Monster sleep mask for kids

 My oldest son has a fear of monsters as many kids do... Anyway, one day he saw me knitting a sleep mask for myself using this pattern.

He said, "I want one of those! But put eyes on mine so the monsters will think I'm a monster and will be scared!"





 So I created a modified version of my sleep mask for Corbin. This one is double sided to block more light, and it is green so it looks like a monster! It also of course has eyes to scare away the monsters.  Corbin is now very happy and says it keeps the monsters away at night!

Homemade Mac and Cheese

One of my kids all time favorite foods is Macaroni & Cheese, and because I discovered a long time ago that it tastes so much better from scratch, they have never eaten boxed Mac & Cheese! This is my recipe for homemade Mac & Cheese, and once you get the hang of making a Bechamel sauce, this becomes a quick and easy supper that you can make with only a few simple ingredients!

Homemade Mac & Cheese
1 pound pasta of your choice, penne or elbow macaroni work well
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
2 - 2.5 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese


Before we make our cheese sauce, you will want to boil a pot of water and start cooking your pasta.  This sauce doesn't take very long! If your pasta is done before your sauce, then simply drain it and set it aside until you're ready for it.




First, we will make a roux with butter and flour.  Cut your butter into 3 or 4 pieces and add to a pan set over medium heat. 

Once the butter has melted and has stopped foaming, add 4 tbsp of flour to the pan.

Whisk the butter and the flour together constantly until the flour is thoroughly cooked.  I would say 2-3 minutes is good.  What we have here is a white roux.  Roux's are cooked to varying levels of darkness depending on what they are being used for.

 Next, we are going to add 2 cups of milk to our roux.  Now, this is where the tricky part comes in! If you have never made a bechamel sauce before, I highly recommend warming your milk up before adding it to the pan.  If you do use cold milk, you will have to whisk very very quickly as you pour to ensure that no lumps form in your bechamel sauce.

Pour the milk into the roux, and while you are pouring, begin whisking as quickly as you can to incorporate the roux and the milk.  Do not dump all the milk into the pan and then try to whisk it! You will definitely get lumps this way! Pour the milk slowly and whisk as you pour.

After the milk is incorporated into the roux, it must thicken.  This takes between 3-5 minutes for the sauce to fully thicken, and once thickened, you have what is known as a bechamel sauce! Bechamel is a french mother sauce that is used as a base to create many other sauces, but today we will be making a cheese sauce!

Slowly add your shredded cheese to the bechamel about 1/2 cup at a time until it is all fully incorporated.

 At this point the thickness of the sauce may be perfect, or it may need to be thinned down a little bit.  If you look at the picture here and the one below, it should give you an idea of the thickness we're looking for.  If the sauce seems too thick, go ahead and add the 1/2 cup of milk to thin it out.

Once your sauce is the right consistency, season it with salt and pepper to taste.  I also like to add about 1/2 tsp of mustard powder to mine, but this is entirely optional.

Finally, pour the sauce over your cooked pasta and mix.

Now eat your delicious Mac & Cheese!

Strawberry Freezer Jam- The less sweet version

I picked up this magazine about canning, and there are so many recipes I want to try! Since we are right in the middle of strawberry season here in the Pacific NW, I thought that Strawberry Freezer Jam would be the perfect place to start! When you compare regular strawberry jam recipes to freezer jam recipes, you'll notice that freezer jam contains more sugar.  I would imagine this is because without the added cooking, freezer jam doesn't thicken as much, and so more sugar is added to compensate.  I would rather have runnier jam than extra sugar, so I reduced the amount of sugar added in my recipe.

Strawberry Freezer Jam
64oz Fresh Strawberries
6 Cups of Sugar
1tsp Lemon Zest (I diced mine after grating so I would not have large pieces of zest in my jam)
2, 1.75oz packages of Pectin
1.5 cups Water
Freezer Jam Containers







To start, you want to cut the stems off all your strawberries and rinse them with cold water.

Then you're going to mash all of the strawberries with a potato masher until they look something like this...

Next, have your best helpers mix the sugar and lemon zest into the strawberry mash. Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to mesh together.







The last step it to mix the pectin with 1.5 cups of water in a saucepan, and heat over high heat.  You really need to watch this pectin mixture as it will boil over if not stirred almost continuously.

Once the mixture is boiling, allow it to cook for 1 minute. 

Then, add the pectin mixture to the strawberry mash and stir for around 3 minutes, until sugar in the jam is no longer grainy.

Finally you can ladle the jam into your prepared containers and seal.  Let them sit at room temperature for 24 hours, and then either freeze or refrigerate.  Supposedly it will keep for 3 weeks in the fridge, and up to 1 year in the freezer!  Oh, and it turned out delicious by the way!