Homemaker's Journal

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Quick and Easy Piping Bag for Gingerbread Cookies

So much goes on during the month of December that things have a way of getting away from you. That is why the gingerbread cookies didn't get made until Christmas Eve last year! However, everything turned out great because I enlisted the rest of the gang on Christmas Day to frost the cookies while we waited for our special dinner to cook. In order for everyone to have a piping bag, I grabbed some freezer storage bags and cut them as shown.

It is best to only put a small amount of frosting in each bag as shown because the frosting will get very warm and messy from gently squeezing it with your hand. I made a few extra and filled and kept them in the refrigerator so that we could swap them out when the frosting was too warm.

We found that crushed peppermint sprinkled on top was very tasty and the next time I make this frosting, I will add a smidgen of peppermint extract for flavoring. Here is the frosting recipe that worked out so well for us.

WHITE FROSTING

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or peppermint!)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until mixture is spreading consistency. Use frosting to outline gingerbread and to make cuffs, collars, belts, and shoes. Yield 2 cups.

I find it makes Christmas Day much more relaxing if there is another festive activity going on while the meal is cooking. Are there any favorite family-oriented traditions that you enjoy on Christmas Day?

Friday, October 3, 2014

How to Make Meatballs the Same Size

Love meatballs but not all the time that goes into rolling them out individually? Want them to be a uniform size? Here is an quick and easy method for making any kind of meatball including my favorite cheesy sausage balls recipe. Pat the meat mixture into a rectangular shape out on wax paper or parchment. Then use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the rectangle into small, equal-sized squares that are easy to separate and roll. Meatballs freeze really well. Let them freeze on a parchment-lined cookie sheet in the freezer. Don't let them touch. When they have frozen, place the meatballs into a freezer bag. They will be easy to remove and cook when needed.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Homemakers: The Homebuilders of the World

Homemaking skills are so needed in this world. Today, these important skills should not only be taught to daughters, but also to sons. Here is the homemaking formula I found in an old church manual:

imagination + skill = creativity

creativity + production = satisfaction

homemaking x creativity = happy living

happy living divided among others = love

I like the idea of training oneself to be a homebuilder. A certain amount of professionalism should be applied to building our homes. You get so much more accomplished if the job is taken seriously. As a homemaker for more than twenty years, I thought of myself as the manager of my own home. As with all managers, the job requires organizational skills.

To be a successful homemaker it helps to study as much as possible the best ways to go about housework, food preparation, organization, decorating, taking care of plants, pets and raising children. One homemaker gave the following description, "I learned organization as the mother of a four-year-old and newborn twins. I never got over it. I still read things, and I write down little bits of information, for later use" (Mary Ellen Jordon Haight).

There are so many great blogs now that are much easier to read than volumes of books. God bless those people who break everything down picture by picture. There's a special place in Heaven reserved for these sharing teachers who do not assume we are all brilliant. This is just one of the wonderful homemaking blogs available to us now:

http://homegrownmom.com/homemaking-for-girls-30-days

Friday, September 5, 2014

Quick Starts to Your Family's Day

Sometimes repackaging the food in your pantry can make them much more appealing to the household. When food is getting overlooked, I fill a large bowl or basket with all the leftover items and dispose of their boxes. Not only does this free up space in the cabinets, it also allows me to display on the kitchen table or counter the groceries that are being overlooked.

This bowl shows instant grits, poptarts, granola bars, and cocoa. Other items we have had are the mini boxes of cereal and instant oatmeal. I have done this over and over and believe me IT WORKS! Not only are you making sure the family is fed in the morning, the cabinets are getting some weeding out as well.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Grateful Living: Reflections on HOME

This is my post to share a touching story and lovely quotes about the most important place in a person's life--their home...

Best Snowflakes on the Block
It is Christmastime on our street. The homes are decorated with tinsel and many-colored lights. Some windows frame beautifully decorated trees, and well-shaped wreaths hang on the doors. At one home, however, a little confusion of homemade snowflakes congregates in the picture window. They are hung in childhood fashion (not in the adult perfection of other windows nearby) and whisper a special secret about the occupants of that home.

I want to share a secret with you. The secret is that children are more important than picture windows; that fingerprints and boot-drips and carpet stains aren't nearly as important as a child's self-esteem. Those little white snowflakes tell me something more. They tell me that smashed bouquets of dandelions adorn that kitchen table in the springtime and are loved as if they were the most beautiful of imported orchids. They tell me that a pet potato bug in a box can live there unmolested, that helping with a bug collection is just as important as doing the wash, that viewing the first violets of spring with a child's hand in yours is better than a shiny floor, that listening to a child's fears is more important than television, that children's art is more beautiful than the greatest of the old masters.
Oh, they do tell a special story, those snowflakes.
(Sherlene Parker, Ensign Dec. 1976)

A small house well-filled is better than an empty palace. ~Thomas Haliburton

Houses that express comfort and well-being can go a long way toward making us feel at home in the world. ~JoAnn Barwick

Everything in the White House must have a reason for being there. ~Jacqueline Kennedy

Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free...Amish song

'Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
~Pa, Little House in the Big Woods

God bless this house And all that's in it

A garden of flowers Some books for the hours

Sweet dreams Good Health

and Love, glorious love. ~unknown

“...I remember thinking how often we look, but never see...we listen, but never hear...we exist, but never feel. We take our relationships for granted. A house is only a place. It has no life of its own. It needs human voices, activity and laughter to come alive.”
― Erma Bombeck, A Marriage Made in Heaven: Or Too Tired for an Affair

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Storing Wheat

Back of the loaf is the snowy flour,

And back of the flour, the mill,

And back of the mill is the wheat and the shower,
The sun and the Father's will. ~Anonymous

Here's a good tip on Storing Wheat, from an old Ensign magazine:

"We purchased four shelf boards, and by stacking the three-pound cans we made a wall bookshelf. These we painted the same color as the wall. The total cost was seven dollars. We have a lot of fun when friends compliment us on our new bookshelf. We tell them there is more there than meets the eye--food for the body as well as food for the spirit. They are amazed when we tell them about the 420 pounds of wheat stored there." ~Bernice Ketner Above is a picture found on Pinterest which gives a similar idea.

Monday, June 2, 2014

T-Shirt Quilt Tutorials

I made my oldest daughter a t-shirt quilt when she graduated highschool in 2008. That was way before Pinterest, and all I knew about these quilts was a little blip I had read in Country Woman Magazine.

What I decided to do since I was a novice quilter, was to use kid-friendly quilting instructions found in "I Can Quilt!" by Sandra L. Hatch and Sue Harvey. The quilt shown is from Lesson 7, Four-Patch Fun Quilt. We have used this pattern to make quilts to give to children's hospitals and children in other countries. I highly recommend this book for new quilters or for kids learning to quilt.

I have two other children I would like to sew t-shirt quilts for and so I began Pinning tutorials to try. Here is my collection of t-shirt quilt tutorials on Pinterest so far:

Follow Heather Allen's board Sewing T-Shirt Quilts on Pinterest.

I would really like to grow this collection of links so if anyone knows of any good sources for t-shirt quilt tutorials or just good photos, please let me know :-)

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Favorite Store-Bought Baking Mixes

and What You Can Make with Them...

These hand pies were made with Pioneer Baking Mix. I baked these in the oven with apple pie filling, but they also make great meat pies. So quick and easy! Fill with Sloppy Joe mix and maybe some shredded cheese.

Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix--the first dish I learned to make (in a seasoned iron skillet of course!) I also like using the Jiffy Pizza Crust to make the yummiest bread sticks. You can find a picture of my breadsticks and the recipe here. (Just found this great vegetable side with Jiffy: Corn Pudding.

Krusteaz Pie Crust--Just soooo easy!

Pioneer Baking Mix--light and fluffy, beautiful :-)

Their gravy mixes are delicious and easy as well!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Big Fish Book Review

Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love getting books sometimes that you end up reading in one sitting. It can be so satisfying to read a book from beginning to end and get the whole sense of it at once. I decided to read Big Fish after watching the movie recently. Because I'm not a fan of (sorry!), I never bothered with the movie. Then someone brought it home and I've watched it like five times since! I love that movie!

For one thing it was filmed in my home town, . My daughter attended college at the campus where they filmed (not Auburn!) which is also in Montgomery. The book and movie is about facing our own mortality. The fictional son records his father's "fish tales" and interspersed throughout the book are the final moments of a son with his amazing but definitely flawed father. By the end of the book, the son seems to come to terms with his dad.

"I looked at this old man, my old man with his old white feet in this clear-running stream, these moments among the very last in his life, and I thought of him suddenly, and simply, as a boy, a child, a youth, with his whole life ahead of him, much as mine was ahead of me. I'd never done that before. And these images--the now and then of my father--converged, and at that moment he turned into a weird creature, wild, concurrently young and old, dying and newborn.

"My father became a myth."

What do you think? Is this Tim Burton's Best Movie or do you prefer another, and if so, why?