Prepped Living Blog

Cherries can be canned, but I have to admit that they are not our favorite fruit when canned plain. If, like us, you are looking for new ways to preserve your cherries, try some of the delicious ideas below. Canning Cherry Barbecue Sauce One of our favorite ways to use sweet cherries is cherry barbecue sauce. We are sauce afficionados at our house. One year when we were blessed with a large amount of cherries, but no tomatoes, we decided to try this recipe. It is a bit different, of course, than traditional barbecue sauce, but it is really flavorful. You can find the recipe on our website here: https://www.preppedliving.com/home/projects-recipes/recipes/cherry-bbq-sauce Cherry BBQ Sauce Cherry Pie Filling This is our favorite project to do with tart pie cherries. They look so beautiful in the jars and make pie baking so easy. One quart jar makes a 9 inch pie. You can use the pie filling for cherry crisp or cherry cobbler as well. If making a 9x13 baking dish of cobbler or crisp...

Last week we posted a review of the first homemade dishwasher detergent we made. This week, we are posting a review of the second recipe we tried. We found this recipe we on The Provident Prepper channel on YouTube. Homemade Dishwasher Detergent #2 Ingredients : 1 c. washing soda ¼ c. food grade citric acid ¼ c. sea salt 20 drops lemon essential oil Directions :  Mix ingredients well. Be sure to break up any clumps. Store in a glass jar. Use 1 t. per load or 1 ½ t. per greasy load. What we liked The dishes were sparkling clean!  The recipe is simple. The ingredients are non-toxic. There was no detergent taste left on the dishes. What we didn't like Citric acid isn't something we usually keep on hand (this will likely change given how well this recipe works). Overall review This recipe was fabulous ! The dishes came out so clean (no streaks, no foggy glassware) and it only takes one teaspoon per load. It is actually such a great recipe and worked so well that I don...

We began experimenting with homemade dishwasher detergent recipes. The first recipe we tried was super simple. We had all the ingredients on hand, so it was a great recipe to try out first. Dishwasher Detergent Recipe #1 Ingredients : 3 t. baking soda 3 drops liquid dish soap splash of vinegar Directions :  Add baking soda to the soap dispenser in your dishwasher. Add 3 drops of liquid dish soap. Top with a splash of vinegar. Add vinegar to the rinse aid compartment as well, if desired. We used this recipe as directed for several weeks. We even added vinegar to the rinse aid dispenser several times to see if it made any difference to the dishes. Below is our evaluation of how it performed: What we liked The recipe is simple. It uses ingredients we always have on hand. You can use toxin-free liquid dish soap to make this dish detergent toxin-free. There was no detergent taste left on the dishes. What we didn't like The dishes didn't seem super clean. After several washes, our gl...

Have you ever picked elderflower? Elderflower is not well-known as a flavor in the US, but it is a nice, light floral flavor that is sometimes used in ice cream, sparkling waters, and even in cakes. We frequently make elder berry syrup and have heard that you can use the flowers as well, but have never experimented with the flowers - that is, until now. This year, we finally picked some of the flowers to try. First, I couldn't believe how lovely they smell! These tiny, delicate flowers have the most beautiful, sweet fragrance. No wonder elderflower is a popular flavor in Europe! The flavor is as lovely and light as the fragrance. We only have one bush close to the house so we didn't have a lot of flowers with which to experiment. After deliberating, we opted to make elderflower syrup. We searched online for syrup recipes. Most called for citric acid (as a preservative), several called for lemon (which we didn't have), and nearly all of them called for more flowers than we ...