First Solo Canning Experience: Lemon Honey Marmalade

Today, I'm writing about the success of my FIRST canning endeavor. My mom and sister have set a tradition in my family of canning every harvest, mainly tomatoes or salsa. I decided to bite the bullet and try my hand at it. 

Armed with the book, Food in Jars, I started on the recipe for Lemon Honey Marmalade. Aldi had lemons for 20 cents a piece so I bought $4 worth and a whole jar of clover honey ($3.79). I also had to pick up some cheese cloth since the recipe uses the lemon seeds as the pectin source. 

I had to cut up the lemons by topping and tailing them, removing the seeds and cutting them into 1/4 inch wedges. This took about an hour and I was very thankful I didn't have any cuts on my fingers because all the lemon juice. 

After the lemons were sliced and put in a large pot, I bundled up the seeds in the cheese cloth and stuck it in the pot as well. I brought it to a boil and then lowered the temperature to just a simmer, keeping it on the stove for an hour. *Just a note, I love having a gas stove because it's so easy to adjust the heat*

After the hour, I turned off the burner and let the whole mixture sit out, covered, overnight. 

The next day, with a caldron sized pot of water on the stove next to the pot of lemons (I took out the lemon bundle and discarded it), I started to mix and prepare the lemons, juice, sugar, and honey into a sloppy mess. After I thought the mixture had cooked enough, I decided to put it into the jars and proceed with a water bath. 

I had prepared four pint jars in the hot water, but to my surprise, there was more marmalade left over. I didn't want to waste this mixture I had worked so hard for so I processed those four pints, and brought the lemon mixture back to a simmer so that it wouldn't set up. After the water bath for those four jars was finished, I processed four half-pint jars and filled those (so this recipe produced MUCH more than it said it would).  


When all the jars were processed, I realized they were sloopy and sloshy. So, according to the recipe, I waited an hour and checked back...still sloopy and sloshy. I guess I didn't need to worry about the mixture setting in the pot. I wanted to cry...two days of work and it wasn't setting into a nice chunky marmalade. 

Rather than throwing in the towel, I just waited overnight. Thankfully, the half-pint jars (the marmalade I put in those jars had cooked longer than the first set of jars) had set up. I was hopeful that the first set had cooked through enough to eventually set. 

After about a week, the marmalade didn't slide to one side of the jar if I tilted it so I realized I could do this! I could can like my mom and my sister and preserve yummy food I made!

My husband really enjoys this tart and soothing marmalade mixed with greek yogurt or on toast. I am really excited for when the weather turns cooler so that I can have a hot cup of tea with an english muffin slathered with this wonderful treat!

When All I Do Is Laundry

Between our new adventure of being parents and still figuring out my talents, my stage of life seems to contain load after load of laundry.

Cloth diapering produces a small load every other day. Then there is normally dirty baby linens and clothing which makes another load every other day. That does not include the three to four loads weekly of sheets, towels, and clothing my husband and I make.

I've gone from a carefree outlook on laundry where I only have one type of detergent and generic dryer sheets to now evaluating each load for it's specific needs. This could include an extra rinse cycle for the cloth diapers. Or what if our little bundle of joy spits up on my favorite shirt? Well, that's when the OxyClean comes into play, both powder and stain removing spray. Then the question of Dreft vs another detergent or maybe bleach?

The dryer had quickly become an elite club where diaper covers, biking jerseys, jeans, and sometimes pre-fold diapers are no longer welcome.  They have collectively joined together to take up prime real estate in my home on a drying rack.

Even though my laundry baskets are rarely empty now, I've come to terms with the fact that more and more of my time is going to be occupied by sorting, washing, drying, folding, and putting away laundry.

Take my word for it, I'm not super happy about being elbows deep in dirty clothing or constantly asking my husband to help me put yet another load of laundry away, but this increase in domestic responsibility can be "blamed" on one little guy, my son.

I'd do laundry 24 hours a day if it meant my son is in my life. I love him more than free time, more than a lower water bill, more than getting enough sleep. It's only 19 days that's he's been here and all I want is more! All I want is to hold him and see him discover, see him grow, see him change. If that means more laundry, BRING IT ON!!

First Buttercream and non-mix Cake

I never realized that when people said, "oh it's just a cake mix, no biggie," that there was any other option other than a mix.

I love cake, but I'm ashamed to say it took me a quarter of a century to make a cake without using a mix.

With friends and family that seem to bake as if they were born with a whisk in their hand, I knew this would change but was scared to try anything.

I found the following recipe on Pinterest: Sweet Potato Layer Cake with Molasses Buttercream

This was so easy to follow. The instructions were clear and with my limited baking experience, I was still able to have success. I still need to work on my icing techniques but the taste is amazing.

As I've mentioned before, my husband's sweet tooth is not as intense as mine, but he fully enjoyed the molasses paired with the sweet potato cake. I personally had to stop eating the frosting plain, or with strawberries, and with the cake itself because I would have made myself sick it was so delicious!!!

Now with my confidence, and sugar high, fed a bit, I want to try more! Now I just need more occasions or people to bake for!

Spring has Almost Spring Wreath

Here in Minnesota we have been hit with a long winter that simply won't let go. Winter hasn't taken the hint that the snow has melted off the ground three times. The snow keeps coming and the temperature is barely above 40 at its best. 

I've decided I have to have a bit of spring or else I might just go crazy! I want flowers and green trees and flouncy skirts. 

Where am I going to put this bit of spring since the trees aren't budding, I kill indoor plants, and if I wear a flouncy skirt I might freeze? My front door. 

I decided to make a wreath since the ones I found in stores were overpriced and looked really fake. 

I gathered the following materials

-Grape vine wreath ($4)

-Bunch of yellow daisies ($3)

-Ribbon (had it lying around)

-Glue gun and sticks (again lying around)

I picked the blooms and some of the greenery off the bunch of daisies so I could scatter them over the wreath. 

Pairing some of the blossoms with the greenery, I started arranging them all over the wreath concentrating the bulk of them in the lower right corner. Hot glue the picks into the wreath to secure. I made sure to turn the wreath over and secure both the base of the flower to the front and the end of the pick to the back of the wreath.

One way I made sure to space the flowers correctly was that I laid the ribbon where I would tie it so that I left enough spacing at the top of the wreath.

Tying a bow with ribbon and hanging on my door was my final defiance to winter.

Bring on SPRING!!!

Mint Puppy Chow

Pregnancy cravings still being active (even though I'm considered full term) I had make puppy chow to satisfy my intense sweet tooth craving.

However, we didn't have chocolate chips or enough peanut butter to make a batch. How was I going to do this? Well, I had some sold dark chocolate left over from Easter and thought maybe it could be enough. I chopped it up and it was hardly enough. I started scrounging around the pantry and found a bag of ANDIES MINT CHIPS!!!!

HALLELUJAH!!! 

So I decided to have an adventure... a MINT adventure, one of my favorites.

If you haven't ever made puppy chow, really you just melt some chocolate (1 cup), peanut butter (1/2 cup to a cup), butter (1/4 cup), and add a bit of vanilla (1 tsp); coat the cereal and then put it in a ziplock with powdered sugar and shake to cover all the pieces.

As previously stated, I didn't have the peanut butter so I just added more mint chips :)

This turned out great and I know it's not just my prego cravings because I've caught my husband sneaking a bowl or two and he doesn't really eat sweets.

This might turn into a thing... I could change the flavor to Nutella (thanks Jessie for the suggestion) or use different cereal.

I'll keep you posted if I get to experiment more.

ENJOY!

More Meaningful Gifts

We are so blessed in our society to have so many occasions to show those we love the ways we love them through meaningful gifts.

Since my pregnancy is coming to a close, I will be able to celebrate Mother's Day this year! I've dropped hints to my husband that there's also this idea of a "push gift" where he can give me a gift in the hospital. I'm a hint dropper...to a fault. I've told him too that he can combine those two gifts and get me something REALLY nice.

As I was thinking of other hints to drop as to what I want, maybe a necklace, maybe some crafting items, I get a letter from Operation Mobilization promoting their Freedom Climb. "The Freedom Climb is an opportunity for women in all stages, ages, and places to stand up and be a voice for women and children around the world who are enslaved, oppressed, exploited and trafficked today. "

The letter addressed the idea of honoring our mothers by helping those elsewhere who need it. The the letter grabbed my attention by offering a bracelet when you give $50 to support these girls (keeping two girls out of slavery). A lightbulb went off in my head and I handed the letter to my husband. This was my last hint to him: this would be great for Mother's day and the push gift.

I'm ashamed to say that it took this letter for me to remember those less fortunate. I hadn't even thought to look into this type of gift for marking this stage in my life. I am so blessed to not only to be having a child, but also to be where we are financially.

Imagine what we could do with our gifts by rather than going to the mall or the closest Target and grabbing just another item to wrap up! There are so many opportunities to support non-profits in this way.

I'm not saying that I will only ask for these types of gifts from now on. (Who would complain about getting a beautiful heartfelt gift of any kind?) But, why not make Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Birthdays, or Christmas so much more valuable by allowing your gift give back to those who truly need?

Quote and picture from OM Website

Cloth Diapering, So Many Decisions for One Little Bum!

Since my children are going to be my job (I'm so excited for my first day coming up!), I need to finish up my education on some things that will be important for the well being of my baby.

We've decided to cloth diaper from the start, except for in the hospital since the hospital will provide the diapers. I started searching the internet for help on navigating the new options of cloth diapering. It was Pandora's box...I never knew how much was out there and how many decisions this would require.

There are pre-folds, covers, inserts, All-In-One, All-In-Two, pocket style, and so many brands you can have a fun time making a parody of We Didn't Start The Fire by stringing them all together (I imagine it would be called You Didn't Change the Diaper? or something like that)

I found a great chance to have all this explained to me at my local parenting class center (Amma Parenting). They were hosting a FREE workshop put on by My Sweet Pickles. My husband and I made a date of it and got breakfast out before we went to the Saturday morning even. So many of our questions were answered and we were advised for the best options for our budget and commitment level. We were even able to start our stash with a Sale and Swap that they had after the seminar. My Sweet Pickles also offers free consultations for anyone.

With all this, there couldn't be any more great things that could come from this right? Wrong. The one thing I had never knew was that if rash cream was required, you can't use the go-to brands that I knew of. Creams like Destin and A&D Original contain fish oil or other ingredients that will coat the cloth diaper and not let it absorb anymore. Then the difficult process of stripping the diaper becomes your reality.

Amma to the rescue again! They sell Motherlove brand diaper rash cream which is safe for cloth diapers!

My husband and I are still treading the waters trying to make sure we don't get sucked into the tide of unnecessary accessories, but loving the flexibility of options for fitting our new family!