Sandra Longan Designs (Items For Sale)

Friday, April 17, 2020

Using the Dehydrator

Hello Friends; Hope you all are safe & well.

Decided on Tuesday to use our dehydrator & take care of a few left over Red Delicious apples that were getting a bit soft and grainy. So I pulled out the mandolin slicer & made Cinnamon Sugar Apple Slices.


So yummy with just the right amount of sweetness.

Sliced about a 1/4" thick & dipped in lemon juice & water (couldn't find my Fruit Fresh), laid out on the trays and sprinkled with a cinnamon and sugar mix. Into the dehydrator at 145 degrees for roughly 8 hours until dry but pliable.

Working on sewing a few masks to keep in our vehicles for when we have to go to the store to get necessaries. Made two of the pleated style yesterday and will work on a couple of the contoured type and Olson Masks today.

That's it for today, so until next time..... 

Take Care of Yourselves & Be Safe
Hugs, Sandy 



Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Canning Some Make-Do Supplies

 Hello Friends; I hope and pray you are all stating safe & well. 

My hubs stopped by our semi local CVS pharmacy to pick up some meds a couple weeks back and came across 4-packs of Charmin toilet paper for.....hold on to you knickers.....$10.49!!! 
Good thing we've been stocked up on toilet paper here at the cabin for years. When ever we buy a different brand and don't really care for it, it goes into a plastic storage container with a lid and into the basement.

Needing to clean out the pantry of dried bread heels, I decided to make bread crumbs. I won't have to buy regular bread crumbs from the store for years.
Then I noticed we were out of brown sugar, so I whipped of a batch.

bread crumbs (left) & brown sugar (right)

For the bread crumbs I break the slice apart and put into the food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. I store in mason jars and vacuum seal until needed. My user jar just has a plastic lid. This will make three 1/2 gallon jars stored on the pantry shelf. You can also make the bread crumbs by using a plastic bag or zip-loc and a mallet or rolling pin.

The brown sugar is made using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but you can use any stand or handheld mixer you have. I use setting 1 or 2 and my wire whip attachment.
Put sugar into bowl and add molasses while it is running 1 T. at a time.
4 - 6 cups of white sugar and 1 T. Molasses per cup of sugar then stop, taste, and add more molasses until you get the flavor you want.
This should be stored in an air tight container and will stay soft for 3-6 months.
I keep a using jar and vacuum seal the rest. If it does start to harden up just add a slice of bread or a few crackers and it will soften up in a day or two.

I have sliced apples with cinnamon & sugar in the dehydrator. Better to use it up rather than throw it out.

Take Care Everyone
Hugs, Sandy

Sunday, April 12, 2020

More Canning

It snowed this weekend so we added a few more jars of goodness to the pantry by doing some pressure canning on Saturday.

I was going through our freezer and found 3 years worth of leftover Thanksgiving turkey down in the bottom. 
I think I need to go through the freezer more often.

Batch #1

Batch #2

14 quarts in chicken stock just waiting to be made into hot comforting soup, just need to add veggies and noodles.
 
Hope you all had a Blessed Easter if you celebrate or just an amazing weekend if you don't. Stay safe everyone.
 
Hugs, Sandy

Friday, April 10, 2020

Did Some Canning

Added to my pantry by doing some canning yesterday. 
Picked up a couple of bags of peeled garlic at Costco last month and a bag of baby carrots and didn't want them to go bad, so this is the result.

12 Half Pints of Pickled Garlic.

7 Pints of Pickled Baby Carrots & Garlic Mix.
 
5 Pints of Pickled Garlic.

Pickled Garlic
(for 12 half pints)

2 1/4 c. Vinegar
2 1/4 c. Water
1/4 c. pickling salt
1 T. Pickling Spice
 
1 inch head space. Water bath for 10 min.
You can add 1 t. red pepper flakes for a spicier flavor.
 
For 6 pints increase vinegar & water to 2 3/4 c. each 
and water bath for 15 min.
 
I would like to try the Bread & Butter pickle mix & the Kosher Pickle mix at some point but only for a couple of jars to see if I like it.  
 
That's all for this post, so until next time....
 
Take Care, Stay Safe & Be Well
Hugs, Sandy