Kaake Family Blog

This is my first year hot water bath canning.  To my surprise and delight, it all turned out great!  The salsa tastes amazing and the seals all sealed!  Enjoy! Ingredients: 5 lbs chopped and seeded tomatoes - I used mostly roma 1lb hot peppers, halved and seeded - I used several jalapeno's, and 2-3 ancho pepers 2 green peppers - quartered and seeded 1lb sweet onion peeled and quartered 1 cup white vinegar 1 lime, juiced 1 Tablespoon cumin powder 3 Tablespoons dried parsley 1 Tablespoon pink Himalayan sea salt 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper 4 garlic cloves peeled and minced 6 oz tomato paste Directions: 1. Dice about 1/3 - 1/2 the tomatoes by hand.  Put the rest in a food processor and pulse process just till they are in pieces but not too long otherwise you'll make tomato juice. 2. Put the peppers in a food processor and pulse a few times till they are in little pieces but not a paste.  The same with the onions. 3. Put all ingredients except tomato pa

I had a thought this morning as I was waking up.  Winter will soon be upon us and that means more exposure to ickies.  We definitely limit our exposure but that doesn't mean our kids never get anything.  I don't know about you but it always seems like when someone gets sick, it really takes a toll on the budget.  From getting the natural remedies to purchasing things like applesauce and things to make smoothies...it gets pricey.  So...my thought led me to, how about purchasing the items I know we'll need a little at a time and stockpiling them so we'll be ready? Below is a list of things my family uses for times such as colds food poisoning (there's no such thing as the stomach flu), weird rashes, etc...  Even if I pick up one thing at a time when I purchase a vitacost order or pick up one thing when I go to the store, it will be very helpful.  Hopefully I'll get a bit more time later and be able to posts links on how to make some things I have mentioned b

My daughter is going to be having a Mall Day followed by a Spa Party on Saturday.  We thought having ice cream would be fun in the evening.  I'm trying to make as many things as naturally as possible so the girls can see they can have fun, eat good food and eat healthily as well.  Here is a recipe I tweaked a bit.  You might want to cut down on it just a bit.  I followed the initial recipe I found online but added in the vanilla and butter which helped a lot.  As you can see it's very fudgy.  Here goes. Ingredients: 1 cup cocoa  1 cup maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup water 1/2 - 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon butter Directions: 1. Combine cocoa, syrup, salt and water and bring to a boil.   2. Turn heat down to a simmer for 5 minutes stirring constantly.   3. Take off heat and add in the butter and vanilla.  Stir well. 4. Use immediately or store in refrigerator till ready to use.

This is my first year making freezer salsa.  I hope to eventually make some canned salsa since I saw online frozen will only last about 3 months.  Anyway, this is a combination of a couple recipes I found online.  The kids and I love it!  It's just spicy enough to say "oh, that's a bit spicy", but not too much.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  I also hope we enjoy it after it's frozen. Freezer Salsa Ingredients: 6-9 cups quartered and peeled roma tomatoes (look online how to get the skins off easier in boiled water) 2 large onions, quartered 2 bell peppers of your color, seeded and quartered 4 jalapeno peppers seeded and halved 2 ancho peppers 3 cloves garlic, skinned 1/3 cup white vinegar 1 tablespoon oil juice of 1/2 lime (or a smidgen more) 1 tablespoon honey 1-2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste. Directions: 1. Process all veggies a bit at a time in food processor till in very sm

Where to begin.  When I first opened up the pages to The Harvest of Grace, my initial reaction was that I didn't like how the author wrote the book.  Any other Amish book I've read captures the difference in speech the Amish use.  This book only uses a touch of this.  That however is the only turn off for me. The character I most identified with was Cara.  A woman who had been hurt tremendously throughout her life.   In an attempt of desperation, she hid with her daughter in an Amish Barn only to be discovered by one of their own.  This led to the shunning of that person because he was trying to help Cara and her daughter "survive" in this world. My heart went out tremendously to Aaron who struggled with alcoholism and recovery.  While in recovery he met very determined and independent Sylvia; the main character of this book. Just ask my husband, you could see me laughing one minute and crying another.  This book took so many turns you wondered where you wer