Hello again - this one is too late to be of help for Valentine's Day, but the project is doable for any holiday or special day (birthday, anniversary, or just becase!). 

I made some sweet Lavender Drawer Sachets to give for Valentine's Day, using a project idea I modified from, again, Martha Stewart.  I could never do all the things she does (she has bazillions of hours and about as many people to help her!) but I find some neat projects on her website that are fairly easy and elegant as well.

If you go to the marthastewart.com website and search "Organza Sachets", you'll find the project I used as a basis for mine. 

I modified mine by using a netting material (various colours, depending on whom the sachet was for) and only using lavender in my sachets.  I made sets of 3 for each recipient and tied them together with thin ribbon.   Wow, does my living room smell sweet! 

Okay, here I am with a QUICK post about one of the things I'm working on for Valentine's Day gifts.  Some time ago I ran across this cute little project from Martha Stewart in which you make soaps shaped like the Valentine Conversation Hearts.  Huh.  Seems easy.  AND I have been holding on to a brand-new package of melt & pour soap that I found at a yard sale quite a while ago.  Seeing how I'm trying to declutter and use up things in light of the big move, I "put two and two together" and decided this would be the perfect time to try this project AND use the melt & pour rather than pack & move it!

Here's a picture of Martha's soaps ... I will do my best to post a picture of my actual soaps as soon as they are all finished. 

This has been EASY PEASY so far.  I must say, though, that at first I kind of "flinched" at making these as I've kind of been a melt & pour snob, thinking that it's not REAL soap.  Maybe not, but it sure is fun to do!  I will never prefer these over my own homemade soaps because I know exactly what's going in my homemade soaps and I don't know as much about this melt & pour.  Due to their size, though, these soaps won't last nearly as long as my homecrafted ones do, and they sure perk up the bathroom decor. 

If you make these for gifts, be sure to include a prominent note telling the recipient that it is NOT candy!  They look cute enough and smell good enough to nibble.

Here's the link:  http://tiny.cc/ValentineSoaps

Enjoy - and be sure to leave a comment if you try them...I'd love to know how yours turn out!    P.S.  Thanks, Martha! 

Well, here it is, the middle of January 2009 *gasp* and I'm just getting around to checking back in here at HSB.  I've missed my friends here - in fact, Mennobrarian, you're the reason I'm here right now!  :)   Thanks for the nudge.

Where to start?  I do hope you had a wonderful Christmas holiday with family and friends.  Ours was very nice ... this time we actually had enough vacation time to be able to visit with everyone and not have to hurry back to work.  I was pretty pleased with the items I made as gifts this year, and so were the recipients, it seems - which makes it all the better.  My homemade vanilla went over VERY well, as did my soaps and other items.  I finished ONE rag quilt, which we gave to my Nanny.  She liked it very much.  I was really pleased with the way it turned out (I was a bit nervous halfway through).  Thanks to the help of my mother & sister-in-law, it got finished in time to wrap!  They helped me by sewing the outer seam and snip, snip, snipping all those edges so they would fray properly.  So thankful for their help!   The only regret with the quilt is I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE!  And now, with Nanny 1000 miles away again, I can't take one.  Ah well.  You'll just have to take my word for it - it turned out great.

I'm working on quite a few new things right now, one of which includes orchestrating a family move!  Yep, that's right.  Very soon, in fact, although we don't have an exact date.  Soooo, if I am a bit scarce around here for a little while, it's possibly because I'm lost in a mountain of packing paper and boxes!    I will do my best to keep updating as often as possible, though, because, as always, I've got projects in the works!  Remember, Valentine's Day is coming up!  There are several items I want to make for family members:  lavender sachets, cute Valentine soaps, and some others.  I will post about them here as I get to them, of course.  I would love to hear about the items you made for gifts this year, so tell me about them in the comments section! 

In the meantime, I will sign off here because it is time for me to celebrate my birthday with my beautiful family - no blogging allowed!  See ya soon!

Hello! 

Just wanted to take a moment to say "Merry Christmas" to everyone, and best wishes for a Blessed and Prosperous New Year! 

I won't be blogging through the holidays as I want to spend lots of time with our family and extended family and friends, so I'm taking away some distractions (I can get online and get so engrossed in reading other blogs that what was supposed to be 15 or 20 minutes turns into hours! - YOU know!)

So I hope this finds all of you enjoying good health and wonderful times with family and friends, keeping in mind the True Reason for the Season!  May you all be blessed beyond measure! 

P.S.  Thanks, Mennobrarian, for the link!  You're so sweet! 

We have a winner of the Christmas cards!  The winner is

Godsgirlalways2001

Congratulations!  I sent you a message already, so please message me back as soon as possible with your mailing information and I will have the cards on their way to you!

Merry Christmas!

As most of us are in the midst of baking pies and prepping turkeys in preparation for the big feast tomorrow (and the shopping the next day!), I just wanted to take a moment to say "Happy Thanksgiving" and remind myself and others to not get so caught up in the business of it all that we forget to be truly thankful to our Lord, who gives us everything.  The turkey?  Yes, you may have shopped several stores, trying to find the right size and right price, and you will be the one who cooks it, but ultimately, it is not you who provides the turkey - it is the Lord.  If not for Him, you would not have the means to buy it, nor the ability.  

Sometimes it seems we get so caught up in the doing and being that we forget from Whom everything comes.  SisterLori's entry for today underscores this:     http://www.homesteadblogger.com/coveredchristians/ 

May we all remember to be thankful to the One to whom we owe everything, as our forefathers were on the first Thanksgiving Day.   

As I was preparing to write out Christmas cards the other day, it occurred to me that we have more cards than we will ever, ever use.  I'm one of those people who cannot seem to resist buying beautiful new cards each year at the after-Christmas sales...more boxes than I can use.  Last year I didn't even open up the ones from the year before, and I made myself NOT buy any at the clearance sales.  I'm also one of those people who doesn't like to send the exact same cards year after year...so if I don't use all of a box one year, I generally never use it after that.

That being said, as I started working on the address labels for this year's cards, I eyed the stack of cards still in my Christmas bin.  Probably not going to use those.  Why keep them?  So, here it is...my first blog giveaway.  It's nothing spectacular, but it's here for anyone who wants to get some beautiful cards for FREE. 

I am offering 42 assorted Christmas cards with envelopes.  No strings attached!  Just leave a comment on my blog under this entry and title it "Christmas Cards". 

The giveaway ends on Saturday, November 29, 2008.  Not much time, but a necessary date because I want you to have time to get them mailed out yourself!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and a Very Merry Christmas to you! 

Did I really just post that as my title?  Talk about putting on the pressure!  Only 43 days til Christmas -- well, since it's the afternoon, I guess I only have 42 1/2 days .  I didn't realize I had not posted since October!  My, how the time flies!  But I have been busy...as we all have, I'm sure.  In addition to everyday life, our family has been working on Christmas things and enjoying Christmas music, too!  To be perfectly honest, we listen to Christmas music pretty much any time of the year, whenever we feel like spreading a little Christmas...and I sing Christmas songs to my children in addition to lullabies throughout the year - we all love them!

So, for a quick update: 

• The homemade vanilla I made turned out GREAT!!!!  I've been using it and it is so refreshing to walk down the aisle in the grocery store and NOT have to pay what they're asking for vanilla!  Plus I have the added bonus of knowing exactly what is in my vanilla!  Did you know that commercial vanilla has corn syrup in it?  Even the more expensive stuff!  Why?
• I'm actually making progress with my rag quilts!  I hope to have one finished in a week (I work on them only about 30 minutes per day). The biggest delay is that I couldn't find the fabrics I needed at the price I needed to pay!     I have, however, resigned myself to the fact that I may only get one done for a Christmas gift.  But there's always next year for the others!
• I have knitted 3 caps and started another to give as gifts.  One of the caps was claimed by my daughter and one by my son, so I had to start more.  What a compliment, though!  They loved them!  Since I don't sit down too much at home unless I'm on the computer or nursing, I use any time we are travelling in the vehicle to knit (that is, of course, when DH is driving!).
• Oh, I have been enjoying my winnings from Mennobrarian!  I won the giveaway I posted about last time!  I was so excited!  The parcel she sent was wonderful, chock full of goodies!  I am thinking of doing a giveaway of my own now...if I can just think of a prize everyone would enjoy.
• I have been making Amish Frienship Bread every 10 days and we love it!  I've added Pumpkin Spice pudding mix to it as well as nuts, and it tastes like the moistest, most yummy Pumpkin Bread!  I've frozen a couple of loaves for the holidays.  I've also run out of people to give starters to!  Everyone I know has a starter already!
• I've got our Thanksgiving meal planned out and just need to buy the turkey.  I have a raincheck for turkeys at Kroger for 59 cents per pound that I have been waiting to use for a month now!  They haven't gotten any more in, so I'm HOPING it will be this week.  I don't believe any other store near here has advertised them for even close to that price.  Other than the turkey, I have pretty much everything.  I am going to make pumpkin pies this week and freeze them so I'm not doing it all in one day. 
• And, last but not least, I have been cleaning/reorganizing my kitchen.  The key to it for me is to only work on a few certain sections each day.  I am famous for getting into a big project like that and trying to tackle it all in one day.  The result?  A bigger mess than when I started, and in the case of the kitchen, NO DINNER!  That's tough on the tummy AND the budget!  We either end up snacking or going out for fast food - neither being acceptable solutions!  This time I divide up the areas and tackle one "section" per day.  For example:  I have 7 upper level cabinets in my kitchen.  I want to take only 3 days to accomplish the upper cabinets redo, so I will need to tackle 2 cabinets per day.  This makes it a task I can complete instead of dragging everything out of every cabinet, only to run out of steam before I get everything sorted, decided upon and put back in the cabinets!  Well, there's more to the "system" but that's a general idea, and so far, it seems to be working!  The biggest bonus so far is that I know which spices and seasonings I have plenty of and which ones I need to replace  before the holidays!

So til next time, Cheers!  And Happy Thanksgiving! 

I must take a moment to share that my friend Mennobrarian is having a lovely Christmas giveaway on her blog!  It is never too early to get in the spirit, as far as I am concerned, so hop on over and enter!  I did!  BUT DON'T HESITATE - the giveaway ends October 8!  That's tomorrow!!

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/mennobrarian/111957/

Mmm, fall is in the air, and lots of baking is going to be happening at our house!  I am looking forward to using my own homemade vanilla in all of my cooking and baking.  The first batch I made will be finished in roughly 2 weeks and I can officially 'try' it. 

Since I mentioned making my own vanilla, I've had a few requests for the recipe/method, and my friend Mennobrarian kindly suggested that a tutorial might be in order.  Sooo, bear with me as I add my first real tutorial for making your own vanilla!  And thanks, Mennobrarian, for the suggestion! :)  By the way, a Disclaimer:  I am not accustomed to frequenting the liquor stores, so venturing in for a bottle of vodka to make my vanilla was almost too much for me! No, I'm no prude, but I don't know enough about alcohol to tell one thing from another...so I coaxed my hubby into purchasing it for me.  Maybe next time, huh?

HOMEMADE VANILLA

The players:  vanilla beans (buy them online - much cheaper! My source listed below.); vodka (75-80 proof); 1/2 pint jar with lid; sharp knife.

Step 1:  Count out and sort your vanilla beans.  The recipe I used first called for 4 beans per 8 ounces vodka (1/2 pint jar) but other sources suggest that anything less than 6 or 8 beans per 1/2 pint is only vanilla-flavored alcohol.  I used 6 beans per jar for my first batch and 7 beans per jar for the batch you see here.

Step 2:  Cut the beans in half horizontally.  I also cut off the ends to make it easier later on...but I add the ends to the jar, so don't throw them away!

Step 3:  Cut the halves in half lengthwise.  Set these all aside in a pile.

Step 4:  Using the back edge of your sharp knife, hold it at about a 45 degree angle to the bean pod and scrape the insides of the bean, also known as "caviar".  Put the caviar in a pile at the side of your cutting board or go ahead and put it in your jar.  You'll have to use your fingers to get it all off.

Step 5:  After scraping out all the caviar, chop your bean pods up into small pieces.  Add these to your jar also.

Step 6:  Add 8 oz. vodka to the jar with the pods and caviar.  Put a lid on and shake, shake, shake!

Step 7:  Put this in a dark place to do its thing.  For the first week, you'll need to shake it DAILY.  It's okay to open it up and smell it, too!

After the first week, you will need to shake the jar(s) once every couple or three days, until week 4.  Then just shake occasionally as you remember.  After week 4, you can use some of it and just top off the jar with more vodka.  It will continue to "ripen" as long as the bean pods are in it. 

I plan to finish my first batch in no more than a couple of weeks because I want to try it.  To finish, you will need to strain the vanilla through a couple of layers of cheesecloth into another clean jar with a well fitting lid.  Obviously I haven't gotten to that part yet or I would add pictures!  I'll try to update this tutorial when I get to the straining part. 

Well, that's about it.  To sum it up, you'll need some vanilla beans - I get mine online as I can get 20 or 30 beans for less than I would pay for 2 or 3 in a store here - some vodka, and an 8 oz. jar (or several jars, if you plan to make a bunch).  You need a good sharp knife and the cute cutting board like I used just makes everything more cheerful, but any cutting board will do.  It takes just a little while to make up, and then all you have to do is remember to SHAKE IT! 

*I buy my vanilla beans from The Organic Vanilla Bean Company - I have been VERY pleased with them.  The website is:  organic-vanilla.com.

Enjoy!  And let me know how your vanilla turns out!

I am happy to say that it feels like FALL here!  I don't know how long it will last, since the weather here is so temperamental sometimes, but the children and I are literally soaking up the cool, crisp air and so glad to be rid of the muggy, humid weather!  It really gets me in the mood to do things!  I hate to be hot, and always say "I can put on as many things as I need to in order to get warm, but when I'm hot, I can only take off so many clothes to get cool!"  :)

My 2 oldest are having a yard sale as we speak, and I hope they make a good profit from it.  They have worked really hard the past couple of weeks, going through their things to weed out the "don't like it, doesn't fit, never play with it" items.  I told them that if they did this, whatever they make on the sale is theirs free and clear.  Motivation, huh?  I put a few things in for them to sell for me, too, but mainly this is THEIR project.  I'm proud of them!  And they are motivated to sell because whatever DOESN'T, goes to charity!  Not back home! 

As for me, I have been doing more and more "Homesteading" things.  Since my last post, I have:

1. Made Muscadine Jam (lots of it!)
2. Made my own VANILLA!  Mmmm, it smells HEAVENLY!
3. Started a rag quilt (a gift for a family member)
4. Worked up 25 pounds of potatoes in a freezer plan (potato wedges, fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes)...Whew! That took a while! But yummy! And very inexpensive as I found a deal of 5 pounds for 99 cents!!!!!
5. Made our very first Homemade Pizza (and subsequently declared that I will not ORDER a pizza for a very long time) -- DeLish!!!!
6. Made Chocolate Syrup to fuel my DS10's addiction to Nesquick - I make mine with organic sugar and he LOVES it!
7. Continue to make Laundry Soap and Scented Vinegar Rinse as needed.
8. Taught my DS10 to make bread in the bread machine by himself.

And that's probably not all, but I am pleased with the steps we are taking to become a bit more self-sufficient.  Sometime this week I am going to try a powdered version of homemade laundry soap - if it goes as I hope, then I am going to make several batches of it to include with Christmas gifts for my grandparents and my parents.  The vanilla is also going to be part of our gifts to family as well, along with homemade jams and things. 

We are planning to go to a pumpkin farm (hayride and all) to get our pumpkins in just over a week, so it is really getting to feel like fall here ... if we can just keep this lovely 60 degree and under weather!! :)   HAPPY FALL, YA'LL!

Well, well, well.  After years of having been a "vinegar snob" when it came to laundry, I have changed my tune!  Honestly, I have cleaned with it for years now, preferring it to the commercial cleaners!  I just could never convince myself that it would make our clothes adequately soft AND not smell like we fell into the pickle jar all the time!  :)

Yesterday I was reading another blogger's post about what she was making for Christmas gifts, and one of the things was vinegar fabric softener.  So, I thought, "Eww, most of our extended family would turn up their noses at a bottle of vinegar that I tried to pass off as fabric softener".  But then, the wheels started turning, and I thought, "Wait, if you can flavor vinegar, why can't you scent vinegar for the laundry?"  So I did!

I found a great Australian site some time ago that I visit ever so often, and there was my answer for scenting vinegar!  Basically, you just take 1 litre of white vinegar and add 1 tsp. of essential oil.  Shake it up each time before you use it.  Works like a charm! 

The best part?  Well, with this rinse and my homemade laundry soap, it costs me only about 10 cents to wash a load of clothes (not counting water, of course) ... 10 CENTS!!!!!!   Amazing!  And the clothes are CLEAN!  If you like lots of scent, you might be disappointed, but I certainly am not.  Don't get me wrong - a year ago I didn't feel like our clothes were "clean" unless they smelled "Springtime Fresh" or some other chemical-based scent.  Now I know different and I am tickled to NOT smell that chemically manufactured smell in our laundry!  Now we just need to be able to hang the clothes out to dry in the fresh air and sunshine!  Soon.

Mmm, Mmmm, Mmmm!  My kitchen smells soooo yummy right now!  I am making another batch of fig preserves and it is simmering away on the stove as I type.  It gives such a warm, cozy feeling to know that I am preserving bounty from the season to be able to share with friends and family this fall and winter!

I am actually making two different kinds of fig preserves - one is a Spiced Fig Jam and the other is Fig Preserves (the way our great-grandparents used to make it...no preservatives, no pectin, all natural!).  They both taste so great!  I thought maybe someone else might have a bounty of figs (Wish ours were free! We buy them from an older couple near here who grow them pesticide-free and sell by the quart, very reasonably, I might add, thank goodness!) so am posting the recipe I use for the spicy fig jam.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do - and by all means, leave a comment to let me know you tried it!

Spiced Fig Jam

Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

Ingredients:  1/2 lemon (unpeeled), thickly sliced and seeded

                   1 1/2 pounds fresh ripe figs, halved (about 4 cups)

                   2 1/4 cups sugar (I use organic or Rapadura)

                   1 (3 inch) cinnamon stick

                   2 1/4 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

                   1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

PREPARATION: 

Finely chop lemon in processor.  Add figs.  Using on/off turns, process until figs are coarsely pureed.  Transfer mixture to heavy large saucepan.  Add 2 1/4 cups sugar, cinnamon stick, 2 1/4 teaspoons minced ginger and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves.  Simmer until mixture thickens to jam consistency and candy thermometer registers 200 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring pretty often.  This should take about 20 minutes or so.  Discard cinnamon stick.  Divide hot preserves among hot clean jars.  Process about 10 minutes in hot water bath canner. 

I haven't been intentionally neglecting my blog, but it occurred to me this morning that I haven't had time to peruse any of my friends' blogs lately, much less update my own. 

The past few weeks my DH has been away with his work, and our children and I have tried to occupy ourselves with some fun things to keep our minds off of him being gone.  (Thank goodness he's back now! And a happier bunch you couldn't ask for since he is!)  One of the things we have done to keep busy (besides try to keep a grip on the housework) is pick fresh berries.  We found a nice place nearby that grows blueberries and *thornless* blackberries!  Big, juicy, plump ones, too!  So we have picked and had fun together, talking about how much Daddy would enjoy these wonderful berries when he got home. 

Of course, we had to make jam ... couldn't pick berries without making jam!  Each "crop" of berries that we picked were then brought home, flash frozen, and bagged.  That was the easiest way, so I didn't have to stand in front of a hot stove immediately after standing in the hot sun picking berries with Tiny Princesse in her baby sling.  It worked well because we picked berries once or twice each week and then I could make the jam on a different day when we were all more rested. 

So, without further ado, here is just a sample of our work thus far:  I believe these are some of the jars of blackberry jam. 

Oh, and the best part!  I used a low-methoxyl pectin with these, which basically means you can use little or no sugar (or other sweetener of your choice) with great results!  I used honey in one batch of blueberry jam, and in the other batches of blueberry and blackberry jam I used Rapadura (organic whole cane sugar).  Mmmm! Fresh berry taste and soooo much better for us!  While regular pectins call for about 7 cups of sugar, in these jams I used anywhere from 1 cup to 2 cups (I wanted to try the different sweetness levels, so I varied them in each batch).  I'm definitely impressed so far!

Just a short entry here, but I was so excited when I sat down an actually figured out how much it costs me to make a batch of Homemade Laundry Soap.  It costs just over $1 to make a batch of soap, which in my case makes approximately 2 gallons.  That means I am paying roughly 50 cents for a gallon, and I can wash 32 loads or more per gallon.  That translates to about 1.5 cents per LOAD!!!!!!  Maybe I'm crazy, but that just ROCKS! 

Also, to be perfectly honest, our laundry just SMELLS better.  It smells CLEAN.  Not lots of scent, but CLEAN.  I've also been using my own homemade soap to make the laundry soap instead of the Fels Naptha.  In my opinion, my own soap smells better and cleans better in the laundry soap. 

... and wish I'd read about 5 or 10 years ago!  But, better late than never!

• Nourishing Traditions by Fallon
• Managers of our Homes by Maxwell
• Managers of their Chores by Maxwell

As you can see, I don't just read one book at a time.  I tend to go back and forth between several at a time.  I have actually just completed Managers of our Homes and started Managers of their Chores.  Talk about making sense!  These are, IMHO, a "must read" for parents, no matter what ages your children are!  As for Nourishing Traditions, I know many of you have also read this book, and for those of you who haven't ... you should.  It is truly eye-opening and will make you think more about the food you feed your family (and yourself!).  I've only gotten to Chapter 3 so far and I have already been inclined to make some great changes in our food choices.  Ever wondered if that margarine was actually any good at all for you?  Read this book and you'll realize that your concerns were justified.  But you'll have to read it for yourself.  In the meantime, if there is a book you've read that you wish you had found years ago, feel free to add your own list in my comments!  Share the wealth!

Guten Tag!

Just had to share a couple of photos from our garden.  This is one of the many beautiful lillies in our garden.  My neighbor says it is a double, but it looks more like a triple lily to me.  And here is a picture of the first bloom on the glads in the garden.  There are several more ready to bloom out on this stem, too.

The past two days I have been making bread in my bread machine.  And a few other things (homemade granola, Dutch apple pie, cookies), assisted by my husband and children.  In fact, as I speak, our 10 y.o. is trying his hand at making a batch of my Simply Wonderful Chocolate Chip cookies!  I read off the ingredients, and he's doing the work.  My mouth is watering already ... must be near time to "test" the dough!

But back to the bread.  I have owned a bread machine for a long time and used it only occasionally, because the recipes included with it made, at best, a mediocre loaf.  Edible, of course, but just not the kind that makes you go, "Umm, gotta make that more often!"  But now that's just what the rest of my family and I are thinking, thanks to a great new recipe! 

This is the first GOOD loaf from my bread machine ... probably EVER!  So I'm back on the bread making wagon, especially with the price of bread in the stores these days!  I was so excited, I also made a loaf of FRENCH bread in the machine!  Yes, I said French bread.  It didn't taste *exactly* like a loaf of store-bought French bread, but I actually think it was better.  It had the crispy outer crust and the chewy insides ... well, long story short, it didn't last the evening.  We all loved it!  So I will definitely be making these recipes again and again and again.  Oh, before I forget, I found them at the wonderful Hillbillyhousewife website!  What a great resource!

Yesterday my two littlest darlings (ages 3 and 1) and I made homemade playdough!  I have never done this with them, even though I used to make it for my oldest two when they were 2 or 3 years old.  I have a tried-and-true recipe handed down from Gram that she used when *I* was little ... but I couldn't find it yesterday.  So I hopped online and found the following recipe, which I tweaked a bit (I'm turning into a habitual recipe-tweaker!):

PLAYDOUGH

4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 4 cups water, 4 TBSP oil, 1/2 cup cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients into a bigger saucepan (Here is where I tweaked it:  Don't know about you, but I have cream of tartar in those small little spice bottles, so didn't have anywhere NEAR 1/2 cup of the stuff.  So I added about a TBSP or maybe two, then added 2 TBSP cornstarch for no particular reason.  I also added some food coloring here as I was stirring so it would blend evenly).  Cook and stir over low/medium heat until playdough is completely formed and no longer sticky.  Allow to cool slightly before storing in an airtight container or zip lock bag.

Be forewarned, this makes a big batch.  You might want to half it if you don't want a bunch.  Or at least divide into halves or fourths and color each portion a different color for variety.  We made the whole batch and used one color, not realizing it would make so much!  So we've got a whole lotta blue playdough and have been having a ball with it!

In case you're interested, I think I read somewhere that you can substitute 1/2 baking soda and 1/2 baking powder for cream of tartar when you're in a pinch.  Never actually tried it, though.  If you choose to go this route, you'd use 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup baking powder in this recipe.  If you try it, let me know how it turns out!  In the meantime, I'm gonna give Gram a ring and have her look up the original playdough recipe I know and love ... but for now, this one turned out to be a definite close second!

I found out long ago that planning our menus out for 2 weeks or more at a time helped keep us from going through the drive-through or wandering aimlessly through the grocery aisles when we should be sitting down to a nutritious meal.  SOOOO, I thought, "Others share their menu plans, so why not me, too?"  I have one large calendar dedicated to menu plans and I fill in 2 weeks (sometimes more) at a time, then make my grocery list from that, combining as much as possible with loss leaders at local grocery stores.  Sometimes we deviate from the plan (switching one night's menu with another or making a different meal with the same general ingredients), but at least there is some structure and that's what counts.  So without further ado, here is what's on the menu at our house this week:

Monday 

Pork Chop Romance with Oven Baked Yellow Rice

http://chefmom.com/recipebox/recipes/1315.htm

http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotporkchops/r/bl77n1.htm?p=1

Tuesday - Chicken Noodles, Peas, Bread

Wednesday - Sloppy Joes, French Fries, Macaroni & Cheese

Thursday - Mexican Night:  Chips 'n' Dip

Friday - Chicken Fried Rice, Toasty Bread

Saturday - Grill Out!  Steaks, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans

Sunday -  Family Outing, so we will Eat Out

I've listed the sites for the two newest recipes I'm using (sorry I haven't quite got the hang of tiny url's here yet!), and the other menu items are either family recipes or just quick versions using some ready-made ingredients.  If you're interested in a particular recipe, just send me a message!  I'll be happy to share - there's nothing gourmet here, just GOOD food!

Just tried out a new recipe and, though *I* think it still needs a little something (I like to "tweak" recipes to suit us even better), thought it would be nice to share.  I don't recall where I got the recipe (I hand-copied it in one of my notebooks - I'm always finding recipes and such, especially if I have to sit in a waiting room - and copy them down to try).  I am posting it as I copied it, but will say that I substituted a little, and when I make it again, will do more substitutions to "tweak" it.  So here it is, without further ado!

Lemon Cheesecake

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese

2 cups milk, divided

1 pkg (3.5 oz.) instant lemon pudding (I subbed French Vanilla here)

1 - 9 inch graham cracker pie crust (make your own or buy ready-made)

In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy.  Add 1/2 cup of the milk, a small amount at a time, blending after each addition til mixture is very smooth.

Add remaining milk and the pudding mix.  Beat for about 1 minute or until well mixed.  Pour into crust.  Chill one hour.

That's it!  Easy!  I will probably try adding some sugar next time, and maybe just a bit more cream cheese as well.  I LOOOOOOVE cheesecake, as does DH.  This one was good - we spooned cherry pie filling over it - but it could always be better!  Let me know if you use the recipe and tell me if you "tweaked" it as well!