Good things are afoot!

So, in the last month or so a lot has happened.  I don't really want to go into all of the gory details, but suffice it to say, it has become time to make a change.

That being said.  My house is cleaner than it's been in longer than I care to admit.  I sold a bunch junk that I was guilt-tripped into taking at a flea market and made a few bucks.

I've been doing yoga again and I've been out hiking twice already this year. I got to take a friend who'd never been there, to Jim Thorpe and to Tuscarora

I'm eating better and more regularly.  I'm packing my lunches and actually cooking breakfast.  I'm making foods I enjoy, and prepping healthy snacks.

I've learned how much my wedding vows meant to me and how much that doesn't matter if you spouse doesn't feel the same.

I've learned that amazing people can be found in unexpected places and that my family and friends are pretty much the most amazing people in the world.

I've found that I'm happy.  Really happy.  I love my freedom and I don't regret where I am.

And I got the chance to remind myself that there really isn't any better place to be that with the people who care about me.

Canning!

So, we tackled a couple of small home canning projects the other day.  We made 3 half pints of pickled garlic, 2 of which were promised to friends in exchange for sharing the recipes they create with it and we made 8 half pints of Blueberry Lemon Jam.

Highlights:

• It takes way longer than I ever thought possible to peel an entire pound of garlic.
• We ended up with an extra jar's worth of garlic and brine.  I could have processed an extra jar, I guess, but - jackpot!  I don't have to peel any garlic for the tomato sauce I'm making tomorrow.
• I couldn't find my zester, so the lemon peel bits in the jam are a bit big, but it's delicious anyway.
• Even after the jam cooked over, all over the stove, we still ended up with extra!  More than I could fit in the water bath pot, in fact.

The jam I would totally make again, but I wish I knew why my jellies seem to randomly cook over?  I think I may be hurrying them to a boil, but I'm not sure.  So far, I've made 3 batches of jelly.  2 cooked over, one didn't and I don't know what I did different.

The garlic needs to sit, at least until tonight before I can open it to taste.  I may not have the patience for pickles, it's making me crazy waiting.  And I'm dying to see what Liam and Lisa come up with for it.  They're both excellent cooks and the only people I can trust to remember my food allergies without having to interrogate them for their ingredient list.

As for what we're making next?  The list of what I want to make includes pretty much then entire Ball Blue Book, as well as their whole website and a bunch of stuff on Serious Eats.  So, pretty much everything!

Anybody want to narrow it down for me?

How-To: Soda Bottle Drainage System

This is my second How-To Video, although the first one for THIS blog.

You'll need a soda bottle, a flower pot and sharp knife.  And of course, potting soil and the plant you want to pot.

Please be careful with the knife, I don't pretend I practiced good knife safety in the video, but you should anyway!  It's tough to cut something elevated enough to be in frame and also facing away from you.

Enjoy!

Hanging Gardens of My Kitchen

I've always wanted an window garden in my kitchen.  Grow a few herbs (this was before I realized I'm apparently incapable of growing herbs indoors) or maybe some tiny little succulents like aloe or hen and chicks.

THE PROBLEM:

I have one window with a good sill in my kitchen, and I have cats.  Who love the window sill.  Desperately.  And who are about as graceful as a dumptruck.

I figured my window garden was doomed.  Years ago, I had some plants on a little tray table in my apartment, and I was constantly picking the pots up from the floor.  I assumed this would be, if anything, even worse.

Then I saw a friend link to this list on Buzzfeed.com and the wheels starting turning.  It's all about small space and container gardens for not a lot of money.

THE SOLUTION:

Hanging window garden!

I don't have the plants yet, because apparently I'm crazy and you can't buy succulents at Lowe's in January, but otherwise I'm ready to go.

Total cost out of pocket = $16

• painted tin buckets - $4 at Target ($1 each)
• 7/8" dowel rod - $2.50 at Michaels
• curtain rod brackets - $6 at Bed Bath and Beyond (clearanced for $2.99 each)
• cactus soil - $3 at Lowe's (markdown for torn open bag)
• jute twine - was already laying around the house

Just need the valance/cafe curtains on the window and the plants for my buckets and I finally have my kitchen garden!

Laundry Day!

So everybody and their brother has a trick to keep your whites whiter,  and we all know, some of the work and some of them don't.  There's bleach, which works, but doesn't smell that great (unless you're my mom) and an assortment of whitener/brightners that work to varying degrees.  The Rit one pretty well, but it can be hard to find sometimes.

But what about your blacks?  How do you keep your blacks blacker?

Ooh!  I know!

More Rit Dye!  This is all you need:

1 pack Black Rit Dye
1/2 your usual amount of detergent
1 cup of white vinegar
a pile of faded black clothes.

Add your laundry and detergent the way you always do.  Then add the whole pack of dye and the cup of vinegar to the washtub.   Run through on a regular wash cycle, plus an extra rinse to get the excess dye out of your clothes and any residue out of your washing machine.

If any dye residue still remains in the washing machine, run a load with bleach, but no actual laundry, but I've only had this happen once, and it was when our old washer was acting up.

This can also be used for adding blue back into fading jeans or for re-dying and changing the color of items.  Changing a color altogether may take twice through with dye, but it depends on how dramatic a change you're going for.

Enjoy!

Herb Cubes

One of my favorite Hippy Tricks!

I love to cook with fresh herbs, I love to grow herbs.  However, I have terrible luck growing them indoors and it's worse in the winter!  So I buy them when I need them.  But at $2 or more a bunch, I hate to just use the little I need and then... what?  They don't last that long.  Especially once you've started chopping and tearing them to pieces.

So, this.  Chop your herbs finely (or not, depending on your preference) and portion them out in an ice cube tray.  Top them off with water and freeze.  Yes, they don't hold up that well in terms of appearance, but any juices and oils that they lose just end up in the water.

Once they're frozen solid, you can liberate your ice cube tray by just transferring them to a zipper bag.  Don't forget to label though!  You don't want a freeze full of unidentified green stuff in baggies.

This is also a great trick to help the cooking impaired in your house!  Premeasure the spices/seasonings for their favorite dished into ice cube trays, and notate how many cubes they need to add to the pot!  Perfect every time!

Christmas Cookies.

So, on Sunday, I decided to make some Christmas cookies.  But if you know me, you know that A) I try to tailor things very specifically to the people they're for and B) I don't do anything halfway.  So there would be NO ORDINARY COOKIES!  Well, except one batch, someone's favorite cookie is Sugar Cookies.

I had 4 cookie gifts to make and this is the criteria I was up against.
1) Sugar Cookies are Tom's favorite.
2) Marnie loves Chai Tea.
3) Dane specifically asked that I make my Chocolate Cherry Cayenne Cookies again.
4) I needed something Super Special for Eric, who had given me NO HINTS.

So, grab for the Cooky Book (I have a reprint of the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book) but it's NOWHERE.  GONE.  Probably packed up in the basement.

But that's what the internet's for, right?

Search:  Sugar Cookies.
Found:  Allrecipes.com Easy Sugar Cookies, that though bookmarked, I can't find again because the bookmark apparently directs to All Recipes Argentina, even though it didn't 2 days ago.  And a new search yields the same error.  But at any rate, they turned out to be chewy, sweet, perfect sugar cookies.
Result:  I'm not sure Tom's kids actually got any of them, because I don't think they survived the day at work.

Search: Russian Tea Cookies.  I'm thinking that these are a pretty bland cookie on their own, but could easily be changed into a Chai Tea Cookie.
Found: Betty Crocker's Russian Tea Cakes.  We mixed some good cinnamon from Penzey's into the powdered sugar for rolling them in, subbed chopped almonds for the usual walnuts or pecans, and used Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte Mix instead of most of the powdered sugar in the dough.  After accidentally throwing a few on the floor, we discovered an awesome, mild, spice cookie with a hint of black tea.
Result:  Marnie loved them!  And shared with Carol who agreed!

Search: Nestle's White Chip Chocolate Cookies.  I have it here somewhere!  Ah, there's the bag of white chips.
Found:  After tearing the kitchen apart, I found the recipe I based my Chocolate Cherry Cayenne Cookies on.  I use the same recipe for the dough, but Semi Sweet Chips instead of the White, and then I add Dried Cherries, more of the cinnamon from Penzey's and ground Cayenne.  Except this time we had Cherry Flavored Cranberries instead of Cherries.  (Oops, grabbed the wrong thing in a hurry)
Result: I already know that Dane loves these cookies.

Search: Unique Cookie Recipes.  I still need something for Eric and I'm out of ideas.
Found: After a few false starts, (I didn't have parchment for Meringues, and so on) I settled on Thumbprint Cookies thinking I had to have some kind of interested thing to add to these.  And I found it in the pantry: Blueberry Limoncello Jam from Bittersweet Herb Farm.  I added a few packets of True Lemon to some water to dissolve it and added that, plus a bit of extra flour to the cookie dough and topped them with the Blueberry Jam.
Result: I haven't heard from Eric, but everyone else who's had them loved them!

So all in all, a successful cookie baking day.  I'll get some of the details of the recipes posted over the next few days, but for now, I need to get onto the laundry I've been avoiding.