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!

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 :)

Dinner With Friends

Last evening we had the pleasure of having the hubby's high school friends over for supper.  The night before I spent prepping (which I loved!!) and prepared cucumber salad, potato salad, jello-vanilla strawberry pie (yummy!!), corn on the cob, and a chicken marinade.  It was one of my first experiences preparing a meal for 6+ people all alone.  I shouldn't say alone, though, one of the friends brought salsa, chips, mixed berries and some hamburger to contribute.  We had a great meal!  We started off the evening with a pool party while the hubby grilled.  Then enjoyed the meal on the picnic table.  After, we headed inside to some much needed AC and had dessert.  It was so wonderful to get the 'gang' all together again.  One couple is heading to Tennessee for schooling so it'll be while before we see them again.  Our other friends live just north of the TC so we are lucky we get to see them more often, but we always enjoy time we get to spend together. 


Light Strawberry Pie Recipe

1 graham cracker crust
1 package instant vanilla pudding (fat free, sugar free)
1 package strawberry jello (fat free, sugar free)
1 container of strawberries, cleaned and sliced
1 container fat free cool whip

Prepare vanilla pudding and jello as directed.  Mix vanilla pudding, jello and strawberries and pour into graham cracker crust.  Place in fridge until firm.  Top with fat free cool whip!

Makes 8 servings (decent size).