furbabymom

Farmer's market opened today so my daughter and I went to see what was there. Too early in the season for many vegetables, but I got locally roasted coffee (it is so good!), soap, eggs, and turnips. Then we hit the local farm market to get some more veggies for the week. I'm trying really hard to buy more locally. It's expensive though! Next up - helping my daughter clean her room...

Anyone make kombucha? I just ordered a scoby and will be diving in in a week or so. I'm looking for recipe ideas and tea suggestions.

I am totally fine with holding professionally canned goods and dry goods past their expiration, but what I wonder about are the soft-sided packages, like Tetra packs or the soft sauce packages like these - https://smile.amazon.com/McCormick-Gluten-Bourbon-Chicken-Skillet/dp/B01BNHKLIO/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=mccormick+sauces&qid=1551984445&s=gateway&sr=8-6. Does anyone have guidance about keeping these past their expiry date?

Working at home today. Thursdays are almost always my work at home day, but today I have a sick kiddo here with me. My car was in the shop for two days, so I've been working at home a lot this week! Yesterday a half hour after my daughter got to school (a classmate's mom gave her a ride - she goes to private school so no buses), I got a call to come pick her up! Had to take a lyft. So $18 spent on that but still cheaper than a rental, I suppose... Then I get my car back with a note saying that my motor cover has a massive leak. Uh...they couldn't mention this on the phone? So I call my guy back and he says "that doesn't make any sense" and will talk to the service technician and call me back today... Guessing my car will be going back to the shop very soon - but at least it's fixed to the point where I can get it to pass emissions! Anyway, today my daughter is not sick enough to stay home but too sick to be at school, if that makes any sense at all. Keeping her at home since the flu's going around and I'd rather be safe than sorry since we haven't had flu shots. Loading up on elderberry though! So here we are...

It tried to snow again yesterday! Well, actually it did snow, almost all day, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground. 37 degrees and dumping snow...crazy...

Swedish meatballs, spaetzle, and roasted broccoli.

We had two snow days last week! Here in the Portland, Oregon area it's rare this late in the season. They're saying it might snow again this week but I'll believe it when I see it (then again I've been saying that all year). Of course our snow days are what makes the rest of the country laugh at us - little bit of snow on the roads early, gone by noon...

MT_Rider - we are without any furbabies at the moment! I do have a human baby, who is in fourth grade now. We lost one of our dogs three years ago, and then the other one died on New Years' day two years ago. We'll get a cat if we can ever get the house clean. That is the compromise my daughter and I made with my hubby.

Thanks! Glad to have found you all again!

Hello! I used to be a regular here...not sure what happened (I think life got busy) but it's been a long time! Someone on Facebook today said something that reminded me of this site, so I thought I'd pop in and see what's happening. Hope everyone is doing well!

I'm thinking about trying to make yogurt in the dehydrator - does anyone do this? I have a yogurt maker that uses the little cups, but we're going through quite a bit of it these days so I want to try making a bigger batch.

Ooh yum, that sounds good! I'd have to melt it into something spreadable first, though! This morning I took the jar from the fridge and melted it into some cider. Made AWESOME pancake syrup. So now hubby wants me to overcook another batch so we have plenty for the year ahead, LOL!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Ice cream sounds delicious right now but I'm far too lazy to go to the store, LOL! Don't think I've ever run across a jam bar recipe - I'll have to look into that. It's definitely bouncy, just like Christy's grape jelly. Think I'll try thinning it out and see how that works. I was also thinking maybe I could stir it into some hot applesauce for hubby's waffle topping. Guess I'll experiment a little and see what happens!

I was making the apple-maple jam recipe from the Ball Blue Book. I was momentarily distracted and it went from runny to a solid mass in no time flat. I canned it anyway, and put what didn't fill the last jar in the fridge overnight. I pulled it out of the fridge tonight and it's a solid lump - not even remotely spreadable. My hubby said it would be good on waffles, but it's far too sweet and thick to eat on its own. Any suggestions on what to do with it?