Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups

My kids LOVE fruit roll ups, also called fruit leather. They are so simple to make and the best part about making them yourself is that you know everything that went into them! No food coloring, yeah!!!

You will need:
Your oven free all day!(Don't plan on baking anything for the day.)
7 cups of fresh or frozen fruit, your choice (I used frozen strawberry for this particular batch. Fresh is easier to work with though.)
2 c. of raw sugar (You can use regular granulated sugar just as well.)
1 tsp. of lemon juice
1 c. of applesauce is optional. This stretches the recipe.
Add the fruit, sugar and lemon juice to a big soup pot. Turn on medium heat to cook it all down. (The dark purpley colored stuff in the picture is some blueberry sauce I had that needed to get used so I threw it in for extra flavor.)

Once it is on it's way to being a soupy strawberry mixture, get out your potato masher and start mashing up the fruit. Keep doing this from time to time.

You don't want any huge chunks.

Stir occasionally in between with a spoon.

 You don't want the strawberries to stick to the pot.

I hope you can see through the steam in this picture. The Strawberries have really cooked down now. You can tell by looking at the sides of the

 pot that it is getting thicker.

I am adding my cup of applesauce. I used my homemade kind but you can use what ever you have. Applesauce with cinnamon in it would be really good too!

Before I stir in the applesauce I wanted to get a close up of the strawberries.

They are nice and thick. To get to this point shouldn't take more than 20 minutes or so.

Don't rush the process by turning up the heat too high. It will only burn and make the pot hard to clean. Besides the smell is so sweet and strawberry-ish we don't mind hanging out in the kitchen while it cooks.

This would be a good time to dab a little on a plate and let it cool off a little to try it and see if it is sweet enough. Don't be afraid to sprinkle in a little more sugar.

Sometimes your fruit may not have enough sweetness to it.

Applesauce is in. Now I will just cook it a little bit longer.

The less water the less time in the oven.

Prepare a large cookie sheet, (17 1/4 x 11 1/2 x 1 inch) lined with parchment paper.

Do NOT use wax paper.

It will stick to the fruit leather and not come off.

Pour the strawberry mixture onto the parchment paper.

Spread it out with your spoon.

Make sure you evenly distribute the strawberry.

Fold the paper edges back so they don't end up falling

into your leather while it's drying.

Pop it into the oven for about 8 hours at 160 degrees.

I keep checking it from time to time after about 5 hours.

Sometimes I have taken it out sooner than 8 hours.

Probably because I had cooked it down

 further when it was on the stove.

Here's what it will look like when it's done.

Leather......

I like to trim all the way around the edges to give it a nice clean look.

Then, I cut it into strips.

Here's what it looks like as leather strips....

Here it's all twisted...

You can roll it up and store it, but ours has never lasted long

enough to need to worry about storing it.

There are so many different flavors to experiment with!

Let us know what you tried!

Tip: I would double the recipe so you can have two pans going at the same time.

This recipe fills only one pan with dimensions listed above.

Chicken BBQ Quesadilla

I saw this recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I like to add a new meal to the meal rotation from time to time and swap it out with a maybe not so favorite meal.

This one fit perfectly! Plus, it's very easy!

I used 3 cooked chicken breast. I baked them in the oven and only seasoned them with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I didn't want too many other flavors going on b/c I was going to be using the bbq sauce for all the flavor. Another great way to make the chicken would be to make it like you would pulled pork only it would be pulled chicken. Very yummy! Great for making in the crock pot. Let it cook all day while you take care of your daily duties and then just whip up the quesdillas when you're ready.

You will need:
3 cooked chicken breast shredded
5-6 large tortilla shells/wraps
green onions
salsa
sour cream
your choice of bbq sauce
cheddar cheese


Shred your chicken first. Then I mixed about half of the bottle of bbq sauce with the shredded chicken. Get a good coat of bbq sauce on the chicken. Soak it in flavor....

Spray a large pan. Place a tortilla shell in the pan, on medium heat.

Add the chicken mixture to half the shell. Sprinkle with cheese

and drizzle a little more bbq sauce over it.

Fold the tortilla over. Cook till it looks like a nice golden brown color. Flip and brown on the other side.This doesn't take long, just a few minutes or so total for both sides.

Keep the finished tortillas in the oven on low heat,

just keep them warm while you cook the rest of them.

Once you have finished cooking all the tortillas cut each tortilla in to 3 or 4 triangles.

Serve with salsa, green onions and sour cream on top!

the flavors are so amazing I can't wait to make it again.

Enjoy!

Old Tool Box New Job

I was at an antique store and saw this old tool box, I absolutely fell in love with it.
 It was on sale for $22. My husband said he'd make me one and I didn't need to buy it. I was too impatient! I had to have right then! How long would I have to wait for him to make one, a day, a week, a month, longer? He told me he'd go home and make it that day. Okay! Let's go!

He made it, true to his word. It turned out so perfect...He did a great job. I was so thankful he took the time to do that for me!

He used all scrap pieces of wood and an old broom handle. Love it.....

I keep it in the kitchen and use it to hold crayons, markers,

 pens, pencils and library books.

Old Mason jars hold all the paint brushes, pens, pencils and markers etc.

He did buy me this smaller black tool box for $5 at the antique store so that we could continue shopping with out any more pestering (from me, not the kids).

I'm like a kid in a candy store at those places. What can I say?

Got any fun ways you store your books or craft supplies?

Please share!

Homemade Miso Soup

Miso soup is by far our favorite soup. It is absolute comfort food. It is soooo easy to make and takes no time at all.

 This past month we studied China, then we moved on to Japan. We always enjoy baking or cooking something from the places we have studied. We usually gather our inspiration from the books we read and then go from there.

I stumbled across this book called, Japanese Traditions by Setsu Broderick. It goes through all the months of the year and shows you through text and illustrations the important traditions that they share in their culture during each month.

She also has other books on Japan which looked great! One that caught our eye in particular was Sushi. I was not able to get my hands on this Sushi book, but I hope you can!

You will need:
Miso soybean paste
1Tbs. Wakame (seaweed, dried)
Tofu (firm)
Shitaki mushrooms
Green onions
Water

I did not put specific amounts the seaweed, tofu, mushrooms, or onions because it really is up to you and how much you would like to have in you soup. I put at least 2 handfuls of tofu cut into small squares in it because every body loves it. I use just a tablespoon of the dried seaweed. You put the dried seaweed into warm water and it expands. You can see that is what I have in the small glass bowl in the picture.
Again I use a handful of onions and about two handfuls of the mushrooms.

Okay, it's real simple for every person you will be serving you will need one cup of water to one tablespoon of soybean paste. I like to make a little extra because someone always wants seconds. If you are only going to make a single bowl of soup I would cut back on my "handful' measurements for the other ingredients.

That would be a little too much!

You are going to want to boil the water first. One cup of water per bowl of soup.

Once it has reached the boiling point you can add the bean paste.

One tablespoon of bean paste for every cup of water.

Turn the temperature down to low.

Stir it around and dissolve the bean paste.

Add all of the other ingredients to the soup.

Here is a picture of the seaweed after it has absorbed the water.

Give it a few stirs. It only needs to sit in the soup for a minute or two.

The mushrooms and tofu should be nice and tender and the onions bright green.

We love having Miso soup for lunch or dinner!

If you end up with leftovers just put it in the frig. It heats up nicely

 and tastes just as good the second time.

Enjoy!

Indoor Compost

We started a compost pile a year or so ago and love it! In the spring and summer and even the fall it's no big deal to run stuff out to the compost pile. It's usually beautiful outside. In the winter time, it's not so nice, but we want to keep composting. I usually would just keep a bowl on my counter and  throw any compost friendly scraps in there, wait till it was full and then trudge through the snow to the pile. Well, the bowl wasn't really pretty to look at.

My mom knows my love for composting so she bought me this beautiful little compost container to sit on my counter!

I like it to stay looking this clean!

The top has a black pad (I'm not sure what it's made of.) that keeps the smell from entering your home. It really works too. I've never smelled anything coming from it.

To keep it clean I like to put a plastic bag in there. A large storage snack bag.

It's easy to remove when it's full and makes it easy to carry it out to the pile.

Just about ready to go outside!

I stumbled across this lovely little book, Gardens From Garbage How to Grow Indoor Plants From Garden Scraps by Judith Handelsman

It has an amazing selection of indoor gardening projects using scraps of vegetables you would normally throw into your garbage.

I can't wait to start on a project. We'll post about it when we do!

Homemade Boston Cream Donuts

I told you we were thrilled with making donuts a couple weeks ago when we made the Salvation Army donuts. Since then we worked on the Boston Cream Donut recipe, from The Donut Book. Wow, did they turn out amazing! I couldn't resist doing another post about donuts. First, of course we had to do a little mathematical exercise in the counting department. So we chose the perfect book for this scrumptious occasion.

Baker's Dozen a Counting Book

by Dan Andreasen

This book has really nice illustrations.

Perfect for including the younger ones in the lesson.

The Donut Book by Sally Levitt Steinberg is the book we took our recipe from.

For the donuts you will need:

1 c. of milk (I used soy)

4 Tbs. of butter (I used non-dairy spread)

1/2 c. plus 1/2 tsp. of sugar

1/2 tsp. of salt

1 egg

1 package yeast

1/4 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)

3 1/2 c. of flour plus more for rolling dough out

1 tsp. of vanilla

Oil for deep frying

***Note: I made these donuts non dairy for those in our family who can't have milk. Just follow the recipe as it says to. Then when it's time to cut them out you can

 cut out a whole in the center, let them rise again and then fry them. I sugared some of them or drizzled chocolate over them.

 The rest I made into the Boston Cream donuts.

 Just a note for our non dairy friends***

Filling you will need:

1 package of vanilla pudding

(I used the extra large pack of instant vanilla Jell-O brand pudding.

I made it with whole milk)

Make this ahead of time.

Glaze:

2 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1 Tbs. of butter

1 c. of confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2-3 Tbs. of hot water

To make the glaze, melt the chocolate with the butter in a small saucepan.

Once melted stir in the vanilla and confectioner's sugar till smooth-this changes the texture of the chocolate and I panicked the first time I did it.

Add a tablespoon of water one at a time.

Your chocolate may seem a little stiff up until you add the water.

The water makes it nice and smooth.

A perfect chocolate glaze.

I usually only end up using 2 out of the 3 tablespoons.

First you are going to want to scald the milk with the butter and sugar.

Don't boil it though.

While your milk is getting warm, in a large bowl combine the flour and salt.

Once you have scalded the milk remove it from the heat and let it cool a little bit.

While the milk cools, in a small glass bowl combine the warm water with the tsp. of sugar and the yeast. Stir gently and set aside for a few minutes to proof.

It should look like this when it's ready.

  When the milk has cooled down, add your egg and vanilla to it and beat it.

You don't want to add the egg when the milk is too hot or it will cook it.

Once the yeast has activated (look at above picture),

add it and the milk mixture to the dry ingredients.

Mix into a nice soft dough. Knead it for a few minutes. Add a little flour to it if it's too sticky. I found that I needed to add another

 cup to the recipe to get the right consistency, but I always wait

 to add it until after I have started mixing to see what the dough is going to be like.

Once you get a nice dough formed place in a warm place and cover the bowl with a dish towel. Let it rise for an hour or so. Just till it's doubled in size.

When it has doubled, punch it down, knead it for a minute or two.

Roll it out onto a floured surface and cut out your donut shape.

Then place them on a cookie sheet with space in between and leave them to rise for another 1/2-an hour.

Once they have risen it is time to prep your oil!

If you have a deep fryer use that. If not a soup pot will work fine.

 Just give the donuts enough oil to swim in.

Here is what they should look like when you drop them into the hot oil.

They cook really fast so don't walk away from the pot. 

 Your oil temp should be at 355-365 at least.

 I like to drop a little piece of dough in to see if it's ready.

Put the donut into the hot oil. It will take less than a minute on each side.

Use a slotted spoon to remove it once it has turned a golden brown on each side.

Once they have cooled take a knife and put a small slit into each side.

Put the vanilla pudding into a pastry bag. I did not have one so I used a plastic bag, cut the corner off and then attached my turkey baster to it and filled them.

Insert into donut and fill.

Once all the donuts have been filled set them aside.

Make the glaze and spread onto donuts.

Then eat!!!

Yummy!

Enjoy!