Friday Favorites

Mojito Cheesecake Bites - when I shared this earlier this week with someone she called me an evil temptress. I can think of worse things to be called. :) They looks so good how could I not share!

Mother Earth News Canning Guide - shares the science behind it, why we should can, lots of resources and recipes. 

How to Clean Stoneware - I think this sounds interesting. There are times I wish my stoneware was clean again. But I do like the baked on look it has - makes it easier to peel things off of it too. But do read the comments on this one too. I saw at least one comment talk about their stoneware broke in the high heat.

DIY Body Butter Recipes - I have been looking through a lot of body lotion recipes. I have been wanting to make my own for a long time as I break out from so many lotions on the store shelves because of added scents and no doubt other ingredients I don't understand on the list of ingredients. I was also gifted a block of beeswax not too long ago so put me on the path to looking into this sooner than later.  So hopefully I will have some photos and recipe posted here soon. But at least wanted to share this link for now. 

Coursera - they partner with top universities to offer FREE classes. Many don't deal with domestic arts but some might come in use in household management such as some of the nutritional classes or finance. 

Friday Favorites

5 Tips for Green Furniture Refinshing
Food Swap - this link highlights a food swap that was going on in Portland but what I am really linking it for is the links at the end for those who would like to organize or now after reading about them will try to find local food swaps
Best Comfort foods for Winter by Treehugger - just some scrumptious looking food/recipes.
3-Tiered Stand - with the holidays coming up and entertaining I can see this being in use a lot
Custom Cabinet Knobs - I just like the look of these knobs and they are much less expensive then having to buy any other kind of knob.  As someone who has 46 knobs in the kitchen, I am always trying to find a less expensive way to replace them all.

Friday Favorites

I apologize for lack of posts this summer. It always seems the summer gets away from me so that my best laid plans often get toppled. So some times I just have to accept that I am doing the best I can with the time I have. Hopefully thing get back to normal and all the unfinished posts I have will be completed. But for now here is a Friday Favorites post.

Overwhelmed by Your To-Do List - tiny Buddha posts help me with my mental, emotional

Homemade Lemon Pepper - Jouet passed this link on and now I am sharing it here. We love lemon pepper and use it all the time - I would love to make it homemade. The rest of the blog has so many recipes that look great.

National Center for Home Food Preservation - this website has info on drying, freezing,canning, curing, smoking and several other ways to preservation. Just a huge resource.

Tip for washing Trash Cans

How to Clean Your Bathtub with a Grapefruit and Salt - just looks like an interesting cleaning method

Friday Favorites

10 Dressed Up Jello Shots - these don't even look like jello shots they look like desserts

DIY Wire Baskets - Ballards and Pottery Barn inspired wire baskets. I see so many places these baskets could be used to organize.

Dealing with Conflict: Knowing when the Battle is Internal - a TinyBuddha.com post that although doesn't pertain Domestic Servitude directly - I feel this is still a good one to share

Canning Homemade - a blog devoted to canning that I feel has lots of interesting and useful advice

Free Printable Storage Labels - all sorts of printable labels

Friday Favorites

With the abundance of wonderful summer vegetables and fruits available to many of us I thought I would dedicate this weeks Friday Favorites to some great recipes as well as some canning and jaring tips so that we can preserve and enjoy these fruits and vegetables long after the season has ended.

Salsa Favorites
This site some fantastic recipes for summer grilling and salsa recipes using all sorts of vegetables as well as proteins. This is one of my go to sites for all sorts of great recipes.

Summer Vegetables
This site has an abundance of great recipes for all kinds of summer vegetables. You might even pick out a recipe for a vegetable you haven'tever cooked and try something new.

Ratatouille Recipes
Sometimes our gardens overflow with a few types of vegetables. As a result making a ratatouille is a great way to use those veggies up and still put a delicious meal on the table.

Canning How To
This site has fantastic instructions on how to jar & can. A must use especially if you haven't ever done this before. It is easy to understand and simple to follow.

Another great Canning Site
Another great site on information for jaring and canning in order to preserve the best of the fruits and vegetables of any particular season

Friday Favorites

The Minimalist Principle - Omit Needless Things - Making things more streamlined by omitting needless things. I think that concept can be applied in more general terms of service too.

Canning - Putting Up, with Irma - Vintage Recipe Thursday - Has a great downloadable PDF about canning. It just good basic canning information.

20/20 Superfast Recipes for Supper - there is 360 healthy recipes that can made quickly from Cooking Light

Non-Toxic Home Care Solutions - many good recipes for cleaning your home without harsh chemicals and using things often you have around the house

And also another one that does the same...

Alternative Cleaning Recipes from the Ecology Center

Low Sugar Strawberry Jam

I'm seeing the signs of spring and summer all around me these days, most notably in the arrival of fresh berries. Recently, I found a bunch of strawberries at a very good price and bought a bunch to make jam. Traditional jam uses lots and lots of sugar and while that can be good now and then, I do prefer the low sugar varieties that allow the flavor of the berries to come through.

To make a low sugar strawberry jam you will need:

• 4 Pounds of fresh strawberries, washed & hulled
• 1 Cup of unsweetend apple juice
• 1 Box of Powdered Low/No sugar Pectin (very important that it be for low/no sugar)

Using a potato masher, crush the berries one layer at a time in a saucepan, add your apple juice and pectin, stirring well. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Ladle the jam into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes for those at elevations up to 1,000 feet (add 5 minutes for every 2,000 feet). Remove the jars from the canner and allow to seal. Store in a cool place and enjoy!

If you don't want to process the jars in a canner, you could immediately refrigerate the jars, instead.

This recipe will make between 5 and 7 half pint jars full of jam. The same measurements could be used with other berries as well.