Homemade Insect Repellant

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Make sure it is PURE. The artificial stuff is worthless.

2 cups of water
1 tbsp of Dr Bronner's or Biokleen concentrated cleaner
1 cinnamon stick
1 oz of pure vanilla extract
20 drops of tea tree oil
10 drops of peppermint oil

Put all ingredients into a spray bottle and shake the heck of out of it. You can add a bit of vodka or everclear, but I think that might be a bit overkill. Spray wherever you see any trouble. Insects can't stand the stuff and flee!

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Orange Vinegar

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I picked up a resealable bucket for free from one of the Amish shops I visit. It contained black ground pepper and still smells very strongly from it.

What I am doing is making an orange vinegar with it. I put the peels from an orange into the bucket, and have covered it with vinegar. I add new peels every time i peel and re cover the bucket with the sealed lid.

I can use this vinegar in a variety of ways. I can use it for an interesting kick to my recipes that require vinegar. I can use half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle as an effective surface cleaner. I can use an even more diluted vinegar mix as an acid rinse for my hair (dandruff fighting) and as a soap scum remover for the bath.


Cost? About 60 cents for the vinegar.

Replaces or enhances: Gourmet Balsamic Vinegar, Dandruff Shampoo, Hard Surface Cleaner, Fabric Softener, Water softener.

Reduces Plastic Packaging, and gas wasted on distribution of other products :)

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Mockie's Blueberry Cordial- First attempt Shared Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 9:49am

You will need:

1 Qt Mason Jar
2 cups of blueberries
1 cup of sugar
650 ml of Everclear or Vodka (The Everclear is going to be MUCH stronger than the vodka. You have been warned)
Honey
Patience.

In a wide mouth 1 quart mason jar I layered sugar and blueberries.
I stuck these in the microwave on 30 power for 1.5 minutes, screwing the cap on shaking every 30 seconds.

After that I poured the Everclear until it reached the lip of the jar. I sealed and now I am putting it away for two weeks. At that point I will do a taste test and add a tbsp of honey for complexity, and bottle it. If it doesn't taste ready, I will continue this until 2 months is up.

Here is the yummy concoction already showing it's pretty blue color!

Blueberry Cordial

And in it's resting place next to the honey that will be added later.

yummy!

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Mock French Toast Bake

Mock French Toast base:
4-5 cups of cubed bread (day old works best)
4 eggs (can use powdered)
1 1/2 cups milk(I use non instant powdered and water)
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Streuesel

Mix all the wet ingredients, using a mixer on medium until it is all a creamy butter color. Put bread in a well buttered 10 inch cake pan in a flat layer. Pour the mixture over the bread and let sit for about 10-15 minutes. Cover with the streusel. Put into a preheated 350 and bake for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve with Maple Syrup or eat unaccompanied! :)


Streuesel mixture

1 cup of flour (oat, wheat or all purpose all work well for this)
1/4- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, or margarine room temperature

I mix mine up in the kitchenaid with the whipping attachment, but you could use your hands, a fork or a pastry cutter. You want it to be in fine crumbs. Try not to sneak it all before you use it. If you have leftovers (yeah, right) you can store it in the freezer in a container for up to 6 months.

scalloped cabbage!

Okay, so it totally doesn't look as yummy as it tastes. But here it goes.

1 head of cabbage cut into chunks (take out the hard stem part)

1/2 of a package of Velveeta like processed cheese food stuff

1/2 to 1 lb of bacon

1 onion (optional)

1 clove of garlic (sprinkle of garlic powder, or sprinkle of minced dehydrated garlic)

Salt

Pepper

Chop up the cabbage, leaving out the hard woody like stem part. Peel and chop up the onion. Put them into a large dutch oven like pot, and cover with water and some salt. Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes.

While it is boiling, fry up the bacon in a skillet. Fry it until the bacon is brown and crispy. Take out the pieces individually and put them on a paper towel covered plate, not dumping the grease. Let them cool for a bit and tear them into tiny pieces and set aside. Bring the grease back up to medium.

Drain the cabbage and onion in a colander. Put the cabbage back into the pot and turn the heat to medium. Pour the heated grease over the cabbage and onions. Stir and saute the mixture for about 5 minutes. Add the bacon pieces. At this point start adding the cheese stuff. Cut it into little chunks and keep stirring until the cheese is completely melted. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Serve warm! :) It's sooooo yummy. Even my "I hate cabbage with a passion" husband loves it and requests it often!

Cookies of awesome

I used the Kitchenaid Mixer recipe and adapted it based on my childhood memories:

Ingredients:

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of granulated white and organic sugar all mixed together (because I am not putting them in

their own containers, sugar is sugar.... it works)

1 cup of shortening.

2 Tbsp of powdered eggs and 1/4 cup water (or 2 whole fresh eggs)

3 cups of flour (mix of your own whole wheat and All purpose. I used all purpose because I didn't feel like grinding up some flour for this)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

12 oz of chocolate chips (I used 2 cups of Ghiardelli milk chocolate chips from the freezer)

Cream the sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla for about 30 seconds, scrape down and cream for another minute. Slowly add the salt, baking soda and and flour. Mix for about 2 minutes, and then stir in the chocolate chips

Drop in rounded teaspoons on a greased baking sheet, and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Take them out and cool them on wire racks.

Makes about 56 or so I am told. I am using half the cookie dough for ice cream in a few.

Breakfast Burritos: Save time and money

I haven't gotten around to making my own tortillas yet, but this is a very simple mix to make.

8 eggs,
1 can of rotel, drained.
2 tablespoons of milk or cream.


Preheat skillet or pan on medium heat with 2 or three pats of butter.
Whip both the eggs and the cream together until the eggs are the color of butter. Pour into the pan and cook until it starts to get solid on top and then scramble. At that point add the rotel and cook until it is slighty dry.

Serve on Tortillas with cheese and sour cream and any other assortment of fixings. This freezes well in individual servings so you can have breakfast anytime.