Laurie's Everyday Notions

........hides my little store of food.

Whew, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind. The Boy started football practice. Daycare has been hoppin' busy with a house full of kids, many of which are school agers and getting "bored". The garden has been overflowing with it's bounty which I've been busy preserving. Somehow while the kids are resting today I need to get my bags packed so that we can head out of town for the weekend. A long weekend "Up North" at the cabin is just what this weary mamma needs. Three days of nothing but reading, fishing, walking through the woods...and sleeping in! Here's what we've been up to:    Hubby's MG Midget went from this to this:  Curriculum Planning ~ I had great intentions of finishing my planning in June but then summer happened.   My dad went from here........      to here. I am still in awe of my dad. At the beginning of July he had a valve replacement surgery...at the end of August he's clim...

If I had known how fun it is to experiment with canning my excess, I would have started years ago! There is so much satisfaction in seeing my jars filled with different vibrant colors of fruits and vegetable all lined up on the kitchen counter. You know how I have this habit of looking at things and asking, "Can I make it?"... well, now I'm looking at "stuff" and asking, "Can I preserve it?" I am having a blast with my new experiments! Here's what I've canned this week:  Apple Pie Filling, Apple Juice, Clementines, Orange Marmalade, Strawberry Sauce, Sweet Dill Pickles,  Sweet Dill Pickles Brine: 6 cups sugar 4.5 cups water 3 cups apple cider vinegar 6 T. sea salt 1 heaping cup of dill Sterilize jars. (I used 6 pints) While brine is heating up, slice cucumbers (a bunch. I didn't count...maybe 6-10 cukes), fill jars. Top cucumbers with brine. Leave a little head space. Tighten lids and turn upside down. Leav...

Last week, through the generosity of a friend, I was blessed with an abundance of produce. Tuesday we went bananas. The bananas, although quite brown on the outside, were still firm. I'd have loved to keep them around for a couple more days for plain old eating but I didn't want to risk the bananas browning too much. I popped one into my morning smoothie and chucked up half a dozen to freeze. These will be perfect for my breakfast smoothies. Half a dozen bananas were used up in this recipe: http://www.southernplate.com/2008/07/homemade-banana-pudding-tutorial.html The only thing I changed in this recipe was omitting the Nilla Wafers and I also forgot to add the salt. I used fresh eggs from my hens and creamy fresh milk. Hubby raved about this pudding and said that it was the best pudding he has ever tasted! My next google search for chocolate covered bananas led me again to Southern Plate. This is the first time I've stumbled across this s...