix 3 tbsp. Real salt into the cabbage and carrots.
Add the caraway, celery and dill seeds.
Toss all the ingredients together and then start to pack into the jar, smashing and compressing it as you go.
I use a wooden cocktail muddler to smash it down.
If the cabbage is fresh, no water will need to be added, it will make it’s own brine. If not add spring water as you go, just enough to keep the cabbage covered. Do not leave any air spaces in the cabbage. Fill the jar right up to the bottom of the neck so the small cap can hold the cabbage down underwater properly. Insert the small cap UPSIDE down and level with the top of the jar. Fill the jar and small cap to very top with water. Take out the black plug in the large cap (don’t lose it!). Screw the large cap on the jar. A small amount of water should come out of the grommet hole and if not take the cap off and refill with water until it does. The object is not to have any air n the jar. Fill the air lock with pure water to the line on the outside cylinder. Put the cap on the airlock. Push the airlock into the cap Grommet until the tapered end is flush with the top of the grommet. Set the whole jar in a bowl or a tray to capture brine that may come out.. Let it sit for 4 days at a temperature of between 60-70 degrees. After 4 days, remove the airlock and replace it with the small black plug to seal the jar for refrigeration. Contents should last for months in the refrigerator.
Everything all in the crock and sitting on our wood stove in the living room to ferment for 4 days.
Isn’t it pretty! I can’t wait to taste it and am praying that it turns out yummy!!
07-27-09 UPDATE:
This turned out really good but a bit over salty. See total review HERE
Recipe originally from Tammy’s Recipes…
To begin with you will need:
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder or corn starch (I used corn starch, as I didn’t have arrowroot powder available…health food store was out)
5 tbsp. coconut oil
Just a note: I ended up having to add more baking soda & cornstarch, I think I ended up using 1/2-3/4 cup of each.
In a bowl, add the baking soda…
and corn starch.
Stir the baking soda and corn starch together with a fork (in my case, a spork…lol!)
Add the 5 tbsp. coconut oil
Mix the ingredients together well. Add more baking soda & corn starch as needed. You want this to be the consistence of stiff mash potatoes or playdough.
Place into smaller containers. I used some 1/2 cup sized mini Gladware bowls.
Since I really did not like the idea of spreading this on with my fingers, I added one of those “cosmetic rounds” that are used for putting on makeup. I think these are made from latex, but you can use other things as well. I just had these on hand and they work great for me. You can also put this concoction into an old rollup deodorant tube.
I just store the “cosmetic round” right on top of the deodorant and then…
Pop on the lid and label it! All done! I’ve used this off and on for about a year and even here in hot and humid Texas it works pretty well! It controls smell really well and kept me dry in moderate high temperatures. I can HIGHLY recommend this recipe!
