Solar Ovens

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

160 uses for coconut oil


I do have coconut oil in my food storage, but this sure makes me want more!
http://www.hybridrastamama.com/2012/01/160-uses-for-coconut-oil.html

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Lemon Lavender cookies

We really loved the flavor of these!

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 Cups Flour
  • Eggs (room temperature)
  • 2 Cups Sugar
  • 1 Cup Butter
  • 2 Tbsp Lavender sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Lemon zest (grated)
  • 1 Tbsp Lemon juice
  • 2 Tsp Dried lavender buds (optional)
  • 1/4 Tsp Salt
  • 2 Tsp cream of tartat (optional)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Extra lavender sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray. In a food processor, pulse together the butter, eggs, sugar, lavender sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cream of tartar, dried lavender, salt and baking powder. Add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture and blend together to form a soft ball.
Form the dough into 1- inch round balls and press into discs, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter and 1/4 – inch thick. Arrange in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle over lavender sugar. Bake until light brown around the edges (approximately 10-15 minutes). Cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely for another 15 minutes.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Dandelion cookies


1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs.
Mix.
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
Mix.
1/2 cup yellow dandelion blossoms (no green)
Mix.
Drop onto cookie sheet.  Bake 375 for 10-15 min.

These were better than I expected.  My son didn't love them; but I think it wasn't the dandelion flavor, I think it was that they were sweetened with honey instead of sugar.  He didn't think they were strong enough flavored or sweet enough.  I served them to a group of 6 boys I had over (ages 8-11).  Half didn't much care for them, the other half LOVED them & made me send the recipe to their moms.  So definitely worth trying to see if you like them.  I do think they'll be a great treat to be able to make if we're ever living on our food storage.  Healthy too!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Great deal on Band-Aids

http://www.thatdailydeal.com/
1000 Assorted Band-Aids for $8.99 plus $5 flat rate shipping.  I ordered 3 sets for $32 (giving some sets to other family members).  What a cheap way to stock up!

Free canning publications


Here's some free canning publications you can print!
http://www.pickyourown.org/canningpubs.htm

Dandelion Jam!


http://www.simplycanning.com/dandelion-jelly.html#axzz1t77aczfG
We were caught up in an odd urge to make dandelion jam the other day.  We followed the recipe on the above site.
It only took me & the 2 boys less than 10 min to pick enough.  Getting the green parts off, so I'd have just the yellow left is another matter.  That is tedious!  I was doing it by myself & it took me an hour to get the 4 cups necessary!
I was quite nervous about tasting it.  Honestly, I'm not a big vegetable lover.  But this stuff was GOOD.  It was kind of like honey, but with a bit of tart.  The word to that came to my mind is that it tasted like summer!  After the work was done & we tasted it, I thought it was worth all the work.  Probably even more so to open some of this on a cold winter day!
I love that I can make this with something that grows free all around.  Now I'm debating...I spend a lot of money every summer on weed-b-gone trying to get rid of the dandelions in the lawn.  But my rabbits love dandelions, & now we do too.  But am I quite ready to turn the lawn over to them?  I'm just not sure!
I did have one trouble with the recipe.  The jam didn't jell.  I've never had that happen before.  Looking online, it seems to be a common problem with dandelion jam.  I tried some online instructions for adding more pectin, & that didn't work either.  So I was left with tasty dandelion syrup (using recipe posted above).  I finally tried the instructions in the pectin for adding another box if it didn't set.  This worked, but it was a much smaller amount of jam than your usual recipe.  I'll try it again when I'm up to doing the dandelions again; I think I'll double the pectin in the recipe & see if that works.
For some reason I found making this to be hugely satisfying.  I'm so glad we did it & excited to share it!



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Canning strawberries?


canning strawberries link
I tried these instructions for canning strawberries.  While I knew they wouldn't be like fresh, I was hoping to get something maybe similar to frozen.
First problem was that they didn't make near enough of their own syrup to fill the jars.  So I added a very light canning syrup.  The whole process was easy to do.  So then after a month I opened a jar to have over ice cream.  Yuck!  The strawberries were colorless & tasteless.  Not a success at all!  I guess I'll go back to drying my excess strawberries instead.  Those are yummy!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Strawberry-raspberry-lime jam

4 cups crushed strawberries
1 cup crushed raspberries
2 Tbs lime juice
package of pectin
4 cups sugar


Directions:
Mix strawberries, raspberries & lime juice.   Gradually
stir in pectin.   Bring to a full roiling boil that cannot be
stirred down over high heat, stirring constantly.
Add sugar, stirring to dissolve.   Return to full boil.   Boil
hard for a full minute stirring constantly.   Remove from
heat.   Ladle into jars & process in boiling water canner
for 15 min.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Strawberry-Lemon Jam

(The instructions don't say to, but I ran the lemon peels through the blender after simmering them because I didn't want chunks.)   You can cut lemon in half if you don't want it as tart.

Ingredients:
4 cups crushed or pureed strawberries
2 lemons, juice from both, & thin peels from both
6 cups sugar
1 box pectin


Directions:
Thinly peel lemon.   Just cover in water & simmer 5 min.   Drain & discard liquid.
Add lemon peel & juice to strawberries.   Gradually stir in pectin in large saucepot.   Add up to 1/2 tsp butter to reduce foaming if desired.   Bring mixture to full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.   Add full measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve.   Return to full rolling boil.   Boil hard 1 min, stirring constantly.   Remove from heat & skim foam if necessary.   Process in canner.


Number Of Servings:7 (8 oz) half pints

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Strawberry Cranberry Jam

Did you know that jam was one of the most in demand items on the black market in England during WWII?  I keep thinking what a luxury it will be to have some on hand!  So the next few posts will be some favorite strawberry jam recipes.

Strawberry Cranberry Jam
2 1/2 quarts strawberries crushed
1 (12 oz) package cranberries chopped (we put them
through the blender)
2 packages pectin
1 tsp margarine
7 cups sugar


Directions:
Combine strawberries, cranberries, pectin &
margarine.   Bring to a boil.   Stir in sugar & return to
boil.   Book for 1 min stirring constantly.   Remove from
heat.   Put in jars & process in boiling water canner for
15 min.