So Much to Talk About but so Little Time

Well, as you may have noticed, I've been offline for quite awhile.  That seems to happen to me at various points and I really do apologize for that but this time I have a good excuse, namely a brand new addition to the family in the form of a fairly small (albeit getting much bigger all the time) little baby boy. 

Yes this new little guy has kept me pretty busy.  He had me working well before he was born.  For this reason, I, the prodigal daughter, do not return to you empty handed.  I have pictures of many projects that I worked on over the last several months.  Check them out.

First up is the John Deere baby blanket that I made for the munchkin. 

 I made this out of a simple John Deere fabric panel that I found at JoAnns.  I picked up a matching blue and white polka dotted soft, flannel fabric for the backing.  I put right sides together, ran a simple straight stitch around the edges, leaving about a 1in. to 1 1/2 in. opening for turning it right side out.  Then I stitched the opening closed and there you have it, a simple, super cute farm fresh blanket. 


The next blanket was made for the munchkin by a wonderful friend of mine.  The fact that her blanket was also a John Deere blanket was a really rather amusing coincidence.  She had no idea that I had already made a similar blanket.  Great minds think alike, I guess ;) 

After I made the John Deere blanket I worked on a swaddle blanket.  I found a super cute owl patterned fabric and matched it with a really soft, green minky fabric.  This has been, hands down, the most useful thing I've made for this baby.   The pattern was incredibly easy and I will most definitely be making more of these.   The hat is a crochet owl pattern.  It worked up fast and I've gotten more compliments on it than you could believe.  Apparently there is something irresistible about babies in owl hats.  Who knew?

 The last bit is a simple baby sweater, knit in garter stitch and a pair of basic baby socks.  Very utilitarian, no?  Simple but necessary. 

Next up, a bit of knitted eye candy.  This blanket was a baby gift from my amazingly talented aunt.  Believe me, the picture does not do it justice.  It is such a beautiful blanket and so soft.  I absolutely love it.  She's got skills, my aunt.  

And the last is a crocheted blanket with a song bird applique and some appliqued music notes.  The blanket is easy.  Ch. 127, double crochet in the second chain from the hook and continue working double crochet stitches across the row.  Ch. 3. Turn. Double crochet the next row.  Just keep doing that for as many rows as you like until you get the length you want (I worked 62 rows) and then work a border of single crochet around all the edges.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  The songbird pattern you can find here.   I worked the music notes a bit differently than in the pattern.  I simply tried to embroider them on, and I think they would have turned out nicely that way if it weren't for the fact that I was making this blanket during a thunderstorm and therefore I had to contend with a 55lb. dog/scaredy cat who was desperate to climb onto my head for safety.  

That's it for now but I have lots more coming up including new recipes, brand new baby chicks who should be arriving in the next few weeks, new garden happenings and, of course, many more crafts.  We'll have fun! 

Homemade Biscuit Mix

Food costs have been steadily increasing for the last several years and are expected to continue to go up, up and away.  With more and more families finding that their grocery bills are increasing $100, $200, sometimes even $300 a month without buying any more than they used too, many people are scrambling for ways to cut food costs.   Making at home and making in bulk is one way to do just that. 

A family of four will, on average, spend about $700-$900 a month on groceries.  A family of 6 will spend an average of $1,200 to $1,500 a month.   By homesteading (raising our own, growing our own, making our own, canning our own, and freezing our own) our family of five, soon to be six, spends an average of only $200 a month on groceries.  $1,000 to $1,300 less a month than most other families our size.  That's not including the costs we save on other items we make ourselves like soaps, detergents, clothes, even some furniture.  Even small steps towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle can be well worth it.  

So what's the homesteading tip for today?   Making your own biscuit mix!  Replace store bought mixes like Bisquick and Jiffy for a much more economical homemade mix.  The recipe I use makes biscuits, pancakes, waffles, muffins, some breads, cake and more all from one convenient mix that takes only a few minutes to prepare. 

What you'll need:

1. A large bowl
2. An air-tight container
3. All-purpose flour
4. Sugar
5. Non-fat, dry milk
6. Salt
7. Baking powder
8. Vegetable shortening
9. Sifter
10. A food processor or pastry cutter

The mix:
 Sift 6 cups of flour, 1 cup non-fat dry milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup baking powder, and 2 t. salt into the large bowl and stir to mix.

 Add 3/4 cup shortening and either grind in a food processor (my preferred way) or cut in with a pastry cutter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

 That's it.  Store it in an airtight container at room temperature or, even better yet, in the fridge for as long as it takes you to use it.  Simple. 


Some things make with it:

Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 425°.
Mix 2 c. biscuit mix with 1/2 c. water.  Stir well.  Turn onto floured surface and knead just a few times.  Roll or pat to desired thickness (I generally use about 1/2 in.)  and cut with a biscuit cutter or lightly floured glass.   Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Pancakes:
1 c. biscuit mix
1/2-2/3 c. water
1 egg
1 T. vegetable oil

Beat together egg and water.  Stir together egg/water mixture, biscuit mix and oil just until moistened.  Cook on a hot griddle.   Makes 18 3-inch pancakes. 

Waffles:
2 c. biscuit mix
2 eggs
2 T. vegetable oil
1 1/4 c. water

Mix the same as for pancakes.  Cook in hot waffle iron.

Oat Muffins:
1 c. biscuit mix
1/2 c. rolled oats
2 T. sugar
1/3 c. raisins
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. water
2 T. melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine dry ingredients and raisins in a bowl.  Combine egg, water, and oil in another bowl and then stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.  Spoon into 6 well-greased muffin cups.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  Makes 6 large muffins.

Raisin Cinnamon Bread:
3 c. biscuit mix
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
2 t. grated lemon rind
1 1/4 c. raisins
1 egg
1 c. water
2 T. melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 325°.  Combine biscuit mix, sugar, cinnamon, lemon rind and raisins in a bowl.  Combine egg, water and butter and stir into dry ingredients.  Beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.   Turn into well greased 9" x 5" loaf pan.  Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Turn onto a rack to cool. 

Quick and easy cake:
1 1/3 c. biscuit mix
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. water
1 1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  Combine egg, water and vanilla.  Stir 1/2 of liquid mixture into dry ingredients; beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Stir in rest of liquid mixture and beat 1 minute longer.  Turn into greased and floured 8 in. cake pan.  Bake for 25 minutes or until done.  Allow to cool before frosting. 

Goodbye 2012

The last year was interesting to say the least.  Nationally we watched the economy dip and turn on it's own roller coaster ride.  We paid $4 or more a gallon for gas at times (I can still remember my parents complaining for paying nearly $.75 a gallon in the late 80's, early 90's).  We saw turmoil in  Europe and the Middle East.  We dug deeper into our pocket books to pay for groceries and healthcare premiums.  We suffered through a crazy election cycle and we are, if we're smart, bracing ourselves for dramatically increasing costs in every area from healthcare to groceries to buying a car.   We also cheered for our athletes in the 2012 Olympics, lost our beloved Twinkies, and saw communities pull together in the aftermath of a hurricane. 

Here at home we suffered through droughts and storms.  Some harvests were bumper crops, others offered almost no yields at all.  We made a major move.  We spent warm days outside on the porch swing.  We received help from family and friends and we gave help to family and friends.  We started to new construction, we welcomed new life, we hunkered down and we held our heads up.   It's crazy how much can happen in one year.   As far as quality goes, 2012 wasn't a terrible year.  I've seen much worse but I've also seen much better.  My New's Year's resolution this year are to do everything I can personally to make sure 2013 is spectacular.  I hope to head to church more, spend less, work even harder to show my family how much they mean to me and spend more time on things I really like to do.  

God Bless, everyone.  Have a wonderful New Year!

Quick and Easy Baby Sweater

One of the projects I had started for the holidays was the Quick and Easy Newborn Sweater.  I found the pattern on Ravelry, of course.

.  I really liked the garter texture on this pattern, it's something a bit different.  But I think if I try it again at a later date I'll probably modify it to be in stockinette stitch and maybe add some duplicate stitch designs for variety.   The only other problem I've found with the pattern is that I really think it's going to be a bit too large for a newborn.  My guess is it will probably fit the 3 month crowd a bit better than a newborn.

I'm excited for the next project even though I haven't completely decided what I'll be doing yet.  I think that the next one will likely be a baby blanket, I just don't know which pattern I'm going to work up yet.  I still have The Afghan from Hell to finish, just the fringe, but my yarn for it is out in the crib/workshop and there is seriously about 4 ft. worth of snow drifts blocking me from it.  I would like to get that finally finished and out of the way though.  That thing has been mocking me since I started it, not necessarily because it's difficult but simply because it's TEDIOUS. 

My mother in-law has an afghan she wants me to start on once I'm finished with The Afghan from Hell so hopefully I'll be able to make it out to the workshop in a couple of days to collect the yarn and finish it so I can start on her project.   The afghan she wants done is going to be a bit of a challenge because it was already partially started by DH's grandmother before she passed but there is no pattern.  Therefore, I'm going to have to figure out the pattern and gauge before I can really get any amount of meaningful progress done on that blanket. Fortunately, I don't think the pattern is overly difficult and I think, once it's figured out, it should work up pretty quickly.

Merry Christmas (belated)

I hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas!   Around here we woke up Christmas morning and were kind of surprised to find that there was still a small amount of snow on the ground from the last "blizzard" that dropped a little less than 2 inches on the ground.  Nothing deep but it definitely looked more "Christmasy" than the mud we've gotten used to seeing around here.

Even though we only had a light dusting of snow on the ground for Christmas day, by Christmas night we were in the midst of a full blown blizzard. By the time it was all said and done (at least I think it's all said and done) we had received a full 10in. of snowfall.   It's the classic story over here, the children are extremely excited for the snow while the adults are dreading it.  Thankfully, I got DH a brand new pair of insulated coveralls and fleece-lined jeans for Christmas so he was well prepared for today's work.

Blizzards mean preparations, and lots of them, when you live in the country.  We piled up on salt.  Brought the shovels close to the house.  We spent part of the day hooking the snow plow up to the old tractor and attempting to make a drivable path down the lane.  We spent most of last night spreading an extra layer of straw down in the barns for added warmth for the critters.  But when we woke up this morning we found that the snow had blown through some of the cracks in the old walls and was starting to fill the pens and stables.  So we had to move the animals and clear out the pens, patch up the holes as best we could, remove the wet straw and all before feeding time.  Uggh.

We added a calf to the day of Christmas surprises.  A beautiful, big short horned baby girl.   The mother of this particular calf is normally quite the trouble maker, always getting out of the fences and into the orchards and corn fields, but she's a fairly experienced momma and her calves normally do really well so we weren't too worried when she arrived Christmas afternoon even with the approaching storm.  The only thing somewhat concerning is the fact that the calf had refused to suck for awhile but she was big enough and seemed otherwise healthy enough that we felt confident in taking the wait and see approach.  Sometimes, just like with human babies, it just takes a little time.  In this case the wait and see approach worked and by this afternoon she was eating like a champ.  One less thing to worry about. 

I spent most of these last weeks before Christmas making gifts for everyone and now that Christmas has come and gone I'm back to having empty needles, hooks, and sewing machines.  So I'm off to hunt for the next project. 

Happy Belated Christmas everybody!

Granola Bars Episode 1

Tis the season for snacking, apparently.  My trio of munchkins have been craving snacks for the last several days and so I've taken to the kitchen to save the day with homemade granola bars.

Now if there was ever an easy and versatile food to make this one is it.   The recipe is simple and it takes no time at all to cook and cool.   The combinations you can create are almost endless and you can even experiment with texture.   We have our family favorites including cranberry chocolate chip, cinnamon honey peach, peanut butter chocolate chip, dark chocolate chip (we're a chocolate loving family),  strawberry banana, and plain ol' raisin granola bars.   We also tend to like our granola bars thick and chewy as opposed to thin and crispy.

This time around I went for the cranberry chocolate chip granola bars.   The tart cranberry and the dark chocolate go together really nicely.

The recipe I use is incredibly simple and uses really easy to find ingredients.

3 c. whole grain, old fashioned oats

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

2 Tblsp. unsalted butter, melted

1/3 c. flax meal (optional)

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°.   Mix the oats, condensed milk, butter, flax meal, cranberries and chocolate chips in a large bowl until everything is blended together well.  Press the mixture into a greased 9x13in. pan.  Then bake for 20 to 25 minutes depending on desired level of crunchiness.  Allow to cool before cutting and serving.  These will keep really well for about two weeks if stored in an airtight container.  Because of the condensed milk, you really wouldn't want to store them much longer than that without refrigerating or freezing. 

Crochet Plastic Bag Holder

This was my pantry space. It was being taken over by plastic grocery bags.  I lived with it like this for way too long.  So this weekend I finally decided to take a stand against bag clutter.  I made a plastic bag holder. 

For the pattern I went with "Crochet Bag Dispenser" from Ravelry.  I really didn't make any adjustments to the pattern at all.  It was a really quick project and I'm kicking myself for not having made it earlier.  I used plain old RedHeart Super Saver yarn in green and I'm strongly considering adding a few crocheted flowers to it just to pretty it up a bit. 

That one little weekend project took me from that first picture to this one:

 

 Much, much better.  I can now actually see what is hiding in my pantry.  I even discovered a few items I didn't realize I had like the bags of Doritos and Tortilla chips and the Velveeta shells and cheese.  I think my mother in law may have done a little shopping when she was staying with the kids a couple of weekends ago ;) 

Now there is order in our cupboard once again and the cereal has lived happily ever after.