Woops.

I have been lax in posting things. Got into that trap of "I don't have anything worth writing about" and "I don't have pictures" and "I don't have time." I have started a dozen different posts and just left them as drafts. I'm going to TRY to post more, regardless of whether it's interesting, well thought out, has pictures, or whatever. I forget things that happen around here and need to write it down or it goes down the brain drain. In that spirit, this post is boring, has no pictures, but I'm posting it, baby!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Olivia is a sausage ADDICT. She thinks she needs it every single morning, even with cereal. (She does NOT get it every day, but she wants it.) And 1 yr old Logan is following in her footsteps. I happened across a recipe for homemade breakfast sausage and thought I'd give it a try. It's super easy - mix a few spices with ground pork, and there you have it. It's cheaper than regular sausage (The ground pork was $1.79/lb not on sale, (though I'll be watching for sales from now on!), throw in a dime or two for the spices.) and healthier too. Purchased sausage has MSG, corn syrup, preservatives, nitrites, etc., not to mention whatever "by products" they use. By making it myself I can control what's in it. (Next time I'm going to lower the fat content by mixing in half ground turkey breast.) And yes, there WILL be a next time. It's so easy that I plan to make a bunch and keep it in the freezer. And best of all, it's delicious!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage (from allrecipes.com)

2 tsp ground sage
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground marjoram
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 pinch ground cloves
2 lbs ground pork

Mix spices together. Mix in the ground pork. Form into patties and cook in skillet over medium high heat abt. 5 minutes per side.

I froze the extra patties uncooked, although I think next time I may cook them and then freeze them. (Then I can pull out one just for Olivia and microwave just til hot.) I will also freeze some one l lb chubs for when I make breakfast burritoes or biscuits & sausage gravy.

I plan to make my future batches with half ground turkey. I may cut the salt, and may try using real maple syrup instead of the brown sugar. I might also try putting fennel seed in. So easy to customize when you make it yourself!

Mad Scientist Girls

My kids are NOT afraid to experiment in the kitchen. I think that's a good thing...right? Yesterday 9 yr old Natalie and her friend Cate wanted to invent a snack. (With NO help, mom!) They seemed to have a s'more theme going on. They melted chocolate chips (in the microwave), and spread the chocolate on graham crackers and topped with colored sprinkles. Then they spread the remaining chocolate on marshmallows and sprinkled crushed graham crackers and colored sprinkles over those. They refrigerated them for a while and we had them after dinner. Pretty tasty!

Today their s'more baking theme continues. I came downstairs this afternoon to find them stirring another bowl of melted chocolate chips, and a container of melted marshmallow goo. They stirred them together and informed me that they wanted me to make a batch of muffins, and they were going to put a dollop of yummy goo inside of each muffin. After thinking for a minute, I suggested we whip up a quick batch of cookie dough, and stir the goo into the dough to make s'more cookies. They agreed, so I helped them make the dough and in no time they were ready to stir in their chocolatey marshmallowey goodness. Voila, YUMMY s'more cookie dough! The resulting cookies were rather flat, (they probably needed to be refrigerated before baking), but flat or not, they were delicious! Good job, Mad Scientist Girls!

They say that when they grow up, they're going to own a bakery together. I'll be the first in line!
Now Olivia (5) keeps telling me "Mommy *I* want to invent something, too!"  Maybe tomorrow she & I will have to invent something yummy in the kitchen, too.

Raspberries! Yum!

My uncle has a large raspberry patch. And he's nice enough to share! Lucky us! The other day my girls & I went and picked. About 20-25 cups worth. We got enough to gorge on, plus I made 2 batches of jam, and put 5 sandwich baggies full in the freezer. Hopefully we'll be able to go another time or two, because I'd like to put a bunch more in the freezer.  Raspberries are very healthy (and yummy) and I like to use the frozen berries throughout the year to put in jello, homemade ice cream, smoothies, muffins, etc. Thank you Uncle Robert!

Rotating Food Storage Can Rack - Build Your Own

(Posting this so it doesn't get lost in the dusty recesses of my brain...)
**This post contains various links for making food storage racks. I have been adding links as I find info I don't want to lose.**

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I WANT one of these! (Or several, stacked on top of each other.)
Food Storage Can Rack (Watch this Youtube video) So so cool!

For a simple version, here are instructions for building small can rotators from cardboard - these would sit on your existing shelves.

Or if you want the real thing and know what you're doing, here are some instructions, or you can buy plans here. (I *think* this is the type in the youtube video above.)

Some free online plans: http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rotating-Canned-Food-Shelf

Or, here's one for #10 cans, you would still have your "wall space" but it stores 200 cans. http://peaceofpreparedness.com/Resource%20Library/Emergency%20Prep/Canned%20Food%20Rotator.pdf

Here's a site showing how to make shelving to hold water barrels, plus rolling storage for #10 cans (or you could certainly do regular cans, too.) It has pictures and plans. (See links at the top of the site.) http://waterstoragerack.blogspot.com/

I might just have to figure out how to do this!

Warm Lake

We had a nice couple of days at my sister's lakeside cabin. The weather was cold and rainy, but didn't slow the kids down much. Ben loved going out in the kayak. He gave rides to all the littler kids. One day it rained every time he went outside, and stopped raining every time he went back inside. We told him he could make some money as a rainmaker someplace that has a drought. Natalie enjoyed kayaking with Jolie, and fishing with Connor. She caught 2 or 3 fish, Connor caught a couple, and Ben caught one. Olivia was happy to play with her cousin Hallee. It was a bit of work to keep Logan out of the fire, off the stairs, etc. but he had fun, too. Thank you Karen for inviting us!

Natalie braving a rainy day to catch a fish...

...and then proudly displaying her catch!

Ben giving Olivia a kayak ride on the beautiful lake. He wants to buy a kayak now.

Logan & Tyson watching birds & squirrels. The girls put leftover pancakes on the windowsill and they would come right to the window to eat.

Some of the kids playing games in the cabin.

We had lots of fun at the cabin! It was a great start to our summer.

Yummy Strawberry Jam!

Strawberry freezer jam is the BEST!!!!! I vowed a few years ago to never buy store-bought jam again. That stuff is awful. It is NOTHING in comparison to real homemade jam. And of all of them, strawberry freezer jam is the BEST!

To make a batch of jam, about 7 cups worth, you need about 2 lbs of strawberries, a box of MCP pectin, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, a cup of corn syrup, and 4 cups of sugar. Follow the directions in the box of pectin for quick freezer jam (uncooked.) Basically you clean and mash the berries, stir in the lemon juice & pectin, let sit for half an hour (stirring occasionally), then stir in the corn syrup and sugar. Put it into freezer containers (I use gladware containers) and there you have it. About as easy as it can be, and once you taste it you will NEVER be able to choke down Smucker's again.

Memo to self: MCP pectin and Sure-Jell pectin boxes look identical and cost the same. However, Sure-Jell requires about twice as much sugar per the same amount of fruit. Make sure to get the MCP. (I accidentally got a bunch of Sure-Jell last year when couponing, and am donating it all.)

I didn't take a picture of my jam before I stashed it in the freezer, so here's a picture I stole off the internet. You can almost taste the yumminess through the screen!