Christmas Cookies

I have never made an assortment of holiday goodies; most of the time I make a batch of Carmel Corn to give friends and neighbors. This year I thought I would be different and make cookies. I must say that my vice is cookies; cakes and candy I can pass up, but cookies make me want to change my eating habits. So all in all I gave into my craving and found some delicious looking cookies.  I have found a wonderful website called Your Homebased Mom I have really liked the things she cooks. I found other recipes that have turned out really good and the recipes are explained very easily. So on her website I picked

Peppermint Melting Moments

photo from yourhomebasedmom

I have eaten about one a day, and that is way to many for me, but they are so good!

I also thought I would  find one made with chocolate. Always good idea to add chocolate to round out any goodie plate. So I found these fabulous looking homemade Oreos.

Smitten Kitchen

photo from smitten kitchen

They were super easy to make. I found it would be the best to stick the batter in a pastry bag and pump out small blots. The middle frosting is really good to. 

Now we need to find time to deliver these plate of cookies before we eat them all.

Hamburger

  Over the weekend my husband and I found hamburger on sale in a 10 lb package, and we decided to get 5 packages. Yes, that is a lot of hamburger. I can eat hamburger, thats one thing that dose not have much carb, so when we find it at a good price I could say we gobble it up. Ha ha ha.

So today while doing the laundry, caring for a sick child and putting up Christmas decorations I am bottling hamburger. Crazy, well maybe.

  When bottling I always refer to my "Ball Blue Book", it is hard for me to remember how long to process in canner and all the particulars of each type of food you plan on preserving. It is a great book to have on hand, I really recommend it. I purchased mine at Ace years ago.

Ball Book

This meat was 80/ 20 so I cooked out some of the fat in a pot of water before packing meat into prepared jars.

This is my youngest son Ethan. He love to be a big help.

For hamburger in pint jars, I processed for an hour and fifteen minutes with ten pounds of pressure.

Once the canner cooled  I removed the jars and let them cool the rest of the way. 

     I listened to the sound of each lid pop affirming that the lid made a good seal.

Ta-da not to bad. 

Now I can store the hamburger on the shelf and not use up all the freezer space.

Black Friday Weekend

What madness drives me to participate in Black Friday!  I ask myself that question every year as I'm fighting the crowds.  I was out at three am shopping the deals! I never was able to drag my husband into a fabric store, (but that was mostly because we ran out of time and energy). 
I hope some of you found some amazing deals on fabric and craft items. I think as the Holiday season approaches I have an itching to create more! 


I received some Christmas fabric from my mom a few days ago, and projects keep floating through my mind!  I've been looking online, and found theses websites that inspire me to create more!  Take a look.  

Advent Calendar

"I Heart Nap Time" always has so many ideas with a huge selection of crafts, from paper to food.

If you find something that inspires you let me know, I would love to know what you find.

Find a project and create to day!

Moda Bake Shop

    I just checked this book out from our Public Library, I love the freshness in the style of these projects. I love the "April in Paris Quilt" by Lissa Alexander. Not just because it's my name sake, but also for the great use of scraps.  I also really like the "Pack 'N' Go Tote" by Kimberly Walus. I think I could adapt this pattern to fit jut about any size book case I wanted. I've been looking for a new scripture cover to hold all the manuals also.

I love this book!

I've love things that inspire me. I like how we have the chance to take those heritage quilt patterns and adapt them to our day style. If you have other great finds on books or magazines let me know. Check this one out, at your local Library!

Strawberry Deal

Sometimes a deal falls in your lap. 

We had been in town for my sisters wedding, and during the dinner, my husband ran to the local harvest market. They had 1 lb. of Strawberries for .19 each. For us here, that was a smoking deal. He filled up our whole pick up truck bed. I wasn't really intending on cutting and freezing strawberries all weekend, but when you get a deal like that you make the time. We now have a deep freezer full of strawberries. 

Now I need to make strawberry jam again.

Addison's Baby Quilt

   A while back my sister in-law had a little girl. I was craving for a project and new babies are a great outlet. I had these fun fabrics in my stash and the combination just popped. Every quilt I do, I try to branch out in an area of sewing that I've not tired yet. This quilt had embroidery baby quotes, and little bugs. I loved the way it turned out!

More About Me

           I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue 7 years ago. But even with a strict diet, I just did not feel any better. After awhile I left the diet and thought I could endure the ups and downs well enough. After a few years of feeling good, while eating wheat, I knew I must have been mis diagnosed. Just starting last year my symptoms started up again in full force. I went to a different GI doctor and revisited this whole issue.

         Maybe some of you know what I mean by not feeling good. I was bloated, I felt awful after every meal and decided I didn't need food, it was the enemy. I never starved myself but some days I just felt yuck. So I learned a little more about the digestive track and about those special little bacteria that are the first line of defense for the body. I watched a special on PBS by, Brenda Watson. What she said was fascinating, and seemed to really apply to my situation. I never could find a replay of that show or much else that was helpful from her online, but it was the push in the right direction I needed.

      My GI doctor is great, he really probes into all of my issues, not just the felling of being bloated. After another biopsy and such he completely freed me from the formal diagnosis of Celiac Sprue. We began to look at the idea I might have 'Small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome' or (SIBO). I took a series of breath tests, and concluded that I had the highest score on the charts positive for SIBO.

     Treatment is pretty straight forward, this bacteria feeds on carbohydrates and produces methane gas, so to combat the bacteria; I've taken antibiotics to kill it off and also starving it by not consuming carbs, or as low carb as I can go.

       Over the last 4 months I have felt so much better. Life functions the way it should. I really fell so blessed, to feel good. I have till December to eat carb free, and now instead of the antibiotics I'm taking probiotics. I'm willing to do it because if how good I feel.

    Maybe this was to much information, but I wanted to give others hope and explain some of the quirks I have.