St. Patrick's Day Pie Party

Our church has a woman's organization that has been around for 180 years this year. It is the largest women's organization in the world. It is called "Relief Society" and it was organized to provide relief for those in need. 

Every March, each church unit usually has a "birthday party" celebrating the organization. Today, we had our party, and celebrated the "pie" as well. 

I usually don't eat at these type of events as I am gluten free and don't expect them to provide anything for me as I am just one person and pie isn't something I care much about. I enjoy them, and used to make them often for holidays, but I usually just don't care enough about gluten sweets to worry about it anyway. 

My dear friend called me today and informed me that she was making me a gluten free berry pie for the event tonight. She looked up a gluten free pie and made it. I guess it was supposed to use jello to bind together the berries but she said it didn't "gel" and she worried it wouldn't be good. 

It was amazing! It was like a bowl of berries with a crispy cracker crushed over it as she said the crust fell apart. My friend that went to dinner with me before the event had some and she and I both went for seconds!  

They had a "Pie in the face" game but no one really wanted to play it, so they forced a few woman to play it. It was a nice evening and I feel blessed to have so many wonderful women in my life! 

Have a blessed day!

Fresh Carrot - Apple - and Ginger Kombucha

 I have been making Kombucha over the past year and I have tried many different flavors. 

I had some homemade green grape juice and really liked the flavor of the kombucha making it with that juice. 

I made some with apple cider and other times tried cranberry juice, but it became it super acidic and so I have learned to avoid using acidic juices or fruits. 

I tried putting bits of different fruit in the kombucha but the bigger pieces made it more fermented really quickly, so I didn't use fruit again. 

However, recently the food bank had large bags of carrots and apples to distribute, so I thought I would try making kombucha using carrots and apples using the juicer as thinking the juice may be less fermented using juice. 

The trick is to let the kombucha ferment to the right stage. A few weeks back I didn't have any juice in the house so I thought it would be good to try using some fresh fruit. I had a bunch of apples and carrots still, so I pulled out the juicer and made carrot and apple juice using the excess I had from the food bank. 

I also had some fresh ginger root so I put that in half of the jars to see if I liked the added ginger. 

I really liked the carrot and apple juice kombucha, but I added more ginger than needed as it is a strong flavor. I enjoyed it enough that I made this next back using the carrots and apples and being in a small town couldn't get any fresh ginger root, so I used powdered ginger and only used a small amount so I could get the flavor but not overwhelm the taste. 

I actually enjoy the flavor as there is the sweetness from the apple and carrots, but the carrot flavor isn't really strong. I have enjoyed the new flavor and thought I would blog it in case anyone else searched the internet for information on new flavor options. 

Have a blessed day!

Let The Holiday Cooking Begin - Days of Prep

I am not having all the girls for Thanksgiving this year, but I am having all the girls for Christmas. 

They rotate Thanksgiving as well. I only get all the girls every three years as one year they are at the in-laws, and the other year they stay home. I am very excited that they will all be here for Christmas and since the girls are going to be with the in-laws for Thanksgiving, I don't think I am going to do a full turkey over the thanksgiving holiday this year. 

Most of the girls will be here for a few days before Thanksgiving, so I decided that I would like to have all the meals made ahead of time and in the freezer so that I can just enjoy time with the family and not have to worry about baking and cleaning. 

I usually make muffins ahead of time for snacks and breakfasts, but as far as meals, I don't usually make meals ahead as they all like traditional holiday foods. Since they will be with the other side of the family, I can make what I would like! 

I have spiral ham in the freezer and made "funeral potatoes" to put in the oven for one meal. I made lasagna for another. Tonight I made Chicken Enchiladas, and tomorrow I will make the muffins. My freezers are full with just enough space for the muffins. I am excited that it will be done and I can work on getting the house ready for the next few weeks. 

I hope that we can enjoy spending time together without having to cook and clean. I am going to use paper so that there is no cleanup for each meal. 

It feels good to be ahead on the holiday. 

Have a blessed day!

Posting Over a Year Old Post Draft - Clearnace Shopping

I have been fighting another headache that started a few hours ago. 

I sat in the chair to blog. I started writing in my journal and just kept falling asleep. I kept waking with my headache being worse and worse, but I am so tired, I just kept falling back to sleep.  

I love clearance shopping. I try to buy gifts, prizes, or team treats when I knew there would be items for sale on clearance, but tried to buy things that could be "anytime" treats rather than things that were holiday specific. 

I also try and buy the chocolate melting discs on clearance for the following year, as they are usually $2 - $4 a bag, but after a holiday, you can get them for less than a dollar and sometimes $.50 or less. 

I use the candy melts for my Christmas popcorn treat. Here is a link to that post.

Who would have known in early April 2020, that we would skip an entire year of holidays where I would have used these treats, bags, and activities. 

I wasn't able to do our family Thanksgiving and Christmas parties like we have in the past due to COVID, and didn't want to keep the treats for over a year as I knew I would have the treats I purchased on clearance for a long time not having those family events. 

I had purchased an entire tote full of candy necklaces, ring pops, and some other Easter bags and activities.

With that, I decided to give these treats out for Halloween as we couldn't have kids over to do our traditional jewelry give away, (see how we give out jewelry here) so I tied a ring pop onto the candy necklaces and gave them out in a reverse "trick-or-treat". Here is a post about that.

I got the candy necklaces for $.25 each. The ring pops were two bags for a dollar and each bag had three rings if I remember correctly, so that is half what they are at the dollar store. 

I got the candy melts super cheap for the next treat needed, and the little gift bags, we used for our annual Easter Camp-out this year in 2021. 

I offered to let the girls have the cookie decorating sets, but they didn't want to do them, my grand-children aren't allowed red dye, which even the white icing contained, so I gave my nieces families all the cookie decorating kids I purchased for a dollar or two. They were happy to get them.

I love when I can find a bargain and I love to be able to share the things I find with others. I find joy in bringing joy. 

I may be posting some other old drafts as I have 85 drafts that I started and haven't ever gone back and finished, so this week of many headaches, I may just finish up some of those older posts I started. 

Never overlook the clearance section! It may be holding treasures! 

Have a blessed day! 

How To Freeze Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Squash, Potato, Yam, Butternut, Acorn, Banana, Squashes, Pumpkin

I got a case of sweet potatoes from our local food bank as they call me when they have overages. 

They asked me to help distribute them, so I spent a day and a half taking them to neighbors, friends, and agencies where I often take food when they have overages. 

I love yams and sweet potatoes. I learned years ago to purchase extra yams after the holidays when they are on sale and freeze them so I can afford to eat them later as when they are over $1 a pound, I can't afford buying them. 

I kept a case of the potatoes for myself to bake and freeze for the next few months. I actually purchase my yams for Christmas dinner early last year and baked and froze them so I would have less to take up space in the oven when baking the turkey and squash. 

Basically, I wash them, cut out any bad spots, leave the peel on as I like that but you can peel them if you want. I then bake them in a large baking pan, of on a lined cookie sheet and cover them with foil and bake until soft. 

I share in the video how I bake the yams or sweet potatoes until they are soft. Once soft, I mash them up and add butter, salt, and pepper to them and put them into containers and freeze them with the date and contents. 

I really like the black stackable containers that are BPA free sold in the ten pack. I can stack and label them and clearly see what is in them. Living alone, I don't eat much, I like to make food in bulk when available and then freeze it into containers so I can just bake or broil fish or chicken and pull out the veggies / rice etc from the freezer so dinner is easy. 

 Hope this video is helpful. Have a blessed day!

Service Always Seems to Benifit Me More Than Those I Serve

I called my sister about some things this morning and she sounded sick. She told me that she got a head cold and wasn't feeling great. I asked if I could do something for her as she said her daughter that is living with her was going into labor. 

I hung up and was feeling like I need to help her. I said a little prayer and had the thought that I should take over my ozone machine for my sister along with some iodine for her. 

I had the thought to take over some essential oils and to rub my nieces feet to help her labor along, and to take some other oils to rub my sisters feet. I also felt like they both could use some healthy food so I cut up fresh watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, bananas, and mandarins.

I went over and rubbed both of their feet for about 2 hours combined. I was glad I could do that for them as my sister is always so willing to help me out when needed. She seemed to be feeling better after so that was nice. 

My niece was having contractions but they weren't regular, but she said that my rubbing her feet was helping. She has had some preterm labor and some blood pressure problems recently so we are so grateful she has made it to a point where she can be safe having the baby. She is very ready to have her baby! It was fun seeing her daughter play today. She is the cutest thing and reminds me of her as a baby. It is wonderful to see my nephews and nieces having families of their own. 

While I was rubbing their feet, her twins were making french fries in her Electric Fryer. I have heard of electric fryers but have never seen one used or tasted anything made in them. They let me taste a fry and I LOVED IT! I can't eat fried food due to my fatty liver / no gallbladder symptoms. So, for me, it was a revelation! 

I told them I needed to look at buying one, and my niece said her mom had a smaller one she saved to give her, but they ended up getting one so she thought that maybe I could have the one her mom saved for her that was a bit smaller. 

It is perfect as I only need a small one and so I brought it home and put some fries in it. The first batch I made I just it the "fries" picture on the preset, but they were almost burned. I remembered at that point that my sister said she doesn't leave them in the entire time as they over cook. I put in another batch and did them for 15 minutes and they were just barely overcooked so I think next time I will put them in for about 13 minutes. It is like new and was easy to figure out! I am very happy about having this!

It has been about six years since I was able to eat fries and I used to LOVE eating shakes with fries. I had some ice cream I purchased when the girls were home this last weekend and I ate the ice cream using the fries as a scoop and was almost giddy with the flavor / texture / salty mix. I LOVED it. It took me back to the summer I graduated high school when we would get shakes and fries all the time. 

It always seems to happen that when I go somewhere thinking I am doing service, I end up getting more than I give! I appreciate that God always does this for me. I feel very blessed! \

I am glad I had the time and felt well enough to help them both today. I am excited to meet my nieces son and pray he arrives safely. I also hope my sister feels better soon so she can enjoy her new grandson! 

Have a Blessed day!

Where to Buy Portuguese Food Online in U.S. Chourico, Linguica, Bolo Levedo, Bolos, Sweet English Muffins

I lived on the East Coast for ten years. While living there, we were in a mostly Portuguese community with a local store where all the meat products were made, as well as a local bakery that made Portuguese breads. 

Having lived in the Boston area for many years, and having Portuguese family members, when we moved to the west, we started ordering items from those stores over the phone. I have ordered from "Michaels" store for over 20 years for certain Portuguese products. When I called them this time, I found that they don't freeze the items and wouldn't guarantee them arriving in good condition due to COVID. 

I then looked online at a company that my daughter found that sells the products from that famous store, but specialize in all Portuguese products. They ship on the days that the bread is made so it will be freshest and they freeze the meats so they will make it to you fresher. 

Recently, I made a large order of items as my step-mother loves Portuguese soup. She grew up in Hawaii, so they had many Portuguese living there. With that, she always enjoys when I make the soup for her and her mother. I made some over Thanksgiving and sent it to her home when my girls passed through their home town on their way home after the holiday. 

Our favorite products are Chourico or Linguica in all their forms, and at Easter time, Masa or Masada bread, when they have hard boiled eggs in them. But, their favorite item is Portuguese sweet English muffins called Bolo Levedo or "Bos Levs" as my kids have know them as since they were little. The company has been so helpful in getting things out so they would be fresh when getting to our home. 

I bought a package of the muffins for each of the girls, and enough sausage to fry up with eggs, make soup, and put some on my turkey over Christmas. It was a great addition to our holidays. The link to the company selling the items who were so great to help us is: shopportuguese.com and the meats are from a store called "Michael's" in MA. The online company is in Massachusetts as well. 

We enjoyed  frying up the Chourico for breakfast with hash-browns and eggs, enjoyed a few of the SPICY links on the turkey over Christmas. I will cut it up and fry it sometimes when I am craving it. I usually order the regular flavor, but I personally enjoy the spicy that is a bit hotter. Some in the family like it hot, and others just like the regular. 

I personally like the chicken chourico over the pork as I have a genetic issue not being able to break down fats. I can't do red meats for that reason, and even though I enjoy bacon flavor, I can't tolerate the fat very well so don't often eat it. I think the chicken tastes similar without the fat. 

One of the best parts of this order was that when I opened the box, several of the Portuguese sausage packages had a 111 on them! For more on that you can check out all my 111 videos by searching that in the search box, but here is the first post on the number 111.

I hope you enjoy the food as much as we do. Have a blessed day!

I Needed A Bit Of Sweetness Today

I was a bit sore today from yesterdays fall. I also realized that my phone is now having issues not only the crack but a clicking when I talked to others, they hear noises so that was frustrating. 

I also was watching a YouTube video on my Chromebook when the flood happened and it also fried from water damage and doesn't work, so my little flood yesterday was costly. 

I also went to the Chiropractor today because of my fall and am even more sore tonight. I picked up some groceries and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. After that, I thought I would like something sweet. Since Princess Four moved out, I haven't been eating them as much. I have lots of gluten free baking mixes that people have given me or I got when volunteering at the local food bank. 

I rarely bake anything gluten free as I don't tend to do well with them, but today, I thought I could use some sweetness in my life. I decided to clean out some frozen zucchini and apples from the freezer as well as a baking mix from the cupboard and had some walnuts that needed cleaning out. I made a huge batch of muffins to clean out all those items and ended up with four 1/2 Tupperware containers full to put in the freezer. 

They were really sunken for the first batches and then I added a bit more flour and rising agents and the second half were a bit better but in the end, the muffins tasted more like brownies. I added different items to each pan putting cranberries, crushed Heath bars, some chocolate chips, almonds, walnuts, and popcorn in the different batches. They are really good. I will have treats for months in the freezer. I probably shouldn't have made them but I really could use some sweetness in my world today. It has been a hard week! 

Have a blessed day!

Making Some Suckers With Friends - Fun Afternoon

I met a new friend in the past few months. I met her when I was delivering Halloween treats around the neighborhood trying to make sure my neighbors kids got treats as I didn't know if they would send their kids trick-or-treating, and I didn't want to have little kids coming around as I was trying to keep safe. 

Here is a link to my post about trick-or-treating. 

I asked some neighbors if they knew of anyone that was in the neighborhood who I may not know. They said a single mom moved in and had a few younger kids. I dropped over a few different times before I was able to find her home. 

I was glad to finally meet her and left the treats with her for her children who weren't home when I finally met her. Later, I met the girls at church and have since enjoyed visiting and keeping up with what is going on with them. 

I offered to have the girls over and make some homemade suckers and the girls were excited about the prospect. It took us several tries before we were able to get together to actually make the suckers. 

I was able to keep the girls for the afternoon while their mother went to work. We got to make homemade suckers as well as playing a few different games before their mom came to pick them up. 

We made four different flavors of suckers and the girls each got to pick two different flavors and they also picked the colors. It was fun having tween girls in the house again. They were very excited to take home the box of treats.

We loaded up a decorative box with ribbons tied around it which held all the suckers. I thought it was cute how much detail they took putting the suckers in the box. It was very calculated and decorative. I was just loading them in but they put them in by color and shape. It was super cute!

If you are interested in making homemade suckers, here is a link to a post about making them in the microwave. 

Here is part one about making homemade suckers where I describe flavors, sticks, etc. 

Here is part two about making suckers, lollipops, or hard candy treats.  

This wasn't the firs time I was able to spend the afternoon making treats with kids and playing games.  

Here is a link to a similar day years ago.  

I love that making suckers is a fun activity that most people enjoy, but it doesn't cost much once you have supplies.

Gluten Free Swiss Cheese and Jam Sandwich - Better Than Expected

My sister made some jam on New Years Eve. She found flats of strawberries and raspberries at a discount store last week along with some jalapenos and thought since they were inexpensive, she would try making some jam. 

She had tried it before and thought it was great, so she was excited to be able to afford making / trying it. When I went over to her home, she offered some jam and I told her I don't usually eat it due to the gluten free situation, but when she told me that it was spicy, I was excited to try it.

I don't normally eat jam or jelly and since I can't eat peanut butter anymore due to not handling fats well, and since I have been gluten free for so many years, I just don't use jam or jelly and if I get some, I share it with my daughter's family. 

I was interested in tasting the jam as I have never had jalapenos in anything sweet before. I have heard that it is good in chocolate and sweet things before but have never tried it. I have some gluten free crackers, but they are more savory and they were "OK" but it wasn't great. The jam does have a bit of a kick to it, but I thought it would be better with something non-savory. 

My sister said it is really good with cream cheese and crackers giving creamy and sweet, but I didn't have any cream cheese at home, so I decided to eat it with sliced Swiss cheese. It was really good!  

I am still craving Swiss cheese anyway, so eating it in the sandwich form with the jelly in between gives me the Swiss I am craving as well as a sweet and spicy kick! It is really good. 

I figured I would share the idea to use cheese as the bread along with the jam / jelly as I would have never thought of doing that before. I would try it with other jams as well even though I haven't eaten jam in years. It may become a new favorite! 

Have a blessed day!

Dishwasher Pods Caused My Dishwasher to Not Fill - Sticky Residue

I had an issue with my water not working when I turned on my dishwasher. It sounded funny and I checked to see what was making the noise, and that was when I noticed that the water wasn't flowing. 

I checked the float first, and noticed that it was stuck up. I tried to move it and it seemed stuck. I pulled it out and then put it back in and pushed it down and the washer inside got stuck on the top of the float support. 

I pulled off the washer and realized that there was lots of a sticky substance around the support and inside the float. I made sure that the switch inside the support was still moving and it was clicking fine. I put the float back on a few different times, and it still wasn't allowing water into the dishwasher. 

There was a bit of a build up around the basket at the bottom of the washer as well. I filled the bottom of the dishwasher with HOT water. I let it soak for about 1/2 hour. I then used a toothbrush to scrub the entire bottom of the dishwasher and the basket as well as all around the support of the float and inside the TOP of the float. 

I did NOT put water down inside the support for the float. There are electrical parts down inside that area, so be careful to NOT get water down inside that area. 

I then tried starting the washer again and there was NO hot water. The next day, NOTHING was touched from the night before, but when started, the dishwasher then started and the water was then able to work. I had just started using dishwasher pods within the two weeks before this issue started. I had similar issues with my washing machine. I believe that the "film" on the outside of the "pods" isn't breaking down completely and is causing a sticky residue almost like a glue, that causes the float to stick. 

Interestingly enough, the dishwasher soap dispenser in my Whirlpool, is exactly over the float in my machine, the plastic residue is what I believe is the problem. I made a video about my experience with my washing machine after starting to use the clothes washer pods and had a negative experience using them in the washing machine as well. 

I will make a post about my washing machine in the next few days and will share that story there. I had a repair man come for both machines and both are due to the pods. I won't be using them anymore! 

I am going to run a dishwasher cleaner through the machine. I made a post about that here. 

Have a Blessed Day!

How to Cut Watermelon FAST and UNIFORM in the Size Cubes or Chunks You Choose in 1 Minute

I have always cut my watermelon and other melons very fast being a single mom of five. Here is a link to the post I made on that a few years back. 

However, awhile back, I figured out a way to make the slices uniform and by widening or shortening the cuts, I found that I could cut the watermelon into any size squares, cubes, or chunks that are uniform and look good within just minutes. 

I cut the watermelon into four sections, then slice on both edges on an angle. Depending on how many angled slices you make on each side of the wedge, and then how close you make the slices from the top point of the wedge to the bottom of wedge, determines how many pieces and how large the pieces will be. 

In less than 20 cuts per section, (The amount of cuts depends on how larger or small you want the cubes or chunks to be) you can have it in the bowl. Once you have the side angled slices cut, then the top to the bottom, I slice between the rind and fruit.

Be careful to not cut yourself while cutting at an angle as sometimes the knife goes through the bottom on the opposite side so don't hold the melon while cutting on an angle. I hold it on the ends. 

To pour the cut melon into a bowl, I squeeze both ends of the melon and push the cut melon into a bowl. I find that the pushing on the edges gives you a bit more control how the melon goes into the bowl rather than falling outside the bowl.

The video shows me cutting the watermelon and even talking and explaining, I cut half the watermelon during the video so you will see how quickly you can cut the watermelon when not talking and explaining. ;-) 

Have a blessed day!