Pink Crystal Cake

This one is for a beautiful bride and her handsome groom whose idea it was to have PINK crystals! Yep, some grooms really do care. "Sharee "

Vacuum Sealing - COOL

Now I'm not one to have many small appliances (I like clear counter tops), but I am happy to own this little vacuum sealer, and it has its own handy place in a handy cupboard and this is why: Many pantry items that I couldn't seem to use up before they started deteriorating or getting weevil now get vacuum sealed and I no longer worry about wasting. Things like: nuts, oatmeal, brown or white rice, granola, chinese noodles, chocolate chips, candies, corn meal, homemade and store bought mixes (i.e. pancake), seeds, brown sugar, etc. This is great for long and short term storage. It is $49 at Wal-Mart and comes with an accessory hose. The jar sealer accessory is purchased separately and has a regular or wide mouth size. I got mine from foodsaver.com. Click on the accessory tab and follow the pictures, $10. You can use wide or regular canning lids, and you can use them over and over. Just make sure they are clean and not bent. You must use glass jars but they need not be mason. If you are short of jars like I was, try putting out the word to family and neighbors who may want to clear out old bottles. Lots of people have dozens of unwanted jars and don't can anymore. I offered to pay .25 a jar. One nice lady was glad to give me a couple of boxes if I wanted to take care of the 30 year old contents! We composed it and the jars cleaned up nicely.

The wide mouth jar sealer accessory.

After filling your jar, place a clean, dry lid on the rim and press the accessory firmly over the jar. Follow the instructions from your seal-a-meal appliance and the whole process takes a short minute.

Mark is not a neccesary part of the sealing process, but his newly lost tooth provided a distraction while I was taking pictures. He was anxious to show how his tongue liked to squeeze through the new gap.

It's doing it's thing!

After the lights blink off, press the Open/Cancel button. A soft hissing sound, and you're ready to take the sealer off the jar and . . .

Wa-la! Your oatmeals' freshness is sealed for . . . a long time! Dark and cool will extend its life even longer. Of course you can take off the lid any time, use what you want and reseal it again and again. COOL!

Note: If you're sealing something powdery you need to put it in a plastic bag like a zip-loc, squeeze out the air, then put it in the jar. Otherwise, the powder may gum up your machine. You can seal storebought things too, like individually packaged granola bars. You need to cut into each wrapping, put it in jar and vacuum seal. No oxygen - no spoilage!

The Purple Nurse

She is The Beautiful Purple Nurse. And she walked the walk last Friday with many other purple people. It was so fun and we are so pleased for her and Kyle. What an accomplishment! I guess I love her a little bit.

A Bit 'o Butter Bottling

This post, and many after it, could be titled "Everything our darling daughter Anna will need to know about Canning and Kitchens but never knew (or thought) to ask! Heck, I've never canned butter before either. But it was fun, easy and who doesn't like to learn a new trick or two? I do. And I learn from all your blogs all the time, so here's to sharing: First, the line-up. You'll need butter (I read that margarine is okay, but why not use the real thing? it's better for you too), jars (get this, they do NOT need to be mason, they just have to fit wide or regular size canning lids. Mayonnaise used to be sold in glass jars. THOSE would be great for this), canning lids and rings.

Lids are to be boiled at least 3 minutes. Jars are to be in a 250 degree oven for 5 min.

Melt your butter over LOW heat.


Let it bubble and foam gently for 5 min. Watch it! Butter burns almost instantly. (Yes, I did not have beginners luck my first try and I speak from dismal experience)



Using hot pads, prepare jar with a canning funnel and pour melted butter in. A pint will not quite take 1 pound of butter. Place hot lid on clean rim and screw a ring into place, just firmly, not vice-grip tight. Now listen for the "ping" (perhaps one of the loveliest sounds in nature). In the next 20 min shake jar gently to blend butter. While just warm place in fridge (about an hour) after a final shake. And there! you have bottled your first pint of butter. This will keep on the shelf for about 2 years.

Much of my recent canning information comes from Wendy DeWitt, a Food Storage expert/fairy who takes food storage up and beyond buckets of wheat. Stay tuned for vacuum sealing dry pantry items in regular canning jars. Delightful things like nuts, candies, chocolate, anything that goes rancid and deteriorates will no more (we're talking YEARS!)

Anna, I know you're on the edge of your seat. But, like your mother always said, "Someday, you'll thank me for this!

A new blog

FYI - I began a new blog just for photography fun. So this one will go back to being more general. If you want to check out my latest photos that site is photosbylauri.blogspot.com

A Little Photoshop Practice

Tonight I'm practising photoshop. Abby is glowing because she just finished a tour of the Draper temple AND just got photoshopped.

A bit of Bookmark Night

Uuuuuuu. . . this post was supposed to go to the 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' blog. I don't have time to try to figure out what I did wrong. Please excuse the technical mess up. I'm just confused. Remember the chocolate?

Getting ready for the group shot . . .
Ready for the group shot.

A lovely sample of our efforts.

Rebecca's delectable mini pies.