Trick To Fresh Berries

My friend Carolyn just emailed this great tip for keeping Strawberries fresh longer.  The funny thing is that I just spent the entire day yesterday working on strawberries that we picked on Wednesday night.  So, here is the tip straight from the email:

But they're also kind of delicate. Raspberries in particular seem like they can mold before you even get them home from the market. There's nothing more tragic than paying $4 for a pint of local raspberries, only to look in the fridge the next day and find that fuzzy mold growing on their insides.

(Photo credit to healthyfellow.com)

Well, with fresh berries just starting to hit farmers markets,  Foodlushblog.com shared this excellent tip on how to salvage berries that are starting to lose their luster. Now I'm here to share a tip on how to prevent them from getting there in the first place:

Wash them with vinegar.

A friend of mine shared this tip with me a few weeks ago, and it really, really works. When you get your berries home, prepare a mixture of one part vinegar (white or apple cider probably work best) and ten parts water. Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse if you want (though the mixture is so diluted I find you can't taste the vinegar,) and pop in the fridge.
The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit, and voila! Raspberries will last a week or more, and I've had strawberries go almost two weeks without getting moldy and soft. So go forth and stock up on those pricey little gems, knowing they'll stay fresh as long as it takes you to eat them.

Credit for the information in this email goes to healthyfellow.com

Stay tuned next week for more Strawberry info and recipes.

Jeannie

An Internet Surfing Accessory

As I was writing a post the other day I was about to put a link into the post to a scripture verse, which I forgot to do, because I was thinking about…

What a great internet surfing accessory- The Bible.

So many of us look around at the inspirational blogs and run across a post that has a reference to God’s word.  Many times the person who posted will put a link or will even write out the verse they are speaking about.  I want to remind you of how God works.  You all know this but I’ll say it anyway.  God teaches us through things that we run across in our daily life, a song, a radio program and also a blog posting.  So, if a post or verse really jump out or speak to us then what a better time to pull out you Bible and see what else God has to say to you.



You may not need it every time you poke around the web, but you just never know and if you have it handy you are more likely to grab it and surf the Bible as well.  This is just a tip on making you internet time purposeful and meaningful.





Happy Blog Hopping!!

Jeannie

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner

This is my all time favorite household cleaner.  I use it for everything.  It is especially great on Carpet stains.  The main thing I use it for is my kitchen cleaner.  Between the alcohol and the tea tree oil you have a great disinfectant.
  plus   
I am currently out of the Castile soap.
This is the recipe:
1 cup Castile soap with Tea tree oil
1/4 cup of Rubbing Alcohol
1 teaspoon Baking soda
Fill the remainder of the spray bottle (32 oz.) with water.  Fill very slowly or you will end up with tons of bubbles.
Once you have add the Water, put the top on the bottle and then gently shake until baking soda is dissolved, check the bottom.

Jeannie

Confident Mom Organizing Planner Review

I just ran across this planner recently.  It is a great weekly planner that helps you to remember to get each and every thing done in your home and yet is not overwhelming.  Below you can view an example of the planner.

http://www.theconfidentmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Page1-Weekly-Household-Planner-2012.pdf

She has thought of everything.  She has a check off for daily tasks to help you get it all done and to help you see it all done and feel accomplished.
Some of the features are:

• A daily quiet time with scripture references to get you through the Bible in one year.
• A place to put “What’s for Dinner”
• A place for notes
• Weekly inspiration
• and More…

Check out the PDF above and take a look.
Jeannie

Turning the ordinary into something beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago we took our oldest, Allie to stay with my mom.  She took the semester off to go and work in my mom's husbands' church, where he is Pastor.  This has been a great experience for her.  She is still trying to figure out what she wants to do when she grows up (aren’t we all) and this was a great opportunity for her because she is thinking about going into ministry in some way. 

Our 4 along with Mom’s step daughter Michelle.
When we took her, met my Mom and her husband half way and stayed in a hotel so we could visit a little bit.  We had a good time.
Yesterday,  Allie sent me some pictures of new creations that she came up with in her spare time. 

I thought they were great ideas that you all might find fun to do also.  She just used permanent markers.  I am not the least bit crafty, so I am glad she got this artistic ability from her Dad.  So you can see, God and Allie are both using the ordinary and making them something beautiful.  We miss you Allie!!
Jeannie

New Year’s resolution?

I don’t know if this is a New year’s resolution or just another attempt at making life run smooth and it just happens to land at this time of year.  I make resolutions for myself all of the time.  My average is the same as the amount of resolutions kept by people at the new year,  two-thirds of the time I break it.  But we must always strive to be better than we are today right?  Anyway,  I think I mentioned a while ago that Melissa was trying to follow the fly ladies ideas on flylady.com.  Well, I am going to try to do this one thing.  She suggests that if you clean your sink out before you go to bed, you will wake up the next morning in a much better mood than if you woke up to a sink full of dishes.  So, Here it is…

Clean and ready for a new day.  I have to point out to you a funny thing to have in the window sill.  A bar of threatening Ivory soap.  Unused but very threatening in those times of unwanted words.  Do any of you have a 5 year old that just thinks the word Butt and anything that sounds like it is just hilarious?  Please tell me that I am not alone in this. 

Jeannie

Mom’s Organizer

A couple of years ago I discovered this calander tool called Cozi.com.  I tried using it but I was not much of a computer person.  I still struggle with using the internet for all of the great purposes it has but I am getting better.



Anyway, I just rediscover Cozi.com and I absolutely love at least one of the features.  They have a meal planning section where you enter your recipes and the plan you have for the week.  I know there are millions like that but, this one you can cut and paste recipes from anywhere on the internet and then it will make a grocery list for you or even just add it to your meal planning schedule.


I have never wanted to get into having a place online for all of my recipes until now.  Really just about any recipe you have, you can find on allrecipes.com.  Then you just cut and paste and it is in your box.


 Kraft.com and Tasteofhome.com are 2 of my other favorites.  These two have simple everyday family food and great ideas. 


Cozi.com is also has a calender, a to do list maker (for everyone in the family), shopping list maker and it also has a place where you can keep a family journal.  Then all of this can be linked to Facebook if you want.  I should really be asking for advertising dollars from them don’t you think.  But really I just thought it was cool and I may actually keep up with this one.  Check it out!

A New Use For A Freebie.

A little while ago Johnson and Johnson had a coupon for $1 off a first aid item.  They also have this little first aid kit that is just $1.  Free! 

The container for this first aid kit is very sturdy and I just couldn’t throw it away.  We have a few pencil sharpeners that are manual and the kids leave the shavings everywhere. 

We put the sharpener into the box and close it up till needed and then the kids leave the shavings in the box. 
Plus, this box is bigger than the actual sharpener so we don’t lose it.  If you have any great repurposing ideas leave a comment and tell us about it.

Jeannie

Christmas Gift idea!

Yes I start early.  Not as early as some but still early.  I found this great deal on www.Hip2save.com my absolute favorite site for finding deals.  I found almost all of my Christmas gifts there last year. Here is the link for my latest find. 

These are not our sweatshirts of choice it is the picture she had on her site.  I can't tell you the ones we ordered I may have snooping eyes.  Shh!

 Finish Line is having a sale on hoodies with College logos on them, for every state that I could see or at least for the ones I was looking for.  They are $20 each originally $50.  You can get 4 for $80.  Great deal!  Check it out.
Jeannie

My Bacon Solution

I don’t know about all of you but we love the taste of bacon in our house.  We don’t really eat it as a breakfast food so much but we like it in all kinds of things.  We eat it crumbled in things, on top of things and just added into all kinds of things.  I found this:
Sorry about the packaging, I ripped it open before thinking about it.  I just looovvve bacon.  Anyway, I found this at Walmart.  It is Wright Bacon ends and pieces.  It comes in a 3 lb. package for just over $6.  This is so much cheaper than buying the bacon by the pound in the package and this is very good bacon.  I just separate it into smaller ziplock bags and freeze it.


Then when we need some bacon I just thaw, cook and crumble.
Jeannie