Always Learning

I love to learn but it isn't always fun when you learn from your own mistake.

 After Thanksgiving I had an abundance of ham broth so I decided to try my hand at canning beans.

My canning book states adding beans until 1-inch from the top...this turned out to be too many beans. 

I ended up with beans and very little broth! Next time I will put less beans in the jars.

Broth

Making broth is so easy and each year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I look forward to making turkey broth.

 This year one of our local stores had celery on sale 3 packages for $1-dollar!

And onions 3-pounds for $1-dollar!

So I bought extra and packaged it up for making soup or stock later in the year.

This year I decided to can my broth instead of freezing it. Now that I am hooked on Tattler lids I find myself wanting to can even more than normal. I just love these lids more and more!

Aside from using broth for soup I like to use it in rice, taco meat or any recipe that calls for water. Broth adds such a wonder flavor and richness to foods.

Giving Unexpected Gifts

 Last week I saw and fell in love with the cutest piggy fabric. 

I thought it would make a fun gift and promptly went to the store for a coordinating kitchen towel. 

 A quick internet search for a printable template (found here); so I didn't have to create my own.

 And quick as a flash I had a towel made and ready to give as a gift.

 I was so happy with the end results.

After the towel was made I began thinking it would go well with a piggy egg beater I had seen earlier this year at a kitchen store.

 Now all that was left was wrapping up the gift. Instead of hunting for a box I decided to use a fabric bag instead.

Not only was the gift completely unexpected but the bag was a big hit as well!

Bread Making

 When I make bread typically I bake it in a traditional glass pan or a long narrow metal pan. The narrow pan makes a loaf similar to store bread which works well when slicing for sandwiches.

However, lately I have been wanting a new pan and thought a traditional pan that was a little longer in length would be nice.

 So today I visited a local kitchen specialty store and found just what I was looking for. It was a whopping $15 bucks but I do bake a lot of bread so I figured $15 would be a good investment.

 My favorite part of the pan are the ends; I love how the metal folds over.

Of course I just had to try out my new pan to make sure I liked it.

And I am very pleased with how it worked.