Two Dog Beds for 5 Bucks!

Yesterday I made two sizeable dog beds for only $5. Why do I have a need for a two dog beds when I only have one dog, you ask? Well because tomorrow the family and I go to pick up our new PUPPY! It is all very exciting. We haven't had a puppy in the house since my son was 1 year old (he's turning 9 in a few months). It will be a playmate for our dog Katie and a late Christmas present for me who is the "dog person" of this family. My husband is more of a cat man.

In preparation for the puppy the kids and I hit the shops, in that standard "let's go to the pet store and get supplies" kind of way. Right now our dog Katie eats her morning meal off an old, chipped plate and the cats all have matching glass plates. She has a plastic bowl for kibble and our plastic ice cream tub turned water dish was in need of replacing. But the prices are astronimical! I couldn't get over it. If I had bought a new dish for the puppy, one for Katie, and a water bowl it would have cost nearly $30. I am sad to say, I was seriously thinking about it. I even had the dishes in my hand but I just couldn't do it. I put them back, bought just the puppy food and decided to go to Goodwill around the corner.

Goodwill didn't have any "dog" dishes but they did have a nice, small ceramic dish that would be perfect for the puppy, and it was 99 cents. I found an old casserole dish, with a flat bottom for $3 and got it for a water dish. I also found a nice, fleecy blanket for $4 and instantly thought, Dog Bed.



As soon as I got home I went to work. I cut the fringe off and decided to use it. I cut the blanket into four pieces, pinned the fringe to the inside, right sides together and sewed all around the rectangle, leaving a space to put it right side out and to stuff.

Using left over stuffing from another project and quilt batting ends, I stuffed the beds and sewed the hole. Done. One hour of work and $5 of materials. And it matches my decor, looks like I spent $24 a piece and no one will ever know.




Yes!

Pressure Canning Workshop

A few weekends ago I attended at Pressure Canning Workshop at my favourite organic farm, Everdale. I found out that I am totally screwed in the canning department. While I had fun and could see myself attempting some concoctions at home to compliment my water-bath canning and freezing preservation techniques, I am not sure I can participate.

Meet my nemisis:


A glass top range that came with the house. I never had any particular liking to glass top but would take it if it was here. This is not good. Not if I want to pressure can. I learned that glass tops are not sturdy enough to handle the weight of the canner and filled jars. Pooh!

I could purchase a hot plate, but I am afriad even that would damage my glass top or counter tops. The instructor suggested I use a concret garden stone to place the hot plate on but again I am worried about my countertops.

Had I known I would have saved our oven/range from the old house (instead of selling it) and stored it in the garage for use when I am pressure canning. Hindsight is always 20/20. So this project must go on the back burner (ha!) until I can figure out an alternative.

In the meantime I have this lovely soup as a reminder of my class. It looks almost too good to eat...almost.

ARCHIVED: Freezing Summer Fruits

Busy time of year. Here's a refresher on how I freeze fruits for my family in the summer to enjoy them all year long. The process is the same for all summer berries.

Enjoy!

Archived Post:

We've been busy the last few weeks, picking, canning and freezing strawberries and raspberries. Blueberries will be ready soon.




By August my freezer is always packed with numerous frozen summer berries. We use them in cereals, yogurt, pies and my personal fave, smoothies!

I use the flash freeze method for berries. Using a cookie sheet you pile on the berries in a single layer and place in freezer uncovered. Once frozen, pull out the cookie sheet and place all the berries in a large freezer bag. This method keeps the berries from clumping together allowing me to remove only as much as I need at one time.



Be very gentle with the berries, raspberries especially are highly delicate. Next up, blueberries!

Baked Fries

Potatoes are abundant in my neck of the woods. In the fall I can buy 50lbs for $15 from a local farmer, as opposed to $3.99 for 7lbs this time of year in the grocery store. Potatoes are local, cheap and store well over winter.

I never understood why people would buy potatoes in a can. Or mashed potatoes from a plastic bag (heat & serve). Or frozen potatoes in the form of french fries, hash browns and any other number of potato fare. Don't even get me started on potato flakes.

There's a commercial that airs here that shows a business woman cutting potatoes all day at her desk, in a business meeting and at various work situations. An annoucer says "why slave away all day to make a meal? Buy such and such potatoes..." you get the picture. It takes me less than ten minutes to prepare potatoes. It's interesting how as a society we have convinced ourselves that these things are hard. That they take too much time and we deserve to be pampered.

I like real food, with real flavours and real vitamins. In stead of fries I make homemade baked fries. Here's my super easy recipe.



Baked Fries Or Potato Wedges

3 to 4 lbs of potatoes, peeled and cut in wedges

2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
tsp of parsley dried
salt
pepper

Take your poatoes, wash them and let them soak in cold water for 20 minutes. Drain. Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle on all other ingredients on potatoes and toss until they are evenly coated. Place on a baking tray and put in the oven. Bake until potatoes are soft and browning on the edges.



I like crispy potatoes wedges. Serve with homemade chicken fingers, fish or burgers. Easy, cheap and good. It's simple but you'd be surprised at the number of shocked faces when I admit to making our food from scratch. "Oh I would do that but sometimes I just want some fries."

"I make those."

It's not rocket science but mass media, marketing and manufacturing has made it seem that way.

A Duvet Cover

After a few weeks of searching for the perfect duvet cover for our bed I finally gave up. Everything I saw was ultra modern and simply not my style. I wanted a solid colour, not stripes or florals. I wanted to reserve my patterning for the throw pillows and room accents. I also wanted something with a soft tone to create a feeling of calm relaxation. I found nothing to satisfy me so I decided to make my own.

In my search I found a 3 sheet set. In all there were 6 sheets, 2 fitted and 2 flat for each colour and 6 pillow shams. I don't use the flat sheets on our beds, just the fitted ones so the flat sheets were the perfect size.

Here's how I made my duvet cover. I made an extra wide hem on the bottom of each sheet where I could fasten snaps or ties to slip the duvet in and out. Then placing the sheets right side in, I sewed all around the outside of the sheets being careful to leave an opening on the bottom hem. This opening is about a third of the total width, so I can fold the duvet lengthwise in thirds and feed it in and unfold it in the cover.

Then you add your snaps, and make it right side out.




I gave it a quick wash and dry to get rid of the wrinkles and voila! a duvet cover for under $20.

I plan to use the flat cream sheet to create accent pillows with ties, ribbon, buttons and all manner of fun sewing. I will update with pictures as my bedroom takes shape.

Homemade Holiday

I recently learned to make soap at Everdale. And when I got home I put all I had learned to the test. A few weeks ago I made two double batches of soap, one peppermint, the other Vanilla-Tangerine. Both turned out wonderfully and tonight I bundled them up in preparation to hand them out to some friends over the next week as our paths cross.

I may not be making many gifts this year, or baking as many cookies but it's the few simple things that make me happy.