A Bit More

March 28, 2013March 25, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

We had so much fun dyeing Easter eggs over the weekend, I decided to hop on the natural dye agent train and go for a real ride. I had one skein of wool left after I finished making the woolens in this post, and a few left over beets from dyeing eggs. I decided I would try to dye the wool yarn. Here’s what I did…

Put the following ingredients in a large stainless steel pot:

4 large beets, peeled and chopped

16 cups water

4 cups white vinegar

Bring the ingredients to a boil. Let it slow boil for about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the yarn. (I tied off the skein a bit more too. I didn’t want it to get tangled while it “cooked.”)

Then remove the pot from the heat, cover and let it rest overnight. (Yes, just leave those beets in there…It’s fine.) Rinse the yarn 2-3 times in luke warm water.

Allow to dry completely on a drying rack.

Please Pass the Butter

March 21, 2013March 20, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Butter. Who doesn’t love its creamy sweetness, with the hint of salt, as it melts over a hot roll or freshly baked muffin?

During my substitute teaching stitch, my oldest daughter and I had to leave the house quite early, and our normal routine of homemade granola or pancakes for breakfast was not really a feasible option. We needed something fast, easy and delish.

So on Sunday afternoon, I whipped up a batch of muffins (I used this recipe). Then I froze the muffins so that I could pull out two the night before, allow them to defrost overnight, and then we had yummy muffins to eat in the car on our way to school. But what is a good muffin without butter?

This is quite possibly the easiest way to make homemade butter. Think elementary school when we all took turns shaking a baby food jar filled with cream until the butter formed. Same idea.

Simply pour some whipping cream in a glass bowl, and then mix it on high with an elective mixer.

You need to beat it past the point of whipped cream phase. You will start to notice a separation in the mixture.

Once there is a clear separation between the butter solids and watery substance, place the butter in a fine mesh strainer or in butter muslin until all of the moisture has been drained.

I like to then mix in a bit of salt. And you are set to go!

Be sure to keep your homemade butter in a sealed glass container in your fridge. It will stay good for about 5 days.

So Fresh and So Clean

March 19, 2013September 2, 2015 / makingofahome / 4 Comments

Amid the hustle and hustle of the past few weeks, I ran to the linen closet to grab a bar of soap and some lotion and found the shelves that normally house these items to be completely bare. So, we spent much of our St. Patrick’s Day afternoon making some new soap, lotion and deodorant.

I used my favorite lotion recipe from this amazing book, but instead using olive oil as I normally do, I used a cold-pressed organic grape seed oil. It ended up making a much lighter lotion, which I really like.

A friend of mine steered me towards this great homemade deodorant recipe, and after wearing it in a multitude of situations, I have found it to work wonderfully! In fact, I would even venture to say it works better than my organic store-bought deodorant.

And last but not least on our to-do list: soap. I created this recipe after researching those essential oils known for their anti-bacterial properties. I hope you enjoy this soap as much as we do!

Making of a Home’s Anti-Bacterial Soap

2 pounds Melt and Pour Soap Base (I use this Goat’s Milk Soap Base.)

1/2 cup palm oil

4 eye droppers of Vitamin E oil

20 drops clove essential oil

20 drops lemon essential oil

10 drops rosemary essential oil

8 drops eucalyptus essential oil

5 drops cinnamon essential oil

5 drops tea tree essential oil

a shallow pot or saucepan

a glass bowl

wooden spoon

soap molds (You can purchase these at your local craft store or here.)

Fill the pot or saucepan half full with water. Bring to a simmer. Place the glass bowl in the pot of water to create a double boiler of sorts. Place the melt and pour soap base, palm oil and the vitamin E oil in the glass bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until it melts. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the essential oils and stir. Allow the mixture to cool slightly (enough to thicken the mixture just a bit). Pour into your molds. Allow to rest until completely cool. Remove the soap from the molds. Allow the soaps to cure for about two weeks before you use them.

A Year In Review

February 15, 2013 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

It is hard to believe that this blustery day in February marks the one year anniversary of Making of a Home. Thank you so much to all of you who have been following my musings over the course of the last year! I am deeply grateful for each of you.

Today I would like to share with you some of my favorite (and your favorite) posts from this past year. Thank you again, and be on the look out for some new and exciting changes and additions to Making of a Home over the course of the next year.

Chocolate Anyone?

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Pastaless Lasagna

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Fuasa—Italian Easter Bread

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Generational Wealth

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Farm Fresh

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Ode to the Strawberry

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Retreat

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Grandma Dit’s Carrot Cake

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Canning Day

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New Chapter

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Suburban Homestead

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Walk with Us

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Thanksgiving 2012

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Musings

For the Love of Pie

January 23, 2013January 22, 2013 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

I am in love. I am in love with a book…all about pie. From as far back as I can remember, pies have donned the table of every family gathering. Whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas, Easter or Mother’s Day, or even The Fourth of July, pie seemed to take the lead as the star of the dessert show.

My husband has long known of my self-admitted pie obsession, and gave me a fabulous birthday present this year: A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies by one of my fav do-it-yourselfers Ashley English. After just one flip of the page I knew I was in love. Oh my. Each pie looks better than the last, and my girls and I found ourselves nestled on our couch, thumbing through the crisp pages, vowing to make each and every pie in the book by the end of 2013.

Inspired by the contents of this book, we decided to host an afternoon of pie tasting. Yes, you heard that correctly. We spent Monday afternoon, crowded in our warm kitchen with family and friends, eating nothing but pie and drinking mead and coffee. (I mean, you can’t very well eat a honey pie without honey mead to go with it now can you?) I think it was the tastiest afternoon I have enjoyed in some time. Yum.

Homemade Shave Oil and Shave Soap

January 22, 2013September 2, 2015 / makingofahome / 15 Comments

When you peek at the back of a shaving cream can, you may notice a longer list of ingredients than the processed food in the grocery store. Almost all of the ingredients are unpronounceable, and really a bit scary when you think of what impact those ingredients have on our bodies once they are absorbed into our skin.

My husband has been searching for a good shave soap for years now and he continued to come up empty handed. He has very sensitive skin and couldn’t seem to locate anything that worked, didn’t contain a ton of chemicals, and didn’t irritate his skin.

So, like many other things in our life, we decided to try our hand at making our own. My hubby has been extremely happy with how these products turned out, and he uses them on a daily basis, confident in the fact that toxins are not leaching into his system, and he does’t have to worry about skin irritation issues.

Sandalwood, Cedarwood & Bay Shave Oil

(Apply a small amount of this Shave Oil prior to shaving. Follow with Shave Soap.)

1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil

1 cup castor oil

10 drops sandalwood essential oil

10 drop cedarwood essential oil

5 drops bay essential oil

4 oz. amber bottles with lids (I bought mine here.)

medium-sized bowl

metal spoon

funnel

Mix the olive oil and caster oil in a medium bowl. Then, slowly mix in the three essential oils. Using a funnel, pour the shave oil into the amber bottles. Cap. Enjoy.

Sandalwood, Cedarwood & Bay Shave Soap

(Place a bar of this soap in the bottom of a large mug. Thoroughly wet a shave brush and then vigorously rub it over the bar of shave soap. Lather the soap on your face and you are ready to begin shaving.)

1 pound Melt and Pour Soap Base (I use this Goat’s Milk Soap Base.)

2 teaspoons bentonite clay (I purchase mine from this local natural food store, but you can get it here.)

10 drops sandalwood essential oil

10 drops cedarwood essential oil

5 drops bay essential oil

a shallow pot or saucepan

a glass bowl

wooden spoon

soap molds (You can purchase these at your local craft store or here.)

Fill the pot or saucepan half full with water. Bring to a simmer. Place the glass bowl in the pot of water to create a double boiler of sorts. Place the melt and pour soap base in the glass bowl. Stir the base with a wooden spoon until it melts. Remove the bowl from the heat and quickly mix in the clay. Then add the three essential oils and stir. Allow the mixture to cool just slightly (enough to thicken the mixture just a bit). Pour into your molds. Allow to rest until completely cool. Remove the soap from the molds. Enjoy.

Venison Chorizo

January 14, 2013 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

My hubby has been out there in the wee hours of the morning, waiting patiently for a deer to meander his way for a long time now. Eight years if we are counting. But who is really? Well, after all this time, it finally happened. We have fresh venison! And I must say it is a festival of all things venison around here these days….venison stew, venison burgers, venison meatloaf…and as of yesterday, venison chorizo. Yum.

The whole family got involved yesterday afternoon, as the temperature around here plummeted into the single digits and we were forced indoors. We used our absolutely favorite chorizo recipe from Rick Bayless’ Mexico One Plate at a Time, substituting the pork shoulder the recipe calls for, with venison.

We purchased this meat grinder yesterday, to assist with the process, and once we got going and figured out how the machine actually worked, we were well on our way to a delicious dinner.

And to my absolute astonishment, after we finished making the chorizo, each gal gobbled up a bunch of mini chorizo burgers they had hand-crafted themselves!

Yam Fries With Spiced Aioli

January 10, 2013September 3, 2015 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

With winter now in full swing, I am trying to get seasonal ingredients on the table as much as I can. This week I tried out a new experiment with fresh yams I found at the store. This recipe made for a nice sweet and salty treat that the kids just gobbled right up. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3/4 cup canola oil, plus additional oil for frying

1 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of pepper

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, plus more for garnish

4 large yams

For the aioli: Whisk the egg yolk with the Dijon mustard. Very slowly, drop by drop, add the canola oil while whisking briskly. The mixture should start to thicken. Once all of the canola oil has been added, then very slowly, add the olive oil. Continue to whisk while adding the olive oil. The key is to add the oils very, very slowly while whisking continuously. (This may take some time to master. If the oil breaks, don’t get frustrated, it happens. You could try again, or like I’ve done many a time, just eat it anyway 🙂 It still tastes pretty yummy, it’s just not the greatest consistency.) Once both oils have been added, mix in the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour into a bowl and garnish the aioli with a pinch of nutmeg.

For the yams: Slice your yams into small strips. Pour about one inch of canola oil in a pan and heat it. (A trick is to sprinkle a drop of water in the oil once the oil has been heating for a while. If the water sizzles when you add it, you know the oil is hot enough.) Add a handful of the yams to the hot oil and allow to fry for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the oil and allow to rest on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain off the excess oil. Salt to taste. Serve with the aioli.

*A note about all my recipes: I use all organic ingredients, local when available. I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified. All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished. All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.

Brew and Moo

January 8, 2013January 6, 2013 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

The mercury had risen just a touch, but enough to make it bearable outside. The snow fell lightly upon the ground, leaving a white dusting on the roofs of houses and the paved roadways. This past weekend we took full advantage of this beauty. I kept the kitchen warm with the stovetop all abustle, and the smell of warm milk in the air. Meanwhile, my hubby could be found in the nearby garage, reading and mixing his brew with the aromas of hops pouring forth into the crisp air outside. The girls frolicked in the snow, while the cat sat perched in a tree, taking in all the action.

My oldest daughter and I used our favorite cheese kit and made two pounds of fresh mozzarella cheese. (You can check out our previous cheesemaking experience here.) For the first time, I allowed her to truly assist me by slowly stirring the curd and then stretching it, adding salt, and then forming it into small balls of deliciousness. The best part of the entire experience was when this six year-old, who normally only likes “cooked cheese,” took a ball of fresh mozzarella and bit in. She said, “Well, I only like cheese that I make. That’s the only kind I’ll eat.” Love.

The holidays left us empty handed in the home-brew department, so my husband brewed three fresh batches this weekend. He tried out a new brewing kit, and then made two tried and true favorites…a caramel creme ale and a fabulous breakfast stout.

The finished products of the day: beer, cheese and a bit of hot chocolate of course. Is there anything better? Yum!

Musings

December 4, 2012December 4, 2012 / makingofahome / 5 Comments

It has come to my attention as of late, that my blog sometimes leaves moms feeling inadequate in their role as parent. Please know, this has never been my intention.

Two and a half years ago, when I made the enormous leap to leave my paying job and stay home with my little ones, I was met with reactions that I never expected. People flooded me with questions like, “Why would you want to just stay home?” and “What on earth will you do all day when you are sitting at home?” and “Why would you want to leave a career you have worked so hard for, and invested so many educational hours and dollars.” This reaction sent me reeling for a very long time.

Then, as I stated in my “About” page, once I took the step and was enjoying my time home with my daughters, I still felt a sense of isolation because I didn’t feel as if I fit in with many of the moms I came into contact with. It was at this time that I leaned heavily upon the holistic-momma-type blogs that I regularly follow, for the support I needed to get through the day to day that we all know can seem so very long sometimes.

I then decided to create a space of my own, right here, where other moms like me could go for crafty ideas, recipes, or just plan ole mommy support. My sincere intention was, and still is, to simply put forth musings that may be useful to others. And please do remember, this space is offering just that, musings. This is not, by any means, a minute by minute account of my life. You may see a sewing project I just completed, but you don’t see the enormous pile of laundry that has been sitting in front of my Christmas tree for over a week now, so that I could complete that sewing project. (I have included a picture of this now for your enjoyment 🙂 ) You may see a yummy home-cooked meal I prepared on a Monday night, but you don’t see me serving up popcorn, apples and cheese for dinner on a Friday night as we rush out the door for a tumbling lesson. My point being, we are all human, and no one is super woman. At least I’ve never met her. We are all just trying to do the best we can for the little people God blessed us with.

And through this space, conversations have been opened up and valuable discussion has flourish in the waiting room of my daughters’ dance school, and in the parking lot of their preschool. This blog has helped me to realize I am not alone in many of the decisions I make, and there are many people, right here in my very own community, who are trying to live a more conscious lifestyle in which they try to dig deeper and live more closely to the earth. And I am so very grateful for each and every one of you who visit my blog daily, and for those that just stop by every once in awhile. All of you have sincerely helped me to feel better in my own skin, and for that I am eternally thankful.