Tornado Alley

I'm sitting here watching the weather waiting for Hubby to make it home from work. I grew up in Texas so usually tornado watches don't bother me, it's part of living here. But after all the destruction in Cleburn & then Oklahoma, there is tension in the air.
I came across this post How God Feels About Storms, through another blog I was reading. It is very well written. My prayer has become for God to comfort the broken hearts, & to keep everyone safe from these newly approaching storms. Everyone be safe!

Dandelion

This weeks photo challenge was a challenge for me. The theme is Action, I had no ideas. Today I decided to take a picture of a candle flame... boring, but I didn't want to skip the week. Then I looked out the window at our lawn that desperately needs to be mowed... don't judge it's been raining! At least that's my excuse for the minute ;) I saw a dandelion that somehow was still full of seeds after these storms! Now let me tell you, trying to blow the seeds off a dandelion while also holding the camera is no easy task. So I am very happy this pic turned out! I took several more, all blurry, so this one was meant to be!

I love the single seed ready to blow away! I also love that my hand looks like my mom's hand in this pic, but whiter ;) yes my mom can tan, no I cannot : /

Have you ever had one of those aha moments? I like this idea alot more than a candle burning.

Scrapbooking Girls Night!

Sunday night I got together with my sisters & my adopted mom to scrapbook! It had been way to long since any of us had scrapped!

I clearly did not know this pic was being taken lol, but that's my sticker collection... yes I'm kind of a scrapbook supply hoarder ;)

We were working on scrapbooks for a Disney Trip, an Ireland trip, dating (even though we are all now married... sometimes we get behind in our scrapping), and handmade paper flowers for scrapping. We were just having a great time!

 Sorry about the graininess of this pic, my IPhone decided not to be friendly with me : / But look at that cute mama! This weeks theme for my Photo Challenge is Motherly Love. This was my choice for this week's pic. She's a great mommy! :)

 And a cute pregnant lady :)

 We are very excited aunts!

 We are also very silly aunts ;)

Very soon we will be teaching Niecephew all about crafting! 

Spring Has Sprung

Saturday I went to the Farmer's Market with my mom, Hubby's mom, my sister, & my Niecephew in her tummy :) I LOVE our Farmer's Market! There is so much to taste & buy! We always eat healthy the week after I make a trip out there. I buy more than I should which means I find new & yummy ways to fit fresh produce into every meal. So maybe I am buying exactly how much I should!

Sister & Niecephew, Me (I've lost 5 lbs so far!), & my mom, Hubby's mom had to leave before we remembered to take the pic.

After looking at all the wonderful produce we went to the garden section. I have been wanting to grow some herbs & veggies in our back yard, but have been afraid to start the process. I'm not what you would call good at growing things. I have killed a tomato plant in a Topsy Turvy, which are supposed to be easy to use! I have also killed an aloe vera plant : / But I braved it & decided to grow my own cilantro. The super informative woman, who I wanted to bring home with me to keep my plants alive, told me that regular cilantro dies out, seeds, & regrows every year. This was sad news, I use cilantro ALL the time! So she told me I should get Asian Cilantro which grows year round & has a spicy kick. I was all over that! Anything that adds more spice is what I want!

Hubby's mom has a green thumb, so we went shopping for soil & compost to plant our beauties from the Farmer's Market & she helped me plant my cilantro in a container. I think I'll have more of chance keeping it alive in a container :)

See all the beauties she has growing in her back yard! With her help, I may have a fighting chance ;)

I found this sign while out shopping for soil & instantly knew it had to be the subject of photo challenge this week. The theme is Spring has Sprung.
So what springy things are you doing this year? Maybe next year I'll get the courage & will have a nice garden to show off to you!

Photo Challenge Time

This weeks photo challenge theme is Something Old, so since I just finished a round of "old fashioned" canning I chose my marmalade as my subject :)

I love these jars especially, Hubby's mom found them in her garage. I love the detail in the designs! Any jars I buy nowadays are just plain, but these are sooo pretty! I may have to start a hunt for old canning jars :)

Sugar Free Mandarin Marmalade

Have you ever found such an amazing deal on something that it changed your weekend plans?! Well I found such a deal on mandarin oranges! So I decided to spend the majority of the weekend making marmalade :)

Yes I bought alot! (but marmalade makes a great Christmas present!)

I'm going to give you my recipe to make 4 pints, I doubled the recipe so I could make 8 pints at a time. Then, I made several batches of that :)

Start with 4 cups of mandarin segments, which is about 16 mandarins. And 1 1/2 cups lemon segments or about 3 lemons. Wash all the fruit, because some of that peel is going in the marmalade.

Put an extra large pot of water on high & bring it to just before a boil. Submerge your jars & lids in the water to sanitize & get hot to soften the glue on the lids.

Then, using a potato peeler, peel off the orange part of the skin, trying to not get as much of the white underneath as possible. The white can be bitter & spongy, so not something you want in your marmalade. After you have finished peeling off the outer layer, peel the white off & throw it away.

You will do the same with the lemons. Make sure you breathe really deep while peeling the lemon, isn't that the greatest smell?! Makes me think of lemon meringue pie!

Then segment the orange, cut off the white in the middle, & cut the segment in half.

Continue until you have 4 cups of orange segments (in my first batch I did not cut the segments in half, but decided during cooking that it would help them break down into the marmalade better, so you are welcome to learn from my experience :).

Do the same with the lemon slices, making sure to get out any seeds. I found very few seeds in the mandarins, but the lemons made up for it!

Now you will want to start your canner heating up so it's at a nice boil when you need it. I had to take my jars off the stove to do this. If you have a big enough stove to have the jars & the canner on it while also cooking the marmalade, then more power to you (& can I come use your kitchen next time I'm canning?!)

Put the peels in a large pot with 2 cup water & 1/8 tsp baking soda & bring to a boil. Once they are boiling turn it down to simmer & cover with a lid for 20 minutes.

While the peels are simmering, stir together 1/2 cup splenda & 4 Tbsp Ball Real Fruit No Sugar Pectin in a large bowl (if you are using the boxed pectin, you will need to use 1 1/3 boxes, the Ball pectin requires less than the boxed pectin). At this point you can add some spice if you would like. Consider 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon, or ginger, or clove. Our favorite was adding both cinnamon & clove to a batch :)

Then stir the fruit into the Splenda- Pectin mixture. Let sit until peels have finished simmering.

Add the fruit to the peels & add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer, put a lid on it & let simmer for 10 minutes.

Once it is done simmering, add 3 1/2 cups splenda & stir together well & bring back to a rolling boil. Let it boil for one minute, while stirring.

Now it's time to put the marmalade in the jars! I highly recommend Ball's funnel, it has a large mouth to catch drips, which is great if you aren't so neat in the kitchen :)

Fill the jars to where the neck starts, or to 1/4 inch from the top.

Put the lids & rings on them & put them in the boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes take them out of the water canner & let sit to seal & cool overnight. I also highly recommend these special can tongs made by Ball, they hold the can securely, which is important when dealing with boiling hot breakable jars! As they cool, they will "pop" when they seal. I see this as them telling me good job on the canning ;) Any that do not seal (the top still clicks when pressed on) can be put in the fridge & eaten first.

Now you have mandarin marmalade to enjoy! I see a marmalade covered pork tenderloin in my future! Below is the printable recipe.

Sugar Free Mandarin Marmalade

Makes 4 pints

about 16 mandarin oranges (4 cups once segmented)

3 lemons (1 1/2 cups once segmented)

1/8 tsp Baking Soda

4 cups water

4 cups Splenda

4 Tbsp Ball Real Fruit No Sugar Pectin

1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon or ground ginger or ground clove (optional)

4 pint canning jars with lids & rings

Wash all the fruit, because some of that peel is going in the marmalade.

Put an extra large pot of water on high & bring it to just before a boil. Submerge your jars & lids in the water to sanitize & get hot to soften the glue on the lids.

Then, using a potato peeler, peel off the orange part of the skin, trying to not get as much of the white underneath as possible. The white can be bitter & spongy, so not something you want in your marmalade. After you have finished peeling off the outer layer, peel the white off & throw it away. You will do the same with the lemons. Then segment the orange, cut off the white in the middle, & cut the segment in half. Continue until you have 4 cups of orange segments. Do the same with the lemon slices, making sure to get out any seeds.

Now you will want to start your canner heating up so it's at a nice boil when you need it. I had to take my jars off the stove to do this.

Put the peels in a large pot with 2 cup water & 1/8 tsp baking soda & bring to a boil. Once they are boiling turn it down to simmer & cover with a lid for 20 minutes.

While the peels are simmering, stir together 1/2 cup splenda & 4 Tbsp Ball Real Fruit No Sugar Pectin in a large bowl (if you are using the boxed pectin, you will need to use 1 1/3 boxes, the Ball pectin requires less than the boxed pectin). At this point you can add some spice if you would like. Consider 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon, or ginger, or clove. Then stir the fruit into the Splenda- Pectin mixture. Let sit until peels have finished simmering.

Add the fruit to the peels & add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer, put a lid on it & let simmer for 10 minutes.

Once it is done simmering, add 3 1/2 cups splenda & stir together well & bring back to a rolling boil. Let it boil for one minute, while stirring.

Now it's time to put the marmalade in the jars! Fill the jars to where the neck starts, or to 1/4 inch from the top. Put the lids & rings on them & put them in the boiling water canner for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes take them out of the water canner & let sit to seal & cool overnight. As they cool, they will "pop" when they seal. Any that do not seal (the top still clicks when pressed on) can be put in the fridge & eaten first. Enjoy!

My Niecephew

My sister had sonogram pics taken of my niecephew (which is what I will be calling the baby til we know if it's a niece or nephew) And I can already tell that my niecephew is adorable!!! :) I can't wait til I can really see the baby face to face!
This weeks theme for the photo challenge is sweet, so I took a pic of the sonograms cuz that's the sweetest thing I could think of!