Strawberry Jam

So the weather finally broke loose and the sun came out and look what I found in our Strawberry beds? STRAWBERRIES. who know they were there? What to do with all these Strawberries? WHAT? I first made jam.

Yes, Three big bowl fulls. This was one days of picking.

Oh look Nummy don't they?

I made Jam.

OK my jam recipe, now we are corn free and I did a TON of research on this. Can I make pectin free Strawberry Jam?

I went off the recipe here now shockingly I did not follow her recipe but got my ideas from it.

Honestly here is what I did, I put all the cleaned washed berries in the crock pot, I only added about two cups of organic sugar (add to taste) and some lemon juice. I'm a dumping kind of girl so I have no idea how much lemon juice just a few dumps.

I put it on high for a bit and then took a potato masher and mashed down after some cooking. I then put it on low and let it cook down until it was jam liked. I then put it into jars and bwb for 10 minutes.

Now next time I want to do this Recipe here .

It looks much easier then waiting for it to cook down all day?

Now it's a touch bit runny, just a tad. But it looks and smells heavenly.

Happy Daddy's Day

This is what we did for Daddy's day. This is something we do every year. Such an easy peasy project. Basically you need a stepping stone and two different colors of paint. You paint the bottom let that dry then paint the hands and put the hands on the stone. I will actually fill in the hands on the stone to pick up on some of the paint that didn't go down well. I then paint in the name and date them and let them dry. They will get many coats of outside poly and added to our garden. This is I believe our fourth year of doing it. It's fun to see the kids grow.

This was Tucker. Yes, that is pink!

Cole's hand, no it's paint, it's not natural looking.

A bit blury but you get the photo.

Ethan's

Sunday Finds

So I love going to our Goodwill on Sundays when they have dollar tag day. Usually one tag is .99 cents. I got a lot of fabric for very cheap today. I don't think I spent over 5 bucks for everything pictured. I'm excited. Yards and yards and yards. My mind is going.

Produce Bags

So I finally got off my rear and made something today. I have been needing to make Produce Bags. Because it sickens me to use plastic and to bring it home week after week. And because grocery shopping is tomorrow It was time.

Now I go down to Goodwill every Sunday and hit the dollar sale. Where one color tag is .99 cents. So I hit the sheets and usually leave with a few. So I have been saving my sheets for things like this.

These are just some fabric with a matching sheet. I had a plastic produce bag here, I just cut it open and used it as a template. Sewed it all together and it took me seriously 10 minutes per produce bag. I made 6 tonight. Here is my oldest modeling one.

Updated Goat Photos!

Thought it was time for some updated goat photos. My oldest babies are 6 weeks old.

We are still on baby watch with Bridget who is very big and very cranky.

I am happy to report all Males are fixed. The vet made sure of that!

Here is Beans. MOM take my photos. They are such camera Hogs.
Here is Jack. Hi Mom!

Here is Ms. Ema

Here is Dela.

Mr. Leo

Ms. Bridget with nephew Trooper

Sierra with Ms. Jelly. Mom and daughter are never apart.

Here is Sierra with her three babies. Beans, the black one. Jelly the white one and her adopted son Tropper the multi colored one. All three of these babies are 6 weeks old.

Ethan's Promotion

MY BABY IS GROWING UP!!!!

So my baby is no longer in kindergarten, he is now officially a first grader. What a sad day.

Here he is getting ready.
Isn't he Cute?

They are all Cute!

At promotion.

Posing for the camera's.

Do you see my child. Only my child would do this, Yep that is him holding his promotion above his head. Everyone laughed and cheered for him.

Bread...Really Good Bread!

Well for 2 1/2 years I have been trying bread recipes, tweaking and trying again, tossing that recipe and trying a new recipe. No matter what I did I have not been happy with a loaf of bread. I have two recipes that are my go to if I need a loaf.

I was emailed a recipe. Very curious and some back and fourth on the ingredients I had to try this recipe.

Now bare with me here. The recipe is based around Yellow Pea Flour. Yes, I am serious. That is what got me curious, pea flour really? Yes, it's based on kinnikinnick bread. Huh? OK then. So I got me some Yellow Split Peas and I grind them up, oh the texture was nice, the smell, Oh I had to try the recipe.

So the photo above shows my fourth loaf of bread, this week. So the original recipe is here.

Here is the recipe as shown in the photo above. I keep tweaking it and it comes out better and better.

Beth's No Fail Gluten Free Bread

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/2 cup Sorghum Flour

1 cup Yellow Pea Flour

1/2 cup potato Starch

1/2 cup Tapioca Starch

1 Package Yeast

1 tbsp Guar Gum

1 1/2 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Warm Rice Milk

2 tsp Cider Vinegar

1/4 Cup Canola Oil

egg replacer mixed with 1/4 cup warm sparkling water set aside and let set up

1/4 cup honey

I mix wet ingredients in the mixer, once mixed I add in the dry. Let mix for a few minutes and then put into the bread machine. Mine has a gf setting. I have also baked this in the oven, let it rise 20 minutes or so, Bake 35 plus minutes at 350 degrees. Watch it after the 30 minute mark.

This is a very flexable recipe, the only thing you can not sub out is the pea flour. The recipe is based on the pea flour. This is something I will keep playing on. But it's a really good bread. It cuts well, it eats well. It doesn't crumble. It's so good the next day.

Try, Try, Try Again!

So we took a trip to Costco today to price out cameras. Well it's hard to really debate and know for sure so I wrote down the numbers and came home to research them. As I'm looking up the cameras and the reviews I read someone returned a camera because the lens didn't work, no matter what he did the lens would not work with the camera and it would keep locking up.

It took a minute to hit me, The Lens? could that be the issue here? The Lens? Really? Huh, I took off the lens and went looking for my other lenses. I found my big lens and hooked it up and my camera worked. Are Ya Joking Me? I went hunting for my small lenses, found those and they worked. So my lens died, in turn locking up my camera. Well OK then.

So above is my dead lens. The one I need to go and bury. So I fixed my beloved in time for my son's promotion on Thursday. Stay tuned for those photos.

Sad Day/Week

Well as you can see there are no photos. No current blog posts. Well that is because my beloved has broken. It is refusing to take any photos. I have begged and pleaded, but still nothing. It is refusing to go click, claiming I have over used it and it wants a break. I will continue to beg, and plead and fiddy dink. We may have to take a trip to the repair shop. But my other beloved (cough, laugh) is saying lets look around for a new beloved (camera not him) Maybe it's time to upgrade? Now I have had my beloved (camera) for 7 years now. It goes everywhere with me. It's my side kick, I am not seen without it. I have been so lost without it. So sad. So misable. So as you see it's a sad, sad day here. I want to update babies, I have Ethan's promotion on Thursday...HELP.