Butter Making In My KitchenAid

Something I thought I would never do is make butter. I do all my baking and cooking from scratch, so we use a lot of butter.  But, with the price of real butter at almost $4.00 a pound, I was kinda forced to "do something" about it.  I saw a post here and decided to give it a try.  (there are some video tutes on youtube as well)  I bought the cheapest whipping cream I could find. (hopefully next time I'll be able to get some on sale) and I put it in my KitchenAid.  Turned it on and let it go.  It took about 15 minutes total and my splash guard really helped.  The kids thought it was "awesome!"  It was very interesting to see it go from cream, to fluffy "whipped cream", to butter & buttermilk.  In the end I spend $3.25 on the carton of Whipping cream and I got 11.5 oz of butter and 2.5 cups of buttermilk.  The butter tasted amazing and the buttermilk whole wheat oat pancakes that we had that night were equally amazing.  The kids are now asking me for more!  I'll definitely be making more when I need butter and it's not on sale. 

The Start Of My Edible Container Garden

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a black thumb.  You may remember my post from last year about planting seeds.  Yeah... they all died.  We ended up buying two tomato plants and a strawberry plant.  Planted them in those upside down thingies.  Yeah.... those died too.

This year is they year! I am going to grow food.  I will not let my plants die of over or under watering.  I will produce something edible and yummy.  I started with some good container potting soil.  I bought some 10" tomatoes and some smaller bell pepper plants and a cucumber plant.  Some tiny herbs and strawberries and a blueberry bush.  Here are my tomato plants!

These pics were taken about 2 weeks ago.  The tomatoes are now about 8" taller than pictured.  They are doing great!  I've been keeping them watered and fertilized.  I've been pruning anything that is looking wilty and I've been making sure the stems are going over the wires for support.

Here are my other goodies.  In the blue pot are some  red and yellow bell pepper that are newly planted. Next to that is my green bell pepper plant.  I've had this one for a month or so now.  It currently has a 5" and a 4" bell pepper growing as well as a few 1" ones!  The small plant next to that are some zuchinni squash.  Next to that are green beans.  In the larger white pot in the corner is my blueberry bush.  I'm not expecting this one to do much in the way of fruit this year.  But, as the years go by it should start producing nicely.  In front of the blueberries are my strawberries.  These are growing like mad.  We've only had a few very small berries so far.  But, we all agree that they are the best berries we've ever tasted. - Just a note that the picture was taken 2 weeks ago.  All of the plants have grown quite a bit since then!

 And finally I have my herb table.  Missing in the front left is my basil.  We LOVE basil.  In the back left is cilantro and chives.  In the middle green pot is peppermint, sweet mint, and lemon something... In the back right is oregano.  This one came up from last years oregano.  And in the front right is Italian parsley.  Again, it's been 2 weeks since this photo.  All my herbs are doing great.

#10 Cans Of Long Term Food Storage at Walmart!

I just got back from my monthly shopping trip to wallymart.  They are now carrying #10 cans of all kinds of goodies including egg, butter, honey & milk powders, tvp's, some fruits & veggies, oats, wheat, bisquit and pancake mixes, and a few other goodies.  I saw a few different ones a month ago, but now they have a good selection.  They even have a dinner set case of 6.  I purchased 12 #10's and a 10# bucket of oats.  I would have loved to buy them out, but I couldn't.  I'm hoping that next month they will still have some available.  Edit to add:  As a side note I just want to say "Is someone trying to tell us something buy selling this stuff at the local grocery store?  I'm personally not stocking up for dooms day or even a major economic crash.  I'm doing it for more immediate / practical everyday reasons.  With the rising cost of food it just seems right to prepare some.  But, seriously.... maybe I should be more worried?  I don't know....

Where's the photo!?  I went to take a picture of my haul only to notice that my camera seems broken.  (trying hard not to cry right now)  The screen / view thingy is just pixely green & purple lines.  I sure hope it was just the batteries and not something more. Granted, we've had the camera for 7 years now... but I really don't want to have to be without a camera right now.  Let alone try to save for a new one.

Happy 8th Birthday Rachel!

 

I can't believe your 8 already.  You've been so very proud today.  When asked if you felt any older, your answer to daddy was "Oh yeahhhhh!!!!!"  Your so wonderful in so many ways.  Your smart, loving, compassionate, curious, always moving, always thinking and creating, and most important.... Your so very very loved.  No one can make your brother laugh the way you can and no one can make me smile bigger than you when you tell me a crazy story or adventure you've just had.  You bring so much joy and love to our lives.

You see the world in such a beautiful way.  Your always willing to give someone another chance and your always willing to forgive.  I am honored to watch you grow and learn.  And, I can't wait to see what you do next!

Altering The Fattycakes Diaper Pattern To Be Front Snapping

My hubby hates side snap diapers but I love love love the fattycake as a cover. So I altered the wings to be front snapping. Here is a picture of the altered pattern.

It was pretty simple really. I added about 1/2" to the length of the wing then found the center point of the wing. Then I maked 3/4" from both sides of my center mark so the wings would be 1.5" wide at the ends. Then I just tapered down the top and bottom of the wings all the way to the end. It looks a bit funny... but it works great. I then just put a single row of snaps across the front and two snaps on the wings. (I added a second snap to the overnights pictured below after the photo was taken) Let me know if you have any questions!

More pics of finished diapers. These first two are overnights that I made with 4 layers of ZorbII. They are awesome!!

This one is a cover. Love it! I also think this would be great as an AI1. I'm going to try that soon.

LDD's & Altered Fattycakes - Plus A Review Of ZorbII

 

I finally received some ZorbII from a very sweet mamma over on the Diaper Sewing Divas Forum.  Wazoodle is the only company that makes it.  And, it's been out of stock forever!  Anyways... The boy has been needing some good fitting AI2's so I got started when my ZorbII arrived.  My favorite 2 patterns are the Fattycakes and the LDD's.  I've altered both to fit my little man.

LDD's.  My favorite daytime diaper that I don't have near enough of.  These are all Medium Longs... meaning that I added some length to the rise.  I also cut the pattern at a bit of an angle on the fold so the front would have a pinch more width.  LOVE LOVE LOVE these.  The fit is perfect, they don't leak, they are so easy to use, and hubby loves them too!  I will be making another 12 or so of these and then I'm planning on thinning out his current stash of diapers in favor or these.

The above two (lime green and the space one) are with the same pattern but I use FOE and made them AI1's.   They were so big on his thighs!  I'm hopping these will fit him when he is needing trainers.  I know they will fit eventually... but it's a bummer that they don't fit now because I love how easy they came together and how cute they are.

Fattycakes.  My hubby likes front snapping diapers best, so I altered the pattern to be a front snapper instead of a side snapper.  Both of these are for nighttime with a total of 4 layers or ZorbII.  After many uses I have yet to have any leaks.  One is made with 2 layers of fleece and the other is PUL & Suedecloth.  I prefer the PUL one and will make 2 more.  I did add another snap to the wings after this photo was taken.

My First Thrive Foods & Emergency Essentials Orders!

I received my first #10 cans this last week.  I ordered from two different places.  First I ordered from Emergency Essentials.  I started with just some things that they had in stock and things that I knew I would want to use.  (this is apparently essential when buying food storage)  I received Chicken TVP, Mixed Vegetables, & Triple Berry Blend.  The berries were very pricey, but I thought they would be great to have.  Both the mixed veggies and berries I will be putting away.  The TVP I opened the other night for us to try out.  I used it in stir fry and we were surprisingly pleased with it.  The next night I made some tvp meatballs.  They were ok but I want to find a better recipe that will make a more moist meatball.  I will be ordering more TVP in the other types next week.  All will be great for our oldest daughter who claims that she wants to eat vegetarian.

A week after receiving my goodies from Emergency Essentials I received my order from Thrive Foods.  From here I ordered some chopped onions, green & red bell peppers and their mac & cheese blend.  I also got some small pouches of the chopped onions to use right away.  I will be opening all of these to use in rotation. I'm really excited about these three things.  The chopped onions will save me so much time when making stews and sauces.  The mac & cheese blend is said to be the same stuff that comes in certain big brand blue box mac & cheese.  I'm really excited about this because now I can make exactly how much we want and with whole wheat noodles for much much cheaper!  The bell peppers I will be ordering more of on my next order.  Have you seen prices on fresh peppers lately.  Last week the non-green ones were $2.99 each!  I about fell over in the store.  We eat those like candy around here.  The dehydrated ones will go into any mixes that I make, soups, sauces, etc.  I will only buy the fresh ones to use on salads and snacking.  Hopefully that will save me money and time.

To review both companies... I have good and neutral things to say about both.
Emergency Essentials:  The good:  They have great prices and almost anything that you could want or need.  They carry two sizes including the superpails. Shipping is super cheap and your items got to me really fast.  The Neutral: They are ALWAYS out of stock of most things.  You can order them, but they can take up to 2 months to get to you from what I've read.

Thrive Foods:  The good:  Their packaging is really pretty. (this is a totally girly thing!)  They have some different foods than some other places and shipping was very affordable.  The Neutral:  Their prices seem to be a bit higher on most things.  (compared to emergency essentials)  Shipping took a bit longer, but was still very reasonable considering they are being bombarded with orders lately due to situations throughout the world.

Overall, I will be ordering monthly from both companies.  I'm excited to build up my supply.  I'm also looking into buying in bulk locally to use in my immediate food rotation.