Pull Apart Pastry

Petal Pull Aparts!  Yum!

http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=4595

Homemade Seaweed Snacks

Homemade Seaweed Snacks My kids love seaweed snacks and, truthfully, I don't my them because of the packaging and such as the author of this post states.  We will be trying these!

Homestead Survival: Delicious Baked Apple Pies

Homestead Survival: Delicious Baked Apple Pies: http://domesticdilettante.com/2012/01/11/applepie/  I have to try this!  What a great idea!

Basil Cubes!

     My family really likes basil, especially in pesto.  During the late summer months we have more than we know what to do with.  And yet, in the winter months I find myself buying pesto at the store.  So I asked a few friends about how keep basil and one of them shared this trick with me.  Now I blend my basil in the food processor with olive oil and freeze it in ice cube trays.  When the mixture is frozen, I pop them out in a ziplock bag to be used in sauces and yummy dishes year round!

I pick the tops and large leaves of my basil, leaving the smaller shoots to grow bigger for harvesting the next week.  I wash  the basil in water and let it drip dry a while before I begin to process it.

I fill my food processor full of basil, drizzle about 1/4 cup of olive oil on it, and blend.  I keep adding basil until my processor is full of this sauce or I use up all the basil I have.  I like to keep the olive oil to a minimum so that when I throw a few cubes in my spaghetti sauce at a later date, my sauce isn't full of oil.  I have found that it is easier to add olive oil when I am using the basil cubes if I need it.  I sometimes add fresh garlic, salt and pepper to the sauce before freezing.  I do not recommend adding parmesan  cheese before freezing, it has a n odd texture when used later.

When the basil and olive oil sauce is well blended, I pour it into ice cubes trays and freeze them overnight.

To store them, I simply put the cubes in a labeled ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to six months.  I use them in pesto, spaghetti sauces, and add them to some mayonnaise for sandwiches!  Enjoy!

Frozen Pureed Zucchini

Frozen Pureed Zucchini  I am going to try this, I will let you know how it worked!

Homemade Hamburger Buns

How to Make Your Own Hamburger Buns | The Kitchn   We will definitely try these soon!

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Great Collection of Slow Cooker Recipes

http://www.momswhothink.com/crock-pot-recipes/

The link above has a great collection of slow cooker recipes.  With Football season beginning for my boys, and soon school, it is time to start planning our dinners a bit ahead.  The slow cooker is great for this.  I can get dinner started sometime before noon and then go about our busy afternoon/evening schedule, come home and serve dinner within 20 minutes!  It just makes life a lot easier.

My main slow cooker meals include beef stew or pot roast, chicken cacciatore, tomato herb chicken, and mostly a pork or beef roast that I toss salt, pepper, and cumin on and let cook until I can pull it apart.  From this I make shredded beef tacos or carnitas tacos with quacamole, cilantro, onins, salsa, and beans.  Or I make bbq beef sandwiches or pulled pork sandwiches on a roll with bbq sauce and coleslaw.  It is all really easy, healthy, and, best of all, my whole family will happily eat it!  I will add some pictures next time I make it and my really good bbq sauce recipe.  Time to get the slowcooker started for dinner!

A Bee On A Thistle Flower

I love all the bees in my garden!  This is just one of thousands right now that are enjoying my garden.  This one is enjoying a flowering wild thistle.  I love wild thistles and hope to have a thistle garden some day.  My husband thinks I'm ridiculous, but they are such interesting looking plants that bloom in many colors, and require very little water, just don't pick them! Ouch!

Homestead Survival: Vodka Sunrise Jello Shots Recipe

Homestead Survival: Vodka Sunrise Jello Shots Recipe:

How To Freeze and Save Blackberries

A few years ago, I discovered that I could freeze my blackberries and keep them in the freezer for several months to use later.  It works really well and is quick and easy to do.  We have about 150' of blackberry bushes in our yard, that suck up water from the nearby creek, so the berries get nice and fat.  We will never be able to eat all the berries our bushes give us, but we do our best.  We make jam, jelly, syrup, cobbler, crisp, milkshakes, and more, as well as eat them fresh.  

When I first froze berries, I just washed them, put them in a ziplock bag, and put them in the freezer.  The problem with this is that they freeze together in one big clump.  Then someone shared the right way to freeze berries.  It works great and we will have several bags in our freezer by the time summer is over.

First wash your berries in a colander.  Let them drain for a few minutes so that most of the excess water is gone.  Be careful not to crush them.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper and carefully put the berries on the wax paper in a mostly single layer.  Place it in the freezer overnight.

When you take the berries out of the freezer they should all be good and frozen.  Gently lift the wax paper off of the baking sheet from one corner and the berries should start coming apart.  Place the berries in a ziplock bag as they come apart.  It is a process that needs a little patience as the wax paper always rips, but it only take a few minutes.

After you have filled your bag, label it with a date and put it back in the freezer to be enjoyed later!  They stay fresh about 6 months.  We use our frozen berries for pancakes, baking, smoothies, popsicles, added in yogurt, and more.  Happy blackberry season!  Let us know how you use your blackberries and share a favorite recipe!