We Like Making Our Own Stuff

If you are a hunter, or have hunters in the family, you may want to try making some venison jerky.  This is a simple and tasty way to preserve meat, and venison is an excellent choice for making jerky since it is low in fat, allowing for better dehydration.  All you will need to do is slice your meat, marinade, and then dehydrate. There are two important things you will want to do to be able to easily slice your venison thinly.  The first is sharpening your knife.  A sharp knife makes cutting meat so much easier!  Then second is to freeze your meat for about an hour or so before you cut it.  It will be partially frozen, which makes the slicing much easier since the meat wont be squishing around. Once your meat is sliced, it's pretty smooth sailing after that.  Just marinade it and then dehydrate it.  For this recipe, I used my Nesco dehydrator .  However, there are other methods of dehydration , such as using an oven or the power of the ...

Why make your own toothpaste? For one, you will be avoiding fluoride.  Despite the claims that fluoride is necessary for healthy teeth, there is quite a bit of evidence contradicting this .  In fact, fluoride may cause a discoloration of the tooth enamel and damage to the bones.  Children are particularly effected by this. Aside from fluoride, there are many other substances in commercial toothpaste that you may want to think twice about putting in your body.  Many of these ingredients are toxic, and some are actually known carcinogens!  Ingredients like triclosan , artificial sweeteners, and sodium hydroxide (aka lye) are best kept out of your mouth.  Look at the ingredients list on your toothpaste and start googling some of them...you may not like what you find. Making your own toothpaste is easy and affordable, so without further wait, here are a couple recipes, starting with the simplest first.  The tooth powders are by far the most cost...

I had a brilliant idea.  I was going to create my very own recipe from scratch for this blog.  It was going to be Soaked Multi-Grain Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread.  I was so excited... I was less excited when I tried to remove the bread from the pan, and it turned into a big pile of pumpkin bread crumbs.  So, it's back to the drawing board with that one!  But all is not lost, because I can simply re-purpose my pumpkin bread.  Hence, a recipe for Pumpkin Bread Stuffing! Put a new twist on stuffing this Thanksgiving by using pumpkin bread rather than the traditional plain bread cubes.  If you are a fan of cornbread stuffing, you are sure to like this version. Pumpkin Bread Stuffing Ingredients: 6 cups cubed pumpkin bread 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 1/2 cup bacon grease or lard 1 cup chopped celery 2 cups diced red onion 2 cups sliced mushrooms 2 teaspoons dried rosemary or 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary 2 teaspoons dried tarragon or 2 Table...

I am finishing up processing most of our garden harvest at this time, but I still have not taken care of my pie pumpkins yet.  The reason being, I still have a huge container of frozen pumpkin puree in my freezer from last year's harvest!  Needless to say, we are going to be eating lots of pumpkin this month.  My first pumpkin recipe was pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting.  This probably isn't good for you.  So make a batch, let everyone at home have one, and take the rest to work to share with your coworkers. The original recipe for these pumpkin bars comes from the Betty Crocker Cookbook , but I have modified it so that I could use the ingredients I prefer. Pumpkin Bars Ingredients: 4 eggs 2 cups raw sugar 1 cup coconut oil (melted) 2 cups pumpkin puree 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup oat flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teasp...

I sewed this in less that an hour, and it turned out pretty cute.  I took one of my husband's t-shirts that he wasn't wearing anymore, and modified it into an off-the-shoulder top. All you need is: T-shirt Elastic (3/4" width or less) 1.  Cut off the top of the t-shirt at the tops of the sleeves and across the chest. 2.  Cut off an inch or two from each sleeve. 3.  Put narrow hems in to finish the edges of the sections you cut off. 4.  If you'd like, you can bring the sides of the shirt in somewhat so that it has a more fitted look, and cut some off the bottom if you'd like the shirt to be shorter. 5.  Measure yourself around your shoulders.  Take that measurement, and subtract 2" from it.  This will be the length of the elastic for the top. 6.  Measure your upper arm, and subtract 1".  Cut two pieces of elastic to this size for the arm holes. 7.  Use pins to mark the off-the-shoulder top into quarters....

This is my first year growing yellow pear tomatoes and I have a bajillion of them! These little tomatoes are only a couple inches long and have a nice golden color.  They are less acidic than red tomatoes, which gives them a more mellow, sweeter taste.  They have been very prolific in my garden this year, producing far more than any of our other tomato varieties.  They make a nice addition to salsas and look pretty in salads.  I also dehydrated a batch and packed them in olive oil, and am looking forward to using them. My latest culinary creation utilizing my abundance of yellow pear tomatoes was jam.  Now, at first when you hear "tomato jam," it may sound weird, and even kinda gross.  But trust me, this jam is anything but gross!  It somewhat reminds me of sweet and sour sauce, and it's got a little bit of spice to it, which I find to be absolutely delicious.  You can use this jam as a topping for toast or biscuits, poured on cream chees...

Infusing dried herbs and spices in oil is a great way to preserve their therapeutic and aromatic properties.  Infused oils can be used in the kitchen and will add extra flavor to your recipe.  They can also be used for medicinal purposes, for beauty, and even to clean. Before you begin making an oil infusion, you will need to decide which herbs or spices you would like to use.  Following is a list of various herbs and spices that I have infused in the past, along with a short description of what I use them for: Calendula (aka Pot Marigold) ( Calendula officinalis ):   The dried flower of this plant makes a skin-soothing infused oil that can be used for dry skin, bug bites, rashes, and a myriad of other skin irritations.  In a past blog, I describe the procedure for making a skin soothing salve out of Calendula flowers. Catnip ( Nepeta Cataria ):   Catnip infused oil can be rubbed onto the skin for a mosquito repellent.  But beware if you...