Salad........everyday

I applied to host yet another house party event. This time it is for salad dressing and one of the things I did in the process was to write about the salads I make. So here is a snippet into my salad making habits. Writing it makes me want to go make a pasta salad right now! I love to cook elaborate meals and I LOVE setting an impressive table. However, in between these feats of feasting, I really just want something quick and easy and healthy. I try to always have a fresh veggie salad and fruit salad ready in the fridge, because otherwise it is much to easy to reach for something that is less healthy and we eat a lot more fresh fruit and veggies when I do this than on the days where I did not take the time. The wonderful thing about this is that if my all-veggie salads start to look like they are getting to old they can be tossed in the freezer and added next time I make soup. This way salad is never wasted. I love nuts, dried and fresh fruit and seeds as an option to change things up for toppings to mix in with the salad. Typical ingredients for a salad at my house would be red cabbage, some dark leafy greens such as spinach, shredded carrots, red, yellow, or orange bell peppers unless we have the pleasure to get hold of some purple ones. It really just comes down to what is in season and how much room I have left in the bowl, for example right now i have a portebella mushroom in the fridge so it will either be used in the next salad or soup unless I suddenly feel like making coking something that happens to need one of those. I always have more veggies ready to go. I know a lot of people do well with making meal plans for the whole week but for me it is better to just stock up on fresh produce until the fridge is overflowing and just make sure it all gets eaten or frozen and I almost always have what I need for what ever I feel like making. Thinly sliced summer squash or soybeans can give it a nice crunch, sometimes we will add tomatoes, most of the time we just eat them by them selves though because we love them so much and they tend to make the salad go bad faster. There are really very few things I will not add to a salad, but I do try to avoid iceberg lettuce if at all possible, it just seems like such a waste of the space in your stomach. If we really want the salad to be the only meal we sometimes add cheese or meat or even bacon. I love pasta salad and I love having good dressings around for those. Some cooked noodles, finely sliced veggies and a good dressing and quick as a fox, you have a perfect side dish. If I have had company coming and I worry I will not have enough food i have made a super quick and very popular version that basically just consists of a can of black olives, a can of artichokes, half a bottle of vinaigrette and some noodles.

homemade liquid handsoap

I'm really excited to try this at some point

Cheese grater (from the dollar store)
2 Tablespoons of Liquid Glycerin (found in the band aid section at any drugstore or grocery store)
1 - 8 oz bar of soap
1 gallon of water

Step 1:

Grate the entire bar of soap

 

Step 2:
Fill a pot with 1 gallon of water and add the soap shavings.

Step 3:
Add 2 Tablespoons of liquid glycerin and turn the heat to medium/high and stir until the soap dissolves.

Leave it alone to cool for at least 10-12 hours. It begins to cloud up after 3-4 hours.

After it has cooled completely around 12 hours later it will harden and look like liquid soap.

If the soap is harder than it should be you can take some beaters and blend it while adding just a little bit of water until the consistency is more like liquid soap.

All this I got from here  where she has excellent pictures as well. Some people in the comments are saying that you have to add preservatives so that it will not get moldy, I have no idea how to deal with that but I was thinking that you could freeze it in smaller portions and take them out as you need them.

one of the coments said "Have you tried microwaving a solid bar of Ivory for a couple of minutes? Great fun for the kids - OK I find it fascinating as it erupts into what looks like shaving cream but sets into a big plate of something just a little more dense than cotton candy. The next day put it into a bag and smash it. It turns to fine powder, which I would think would be perfect for your recipe. (And way more fun!)" I think it sounds fantastic!

Mexican Tortillas and Enchiladas with Patty

These videos are especially for my awesome family and friends in Denmark who have been asking me to either send them Mexican food or to tell them how to make it. The problem with mailing Mexican food is that it will go bad (heh) or that a  can of enchilada sauce and a stack of tortillas would be very expensive to mail considering how heavy they are. So that brings me to the second request. Tell them how to make it.....hhhmmmm....that requires me to KNOW how to make it from scratch. Yea, so that is a problem as well so I decided to go to an expert if you will, because that just makes a whole lot of more sense. So I have to tell you that this was yummy!
Patty is this fantastic lady that I have gotten to know and she was such a good sport! And I got to stuff my face with crazy good food! I still do not know how to make the corn tortillas but I think it would work with the flour ones as well even though she says not to.......hhmmmm..... anyways. Maybe I can convince her to teach me how to make salsa as well! She actually also shows how to make refried beans in this here fantastic educational experience of a video sequence! Enjoy and please ask questions!

Queen of Apple Pie

and here she is! My momma!

Nobody makes pie that delicious! It's all in the crust!

this is how she makes it!

1.5 stick butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups flour

A couple or more spoonfuls of iced water just to help the dough stay cool and moist while working with it.

If you mix it by hand, you need the butter to be room temperature or even hand temperature. If you have mixer, the butter should be cold.

 

That's it! At least she did not just tell me her usual response which is "just add stuff until it is right" Heh!

The smell of Warm Bread

Sometimes it is the very simple things that makes you feel happy 

For some reason These jars of homemade bread machine mixes makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, so much that I'm smiling like a new mama just typing this post.

Don't you just love they layers of flour, and sugar and salt? So pretty! 

I have many empty masonry jars and have for a long time been itching to use them. I got an influx in my heard of jars this summer (thanks again Janet) and the itch turned into something more violent. I have reactivated my bargain hunting for a pressure cooker that is tall enough to fit the big jars and when I happily stumbled upon a dream of a clearance sale last month I suddenly had all this fantastic flour that Had been to expensive before. One of the packages i brought home was a bread machine mix. That is when I realised that my jars could be put to good use without the pressure cooker. 

I did a quick online search and found this helpful site. I took the white bread mix and experimented by replacing 1 cup of the plain flour with a random mix of some of my other flours that i had sitting around the house. I worked out pretty well. It was so nice to have the home made bread. Much cheaper than getting it from the store. Better tasting than my other frugal bread strategy. i normally go to the day old bread store. Stock up big time. Get a nicer brand than we can normally afford for less than the store brand at HEB and Freeze about 12 loaves. The problem with that is that they tend to get freezer burned and that my freezer is often full when I find a really good deal on meat or frozen pizza or some other ready to eat thing and I really like having the space for those things. Having the freezer space is one of the main reasons I've been wanting to put things like stew in jars in the first place. 

So far i have only been making the same mystery mix but I think i would like to test some other recipes soon. I have an abundance of rye flour that I'm very excited to use. I found this great site last night, it might be worth trying them out. I might also branch out and make some cake and cookie mixes. we'll see. First I have to find some cake mix recipes i really like.

I need ideas

Every one knows how much I love a god deal. I just got back from H E B and found these babies on clearance for 59 cents. I just love it when i can get nice products, especially without all that extra junk added to it, for less than one dollar a pound, so I of course cleaned out the shelf space for them. I cook with onions on a regular basis, but I have never used these fancy small ones before. This is when you my wonderful readers come into the picture. Please tell me what you like to cook with your white Perl onions, I need your good ideas.

Leave a comment, lave a comment, leave a comment pretty please!

The very last gingerbread man.

How sad!

Saying goodbye to good friends is no fun.

The first time we went to the Smiths house we decorated gingerbread men. Ever since then it has just been something we do together. So I was very happy when Janet asked if we would like one last go.

For the last 3 years we've gotten to know and love this wonderful family and we've celebrated holidays together and just really appreciated knowing them.

Anna and Astrid getting creative.

Bennett and Ian were in the same pre-K class and quickly became great chums.

I just love this baby! Give me those cheeks!

Mothers armed with cameras and sprinkles! Be warned!

I wonder how big a percentage of the toppings actually made it unto the cookies.

And the twins. I feel bad that I never could figure out who was who!

I even got to decorate as well. Janet introduced me to Marshmallow Fondant It is soooooo delicious and fun to work with. I think I'm going to make some for the twins birthday cakes. It'll be so good. It depends on time but I'm hopeful. 

This one I took home for Jed

This one was for James

see, the clothes even matches. minus big white buttons, but still!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

OK, so this was actually our 4th of July cake

oh my goodness it was soooooooo yummy!

hot out of the oven cake mix

cool out of the freezer cool whip

topped with frozen blueberries and raspberries

what's not to love?

Homemade Laundry Soap

I basicly copy and pasted this post from here
http://pflugervillepfinds.blogspot.com/2010/03/homemade-laundry-soap.html (one fine day I will figure out how to embed the link in something else.)

I think this sounds awsome and I can't wait to try it. This post was written by the one and only Angela Walters.

Homemade Laundry Soap

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED:

Small Batch

1/3 bar Fels Naptha (or bar soap of your choice)
1/2 cup washing soda (see note at bottom)
1/2 cup borax powder

Water

(Optional)2-3 oz essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice

small bucket, about 2 gallon size

Large Batch

1 bar of Fels Naptha (or bar soap of your choice)
1½ cups washing soda (see note at bottom)
1½ cups borax powder
Water
(optional) 2-3 oz essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice
Bucket, 5-6 gallon size


DIRECTIONS (large batch in parentheses)*

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan(stock pan for large batch)*
Add 6 cups (18 cups) water and heat it until the soap melts*
Add the washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved.*
Remove from heat.*
Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups (4 gallons plus 2 cups) water to your bucket.*
Now add your soap mixture and stir.*
Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will (should) gel.*
Use ½ cup per load.


Note: Plugerville Wal-Mart does not have "washing" soda on the laundry aisle, just regular baking soda. HEB has the washing soda. I've made the large batch twice now and it's lasting me about 4 months, at an average of 8 loads per week. The cost breakdown is about 2 cents per load. A great savings.

The picture on top is one of the homemade hand soap bars I used to make. I've been wanting to get back to that as well.

Annas gluten free bread, the suprising result.

It's a bread bowl!

Besides the consistently odd shape, this has turned out to be easy, economical and most importantly delicious gluten and dairy free bread.
Follow the link for the recipe.

http://idasjungle.blogspot.com/2010/03/baking-bread-for-anna.html

Baking Bread for Anna

What a sad looking little girl!

Because her skin is so bad we started her on a strict gluten free dairy free diet. Today I will be trying a new recipe from The Gluten Connection by Shari Lieberman.

So far I have not found a recipe that I love so I'm hoping this will be the one.

Basic GF Bread

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 and 1/8 cups water

3 and 1/3 cups GF flour mix

3 tablespoons sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup soy baby formula

2 and 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Today I'm using

Bette's Featherlight Rice Flour Mix

3 cups rice flour

3 cups tapioca flour

3 cups cornstarch

3 tablespoons potato flour -not starch.

1. Combine eggs, vinegar, oil, and water in a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside.

2. Combine the flour mix, sugar, salt, formula, and yeast in another bowl and mix well.

3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.

4. Beat for 5 to 7 minutes with a mixer or vigorously by hand to ensure complete mixing. The dough will be the consistency of very thick cake batter.

5. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set in a warm place.

6. Allow the dough to rice until it's about double in size. Punch the dough down and fold out into a bread pan coated with nonstick cooking spray.

7. Smooth out any bumps on top of the dough ball with your finger.

8. Cover and allow to rise until it' about double.

9. Preheat the oven to 375* F. Bake for 35 minutes.

10. Cover the top of the bread with foil and bake for 20 minutes longer.

if you want you can also use a bread machine. Set for large loaf normal cycle. In my machine all the wet stuff needs to go on the bottom or disaster strikes. Check periodically during mixing stage and push ingredients down from sides using a spatula.

Because I have a lot of other baking to attempt I thing I will try the bread machine today.