Renaissance Festival - Arizona

The Renaissance Fair just opened in Arizona this past weekend, and we discovered that, after never having been to one before, it was a worthwhile day spent taking pictures.

Royalty.

 

Hey, Nunnie, Nunnie is a hilarious act. These two ladies crack one joke after another. They spend their time laughing, and making everyone else laugh on and off the stage!

This (above) is Twig. She's a favorite fairy!

Interesting sight strolling down a main street!

Here is a "knight in shining armor."

 

One of many shops to buy period cothing.

Jousting was a fun event to watch! Nobody got hurt and one knight won!

New Blog!

After much confusion, frustration, and wasted time trying to make this quilting hobby a part of this blog, I've moved my Sweet Petal Stitchery "page" to its own blog. (there really was a page attached to my blog)  Found on blogger by its own name, Sweet Petal Stitchery came about because of my need to be quilting something, and the ease of putting together quilts for babies/toddlers just seemed to follow.

Made mostly for my children and their babies, these baby quilts are also for sale. (currently one is available - others need to be ordered) 

I'm hoping to build a supply both of my own designs and already printed designs. You'll want to check in now and then to catch the latest accomplishment! If you visit, leave me a comment, even if its just "hi, I was here!"

sweetpetalstitchery.blogspot.com

The Power of Music

I love to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing hymns with their trademark full-bodied sound. Such richness, such majesty, and such grandeur! Quite a moving experience! On Sunday afternoons, we turn the sound up on our Netflix TV screen and listen to them bring into our home a peacefulness, serenity, and happiness. The happiness occasionally turns to giddiness, but for the most part, the mood is just plain happy. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to sit in the conference center to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing the hymns they’re famous for. I’m sure it would be quite overwhelming! (maybe one day….)

I get the maybe-not-so- sought-after calling of Primary Chorister and I really love it. When the children come into our early morning Primary quite solemn (or, in some cases, sleepy), its fun to get them up and moving through singing. They are all so much fun, yet we keep reverence amidst our practicing. I especially love it when the contest of singing loud enough for a hallway listener to hear, produces goosebumps! Such results should be had in all of our Sunday Sacrament meetings. With as many members as there are in our ward, we could actually produce enough sound, with our varied voices, to rival any choir, and an outside passerby would turn to look at our church building and marvel at our musical gusto! I’m waiting for that day! I love it when we go visit our grown children in their Sunday meetings and the congregation really sings! It’s great!

What an opportunity to worship through song each Sunday! There’s a temptation to pick up the rhythm and belt out each song. Music touches our spirits in a way that the spoken word doesn’t, and adds a great deal to our church meetings and our homes.

When our older kids were little, I had them sing in Sacrament meetings to songs by Janice Kapp Perry. They did quite well but hated it like kids sometimes do, but I liked it, it was good for them, and it helped us build memories they all laugh about now. A few of those songs became our family favorites.

Sweet Petal Stitchery - Baby Zoo Animals - Blue

Baby zoo animals adorn the top of this baby quilt, and a matching solid blue fabric is used for the backing. Half-inch batting, and hand stitching throughout make this quilt quite versatile. I made a narrow 5/8" blue binding and stitched it with a secure, decorative machine stitch (which is the only machine stitch used on this quilt)

This baby quilt measures about 43 inches wide, and 42 inches high. Nearly square, it is larger than commercial baby quilts. It can be used as a floor blanket for baby to roll around on or used as a crib quilt.

Cotton/polyester fabric is used for top and bottom fabric, 100% polyester batting, and cotton/polyester thread complete this quilt. Perfect for the washer and dryer.

Every baby quilt I make is completely hand-stitched according to the top fabric pattern and has a machine stitched binding.

Wheat And Grinder Preferences

The old standby, wheat, dominates our food storage, along with rice and sugar. But using wheat in bread poses a grinding question: do I grind the wheat into a fine flour? Or, do I grind it coarsely to get the benefit of the bran for fiber?

The electric grinder I bought years ago ground the wheat kernels into a nice soft flour, but didn’t have a coarse enough setting to allow me to get that bran I wanted to see in my bread; even the coarsest setting is still a flour. And, its extremely loud, puts a fine powder into the air as it grinds (so I take it outside to grind wheat), and takes a lot of care to clean after each use. But I still like it, and use it when I want a fine wheat flour.

So, I bought another hand-cranked grinder to get the coarse wheat I wanted for breads. It has different settings, but even at it's finest setting, it'still coarse. I love it! It mounts to the kitchen table and grinds perfectly. It takes a little longer to get the amount of wheat I want to store, but it's relative quiet, and I can have someone else help turn the handle for a while.

Another word about wheat: ideally, wheat should be ground just before using in recipes to get the most nutritious benefit. However, I find it difficult to leave my hand-crank wheat grinder out, mounted on the kitchen table or counter, waiting to be used when I’m ready to bake bread. Even leaving the electric grinder out (to take outside) wouldn't be practical either. So I coarsely grind several cups of wheat with the hand-crank grinder and store it in an air-tight canister to be used in pancakes, bread, and anything else I choose, and then its put away for a while. I do the same thing with the electric grinder: I grind lots at once and store it for use later.

My thoughts are that eating wheat, even if its ground weeks earlier, is still good for you. It’s better than nothing. The impression is often given that if one doesn't grind their wheat just prior to baking, you're either not a very good cook, or somehow you don't quite meet up to the ideal standard. However, I believe that if you can sprout your 15+-year-old wheat, then it's still good and you can grind it, store it, and use it whenever you need it. Otherwise, what's the point of storing so much wheat and using it a little at a time?

A personal preference: Between red wheat and white wheat, I like red wheat for it's stronger flavor in pancakes and some breads. I also like red wheat for a hot cereal cooked in a crock pot overnight. White wheat (finely ground) is good for a hint of wheat flavor in some breads.

Year's Supply Review - Freeze-dried versus Dehydrated

(What I’ve learned…)

When deciding what items fit into your food storage, there are several choices: canned, frozen, freeze dried and dehydrated, among others. When looking for something dried, there are these options: dehydrated and freeze-dried.

Dehydrated foods are foods that have had the moisture removed (as much as possible) and stored in air-tight containers. Freeze dried foods are flash frozen, then dried. How is it made? “To create freeze-dried food, the item is first flash frozen, then a low-level heat is applied inside a vacuum chamber. This process melts the ice crystals without changing the cell structure of the food. Finally, the food is packed for long-term storage. This process retains much of the color, texture, shape, flavor, and nutrition.” (Emergency Essentials, November 2010 catalog, pg. 5)

So which is better? The answer depends on your taste buds, and your budget. Dehydrated foods, whether fruits or vegetables, still have some moisture in them, and therefore, are sometimes a bit more rubbery. And there is some color loss in dehydrated food. Freeze dried foods, are more crunchy; but a kind of easy-on-your-teeth, crunchy. Both work well in soups and stews, but used as side dishes, you’d have to experiment with your level of acceptance. Some dehydrated vegetables work only in soup/stew dishes, while others are passable enough to stand on their own as side dishes. And the cost of freeze-dried food items is usually more than dehydrated. But then again, you’d need to experiment with your own taste, and product usefulness to see what works for your family.

Granted, nothing is better than fresh, but either freeze-dried or dehydrated are good additions to a year’s supply of food storage.

I’d be curious to know if anyone has a favorite freeze-dried food, or a favorite dehydrated food….
My favorites are freeze-dried peaches and strawberries (expensive, but really good!). 
Dehydrated apples are great for car trips as a snack. Tomatoes (and other vegetables) are great for soup.

Year’s Supply Review – Powdered Milk

We all know that for what seems like hundreds of years we’ve been counseled to get our year’s supply of food and supplies. But a complete year’s supply of food can be hard to compile and store, and then compile and store all of the supplies that are required.


Our experience has been that even though storage space is an issue, having the extra is well worth it. We’ve found ourselves out of butter or milk, and resorted to using our reserves in powdered form. And there have been times when we’ve run out of potatoes, and used our canned potatoes, or we’ve run out of grape jelly and used our stored homemade jellies.

Most recently, we’ve used our powdered milk. Over the years I’ve tried powdered milk products, judging their taste and bake-ability, and have found that one brand, so far, has topped the others hands down. As far as using powdered milk in baking bread, any brand or kind works well. But drinking powdered milk is a whole different story. Taste is everything!

Provident Pantry’s Instant Nonfat Dry Milk has the taste a powdered milk should have (because it's supposed to taste like regular milk), and is worth its weight in gold. It mixes quite well; better than regular powdered milk, which can stay lumpy for a while. This milk mixes smoothly with little lumps that dissolve quickly. I usually add the water to the powder in a pitcher and whisk it to blend quickly, then use a long spoon or knife to loosen any powder at the bottom edge of the pitcher. Even though whisking produces lots of foam, refrigerating the milk (or adding ice cubes to cool it for immediate use) will break the tiny bubbles and make it smooth like regular two-percent, store-bought milk.

When we first bought Provident Pantry’s brand milk, I was so impressed with the ease of mixture and especially its taste, I wanted to tell the whole world how good it was (and passed my enthusiasm on to some ladies at church, and wrote a post about it). I even invited some ladies to come by my house and taste it.

I use powdered milk when we’ve run out of store-bought milk, and I use it in bread-making. Our picky teenagers sometimes turn their noses up at the thought of drinking any kind of powdered milk, but they’ll drink it, which is a good thing.

If you need to add powdered milk to your year’s supply of food storage, and know that at some point you might need to drink it, get the milk that you know will taste as close to store-bought as you can get (sounds like a commercial!). Because you’ll be glad you have it when you’re dollar-stretched or have run out of regular milk. And hopefully you’re family will enjoy the taste as well.

Eliza Shares a Recipe

Eliza found some easy cookies to make, and she was so excited to share them, that I thought I'd post her success. The recipe came out of the Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook, and is quite workable for a young baker, especially because it's all done in the microwave.
Chocolate Crackles
10 T. butter
6 T cocoa
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c.  flour
1/2 c. nuts, chopped

powdered sugar

Microwave butter in medium bowl for 45-60 seconds or until melted. Add cocoa; blend well. Beat in sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour and nuts. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or until firm.

Shape into 1 inch balls; roll in powdered sugar. Place 8 cookie balls on a plate and microwave at 50% power for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until surface is dry but cookies are soft when touched. Cool, and repeat with remaining dough. Optional: sprinkle with additional powdered sugar after they come out of the microwave.

Note: After mixing, Eliza put the dough in the freezer for about 1 hour. She used chopped peanuts in the mix. Also, the dough is the consistency of playdough, and therefore, produces a cake-like cookie.

Pretty good, for a young teen!

Peaches!!!!!

Time for Peaches!

I love this time of year because of all the fruit we get to preserve: apples, pears, and peaches!

It's also the time chocolate can be ordered, too. (but that's another story!)

Here's how I preserved our peaches: frozen and dehydrated.

With our box of peaches,

I put about 5 or 6 in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to loosen the skins.

Then I put the peaches in ice cold water to stop them from cooking all the way through.

I just want to heat the skins enough to separate them from the pulp on the inside.
The skins slip right off! So Easy!

                                                

Then I cut them in half, take out the big seed, and slice them for dehydrating and freezing.

(Dehydrating: 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick, for about 8 - 10 hours, or till crispy)

(Freezing: 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick, for about 6 hours, or until nearly frozen)

The slices then go either on the dehydrater trays to dry, or on a jelly roll pan for freezing. 

After they were nearly frozen through, I took a large pancake turner (metal) and scraped them from the pan and put them in a ziploc bag for further freezing.

I love the color of the water after scalding a few batches of peaches.
Rich rose color! (although this picture doesn't do it justice - a bit blurry)

These are the frozen peaches. Turned out great!

And these are the dehydrated peaches.

Quite thin, but still pretty good eating.

This was the first batch - paper thin.
(The other batches were thicker)

But whether thick or thin, they're still good eating!

Braided Bread! Yum!

This recipe turned out great! I used a regular bread recipe, cut into thirds after it's first rising, and made three different things out of it: This braid, some nut-filled crescent rolls, and a loaf of raisin bread. The crescent rolls disappeared in a blink, and the raisin bread needed more baking, but all turned out great!

The hard part is keeping hands off of it till dinner!

A Christmas Tradition: Mincemeat Cookies

A tell-tale sign it’s Christmas at our house is the making of Mincemeat cookies. I grew up with these Christmas cookies, but not everyone (outside family) likes them. Actually, mincemeat sounds rather gross to me, but made into cookies they disappear quickly.
Mincemeat is a mixture of minced apples, raisins, spices, currants, and sometimes minced meat (which, if it is in the jar, you can’t taste it), that is usually made into pies. Never tasted mincemeat pie (and don’t care to, thank you!). It is NOT like fruit cake. It is a cake-like spice cookie with little chunks of apples and raisins, and a little sweetness. Mincemeat is only available during the Christmas season, and one jar makes two batches. Recipe is on the jar.
Try it! You might like it!

Mincemeat Cookies
1 c. shortening
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 cups unsifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1-1/3 cups (1/2 of a 28 oz. jar) None Such Mince Meat

Official directions:
Preheat oven to 375F. In large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs, beating until smooth. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in mincemeat. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and no longer glossy in center. Makes about 6-1/2 dozen.

Note: In my usual style, I mix all the dry ingredients first, cut in the shortening, and then mix in the eggs and mincemeat. They turn out the same as following the official directions! (watch over-browning around the edges)
Another Note: there are two types of mincemeat: apples and raisins, and brandy and rum. There's a little red oval label on the lower right side of the regular label that tells you which is which. We always buy the apples and raisins type.

Pomegranate Jelly!

This recipe was just as fast as the Spiced Apple Jelly. An hour at most, from start to finish, and you're done!

GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES

large bowl for measured sugar

wooden spoon for stirring

8 qt. stock pot

1/2 pint preserving jars with lids and bands

pomegranate juice

powdered pectin

granulated sugar

butter, optional

boiling water bath or steamer canner

Recipe:

3-1/2 cups prepared or bottled pomegranate juice

1 box fruit pectin

1/2 tsp. butter, optional

5 cups granulated sugar

7 (8oz.) half pint glass preserving jars

Begin:

Prepare canner and set aside. Heat jars (I put them on a cookie sheet in a low heat oven - 200 degrees). Soften lids by putting them in hot water till ready for use.

Measure sugar in a large bowl; set aside.

In an 8 qt. stock pot, pour pomegranate juice. Gradually stir in pectin. Add up to 1/2 tsp. butter to reduce foaming, if desired (I did. See it?).

Over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.

Add entire measure of sugar and dissolve thoroughly. Bring mixture to a full boil again.

Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat; skim foam if necessary. I use a napkin to lightly skim the surface of liquid to gather foam to the sides and lift out any foam.

Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rim, set lid on top, twist on band till fintertip tight.

Process in canner 10 minutes.

Remove jars and cool.

This and other home canning recipes can be found at the Ball Canning website.

Spiced Apple Jelly

Fast and simple jelly made from apple juice - a family favorite.

4 cups bottled or canned apple juice

1 package powdered fruit pectin

5-1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

In a small stock pot, combine juice, spices and pectin; bring to a full boil. Stir in sugar; return to boil; boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam.

Ladel into hot jars to within 1/2 inch of jar top. Wipe jar rim, seal, twist on lids. Process in water bath canner 5 minutes, or process in fruit steamer canner 5 minutes. Remove and cool; tighten lids. Best if left to set 12 hours before opening.

Delicious! I love the amber color with little specs of cloves floating around in it.

I love my steamer canner! It's great for making jams, jellies, and bottling fruit, and it's so easy to use. I bought it about 20 years ago, and though it shows wear, still works great. Holds 7 quarts or pints.

Next jelly making venture will be with pomegranate juice!

Blueberry French Toast - side note

I was in a hurry when I wrote the last post about Blueberry French Toast; I was so excited to share the recipe because it was different from other recipes I've tried, and I was on my way out the door. And, to be correct, our daughter, Alisa, made the whole thing for us by herself early yesterday morning for breakfast for the whole family. However, among the many gourmet french toast recipes, my favorite is Stuffed French Toast.
Pretty simple: make regular french toast using texas toast but spread cream cheese between each set of two slices of toast and serve with blueberries and strawberries, and even a slice of orange on the side. Pancake syrup drizzled over the top with powdered sugar sprinkled over the whole thing really makes for a rich, filling breakfast. Your mouth says, "more, more, more!" but your tummy says, "stop, stop, stop!"
I always like hearing about and trying recipes. Any variations on this one that are out there would be great to hear. Please share!

Blueberry French Toast. Outstanding!

I wish I had a picture of this. But since I don't, try to imagine the beauty of it. This recipe was found on the back of a Safeway Texas Toast bread bag and was developed by cookbook author Marlene Sorosky Gray. Our daughter, Alisa, made it for breakfast blueberries and strawberries, and both were a big hit!

Bluberry French Toast Casserole
4 eggs or 1 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup whole or fat free milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 slices (we used 6) Safeway Texas Toast
4-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries,
not defrosted (about 1-1/2 lbs.)
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cornstarch
powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Dip bread into batter; turn to coat both sides. Cut last piece in half to fit and place bread on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour any remaining batter over bread. (If desired, bread may be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight.)
Place oven rack in top third of oven and preheat to 450 F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. Place blueberries, sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch in dish; stir to mix well. Place bread slices on berries. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toast is golden and berries are bubbling. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. To serve, use a spatula to remove toast to plates. Spoon blueberries and sauce over toast.
Makes 6-7 servings.
What we did: we used one 9x13 dish each for blueberries and strawberries. We made up the egg mixture and set aside. We mixed the berries and ingredients in a separate bowl and turned onto the 9x13 pan, then, after dipping the bread slices into the egg mixture, we placed them over the berries, then baked, and ate!

Canning Potatoes

I've always wanted to try canning something other than peaches, pears and jellies, but have shyed away from it because of the fear of broken jars, wasted money, and ruined food. But the opportunity arose to try canning potatoes, so I decided I'd give it a try (thanks to Momzoo for the inspiration). I asked a few of my older girls to help buy some potatoes, and help can them (the Chicken Little theory), and guess what? No broken jars (at least, not today; tomorrow may be a different story) ! Thanks, Alisa, for helping on the first day of canning!

Here's what I did:

First you scrub the potatoes really good and rinse them twice. Cut into chunks and save in salted water (so they don't turn brown) till you're finished chunking.

Then add them to boiling water for two minutes. Fill the jars loosely with potato chunks, add 1 tsp. salt, and pour the water they were boiled in, into the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top. Twist on the caps, and place in the pressure canner (that has boiling water in it).

Follow the manufacturers instructions for your canner regarding water levels and proper procedures for canning.

My canner calls for 3 quarts of water, holds 5 jars, and the potatoes process for 40 minutes.

This is before being processed (above). And this is after being processed (below). They look alike, but they're not.....really!

Ten pounds of potatoes yielded about 10 quart jars. We went through about 40 pounds of potatoes today with another 50 to go. It's really not that hard! I might try something else in the future after making it this far with my canner!

Cheese Stuffed Potato Pancakes

Our usual favorite with leftover mashed potatoes is potato pancakes. But this time, we spiced it up and found it to be a big hit.

(remember, at our house, we don't measure anything when cooking from scratch, so these measurements are close guesses)

To the mashed potatoes (which I had already added salt and pepper the day before), I added:

1/2 cup finely diced onions

2 eggs

dash of salt

dash of pepper

1 cup flour, plus flour for dusting

1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese (the spice)

Olive oil for frying

On a floured surface, drop a scoop of mashed potato mixture.

Mash flat and form into a circle about 3/4 inch thick. Both sides should be floured.

Sprinkle a teaspoonful of grated cheese into center of pancake.

Fold edges in toward center covering the cheese.

Fry on medium low heat until golden brown on both sides.

We kept them warm in the oven until ready to serve. This was, of course, after we tried a few. Yummy! The spicy melted cheese with the soft potato texture was really a complement to our dinner.

Exclamatory Verbage!!!!

"OH, HOT DOG!"
Even before Jeffrey R. Holland's talk (May Conference 2007) about the language we use around our families, I'd tried to watch my words. I remember the saying, "A soft answer turneth away wrath (Prov. 15:1)" and I know that the effect of kind words lifts those around us. But non abrasive, not-so-hard-to-hear words of frustration are sometimes hard to find in those moments of exasperation. So a while back, I came up with a few softer, easier-to-hear words that make my family aware that I'm miffed about something, but don't have that cutting edge to them.
"Oh, hot dog!" has stuck for the past few years, and had even made our youngest girl giggle. It usually comes out when I've realized something important didn't get done or didn't happen.
Such as:
Upon reaching the car with my cart full of groceries, I realized I forgot the milk I came for. "Oh, hot dog!"
With the first batch of chocolate chip cookies ready to go into the oven, I realized I forgot to add the eggs! "Oh, hot dog!"
I got all the way home from the store and realized I was supposed to put gas in the truck. "Oh, hot dog!"

"BOLONEY!" (I know it's really spelled Bologna) is used when I don't believe a word of what someone is saying.
Such as:
One of the boys says they've emptied the bathroom trash. "Boloney! Go empty it!"
"I don't have any homework!" "Boloney!"
"I DID sweep the floor!" "Boloney!"

In some instances, my frustration peaks and a foreign language comes out. Some kind of incomplete, jumbled words that don't even sound like real words gets blurted at someone at an instant when they're supposed to be hurrying up or when they need an attention-getting blast. "Bwa-ten-o-muh-sow-ehn!" This muddled word is never the same, but it's enough to get someone moving!

When I was little, my mother used to say "Fiddlesticks!" I thought, at the time, it was a cute thing to say, but never picked up on it.

Although I'm no where near perfect at using the English language to express my feelings and thoughts, at least for now, hopefully whatever words DO come out of my mouth during those moments of irritation, are a little softer on the ears!

APPLES!!!!

Inspired by Momzoo, I've finally mustered the courage to can some apples again! (Explosive experiences in the past) They're little chunks in little jars, I know, but nonetheless, they're apples in jars! Just the way we like them. So exciting!