Awards

Thank you to Wretha at Wretha's Adventures in Off Grid Living for awarding us the Lemonade Stand award. This award recongizes blogs that show gratitude or a great attitude. Thanks Wretha!

Now I get to pass this award along to ten others.

i love you all day long

On the Front Porch

Hot Belly Mama

Keeping Feet

Life on a Colorado Farm

Goats in the Garden

Two Frog Home

Apples of Gold

A Time Long Awaited

Y-2K Hippie

Omah's Helping Hand awarded us the 2009 New Year Spirit award. Since I am a bit tardy in participating in this award, I will simply say, "Thanks!"

Carnival #98

This week the carnival can be found at I've Got a Little Space to Fill. Mama Bear always does such a wonderful job. I'm pleased to announce that she has agreed to host the carnival monthly. There are still plenty of slots available for other hosts. Please email me and let's get you onto the schedule. Onto the good stuff:

And good stuff there is this week. Mouth watering recipes, do it your self cleaners, fun and practical crafts. Some of my favorites follow

How to Get Three Meals from Seemingly Stripped Turkey Bones.
Ah frugality and delicious food, a post after my own heart!

How to Make a Basket Planter
This is a planter made from oak branches. I love the rustic look.

Fridays are for Fun and Pizza
Homemade pizza is a regular menu item here. This herbed crust recipe sounds wonderful!


Enjoy the carnival this week! Some other items that may interest you:

All Things Eco

The Homesteading Carnival

All Foods Naturally Newsletter - Be sure to check out my Easy Ground Beef Recipes.

Thank you to the host of these other great carnivals!

Decoupaged Glass

Want a creative way to recycle your old glass containers into functional pieces of art? Think about those baby food jars, candle holders, vases and old jar candle jars you might have stashed in a closet or under the kitchen sink. With a few other simple items and a little bit of time, you'll be able to proudly display them in your home.

This is a great craft for the kids to help with, too. They'll love tearing the paper and getting their fingers all gluey! They can make these for teacher gifts, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day or birthdays! What a nice, practical work of art to give!

Materials

Glass containers (any size or shape will do)

White Glue that dries clear (school glue works well)

Several colors/patterns of tissue paper

Paint brush

Water

Scissors

Clear craft sealer (optional)

Step 1: Remove and labels from the glass containers and wash and dry the glass thoroughly. A dishwasher works great for this.

Step 2: Tear the tissue paper into different sizes and shapes.

Step 3: Mix about 1 Tablespoon of white glue with about the same amount of water.

Step 4: Using a paint brush, thinly coat a small area on the outside of the glass conatiner. Place a piece of the torn tissue paper on the glued area and smooth out with another coating of the glue mixture. Repeat with more tissue overlapping pieces to cover the glass completely.

At this point, I recommend cutting the stray pieces of paper around the top edge OR cutting a straight-edged piece to finish off the top and avoid having to wrap paper over the edge to the inside of the container.

Step 5: Give one final thin coat of glue mixture to the entire outside of the container. Let dry for 1 to 2 hours or until completely dry.

Step 6: Spray or brush on a clear sealer (epecially if you plan to use it for flowers) if desired and let dry completely.

Notes: I do not recommend burning candles in these containers, but they work very nicely with the small LED candles that can be purchased at most craft stores.

Heather is a wife, mom,school cafeteria worker,councilwoman and babysitter from Ohio.She also blogs at Its All for the Bestand The Fat Bottomed Girl.

Take Control of Your Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Do you know how this story goes? 

A friend smiles sweetly as she hands you a gallon bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter. She informs you that the bread is delicious and your family will love it. It sounds like a great idea so you gladly take the bag and the sheet of instructions that go with it. 

Dutifully, you mush the bag daily, and on the sixth day feed your starter the recommended amount of flour, sugar, and milk. You continue on, caring daily for your starter, and on day ten are rewarded with two delicious loaves of bread and four bags of starter. 

Your family loves the bread and your friends take the starter. It is  Amish Bread bliss.

Ten days later you have two loaves of bread. Your family still loves them, but what to do with four more starters? You already passed the starter on to your friends who now also have four bags of starter to deal with. Soon everyone is sick of dealing with Amish Bread starter and the mere mention of it sends people running away. Yet, your family is asking when the next loaves will be ready. What to do?

It is simple, take control of your Amish Friendship Bread. 

Despite what the  instructions say, your dough will survive if it is not mushed everyday. It will survive if you don't feed it on day six or bake it on day ten. It really isn't that fragile. The first thing you need to do to take control of your Amish Friendship Bread starter is to put it on a diet. 

Hey! It is the new year and half the world is on a diet. Why not your starter? Simply cut the food in half when you feed it on day six (or whatever day you get it fed) and day ten (or there abouts) before baking.  This will create enough starter for you to take out one cup to keep as starter and to bake 1 and 1/2  of the original recipe. So, to put it in instructional form: 

Day 1: Do nothing.

Day 2: Mush the bag.

Day 3: Mush the bag.

Day 4: Mush the bag.

Day 5: Mush the bag.

Day 6: Add to the bag: 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of milk. Mush the bag.

Day 7: Mush the bag.

Day 8: Mush the bag. 

Day 9: Mush the bag.

Day 10: 

Add 3/4  cup of milk, flour and sugar. Mix well. Remove 1 cup of the batter into a new bag. 

To the remaining batter add:

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups oil (or use 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce)

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

3 cups flour

1 large box of instant vanilla pudding. 

This will make three smaller loaves or two large loaves, or you can make muffins. Grease the bottom of the pans and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Pour batter into pans and sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 325 about and hour for bread loaves or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool until the bread loosens from the pan easily. 

If you want to take a break from the bread for awhile, freeze your starter. If you want extra starter to give away or make a lot of bread, just go back to the original instructions. 

I've had my starter for over a year now. I don't keep it in gallon bags, but use recycled sour cream or other type containers. I rarely "mush" the starter. If I think about it I might give the container a little shake. I don't worry about the days either. I feed the starter when I think about it, and do the day ten steps when I have the time.  

The taste of the bread can be changed simply by using different flavored puddings and adding different ingredients. Some that I've posted previously: Chocolate Banana, Pumpkin Cranberry, Apple Spice. 

Other helpful links: 

Make Your Own Amish Friendship Bread Starter

The Myths of Amish Friendship Bread

Carnival #97 - My picks of the week.

This week the carnival is at The Daily Dish. The pictures alone are making me quite hungry this morning. There are also some interesting crafts and DIY posts. Here are some of my favorites from this edition.

Puerto Rican Hotsauce
"2-4 Habaneros" We are talking some heat baby. This sauce sounds wonderful. I may be adding habaneros to the garden this year!

Sour Gummy Recipe
What a fun one to do with the kids!

How to Make a Bib from a Handtowel
My daughter (7) and I both got a sewing machine for Christmas. (Hers is a kid's version.) I'm on the prowl for simple projects we can do together. This one would fit the bill.

Hope you enjoyed the carnival this week. Thanks to all who participate!

Homemade Hand Hacky Sacks

One of the newest ways to get kids up and moving (aka off the computer or video games) is kind of a twist on the old game of Hacky Sack. The original toy is called a Myachi (pronounced mee-A-chee). To see a video of the original toy in use, click here.

To play with these hand hacky sacks, you can toss or catch the bag with anything but your palms. Place the bag on the back of your hand with your fingers spread out and sort of curved back to create a cradle for the bag. Begin with tossing the bag from one hand to the other and soon, you'll think of all kinds of ways to toss it around. You can play alone or with friends.

I do not actually own one of the original bags, so my version my vary slightly. You can whip one up in seconds and it is very easy to make several right in a row. I can see this being a great birthday party favor or something to make when your kids have friends over.

Materials Needed
Fabric (I find that a light cotton is best)
Needle and thread
Sewing machine (optional)
Unsharpened pencil, dowel or chopstick (optional)
Poly Pellets (for filling bean bags) or small beads

Step 1: Cut two pieces of fabric that are about 3.75 X 2.25 inches.

Step 2: Place the fabric pieces right-sides together and, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew three sides together leaving the fourth side (one of the narrow ends) open.

Step 3: Cut the extra fabric at the corners on a 45 degree angle as shown in the photo to the right. This is important so your corners are sharp when the bag is turned out.

Step 4: Turn the bag right-side out. You may have to use a pencil or a thin dowel rod for this. Be sure to push the corners out to make them as square as possible.

Step 5: Fill the bag with poly pellets or beads leaving room to fold in the ends of the fabric. You may want to use a small funnel to help fill your bag.

Step 6: Fold the fabric at the open end in about 1/4 inch. Using your needle and thread, stitch the end of the bag closed. Fasten off your thread. Your finished bag will be about 3.25 X 1.75 inches.

If you watch the video in this link, you'll see that there are many other moves you can learn to do with your hand hacky sack. Have fun with it!

Heather is a wife, mom,
school cafeteria worker,
councilwoman and babysitter from Ohio.
She also blogs at Its All for the Best
and The Fat Bottomed Girl.

Firsts on the First - Coffee Liqueur

Happy New Year to you! I am excited to introduce you to a new feature here at Make it from Scratch; Firsts on the First.  Those who have participated in Make it from Scratch  for a long time, may remember that Make it from Scratch started not as blog carnival, but as a challenge. The challenge was to make something new. 

In that first challenge I made noodles from scratch for the very first time. Other participants tried tamales, butter, a hunting vest, and more. It was so much fun it turned into a weekly carnival. But with growth comes change. Trying something new every week or designating a week for new things became hard to manage. Eventually the challenge to make new things went by the way side and Make it from Scratch became the carnival it is today. 

I love what Make it from Scratch has grown into, and am amazed that what started out as a one time challenge, has become a weekly carnival for almost two years with a wide variety of participants. Personally though, I miss the extra incentive to try new things. So, to challenge myself again, let me introduce Firsts on the First. 

The first of every month I will share something new I have tried to make from scratch for the first time. Success or failure it will be here. This new feature has come about completely from selfish motives to give myself a push to try some things I keep saying I will make someday, but I would love for anyone else who wants the same motivation to join in. 

Starting next month, February first, I will put up a Mr. Linky with my First on the First post. Hopefully I can also come up with a button for First on the First too. (Anyone want to help me out with that?) Please join me with posts about trying to make something for the first time.  

Without further ado, here is my first Firsts on the First post: Coffee Liqueur.

Way back in August, Kathie posted her recipe for Coffee Liqueur at Women Not Dabbling in Normal. I bookmarked the recipe knowing that I wanted to use it to make some Christmas presents. Now somehow between August and oh... say... um... five  days before I needed to actually give the present, I forgot that the recipe required a vanilla bean and a month of sitting. Ooops....

So, I made a Procrastinators Version of Kathie's Coffee Liqueur

2 cups sugar dissolved in 1 1/2 a cup of water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup instant coffee dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

1 1/2 cups of vodka

Kathie's original instructions include boiling the vanilla bean with the sugar and water for ten minutes. I debated if this was necessary when using extract, but in the end decided to boil the sugar and water to thicken it. Then I added the vanilla extract and the dissolved instant coffee. I allowed the mixture to cool and added the vodka. Be sure to see the original recipe, Kathie's Coffee Liqueur for more tips about making this. The best part about making this for gifts were the bottles that I used. 

A long time ago a friend, who works in a hospital,  gave us a box of brand new large medicine bottles that the hospital was going to throw out. At the time, I wasn't sure what I'd ever use them for, but when I decided to make Coffee Liqueur, I thought they would be perfect.

I also made Irish Cream this year. Both liqueurs went into the medicine bottles. The Irish Cream was tagged "Mamaw's medicine." The Coffee Liqueur was tagged "Papaw's medicine." Suggestions for how to take the medicine were also written on the front side. On the back side I wrote what was actually in the bottle. I made a second pair of bottles for my brother and his wife. 

These bottles were assembled in gift baskets with other homemade treats for the couples. I was very pleased with how the liqueur and the presents turned out, but next time I will remember to give myself the time to make the liqueur with the vanilla bean. 

Image Credit: Dekuwa