4th of July Goodies!

I wanted to have some fun making snacks to celebrate the 4th this year and this is what I came up with.











My husband and 2 sons loved them! Although, they are boys, and it IS food, so I probably could've made them any color and they would've liked them! The way to a man's heart is definitely through his stomach in my house!

Apples, Apples, Everywhere!!

I was fortunate enough to get lots of free apples from some trees here in town. My plan is to make caramel apple jam. I'm hoping to can enough so that I don't have to buy jelly for a while!







In the spirit of all these free apples, here's a link to a free printable apple stationery set over at Creature Comforts. It's really cute!

Yummy!

Hey y'all! I added a new blog to the sidebar called Chickens In The Road. She has lots of farmy stuff and yummy recipes that I think would make great Christmas gifts! I'm linking to a few that I just came across. AND, she's located in West Virginia, which is where I was born, so I thought that was pretty cool too!

Caramel Apple Jam & Spiced Applesauce

Pumpkin Butter

Homemade Vanilla: Big Bottle & Small Bottle Method

I would like to try all 3 of these. I recently bought some pint and 1/2 pint canning jars, so I have plenty of jars for canning the jam and butter, along with my salsa I plan on making.

I thought I could can, but I can't can, can I???

Last month my dear friend Amy over at Five Little Monkeys, Jumping In A Parsonage showed me how to can applesauce!



It was lots of fun and gave me a great sense of accomplishment, like now I'm prepared for any emergency, cuz I have 6 quarts of applesauce on my shelf! So, I decided I would can apple pie filling, so that when I had the domesticated urge to bake an apple pie, I could just whip up a crust and fill it up with my pre-made filling. So, Amy was nice enough to loan me her canning supplies, so I could do this.
AND THEN, lo and behold, after researching online, I find out that I can't use the water bath canner pot on a GLASS TOP ELECTRIC STOVE!!! AND, can you guess what kind of stove I have? That's right, a GLASS TOP ELECTRIC STOVE!!! So, after checking out this site and weighing all my options, I decided to freeze my apple pie filling like Mary does on Home-Steeped Hope. It basically accomplishes the same thing as canning except if my electricity goes out, I guess we'll be eating the apple pie filling first! Here are some pics of the process:

Clear Skies In The Forecast...

Recipe for Sky Jello . Created by Huber Hof Academy.

Haven't made it yet, but it just looks like big tall glasses of happiness to me!

Cake Mix Cookies

1 box any flavor cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1 cup whatever you want to add (m&m's, raisins, oatmeal, nuts, etc.)

Mix together cake mix, water and oil. Stir in your cup of "whatever". Scoop out onto your stone, cookie sheet, etc., and cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Make sure that you smoosh them down before baking so that they have a more cookie-like appearance.






I used a box of chocolate cake mix that expired July 2007, but I'm sure that un-expired mix will work just as well. As you can see, I chose to add oatmeal to mine. Whenever I make cookies, I just feel like a better mom when I add oatmeal to them. Helps to contribute to their recommended daily intake of fiber. And you know that fiber is essential to a well-functioning bowel. But then again, I used expired cake mix, so that might not be a problem...

Seriously though, I did test them first to make sure they weren't poison.