DIY: Jolly Rancher Vodka

It's that time of year again - Holiday Season!  I love it - every stressful aspect of it!  Each year I get better and start shopping earlier for Christmas Gifts. This year I'm making lots of homemade gifts.  One of which is Flavored Vodka.  I don't have a lot of friends that LOVE vodka, but I know a couple special gals who will really love this fruity treat.  It's pretty simple to do - but I added pictures just to make it a bit more fun :)

Ingredients you need:
1. Vodka (I used Karkov)

2. Jolly Ranchers (about 12 per 8oz of vodka)

3. Some sort of storing device (I chose this pretty flasks from The Container Store)

Step 1:
Wash your containers!  No need to sterilize them though, you are putting vodka in them :)


Step 2:
Separate out your jolly ranchers by flavor/color.

Step 3:
Insert separated jolly ranchers into appropriate containers!!  Remember: about 12 ranchers per cup!

Step 4:
Fill flasks with vodka until almost full!

Step 5:
Shake them up every few days. The jolly ranchers will dissolve on their own and your vodka should be ready within a week! 

When it gets closer to Christmas I will show you how I decorate the bottles for gifts :)

The Vodka just hours after it's prepared...already dissolving!

Canning Adventures!

This past weekend, Jessica Malone and I canned.  It was awesome and exhausting!  We definitely made a whole weekend out of it!  On Friday night, we canned dill pickles.  Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn and pulling into the Farmer's Market right when it opened!

Yes, that's the clock in my car.  We had to take a picture because otherwise we were afraid people would not believe we actually got up that early on a Saturday!

We bought all our produce and headed to a place called Granny's Donuts for a quick breakfast.  I will have to share more about that place another time.  It's got a great little story behind it and is such a great bakery in West St. Paul.  We made another quick stop to the grocery store for some seasonings and were chopping and peeling by 9am!

Peeling Tomatoes!

Jess taught me a great trick about peeling tomatoes that I hadn't done before.  I'm sure it's well known to the canning world, but this was our first time canning without someone else who really knew what they were doing!  We boiled the tomatoes for 30-45 seconds and then plunged them into ice cold water.  The peeling just slipped right off - it was awesome!  And saved us soooo much time!  I also used my food processor for parts of the chopping process.  We had a nice mixture of chopped tomatoes and pureed tomatoes for a perfect consistency.

Then we chopped onions, peppers and added all the seasonings!

We mixed it all up and started boiling it on the stove.  Once simmered for what we deemed "an appropriate time" which I can't honestly tell you, because we didn't keep track - we filled jars and put them in the canner.

We canned them for 15 minutes and let them cool enough so we were sure the pressure cooker wouldn't blow up and then took them out :)



Viola!  Finished product!

Sadly, we didn't get a picture of all the jars we did.  However, we made mild, medium and hot salsa.  We took a Caribou break for an hour or so, but for the most part our canning adventure lasted from 5am-8:30pm on Saturday.  Then we decided to can some raspberry rhubarb jam on Sunday. 

We prepped the rhubarb on Saturday night so it could soak in sugar overnight. Then we added the raspberries!  

And boiled it on the stove.

We decided to hot water bath our jam, just to mix things up and give us full exposure to two different types of canning.  And after 10 minutes or so they were ready!

How cute!!!

Overall, VERY successful canning weekend!  Thanks Jess!

Canning, Football, Friends, Fun!!

My weekend was filled with fun.  I'm exhausted!  Friday night, I canned dill pickles (read bout it here). Saturday morning I woke up at 5:10am and headed to the farmer's market for my produce to can some salsa!  Yum!!!  And it was so much fun - and lots of work.  I have a bunch of pictures, but they are on my friend's camera so you will have to wait to see them until tomorrow or something.  We canned ALL DAY!  Then Sunday we made raspberry rhubarb jelly and rhubarb muffins.  Sunday afternoon we headed to a friend's house for some Vikings football and even though we didn't win, it was still a wonderful time!  Our host made bbq ribs, corn muffins, cucumber salad - wow!  I ended the night reading a book - all in all, successful, fun filled weekend!!

And I made a new friend - and we are going to start a book club!  I can't wait!

Dill Pickles!!!

I love Fall.  I love Fall for so many reasons.  One of these reasons is because it's canning season.  Today Jessica Malone and I canned - dill pickles!  It was my first time canning pickles myself and Jess's first time ever.  For a couple of newbies, we did pretty well!  I can't wait to taste them in 4 weeks when they will be completely finished.  Here are a few of our pictures to document our adventure:

Washing cucumbers - with a brand new toothbrush, no worries ;)



Beautiful garlic!



All Clean and Ready to be canned!



Jess, stuffing jars!



 

Me, stirring the pot



Filling Jars with Vinegar solution

Final Product! 2 dozen quarts - well almost!

 We have been preparing for salsa and pasta sauce tomorrow!  Stay tuned for pics of our adventures tomorrow :)

DIY: Coasters

I love do to crafts!  A couple years ago, I decided to make my own coasters with a theme that matches our house - "Northwoods".  This is what I came up with:

I used slate tiles from Home Depot, a stamp from the Internet that I found, permanent ink, some felt for the back and some polyurethane sealant to keep out moisture and keep my pictures nice!

My cousin is having a bridal shower in the TC today(!) and since she won't read this before I go to her shower I will tell you that I decided to make her a set.  I've included instructions in case you want to make your own or just love to read about DIY projects! =)

Some of my supplies:

Ink, Slate tiles, and decorative stamp!

Glue and felt for the back!

1) The first step is getting all your supplies - the whole project only takes a few hours so it's best to have everything ready. 

2) Clean your slate tiles with a damp cloth, then let them dry completely before going to step 3.  You want to get all the dirt and grime off so the ink sticks better.

3) Ink your stamp and place on designated area of tile. 

4) Let them all dry before proceeding to step *6*.

5) While the tiles are drying.  Take your felt and cut them into square pieces that are near the same size as the coasters, but not equaling them (you don't want your edges to show).

6) Place tacky glue on the felt and pick up tile and place 'square on' the felt.  Push down to secure the felt in place.  Now you have a no scratch surface for the bottom of your coaster - they are glass and wood safe!

7) Spray the adhesive polyurethane all over the coaster and let dry!

Viola!!!  You are done and have a beautiful new set of coasters for yourself or to give as a gift!

*For Sale - please contact me if you are interested in purchasing a set of you own - different styles/colors/sizes available. 

Day of Frustrating Things

I know it's Monday and I'm hoping everyone in blogworld is coming back from an exciting fun weekend, so I don't mean to put a damper on anything, however, I need to vent about just a couple teeny tiny things.

1) My husband lost his phone over the weekend - again.  In the past 5 years, he has lost 3 phones to the water, lost one and did have one that we gave to charity.  My husband needs one of those military phones that are indestructible - because if it can break, he can manage that.  It's not sooo much the breaking though, it's the dropping it into the lake that's usually the problem.  This time, though, he just left it at the hospital. He came home on Friday evening and told me he forgot his phone there.  Now, if it were me (because I love my phone) I would have turned around and went back for it, especially on a Friday, knowing I won't get it until Monday.  Nope, not him.  He said he left it in his white coat so he will pick them both up Monday.  Well, guess what, it's Monday and it's not there.  SO, hopefully some good Samaritan turned it into security or something, but I'm not too optimistic.  Being the "organized" (haha!) wife that I am, I checked out our account to find out eligibility for upgrades, what our insurance would cover, etc.  And you know what?  He would have been eligible for an upgrade on Sept. 9th.  Yep, like 2.5 weeks away.  Nice.  As far as I can tell we don't have insurance on it either. So what we will probably have to do is use my upgrade (since I'm eligible) and get him a new phone and then I'll use his upgrade in Sept - just like we did last year when his phone took a swim in Lake Bemidji. 

2) People that have blogs and have used the url of something I want but aren't actually utilizing their blog. For instance, I still need a new name, so I looked up metoo (dot) blogspot.com and it's taken.  allthatglitters is taken too and so is allthatglittersisgold.  I don't know I'm attracted to the names with glitter in them, probably because it reminds me of princesses and I feel I should have been one ;) wait, that's for a different post - my castle one (at some point) =)

3)  This is a split complaint - celebration number because a) my co-ed softball team won the championship last night and it was a blast!!!!  BUT b) I hurt my foot/ankle/heel..not sure what you want to call it by my whole foot throbs and I can't walk on it very well and that's super frustrating.

4) Because my foot hurt so  much I didn't want to get out of bed, which made my morning not as productive as I'd like (hence the later blog post) and also made me miss getting my caffeine shot - my tea. 

5) and I'm freezing.  This office is so cold - all of the time.  I have a sweater on but it's not helping and then you go outside and it's 80+ degrees....makes no sense to me at all. 

Okay, done.  Now that I was able to get that all out of my system I can smile and the rest of my day and week will go well =)

10 Things

As I've mentioned before, I love reading blogs.  I know I'm stealing this idea from a few blogs I currently follow, but it's such a fun and positive way to start out the day (especially with my rant and rave yesterday), so I am going to tell you about 10 things that make me happy right now (in no particular order).

1.)  Tailors! I'm short, I've always been super short and will continue to be short - I'm pretty sure I'm done growing.  So, I love tailors because I just bought 2 new pairs of dress pants and will need them to be hemmed.  I should learn to do this myself.  I can sew, but it's easier right now to let someone else do it for me - especially since I paid so much money for my dress pants - I'd hate to screw it up!

2.) Iced Raspberry Tea - I have told you about my love affair with Caribou Coffee before, yes?  Well, if not, I'm obsessed, but it's an expensive habit, so instead I have made my own form of my favorite tea.  I just brew lipton black tea, place it in the fridge overnight and add some sugar free raspberry flavoring to it in the morning with some ice cubes (also made from tea, see this gal's blog for the idea).  It's delicious and especially nice on these hot mornings of summer!

3.) Cucumbers - they are in season and they are my all time favorite veggie!

4.) Air Conditioning - seriously, I dont't know how people survived without it for so long.  Yes, it's still hot here.

5.) Blogs - really, they are one of my favorite things!  Can't you tell?

6.) Bonfires - I am about to enjoy one this evening - can't wait!

7.) Thunderstorms - but not on the night that I enjoy my bonfire, obviously ;)

8.) A good book, currently "Toxin" by Robin Cook - nothing beats a good novel.

9.)  Farmer's Market Flowers - can't wait to buy me a bunch of them...only $5 for a HUGE bouquet that would easily cost $20 in the store.

10.) My husband, without him my life would just not be as wonderful!

So, Greece - anyone?



Greece.  That's going on my list too!  My hubby and I like to scuba dive and the sites I've been exploring lead me to beautiful Santorini Greece (pictured below).  It's exactly what I picture when I think of Greece - beautiful white buildings on a hill and (not pictured) millions of stairs ;)

Now I don't want to give the impression that I will be going to any of these places I post about anytime soon.  They are but dreams of places I want to go sometime in my life.  But,  if you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I'm all about setting goals and finding ways to achieve them, as well as learning different ways to motivate myself.  Travel motivates me.  Find what works for you and write it down - via blog, journal, post-it notes, scraps of paper you can fold up in your pocket or put on your mirror - and look at it often.  Remind yourself why you are working so hard.  And maybe someday we can meet up in Greece! (If travel is your thing :) )

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself.

Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice"