Clove Orange Ornaments

Have you made these before? I remember seeing them when I was a kid, but we never made them. I decided to try it with Titus and Naomi- it was alot of fun!

Clove Orange Ornaments
Oranges
Whole Cloves
Ribbon
Straight pins



I cut 2 lengths of ribbon, made an "X", placed the orange over it and wrapped the ribbon up around it and stuck a straight pin in to hold the ribbon in place on the bottom of the orange. Then I used a meat thermometer, (because that's the only pointed thing I had!) to poke holes in the orange. The kids pushed the cloves into the holes. I tied a ribbon bow and then cut a large piece of ribbon and looped it for a hanger. criss-crossing all the ribbon/bows on the top I stuck in a couple more straight pins at an angle so it wouldn't pull out just by being hung.

Cinnamon Roll Bread

One of my favorite things that I remember my mom making. I love it toasted with butter on it... and there is always one gooey spot, I would save that for last, because it was so yummy!

I use my recipe for Basic White Bread:

Basic White Bread
2 c. warm milk (I often do 1 c. cold milk and 1 c. not quite boiling water)
1 T. yeast
1 T. honey
Mix and let set for 10 min.
Then add:
2 tsp. salt
2 T. olive oil, coconut oil or butter
5-6 1/2 c. flour (this is also good with 1-2 cups wheat flour)

As the mixer is going add the flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the mixer. Let it knead (mix) for 10 minutes.
Let rest and rise in the bowl and then mix it before it falls out over the edge, typically about 30 minutes, but if your house is cold may be longer.
Dump the dough onto a floured countertop, split dough into 2 equal parts, roll out one at a time into a rectangle about 10"x18", (it does not need to be exact!)

Now you have your choice of filling- mine lately (just because we have cut back on sugar is):
drizzle with:
molasses
honey
and sprinkle on:
cinnamon

Or you can do it just like a cinnamon roll:
Spread with:
butter
Sprinkle on:
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon

Raisins can also be added.

Roll up, jelly roll style, tuck the ends slightly before putting in greased loaf pans, so the loaf is smooth on top and all edges are tucked under the loaf.
Let rise in warm place approximately 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and pans and let cool on wire rack.

Peppermint Lip Balm

A few months ago a friend of mine suggested we get together and make homemade deodorant, while she was looking for different recipes she also found one for lip balm. It was so easy and worked so well! We've used it now for a couple months and have loved it.
We bought little tins from the health food store, but I had one chapstick tube that was almost empty, so I filled it up. It worked so well! So I decided I would get some lip balm tubes before I made them again. I found some fairly inexpensive ones on Etsy.com so I got 50. I made this batch of lip balm and it filled 42 of them!! So, I am selling some on my Etsy store... we would have enough for years otherwise!!

The recipe is really simple and flexible:

Peppermint Lip Balm
1/2 c. coconut oil
1 oz. beeswax
Melt over med heat (or in microwave) and then add:
Vitamin E oil (several drops or squeeze out 1-2 capsules)
Peppermint essential oil (I used about 15, depends on the strength of your oil, you may want to add only 5 drops)

Mix and pour into containers. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes and it's ready to use!

Basic White Bread

I make 4 loaves, but have adjusted the recipe for just 2 loaves, since most people don't need 4 loaves at a time. I am not one to want to feed the kids all white bread, so don't make it often. But I am out of wheat and need to order it, school has started and homemade bread is cheaper and healthier- even if it's white, I make it with honey, avoiding processed sweeteners, preservatives and hydrogenated oils.


Basic White Bread
2 c. warm milk (I often do 1 c. cold milk and 1 c. not quite boiling water)
1 T. yeast
1 T. honey
Mix and let set for 10 min.
Then add:
2 tsp. salt
2 T. olive oil, coconut oil or butter
5-6 1/2 c. flour (this is also good with 1-2 cups wheat flour)

As the mixer is going add the flour one cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the mixer. Let it knead (mix) for 10 minutes.
Let rest and rise in the bowl and then mix it before it falls out over the edge, typically about 30 minutes, but if your house is cold may be longer.
Dump onto floured counter, and split into 2 equal parts. Flatten each piece, (one at a time) so it's about 12"x 6". Roll up. Tuck ends under and place in greased loaf pan so that no edges of the dough are visible- they are all tucked under, so it looks nice and smooth.
Let rise in warm place approximately 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and pans and let cool on wire rack.

Grocery Budget

My kids are eating more. I knew it would come, but they ate alot before, so it still surprised me just how much food we would go through. Brian is working a really physically demanding job now and he's eating more too... and on top of it all, I've been working at getting healthier foods into us. That seems to equal more $$. We didn't get any venison last year, so thankfully people have blest us with extra meat, we've had quite a bit- beef, venison, elk, it's all been a great blessing. But I have had to buy some too, which I normally don't have to. I'm thankful that hunting season is only 2 months away and there will be 5 of us out hunting this year. Each of us can get 3 deer, so I asked Brian to set aside money for processing... because frankly, I don't want to butcher 15 deer. If we get an elk or 2 we would be set. I should start praying now, eh? :-)

Looking back on my blog I found that I spent $250 for groceries in April 2008 (menu here). I impress myself. LOL! But I know I was doing a "pantry challenge" at the time.
Since then I really have changed what we eat so much. I look in the pantry and there are:
Dried bean and rice
2 boxes of pasta (penne and macaroni noodles)
raisins
A couple cans of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste
Salsa
Various spices to replace the ones that are almost used up
Hot Chocolate mix that I bought at Costco before we went off sugar and now I don't want to use
Candy from making our "traditional" ginger bread house (and I'll continue to save the candy... we'll use it up this Christmas- why toss it just to buy more?)

These days I have a budget of $650. month. I have a really hard time staying in that budget. We eat alot more fruits and veggies than we used to, for my "quick" meals I get things like high quality sausage that just need to be heated on the grill.
I try not to buy much canned stuff, because from what I've read the plastic lining of alot of cans has BPA in it. (Please do your own research on this if you have questions, I'm not an expert). I try to only buy things that I know what the ingredient list says and nothing with nitrites/nitrates or the dreaded MSG.

Last night we had a delicious dinner- steak, corn on the cob, grilled zucchini and asparagus and some fresh peas. I don't usually make bread/rolls in the summer because of the heat. But as I looked at my plate with all the meat and fruits and veggies, I realized how much I have changed. And maybe $650/month is really good for a family of 7.

Nap time is over, so I'll have to stop my ramblings for now.

Have you been changing how you cook? If so, how and why and how is it affecting your budget?

Pumpkin Cake

Like many of my favorite recipes they don't happen on purpose... I ran out of eggs and had to make a cake, so I had some extra pumpkin and decided to use it instead of eggs. It was really tasty! I figured it would be, as I love the pumpkin cookies. I (ashamedly) used a store bought can of chocolate frosting. I think it would be great with a cream cheese frosting too!

Pumpkin Cake
2 1/3 c. flour
1 TB. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. pumpkin
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla


Mix everything thoroughly, pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish greased. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Homemade Ice Cream

This is a first for me. It was alot of fun! Everyone in the family cranked on the ice cream maker for a while... and we have a hand crank one, which I think adds to the deliciousness of the ice cream! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was, as far as ingredients, etc.
I used a basic recipe that I found online and I would credit them with it, but I can't find it now.
I doubled the recipe to fit into our 5 qt. ice cream maker that we inherited from Brian's grandmother a few years ago. We made ice cream for our July 4th celebration and everyone loved it, so I think it's going to have to be our new Independence Day tradition.

Homemade Ice Cream
for 5 qt. ice cream maker
4 eggs
1 c. organic sugar
2 c. milk
4 c. 1/2 & 1/2
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat eggs until they are light and fluffy, slowly mix in sugar and then the rest of ingredients. Pour into inside cylinder of the ice cream mixer, follow mixer directions. Ours took about 45 minutes of cranking and about 1 1/2 large bags of ice. Oh and rock salt-- which grocery clerks no longer know what it is used for... so you have to ask for "Ice Cream Salt"... because they only carry "rock salt" in the winter time.
If you don't have directions with your mixer, layer ice and salt until it is full and continue to add more as it melts, keeping the middle cylinder covered with ice while you are mixing. The ice cream is done when it is very difficult to crank.