Tag : kitchen

80 posts

Home canned spicy beans

Between our CSA and our garden, we’ve had a plethora of beans. I was afraid we might not be able to eat them all before they were past their prime. My neighbor had made some spicy beans last year and raved about them. I borrowed her Blue Ball recipe book and got to work.spicy beans

They look pretty…I guess time will tell how they taste. I modified a recipe from the book as far as the spices and such.  I used cayenne, garlic cloves and red pepper flakes to season the green and wax beans. Makes me want a beverage just thinking about it.

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Dry Ice Ice Cream

I’m not sure how but I completely forgot to share this with you.

It was about a month ago… Our freezer was having an issue, which later turned out to be not a big deal. Thank goodness Mr. G is also Mr. Fix-it. In the mean time I totally panicked and sourced dry ice (and a lot of it) to keep our 200lbs of beef in the freezer from becoming the largest neighborhood BBQ anyone has ever thrown around here.

Long story short…the freezer was back up and running in short order and we had 100lbs of dry ice to play with.  Since we weren’t throwing that BBQ after all, we had no need of a fake smoke cloud to roll from the garage.  Still was fun to pretend.

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We searched out “fun things to do with dry ice” and found you can make ice cream. Sweet! No pun intended.

We used my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer. It was the one thing that I wanted when we got married. Now 20yrs later…I’m glad I insisted we make that purchase…I use it all the time.

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We weren’t really sure exactly how to make the ice cream and as you can see…we had a little trouble. The dry ice wasn’t crushed quite as fine as it should have been. This created very large bubbles as the solid carbon dioxide sublimated.  In the end, it turned out perfectly.

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The yummiest vanilla ice cream we’ve ever had!!  In fact it was so good we decided to make more the next day…

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We made another batch of vanilla, chocolate and my personal favorite…strawberry!  We had fresh picked strawberries from the my in-laws garden…oh yum!

It’s certainly not an inexpensive way to make ice cream but if you’ve got some extra dry ice sitting around…it’s a great way to use it!

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UFO…finished

I was cleaning the closet the other day and came across a seriously old unfinished project. Something I started back in the 1990’s…at first house…when I had a strawberry theme in my kitchen. I considered donating the 6 towels and let them be a project for someone else. I have a hard time “throwing in the towel”…pun intended… on a project once I start. 20140706_5787Way back when I started these I finished one right away and started the embroidery on the second.  My trouble was that the fusible web I used was so darn sticky that I had a heck of a time getting my needle through. Frustration level high!!20140706_5788Machine stitching was my only choice even if it wouldn’t match.  I decided that my dishes really won’t care…so I won’t either.

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T Tuesday: shrub edition

Good morning…welcome to T stands for Tuesday.  shrub mocktail

Today I’d like to share my new refreshing summer drink with you….in my favorite glass, of course. I love this glass so much.  Recently I had a nightmare that I broke the top off it in a wickedly jagged form…I was very happy to wake and realize it was just a bad dream.

So what’s in the glass?? It’s a shrub or drinking vinegar.  Ok…not as gross as it sounds. In fact, quite tasty. The first I ever heard of a shrub was from Kim over at art in red wagons.  Recently, I’ve started out the morning drinking a tablespoon or so of raw apple cider vinegar in a glass of water usually with a touch of honey or molasses.  I know…a little wacky but I like tart flavors and the health benefits are great.

This brought me back to thinking about a shrub…then we got our first CSA box this past Wednesday.  Not a whole lot in it since our growing season has been less than ideal so far. The was rhubarb though. I’m the only one in the family that likes it. I started searching recipes on Pinterest and a shrub recipe appeared. shrubMaking a shrub is not an exact science. Here’s what I did.

I chopped approx 2 cups rhubarb and a half dozen or so organic strawberries into a glass bowl.  Then sprinkled 1 cup of sugar over top and shook it around to coat. This mixture went in the refrigerator overnight to macerate.

I poured everything into a clean dry canning jar..it was approx 2/3 full at this point. I then filled the jar to the neck with raw apple cider vinegar. I labeled it and let it sit on the counter, giving it a shake everyday. The recipes I found said to let it sit for a week before draining off the liquid and storing it in the fridge but I was very anxious to try it.

Making the shrub is very simple. I poured approx 1/4 glass of shrub syrup over ice then filled the glass with club soda. It was slightly tart, slightly sweet and bubbly. Very refreshing.

What do you think? Would you try this? Does it sound appealing at all?

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Amazing life hack

This is going to change my life…seriously. I didn’t believe it until I tried it myself.oil cleanerDid you know the best way to clean that nasty caked on grease from the top of your fridge or other surfaces in your kitchen is with oil!! fridge top cleanI don’t have a before picture since it would have been seriously embarrassing.

Here’s a small example of what the top was like…eww...greaseexcept think 10x thicker….ewwwwww!

I dipped a paper towel in a bit regular vegetable oil and wiped across the icky grease.wipeOk, now your thinking well yeah it looks great because there is a film of oil on top.

But check this out…BAM...cleanTotally clean…smooth…shiny…awesome.seriouslyAmazing…right!?!

After cleaning all of the items on top of my fridge in the same way I now have the prettiest fridge top in town. clean and prettyI did end up using a Pampered Chef scraper in a few spots with the oil where it was really stuck on.  Again….ewwww.  But now that I know this trick I plan to wipe it down on a much more regular basis so it doesn’t get to that stage again.

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T Tuesday: change in the air edition

So glad you came to visit today for T Stands for Tuesday where we share a beverage and a little something from our week.

breakfastI’m doing my best to eat a healthy breakfast each morning. It takes some time and effort but I think it’s worth it. Fuel for the day. Today is 2 eggs scrabbled up with yellow pepper, onion. tomato, mushroom and spinach with a little bit of jalapeno salsa for kick. Only 265 calories.  I couldn’t even eat the last 2 bites!

bookWhile eating I skimmed through this library book. Truthfully, I’m not sure that I got much from it. However, I was reminded of a technique that I have yet to try. Printing on tissue paper with a printer. I have to see if our old printer still has ink since it has to be a straight feed printer not the kind that loops the paper through. *Fingers crossed for ink.*

Jan 20 journalYesterday, I worked in my kira-kira journal a bit. I had started cleaning up my desk and the journal sucked me in. Or perhaps it was just procrastination.

changeChange is a theme that we are seeing a lot around here. We are making some healthy changes in our life…slowly. Our children are changing into young adults. I’ve made the change of working very part-time after being a SAHM home for 13.5 years. We are wishing for the weather to change to Spring.

Change can be scary…or exciting…or devastating…or uplifting. Change can be methodically planned or come up and smack you in the face. One can embrace change or flee in terror or perhaps slip into denial about it. But change is an integral part of life. I’m choosing to embrace these changes and am looking forward to what it will bring to our lives.

Wow…I guess a healthy breakfast gave me a mental boost as well!! I don’t usually get so deep and introspective in the morning.

What are you doing today??

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T Tuesday: Too cold for school edition

For the second day in a row, my kids have the day off due too dangerously cold temps. They are thrilled. Me…not so much. I am thankful I don’t have to worry about them getting frostbite while standing at the bus stop but keeping them from fighting and away from screens is a challenge when I can’t just throw them outside. :)

breakfast tea

I made myself a sandwich for breakfast today alongside my red rooibos tea. I tend to have non-traditional breakfasts. I need to have protein in the morning otherwise I can feel my blood sugar get all wonky.

sew what

Since hanging out in my basement art space isn’t an option, I’ve been back at the sewing machine.  I just love patchwork!

Next I’m going to check out the T Stands for Tuesday link list on Elizabeth’s blog.

What are you doing today?

 

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