tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50466248529974781912024-03-13T00:40:01.593-07:00Those Who Help Themselves: Allergies, Eczema, Autism and MeThose Who Help Themselves, a blog about allergy friendly recipes, autism, eczema, motherhood. Gluten free, peanut free, garlic free, oat free recipes. DIY. Self sufficiency. Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.comBlogger327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-85537468092291439062015-01-26T14:08:00.000-08:002015-01-26T14:08:02.692-08:00Gluten Free Three Way Cake (Gluten free, dairy free option)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's one of those recipes that is just so versatile, I'm planning so many different ways to prepare it...well it's kind of pathetic.<br /><br />I found, while researching, that a typical thing to do during the wars years was to split a recipe up when making something like cake to do multiple desserts at one time. This also eliminated the fear of wasting something should you not eat it all in one sitting.<br /><br />A typical trick was to split a cake recipe in half and make a smaller cake (like an eight inch round cake) and then use the other half to make cup cakes. That way you had two desserts for the week instead of one.<br /><br />And that's how I stumbled on the concept of the three way cake. It is literally one bunch of batter that you then split into three parts to make three different desserts. All at once! Or you can be boring and make a three layer cake with the batter, but where's the fun in that?<br /><br />So, what follows is the base recipe and what I did with it to work it three different ways. A couple of notes. If you choose to follow what I did? Keep in mind to only fill up your cupcake tins about 1/2 the way up the sides. This is because in ye olden days the portion sizes were smaller. This will keep you from having a REALLY small third cake when you are done.<br />
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<br /><br /><u><b>Gluten Free Three Way Cake (Makes 6 cupcakes and two cakes or one triple layer cake), </b>Gluten Free with dairy free option</u><br /><br /><b>Base batter:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>1 cup sweet white rice flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup tapioca starch</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup sorghum flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup almond meal (I use Honeyville)</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour</b></li>
<li><b>1 tsp. xanthum gum</b></li>
<li><b>3 tsp. baking powder</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. salt</b></li>
<li><b> 2/3 cup vegetable shortening, palm shortening, butter substitute, softened butter or a mixture</b></li>
<li><b>1 cup sugar</b></li>
<li><b>3 large eggs</b></li>
<li><b>1 cup milk (or milk alternative)</b></li>
<li><b>3 tsp. gluten free vanilla extract</b></li>
</ul>
<br /><b>Procedure:</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. <br /><br />2. Grease three eight inch round cake pans (or, as in this case, six cupcake tins, 1 7" loaf pan and 1 1/2 quart square baking dish...or you could use another loaf pan if you don't have that). Stir together the flours, starch, xanthum gum, baking powder and salt.<br /><br />3. Beat the shortening in a stand mixer on high speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. <br /><br />4. Add the dry ingredients, milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed (scraping bowl often) until batter is smooth.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<br />5. Divide batter into prepared pans (I went down the line, cupcakes, loaf pan and then 1 1/2 quart baking dish).<br /><br />6. Bake cupcakes 18 to 20 minutes, 1/2 quart baking dish 25 to 30 and 7" loaf pan 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the edges are golden. <br /><br />7. Let sit in pans about 5 minutes and then remove to tea towels to cool. Only cut and prepare the cake you are planning on eating that evening and store the other two cakes in your fridge until ready to use for another night (I bet they'd freeze well too). </blockquote>
<br />And now for the fun part! Some of the variations I did!<br />
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<b>Variation One: The cupcakes</b><br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Okay, this one was easy. I just took chocolate frosting and put it on top of the cakes. Take your favorite chocolate frosting recipe and cut it down to about 1/4 of the original and you should have enough to frost your six cupcakes.</blockquote>
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<br /><b>Variation Two: Blueberry Cake</b><br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Take 1/2 quart baking dish cake and taking a bread knife, slice it into two layers (it doesn't need to be perfect). Fill with your favorite canned fruit, drained WELL (I used spirited blueberries from my pantry). Top with whipped coconut cream or whipped cream and you are good to go!</blockquote>
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<br /><b>Variation Three: Jelly Roll Cake</b><br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This was by far my family's favorite way for this to be prepared. During WWII, jam and jelly became big staples in desserts because they were on ration, so a lot of families started making their own jelly and jam when they could with their sugar ration (they'd get extra during the summer months to use specifically for canning). So, you ended up with jelly and jam being used to sweeten different desserts. So, I decided to test that principle here. And it is yummy!<br /><br />Slice loaf pan cake into 3 pieces horizontally with a thin bladed bread knife. Spread jam in between layers (I used home made raspberry preserves from my pantry) and restack cake.<br /><br />Top with your favorite recipe for vanilla glaze (I used <a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vanilla-Glaze/">this one</a> that I tweaked to work with our allergies and such). I cut the glaze recipe down to about 1/4 of an original recipe, seeing as how if you make a full recipe of glaze you'll have a ton left over.<br /><br />Cut into slices and serve. This one lasted us about 3 meals worth of desserts as it's pretty filling. Store leftovers in fridge.</blockquote>
<br />So, one cake recipe saw us through about five days worth of desserts. I thought that was pretty cool, myself.<br /><br />Enjoy!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-87842598617325033252015-01-12T15:56:00.000-08:002015-01-12T15:56:54.827-08:00Oatmeal Drop Cookies (Gluten, dairy, nut, egg free)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, now that the holidays are over, back to my rationing inspired recipes!<br /><br />One thing you quickly notice when reading up on the days of rationing is that oats to us now a days are primarily just a breakfast option. Well, to those on rationing during WWII, oats were a primary source of nutrition and used for a LOT.<br /><br />And so, looking at recipes for oats as I was reading through my books, my brain hatched an idea for a gluten, egg and dairy free oatmeal cookie. And so these cookies were born!<br /><br />Just a note to those who probably already know. Be sure to use certified gluten free oats in recipes if you are living gluten free. Oats themselves are gluten free naturally, BUT are contaminated in processing with gluten unless they are certified gluten free. I use Golden Harvest gluten free oats (I get them on Amazon) and love them. They are grown and produced by a family of celiacs, so you know that when they say gluten free? They mean it!<br /><br />A couple of additional notes. No, this recipe isn't refined sugar free. I used brown sugar on this one. Mainly to cut down on costs for those of you out there who are barely getting by and can't really afford to cook with less refined sugars all the time (trust me I relate). Also, you can use palm shortening, butter, a butter substitute or vegetable shortening for the fat in this recipe, but don't use coconut oil...I ended up with a crunchy sheet that way.<br />
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<u><b>Oatmeal Drop Cookies </b>(Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Nut Free. Dairy containing options)</u><br /><br /><b> </b><br />
<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>2 Cups Gluten Free Regular Rolled Oats</b> (you can also use quick cooking oats)</li>
<li><b>1/4 cup brown rice flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup sweet white rice flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup sorghum flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup tapioca starch</b></li>
<li><b>3/4 tsp. xanthum gum</b></li>
<li><b>3/4 cup packed light brown sugar</b></li>
<li><b>3/4 tsp. baking soda</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 tsp. salt </b>(I used pink Himalayan for this)</li>
<li><b>3/4 cup vegetable shortening,</b> palm shortening, butter or butter substitute or a combination</li>
<li><b>1/3 cup boiling water</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. vanilla extract</b></li>
</ul>
<br /><b>Procedure:</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.<br /><br />2. Combine flours, starch, oats, xanthum gum, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Mix well to combine (a whisk, or even your hands, is a good way to do this).<br /><br />3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine sugar and shortening and mix well to combine. Add boiling water and mix into the sugar and shortening mixture (be careful...boiling water and whipping setting on your mixer could lead to bad things!) until well combined. Add vanilla extract and stir into mixture.<br /><br />4. Add dry goods to the wet all at once and beat on medium speed until combined.<br /><br />5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined baking sheets with about two inches between them (I get 12 cookies per half sheet pan without troubles). Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden.<br /><br />6. Leave on baking sheets for 10 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, move to cooling racks to cool. </blockquote>
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If you can't resist you can eat these while still warm. They are yummy! Or, you can eat the batter. Hey, no raw eggs involved here so why not?<br />
<br />
Store in airtight containers. Yield: 2 dozen cookies.<br />
Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-49850774199162964322014-12-22T19:41:00.001-08:002014-12-22T19:41:25.981-08:00Celebration Bread/Holiday Banana Bread Fruitcake (Gluten free, peanut free, dairy free option)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Christmas, by far, was always my dad's favorite time of the year. My dad also had a innate ability to irritate people throughout the year with his very Aspergerian type of personality. So, inevitably, every year my dad would get a fruitcake from someone. Unfortunately for them, my dad not only didn't get the joke, but also was uber thrilled to receive the stigmatized gift *laugh*.<br />
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My father came from a Swedish family that loved fruitcake and all it stood for. I remember a few times during my childhood when my mom would make a fruitcake for the holidays for my dad. He'd eat it alone. I would always try a bite, thinking that maybe this time I would be able to choke down the noxiously sweet cake with it's nuclear colored fruit, but I just could never do it.<br />
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As I've gotten older and my tastes have changed, fruitcake has intrigued me, but I just look at the nuclear colored fruit and run the other way as fast as I can. And honestly, I'm not big on liquor flavored pastries or chocolates. But still, the want to try something fruitcake-like persisted.<br />
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So, missing my dad a lot this time of year, I came up with this recipe the other night when making, of all things, banana bread. And it actually came out really good! It's got fruity notes to it. And chocolate (which how can you go wrong by adding chocolate chips to pretty much anything). But still, the bread tastes enough like banana bread that you aren't going to think that you are eating too sweet fruitcake.<br />
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Serve this up with a maraschino cherry on top with a dollop of cream cheese (dairy free cream cheese works too) and this just shouts "Holiday Party"! It really has made me feel a bit more festive (although the eggnog I tend to drink with it might be helping a bit *laugh*).<br />
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Quick note on substitutions. I made this with Earth Balance sticks instead of the butter I normally use for my husband and the bread came out just fine. Also, if avoiding food dyes (which I can understand), skip the maraschino cherries and go for 1/4 cup of dried cherries instead (be sure they are peanut free if you decide to go that route). <br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<u><b>Celebration Bread/Holiday Banana Bread Fruit Cake</b> (Gluten free, peanut free, dairy free option) </u><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ingredients:</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><b>1/3 Cup Brown Rice Flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/3 Cup Almond Meal </b>(I use Honeyville)</li>
<li><b>1/3 Cup Sorghum Flour</b> </li>
<li><b>1/3 Cup Tapioca Starch</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. Xanthum Gum</b></li>
<li><b>3/4 tsp. salt</b></li>
<li><b>1 tsp. baking soda</b></li>
<li><b>3/4 tsp. baking powder </b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup sugar</b></li>
<li><b>6 tablespoons butter, or butter substitute, softened</b></li>
<li><b>2 eggs, beaten</b></li>
<li><b>2 medium to 3 medium bananas, crushed </b>(3 lends a denser end result, but still tasty)</li>
<li><b>1/2 a Seedless Navel Orange, peeled, segmented and cut into bite sized pieces</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup Blue Diamond plain almonds, chopped </b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries </b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips </b></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Procedure:</b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ol>
<li>Preheat oven to 325 degrees (350 degrees if you are using a glass or
cast iron pan). Grease and place a parchment sling in a 9x5 loaf pan
and set aside.</li>
<li>In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and use a whisk to combine them well. </li>
<li>In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer cream together the butter (or
butter substitute) and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and
bananas and beat until everything is combined. </li>
<li>Dump the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix well on medium speed until everything is combined. Mix in on low speed the orange, almonds, cherries and chocolate chips until JUST combined (don't overmix or you'll break up your oranges and cherries too much).</li>
<li>Turn batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake about 50 minutes to one
hour (it really depends on the moisture content of your bananas how long
it'll take...usually I'm using a couple really over ripe bananas, so it
takes about an hour for me), or until a toothpick inserted in the
middle of the bread comes out clean. </li>
<li>Let loaf sit in pan for 10 minutes and then take edges of
parchment sling and remove bread to a tea towel or cooling rack (which I
can never find room to set up mine, so I go with the tea towel option)
to cool. Let cool to at least luke warm before attempting to cut or you might end up with a crumbly mess.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
Serve with cream cheese or cream cheese alternative for a special treat. Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-71001636187004555532014-12-20T16:27:00.002-08:002014-12-20T16:30:09.801-08:00Christmas Cocoa (gluten free, refined sugar free, peanut free, dairy free option)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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During the colder months of the year a lot of people gravitate toward hot chocolate to warm them up. Me? I'm more of a coffee and tea drinker than a hot chocolate type of person. But, the wind has been blowing, and for some odd reason I've just had this hankering for hot chocolate.<br />
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But, I wanted to make my hot chocolate taste...I don't know...Christmasy. So, I came up with this recipe. The ingredients may seem a bit odd, but trust me on this. It tastes great! <br />
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I tried this recipe with regular sugar, palm sugar and honey. Honey as a sweetener in this can not be beat. I'm not sure exactly why, but it really augments the cocoa instead of making it just taste sweet. So, do try to use honey in this if you can!<br />
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As dairy alternatives go for this, I liked this with full fat coconut milk (from the can), but that gets kinda spendy as this serves four people. I tried almond milk and it comes out really runny that way, so if using rice or almond milk for this, I'd whisk in about 1 TBS of tapioca or arrowroot starch into the cold milk before you heat everything...that'll help to thicken the mixture up a bit. If going with regular cow dairy for this, 2 cups of whole milk and 2 cups of half and half make a really nice combo for the hot chocolate.<br />
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So, anyway, enjoy some hot cocoa with some somewhat unusual holiday flavors to it (trust me, it is AWESOME!).<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<u><b>Christmas Cocoa </b>(Gluten free, Refined sugar free, peanut free, dairy free option)</u></blockquote>
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<b>Ingredients: </b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><b>4 Cups Whole milk or milk alternative or 4 cups full fat coconut milk (from the can). A couple of other options above!</b></li>
<li><b>1/3 Cup Unsweetened cocoa (be sure it's peanut free)</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup honey</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup strong leftover coffee</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. cinnamon</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 tsp. ground cloves</b></li>
<li><b>Pinch of salt</b></li>
</ul>
Place milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium low heat until nice and hot (make sure not to let it boil!). Whisk in the remaining ingredients and continue to whisk until everything is well incorporated and smooth.</blockquote>
Serves four. If you don't mind adding some sugar to the recipe, feel free to add some Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips to your mug and top with a few marshmallows (be sure those are peanut free too). This stuff is great if you also use a cinnamon stick to stir it. Yum!!!<br />
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Enjoy!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-11502429887284980132014-12-19T21:21:00.000-08:002014-12-19T21:21:00.456-08:00A Gift A Day Gift Sixteen: Ballet Slippers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For my last day of gifts (thank goodness *laugh*), I made ballet slippers for my daughter to go with a video I'd gotten for her on beginning ballet (it comes highly recommended by Amazon reviews and by some bloggers I know, so I figured I'd give it a shot). Armina is in this stage where she THINKS she wants to take dance lessons, but I figure this will be a good way to show her the basics before I spend money on a class only to find out she might or might not like it.<br />
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The tutorial that I found the most helpful, even though it was in the wrong size for my daughter, was <a href="http://primprettys.blogspot.com/2009/04/tutorial-make-your-own-ballet-slippers.html">Shabby Raggy Roses</a> tutorial. She really breaks the slippers down well so you can get an idea of what the pieces you need to cut out will look like, how much bigger the upper part of the slipper needs to be from the sole, etc. I highly recommend checking it out!<br />
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<b>Total Time to Make Gift:</b> Four hours. I, once again, sewed these by hand, just to make sure that everything came together alright. I was working with a satiny material that really was going to be a pain to work with my sewing machine, so I figured doing it by hand was going to be easier. It was by the way *laugh*. I'd LOVE to have put some pretty ribbon on the back of these to wrap around the ankle, as when I held some up and did a cursory run with some it was so STINKING cute, but my daughter is still learning to tie her shoes, so I figure that's going to have to be an after market improvement later on with these.<br />
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The slippers aren't as nice looking as I would have liked, but the satiny material kind of made the slippers a bit miserable to sew with the felt and such I was working with. But, Armina loves them (she had to try them on to make sure her feet fit in them) and I figure really these are just dress up shoes, so they don't have to be perfect. <br />
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<b>Total Cost of Project:</b> Nothing. I had all the materials. I used a pink flowery material for the inside lining, felt for the sole and cotton batting left over from Armina's quilt for the batting. I used a tan quilting thread I had to sew the slippers together.<br />
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And there you are folks. The end of the gifts I made this year. And now, onto some cool recipes starting tomorrow :).<br />
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Enjoy!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-50090332991683657952014-12-19T21:04:00.002-08:002014-12-19T21:04:42.222-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Fifteen: Furry Slippers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, last year, I made my daughter some pink furry slippers as one of her Christmas gifts. She loves them. Almost as much as her brother. See, one of Alvah's newer stims is he likes to pluck things, like oh the cat or say furry slippers and watch the resulting bits of fluff he's managed to pluck float on a puff of his breath. <br />
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After about the fifteenth time grabbing her slippers back from her brother a couple of weeks ago, my daughter looked at me and said exasperated, "Mom, could you PLEASE make Alvah some furry slippers for Christmas? Then he can pluck his slippers."<br />
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I didn't want to tell her that even after giving in to her request...the son is probably still going to like plucking her slippers more because it annoys her so, but hey, it is worth a shot, right?<br />
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I'd love to point you to a tutorial on how to make slippers like these, but I can't find one online *scowl*. I honestly eyeball these when I make them, but here's the gist of how I do it.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Step 1: </b> Get some felt, enough to fit four of each foot for the person you are making slippers for. Or you could use two layers of felt and a layer of cotton batting instead. This is going to be the sole of your slippers. If you have the material you could also make the sole out of leather or some other tougher material, but considering how often my kids wear slippers? Yeah, felt will work fine.<br />
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<b>Step 2: </b>Grab the insoles out of your sneakers (I find this the easiest way to do this honestly) and use those as a template to cut out your soles. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. These are, after all, slippers we're making here. Also, if you are me, be sure to mark "L" on your left soles and "R" on the right ones. It will stop you from screwing that up later...trust me on this!<br />
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<b>Step 3:</b> Once you have the soles of the slippers cut out (four of each foot remember, or two of each foot and one of each foot out of your batting), I used dark green felt for these with a layer of cotton batting in between.<br />
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<b>Step 4:</b> Take your fake fur and cut a strip that's about, oh, three and a half inches wide or so. You also want this strip to be long enough to wrap around the back of your foot templates. Fold the fur in half lengthwise, so that you have a nice long strip of doubled over fur. I go about 80% of the way around the foot with this fur strip to make the back of the slipper. Take two layers of felt, or the layer of felt with the batting on the bottom of it. With the felt facing up at you, sew the fur to the bottom of the foot (reserve two layers of felt or, if using batting one layer of felt, for the bottom of your slippers...this will cover up your seams and give you a nice finished look when done around the back edge of the slipper.<br />
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<b>Step 5:</b> Once the back of your slipper is in place, take fur scraps big enough to fold over the top of the slipper. You want it far enough up so that the slipper will fit the person you are trying to make the slipper for, but down far enough that the foot will fit in the opening left without incident. Fold over the fur scrap like a dome, so that...well so that it looks like the right height for the top of a slipper. You can be generous with how much fur you secure to the bottom of your slipper, so err on the side of the caution and don't cut the scrap down too far. Then find a lining material for your slipper top (two layers of fur would just be too thick). I used cuddle flannel for these. Color doesn't really matter as it's on the inside of the upper part of the slipper. <br />
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<b>Step 6:</b> Pin the upper part of the slipper in place (with the exception of the curved toe part at the front) and sew the fur into place (I hand stitch all my slippers to make sure I can customize without issue as I go along). When you get to the front of the slipper you're going to have like a fur tunnel staring up at you. Cut the fur in notches where needed as you wrap the fur around the front of the slipper (I can usually get away with one seam slightly off to one side of the toes with slippers) and whip stitch the fur into place (no, trust me, you will not notice the stitches later). <br />
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<b>Step 7:</b> Turn the slipper inside out and secure the back and sides to the front of the slipper and secure anything else you need to (like I cleaned up the seams at the front of the slippers while I was there and made sure my seams to the bottom of the slippers were good and tight.<br />
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<b>Step 8:</b> Turn the slipper right side out again and place your final layer of felt on the bottom where it should go (this is where the L and R thing comes in handy...I've flipped those darned things so many times. It doesn't do anything bad to the slippers, but it looks weird when someone shows you the bottoms when wearing them *laugh*) and whip stitch the soles into place.</blockquote>
And voila! You now have some custom made fur slippers for that special person in your life.<br />
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<b>Total Time to Make Project:</b> Six hours. I make sure that everything looks good before and a lot of it was making my daughter (same size shoe as my son) try on the slippers on over and over again to make sure they felt good on her feet.<br />
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<b>Total Cost to Make Project:</b> Nothing. I've had a HUGE fake fur piece in my fabric for YEARS. I think it was given to me, but honestly I can't remember it has been around that long. I have a huge store of felt that I got from a cousin of my husband's who was cleaning out her stores of fabric ages ago, so I had that and the thread I already had as well. The batting I used was some scraps of batting were left over from making the daughter's quilt.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-63754190896385363832014-12-17T15:30:00.000-08:002014-12-17T15:30:00.212-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Thirteen (and Fourteen): The Quilts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyp7MPY7SxNztSWrnNNVbU7YsdHyBrm9d-QWXUfVquFKhhyphenhyphendD0kMeguv1rdB57FLtUvEVg8zvZP6osr9iv8yTUeUx9O_QTv8euHwz4mYsnVyNy-At_yZ1hgKFw4Re7HamTGdngq11miOxB/s1600/giftadayquiltgirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyp7MPY7SxNztSWrnNNVbU7YsdHyBrm9d-QWXUfVquFKhhyphenhyphendD0kMeguv1rdB57FLtUvEVg8zvZP6osr9iv8yTUeUx9O_QTv8euHwz4mYsnVyNy-At_yZ1hgKFw4Re7HamTGdngq11miOxB/s1600/giftadayquiltgirl.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />One of the big "special" gifts I wanted to make my kids this year was a quilt for each of them. See, I made a quilt for my son last year, but it was the first really "big" quilt I'd ever made and it is kind of an odd size (cute though). So, I wanted to do these quilts right. I made both quilts twin sized, although I made my daughter a "tall" twin sized as I had the material, the batting and the quilt binding to pull it off, so why not?<br /><br />For materials I used sheets. Yes, sheets. I buy three per quilt in whatever size I want to make the quilt in (and actually in the case of these quilts I'd end up with a full sized quilt in one pattern I liked and twin in another. It worked out fine). I just look for sheets that are in nice shape and in cool patterns and buy them for 1.00 to 2.00 a piece at the used stores. <br /><br />For Armina's quilt I used a really pretty butterfly sheet I found for 1.50 at one of the used stores that was queen sized and a pink sheet I found for free at C&D (the dump used to let you go through things people didn't want and pick up stuff) years ago. For the backing I used a tan sheet I bought for 2.00 at the used store as well.<br />
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For Alvah's quilt I used a circular pattern sheet (full sized) I got at the used store for 1.50 and a dark blue top sheet I'd had for years that my husband and I never used on our bed (husband kicks off top sheets and they end up on the floor...gave up on top sheets a while ago because of that). The backing I used was a twin sized super soft microfiber like sheet I got at the used store for 1.00.<br /><br />The batting for both quilts I'd bought new. Armina's quilt has all natural cotton batting that I bought on a super online sale at Jo-Ann fabric last year. It cost 14.00 for a full sized batting, so I had that to use for hers. Alvah's I used a medium loft hypo allergenic batting I got at JoAnn's on some sale (it was like 11.00 for a twin size).<br /><br />So, all totaled, each quilt cost me about 20.00 for the materials I used, although a lot of it I got over time, so I didn't have to pay it all out of pocket at once. For the out of pocket expense for the actual PROJECT I spent about 13.00 total for both quilts. <br /><br />I got thread for the actual quilting of the quilts so it'd at least somewhat match the fabric and the quilt binding...I got on sale on Joann's website on a super sale for like 1.00 and some change per package last year (same sale as the cotton batting), although I did get the last package of my son's quilt binding at the brick and mortar store for 50% off on their Black Friday sale (since it wasn't on sale I used a coupon on it) because they'd only had two available for purchase online during the sale I got all the other quilt binding on.<br /><br /><b>Total Time to Complete Project: </b> Boy, I'd say 14 to 18 hours per quilt. Which, really, when you consider cutting and such, isn't that bad. Quilt basting spray, by the way, was invented by a genius. Just saying.<br /><br /><b>Total Cost Per Project: </b> About 20.00 per quilt, batting and thread the main purchases.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-50038402845607811072014-12-16T14:30:00.000-08:002014-12-16T14:30:00.464-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Twelve: Pot Holders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When it comes to therapists and teachers (and aides) I make gifts to appreciate them all every year for all the work they do with my kids. Fireweed jelly would handle some therapists and other canned goods would handle therapists, but I still had a heck of a gap when I started figuring out school personnel that I had to give gifts to (in some cases by request of my daughter).<br /><br />And I have a TON of cotton yarn I've accumulated over the years from past projects. So, I decided to make people pot holders.<br /><br />I used a double layer of cotton yarn in various colors for the pot holders (one shown here) and just eyeballed how big to make the "center" of the pot holder. I used size seven needles by the way, in case you might want to try this yourself. I then crocheted a frame around the center of the pot holder and crocheted a hanger into the frame at the end and voila! Nice and thick pot holders that won't burn your hand, but are home made and special (and yes, I tried them out to make sure they weren't going to burn through easy).<br /><br /><b>Total Time to Complete Gift</b>: About two hours per pot holder. I'm up to three made now. I just do them while I'm hanging out waiting for my son at therapy. Perfect small project to do during that time.<br /><br /><b>Total Cost for Gift</b>: Nothing so far. These are kind of addictive to make, so I'm hoping I don't go too overboard in the long run making them *laugh*.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-89881049238288013212014-12-16T14:00:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:37:48.727-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Eleven: Sleep Pants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One thing I wanted to make for my kids was sleep pants, but I didn't have really great material to make Alvah some pants to fit his tastes.<br />
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So, black Friday rolls around and Jo-Ann Fabrics has flannel 75% off. So, I went and picked up a ton of flannel (I just bought what was on a bolt when I went) so I'd have materials to make pants for the kids as they grew. I also picked up a super muslin bolt on Jo-Ann's website for 60% off a few days before (42.00 after shipping), so I was thrilled that I'd have all of the fabric I needed to get projects for a couple of years done for the kids.<br />
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So, Alvah's sleep pants were made with some of the flannel from that purchasing spree. I also got the kids 3 t-shirts each as they were on sale for 2.00 a piece so they could wear those as bed shirts. Armina's were made with some flannel I had in storage for YEARS and had found out in my storage van. <br />
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I can not ooze enough about the pattern I used either! I had previously used a McCall pattern to make my kids sleep pants and such and the pattern was complicated, hard to line up and just a pain. The pattern I bought at a used store for .10? It is GOLD! The pattern I used was <a href="http://simplicity.com/p-1919-girls-boys-sleepwear.aspx">this one</a>. I can not recommend it enough!<br />
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It is a one piece pattern that you make two of, the instructions are EASY and the seam allowances are generous. And it comes with a 1 1/4 inch hem built into the pattern. I made the kids both size eight pants and just made an extra generous hem on top of that so I can just let out the pants as I need to (and left some extra elastic in the waistband doubled over and sewed in so I can let out the waist as needed to. For once, I thought ahead!).<br />
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Both pants came out great and other than sizing the pants being a pain on my son (he hates to stand still), they were so easy to make I'm glad I kept my cut pieces of pattern so I can tape the pattern up as the kid's size increases!<br />
<b><br />Total Time for Gift:</b> About 1 hour per pair of pants (and no, I'm not kidding!)<br />
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<b>Total Cost for gift:</b> Armina's pants cost nothing as I already had everything. Alvah's cost about 2.00 for materials. The pattern cost .10. So, 2.10 for the entire project day!<br />
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Note: Yes, I know that the above sleep pants do not meet any flammability requirements and so please don't worry about e-mailing me about it. Thanks.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-87067407225817593882014-12-15T21:27:00.002-08:002014-12-15T21:27:46.144-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Ten: Texture Pillow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dg0tmiRHRyH99wiZ8bSh3nQMEGhD-3_ZNXQl33GtiqMEoiToffFBmrYgBr-tq6q8kZpiyhge6BtJCnBRfzVpgbWHrITxWun1unUDafcyVB94lHJ8yD0pyh4RD0lXInUd4S27VgSIKxtV/s1600/giftadaytexturepillow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dg0tmiRHRyH99wiZ8bSh3nQMEGhD-3_ZNXQl33GtiqMEoiToffFBmrYgBr-tq6q8kZpiyhge6BtJCnBRfzVpgbWHrITxWun1unUDafcyVB94lHJ8yD0pyh4RD0lXInUd4S27VgSIKxtV/s1600/giftadaytexturepillow.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
The result of my daughter asking me if I could make her a scarf was that now I had to think of something else to make for my son for Christmas to keep their gifts equal. The result of my brain storming came up with a "texture pillow" for him.<br /><br />I made a pillow form out of a yard of muslin I had bought from Jo-Ann a couple of months ago for .99. I then stuffed it with some of my found batting. The front of the pillow cover (it has an envelope closure in the back...I make sure I can wash everything I make for my son especially) is knitted with a combo of cotton yarn and acrylic yarns I had (to make it not too absorbent, which the cotton yarn would have done and to make it not too heavy either). The back of the pillow cover I made with micro fleece that I had in my cloth stores.<br /><br /><b>Total time to make project:</b> About eight hours (I hand sewed the pillow cover together to make sure the knitted front fit correctly to the back of the cover).<br /><b><br />Total Cost:</b> About .25 to take into account the 1/4 yard of muslin I used for them pillow form. Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-48090505440947559512014-12-15T21:24:00.002-08:002014-12-15T21:25:11.787-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Nine: The Cotton Candy Scarf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLT4N552zOnf1pMBdFOTeIJc304TpNiQwLMCym53pF7jZPKnMA4wELJJ74OizW8jN_s01h7jCiBSe4EjGrOae7yzj4XRskvjE5_Ctc3R81dxxPxcaa8hSoyeZuDGnu6jkgNKv0e0b2dn24/s1600/giftadaycottoncandyscarf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLT4N552zOnf1pMBdFOTeIJc304TpNiQwLMCym53pF7jZPKnMA4wELJJ74OizW8jN_s01h7jCiBSe4EjGrOae7yzj4XRskvjE5_Ctc3R81dxxPxcaa8hSoyeZuDGnu6jkgNKv0e0b2dn24/s1600/giftadaycottoncandyscarf.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
In the middle of making other gifts, my daughter threw me a curve ball by requesting I make her a scarf for Christmas this year too. Since I made a scarf for her brother last year, I figured sure why not. I let her pick the colors (can't tell can you?). She picked a BRIGHT pink yarn out of my yarn stores and a variegated rainbow colored yarn. The result is what I dubbed "the Cotton Candy Scarf".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZ90gCdB0n65k4I181TbakZV4j2A3vuLLvpy86ZOU6ahmqqRXtxDkQUCk4e6XAe1ef4xF_rfCNATjvfMDIYlQ6Baj5qtCg6a7rh9vg-Av_p0xk9qX7KtGxQEu7zEYd8FNUrgrvT4bzSAF/s1600/giftadaycottoncandyscarf1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdZ90gCdB0n65k4I181TbakZV4j2A3vuLLvpy86ZOU6ahmqqRXtxDkQUCk4e6XAe1ef4xF_rfCNATjvfMDIYlQ6Baj5qtCg6a7rh9vg-Av_p0xk9qX7KtGxQEu7zEYd8FNUrgrvT4bzSAF/s1600/giftadaycottoncandyscarf1.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
She loves it and keeps asking me if she can have it early. Now that it is wrapped and under the tree I think she finally took the "no" for an answer *laugh*.<br />
<b><br />Total time to make project:</b> Four hours.<br />
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<b>Total Cost of Project:</b> Nothing out of pocket.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-16067923998732229062014-12-13T21:21:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:21:22.847-08:00A Gift A Day Gift Eight: Stuffed Unicorn<br />
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My daughter loved the movie "Despicable Me" and since it came out she wanted a stuffed unicorn. I bought a pattern last year with every intention of making her a unicorn, but looked at all the pattern pieces involved and I honestly chickened out. She got a stuffed teddy bear (four piece pattern) instead. Which she loved and still sleeps with, but this year I was determined to give the unicorn a shot.<br /><br />I seriously have not made any type of "complicated" stuffed animal since junior high home economics class, so I was more than a little worried that the unicorn would come out looking like the pig I made way back then. Luckily. this time it came out a lot better. Much to my relief *laugh*.<br /><b><br />Total Time to Make Gift: </b> 10 Hours. I was obsessed with making sure everything was just right on this one. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. The instructions were very well detailed, which was great.<br /><br /><b>Total Cost to Make Gift:</b> I had the pink flannel in my very prolific cloth stores (I pick things up all year every year at the used stores and yard sales and any time Jo-Ann's has a huge sale going on) and had it for years. It was an odd shaped cut I bought at the used store (like four yards long, but only like 10 inches wide), so it worked out PERFECT for this project! I also had the satiny material in my fabric as well and I used my found batting to stuff said unicorn. I had shorter fur than the pattern called for, so I used that for the mane and tail (I didn't want to spend the money on a fur remnant for one and for two I figured it'd stop my son from plucking the fur so quickly (a new stim of his). I even had weight beads on hand for the unicorn's legs, so it will stand the way it is supposed to.<br /><br />I used a pattern I already had from last year, although originally I only paid .99 for the pattern anyway (Jo Ann sale). So, it was definitely a cost effective project! The pattern I used was <a href="http://simplicity.com/p-1827-crafts.aspx">this one</a>. It was actually really easy to follow!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-41540396779804616912014-12-13T21:15:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:15:30.067-08:00A Gift A Day Gift Seven: The Striped Scarf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg8egeQh9rZ90o2c0hcLXUIlDtUyL7Pt3uCDMicU09LR7b1-X9G9c3zN4TDq2tdhFR-K2idRU2lhsYDzp4lb1X0sn6WrZU0IP1XUCcGm4PBb4PotnOBm4ncBsiLq6yEzrGM4xkHc1gSZYf/s1600/giftadaystripedscarf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg8egeQh9rZ90o2c0hcLXUIlDtUyL7Pt3uCDMicU09LR7b1-X9G9c3zN4TDq2tdhFR-K2idRU2lhsYDzp4lb1X0sn6WrZU0IP1XUCcGm4PBb4PotnOBm4ncBsiLq6yEzrGM4xkHc1gSZYf/s1600/giftadaystripedscarf.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
For my other nephew, I wanted to make a scarf that was functional, but kinda cool looking. So, I came up with red and blue alternating stripes. <br />
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Seriously, if you have a Harry Potter fan in your life? Make them a scarf with their favorite house colors. They will love it and you'll look like a rock star!<br />
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<b>Total Time to complete project:</b> Four hours (about)<br />
<b><br />Total Cost to Complete Project:</b> I had both yarns in my overflowing yarn basket, so the total cost was nothing.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-2108137269172149372014-12-12T21:12:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:12:33.333-08:00A Gift a Day Day Six: Dexter the Baby Dinosaur (Panel Project)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the "lists" I make every year when figuring out Christmas is also the gifts I'm going to make for my children. This year we had a pretty bad financial year, so I wanted to make sure I made the kids a bunch of gifts to well...to pad out the fact that Christmas morning might be a bit disappointing for them.<br /><br />One of the things I wanted to do was to make a stuffed animal for my daughter, and I wanted the gifts to my kids to be "equal" I guess is a good way to put it. So, I tried to think of something to give to my son that he'd like and use. He's not really "into" toys much, but he does like pillows, so I thought completing the panel project I bought over the summer (some might recognize the little guy from Super Savings Saturday over the summer) might work out pretty cool. Especially when I realized that he came with some items to tuck under his arm. <br /><br />Originally I guess the project came with four items, but buying it used, mine came with two. But, that was okay, because my daughter and I are going to make a variety of things out of felt (shapes mostly) to help my son hopefully (and sneakily) learn some shape recognition while playing with his "dragon" (my daughter's term for him *laugh*).<br /><br /><b>Total time to complete project:</b> Two hours (mostly jamming in stuffing). <br /><br /><b>Total Cost to Complete Project:</b> Nothing out of pocket. Originally the panel project cost .50 at the yard sale, so you could count that I suppose. I found my huge garbage bags full of batting out in our storage van, so I used that to stuff him with (sometimes timing is perfect, finding that batting was one of those times). Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-58525147815607581682014-12-12T21:09:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:10:19.168-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Five: The Camo Scarf<br />
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When broke and trying to think of a gift to give to boys, life becomes somewhat difficult. I mean girls you can make a doll or something for, but the boys in our family? Yeah, I can't build a remote control car or something, so the best I could really do was to just make the nephews some scarves if I couldn't find them cool toys at the used stores or on clearance at the local stores. <br />
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So, this scarf I designed for my nephew who loves commando type of play. I mixed a solid tan yarn with a green variegated yarn to make a camo look (I hope), to the scarf. Since I doubled up on my yarn (to mix the colors for one and to make it nice and thick for two), it actually went pretty fast.<br />
<b><br />Total Time to Make Project:</b> Five hours. I knit pretty fast anymore.<br />
<b><br />Total Cost to Make Project:</b> I had both the yarns in my overflowing yarn basket, so it cost me nothing out of pocket to make the project.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-34635008091845050332014-12-11T21:03:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:10:02.838-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Four: Brimmed Hat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBY0Kwwdq-jwfPW1nmFm9imU6003cQTmNOL_-AfQrs7ZG-V5MyHEfzeo7I5fGuMCh26gbxWyLOS0bTTHjuWd_OAxuhwOq1lNmp6gfM-zde0fldYLyEx2wfUGLuoCCm1qT11ZBc5dpWAP6/s1600/giftadaybrimmedhat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBY0Kwwdq-jwfPW1nmFm9imU6003cQTmNOL_-AfQrs7ZG-V5MyHEfzeo7I5fGuMCh26gbxWyLOS0bTTHjuWd_OAxuhwOq1lNmp6gfM-zde0fldYLyEx2wfUGLuoCCm1qT11ZBc5dpWAP6/s1600/giftadaybrimmedhat.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
One of the things I love about used stores is every once in a while you can run into a project someone else started and you can finish it up, make it your own and make it beautiful, and it still cut down on your labor because someone else started it for you. This is one of those projects.<br />
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I was at the used store one day and they were selling a BIG bag full of skeins of yarn and inside was a couple of projects someone started with said yarn. One of those projects was this hat. Not much was done, but the top of the hat was complete, which was great because the stitches were nice and uniform (a challenge for me when I'm crocheting a circle). So, I messed around until I found the proper size of crochet hook to complete the "main part" of the hat and then downsized by like three crochet hook sizes (went from a size 8 to a size 5), to make a nice tight brim for the hat. I had my daughter model as on an adult head the hat worked, but I kind of looked like an alien because it was tight. But, on my daughter it looked great. <br />
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So, I'm hoping it looks as good on my niece of the same age as my daughter. If not, I just hope she doesn't look like an alien in it ;).<br />
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<b>Total Time to Complete Gift:</b> About four hours (give or take since I did it over a couple of nights during movie watching time).<br />
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<b>Total Cost to Complete Gift:</b> The bag with the yarn and unfinished projects cost 4.00. So, I'd guestimate it probably cost about .75 total cost in yarn to complete the hat (I still have LOTS of yarn to go through). And it even came with a couple of crochet hooks in the bag, which was a nice bonus!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-45820078765701489302014-12-11T21:00:00.000-08:002014-12-15T21:00:43.729-08:00A Gift A Day Day Three: Kid Book (Panel Project)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1TKWHMzyaJwd-JgHIMjFMAYqtVZ8SOen3pHROoh-yQpbPCBElMVePcRLiF5xZ923aq9DuIS054EWEXNa5jC2dzBoaDFiQorFqvsL1CVPu8i4ErpJ61PyjnrVT87TwNbCf4P5J1bQEyIL/s1600/giftadayplushbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1TKWHMzyaJwd-JgHIMjFMAYqtVZ8SOen3pHROoh-yQpbPCBElMVePcRLiF5xZ923aq9DuIS054EWEXNa5jC2dzBoaDFiQorFqvsL1CVPu8i4ErpJ61PyjnrVT87TwNbCf4P5J1bQEyIL/s1600/giftadayplushbook.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is one of those projects where shopping used stores and yard sales really pays off. I picked up a "panel project" at one of the local used stores. A "panel project" is basically a pre-printed project with easy to follow instructions (sew these two things together on the line, turn right side out and done, type of thing). I bought the panel because it would help me create an overstuffed book, which I thought was awesome as we have a couple of babies in the family that are at the age of playing with things, but not really up to playing with things like hot wheels cars and such. <br />
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Well, I was doubly surprised when I unrolled the full panel only to find it was TWO panels instead of one! So, I was able to get two book panels for the 1.00 I spent on the panel! <br />
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Since we had two babies in the family I was so happy I might have done a small happy dance. The only thing I needed to supply was some batting (which I had from other projects throughout the years) and thread (and lots of lining things up and pinning to make sure the pages approached straight). Since this year I decided to take it easy on myself and only give gifts to the children in the family (my husband is one of seven children. All children in the family HAVE children of their own now and we have more every year. So, yeah, it's a lot of kids), this was a great way to get two more gifts out of the way!<br />
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<b>Total Time to Complete Gift:</b> About two hours per book. Most of that was spent cutting out the panels and then trying to line them up JUST right so that they were somewhat straight (which was a challenge, actually).<br />
<b><br />Total Cost of Gift: </b> .50 per book. The two panels together cost 1.00 and the batting was free as I'd had it left over from other things I did years ago. I also had tons of thread I've bought throughout the years, so I didn't need to buy any thread to complete the project.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-62208066777925899142014-12-10T13:12:00.000-08:002014-12-10T13:12:09.652-08:00A Gift a Day Gift Two: Tool Roll<br />
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The second gift I made this year wasn't actually a planned one (normally I have "the list" that I go by religiously). My husband asked me if I could make him a replacement tool roll for one that was falling apart on him. I said sure and pounded out this tool roll for him.<br /><br />
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I used a double layer of duck fabric for the entire project and used double folded bias tape for the edges. Once I actually figured out how to get the slanting pockets to line up right (measure twice, sew once was a good lesson I should have known from the beginning), it all came together pretty fast. I then took some more bias tape, sewed down the length of it to make a tie for the roll and wrote the size of the wrenches to go in the pockets on the tool roll with a sharpie.<br />
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The husband loved it and got it early because he asked ;).<br /><br /><b>Total Time to Make Gift:</b> Two hours (which would have gone faster if I hadn't ripped out my stitches on the openings about four times).<br /><b><br />Total Cost of Materials:</b> I've had the duck fabric for years (got it at a used store) and I had the bias tape (get it at the used stores when I find it for .10). So, total cost out of pocket was nothing, but I guess we can include the .10 bias tape.Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-29779842870288989972014-12-10T13:06:00.001-08:002014-12-10T13:06:33.462-08:00A Gift a Day Gift One: The "Summer Scarf"<br />
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Since I am wayyyyy far behind on blogging (been busy doing the whole making gifts thing), I figured I'd better get right down to it here and share some of the gifts I've been doing (since I still have some recipes to share, too and if I'm going to get this stuff done by Christmas...well you get the idea).<br /><br />So, here was day one of my making a gift a day (as in within 24 hours of time), although this one is kinda hard to say if it qualifies.<br /><br />See, I love to knit scarves. Why? Because they are warm, you can make them in tons of colors and themes, and they are easy to make. So, every year after the holidays I start a scarf and I end up referring to it as my "summer scarf" because, once the weather starts getting warmer, I put it aside until cold weather strikes again (inevitably) and I just kind of work on it when my son has therapy or other "windows of time" I find. So, the time it took to make this scarf? I have no idea. But, hey I didn't feel rushed making it and I finished it up in a day :).<br /><br /><b>Total Time for Gift:</b> Do not know.<br /><br /><b>Total Cost of Materials for Gift</b>: I always buy as much yarn as I can from used stores and yard sales. The two types of yarn I used for this (a pearly off white yarn and a variegated yarn) were both purchased for .50 for two Ziploc bags worth at a yard sale (I think I got like 3 skeins of one and 2 skeins of another) and I'd had the yarn for a while. So, total cost: I'd estimate max of about .25 for the materials.<br /><br />Don't know how to knit? Try You Tube! There are some great instructional videos out there!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-59790292121600728242014-12-10T12:52:00.001-08:002014-12-19T21:25:08.800-08:00A Gift a Day (DIY Gift Share) 2014: An Introduction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My daughter has gained an appreciation for home made gifts over the years. I think it probably stems from the fact that since she's been born she's been watching mom work like a demon come the holiday season (and as the years have gone on and my husband's family has grown, she's watched mom work like a demon all year long) on making gifts for family, therapists and friends.<br />
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Why do I make gifts every year? Well, the most pragmatic answer is that my husband and I have lived in a perpetual state of broke since the first year of our marriage (he works in a family owned business...what are you going to do?). And the second reason, which I consider to be the most important, to me, is that I consider home made gifts more special than store bought ones. <br />
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So, this year, I figured I'd share a bit how I do the "Christmas Gift Making Rush" as I call it (and this year it has been a rush for me because I procrastinated starting gifts, pure and simple) and share with you some of the gifts I make. A lot of them, if you have basic skills like knitting, crocheting or can run a sewing machine, can be made relatively quickly. And, if you buy materials used (which I do as often as I possibly can), or buy things with coupons at the fabric store, you don't have to invest a lot of money to make a gift that won't look the LEAST bit cheap, I promise you. I'll even provide cost breakdowns for the gifts I make, to give you an idea of how buying used (or really cheap new) can help you.<br />
<br />
So, stay tuned as I share "A Gift A Day" on the blog here and hopefully inspire a few people to maybe make a gift or two for people this year to make the season that much more special. Without worrying about how much it will cost in the end.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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************<br />
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<u><b>List of Projects for 2014:</b></u><br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-one-summer-scarf.html">Gift One: Summer Scarf</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-two-tool-roll.html">Gift Two: Tool Roll</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-day-three-kid-book-panel.html">Gift Three: Plush Children's Book (Panel Project)</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-four-brimmed-hat.html">Gift Four: Brimmed Hat</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-five-camo-scarf.html">Gift Five: Camo Scarf</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-day-six-dexter-baby-dinosaur.html">Gift Six: Dexter the Baby Dinosaur (Panel Project)</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-seven-striped-scarf.html">Gift Seven: The Striped Scarf</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-eight-stuffed-unicorn.html">Gift Eight: Plush Unicorn</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-nine-cotton-candy-scarf.html">Gift Nine: The Cotton Candy Scarf</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-ten-texture-pillow.html">Gift Ten: Texture Pillow</a></b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-eleven-sleep-pants.html">Gift Eleven: Sleep Pants</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-twelve-pot-holders.html">Gift Twelve: Pot Holders</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-thirteen-and-fourteen_17.html">Gift Thirteen (and Fourteen): The Quilts</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-fifteen-furry-slippers.html">Gift Fifteen: Furry Slippers</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-gift-day-gift-sixteen-ballet-slippers.html">Gift Sixteen: Ballet Slippers</a> </b> </li>
</ul>
Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-40016348439013467592014-10-09T13:51:00.001-07:002014-10-09T14:54:37.269-07:00Apple Brown Betty (and a Lesson about Life): Gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Substitutions. Replacements. Ersatz. Words that mean the world to those with food allergies if you think about it.<br />
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The moment you are diagnosed with an allergy or food intolerance, your life becomes a world of substitutions and trying to recreate dishes as close to the original as possible. Sometimes those replacements are close, sometimes even better (which I honestly believe my gluten free banana bread is better than the original gluten containing one) and sometimes sub-par. And you keep trying because you have to.<br />
<br />
Such is the way of the world, but I have had a major rethink the last little bit when it comes to food. It all started when I stumbled across a blog called <a href="http://1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/">The 1940's Experiment</a>. I was immediately impressed with the woman's resolve to follow a UK rationing diet to lose weight and became intrigued with the way the women during WWII had to rethink how recipes were done to compensate for the lack of things like eggs, dairy and a lot of other things. So, I started ordering books and absorbing everything I could on the home front living in both the US and the UK during the war years.<br />
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And honestly? I started to feel like a lazy slug of a woman.<br />
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Here I was sitting in my nice comfy house with gas heat complaining about having to do laundry in my nice electrically run washer and dryer while the books I was reading was telling you how to hand wash everything, make sure you took baths in five inches or less of water to conserve energy and when you had any spare moment to be sure you were darning any weak areas in clothes before they developed holes, canning and preserving any food you could get your hands on and working, in many cases, on top of it all. I was complaining about the price of food, but at least I HAD food options to choose from. I can't imagine running to the market each day to wait in line for hours to see what kinds of foods you could get that were available on the ration that day. Really made me rethink my entire life a bit.<br />
<br />
The results of this excessive reading were many. One, I now make darned sure I don't waste ANYTHING if I can help it, let it be clothing or food. I thought I was frugal before...man it was NOTHING compared to how I am now. I plan meals around what I need to use and what I can find cheap at the store and find it a challenge to deal with the food I can get, instead of wishing that I could afford a better cut of lamb instead of marked down lamb shanks. I do make sure I get my kids the foods they'll eat because I don't want a war on my hands, but we've definitely been eating healthier around here as a result of this research and I'm hoping it's also saving us money in the long run as we are eating cheaper.<br />
<br />
So, be prepared for recipes on the blog that are simpler in construction (if I can help it...sometimes different mixes of flours are just needed in gluten free baking to make things taste good, sorry to say), better for you (nutrition was stressed a LOT during the war years to make sure everyone was not suffering health-wise with the rationing) and taste good. I have tweaked the original recipes I found to make them allergy friendly for our needs around here, but honestly it is really easy to tweak recipes when there isn't many ingredients to the recipes to begin with. Warning though, portions back in the day were smaller than today (which in my mind is a great benefit to the recipes), so be prepared for it.<br />
<br />
So, here's the first recipe I made. Apple Brown Betty. This recipe calls for gluten free bread crumbs. If you have it, home made bread tastes MUCH better in this recipe as the crumbs tend to be moister, but if all you have is Udi's or some other store bought bread, it'll do in a pinch. I've been saving the end pieces of Udi's loaves (my daughter is a toast fiend and will ONLY eat Udi's) to make bread crumbs with as a LOT of wartime recipes use things like bread crumbs in the recipes. Remember, waste not want not.<br />
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<u><b>Apple Brown Betty (Gluten, dairy, refined sugar free)</b></u><br />
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<b>Ingredients </b><u><b><br /></b></u><br />
<ul>
<li><b>2 Cups still moist gluten free bread crumbs</b> (white bread works best here)</li>
<li><b>3 large apples, peeled and sliced thin</b> (separate out of the apples into three piles)</li>
<li><b>1/4 cup palm sugar</b> (use blond for this if you have it) </li>
<li><b>1 tsp. ground cinnamon </b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>1/4 cup orange juice</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>1 tsp. to 1 TBS butter, butter alternative or coconut oil, melted</b> (I used Earth Balance Butter Spread once and used coconut oil another time, both turned out well)</li>
<li><b>Whipped coconut cream or whipped cream</b> (if you can do dairy), <b>definitely a great addition</b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Procedure:</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.<br />
<br />
Lightly grease a 1 1/2 quart baking dish or casserole. Combine bread crumbs, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and set aside (if your palm sugar is really dry, as mine tends to be, use a tiny bit of the orange juice to make the palm sugar the consistency of brown sugar before mixing in with the other ingredients...it stops the sugar from settling to the bottom of the bowl of bread crumbs).<br />
<br />
Arrange 1/3 of the apples (see, this is why I said to split the apples into three piles) in the bottom of your baking dish. Top with 1/3 of the bread crumb mixture (2/3 of a cup if you want to do it the precise way). Repeat with another layer. Add remaining apples and then drizzle orange juice over the top. Combine the remaining crumb mixture with the melted butter (or alternative) and sprinkle evenly over the top (Note: If you forget to mix the oil and the bread crumbs on the last step...which I might or might not have done when tired one night, just drizzle the oil evenly over the bread crumbs after you spread them. It does work just fine).<br />
<br />
Bake until apples are tender, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool 15 to 20 minutes then serve warm with cream, if desired. You can also chill this and reheat it for breakfast. It makes AWESOME left overs!</blockquote>
Serves four.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-90816013213321358052014-09-21T11:46:00.001-07:002014-09-21T11:46:23.872-07:00Put it Up (Winter Preparations) Part 3: Winter Wrap Up!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm so sorry about the delay in posting! It's been, busy, hectic, depressing and all around just overwhelming here the last little bit and honestly I just haven't had the extra energy to blog.<br />
<br />
So, since I've had you waiting for weeks now on these posts, I figured I'd better do a wrap up post to share everything I did so that this series gets done before...you know...winter!<br />
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So here you go folks! Be prepared to get bombarded with recipes a little bit :).<br />
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1. Freezing Pesto (Use for Basil)<br />
<br />
Before this year I decided I needed to dry my herbs and would hang them up in elaborate bunches around my kitchen. This year I decided to take it easy on myself. So, for my basil, I decided the best thing I could do was to freeze it into pesto pucks. Most recipes, <a href="http://thelemonbowl.com/2013/08/basil-pesto-recipe-guide-for-freezing.html">including the one I used</a> call for you to freeze the pesto in ice cube trays. I wanted bigger portions, because I knew that the only thing I'd be using the pesto for was pasta. So, I put them in muffin tins instead.<br />
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The changes I made to work within our allergies: I used Blue Diamond almonds in place of the other nuts the recipe called for. I also used pecorino romano cheese (it's sheep's cheese) instead of Parmesan to make tummies not unhappy when we eat it. I also left out the raw garlic and will add it in when I make the pasta as raw garlic tends to go bitter when you freeze it (that and I'm always concerned about the garlic allergy rearing it's ugly head again, so I'm overly paranoid). The pesto came out good, I have to say :).<br />
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2. Herb cubes (Use for fresh herbs)<br />
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I did kind of a two tiered attack when it came to the rest of my fresh herbs. I divided them up and some I made into "herb pucks" with olive oil to make herb paste later to slather under the skin of chickens that I'll roast or something. Those I tended to mix herbs that went well together (parsley, sage and thyme...that type of thing). The rest I took and diced up fine and placed in ice cube trays. I then took a dry erase marker so I'd know what herbs were where (o for oregano, etc). Then I just filled the cubes the rest of the way with water and froze solid. Took the cubes out by herb type, bagged them in different freezer bags and tagged them for later use. And voila! I now have herbs that I can throw into soups, stews, or other dishes or I can defrost and use later.<br />
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3. <a href="http://www.pickyourown.org/blueberrysyrup.htm">Blueberry Syrup</a> (Use for blueberries).<br />
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If you are lucky enough to have time to pick blueberries, you can use some of the ones you pick to make awesome home made blueberry syrup. If you DON'T have time, like me, you either have great friends who give you some of their blueberries or do like I did this year and just got the giant bag of frozen blueberries from Costco. I halved the original recipe, by the way, as we just don't go through enough blueberry syrup around here to make the original recipe's worth.<br />
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And, you should have the perfect amount of blueberries left (if you get the frozen blueberries that is) over to make<br />
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4. <a href="http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/spirited-blueberries">Spirted Blueberries</a>. I know it sounds like a kind of odd recipe, but if you make the blueberries with coconut rum? You will be surprised how close to heaven they taste! I tried these on a whim a few years ago and they are definitely on my "can every year from this point onward" roster. They are SO good over pound cake! If you don't like alcohol or don't believe in it? Give these a try. Trust me by the time they get done boiling away in a canner for 20 or more minutes the alcohol is boiled out of them, but the coconut depth flavors will remain and it just adds a depth of flavor that is astounding!<br />
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If you don't want to do the alcohol, you could leave it out and just can the blueberries, but you don't know what you are missing ;).<br />
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5. Blanched and Frozen Kale (Use for dark greens)</div>
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I know that a lot of people end up with a LOT of kale up here if they grow it and this is how I use my bumper crop for winter. I tried canning greens a long while ago, but found that it just wasn't worth the use of the jar as the greens shrunk so much, had to spend so much time in the canner that they'd come out tasting like mush and you'd pull out a tiny bit of green for the use of a big jar. So, the last couple of years I've blanched and frozen my greens and it works great! </div>
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Instructions can be found <a href="http://www.pickyourown.org/freezing_greens.htm">HERE</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2mkIQE9x6LopzCBnvzBfInCHstyavXUNv5U2OiZQtqr3ARTFXJKIbDbRf53pUANQX3yECTE1hzd92aATuqq3twehtLp75_r-tr5CEfV_X-WMOUhMaTcofFqMwsqVbl5d9Vqeny74sbpD/s1600/ketchupbbqsauce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2mkIQE9x6LopzCBnvzBfInCHstyavXUNv5U2OiZQtqr3ARTFXJKIbDbRf53pUANQX3yECTE1hzd92aATuqq3twehtLp75_r-tr5CEfV_X-WMOUhMaTcofFqMwsqVbl5d9Vqeny74sbpD/s1600/ketchupbbqsauce.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
6. <a href="http://thosewhohelpthemself.blogspot.com/2011/09/diy-making-and-canning-your-own-bbq_25.html">Ketchup Based BBQ Sauce</a>. Yes, using fresh tomatoes and such make a better quality of BBQ sauce, but when it comes to my lazy nature, using ketchup as the base for BBQ sauce (I use organic as I think it tastes better), works for me :).<br />
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7. Victorian BBQ sauce or Rhubarb BBQ sauce (use for Rhubarb):<br />
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I fell in LOVE with this recipe last year and made it again this year. If you add some liquid smoke to the final product you'll never know that it isn't traditional BBQ sauce (well it is chunkier). GREAT stuff!<br />
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Check out the recipe <a href="http://diaryofatomato.com/2014/05/16/putting-up-victorian-barbecue-sauce-rhubarb-ketchup/">HERE</a>.<br />
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8. Strawberry jam. Kind of straight forward. I made a recipe from the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0778801314/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0778801314&linkCode=as2&tag=thealabarhun-20&linkId=IKCWP2GGZ5VERB52">Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving</a> that made a "strawberries on top" effect where you end up with strawberry jelly on the bottom and your solids kind of float to the top. It's a neat effect.</div>
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There are TONS of strawberry jam recipes on line, so feel free to just google that one.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZ5LP26LrY-cvWaDDcKOtlbXbbd7me2YvvIDotQCVIVITKgVVYHfTeHO3twlcUxKBW5LQal8vwhJr8lDai7UtKR0k-BJVhwqZDuBPnbJ-u19ilXs1tLsFTkvWNbi7dJo-MiW8W1yQi1f5/s1600/saeurkrautferment1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZ5LP26LrY-cvWaDDcKOtlbXbbd7me2YvvIDotQCVIVITKgVVYHfTeHO3twlcUxKBW5LQal8vwhJr8lDai7UtKR0k-BJVhwqZDuBPnbJ-u19ilXs1tLsFTkvWNbi7dJo-MiW8W1yQi1f5/s1600/saeurkrautferment1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
9. <a href="http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31615.asp">Sauerkraut</a> (use for cabbage)<br />
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I LOVE <a href="http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31615.asp">this recipe</a> for sauerkraut because you ferment in the mason jars. I do a couple of things different. I half the water (I know weird right) during the fermentation stage. It gives you a slight ferment to the cabbage instead of a major one when the ferment period is up. And since you essentially double the salt during the ferment, the cabbage ends up coming out with a crunchy consistency instead of being mushy when it is all said and done. It is AWESOME!<br />
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When your fermentation period is done, add your water to where it should be (in this case I had to add a half gallon of water back to the brine), heat to not quite boiling, jar up and process in a water bath canner 10 minutes per pint and 15 minutes per quart. This definitely tastes better when you let it mellow for two months in the pantry.<br />
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The amount of sauerkraut above made 14 pints of sauerkraut when it was all said and done (I canned it yesterday). <br />
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10. Dehydrated celery (use for celery)</div>
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I grew some celery in my garden this year with all of these lofty plans to have ants on a log and other cool snacks with it. Unfortunately the stalks never got big enough to do much with. So, I decided I was just going to dehydrate it all. Now I have celery leaf (which imparts a really good celery flavor believe it or not) and cut up pieces of celery stalk (the little jar on the right) to use in soups and other applications over the winter. Worked really slick!</div>
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And there you go folks! I am thinking about doing a couple of more jam type applications this year (to make into easy tarts and such later) and maybe some extra condiments, but for the most part, I'm done with winter prep for this year. Hope you all had good luck putting up your stores for winter too!</div>
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Enjoy!</div>
Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-77172658183549975822014-09-04T17:00:00.001-07:002014-09-04T17:04:22.724-07:00Put It Up (Winter Preparations) Part 2: Fireweed Jelly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last year was my first year making things out of the prolifically growing flower (at least in the summer) that we know as Fireweed here in Alaska (and elsewhere). When I realized all the uses for Fireweed, I got excited and made Fireweed jelly for the first time. While a BIT of work (you have to harvest 8 cups of densely packed blossoms for the recipe I make), the jelly comes out a beautiful pink color and if done RIGHT (which I totally screwed up last year, listening to a recipe I found online and ended up with little crunchy bits of pectin in the jelly...not good eats by any means) it comes out with a taste that reminds me a bit of cranberries.<br />
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This year I decided to make fireweed jelly with one purpose. Gifts for teachers for my son and daughter. I figure it is a really nice gift that is classy and costs next to nothing to make.<br />
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The recipe I ended up tweaking and coming up with makes four 8 oz jars of jellly when done, but I've seen recipes that call for 8 cups of blossoms (make sure you use wet and packed blossoms to get that 8 cups so it turns out well) to make juice and you end up with a LOT more jelly, so use your judgement on how much you'd like to make, how strong a flavor you'd like, etc.<br />
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I use no sugar or low sugar added pectin for this recipe, but still use a typical amount of sugar in the recipe. I've found this is kinda a fail safe for me (not a natural jelly maker am I) so that the jelly gets a nice hard set to it.<br />
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I also use refined white sugar for this as it's safe to use in canning and all agree it's okay to use. If you want to make refined sugar free you could try using palm sugar or some other sugar for this, but I'd go for freezing it (use freezer pectin instead in place of the pectin called for in the recipe) as I'm not sure how well it'd can with other sugars involved. <br />
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So, here you go folks. My recipe for fireweed jelly. Enjoy!<br />
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<u><b>Fireweed Jelly </b>(adapted from <a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/fireweed-jelly-208809">Food.com</a>. Makes 4, 8 oz. jars)</u><br />
<ul>
<li><b>2 1/2 cups fireweed juice </b>(recipe follows)</li>
<li><b>1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice </b>(fresh is best)</li>
<li><b>3 TBS low sugar or no sugar pectin </b>(or use one box of the pectin instead)</li>
<li><b>3 cups sugar </b> </li>
</ul>
Combine pectin, lemon juice and fireweed juice (room temp) in a pan and whisk to combine (it takes a while to get the lumps of pectin worked out, but keep at it!). Bring mixture to a boil over high heat. Add sugar all at once and whisk to combine (once again, this is going to take some arm muscle, but it will combine, just keep at it). Switch out your whisk for a wooden spoon (less heat conduction) and stir frequently until mixture comes back to a boil. Boil hard for one minute (or, until the mixture sheets off the back of a spoon).<br />
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Fill hot, sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Tighten lids to finger tight and place in a hot water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off heat under canner and leave sit for five more minutes. Remove jars to a dish towel or other insulated surface (to stop thermal shock...breaking jars are bad) and let sit until completely cool. Check jar seals. If a jar doesn't seal place in fridge and use immediately, but otherwise store in your pantry for up to one year.</blockquote>
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<u><b>Fireweed Juice</b></u><br />
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<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>8 Cups wet tightly packed fireweed blossoms (only the blossoms)</b></li>
<li><b>Water</b></li>
</ul>
Place fireweed blossoms in a saucepan and fill up water level right below blossoms.<br />
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Boil until blossoms turn grey.<br />
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Strain mixture through a cheesecloth lined wire mesh strainer.<br />
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NOTE: The juice should be a deep purple, not brown. If your mixture is brown you used too much water. Once you have a decent amount of juice you can then freeze it to use later or use to make jelly (I honestly like to freeze mine in a freezer bag to use later as it lets you harvest fireweed throughout the summer and get a large amount of jelly made at one time, if you want and I've also found it really helps to deepen the color of the juice...you'll be amazed how purple the juice gets in the freezer).<br />
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Add juice to measuring cup large enough to read 2 1/2 cups. If there isn't quite enough juice, add water to bring up juice to the proper mark (this is where making a strong concentrated juice comes in handy, like with this recipe). Use to make jelly.</blockquote>
Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-69277801091593035222014-08-01T14:43:00.002-07:002014-08-06T12:46:11.540-07:00Rumpledoodles With Honey Glaze (Gluten free, refined sugar free, dairy free and oat free options)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lumpy the Heffalump copyright Walt Disney World Corp.</td></tr>
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<i><b>Lumpy the Heffalump: "Do you have any Rumpledoodles?" </b></i><br />
<i><b>Roo: "What are those?" </b></i><br />
<i><b>Lumpy: "They're like biscuits. They go very well with honey." </b> </i>(quoted from "The Haffalump Movie)<b><br /></b></blockquote>
One of the benefits (and detriments) of not having cable or satellite in the house is that what is old is new again to my kids all the time. So, when my daughter found "The Heffalump Movie" at the used store and begged to get it, I agreed to do so knowing full well that the children would want to put it on constant repeat for weeks and it'd slowly eat into my brain until I would hear the voices in my sleep.<br />
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And hey, I was right!<br />
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But, as any parent of a Winnie the Pooh fan can attest, kids LOVE anything to do with the Hundred Acre Wood and this movie, for my daughter, was no different.<br />
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So, a couple of days ago, out of the blue, while mom was trying to get the songs of Carly Simon out of her head from the movie (mainly by singing, "You're So Vain" to herself over and over again), the daughter unit looked over and asked, "Mom, could you make Rumpledoodles?"<br />
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I, never one to shirk from a challenge (this is not always a character strength, mind you), I quickly found that the movie we got came with a recipe for the aforementioned cookie/biscuit.<br />
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Unfortunately, I swear, the people who WROTE said original recipe were on some type of mind altering drugs.<br />
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The original recipe is shown above. As soon as I saw things like no binders really to speak of in said recipe (unless you counted the molasses) and the TABLESPOON of baking soda called for, I knew that the recipe would be dry, crumbly, burn super fast and would taste salty as all get out because of all the baking soda and salt in the recipe. And hey, I must be getting better at recipes because when I went online and checked it out, loe and behold all the online reviews agreed with what the outcome I had foreseen.<br />
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So, I knew that the first thing I'd have to do is just scrap the original recipe completely (instead of figuring out tweaks to make it gluten free and so forth), figure out the flavor components and rebuild it (great...now I have "The Million Dollar Man" opening theme in my head).<br />
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A couple of warnings. One: These things are addicting. They are just the right type of crunchy cookie. Not hard enough that they are bricks, but not super soft like a lot of gluten free baked cookies tend to be.<br />
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Two: Be sure to put the honey glaze on when you are serving them as it IS sticky (I wanted to go for refined sugar free so I avoided putting confectioners sugar in the glaze) . Also, I made this recipe twice, once with cow dairy in the form of butter and once with Earth Balance butter alternative (I also switched out the oats for quinoa flakes in the second batch, just to see how it would go). Both, for ME, came out good. I did not try this with coconut oil though as I don't cook with it much (son reacts to pure coconut oil, so I tend to save it for skin creams and such for friends and family members) and I didn't omit the coconut from the recipe completely as it is a BIG part of the original recipe (although, honestly, I bet you could omit it if you wanted and just add some more dried fruit or something instead).<br />
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So, here you go folks. Pull up a seat at the table with your favorite Heffalump fan and enjoy some gluten free Rumpledoodles today!<br />
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<u><b> Rumpledoodles With Honey Glaze </b>(Gluten free, refined sugar free, dairy free and oat free option)</u><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>1/2 cup Gluten Free Oats</b> (I used quick oats for this as that's what I had in the house), <b>Or Quinoa Flakes</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup palm sugar</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup almond meal</b> (I use Honeyville)</li>
<li><b>1/4 cup sorghum flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup brown rice flour</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup tapioca starch</b></li>
<li><b>1 tsp. baking soda</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. xanthum gum or guar gum</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. salt</b> (I used sea salt)</li>
<li><b>1 tsp. cinnamon </b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup raisins</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup coconut</b> (I used a finely grated coconut for this) </li>
<li><b>1 TBS molasses</b></li>
<li><b>1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened</b> (or butter alternative)</li>
<li><b>1 egg </b></li>
<li><b>1 Recipe Honey Glaze</b> (recipe follows) </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<b>Procedure:</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.<br />
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Mix oats, palm sugar, almond meal, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, baking soda, xanthum gum, salt, cinnamon, raisins and coconut in a mixing bowl and using a large whisk (or your clean hands), mix well until all items are combined well.<br />
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Meanwhile, in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine egg, butter and molasses and beat until well combined.<br />
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Dump dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until well combined and a dough forms (it will be sticky). Drop by rounded teaspoons onto parchment lined baking sheets and then press cookies down slightly with your hand to make a flat top (you want a cookie, not a ball is a good way to think about it). <br />
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Bake at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking (if you need to with your oven...I most definitely need to).<br />
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Let cool completely on baking sheets. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies.</blockquote>
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While your cookies are cooling prepare your honey glaze (or wait until you are going to eat said cookies to make your honey glaze).<br />
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<u><b>Honey Glaze for Rumpledoodles </b>(refined sugar free)</u><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Ingredients:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>1/4 cup honey </b>(great use for dark, older and strong flavored honey!)<b><br /></b></li>
<li><b>1 TBS. palm sugar</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract</b></li>
<li><b>2 TBS butter or butter alternative</b></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Procedure:</b><br />
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1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan set over low heat and heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted completely. Let cool to room temperature (mixture will thicken a bit as it stands) <br />
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2. Take cookies still on parchment paper and drizzle honey glaze over the top of the cookies with a spoon (this is great fun for kids to do as the parchment paper will help you from making a big sticky mess).<br />
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3. Once cookies are coated, let sit for a few minutes and either consume in copious amounts or place carefully on a plate and store in the fridge until ready to consume (it'll help the cookies keep for one and it'll also help to set the glaze further). </blockquote>
Note on the glaze. You are probably going to have extra, so don't stress about trying to get all the glaze on the cookies. Now you COULD double it and it makes an awesome syrup for pancakes once your finished. My husband's idea *laugh*.<br />
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Best eaten. Period ;).<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<i><b>This post is linked to <a href="http://www.allergyfreealaska.com/2014/08/04/gluten-free-diy-tuesday-7-5-2014/">Gluten Free and DIY Tuesdays</a>, and <a href="http://www.glutenfreeeasily.com/yeast-free-dinner-rolls-paleo-ultimate-chocolate-chip-cookies-pineapple-bacon-guacamole">Gluten Free Wednesdays</a></b></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>NOTE: Lumpy the Heffalump, Roo, Winnie the Pooh (and all associated characters, environments, etc) and Rumpledoodles are owned lock, stock and proverbial barrel by Walt Disney World Corp. I in NO WAY own those things and make no claim to them, at all. Thank you!</b></span></i>Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046624852997478191.post-15058350557387569302014-07-23T14:41:00.002-07:002014-07-23T18:08:28.675-07:00The Maine Italian Salad (Gluten free)<br />
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So, this is one of those recipes that if you aren't FROM New England, and specifically Maine, you aren't going to understand what an "Italian" is, so allow me to educate ;). The Maine "Italian" is a sandwich I grew up with and loved to death and I used to eat as often as I possibly could (that and eating pizza by sprinkling chips down the middle and wrapping the pizza around the chips like a taco...man how did I live to be an adult on a diet like that?). The "Italian" was a sandwich, that really wasn't different from any other sandwich out there, except for the list of ingredients and how they married in the sandwich? Pure magic!<br />
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Since going gluten free, I've tried making the Italian on Udi's gluten free hot dog buns and while they were okay and all, something just seemed to be missing. Mainly the soft Italian submarine style roll that the Italian was traditionally built on.<br />
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In thinking I'm more of a cook than a baker (thank goodness we have so many talented gluten free bakers out there to make up THAT gap for me!), so I really wanted an Italian a couple of weeks ago and tried to figure out how to make it happen without the gluten. So, I decided to make it into a salad! And it works awesome!<br />
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Now, traditionally, the Italian has pickles as one of the main ingredients on the sandwich, but since I was making it into a salad, I decided to just use a balsamic and oil topping to it. BUT, instead of that, if you have fermented veggies or some pickled veggies (go for just straight pickled here, not hot or spicy or it won't be the same!) in your pantry you could try using those instead.<br />
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I normally don't do cow dairy very well and I haven't even looked at American cheese slices in years, but I did find some organic ones at the store with an ingredient list I could pronounce and such, so I got those. If you can't do cow dairy at all, this would be just as yummy with some goat cheddar on it I think, or even some non-dairy cheese sprinkled over the top.<br />
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<u><b>The Maine Italian Salad </b>(gluten free, dairy free option)</u><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>Ingredients:</b></i> <br />
<ul>
<li><b>1 large head romaine lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces </b>(yes, I cut my romaine lettuce, but feel free to tear it too)</li>
<li><b>2 Roma tomatoes, juice squeezed out and cut into bite sized pieces </b>(feel free to double the amount of tomatoes used...I just have to cut down on tomatoes due to acid reflux issues with my husband)</li>
<li><b>1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into bite sized pieces</b></li>
<li><b>4 slices organic American cheese </b>(or however much other non-dairy cheese you'd like to use)<b>, cut into bite sized pieces</b></li>
<li><b>1/2 cup diced up gluten free ham </b>(I used an all natural deli meat I buy that is free of nitrates for this)</li>
<li><b>1 can sliced black olives (or 1/2 can unsliced medium sized black olives), drained </b></li>
<li><b>1/2 large onion </b>(your choice of color, but I like a sweet white for this)<b>, peeled and diced </b></li>
<li><b>balsamic vinegar</b></li>
<li><b>olive oil</b></li>
<li><b>Salt and pepper </b></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<i><b>Procedure:</b></i><br />
<ol>
<li>Combine lettuce, tomatoes, pepper, olives, ham and onions in a bowl. Toss well to combine. Add cheese about 1/4 at a time, tossing between adding more cheese (it'll help to stop the cheese from sticking together in one big lump).</li>
<li>Sprinkle top of salad with balsamic vinegar and toss to coat. Repeat with olive oil. Sprinkle top of salad with salt and pepper to taste (I serve salt and pepper at the table and let everyone salt their own salad. It helps to stop over salting and such).</li>
</ol>
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Enjoy!<br />
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<i><b>Note: This post is linked to <a href="http://www.allergyfreealaska.com/2014/07/21/gluten-free-diy-tuesday-7-22-2014/">Gluten Free and DIY Tuesdays</a> on <a href="http://www.allergyfreealaska.com/">Allergy Free Alaska</a>. </b></i>Erika, "The Make Do Homemaker"http://www.blogger.com/profile/09303208981550053539noreply@blogger.com0