Tuesday, October 04, 2011

The Sauce Boss!

A while back I stumbled upon an article about Giada De Laurentiis being the "Sauce Boss" of the food network. I watched her sauce being made and instantly wanted some. I've really been excited about canning my own stuff lately...just the thought of knowing exactly whats in the food I'm giving my kids is exciting. What's even more exciting is the feeling of accomplishment when I pull it out of the pantry. I decided to give it a try last night. I changed the recipe up a bit, and made it my own. This will make 4 perfectly filled to the rim Ball Jars of sauce.

Recipe:

1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped (you can do a whole green pepper if you like peppers!)
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes (I used Meijer Naturals)
3 dried bay leaves
 
In a large casserole pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. (At this point your eyes will really be watering and your whole house will smell of onion and garlic!)
 Add the green pepper, carrots, and salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste if needed...I didn't find it needed. Can sauce and you are done!

The rest of these instructions are for those that are new to canning...if you know how to can, then you can skip this!
Pour sauce into Ball Jars. The easiest way to do this is to buy a cheap 60 cent funnel. It makes it way less messy! If you don't have a super tall pot, tighten jar lids as tight as possible. Lay jars on their side in the casserole pot for 5 minutes each in boiling water. Take out of water using cannong tongs or some other method...don't attempt with your bare hands...they will be HOT! The lids should not pop up and down. If they don't, success! You've canned your sauce.


Saturday, October 01, 2011

do it yourself: Crayon Monogram

I was recently in need of a project for a special person in the boys lives. I decided to try a DIY project I saw online a while back on pinterest. Man am I loving pinterest. It is way too fun to find and take on new projects! 
Here is my inspiration photo: 
  
Now, this person is way crafty...with their fancy xacto cuts and perfectly straight lines. Part of my project was done while a 3 year old constantly asked why we were beaking crayons ON PURPOSE?! and the other half was just me getting angry at the xacto knife for not making perfectly even cuts and cutting my hand.

Either way, I think it turned out pretty darn good for a person with pretty much no artistic talent. I like to think stuff up, and I feel like I know a little bit about art when it comes to being behind the lens...glue on the other hand? Not really my thing. 

For this project we used a box of crayons, a frame from IKEA, a piece of photo paper, and a hot glue gun. Total cost on this was about $6. I'm not going to say it was easy...but I think R is kinda hard. Once I figured out what I was doing though, it all started coming together. Here are my results...I hope I make my super crafty sister proud! ;)