These Feet Were Made For Walking.....

Homemade Butter

Ok, so looking in my fridge this morning I found 2 unopened containers of heavy whipping cream that were a few days past the sell by date. I had gotten them to make a Chocolate Mousse which I never ended up needing to make. Anyways, I didn't want the cream to go to waste so I started think what I could use it for. Luke and I had just gotten done watching this PBS Frontier House program that we had gotten through Netflix.

On the program 3 modern families were sent back in time to the 1880's to homesteaded some land out in Montana. Everything was time period accurate so the families were truly living and working as 1880's pioneers would have, milking cows, making their own bread cheese, clearing the land and cultivating it, building their own log cabins, everything. So, having that fresh in my mind made me think BUTTER! We could make our own butter to use up the heavy cream. So I poured the cream into a mason jar, put a lid on it and started shaking. Annsley and Natalie both took turns and within about 10 minutes we had homemade butter and buttermilk. It was so easy and fun to do.

All you need is:

Heavy cream

1 Mason jar with lid and ring

2 hands to shake!

Shake until cream thickens, keep shaking until a ball forms, pour off and keep or drink the buttermilk. Then enjoy on some homemade bread or muffins!

Red Currant Jam

Yesterday at the Farmer's Market there were some BEAUTIFUL red and blue berries that were marked Johannisberries, well come to fine out in English that translates to currants. Now I have never really had currant jam but I thought that it would be nice to have the taste of summer come wintertime. So currants or Johannisberries, being native to Germany I thought it was appropriate to make some jam with them. Here is a recipe I found on a food blog called Real Food has Curves for Red Currant Jam.

Red Currant Jam

1 pound red currants, stemmed and washed
2 cups water
8 to 10 raspberries - (raspberries are naturally high in pectin so putting a few of them in was to help ensure that the jam set up nicely)
1 1/2 pounds sugar

6 to 8 small canning jars with lids - boiled in hot water for 10 minutes-keep hot

After stemming and washing the currants, place them in a large pot add the water and raspberries. Bring to a rolling simmer over med-high, then turn down to med-low and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Add sugar and return to med-high heat, stirring constantly, simmer for 20 minutes, continue stirring until mixture reaches 222 Degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer.

Once the mixture has reached 222 degrees, pour it into the hot jars, leaving about 1/2 inch unfilled. Quickly cover the jars with the hot lids and screw on the rings, turn the jars upside down and let sit 10 minutes then turn them right side up again and let sit until the jars seal. If any jar doesn't seal (you will know if this happened because you will be able to push the lid in), store it in the fridge and use within the next month or so.

Happy canning!

A Trip to Moses Lake

Last month Annsley and I were able to take a trip to visit my family in Moses Lake. Most of my family had never met Annsley so the thought of introducing her to everyone was exciting, the only draw back...Luke was unable to come with us because of work. That meant it was the 2 of us girls flying across the Atlantic and then across the US by ourselves. Now normally that would be a problem for me but Annsley is at that stage where she does not want to sit still for long, so it was a little daunting the thought of 17+ hours of travel time with a 1 year old. Thankfully, God blessed us with smooth travel and Annsley did great, she is such a happy little girl. Once in Moses Lake we had a great time getting together with family and friends. Here are some pictures from our trip.

We spend a lot of evenings hang out outside by the fountain where it was cooler. Grandma Lolo and Grandpa Howard had such fun playing with Annsley!

Annsley's new best friend and new word of the trip..."Kitty!" She LOVED my parents new kitty Max!

Stuart, Caroline and Andrew came up from Oregon. It was so good to see them and the kiddos were so sweet to watch playing together. We also went to visit Grandma Fay, she really enjoyed seeing her great-grandchildren.

I was also able to meet up with some friends from High School and College.

It was so special to catch up with everyone and see their little ones. God has blessed me so richly with wonderful family and friends! Thank you all so much for making the trips and time to get together! I love you all!

Wordless Wednesday - playing in the grass