Prepped Living Blog

 After making rose petal jelly a couple of weeks ago, our daughter let us come and pick some of her roses to make another batch. These roses were a mixture of dark pink and red, so we were anticipating a more colorful jelly for this batch. We followed the same instructions as we did while making the rose petal jelly, with the exception that we followed the recipe exactly (using 4 c. of water and 4 c. of sugar rather than 5 1/2 cups of each). We picked the roses and poured hot water over them for tea. It was so fascinating to watch, because the water turned blue first before eventually turning a beautiful dark pink. We put the jar in the refrigerator and left it sit...for a few days since we left it in town. When we brought it home, we strained out the petals and put the "tea" on the stove to heat. We added the pectin and brought it to a boil for 60 seconds. We added the sugar, brought it back to a rolling boil, and boiled it for another 60 seconds, following the recipe instru...

We have written about lilac jelly but never made a post about it. It is time to remedy that! The first time we made lilac jelly, we had beautiful medium and dark purple blossoms. The jelly turned out to be....surprise...a lovely lilac color! Well, at least it was purple until we canned it. Something about the canning process turned it from a lilac to a golden color. The taste was amazing, but I was a bit sad that the purple faded. We have a white lilac bush at our current house. The blossoms are beautiful, the scent is lovely, and they make a wonderful jelly with a pale golden color. To make our jelly, we first picked lilacs and pulled off just the blossoms. Once we had 4 cups of blossoms, we soaked them in water with a bit of baking soda to remove any bugs and dirt. After about 30 minutes of soaking, we put fresh water on to boil, then rinsed the blossoms well with cool water. We transferred the blossoms to a half gallon jar, poured 5 cups of hot water over the top, and stirred with a...

Floral jellies and syrups are a lovely addition to your pantry. If you are unable to grow fruits and berries for jams, syrups, or jellies, floral options can make it easy to "harvest what you have" since many people can at least grow flowers.  Roses are a common and much-loved flower to grow. They are particularly good to have in your flower garden, since both the petals and hips have many uses. We have foraged rose petals for several years now, but this is the first year we have actually made jelly from the petals. I have been so excited to try this recipe! Making the Syrup We used a rose petal jelly recipe we found online.  We  checked the online directions and quantities against the insert for the pectin to be sure that they instructions aligned. They did - in short, both said to boil one minute on the stove, add sugar, boil one minute, then can. I was a bit leery, because we have tried the "updated" instructions with the lesser boil time after adding sugar (the ...

The garlic scape salt was such a hit, that we decided to try another herbal salt. While the garlic scapes are not yet ready,  we currently have chives growing in our garden. After looking online for recipes, we found two - one for chive salt and one for chive blossom salt. We did not have enough blossoms for the chive blossom recipe, so we decided to make the chive salt and toss in some of the blossoms for an extra bit of color. First, we wilted the chives for about 2 hours to lessen the amount of moisture in them. Then, we blended approximately 3/8 cup of chopped chives with 1 1/4 cups of salt. This was more than the recipe called for, but we wanted a strong flavor. After blending, we spread the mixture out on parchment paper on a baking sheet. We pulled the petals from the blossoms and sprinkled them over the salt. We put the mixture in the oven at its lowest setting (170 degrees) for 1 3/4 - 2 hours. We opened the oven every 30 minutes and stirred the salt mixture to allow even ...

We have been enjoying a rather warm stretch these past two weeks. It is too early to safely plant most seeds and starts in our area, but we have several perennials that have come up and are thriving: Comfrey Tarragon Orange Mint Parsley Lemon Balm In addition to the items pictured above, we also have strawberries, sweet mint, oregano, walking onions, tulips, miniature irises, columbine, yarrow, lavender, rhubarb, and echinacea coming up or growing well! We also planted garlic last fall, and it has come up as well: Garlic What is growing in your garden? Are you in an area where you have been able to plant your garden already?

We haven't posted an update on projects since last summer - 9 months! - so we thought it past time that we made a post. The list will not likely be complete since it has been so long, but here are a few highlights from the last nine months: Food Preservation Canning -  Condiments -  Mixed Berry Jam, BBQ Sauce, Hot Sauce, Cowboy Candy Fruits, etc. - Apple-Pear Juice, Apple Juice, Pears, Spiced Pear Sauce, Apple Sauce, Tomatoes, Cranberry Juice Meals - Turkey Pot Pie Filling, Kung Pao Chicken, Beef Bulgogi, Beef Cubes, Turkey, Meat Broth Freezing - Plums, Berries, Meat, Bone Broth, Onions, Hot Peppers, Green Peppers, Herbs, Celery Dehydrating  - Onions, Microgreens, Plums, Apples, Herbs for Tea, Culinary Herbs, Celery, Celery Leaves, Tomatoes Sewing/Knitting - Child's Cloak, Potholders, Baby Quilt, Knitted Stocking Cap, Modifying Clothing Extracts and Liqueurs  - Coffee Liqueur, Lemon Extract, Vanilla Extract (both vodka-based and bourbon-based), Maple Extract Fo...

We love making vanilla extract and recently made two new extracts: lemon and maple. Why would we make our own extracts? First, it is much more affordable than purchasing them in the store. Second, we can be assured that the ingredients are clean with no fillers or unwanted chemicals. Vanilla - We use a lot of vanilla in nearly all of our baked goods and enjoy different flavor profiles. We keep two "flavors" on hand: a vanilla infused in vodka or Everclear and a vanilla infused in bourbon. You could also do it with rum, which sounds amazing! We keep two containers for each type of vanilla - one container for use and one container in which we  infuse the vanilla. For the first jar, we purchased a glass oil/vinegar set with the pour tops. We keep the vodka vanilla in one and the bourbon vanilla in the other. These containers make it easy to dispense and measure the vanilla without spilling. The second jar is what we use for the "mother" container (the jar in which we ...

A while ago, we reported on the blog that we made coffee liqueur with used coffee grounds. The result was a strong coffee liqueur. We used it in several mixed drinks, but the flavor was not quite like most coffee liqueurs. It may be due in part to the fact that I used vodka to make the liqueur rather than rum. A few weeks ago, we ran out of coffee liqueur and wanted to either get or make some more. We have a friend who makes a wonderful homemade coffee liqueur, so we asked him for the recipe and gave it a try. This was a more mild liqueur that makes a better mixer than the previous recipe we tried.  What are the benefits of making your own liqueur? First, you know what the ingredients are. Second, you control of the quality. Third, it is more economical than purchasing a brand name liqueur, especially if you use an economical brand of rum. Just remember, though, that the quality of your ingredients will affect the quality of the results! Here is the recipe we used: Coffee Liqueur I...

When my husband and I first got married, we bought a very inexpensive set of china (think much less expensive than a regular set of dishes) so we could have enough dishes to host our families during the holidays. One of the first times we used it, our guests made fun of us for serving them on such nice dinnerware. They insinuated that we were showing off by using nice dishes. I was hurt and became reluctant to use the dishes again. This was the only set of dishes big enough for larger family gatherings, however, so we used them on occasion. I found myself feeling the need each time to explain why we were using our china set – we weren't trying to show off, they were just the only dishes we had enough of to serve everyone, and even though they looked expensive, they were really in expensive, etc. There was no reason we shouldn’t use our dishes, but that early experience made me wary of the criticism that would come with simply enjoying the use of something beautiful in our home. W...

We have had a few questions about how we deep clean our kitchen linens since posting about it in the newsletter a few weeks ago, so we thought it worthwhile to make a blog post for all of you. I don't know if this is the best method out there, it is just what we have tried that works well for us. How to Deep Clean Linens : Heat water in a large stockpot. (We do not measure an exact amount, we just put in how much water we need for what we are going to clean - approximately half of the stockpot.) Add approximately 1/2 c. of baking soda. Add linens when the water nears boiling temperature. (It works best if there is room for the linens to move in the pot. Too many linens at a time will decrease the efficacy a bit.) Use a spoon to move the linens around to make sure they are completely wet. Keep water on high or med-high for at least ten minutes, stirring frequently, to make sure the fabric is agitated and can release the oils. (The water needs to be hot, but does not have to boil dur...

We have a recipe for homemade ketchup that I copied down several years ago but never tried. We were curious to see how it tastes, so we tried it this past week.  While it wasn't just like the flavor of the commercial brands, it was quite nice and made a nice ketchup sauce for hamburgers. We made this batch with honey. We will likely make the next batch with cane sugar and compare the taste. Homemade ketchup Homemade Ketchup 6 oz. tomato paste Just under 1/3 c water 2 T vinegar 1/4 t. onion granules 1/4 t. garlic granules 1/4 t. dry mustard pinch of cinnamon pinch of cloves pinch of allspice pinch of cayenne 1/4 t. sea salt 1/8 c. sugar or 1 - 2 T honey Whisk ingredients together until smooth. Do any of you make ketchup? Feel free to share your favorite recipes in the comments below!

We had a blog post a couple of weeks back about ways we have used pine. We knew there had to be more ways pine, so we did bit of research online.  We found several more uses: Pine needle infused cooking oil - Infuse chopped pine needles in cooking oil and try it in your favorite dishes. Pine resin salve - This website has instructions for making pine resin salve.  Pine soap - This was such a fun one to research! As it turns out, there are many soap recipes out there that include using different parts of the pine tree - pine needles, pine resin, and pine tar. Pine Needle Soap : We found this winter spice soap recipe that sounds amazing. I would venture to guess that it smells as wonderful as it sounds. We like that we can put pine needles Pine Resin Soap :  We also found a pine resin soap recipe. We like this link because it directs you to use the resin to make an infused oil rather than adding the resin directly to the soap mixture. We also love this link because it i...

Homemade jams and jellies have been a part of our life for many years. Both Husband and I had homemade jams at home when we were growing up and only on a rare occasion had store-bought jam or jelly at either of our houses. When we married and had children, we continued this tradition. I would can berry jams, and in the early years of our marriage, Husband's grandmother would send jars of grape or apple jelly each year. It was a sad day at our house if we had to buy jam or jelly from the store. Many years later, both of our daughters ended up marrying men with celiac. Early on, when I would send jars of jam or jelly home with them, they would thank me, then kindly remind me that they don't eat a lot of bread and wouldn't likely use it up very quickly. I knew jams and jellies are not only used as a topping for toast or a filling for a sandwich, but I had never really taken the time to list all the ways we have used jams or jellies outside of topping bread.  Why bother coming ...

At the beginning of the month, we put pine and fir needles in vinegar to soak as preparation for making our own cleaning solution. This reminded me one of our mottos: "Harvest what you have." We have a lot of pine and fir trees around (I love evergreens!) and we have used them for several projects. Here are some of the uses we have personally tried for pine tree products: 1) Pine needle infused vinegar for cleaning - Pine needles have anti-bacterial properties, and when combined with white vinegar can be used to create a cleaning solution for many household uses.  To make the vinegar cleaning infusion , simply cut up pine needles, place in a jar, cover with white vinegar, and infuse in a dark place for at least two weeks.  To use as a cleaning solution : Use a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Add to a spray bottle and use for general cleaning. For greasy areas, you can use a stronger solution of 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water.  2) White pine tincture . - White ...

A couple of months ago, Apothecary Mary posted about butterfly pea flower tea. It looked delicious and its unusual blue hue was intriguing. A few months later, we ordered the Forgotten Home Apothecary . It includes a recipe for an anti-inflammatory tea that uses butterfly pea flowers. This prompted us to order some dried butterfly pea flowers to add to our tea repertoire. Inflammation is such a widespread health issue that it never hurts to have several options for combating it and the damage it causes.  Note: This blog post contains affiliate links for your convenience. As an affiliate we may earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Our first exposure to butterfly pea flowers was with Empress Gin - a beautiful, purple gin with distinctive floral notes. During one of The Racketeer's (a local swanky cigar and whisky lounge) sushi night events, we were served a mixed drink that had Empress Gin in it. It had a refreshing and light floral note that was perfect for a...

In our area, many grocery stores offer fantastic deals on turkeys around Thanksgiving and Christmas. With the rising cost of groceries, this is often the most affordable meat we can find. Even though turkey is not our family's favorite meal, we really can't pass up the great prices that are offered. Thus, each year, we pick up some very affordable meat and put it in the freezer. This past fall, we ended up with two turkeys. We hadn't used up the two turkeys from the prior season, so it was past time for us to do something with them. One way we all enjoy turkey is in a pot pie, so I looked online to find a pot pie filling that could be canned. There were many recipes. Some called for ClearJel, some called for white wine, some called for specialty items. We ended up choosing a recipe that called for common items we typically have on hand. The recipe we used was from Farmhouse Harvest , though we found a similar recipe from SBcanning.com .  A friend was coming over to can with...

Each year we experience at least one power outage, usually due to a windstorm or snowstorm. During these outages we use several different options for lighting. With our recent power outage being a bit longer than normal, we thought it would be useful to give a brief description here of the pros and cons of some of our favorites with the hope that it will either 1) remind you to check your alternative lighting sources and make sure they are ready for use or 2) encourage you to prepare a backup lighting plan if you do not already have one. First, let us say that it is a good idea to have a mix of options- battery, solar, and low-tech. This enables you to have lighting if something goes wrong with one of your other options. Many will tell you that "two is one and one is none" or that "three is one and one is none." This is a simple reminder that having only one source (of light or anything else) can be catastrophic if that one source fails to work. Backups are essentia...