Reusable Sandwich Box
I just found this really neat way to reuse a milk jug and get a reusable sandwich container all at the same time!
Valentine’s Day Menu
I love making my family feel special on Valentine’s Day. This year, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday which is perfect for celebrating all day long! Here is a free download of our traditional Valentine’s Day Menu. I hope you enjoy the recipes!
Download the .pdf version of this menu along with the recipes here.
Breakfast:
Heart Shaped Pancakes with fresh Strawberries and Maple Syrup
Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits
Orange Juice
Dinner:
Spinach Lasagna Béchamel
Tossed Salad with Strawberries, Green Onion, Feta and Raspberry Vinaigrette
Garlic Toast
Strawberry Lemonade
Heart Shaped Butter Cookies
Decadent Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Cream
Daily Shower Spray
Use this spray in your tub/ shower daily to help prevent soap scum and keep it looking clean!
1/3 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
Mix in a spray bottle and shake. Spray on, no rinsing required.
The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life – Book Review and Giveaway
The Prairie Girls Guide to Life:
How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl
This delightful little book is sure to win your heart if you love timeless wisdom, crafts, and recipes. The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life by Jennifer Worrick is chock full of ideas to feed your pioneer’s spirit. Learn how to:
- predict the weather
- embroider a pillow
- bake a rhubarb pie
- make bread and butter pickles
- knit a shawl
- make a night cream
- braid hair
- prepare sweet cherries
- lay a fire
- pan for gold
- make rock candy
- braid a rug
- make candles
- spin yarn
- milk a cow
- and much more!
I wanted to share a particularly fun recipe from the book with you. When I was a kid, rock candy was such a treat! We would go down to the shops in Warm Springs, GA (close to where I grew up) and buy rock candy. So, when I saw this recipe, I knew I wanted to make it with my own kids.
Rock Candy
What you need:
- clean glass jar
- 6-inch ice cream sticks
- pencil
- tape
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- food coloring
In a saucepan, heat (but do not boil) 2 cups of the sugar and the water. Stir slowly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Gradually add a few drops of food coloring – your choice – and the remaining sugar, stirring continuously until all the sugar is dissolved.
Pour your colorful sugar water into a clean glass jar. Tape the sticks to a pencil and suspend them across the mouth of the jar so that the ends hang into the liquid.
Crystals suitable to eat will form in a hour and continue to grow for several days to a week. Pieces can be broken off and eaten after the first hour, but try to resist the urge to suck on them.
Although you may see modest results quickly, larger rock-candy crystals will take time to form. Good things come to those who wait, and pretty sticks of candy are yours to be had if you show a bit of patience.
Yields 12 ounces
I am fairly certain you will find a wealth of ideas here in this book. And, if you homeschool girls, this book is a perfect addition to your home economics course! If you would like to win a copy of this book comment here and on Friday of next week – February 5th – I will draw a name!
Q & A: Bread Knife
Q: This is fantastic bread! Just the recipe that I had been searching for. Tried this once from someone else, but they wouldn’t share the recipe.
I have purchased three different bread knifes and I’m not happy with any of them. What do you use to cut the bread into such pretty slices?
Skey13
A: My bread knife is very basic. It is long and serrated, but not serrated like those little paring knives. It is serrated with a inverted scalloped edge. My knife is an Ekco brand knife and probably 20 years old.
It works well for slicing tomatoes, too! A good bread knife is essential if you are baking your own bread!
Q & A: Sweet Sourdough Bread was Doughy
I am keeping the starter going and will bake another batch next week. I am so glad I found your website. I will visit often and refer for more recipes and homemaking ideas, and some daily bread also. My family also lives in Kentucky. I know how very busy you must be but if you could find time to help me figure what went wrong with my bread I would be grateful.
I am going to attempt the Amish Friendship bread starter next. I cannot find anyone here who makes it, so I will try your starter for that also. God Bless you and all your efforts and thanks so much for sharing online with a working Mom and Wife who needs all the help she can get.
A: Cheryl, I have thought about your problem, and cannot guarantee my answer will help! But, I would suggest that you bake it for a bit longer or perhaps increase the rising time. Also, be sure that when you add the flour that it is light and fluffy – not packed into the measuring cup. Either sift the flour before measuring or stir the flour and spoon it into the measuring cup. Let me know how your next batch turns out!
I wish I could come over and watch your method – that might help me answer better! I hope you enjoy the Amish Friendship Bread Starter. It is so versatile!
I appreciate your really sweet comments! It means a lot to me!!
Meal Planning from the Pantry
This afternoon I am beginning a major “overhaul” and inventory of my extensive pantry. This week’s meals will come solely from those items in our pantry that need to be eaten. We have always stockpiled food. Unfortunately, I don’t always do the best with keeping things rotated. So, as I inventory, I will be making menu plans for the days (weeks?) to come.
My goal is to have a rotating menu plan that will help me to cook healthy foods from our stockpile/ pantry. The rotating menu plan should help me to be sure we have at least a years supply of food stored up. Currently, we have several month’s worth of food stored, but because I have not had a real plan for the food I can’t determine how much food is stored and how long it will feed us. I do know that we have been eating mostly out of the pantry for the last few months without doing much grocery shopping at all. I will share more about this almost overwhelming undertaking later!
L0adable Coupons – Grocery Savings
Did you know you can load coupons from the internet right onto your Kroger Value Card? That’s not the best part. You can use the loadable coupons plus a paper coupon (or printed coupon) on the same item.
So, where do you go to get these loadable coupons?
The first place is Proctor and Gamble. Just sign up and get started! Then, go over to Shortcuts.com and sign up. You can use both sites at the same time. At shortcuts.com there is a limit of 20 coupons at one time, so pick the ones you would most likely use the most.
Apple Garland for Fall
Check out this sweet Apple Garland for fall! So sweet and simple! I’m loving it!
My New File Crate System
July has been a really good month for ideas! As I began preparing for our new homeschool year, I came across some new ideas that really captured my attention. I am very very excited about some changes I am making!
The File Crate System
Okay, so I have been sharing with women for over eight years about how to get their lives organized. I came across this idea over at Dawn’s blog. She has been apparently using this system for several years.
I have been using my Household Notebook “system” for a very long time – years! And it works great. It helps me stay on top of my chores, menus, and schedules. In fact, you can print off some pages for your own Household Notebook over on my side bar to the right. But the Household Notebook did not solve my major issue with papers, ideas, and -um- papers.
So, I plan to use a variation of Dawn’s system.
I purchased a super cute file crate for $5.00 at Wal-Mart. I love pale pink! It has to be my favorite color! Wal-Mart has these really cute crates right now for the “Back to School” season. They have several colors – pale pink, dark pink, purple, lime green, orange, and blue.
I also purchased a box of hanging file folders and labeled the tabs. Twelve of them are the months of the year. Dawn labeled hers in two month increments, using only 6 folders – January/ February, March/ April, etc.
I know, it is hard to see the labeled hanging files in the picture above. I also added some hanging files in the back for the major aspects and events of my life: Children’s Ministry, Campmeeting, A Virtuous Woman, Gardening, Camping, etc.
And in the very front, I added a hanging folder that I plan to leave in the spot for daily use – Homeschool Records. In years past these records have made their home in my Household Notebook. This year, I decided to try Daily Journaling for our homeschooling. I could have printed off pages for this and placed them in my Household Notebook, but I decided instead to purchase a pretty composition notebook and use it like a real journal. So, I put the composition notebook in the Homeschool Records folder.
In each of my monthly hanging folders I have labeled a file folder (I purchased the Fall Colors File Folders from Office Depot) for each week. Since I plan to begin my “new year” in August I began the first folder with Sunday, August 2 – August 8, 2009. So, this means I will have 52 folders – one for each week, plus extras for the different categories. For instance, in my Children’s Ministry folder, I will have a folder for VBS 2010, Sabbath School, Pathfinders, etc.
You can read more about how Dawn uses her file crate system. I am looking forward to this year!
