Tag: use by dates

Posted on

February Means Hearts, Groundhogs, Presidents and Mardi Gras

Most of my crafting this month has been about hearts. However, I did celebrate Groundhog’s Day with my t-shirt, coffee mug and flag outside. This is the time for warm comforting food, sweaters, and appreciating loved ones. Here’s hoping you’re having a cozy time and living life to your fullest!

Recipes

Tomato Basil Soup (pamperedchef.com)

I have a cooking blender but this recipe could be translated to any mode of cooking and/or the use of a submersion blender.

1/4 c. water or low sodium vegetable broth

1 tsp. salt

2 Roma tomatoes

1- 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes

1/2 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

After all items have cooked and blended add 1/4 c. fresh basil and blend again.

So simple. So fresh. So tasty!

Lacking a cooking blender I would simmer all ingredients on the stove until onions and Roma tomatoes are cooked to tender. Then using a submersion blend, blend until smooth.

Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup for the Crockpot (eatingonadime.com)

  • 1 lb. extra lean ground beef Browned and Drained
  • ▢½ yellow onion chopped
  • ▢1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • ▢5 cups chopped green cabbage about half of a medium sized head
  • ▢32 oz. low-sodium beef broth
  • ▢2 cans tomato sauce 14.5 oz each
  • ▢1 cup shredded carrots
  • ▢1 bay leaf
  • ▢2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
  • ▢1 tsp. Salt
  • ▢1 teaspoon pepper
  • ▢1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
  • ▢2 cups cooked white or brown long grain rice
  • Place everything but the rice in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours.
  • 15 minutes before ready to eat, remove the bay leaf, stir in the cooked rice and serve

When I made this I used ground turkey and put the rice, uncooked, in about an hour before completion. You could easily make this vegetarian by using plant based crumbles and vegetable broth.

Turkey Tenderloin in the Crockpot (beafitmommy.com)

  • 24 oz Turkey Tenderloin
  • 1.5 pounds small yellow baby boomer potatoes
  • 2 cups carrots
  • 2-4 TBSP Olive oil
  • No salt seasoning
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Place potatoes and carrots in slow cooker.    Drizzle olive oil, no salt seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir together making sure each potato and carrot is coated. Top veggies with the Tenderloin. Cook low for 7-9 hours

When I made this I cooked it on high for a couple of hours and then lowered to low for 3 to 4 hours. I’m impatient!

Crafts

It has been all about hearts for my crafting this past month!

Wooden Heart

I used a wooden heart from the Dollar Tree (you had to know, right?) and painted the edges red. I had some pretty pink dotted fabric which I used decoupage to affix to the heart. All I added was a fabric rose. Simple but oh, so sweet!

I filled the two holes on a, (all together now), Dollar Tree heart cutout with wood filler. Then when dry I sanded. I painted the heart pink but you could use any Valentine color or combination of colors. I also had 3 wooden cubes from DT which I painted pink and glued to the bottom of the heart. As a finishing touch I put a sparkly glaze on the little heart stand and used some themed items to decorate it. I makes a nice centerpiece.

I had, from last year, a metal heart and two porcelain figures I had purchased at a vintage shop. I put together this sweet little piece and all I added was a heart sticker and a little ribbon.

Also, from DT last year, I had a rippled metal heart. I “aged” it with some brown watered down stain. Then I added a wooden heart, painted red, and a black and white checked bow.

The final project we created in our Home Bureau group. Each of us had a different way of making our mobile and the all turned out cute. For mine, I painted a wooden dowel pink and when dry used a drill to drill and hole on each end. I then added the jute to create the hanger for the mobile. Now, onto the hearts! I used a wooden shape as a template and traced four pink hears and six red hearts from felt. After cutting them out I used embroidery floss to blanket stitch around the outside. Before going completely around, I added fiber fill to make the hearts fluffy and then finished stitching. I closed off by pulling the floss into the center of the heart, pulling it taunt and then cutting the floss. The end disappeared into the center of the heart. I used red and white twine to create the hangers for the hearts by inserting the twine using a needle through the center of each heart, tying the two ends together over the dowel. Each heart was at a different length from the dowel. Finally, I took a black and a pink fabric marker and created the face on each heart. I was happy with the piece and would like to create one next year using the typical heart shape.

Let’s Do Some Hacking

  • Want to clear snow off your car quickly? Use a leaf blower! Now, this won’t work completely, obviously, with ice mixed in but it would still save you some time. With a light fluffy snow it would completely do the job.
  • For a relatively short flight ( of less than 500 miles) check out Amtrak. They have discounts and offers that can make the train way cheaper than a flight. Also, people over 65 get a ten percent discount. Another way to save on Amtrak is to travel between 7pm and 5 am. Go to Amtrak.com/nightowl to find deals on overnight routes.
  • When traveling, skip those rest stop burgers. Use Roadfood.com to find regional diners, clam shacks, and other local places. Yelp, Tripadvisor and Foursquare also advise on local places where you get the local experience and pay less.
  • When looking for appliances and used furniture, surplus remodeling supplies and othe furnishings look for a nearby Habitat for Humanity ReStore location.
  • Foam soap is just soap and water. Make your own using an empty foam soap bottle. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite liquid soap and the fill the bottle with water. Such a great savings!
  • Puzzled by “sell by dates’, “best if used before dates”, ” use by dates” and “freeze by dates”? Here’s a crib sheet. Sell by tells stores how long to display a product for sale but is not a safety date. Best if used by or before dates indicated when a product will be in it’s peak flavor and quality time. A use by date is the final date a product is estimated to be at it’s peak quality. The only exception is infant formula. In that case that date is set in stone. A freeze by date indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality. It is not a safety date.

Hope there was something useful for each of you who read this post. See you next month! Will next month be potatoes, shamkrock and stew? Who knows?!

Posted on

The Contest Is On!

We have turned the corner and now it is officially Fall! Fall is the time when a homeowner’s fancy turns to “The Contest”. What is that you ask? It is the time of year when you compete with your past and with others. It is the battle that separates the truly hearty from the mere posers. It is the ultimate battle of wills which you enter into with the cold temps, the dampness and your furnace. How long can I last without turning on my furnace? “Aim high” is my motto with at least a November 1 finish if not further. I must admit that I can stand the chill but when it is chilly and damp in the house my resistance begins to fade. Let the wagering begin! Keep in mind that I am very stubborn! However, I have lost to “put another sweater on” Karen in previous years.

Recipes

Crustless Zucchini Pie (kitchenfrau.com)

  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) oil (I use grapeseed oil)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup (140gms) flour (or 2/3 cup brown rice flour plus 1/3 cup potato starch or cornstarch)
  • 1 teaspoon  baking powder
  • 3 cups (720ml) grated zucchini
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 cup (240ml) grated cheddar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch deep-dish pie pan or baking dish. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, oil salt and pepper. Add the flour and baking powder and stir just until moistened. Stir in zucchini, onion and grated cheese. Spread into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes, until starting to get golden brown at the edges and the center is fully puffed up. Insert a knife into the center and if it comes out clean, the pie is done.

Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 6.

Banana Cake Mix Muffins

Cake Mix Banana Nut Muffins (thelazydish.com)

  • 1 box yellow cake mix or you can use chocolate
  • 3 large very ripe bananas
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (you can switch this up to another type of nut or chocolate chips)

This simple muffin recipe is always a hit! Plus you feel a little bit better about it when it’s loaded with fruit and nuts. Simply mix everything together, pour the batter into a lined muffin pan, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. (I used a banana cake mix and it was fantastic!)

Baked Oatmeal (pampered chef)

This recipe was wonderful! I served with fruit but syrup is also an option. Warm this is just simply BEYOND!

Alfredo Sauce (snappygourmet.com)

  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese good quality freshly grated (see note below)
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
  • Place a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt butter, then stir in minced garlic cloves. Cook about 1 minute or until garlic is soft and fragrant, stirring constantly.
  • Slowly add the heavy cream to the saucepan, whisk until cream comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 3-5 minutes or until it starts to thicken.
  • Stir in Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper until smooth and thick.

Hacking Away

*Recently, I had a slow drain situation in my kitchen sink. I poured a half cup of baking soda and 1 cup of apple cider vinegar down the drain. Then I put the plug in and left it that way for a few hours while I was gone. Presto! Change-o! Drains like a charm now!

*Sometimes you run into a bottle (in my case a vintage medicine bottle) and it has all that cloudy white stuff inside. The fix for that is to put some automatic dish soap in it with water and let it sit for a bit. It really cleans it up nicely. When I worked in an airport terminal cafeteria we cleaned the coffee pots with automatic dish soap and ice. Just swirl around a bit and it looks brand new.

*I know I have shared before how hydrogen peroxide is great for taking out blood stains. It is also wonderful at taking out stains from fruit. I remembered this when I came home with a bag of raspberries and sat it down on my upholstery covered dining room chair. (Imagine my surprise when I picked up the bag and saw a stain larger than a softball.) I keep my peroxide in a spray bottle. I grabbed that and sprayed the stain liberally. I let it sit a few minutes and it was gone.

*Do you ever get confused the phrases, sell by, use by, etc.? I do so hear this is to clear it up!

Best if used by/before – indicates how long a product will have the best flavor or quality. It doesn’t relate to safety or purchase date.

Sell By – this tells the store how long to offer the product for sale and for inventory management. It is not related to safety.

Use By – This the last recommended date the product should be used to be at its peak quality. It only relates to safety when used on infant formula.

Freeze By – This is the date by which a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality. It doesn’t relate to safety.

The answer to how long food is good or how to know when it is bad, is to use your senses rather than dates. Does it look bad? Does it smell bad?

Crafting Into Fall

Little Red Wagon

I had this little red wagon in my Christmas decor. I borrowed it for Fall and made two pumpkins using a roll of toilet paper, two bandanas, two pieces of driftwood and floral wire to make a little piece of vine coming from the top. I then made a messy bow for the front corner. There is a DIY from all Dollar Tree items to make a wagon also. You could also use any fabric you wanted to make the pumpkins. Just cut a square big enough that you can gather all the material up around the roll of toilet paper and tuck in the center.

Haunted House

All of the items to make this came from Dollar Tree. I painted a pizza pan with yellow acrylic paint and the haunted house wood cut out with black. Using E6000 glue and a few dabs of hot glue to hold it until the E6000 cured, I glued the house to the pizza pan. I used hot glue to glue the Jack-O-Lantern to the house and the bat to the moon. The bad was a clip on that came in a set of 4. I broke the clip off the back before attaching it. I made a haunted tree out of black, glittery craft stems (pipe cleaners) and glued it beside the house. I am just leaning mine but you could easily make a hanger on the back if you would like.

Chair Cushions

I collect those old wooden folding chairs like churches and firehalls used to have. Whenever I see them at a sale I pick them up for a reasonable price. They get used for extra seating when needed. I made cushions for them. I purchased bandanas from Dollar General and 11 inch by 1 inch thick square foam pieces from Walmart. I sewed the two bandanas together for each cushion. On the fourth side I sewed in a folded over piece of bias tape on each corner. That enabled the cushions to be tied to the backs of the chairs.

Hanging Decor

A friend gave me this cloth bag that she picked up from an estate sale. I just love the “chilled” lead shot! Anyway, I wanted to display it so I put a neat piece of driftwood in the bag and inserted some faux eucalyptus with it. I then used the sisal to tie it securely at the top of the bag. The sisal at the back of the bag provided a nice hanger.

Evil Lurking

So, check out the roof over the porch. What evil lurks at this house?

See you next month! Have a great one. Hope something struck your fancy in the blog post today and thanks for reading. Leave a comment! I love them.

Verified by MonsterInsights