Learning to Preserve the Basics---Canning and using potatoes

Good morning to you! 

Although it is a Thursday, we are kicking off a new series that is designed to teach you how to preserve the basics in your home
and learn how to use them in meals.

There will be plenty of recipes throughout the next ten days, and while I can not cover everything, I will do my best to show you the top ten things that we preserve and use weekly (and sometimes daily)

here at The Welcoming House.

Most of the items I am going to be covering in the next ten days use a pressure canning, dehydrator, and water bath canning. In another couple weeks I will be covering the myriad of uses you have when you have a Food Saver, and showing you how I use mine.

I have also recently joined Amazon as an affiliate in an effort to be able to steer you directly to the products that I use here, and hopefully be able to use the blog to support my family a little more with all the time and effort that I put into it. So please, if you are considering purchasing some of the things I talk about, please consider using the link directly in the post as Amazon will then thank me by placing a small amount in my bank account for you choosing my door out of a thousand others. I will also do my best to keep you updated when they have sales of the products that I really can stand behind, and you will hear about it through here. :)

So, lets get started on this new series, shall we?

Let's talk about one of the simplest, and most basic items you can preserve

 via pressure canning and dehydrating.

POTATOES.

Now many of you would simply ask me why in the WORLD I would can up a bunch of potatoes.

Simple.

If you garden, you get an enormous amount of potatoes at one time. And depending on your storage conditions, you may not be able to eat them all before they go bad.

Or how about if you dont garden? Right now we were able to pick up 40 lbs of potatoes for less than $10. I can take advantage of sales, and still be eating and making potato dishes for my family when those same bags of potatoes are at $5 for a 10 lb bag.

Then lets talk about the convenience.

As I have already shared before, I wear a lot of hats, and I know many of you do as well. SO I am always looking for ways to streamline, to simplify, and to make things from scratch quicker and simpler without a lot of fuss. At this time, with five people in the home, using many of the methods we will discuss over the next 10 days, I feed my precious family of 5 on less than $300 a month.

And we eat really well.

So if I can preserve something on sale to feed my family, in the best way possible, then to not do it would be to walk right over to the trash can and throw away whatever money I have in my pockets.

You can do the same thing.

Here is my simple picture tutorial of how to can potatoes, and a few recipes you can use them in. At the end of this series, I will be giving everyone an opportunity to receive an E-book in the mail that includes all these tutorial AND extra recipes, so hang in there as we go on a wild ride of Learning to Preserve the Basics the next ten days!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

With canning potatoes you are going to need a pressure canner. Make sure your potatoes are scrubbed clean, and not soft. Firm potatoes make the best canned potatoes. You can either peel them, or choose not to. I use both, but when I am peeling the potatoes, I place them in water that has a splash of lemon juice in it, and make sure they are covered with the water while I am finishing up the amount I am peeling. This ensures they are white and pretty.

 Taking clean jars, with tops that have no nicks or dips in them, fill with diced potatoes up to the first thread on the jar (what canners refer to as 1" head space). You do not need to blanch the potatoes for this process. I add 1/4 tsp sea salt to my potatoes, then pour boiling water to the lowest thread on the neck. DO NOT PACK THE POTATOES IN, or you will end up with potatoes that are not covered by the water. Remember, they will cook in the jar so they will absorb some of that water and swell. That could cause a failed seal if they swell too much and push up the lid while you are processing them.
Here is a quick idea for making easy work of the potato dicing and processing:
Potatoes will process for 35 minutes for pints, 
and 40 minutes for quarts.
Let the canner completely cool down before opening so as not to have failed seals (lids that don't seal) on your potatoes.


Now, how do you use them?
 Well, how would you use potatoes?

I use mine in fried potatoes for my breakfast enchiladas.

I use mine for a quick potato soup.

I use mine for making a speedy beef stew
right along with canned beef chunks
and carrots from my garden.

I use mine to make Eggbake,
mash for potato pancakes,
and of course for quick mashed potatoes.

And that is just a few of the things we use them for.

I even save the potato water from the canned jars to throw into my bread batter.
 It makes for a very moist bread and makes it last a lot longer.

You can also add that potato water to a sourdough starter and have a wonderful Sourdough come from it. (Just trying to give you ideas so if you don't want to throw it out, you don't have to!)

Today's recipes are for my Hungry Man Eggbake and my Quick Potato Soup---two amazing meals that are super simple and fun to use your canned potatoes in.

Hungry Man Eggbake

Take 1/2 loaf of bread (homemade or whole wheat store-bought) and either cut or tear into small pieces.
Layer this in a 9X13 pan that has been greased or sprayed.
Top with:
One quart canned potatoes, skin on (liquid too)
 one onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
2 shredded carrots
one package of frozen broccoli
1 lb of breakfast sausage, browned and drained
parsley, oregano, and basil, 1 tsp each, crushed
garlic salt, generously sprinkled over top
In a separate bowl combine the following:
8 eggs + 2 1/2 cups milk +2 tsp prepared mustard +1/2 tsp chili powder, all whipped together until well mixed. Pour this combination over the ingredients layered in the pan, trying not to miss any spots. Press with a spatula to make sure the egg mixture is soaked up and the pan ingredients are covered.

Bake at 350* for one hour, and eat. We top with shredded cheese, and this makes 12 servings of a very hearty and filling meal. It also freezes well, and if you wanted individual servings, you can do this in greased muffin tins (makes about 18 muffin tins), which then, once baked, freeze very well.


Quick and Hearty Potato Soup

This is one of my very quick go to meals when I only have about 20 minutes,
have fresh bread (or a Master mix Biscuit Mix on hand) and need to feed my family SOON.

In a stock pot, fry up half a pound of bacon, just enough to get the flavor and taste from the bacon into the pot. This takes about 5 minutes if bacon is thawed. Remove bacon and set aside.
In a food processor pulse one onion, one stalk of celery, and two carrots until the pieces are very small (this allows them to cook much faster) and add to the hot pan, allowing them to sear until the onions are translucent and the celery/carrots beginning to soften up.
Immediately add two quarts of home canned potatoes,
one can of evaporated milk, one can of water,
1 tsp sea salt,
pinch of marjoram, basil and garlic powder.
 Stir to combine and allow to cook for about twenty minutes, simmering. Meanwhile, pulse the bacon until it is in pieces for topping...then make your biscuits or cut your bread and toast it,
topping it with butter.

If you like smooth soup you can puree it with a hand blender, but we simply leave it chunky. Top each bowl with a dollop of mock sour cream, the bacon pieces, and some dried chives. We let ours cool about ten minutes for the kids since it is very hot, and stick-to-your-ribs filling.

I wanted to take a pic but the kids ate it before I could, sorry!!!

Welcoming Wednesday #5.........

Welcome to our Fifth 

LINK UP PARTY of 2013! 

 I cant tell you how excited I am to have this link up every Wednesday, and see what you have been doing and sharing over on your blog! 

This week we had a small but mighty crowd, including post links from some fabulous bloggers! I was blessed by reading them and plan on sharing them each week throughout the week.
I was very interested by the post written by Justyn over at Creative Christian Mama:
Why I Dont Lower Fevers



In my years now of studying herbal healing and using herbs for medicine, I have learned an awful lot more about the human body and it's natural responses in illness and in health. I have also learned a lot more about the common hysteria we have as a culture when sickness comes, and interferes with our busy lives, work schedules, etc. We need to begin to learn to go back to understanding how our bodies work and why they do what they do.....and Justyn's post is a great place to begin! So please, head on over and check it out! Congratulations!

Justyn,

please feel free to add our Welcoming House button on these posts, and the statement that you were featured by us. I will have my Featured Blog button up and running in a couple weeks, and will be sure to contact you with that. You will also be entered in my Featured Blogs Contest that will continue throughout the year, where all the blogs will be entered for a large prize, to be announced in November.

 There were SO MANY good, encouraging, and meat-for-the-heart posts in last wee's link up, that I would encourage you to head over and read them! Visit the blogs that are linking up and encourage them to keep writing! There are a lot of good folks out there who are linking up, and sharing ideas, and we can really support one another! :) Click here for the link to last week's Linky Party... 

 ******************

Would you please read the following and link up your posts? 

Each blog is allowed to enter two posts that fit in these categories.

 Entering your link is super easy, just click on the widget, and enter your URL link and thumbnail picture. It may take a little while to appear, but it will, just check back in a little bit! Please remember I moderate things, so it may take a little bit if you leave a comment as well! :) 

 The Welcoming Wednesday Link Party is open to anyone who is sharing posts from their blog in the following categories: 

DIY: what crazy creations are you concocting over on your homepage this week?

 Faith-based: Do you have a word of encouragement, life lesson, or heart speak to share with readers? ( please note, this is a Christan faith based blog, and this is the genre I am looking for..)

 Family-based: growing and raising a family is important stuff, and we want you to share your latest! Crafts, fun ideas, recipes, crazy pics? We want to see them all!

Herbs: Are you growing them? using them? Learning about them? Share with us! 

 Gardening: if you love the dirt, then this link up is for you! 

Frugal ideas: We can ALL use more ideas on how to save money, time, and to reuse, recycle, upcycle, or retrain our brains to put more money in our pockets! 

 Canning or preserving: Got a recipe? Want to crow about your latest accomplishment? Dare to share your failures? We are right here waiting for it! 

 Homesteading: We want to live vicariously through your efforts, so please give us updates on your homestead and all its accomplishments: 

 Preparedness: I am a firm believer in being prepared as much as you can be and not relying on someone to swoop in and save you, so posts dealing with this are welcome! 

 Please no giveaways or affiliate links without prior permission. 

 Our rules are super simple: PG rated.

 Nothing vulgar or crass will be tolerated. 

 In fact, a single verse comes to mind when I am looking for the heart of posts to be shared on this link up: "Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things!" (Philippians 4:8) 

  Be sure to link back here to the Welcoming House post so your readers can see all the wonderful posts from the Welcoming House community! You can find the code for my button right over there on the right side, just edit your post, go to HTML, add the script at the bottom of your post and click update. Voila! Ready, set, go! 

 Many blessings to you and yours, 

Heather

Make It Yourself Monday---Crockpot Yogurt Made Easy! (plus two other recipes using it!)

Happy Make-It-Yourself-Monday to you!

You know, this day of the week is quickly becoming a favorite as it gives me a chance to share with you some of the simple and fun things we do around here to make every dollar stretch in our budget!

I get emails and comments often, mostly by my readers asking how they can make more simple things from home to make their paychecks go a little farther. And now, since the beginning of the year and many things changes across the board with taxes and health insurance, it seems like those emails are double what they were before!

We are all in this together, so let's learn from one another!

Starting on Wednesday I am doing a miniseries on Canning and Preserving the Basics around here. and then show you how we use them in combinations to make many different meals.This is in response to a large number of folks asking for this over on the FACEBOOK PAGE. I hope you will choose to join us for that, as well as a continuation of this post tomorrow as we explore other things that we can make using simple homemade Crockpot yogurt.

Crockpot yogurt is one of the easiest and frugal things you can do for your family. It takes a small investment, and in a pinch, can even be made using dry milk that you have on hand.

The first time that I made this and then realized the possibilities, and health benefits vs. store bought yogurt (which is chock full of sugar, fillers, and flavor-enhancing chemicals), I was sold. Over time as I experimented I realized plain homemade yogurt could easily substitute for store bought sour cream, and even cream cheese if taken care of properly.

Best of all, homemade yogurt is full of beneficial bacteria that will help boost your body's health, and is especially important in small children, elderly family members, and your pets. Your initial expense will be a little more as you invest in a high quality small container of plain Greek yogurt, which costs around $2-$3. However, after that, if you keep your yogurt healthy, you will not have another investment other than the gallon of milk needed to make more.

You heard me right, we make a gallon of yogurt at a time.
However, when all is said and done, we end up with three quarts of delicious, thick and creamy yogurt, which then gets turned into mock sour cream, and yogurt cheese for bagels and sandwiches.

We eat about 1 1/2 Qts of yogurt each week, sometimes a little more, and sometimes a little less depending on how hard the family hits it during snack time. I have made this same recipe using re-constituted milk from our pantry (we use the NIDO brand for anyone who is curious), and would encourage you---if you are making yogurt from powdered milk, make sure you are using dry milk that has some sort of fat in it, or you may not really like the taste or texture of the yogurt. Of course, that is personal preference, but I have issues with eating yogurt that has the texture of uncooked egg whites, and that is the best success I have had with using non-fat instant dried milk.

When I make it, I always use 1% or 2%  milk depending on what we have on hand, or what is cheaper.  I have made it half and half with non-fat dry milk and whole Dry Milk (the NIDO) and found relatively good success with this. I have not made it with skim milk, although I have heard others doing this and having success. If you make crockpot yogurt using skim milk, would you comment and let us know what the texture and such is? I am sure we have readers who would be interested.

I hope you enjoy this, and try it!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

 Recipe for Crockpot yogurt:
one gallon of milk
one small container of plain yogurt or greek yogurt with healthy bacteria
1/2 cup dry whole milk powder (optional)
wooden spoon or spatula
crockpot

 Pour your lovely gallon of milk straight into a clean and sterilized crockpot. (I pour boiling water in mine after cleaning to sterilize it, straight from the tea pot. Warms the crock up too.) This is the step where you would add in your powdered milk if you are using it. In my opinion, it makes the finished product thicker and creamier than if you didnt add it. I use the NIDO brand found in the Hispanic section of Walmart, although you can also order it online at Amazon.com.

Next, set your crockpot dial to low, put the lid on, 
and walk away for two hours.
 Simple, easy, fuss free. Yep, gotta love it.
Two hours later you will turn off the crockpot, take off the lid, and set your timer for every 15 minutes. When it goes off, you will stir the crockpot full of milk with your wooden spoon or spatula until it becomes lukewarm....I test it by sticking my pinkie in. When it is just warm to the touch, but not hot, then you move on to the next step. Takes about an hour at my house.

Take a large cup or bowl, and dump in your container (or 1/2 cup) of yogurt. Add about 1 cup of warmed milk from the crockpot and stir well to combine. Then slowly add the cup's contents back into the crockpot and stir well to combine it through the whole crockpot. Replace the lid.

Take every towel you have in your kitchen (just kidding) or a couple of bath towels, and gently wrap the crockpot in the towels to keep the warmth inside.I cover the edges with kitchen towels, and then wrap a bath towel around the crockpot and set it on my counter overnight. More often than not, the yogurt has cultured and set by morning, but if it is very cold (remember I live in MN and my kitchen is on the NW edge of the house, so the coldest part of the home), sometimes it will take up to lunchtime the following morning. SO you are looking at between 8 and 14 hours of culturing time.

Seriously, that is it.
Simple, and one of those things you can do before you head to bed if you start it right after dinner,  
then walk away and have a gallon of yogurt 
in the morning.

This is how we store it at our house when we take it out:

And that is not showing the bowls that my kids ate before I could get it into a jar.

Now for the best part. Do you like Greek yogurt? then you will find this step super easy. Next time you are tempted to go and purchase a little 6 oz container of Greek yogurt for over $1.00, remember this simple step to make yogurt at home thicker.

 Simple plain yogurt with a little homemade strawberry jam swirled in is amazing.

All you need to do to make yogurt thicker is strain it. This slowly but surely, as you strain it, changes it from regular yogurt to Greek-style yogurt, from that to a sour cream consistency with the tang, and finally, into a yogurt cheese with tang that can be used interchangeably with cream cheese. In fact, yogurt cheese makes the best strawberry cream cheese or cheesecakes that you can imagine, and even better, they are simple to make at home with a little time and effort beyond sitting a crockpot in towels over night. Really!

 Take a small strainer and line it with one of the following: cheesecloth, cotton cloth, paper napkin, or coffee filter. As you can see, I was using a napkin, and then liked the coffee filter better
 (it was unbleached in case you were wondering why I switched).
Pour in about one pint to one quart of fresh yogurt and watch what happens.

Its not a great picture since the yogurt had been draining for some time and the glass was spattered from my glass measuring cup, but as you can see, the whey (yellowish liquid) is coming out of the yogurt and meanwhile leaving a thickened product in the strainer.

For Greek style yogurt, it takes about an hour,
then you pour it into a jar and start the next batch.

For a sour cream replacement, same texture and same taste, it takes about two to three hours of straining. Unless you use cheesecloth and then things go much faster.

For a yogurt cheese, it can take up to ten hours, all depending on how much tangy-ness you want and how thick you want the cheese to be. Many people actually take the sour cream substitute, wrap it in a cotton cloth, and hang it over a bowl using a wooden spoon. I find that much messier, and this works great this way for most of the year for me.

If you have a child with milk-sensitivity, like I do (she is not allergic but has a harder time with it), this is a fantastic way to get dairy into them without a reaction. Since it is cultured, already broken down in other words, their bodies find it easier to digest, and they can get that good calcium into their bodies PLUS the benefits of the good and healthy bacteria into their systems.

I wanted really quick to give you a perspective on this from a mom of a toddler who has tummy troubles with different foods. My littlest Little has had sensitivities to things from birth, and she is one of the reasons that we have worked so hard to cut the crud out of our diets, make cleaners at home, etc. I wanted you to know that after being so terribly ill with the flu a few weeks ago, we were having a hard time with her still having runny diapers for over a week. I made up a batch of this stuff and she got the very first bowl. No kidding, two hours later, this poor kid with a sore tush had the first solid and healthy diaper she had had in more than two weeks.
So don't tell me it doesn't work. 
That has happened with both children, and I am seeing the bloom coming back on their faces and their diets, and diapers, continue to improve. So good bacteria in the gut is SO important to have, and is something that most people are missing with our processed and unhealthy additive diets that we have here in America.

BEST PART OF ALL THIS IS THAT FROM NOW ON YOU HAVE YOUR OWN STARTER FOR YOGURT! Just remember to save 1/2 or 1 cup from the last batch, and you can continually renew your family's yogurt supply as long as you have milk on hand. 
Pretty neat, right?

Blessings to you and I hope that you come back tomorrow to see something else you can make using this recipe! Remember the whey that we drained out to make the yogurt thicker? Well, that is a nutritional powerhouse in and of itself, and the recipe I am going to share with you tomorrow shows you how fabulous it can be! See you then!

Fabulously Frugal Friday---Waterproof Firestarters from trash to treasure!!

I am so thrilled about this Fabulously Frugal Friday post 

I could actually squeal.

Why?

Because it is the epitome of taking something, or actually, 

quite a few things

 that you would otherwise mindlessly throw 

in your trashcan .....

and turning it into something fabulous, frugal, and AWESOME.

Something that you can either use at home or sell.

Something that you can give as gifts to family members who would appreciate them

if they have the means to use them.

Do you have campers in your family?

How about someone who has a fireplace?

Better yet, how about YOU or someone else you know heats with wood, even part time?

Then you are going to love me.

And today's Post.

Make your own firestarters.

Here it is, simple, fun, and incredibly satisfying 

to turn trash into treasure.

PLEASE share this, pin it, etc, because I tell you what, 

we all have this stuff sitting around,

and there are a lot of people who could make use of this.

Many blessings to you and yours,

Heather

we really packed this in there, rolling it between our palms to make little balls...

yep. see the teeth marks? *sigh*

I think we heated it up on medium, and the level of the water is important.The higher it is, the quicker the wax melts.

Or a tin can. Whatever works that you have around the house.

I used a skewer because I could throw it away when I was done rather than trying to clean a utensil.

The Big Kid took this pic. I think she is gonna be a photographer some day. :)

PS--these are HOT and soak up a lot of wax, so be prepared to melt more if needed.

Simple. Easy. Frugal. I love it!

 AND THAT IS IT!!!

We timed the first one at just over twelve minutes, AND it caught our dampest piece of wood on fire, the one that we just knocked the snow off before trying to light it on fire! Holy cow! Kinda makes me want to say that if you are holding a candle, and wearing a sweater, DON'T light a fire, LOL!

This is the link that started us off on this whole quest for firestarters, and so I am giving credit where credit is due!  http://www.instructables.com/id/Waterproof-Dryer-Lint-Fire-Starter/

Double Batch Cooking with Enchilada Filling...

Good morning! I decided to break with my traditional writing of my Thoughtful Thursday, and instead give you a little glimpse today into some of the things I do regularly to keep my family fed, my time streamlined and not overwhelmed, and my freezer filled with meals that I can use at any time.

 

 Now, before those of you who have been reading this freak out that I am talking about using my freezer, knowing how much I work on shelf stable foods and such with canning and preserving methods, I wanted to state that I believe a freezer absolutely has a place in your kitchen prep, and food storage.

My problem with it is that most often, that is ALL that people rely on, and as I can personally attest, when you lose a freezer full of food, especially meat, in a power outage...well, its financially devastating for a family who lives on one income, or a family who does their best to make every penny have nickels. So in my mind, a freezer is a short term storage option, and that is exactly how I use it.

One of the ways that I use it frequently is in batch cooking.

Now if you read my series on Making DO Without Missing A Thing you would know that I often double or triple a recipe so that I have meals made ahead for long days of teaching lessons, or even friends who suddenly have needs and I can drop one off.

You would also know from reading that series that I have a set schedule of what we eat each night of the week depending on our tastes, with Tuesday evening being our "Ethnic Meal night".

And one of our very favorite meals ever around here are Enchiladas. Any form, any filling, but we love our Mexican food around here. SO, today I am going to show you how we make a double batch of Enchilada filling, plus my homemade tortilla recipe (sorry in the pics I took a few weeks ago I used store bought due to illness, but these are the BOMB with homemade corn tortillas). I plan on doing this a couple times in the next two weeks, showing you some of what we cook and how, and giving you recipes, so keep your eyes open!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

 Enchilada Filling

2 pints of home canned Chicken 

(or 3 lbs of shredded chicken breast, cooked and ready)

2 cups corn 

(again, I use home canned or rehydrated)

2 diced green peppers

2 diced onions

(both of these are right out of my freezer or my dried foods stash from the garden) 

4 cups Spanish rice or plain rice with chili powder 

(recipe for my Spanish rice master seasoning is in my Ebook, The Master Mix Way)

I season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, celery flakes, and ground cumin.

Toss all this together in a bowl and mix really well. 

Next:

You will need either 2 packs of homemade tortillas,

 or will need to make 20-24 homemade tortillas from this recipe: 

(OR, if you already have or are interested in purchasing my Ebook, The Master Mix Way, there is a master mix in there for Tortillas that makes this step obsolete. Click here to head over there and pick it up at 30% off with the code JanuarySunshineDeal:  

Master Mix Way E-Book)

Homemade Corn Tortillas

4 cups masa harina

2 1/2-2 3/4 cups warm water

Homemade Fresh Ground Wheat Tortillas

4 cups Whole Wheat Flour (I use my amazing WonderMill for this)

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup lard (or shortening)  

1 1/2 cups warm water.

Both of these you mix it up really well, let it sit for about ten to fifteen minutes, and then form into small balls for each tortilla. You can use a tortilla press for the corn tortillas, and roll the flour ones out  by hand. Be sure to keep the dough covered up while you are doing this with a wet towel, as it dries out quick and makes it harder to work with. Both of these recipes use tortillas that have already  been baked on a hot skillet or cast iron pan.

     

Now, here is how I do simple, rolled enchiladas in a large pan.   

 Step one:

 Step two:

Step three:

AT this point I cover them with 2 cups shredded cheese, 

and then pour 3-4 cups of Enchilada Sauce over them.

Next I take the other half of the tortillas, and make another pan of Enchiladas, but in a different form so my family has another option in a couple weeks.

Step One:

 

 Step Two:

At this point I freeze the second one, and pull out the first one for dinner for my family!

A big thank you to the Grain Mill Wagon Company for blessing my family and I with a WonderMill. If you are looking for a grain mill, I would encourage you to check out my post on the 

WonderMill vs the NutriMill and why I switched.

Wecloming Wednesday Linky Party #4!!

Welcome to our Fourth 

LINK UP PARTY of 2013! 

 I cant tell you how excited I am to have this link up every Wednesday, and see what you have been doing and sharing over on your blog! 

This week I chose Gretchen from 31 Cups

 for my featured Blogger, 

 

because one of her posts was about making your very own Thieves oil, 

how to do it, with pictures and everything! 

She is an amazing home school Mom who blogs about their daily ins and outs, the struggles and beauty of homeschooling, the many new things she tries---honestly, she sounds a lot like me! (with a few more kids, LOL). This post was a great one, and really took the hardness out of concocting your own recipes using essential oils. And as all you know, I happen to use and rely on essential oils a LOT in our house, so this was fascinating to me to learn about! I would encourage you to head over there and check out her posts!

Gretchen,

please feel free to add our Welcoming House button on these posts, and the statement that you were featured by us. I will have my Featured Blog button up and running in a couple weeks, and will be sure to contact you with that. You will also be entered in my Featured Blogs Contest that will continue throughout the year, where all the blogs will be entered for a large prize, to be announced in November.

 There were SO MANY good, encouraging, and meat-for-the-heart posts in last wee's link up, that I would encourage you to head over and read them! Visit the blogs that are linking up and encourage them to keep writing! There are a lot of good folks out there who are linking up, and sharing ideas, and we can really support one another! :) Click here for the link to last week's Linky Party... 

 ******************

Would you please read the following and link up your posts? 

Each blog is allowed to enter two posts that fit in these categories.

 Entering your link is super easy, just click on the widget, and enter your URL link and thumbnail picture. It may take a little while to appear, but it will, just check back in a little bit! Please remember I moderate things, so it may take a little bit if you leave a comment as well! :) 

 The Welcoming Wednesday Link Party is open to anyone who is sharing posts from their blog in the following categories: 

DIY: what crazy creations are you concocting over on your homepage this week?

 Faith-based: Do you have a word of encouragement, life lesson, or heart speak to share with readers? ( please note, this is a Christan faith based blog, and this is the genre I am looking for..)

 Family-based: growing and raising a family is important stuff, and we want you to share your latest! Crafts, fun ideas, recipes, crazy pics? We want to see them all!

Herbs: Are you growing them? using them? Learning about them? Share with us! 

 Gardening: if you love the dirt, then this link up is for you! 

Frugal ideas: We can ALL use more ideas on how to save money, time, and to reuse, recycle, upcycle, or retrain our brains to put more money in our pockets! 

 Canning or preserving: Got a recipe? Want to crow about your latest accomplishment? Dare to share your failures? We are right here waiting for it! 

 Homesteading: We want to live vicariously through your efforts, so please give us updates on your homestead and all its accomplishments: 

 Preparedness: I am a firm believer in being prepared as much as you can be and not relying on someone to swoop in and save you, so posts dealing with this are welcome! 

 Please no giveaways or affiliate links without prior permission. 

 Our rules are super simple: PG rated.

 Nothing vulgar or crass will be tolerated. 

 In fact, a single verse comes to mind when I am looking for the heart of posts to be shared on this link up: "Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things!" (Philippians 4:8) 

  Be sure to link back here to the Welcoming House post so your readers can see all the wonderful posts from the Welcoming House community! You can find the code for my button right over there on the right side, just edit your post, go to HTML, add the script at the bottom of your post and click update. Voila! Ready, set, go! 

 Many blessings to you and yours, 

Heather

 

Citrus Sunshine Breakfast Cake for those Dark and Dreary Winter mornings...

I am quite sure if you listen to the news lately, no matter where you live in the United States (and possibly elsewhere) you know that my state, Minnesota, is experiencing some of the coldest temps we have had in four years or more. As in standing temps below zero with windchills cold enough to freeze the nose right off your face.

No kidding.

Today it was so cold that I showed my Big Kid that you can blow bubbles out the door, and watch them freeze, 

then shatter on the ground outside.

 I guess a TV station up in the Cities decided to show folks how you can toss out a cup of boiling water and get frozen mist in about two seconds. Makes me laugh to think about it. Great WOW factor.

We have to do SOMETHING to keep from going stir crazy during these stretches of brutal cold in January!!! 

So laugh along with me.

Today is Tasty Tuesday, and I am getting right back in the swing of things to show you one of our very VERY favorite cakes to make for breakfast or a snack for the kids. Right before Christmas, and the dreaded six weeks of illness that swept through our home, a good friend, Brenda Reynolds, shared this cake recipe with all of us over on a Cooking From Scratch page on Facebook. The combination of citrus and easiness immediately grabbed me, and the result was amazing.

Addicting.

Alluring.

Did I say amazing??

Now when I make it, I use 2 1/2 cup of my One-In-a-Million Master Cake mix, and one batch of my Pudding Master mix from the The Master Mix Way E-book. My Master Cake mix is made with freshly ground whole wheat, made with my WonderMill, so it is a healthy and filling option for my family.  Now of course, you can do it by going the boxed cake mix route, I just wanted to tell you MY option, and the option available to the almost 800 people who have bought a copy of my book. If you are interested in purchasing it, I am offering 50 for sale today (and until the promo code runs out) for 30% off if you use the promo code JanuarySunshineDeal.

The best way to describe this breakfast cake is by telling you it smells like sunshine on a warm summer day.........all mixed up in a cupcake taste. It uses orange juice, and I added in the mandarin oranges, the orange sugar, and the orange rind powder to make it super orange-ish and summery smelling. My kids literally came piling down the stairs yelling SUNSHINE CAKE this morning, and so I hope it has the same effect on your family.

Almost, but not quite, better than that first cup of coffee. :)

SO, with no more ado, I give you the recipe for 

Citrus Sunshine Cake

1 box yellow cake mix (or 2 1/2 cup master cake mix)

1 3 oz box vanilla pudding (or 3/4 cup master pudding mix+ 1 tsp vanilla extract)

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup orange juice concentrate

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

3 tsp orange rind powder 

(dehydrated oranges ground in a food processor works well too)

*sprinkle nuts in the bottom of a greased and floured Bundt pan. mix the remaining ingredients, and beat on high for 2 minutes. Pour the batter over the nuts, using a spatula to scrape the bowl of the mixer clean and hopefully steal a little bite before it bakes. *wink wink*. Bake for 60 minutes in a 325* oven. Immediately pour the glaze listed below over and let it soak in for 30 minutes, then release the cake from the pan and serve or let it cool and serve. We like it warm.

Glaze is simple: take 1 cup sugar, 1/2 stick butter, and 1/4 cup orange juice. Bring to a boil and  cook for 2 minutes. Pour over cake when fresh out of oven.

I am telling you, one bite, and no matter the temp outside, you will be thinking of warm summer days and sitting in the sunshine with flip flops on your feet. To make the orange sugar I added to the batch at 1/4 cup per cake, I simply zested an orange and let it sit overnight in 1/4 cup of sugar. Either add it to your glaze sugar, or just toss it in the cake mix. Super good stuff.

See you tomorrow for our 4th Welcoming Wednesday Linky Party! Tell your friends and we will see just how many come to share this week! :)

Many Blessing to you and yours,

Heather

dreaming of summer......

Make Your Own Liquid Handsoap...and Stretch it for 3 months!

Good Make-It-Yourself Monday to you!

Today we are going to talk about how we make our own liquid hand soap, and stretch it for 3 months worth of five people washing their hands 

all day long!

Sound crazy? Well, its not! Just standard practice around here at The Welcoming House as we try to make everything stretch as far and as long as we can, just like our paychecks! With finances getting tighter and tighter each month as things change so rapidly, I am SO THANKFUL that we started to implement things years ago that now are second nature for us. 

I hope that some of the tips I share can help you too, shave pennies off of your family's budgets so that you have a little more wiggle room!

For today's post I am using soap from Kleine's Country Farm and Bales over on Etsy! You will find the link to her store at the bottom of the post. She makes the most amazing soaps and lipbalms, all from home, and they are so good for your skin! Around Christmas I bought bars of soap for gifts and stocking stuffers, and just couldnt bear to part with the Gingerbread Soap because it smelled just so good. I am glad to use it in such a wonderful and frugal way to I can smell it for the next three months when everyone washes their hands! 

Here is the picture tutorial for you! Enjoy!

take the soap of your choice, and grate, either by hand or using a food processor.

love how beautiful this looks.........and it smells SOOOOO good!

Playing with your products is part of the fun........

use a funnel, a quart jar, and the bowl of grated soap....

does this need explanation?

fill the quart jar with boiling water from your tea kettle, and swirl the grated soap around...

let this sit overnight, and you will have runny soap.  

Now for the final step and a couple ideas.

Some of you may be wondering why in the world I would make liquid soap this way rather than just buying a jug of liquid soap at the store. 

And those of you why have been following this blog for a while know my first answer already:

Because I can.

Ha ha. But really, there are a couple simple reasons.

I have family members with super sensitive skin. That is why I make my own laundry detergent, and my own natural cleaners. When I make this stuff, and I KNOW we can use the soap, I know it will be okay with sweet little two year old hands, and the hands of my Handy Hubby who is prone to having cracked fingers with this crazy cold winter months we have on the prairies.

The other reason is because I know I can take it one more step from here, and make that liquid soap go another couple months, simply by using a handsoap dispenser that creates foam out of liquid soap.

We have had the same one for two years, and my initial investment was for less that $2.00. While using my bar of soap, albeit boutique soap, to demonstrate this wonderful tutorial for you, I can still make that single quart jar of liquid soap go for another 3 months, using every drop, taking care of my family's hands, and supporting my friend's business simply by using that foaming soap dispenser. I use a ratio of 1/4 cup liquid soap to the rest hot water, and it makes an amazing creamy soap for your hands. How much you use depends on the size of your container, so start with 2 Tbs to fill of Hot water, and go up from there. :)

Now, if you don't have anyone with sensitive skin in your family, you can shop around and catch the fantastic sales they have every 3 months on beauty products, such as soap, when they change the labels on the soap and have to clearance out the ones that are on the shelf to make room for the new ones. Dont believe me? Start paying attention to the end caps and clearance aisles or areas at your local grocery or big box store. There are ALWAYS beauty items there, and why? Because the companies can afford to sell them at a loss so as to keep the packaging fresh and appealing to the customer.

OR, you can simply support a small, home-based business like my friend Chelsea's, just like I do, and know you are getting the best, and the most, for your money....and supporting a family in the meantime.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday! Tomorrow I will be sharing recipes for you using my WonderMill, Wednesday is our 4th link up of the year (and it is SO HARD TO CHOOSE this time around with so many entries), and the week just keeps getting better from there!

 Hope to see you back then!

Check out Kleine's Country Farm and Mini-Bales over on Etsy!!

CLICK HERE

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather