PROJECT 222: JELLO COOKIES!

I was so enthusiastic yesterday showing our domestic worker how to clean the house properly, That she really set off with a speed this morning!  I had to go to a funeral(some of those dreadful things pastors wives have to do sometimes...), and by the time I got home, she was almost finished.....nothing for me to do.  So I decided to bake cookies.

I saw these colourful jello cookies some time ago and decided to give it a try.  Unfortunately I only had green and yellow jelly powder, so I only made green ones.  I do think mixed colours in the cookie jar would look awesome!

I wondered if the kids would like them, but then I thought nothing that is slightly sweet is safe in this house.....I am sure they are going to eat them, even if it is only the next two days whilst I am at work!  I won't be here to make something else to nibble on!  My kids can really sometimes embarrass me when it comes to sweet things!  They will make sure they are first in line at any sweets table!  I have to reprimand them every now and then!

This makes me think of something totally not in this line, but I want to tell you the story.....When we were pasturing our first church, the boys were still small.....ages 5, 3 and 1.  Sunday mornings we had to leave at 7-8h00 with all the music equipment, cleaning stuff, cups, urn, coffee, kids, and what ever we might need for the service.  We used a school hall, and had to clean it first, as they sometimes had weddings the night before or other functions.  Many a Sunday we collected a whole black bag full of beer bottles, ext. before we could clean up. Most of the Sundays it was only my husband and myself and 3 small kids doing this job.

By 9h00 the band came in to rehearse before the service....husband and myself part of it, and kids still going strong.  At 10h00 the service started.....I did the childrenschurch.  After the service tea and coffee....mostly me serving again with kids playing around me.  For some or other reason we never got away from the building before 13h00....sometimes even later.....packing everything in our car again!  I washed the cups at home.

Now for 3 small kids a day like this quite hectic, and when the people started having tea, they played around with the other kids.  One day they were running too much for the liking of one of the female members, and she said to me :"You know, they say pastors kids are always the naughtiest".  Without thinking first of the implication, I answered:"Maybe it is because they only have the congregations kids to play with!" and gave her a nice smile......she never said anything about the kids ever again!  I mean, they were only playing....and even if she thought they were naughty....6 hours for a small kid to be at church is long!

On that note....these pastors kids love sweet things!  But I do think there is going to be a remark on the colour! Ha ha!

Mix together:
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkt jelly powder...you can add a little food colouring...I did
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt
1 t baking powder

Roll in balls, and roll in sugar.  Press down with a glass and sprinkle a little more sugar on top.  Bake for 6 minutes at 200*C.

project 221....a pull apart bread

Saturdays in our household the men watch rugby.  Most Saturdays start off with school rugby matches in the mornings, early tv games in the mornings.....five o'clock  tv games.....seven o'clock tv games.....by that time I am so tired of rugby!  So I usually try new recipes while they watch rugby!.....Oh yes, and we usually 'braai' and my parents come around for the 5 and 7 o'clock games and we all eat together!


On Saturday night I made this bread.  It was suppose to have 4 rashers of bacon in it, but I forgot to take some from the freezer, and thought for the small quantity it was not worth the effort, so I omitted it, and added a hand full of parsley from my windowsill herbs....it seems like only the parsley, rosemary and mint like the small container.  I usually use rosemary in other breads, but felt like something different.....

1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 cup wholewheat flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 packet of instant yeast
1 tsp salt
half a packet mushroom soup powder(the original recipe had ranch dressing or dip mix....was not in my cupboard!)
1/4 cup chopped onion/chives
Hand full of fresh parsley
1/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of water
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup of grated cheese

Mix all the dry ingredients and the herbs.

Heat the milk, butter and water, and mix with the dry ingredients adding the eggs and cheese as well.  Allow to stand in a warm spot until doubled in size(about an hour).

Roll it out with a rolling pin an a rectangle and cut in six strips.  Place the strips on top of each other and cut in squares.  Turn your breadpan onto its side and arrange the squares in it.  When turning the pan up again, the bread squares will be standing.  Allow to double in size again for about an hour, then bake at 180*C for 30-35 minutes.

The slices can now be pulled apart.

project 220...peanut brittle

This is a sin!  Now that I have made it and saw how super easy it is, I think my daily walks will be in vain!  And I don't think I'll ever get bored of this!  9-10 minutes in the microwave, and ready 15 minutes later!  Really!

1 1/2 cups of roasted peanuts
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of syrup
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Prepare your baking sheet.  I used wax paper, but  I don't think it is necessary.

In a glass bowl mix peanuts, sugar, syrup and salt.  Boil in the microwave for 6-7 minutes.(Slightly longer if you have low wattage).  Stir after every minute, but don't remove bowl from microwave.

Stir butter and vanilla in, and boil for another 2-3 minutes.  Remove from microwave.  Stir in the baking soda until foamy.  Spread on your baking sheet.  After about 15 minutes break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Project 219...cleaning your top loader washing machine

I have a domestic worker, but lately it felt to me that all I'm doing on my off days, is cleaning!  Nurses are sometimes hypersensitive about germs, but really.....my house is not clean!  I've watched her for  a few days, and realised that she spent hours ironing....sometimes up to four hours a day!  I could not understand why it took her so long, because if I do the washing, I end up with one or two things to iron per bundle.  I then saw she bundled all the clean washing together, and at the end she had to iron all of it!  She was quite surprised when I showed her what to do with the clean washing!  She ironed for 3/4 of an hour today!  And that on a Monday!  She could have still ironed less, as I caught her bundling a whole lot of stuff again! 

Spending four hours on ironing leaves very little time for the rest of the house!  Unfortunately she can not read or write, so it is very hard to write her a programme.  So today I worked with her....and tomorrow I am going to work again with her again tomorrow.....we have to clean properly!

So after cleaning quite a lot today, I decided that it is time for a clean up for the washing machine as well!  Quickly googled 'how to clean your washing machine" and voila!..... how neat and sparkling clean!  I forgot to take photo's of before, so I am just going to tell you.....

Fill your washing machine with water and add 4 cups of white vinegar and 1/2 cup of bicarbonate of soda.  Allow to stand for about half an hour, and then finish the normal cycle.  Wipe the drum clean after the wash.

I spent the 30 minutes to clean the sieves, by soaking them in vinegar and sodium bicarb as well.  I used a bottle cleaner to get into the smallest spaces.  Remember to clean your detergent bowl as well.

I read that vinegar works well as a fabric softener in your top loader, with no grime residue.  Apparently your clothes does not smell of vinegar after it is dry.  I am going to try that tomorrow!

Project 218....an apple gift box

This morning I took some cereal boxes to the outside dustbin, and I realised how much we all throw out daily, and that we surely can recycle much more.  Our town does not have a recycling station, so all the tins, boxes and bottles land up on the rubbish dump.  Even when you do sort your waste in different colours of bags, it still just land up on the rubbish dump!  I would love to start a project using all of these stuff!

I decided to show you how I make apple gift boxes from 2 litre soda bottles.  I have spray painted some red before and added green leaves.  With a piece of tissue paper inside, or some wood carvings, it looks quite pretty as well. For today I am showing you how to make it, and you can decide whether you want to spray paint it or not.

Cut a 2 litre soda bottle open separating the top from the bottom.  If you want to cut leaves from the top part, do so, or discard it.  It is also a handy funnel for paint or other detergents in the garage!  And you don't feel bad discarding it after only one use!

Now cut slits in your bottom half about halfway through the straight part for a larger apple and right to the bottom of the straight part for a smaller apple.  You have to have 5 sections after cutting slits.  Round each section, and punch a hole in the centre of the edge.

Place your gift inside.  Take a pipe cleaner or a piece of ribbon with a knot at the bottom to secure it, and start to work it through, stringing it through the holes from the bottom.  Work from one side to the other until you have done all five scallops.  Tie a double knot in your ribbon again to secure it. 

Now add two leaves, cut from cardboard, a soda bottle or any fancy paper.  You can write your message on this if you want to.  Give your ribbon a double knot as well, and cut the extra off.

I have done some cereal box gift boxes before(project 16).  You never have to buy gift boxes again!  Use your imagination, recycle and save the planet!  Or be part of the saving of it!

PS!  You should really appreciate this one!  I always forget to take pics of the whole process, but I managed to to it today!
 
 

project 217....soup in your crockpot

I told you I am really testing my crock pot nowadays.  Not everything is successful, but I am surely improving!  I made this soup the other day and froze it in portions.  It is a quick and easy lunch for busy days.  I heat it up and add some milk as it is quite thick, and voila!  A lovely creamy soup!

Use some beef pieces....soup bones works well.   Add a chopped onion, a cup of beans, a cup of pearled barley, a cup of lentils and a cup of mixed veggies and salt and pepper.  Cook for 12 hours at high.  Allow to cool and freeze in portions.  When you need it, defrost and add some milk.

PROJECT 216....CROCHET NECKLACE

I made some crochet necklaces a while ago.  I made flower motives and added them with chain stitches.  You can wear it just as it is, or with a brooch securing it to the side.

My friend liked my shelly necklace a lot, so I decided to use one of the crochet ones to make her a shelly one as well.  She calls it her 'ikabana'.  I jazzed it up with green beads and shells.  Who thought  a stupid, humble crochet necklace can be jazzed up like this!

 

Project 215.....chichen pasta sauce

This is my own recipe!  I made it the other night and took some leftovers for lunch the next day.  One of the doctors passed the whilst I was eating.  I did not even think he even noticed me, but the next day he came to ask me the recipe for the chicken I had for lunch the day before!  I had to write it down, and after his lunch hour, he came to tell me he has just bought the ingredients, and that he was cooking it that night.  He brought some for lunch the next day and had all the ladies raving about his cooking skills!  They all tasted, and was very impressed with him!

Sort your onions in a little butter and olive oil.  Add some garlic and freshly grated ginger.  Add a chilli.  Add chicken cubes and cook until almost done. Add some green peppers(cut into strips). and thereafter some mushrooms.

Add some flour and stir through your mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Now add about 3-4 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter and milk.  I had half a tin of coconut milk in the fridge that I added as well.  Stir until thickened.  Add some grated cheese just before serving. 

Serve with pasta.  I did this one with spinach tagliatelle.

Project 214: Potato soup

I was always the potato soup queen, until my friend Carien started making this one!  I had to phone her for this recipe over the weekend, as this was what my family felt like....totally forgotten about their mothers own potato soup recipe!

A packet of bacon, chopped
250 ml onions, chopped
25 ml butter
500 ml cream(I only used 250 ml and more milk....cholesterol!)
500 ml milk
500 g potatoes, cooked and diced
15 ml thyme
salt and pepper
10ml crushed garlic
300 ml grated cheese

Fry the bacon, and remove from pan.  Fry your onions in the bacon fat until cooked and see through.  Melt the butter, and add the flour.  Add the milk and the cream slowly and heat until it starts to boil.  Add the bacon, onions, potatoes, thyme, salt and pepper and garlic.  Cook through and add the cheese just before serving.

This is so nice, it almost feels like a potato casserole! 

Project 213: a polka dot cake

I had to try it, and although my cake was heavy, and the texture was not nice, the dots came out well, and I decided to share that only.  You can use your own cake batter recipe.

I mixed a batch of cake batter, and coloured small batches with food colouring.  Using my knowledge from art class, I mixed some colours to get the ones I side not have.  I made muffins from this.

After the muffins cooled down, I cut them in cylinders with a cookie cutter, and arranged them on their sides in the cake tin.  I then poured a new mix of the batter on top, and baked it as usual.

Cutting through the cake, you can see the polka dots! Wow!

I used my giant cupcake pan, and the top ones muffin  turned on its side.  Next time I'll use a normal cake pan......and another batter recipe....

The kids did not mind the texture, and just ate!
 

PROJECT 212: OLIVE BREAD

I love to bake this bread.  Sometimes I omit the olives, onion  and oregano, and  I have used brown bread flour as well to make a brown bread.  This is super easy, and it has never failed.....a recipe worth trying!  It originally came out of a camping recipe book, and was made in an iron pot on an open fire, but I started making it in the oven, and been making it for years.

4 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 X 10g instant yeast
1 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil(I have used normal sunflower oil with the same success before)
2 cups lukewarm water
2 small onions, chopped
1 cup black olives, pips removed and quartered
1 tbsp dried oregano

Mix the first 4 ingredients.  Mix the vinegar, oil and water and add to the dry ingredients.  Mix and knead the dough for about 10 minutes.  Cover the bowl with glad wrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.  Add the rest of the ingredients and knead down lightly.  Cover your hands with olive oil, and form your dough to fill your pan.  Place in a warm spot until it had doubled again, and then bake it for about an hour at 180*C.

If you make it on an open fire, put the lid on the pot, and remember to add some coals on the lid as well.

Project 211: PICKLED FISH

I am so lazy to make this, and after I have made it again, I wonder why I don't make it more often?  But I do think that my batches were too big in the past that it kept me busy for some time.  I have made only 1kg of fish yesterday, and it was not that hard.

I have used baby hake yesterday, but I have used even freshwater carp before as I have some very keen fishermen in my family, and sometimes get these carps after a good days fishing.  Carp actually makes very good fishcakes as well, but the pickled fish is much less effort.  You don't have to remove the bones, as they go soft after a while in the pickle sauce.  With fishcakes you have to remove bones, and freshwater fish has a lot of those!

1 kg fish cut into small portions.  You can remove the skin, but too much effort for me!
250 ml flour
1 tsp baking powder
oil for deep frying
3 eggs beaten
750 ml brown vinegar
225 ml sugar
10 ml turmeric
50 ml curry powder
15 ml black pepper corns
3 large onions sliced
6 bay leaves
 40 ml flour

1.  Roll your fish portions in the flour mixed with the baking powder.  Then dip it in the egg, and deep fry it in the oil.  Drain on a kitchen towel.

2. Heat the vinegar, and add the sugar, herbs, onions and leaves until boiling point and allow to cook for 10 minutes.  Thicken with the flour.

3.  Use sterilised jars.  Add a little bit of the sauce at the bottom, and start layering your fish and sauce in the bottle.  Seal and allow to cool.  When cooled down, place in the ridge where you can keep it up to six months.  Allow to stand for at least 3 days before eating.

I can open mine on Wednesday.......Yum!

Project 210: shabby chic scarf

My friend gave me these funny blue thingies some time ago, and I really don't know what they call them!  As children we used to "knit" with wooden spools with 4 nails added to the top.  The wool had to go through the hole and you made a long sausage/worm until you are tired of doing it.  The 'worm' was then spiralled to make circles, and many mothers used this as potholders.  With mostly plastic spools nowadays, people start making their own spools by using wooden cubes with a hole drilled through them.  And then you get these plastic thingies.....they come in different shapes and sizes.  I've used a 12 cm diameter one for this.

I've used a white yarn I had, and although I thought it was too thin in the beginning, the end result was good.  You 'knit' your tube until you think it is long enough.  Then close the two ends.  I then used different things go jazz up the whole thing.....doilies from my grandmother, a crochet rose made by my mom, ribbons from cards.....beads and ruffle wool, pieces of lace, buttons.....whatever you desire.....

I started arranging my finds to the two ends,  and then I strung some of the ruffle wool through the  white pieces still looking empty.  I gave it a fringe with the ruffle wool as well.

I am not very fond of white, as I wear white each and every day I go to work.  On Sunday we danced at church again with white tops.  My outfit was quite bland, so I used  my scarf to jazz it up.  I got so many compliments, that I feel like making more of these!

 

Project 209: peanutbutter and chocolate cookies

This was a little bit of effort, but worth it.  Next time I am going to make double the peanut butter batch, and make peanut butter cookies only!  I got 90 cookies, but must admit.....I've tasted quite a bit of the dough!  Maybe I could have had even more cookies!  And even the finished product only lasted the weekend!

You make two batches of dough.  I've adjusted both a little by adding a little more flour, as the dough was too sticky and very difficult to work with.  I did not have chocolate chips, so I broke larger chocolate baking disks into smaller pieces.  It worked well, although the disks seem to melt more than the chips. 
 

For the peanut butter batch:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 /2 cup chocolate chips


Mix everything together.




For the chocolate Batch:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips


Mix everything together.


Make small balls with 1/2 of each batch and press them down with a fork.  Bake for 12 minutes at 180*C.  Allow to cool slightly before removing it from the baking pan.

 

Our family has the strangest pets!  My son's got a cat that likes cycling!  My sisters got a parrot that looks like a baby chicken!  My husband a weird little dog!  And they are sooooo relaxed!

Project 208: A colour wheel

My husband blessed me to take oil paint classes.  I always wanted to do it, but just never got so far.  The first thing we did, was a colour wheel, and although we all know the colour wheel, it was quite amazing to mix the colours.  I always thought to get a darker green, I had to use more green, and less white......You actually use more blue to make it darker, or more yellow to make it lighter!  Amazing!

And to mix a brown, you have to mix equal amounts of red, blue and yellow!  Now to get different colours of brown, you add more red or yellow.......and more blue to the brown makes a grey!  Wow!

We started off by squeezing blue, red and yellow(primary colours) in the corners, and from there we mixed the orange, green, and purple(secondary colours).  To make a more reddish orange, we added more red....lighter orange more yellow......same on the green side.....

This is quite a handy tool to have, as I used it in mixing the food colourings to paint the bottles the other day as well. As I said....I always wanted to add more white to change the colour....and I never got the colours I wanted!
 

By the way....white is not a colour....it is light......difficult to understand, but I could even use this to explain to the coach why my son struggle to see the white hockey ball on a white-lightened field at night as he is colourblind....and it made sense!

All three my boys are colourblind in different degrees.  It gives colour to our family, as we always have to decide what colour is what!  And most of the times my husband and myself(Who are not colourblind!) loose....and we are the only two who can actually see the real colours!  Colourblindness has its advantages sometimes....when we go to the Kruger Park, we always come back with the most beautiful pictures as our sons do not miss anything!  Apparently they see the outlines of the animals behind the bushes, and we see the bushes....amazing how God created us all differently!

On that note....I am so pleased with my apple I am busy with at class, that I had to give you a peep!  Unfortunately the boys told me the apple is square, so I have to fix it next week!  Maybe it is my purple background....but looking at it now.....the left side does look square!. 

Project 207: sea shell neclace

Just as I thought I was going to spend my holidays at home as my sons school arranged a hockey tour that was not planned in the diary that changed a fews holiday plans, my hubby decided to rather take us to the coast for the few days that was left from the school holidays.  It was the best sea holiday we ever had!  Maybe as it was not planned......we just decided to go on the last day of the hockey...great!  And the place we stayed even greater!  It was the first time that everything you need is thought of.  Great!

We spend hours walking down the beach in the mornings, an I even got my boys excited looking for shells!  With a whole bag full I could not wait to do something, so I made this one yesterday.  I wore it today and my friend thought I bought it!  When she heard I made it myself, she wanted one!

I used broken shells for this one and made two holes on the sides to add the findings.  I then gave the shells a layer of varnish as the colours do not seem to be a bright when the shells are dry.  With the varnish the colours look exactly like when the shells are wet.

I had these spring-like thingies, silver balls, silver flowers, copperish rings and a copperis
h chain.....so I used them all together.  Look how neat it is!

Now I have to think what to do with the rest of the bag of shells.....

Project 206: apple strudel

I got this from Pinterest,  and could not resist making it, as it looked so easy.  I've adapted it here and there....

Mix together: 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of butter, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  You can place 2/3 of your dough in the fridge now for it to get firm so that you can grate it later on....I could not wait, and broke the other third into small pieces and arranged it on top.

Press your remaining 2/3s in a baking tray.  I covered mine with baking paper(I hate to wash sticky pans!)

Mix together a 410g tin of cooking apples, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and arrange it on top of your dough.  Pour your grated or broken pieces of dough on top and bake it @ 180*C for 25-30 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly whilst you mix together 2 cups of icing sugar, 4 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of almond essens.  Drizzle on top of your cake and allow to cool.  Serve with cream or ice cream.

Project 205: Apple cake/tart

My mom used to make this when we were kids.....she said it was a tart.  I recently got a similar recipe, but now the recipe said cake or tart.....so you can decide for yourself whether its a cake or a tart!.....Cake or tart.....the boys polished it and said we can make this again....and my husband was seriously upset when he came home after visiting somebody and he did not even get a crumb!

200ml butter
250 ml sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essens
3 eggs
2 cups of flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
200 ml milk

Mix everything together and pour half in your cake baking tin.

Arrange a 410g tin of pie apples on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Pour the rest of your dough on top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar(30 ml sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Bake for 45 minutes at 180*C.(Check after 35 minutes)

On the stove top or microwave prepare a syrup of 1/2 cup of water. 90 ml sugar, 50 ml butter and 30 ml lemon juice.

Prick your cake/tart with a fork when you remove it from the oven and pour the syrup all over it.  Serve hot or cold with cream/ice cream.

Project 204:COFFEE FILTER ROSES

Now isn't this pretty cool?  For years I had a box of coffee filters that doesn't fit in my peculator. Seeing pretty nice coffee filter flowers on the net, I decided to give them a try.  Gee, was I excited about the outcome!  My youngest even offered me a job at school to do arts class!  Now that does not happen often!  They always say that we have the house with the most handmade things in it!  Now I wonder if aliens are making the stuff in other peoples houses?....some things similar to stuff in our house, only difference....they bought it!

I have a thing about fake flowers and was surprised that I actually attempted this!  And that I am planning to use them somewhere in the house for a while!  And I can even see myself making them again and again!

Start cutting 4 leaves(2 per side.....start at the bottom going wider to the top) starting small and going larger until they are almost the same size than the  filter.  You should do about 8 filters.  Now use pieces of ribbon, material, newspaper, pages from old books, feathers, lace......whatever you feel like making leaves from and cut extra leaves using your already cut leaves as templates.

Use a piece of florist wire and apply a few stamens with florist tape to it.  You can buy stamens at a place that sells cake decorating stuff.  I used three and folded it in half to have six.

Now use a sosatie-skewer(wooden kebab skewer) to curl your leaves to the outside.  Start from one side to the centre and then from the other side to the centre.  They don't have to look the same as not all the leaves of a real rose are open at the same time as well.

Start applying the leaves to your wire starting with the smallest ones .  Allow each leave to overlap the one you have just finished.  You will be so surprised to see the rose form in your hands.  I used leaves I still had from another project to cover the base, but I am sure you can make paper ones as well.  I would have made stems with leaves, but these ones had another turn to it.

After doing the fake coloured glass bottles in the previous two projects, I have new admiration for my food colourings!  So I painted the flowers with food colouring as I thought the paper ill absorb the liquid well.  I used  Fruit juice bottles to allow them to dry properly.  Now this is just here that the turn came in....my husband passed and said...."Now that's pretty....you should just add coloured water to the bottles".....he thought they were supposed to stay in the bottles!

It gave me an idea.....I coloured the bottles like in the previous two projects....each one the colour of the rose....!

 

Project 203.....a bottle for bubblebath

I am a pink and purple girl, but lately the blues and turquoises are my new favourite colours!


I've done this bottle with the modge podge and food colouring as in project 202 and jazzed it up with copperwire spirals, a flower and some beads.  I've given it a corc to seal it and voila! a bottle for a bubblebath gift!

Project 202...fake stained glass!

Now this was fun!  When I saw it, I thought it could never work!  I don't think it will last forever, but it is so easy that you can just redo it when needed!

I am a sucker for a glass bottle and hardly ever throw bottles out!  I have to hide them from my husband as he can get very upset of me keeping bottles!  Fact is....there is sooo much you can do with empty bottles......canning......pickling.......gift jars......storage jars.....name it!.....and now this.....

Furthermore I am very sentimental.....if I have received something as a gift, I won't throw it away if it is not my taste......I'll change it in something I like!

A few years ago all my friends used to make gel candles....in those insignificant cheap small glasses....and I received more than any single persons share of candle gifts......the problem with that was.....they tend to gather dust quickly.....so I used them as soon as I got them and when they started looking groggy, I emptied the containers.....and kept them......until I had a whole shelf full of non matching cheap glass containers!

I use some of them with times when I have visitors with garden herbs in them on coffee trays.....but they were such a lot all the same colour.....then I saw this somewhere and decided to try it out....What fun!  I am even thinking of using these coloured glasses on the mothers day tables this year in church!  I can make them in different pastilles and group some together.....oh the possibilities!

Wash your glass containers and allow to dry by itself.  This will prevent fluff from your kitchen cloth gathering on them.  Give them a layer of modge podge and allow to dry slightly.  Then paint it with food colouring!  Allow to dry and give it another coat or two of modge podge allowing every layer to dry properly.

Easy as that! can you think of the possibilities!  And when you are tired, soak it in water and paint it again in the desired colour for your next function!  Wow!

 
Oh yes....I got the pretty purple from mixing blue and red! 

Project 201...fruity chicken in the crockpot

I've never been a crock pot fan.  But I have one as I used to work in a neighbouring town years ago, and the family needed something different from 'spagetti and mince' and 'mince and spagetti'......my husbands cooking skills!

I used it, but nobody could stand the dishes coming from it!  Not even myself!  I have one dish I can cook well in it, but that's the only dish!  Oh yes, the french toast is going down well as well.....

Being on leave for two weeks since yesterday, I decided to take it out.....bad enough to stay at home!  I don't want to stay in the kitchen for two weeks!  Unfortunately my family can think of lots of things to be cooked when mom's around!

I searched on the net for recipes, but half of the ingredients are not available here.....others just looked like my previous experiences....

I decided to do my own thing....and for once the whole family enjoyed it....my son not eating chicken said....'this is tasty'.....his way not to say 'this is nice'......My youngest.....'this is so nice,I am going to have more'...he is a very picky eater!  So I am definitely going to make this one again.....and tonight the leftover sauce is going into the cottage pie.....I don't plan to spend my holiday in the kitchen!

I used a 410g tin of peaches(juice and all), four frozen chicken thighs and a packet of stewing granules and cooked the whole lot for 6 hours at high.  I then added two tablespoons of flour to the sauce and allowed to cook for another two hours on low.  I've been very lazy and even cooked the rice in the other half of the pot as I have one with two different cooking spaces.

If I can get this reply from my family, it is worthwhile trying the crock pot more often!  You are welcome to send an email with some of your favourite crock pot recipes.  Click to leave a comment and send an email..... 

I'm blessed with another pretty flower

Now there's one thing I wonder about ......if I am pinching a piece of a plant from a deserted garden.....is it stealing or what?  I don't take the whole plant....just a small branch.....nobody lives in the house.....and I don't use hormone powder before adding it to the soil.....ha ha....maybe I just want to soften my conscience a little.....see, I take it like this.....I'm propagating on a more natural way....and if I had to have the plant, it would grow naturally!.....I'm keeping the earth green!

I would love to hear from you on this one!

Anyhow...I saw this beautiful geranium outside an empty house some time ago, and after passing the plant several times during my daily walk with my friend, I decided to pick a small piece.....

I've put it directly into the soil....kept it on my kitchen windowsill...and look what I got!  The most beautiful red flower and some more buds!  Now I wonder if I'll be forgiven for this stolen treasure?

Worst of all....I passed the house again the other day....still empty....and somebody stole the pots!  Gee!  Not even a branch only!......I would not go that far!