What’s In Our Freezer? Part 2: Letters H-Z

See A-G here.

Hazelnuts These are great for snacking on and cooking with.

Hummus We love hummus in this house! Hubby has devised many amazing recipes I should share some time. We normally have chick peas in the freezer ready to go for a fresh batch of hummus.

Ice Cream

Molé

Mozzarella Block We buy a two-pound blocks of cheese, shred it with the food processor, then freeze it and just take out handfuls as needed. Do not freeze cheese that you want to slice later. Frozen cheese becomes crumbly.

Orange Juice

Peas

Pierogies These make a great, quick meal on a busy night or an easy lunch to take to work (boil them in the microwave).

Pumpkin Puree Here is what I did in 2008. This puree is from two 2009 batches.

Reduced Cranberry Juice My America's Test Kitchen cookbook has the most amazing cranberry vinaigrette salad dressing in it (I couldn't find an online link to share) that requires 100% cranberry juice reduced to one-third. Reducing requires enough time to make me want to blow off the recipe. So, I decided to cook down a whole bottle of juice at a time and then freeze the rest in the proper quantity. Now the dressing is easy to whip up! Cost-saving bonus: 100% cranberry juice isn't cheap (most cranberry juice is a blend of berries). Using the whole bottle for this purpose saves me from buying a new bottle each time I want to make the recipe, only to use a small amount of it. Of course, we'd drink the rest of the bottle, but I'd rather we drink the $2.50 stuff and save the $5 stuff for when the pure flavor really matters.

Rennet For making cheese with my cheese kit.

Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash Cassoulet Homemade freezer meal from Cooking Light. It was plain for our tastes.

Sautéed Red Onions (with balsamic and dates) I love Rachael Ray's Blue Cheese-Onion Empanadas. The last time I made then, I made miniature empanadas instead of the big guys and ended up with loads of extra onions. I used some defrosted ones for the first time on bleu cheese, caramelized apple, onion pizza. Yum!

Shredded Cheese A blend of food processor-shredded mozzarella and pepper jack to put on pizza

Spicy & Sweet Orange Sauce Leftover sauce from making this. This recipe took forever and the chicken was blah. The second time I made it, rather than following Pioneer Woman's instructions, I breaded and baked chicken cubes, served plain rice, and poured on the defrosted sauce. Quick, easy, and delicious! The sauce is worth it.

Tomato paste

Walnuts These are great for snacking on and cooking with.

Whole Fruit Bars Commercial kind. A yummy snack on a hot day. Really, I should make these myself.

Wine (red and white) Rather than letting a not-so-great or partially drunk bottle of wine go bad, we freeze it in ½ cup quantities for cooking with.

Wonton Wrappers For use in my favorite pumpkin recipe, Cooking Light's Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce.

What’s In Our Freezer? Part 1: Letters A-G

Using the freezer for food preservation is a major strategy in keeping our grocery budget at $250 per month. I thought that taking a peek into our freezer might lend some insight into how we keep food costs down.

Almonds I purchased a 5 pound bag from BJs. I use these as a go-to snack and keep a bag in my purse. They are also great for toasting for salads and making pesto.

Artichoke hearts

Baba-ga hummus Homemade roasted eggplant and garlic hummus. Not great as-is. I will defrost and reblend.

Bailey's Irish Crème Mint This stuff is so good frozen!
I keep a small bottle of it in the freezer.

Berries I'm not a big berry eater, but these will be yummy on a dessert for guests.

Black beans We don't do canned beans. These were cooked in bulk and frozen.

Blood worms Food for our African dwarf frog.

Bleu cheese

Bread yeast Hubby is the bread machine king; I am new to Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

Brewing Yeast Hubby is a home brewer

Butter

Chicken

Chicken Broth Homemade

Chicken Scrap Bag for the next batch of broth

Chocolate chips

Coconut

Diced tomato

Egg Whites We have more than I thought! 4 containers containing various quantities: 2, 2, 3, 6

Film Hmm...I don't think we even own a film camera any more.

Freezer Packs Good for lunches.

French Onion Soup Hubby made this in bulk for lunches.

Gravy

Guacamole Homemade

Henna + Hair

One of my non-green hold outs has been hair dye. I've experimented with many hair colors over the years, but reds tend to be my favorite. I'd considered using henna in the past, but it seemed staining, unpredictable, and overwhelming. Then I read an amazingly informative document from Catherine Cartwright-Jones who is doing her dissertation on henna. It made dying hair red, brown, or black with henna and/or indigo seem so doable. Here is some of her work: short version or long version. I used the short version as my guide to dye my hair red with henna. Below are my observations and tips, but not a step-by-step as the details in the linked documents are comprehensive.

Dying Hair with Henna Lessons Learned

Supplies:

• Use a sturdy spoon for stirring; the little plastic spoon didn't cut it.
• Use long dishwashing gloves to protect instead of wrist-length gloves. I ended up with a few stains on my arms before I made the switch to love gloves.
• Put a cover on the henna as it sits for 8-12 hours. The instructions say to do this, but I forgot and the top layer got chunky. Also, henna has a distinct smell; covering it will help contain the odor. (I don't mind the smell, hubby dislikes it.)
• A shower cap worked just fine rather than using plastic wrap as suggested.
  

Application:

• I took up a hearty glop of the henna mix in my gloved hands and smeared it in my sectioned hair. It felt like smearing really thick mud into my hair and it was pretty fun.
• I did drop a few globs on the floor, but there was less errant dye than I usually leave behind after using the squirt-bottle applicator that comes with boxed dyes. Clean up was easy and nothing in the bathroom was stained.
• Henna is green, so it is hard to miss spots. Anything not plastered with green mud is pretty obvious!
• I left the henna on for three hours. I looked goofy with my shower cap on, but was able to things around the house without creating any mess. The henna stayed on my hair and under the shower cap.

Verdict:


Click on image to open larger view

• It worked! Check out the before and after shots above (left side is before, right side is after)
• Initial color is rich, vivid and monochromatic, rather than being a helmet of a single shade
• Post-oxidation color: to be determined after 72 hours
• Afterward, my hair felt dry and tangled more easily than normal. I'm guessing this is either from the lemon juice or some residual henna left in my hair.
• It is cheap! A box of hair dye costs up to $10, a professional dye costs much more. The box of henna cost $1.79 (100g for short hair) plus the cost of lemon juice.
• Henna definitely takes more time than dying: letting the henna sit after mixing (I did 8 hours, but 12 is optimal) plus keeping it in the hair for two to six hours. Active time in preparation and application is similar, though rinsing did take longer.
• No burning or itching on my scalp like with boxed dyes.
• A downside is unpredictability of final color, but I suppose that exists with boxed dye as well.
• Longevity of color: to be determined
  

Glass Cleaner

I've used this uber-simple glass cleaner for years now with no problems. Then, I used it to clean the nasty, nasty windows at the new house and fell in love with it all over again.

Supplies:

• Water
• Vinegar
• Spray Bottle
• Bucket (optional)
• Black & White Newspaper (at least a couple of weeks old)

Instructions:

1. Whatever the quantity desired, use a one to one ratio: one part water to one part vinegar. For most jobs, mix the water and vinegar directly in the spray bottle and squirt on. For heavy jobs, mix the water and vinegar in a bucket. Heartily apply it to the glass with a cloth or sponge.
   
2. With either method, wipe dry with the older, non-colored (or minimally colored) newspaper. The newspaper is abrasive enough to scrub off sticky grime but soft enough to leave a streak-free finish.
   
3. Repeat if necessary.
   

DIY Preserved Wedding Bouquet -- Critique 4 Years Later

In honor of my fourth anniversary today, I thought I'd share how I preserved my wedding bouquet.

Supplies:
-Bouquet
-Thin rope or pipe cleaner to suspend bouquet
-Deep shadow box (mine is from A. C. Moore)
-Aerosol Hairspray
-Hot glue gun
-Hot glue sticks

What I did:

-The day after the wedding, I hung the flowers upside down in an unused closet using pipe cleaners.

-I left the flowers alone for 2-4 months until thoroughly dried out. Note that tightly closed blooms will take longest to dry. Warning: the flowers smelled awful for quite a while!

-Once dried, I sprayed them with Aquanet hairspray (I read on a website that this helps preserve them).

-I had to split the bouquet in two parts because they wouldn't all fit in the box without getting squished (this was a little traumatic as some little petals flaked off when I pulled them out of the bouquet).

-I used straight pins and hot-glue to tighten up the ribbon, making sure that the alterations would be hidden when placed in the box.

-Once thinned enough to fit under the glass, I hot-glued the 1/2 bouquet still in the ribbon into the box, concentrating the glue on the stems rather than the blooms.

-From the unused half of the bouquet, I cut the blooms off of stems and hot-glued them into the secured half to really fill out the side the viewer will see. (I was able to fit in every single flower still in good condition!)

Verdict: Some bits of flowers have flaked off and are on the floor of the box, the green leaves and stems browned, the white flowers have yellowed, the ribbon has faded some. But, overall, I would consider this a success!

Bonus Picture... Origami version of my wedding bouquet that hubby made for me on our first anniversary (traditional gift is paper)

Composting Basics

Have you read about composting and been interested, but just don't know how to start? Because others have said it better than I can, I am going to link you to my favorite composting sites:

Multi-page article that takes you from the science of composting to actually starting a pile: How Stuff Works

Loads of info on anything and everything compost related: HowToCompost.org

For newbies and experienced folks alike: 75 Things You Can Compost, But Thought You Couldn't

For the science-brained folks, a Can I Compost It chart along with the why.
(Thanks for that link, Crunchy Conscience!)

My favorite book on composting is called Composting by Liz Ball and is part of the Smith & Hawken Hands On Gardener series. This book has a simple, non-gimmicky approach that I really appreciate.

Adventures in Deodorant

Concerned about the chemicals in standard deodorants, I started experimenting with more natural brands and making my own. Here's what I've learned in the past year…

First, I went commercial and bought Tom's of Maine. It worked great for awhile, but then I started feeling smelly. Next, I tried rubbing a pinch of just plain baking soda in my underarms. It totally eliminated odor, but after a few weeks my underarms freaked out, turned red and splotchy, and started peeling. Eek! Plus, grains of it stood out on black clothing. Back to the drawing board--or rather, back to the Tom's. When I finished the Tom's, I gave J/A/S/O/N Organics deodorant a chance. That was a nightmare for my body chemistry. I am not a particularly sweaty person, but that stuff made me smell just awful. (In J/A/S/O/N's defense, they did respond to my complaint and gave me a coupon good for any of their products.) At that point, I came across a recipe from Little House in the Suburbs that looked awesome. I made it as instructed and even put it in an empty deodorant container. I loved how well it worked, but it kept crumbling out of the dispenser on colder days and melting out of the container on hotter days, and my pits started doing the peeling thing again. So, I shelved that and bought Nature's Gate deodorant. It did absolutely nothing for me. So, I decided to go back to making my own, but this time I'd take the Little House ingredients but make a custom blend for my sensitive pits and make it creamy rather than a stick.

More Green for Less Green Creamy Deodorant

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Baking Soda
• 1/2 cup Cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Coconut Oil
• Tea Tree Oil

Supplies:

• Lidded, microwave-safe container, 1 cup (or larger)—I use my beloved lidded Pyrex
• Sturdy Spoon
• Measuring cup
• Microwave (optional)
• Small cotton cloth (optional)
  

Instructions

1. Add cornstarch, baking soda, and coconut oil to container.


2. Microwave for 10-15 second and stir thoroughly. (You can omit microwaving, but it makes stirring easier.)


3. Add 15-20+ drops of tea tree oil.


4. Let cool. It will thicken as it returns to room temperature.


5. Take a small swipe of the deodorant using your middle and index fingers and massage it into each underarm. It will look slightly shiny on your skin briefly, but won't be visible.


6. If you are not applying this near a sink, keep a small cloth with the deodorant container to wipe your fingers clean with.
   

I do not use this immediately after shaving because the baking soda irritates nicks. One thing I do is shave less—just once or twice per week—and then use hubby's conventional deodorant on those days. Or, better yet, I'll shower at night, go clean-pitted through the night, and then apply the deodorant in the morning.

I have not had any problems with it staining clothes, being visible, quitting on me midday, etc.

Do note that the mixture changes viscosity based on temperature—it will be semi-solid in cooler conditions (right) but runny when warm (left). It works the same at either temperature range. I made a batch on hottest day of the year thus far and it was so runny that I thought my recipe must have gotten screwed up somehow. Now that normal spring temperatures have returned, it is thick like canned frosting.

Why it works: baking soda combats odor, cornstarch absorbs moisture, tea tree oil has natural antiseptic properties and smells good, coconut oil is the perfect base—it makes the deodorant spreadable. This oil is solid at room temperature but has a very low melting point. Simply touching it will transfer heat enough to melt it. You can find coconut oil at many grocery stores, just ask where it is.

P.S. For emergency pit spruce-ups, I keep a repurposed, small lip balm container filled with baking soda in my purse. Very occasional use of straight baking soda doesn't irritate my pits too much. Nothing combats smell like baking soda! Just grab a pinch and rub it in.

Living Room Curtains

I love the large picture window in our living room and have been searching for just the right thing to use as a covering without breaking the bank.

First up--hardware to hang curtains. The house came with wooden brackets that were simple and unobtrusive. They were filthy, but usable, so I cleaned and painted them with trim paint (all trim in the house is Olympic Zero VOC, Ultra-White). We bought a super-long wooden rod at Lowes and painted it with trim paint. Total cost: about $13. Going basic with the hardware allows us to spend more money on the actual curtains—they thing that we want to be fun and stand out. At some point, I might find a way to spruce up the rod once we get the perfect curtains in there. But, for now they are a blank slate.

I thought about making my own curtains and went through loads of fabric books from a local store, but the ones I like best were over $40 a yard. No way! So, found these cuties on JCPenney's website for a mere $17.99 per panel (the price has since gone up) plus I had a coupon. I wasn't sure if the Light Jadestone colors were a match, so I picked them up at the store where they they were about double the cost—boo! I decided to take them home anyway and see them in the room. The verdict: we need four panels, 84 inches is too short, I hate the grommet top, when the sun shines through them they look orange and striped. But, the colors are good in the space and they add whimsy to the room, which I am totally craving. Our solution: order the too-long 95-inch curtains and sew them into pocket-top panels, hiding the grommets. I'll look for neutral sheets at yard sales to create a liner for them to avoid the sun/strip issue.

The curtains are ordered (they were back-ordered for a few weeks, now I see it is up to a few months for new orders), yard sale season is coming to find the sheets, and the total cost should come in at about $80, which is not cheap, but is a lot better than $120+ with the stress of sewing uber-expensive material. Could I go cheaper? Probably. But, this seems to be a happy medium of cost, ease, style, and buying new when it fits the bill but incorporating used items as much as possible (rather than buying new sheets or new liner fabric).

Our cheap rod (the grommet top just looks goofy to me) plus the too-short curtains with weird stripes in the sun.

But see the potential for cuteness? I love the rug/curtain color combo.