Shirley J seasonings

Last June I blogged about the wonderful Pantry Secret enrichment that I attended and learned how to make the yummy bread. Many of you are also making the incredible bread and pizza. I know that I have raved about the pizza and the pizza seasoning that they used from Shirley J. This seasoning truly is the secret to making the pizza taste amazing!

I was so impressed with the seasoning that I tried to find out more about this Shirley J company. What I found out was it basically was a wholesale only company for the food industry. I was a little disappointed that I would not be able to try any of their other products.

The other day I discovered that Mike Olson, who was the director of the Tahitian Noni Cafe, is now affiliated with the Shirley J company. They are taking the amazing products and making them available to the public! Hooray!!!! They have opened a location in Orem and are having an open house, right now. Not only can you buy the products but you can watch some demonstrations on how to use the product and there will be some sampling. The open house runs through the 11th of April and I don't believe it will be open during general conference.

For those of you who don't live in Utah and would like to try their products check out their blog page http://shirleyjsoupbasesandseasonings.wordpress.com/ or go to their web site where you can place orders. www.shirleyj.com

I can't wait to try out the soup base and the other seasonings. This will be a great addition to your food storage. I am thinking the soup base will be similar to the "magic mix" but is already made for you.

If you have not ever tried the pizza seasoning, it is so easy to use. You mix one Tablespoon of the seasoning with one can of tomato sauce and you have your pizza sauce. No longer will your pizzas taste homemade but they taste just as good if not better then your local pizza place. I have gotten my sisters and a sister-in-law using it now. The can of seasoning will last you a long time as you only use a tablespoon. Pizza anyone?

Food Dehydration

I was so happy when my Aunt let me have grandma's dehydrator. I have finally put it use and tried my hand at dehydrating food. I watched some very informative videos on Youtube that taught me how to dehydrate various foods. It really truly inspired me to dehydrate more then I would have. If you would like to check them out follow this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVpIHre2ao

There is a great store in Provo that has produce for really cheap on Wednesdays called Buy Low Market. It is by Cafe Rio in Provo, for anyone who lives here and is unfamiliar with the store. So, last week I got 16 lemons for $2, 3 lbs of zuccini for $1, 3 lbs of tomatoes for $1, Broccoli for .50 and 3 lbs of oranges for a $1. I thought this was the perfect price to try out various items and see how I like them. This shows my lemons, broccoli, zuccini and strawberries.

So far they have turned out pretty well. I don't know that I will ever dehydrate oranges...they didn't taste very well after they were rehydrated. But, the rest I think I will enjoy. I think the jars are kind of cute with the different colors and textures...they make my pantry cute. Like that is important.

Book Binding Class

Last month when I received my utilities bill I decided to read the enclosed newsletter for upcoming city events. I saw that the Lehi City Arts Counsel was going to have a beginning bookbinding class. That sounded like a lot of fun so I signed up for the class.

I really enjoyed the class and learning the book binding techniques. We learned how to make 5 different styles of books. I have completed 3 of the 5 books. When I finish the other two I will post those.

The first book has handmade paper and is bound to a dowel.

The second book has a fabric spine.

The third book is a fabric envelope book with a ribbon closure. The center portion of papers can be removed and you can refill the envelope with more paper.
The other two books that we learned how to make is a Japanese Stab book and a photo album. I am excited to complete these. It was a fun class to take and I can't wait to practice and make more books.

35 years

As another year has come and gone, I have to say I am a little in awe at how quickly time flies! I can't believe that I have been alive for 35 years...it really does not seem like I can possibly be that age. I definately do not feel like I am 35, I would have to say I only feel about 28.

So, in honor of my 35 years of life I decided to make a list of 35 things that I have discovered that I love. I don't know if I can document these items in the order that I learned them...they are definately not in any order.
1. I love to sleep. As a baby,I slept the whole night through the first night I was home from the hospital.
2. I love my parents and all that they have taught me and all the sacrifices that they have made for me.
3. I love my family, I love to spend time with them and talk with them. I think they are pretty funny, I love to laugh with them.
4. I love chocolate, pretty much in any form.
5. I love spring time, I love to see the flowers blooming and bringing color back into the world after winter.
6. I love good food, I always have a hard time choosing my favorite food...because I just love food. I will never have an eating disorder because I like to eat.
7. I Christmas, I love the way people are around christmas and I love that we think of Christ more.
8. I love playing volleyball and softball.
9. I love to laugh, I would have to say that there is rarely a day that goes by that I haven't laughed at something. Usually, it is at myself...becuase I do some silly things. Okay, that image just made me laugh. Not everyone can crack themselves up. :)
10. I love interior design, I love to play with color and textures.
11. I love to travel and see new places, new cultures, new sceneries, try new foods.
12. I love that I live in a time where it is easy to keep in touch with people: cell phones, email, messenger, facebook, blogs, airplanes, cars etc.
13. I love the friends that I have made throughout my life and remembering the fun times and memories that I have had through the years.
14. I love the way my dad loves and cares for my mom.
15. I love cream cheese...it just makes so many things taste so good.
16. I love how beautiful this world is.
17. I love the mountains and how when you are up in the mountains you tend to feel a little closer to God.
18. I love that I am able to make friends realitively easily.
19. I love that I have been able to go to Europe twice and spend time there with friends and family.
20. I love Switzerland and European chocolate...it just is better over there.
21. I love shoes...I just can't help it...I don't think you can ever have too many.
22. I love to cook and bake and try new recipes.
23. I love finding the perfect gift for someone and seeing their expression when they open the gift.
24. I love to watch or read a good love story.
25. I love my town house, I do... it just makes me happy.
26. I love to learn and just wish that I could retain and recall everything that I learn.
27. I love cranraspberry juice.
28. I love to be creative.
29. I love that Heavenly Father loves us inspite of ourselves.
30. I love to scrapbook and do crafty things.
31. I love to watch lighting storms.
32. I love waterfalls.
33. I love the smell of air after it rains.
34. I love winning a hard fought ball game.
35. I love that I live in this free country.

If my computer was working better I would have posted some photos of me through the years... but since it is not you are missing out. Maybe if you are lucky I will do that later on.

Heart Attack

This evening I went to my neighbors house to watch American Idol. As I was walking back to my house I saw one of the Young Women run up to my door. I thought, I am going to sneak up on her and scare her. As I got closer to my door it ends up that one of the leaders were with her so I decided that I couldn't really scare them.

So, I started to say hello and they began to scream...and they wanted to know where I came from. Then I saw that they were decorating my door and had brownies for me. I am a victim of a heart attack for Valentines Day.

Domestic Diva

Go ahead and call me Domestic Diva, Molly Mormon, Queen of the Kitchen, Food Storage Freak or whatever you would like. But, I just have to tell you about my productive weekend! I am quite pleased with the success I had with trying new things and being thrifty.

Friday evening I went to the grand opening of a grocery store in Provo, called Buy Low Market. They had skinless, boneless chicken breast for 99 cents a pound. The only thing was you had to buy 40 lbs of it. I decided that I would try my hand at canning with a pressure cooker and bottle the chicken. I found a recipe on the internet and it looked super easy, well it is super easy! All you do is cut up your chicken into 1" cubes. Place 1/2 tsp of salt in the bottom of a Quart bottle (I added some additional seasonings) and fill it up with chicken. Put a lid and ring on the bottle and place it in the pressure cooker. Cook it for 90 minutes and let it sit in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Then remove it...and the chicken has cooked and made its on broth in the bottle. I opened one up and the meat was really tender and really good, it tastes like the chicken in the can but I think mine I had better flavor.I also used my dehydrator for the first time. I picked up some mushrooms that were on sale and dried those. It kind of stunk up the house for a while....next time I do mushrooms I will have to put it in the basement. I also used some of my bread that I made and turned it into breadcrumbs in the dehydrator.
I also went shopping at Smith's Grocery store...in order to get my 10 cents of my gas fill up. I stopped by the service desk and picked up my beer rebate and found out that I would get $10 if I buy salty snacks or condiments. I bought items that were on sale and with my coupons it came to $20...so when I get my rebate back I spent $10 for all this stuff! Pretty good deal if I don't say so myself.This morning I made whole wheat pancakes from my wheat in my food storage. I followed the recipe that I got of the recipe from my new favorite food storage site. It was absolutely delicious and super easy! I ate my pancakes with the apricot jam that I made this fall...that didn't really set so it is more like syrup. I highly recommend this recipe for anyone that wants to try using up some of their wheat in their food storage.
http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2008/02/20/better-than-a-popular-roller-mills-pancakes/food-storage-recipes

Food storage

For those of you who have not already heard of the fun with food storage web site, I would like to tell you about it. A friend of mine told me about the site and I pretty much haven't gone a day without looking at it. If you are interested in building your food storage or in learning how to cook from your food storage then this is the site for you!

What has impressed me most is how organized they are and how easy they make it. The recipes are not difficult and are not for strange food that you would never want to eat.

I have placed links on my blog for you to click into their sites. Check them out and tell your friends.