Month: July 2013

Canning is not as tough as you may think. It’s a great way to save all your homegrown fruits and vegetables, which is a great way to save money on the homestead. It’s an easy way to begin preserving produce for the winter. By following Ball’s 3-step process for beginnings, you will be canning in no time!

Can’t decide between Brownies or Cookies?? Get creative and make yourself some BROOKIES!! It is my favorite dessert as well as extremely easy to make..

Ingredients

For the brownie layer:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

For the Cookie layer:

• 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp baking powder

Instructions

1. For the brownie layer, melt chocolate chips with butter for 1 1/2 minutes in microwave safe glass bowl. Stir until smooth. Add sugar, flour and eggs and combine completely.
2. Pour into a 13″ x 9″ baking dish lined with parchment paper.
3. For the cookie dough, beet Crisco with butter. Beat in milk, vanilla, sugars, peanut butter and egg. Add flour salt and baking powder.
4. Drop cookie dough onto brownie batter layer. Smooth evenly.
5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove and cool completely. Refrigerate and cut into bars.

If you are really feel like it, you can use store bought cookie dough and brownie mix and it would be seriously amazing as well, but we all know everything is better when it is homemade!!

Are you looking to spruce up the decorations your house? Do you want to put your own artsy creativity in your house? Making your own picture frames is a great way to being putting your own creativity in your house. One interesting Do It Yourself Picture Frame that I came across was a Clothespin Picture Frame. It’s really simple and easy to do on a rainy day where you want to stay inside or a hot day when you want to stay inside in the air conditioning.

Supplies Needed:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Poster Board
• Clothespins ( Which Can Be Purchased at Any Rural King Location)
• Any Other Decoration You Want to Add (Beads, Glitter, Glue, Etc.)

Instructions:

• Step 1: This is where you use your creative side. You will need to cut out a shape of your choice on the poster board in order to begin making your picture frame.

• Step 2: Once you have the shape cut out you will need to get the clothespins glued to the poster board with the hot glue gun. You will just add clothespins until they fill the entire poster board all the way around as shown in the picture.

• Step 3: Now this is the time you may choose if you want to add decoration to the the clothespins or keep the clothespins all natural.

• Step 4: Now it is time to spruce up your house with Creativity. You can hang this in any room of the house from Kitchen to Living Room to a Bedroom.

5 Things To Do On A Rainy Day!

Rain Rain Go Away Come Again Another Day!! As children we would sing that little song in hopes that it might actually get ride of the rain so that we could go outside and play instead of being cooped up in the house all summer. Since the rain comes and goes as it pleases we have to find fun things to do inside. So I have come up with some fun things to do while your stuck in the house. These are great family activities that everyone can enjoy. Try one the next time your family is stuck in the house and let us know how it went.

1. Indoor Treasure HuntHave someone hide some things around the house and then create a map or clues to find them.
2. Create a Family Recipe BookEvery family has recipes that have been past down. Be creative and make a scrapbook of those recipes.
3. Camp In the Great IndoorsWho says you have to be outside to camp. Clean out the living room and set up that tent, cook some marshmallows over the stove and sit around telling ghost stories.
4. Bake Some GoodiesSomething that everyone loves is a fresh baked cookie or pie.
5. Organize Your Own Film FestivalEveryone enjoys watching movies. Dig out some of your old favorites and just relax on the couch and eat some popcorn.