Make Your Own Maple Syrup

After watching a Curious George episode about it (we learn everything from George), David and I decided to tap our maple tree for sap. David's family has already been doing this for a few years so if we had questions, we had someone to ask.

I believe our maple is a silver maple. You can identify a maple tree by its grey color and ridges. Depending on the size of the tree, you can use more than one tap but we just used one. You put your tap out when the weather gets above freezing during the day but still below freezing at night, very early spring time. We started two weeks ago (I think) but we were a little late.

We got a regular stainless steel tap from Ace Hardware and hung an empty ice cream pail from it. To insert the tap, you drill a hole about 3 feet from the ground, 2 inches deep, and at an upward slant for best flow. Then put your tap in (tap it in with a hammer) and hang your bucket. Our sap flowed enough that we needed to empty the bucket just about every day. You also don't want your sap to freeze so it's smart to bring it in at night. Store the sap in the fridge and boil down within 7 days of collection.

In the end, we got about 5 gallons, which is more than David's family got. We must have a good tree! Then we started boiling it down. I'm not too informed about the process since I wasn't a big help and David did most of it but I will describe it to my best.

First, bring the sap to a boil in a large pot. It will foam and bubble but we didn't have a problem with it overflowing (surprisingly). As the volume of the sap in the pot decreases, add more in, trying to keep it boiling (but we never were able to). For our 8qt pot, it went down about an inch every 20 minutes. When all the sap has been added to the pot and is boiled down and reaches 220 degrees (we used a candy thermometer), you need to filter it. Another sign of being ready is the bubbles stop popping.

Our filter was a piece of felt between two pieces of flannel that we had clamped onto the top of a smaller pot. Then you continue to boil it until it is the consistency you want. Then we poured it into maple syrup bottles we purchased but you can also can it. It needs to be refrigerated but should last about 6 months.

This morning we made French toast to test it out on and everything was delicious! We are eager to do it again next year and can't wait to tap the trees at our cabin too so we get even more sap.

Cheesy Homemade Hamburger Helper

Yesterday, we took Baby to our town's St. Patrick's day parade. She didn't seem to understand what was going on but once things got going, she enjoyed herself. We did leave a few minutes early because it was rather chilly but we were pleasantly surprised that she sat (well, in our arms) through an entire half hour of it! Then we came home and made dinner. I had decided on a homemade hamburger helper recipe. However, I changed a lot of things so really only the concept and steps are accurate. This is what I did.

Ingredients:

• one pound ground beef (but next time I will use half a pound. I found this to be way too much meat)
• 2 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni (from Ruby's Pantry!)
• 2 1/2 cups 1% milk
• 1 1/4 cups water (next time I will cut some of the water or the milk. It still ended up too liquidy for me. Not soupy so it would be fine if you didn't cut it. Plus, I'm talking about cutting maybe 1/4 cup)
• onion powder 
• garlic powder
• paprika
• a tiny bit of salt, smaller than a pinch (I think the cheese gives it enough salt)
• 3/4 tablespoon flour
• 2 cups cheddar cheese

Then I followed her instructions (brown meat, add in everything but the cheese, bring to a boil, simmer for 10-12 minutes or until noodles are cooked, stir in cheese). When I make homemade cheese sauce things, I usually get a grainy texture. I found out this is because I probably add the cheese at too high of a heat. To avoid this, in the last minute or two of cooking the noodles, I turned off the stove. Then instead of adding the cheese all at once, I added a handful at a time. I believe this cut back on the graininess and my husband didn't taste it at all but I still could a little bit. Definitely better than usual though.

We rate this a 7/10 but that's also what we'd rate the box stuff as. I, for some reason, still think the box tastes better but this is a very good substitute and I would gladly make this (for health reasons) in place of the box and never buy the box again. So I'm not saying this is healthy by any means but it is way healthier with much less sodium and preservatives than the box. 

Butter-Free Banana Bread

Our daughter used to LOVE bananas. We even had to call them B's because if we said the full word, she would freak out and want one instantly. She still likes them but lately hasn't been eating them quite so voraciously so we had some of them get too spotty. What better way to use them up than to make banana bread! The thing about baking is you have to plan ahead so your butter (and sometimes eggs) can be room temperature. This drives me crazy because I always forget. But this time, it didn't matter because I found a recipe for banana bread that doesn't use butter!

The recipe turned out so good! I followed it almost exactly (I just didn't measure the cinnamon and probably used a lot less than called for). I did add an extra banana because mine were a little on the small side. Plus, I had 4 bananas and there's not a whole lot you can make with one over-ripe banana. The top crust on this was extra sweet (although I'm not sure why) and the whole thing was just amazing. I love it topped with butter but David eats it plain. I could also see this being good with honey (with butter too of course! I love butter!).

I do believe this will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on. I feel a little guilty saying that though because my mom also makes an amazing banana bread recipe that even makes two loaves at once! This, sadly, only makes one loaf. But I'm already hoping to get the store to buy more bananas to make this again very very soon. I can't recommend this bread enough! And, especially because you don't have to thaw butter, it goes together very fast.

Baby Poop in Bathtub

Normally, my husband handles bath time. Every few times, I wash but he stays to play. This is because we probably clean our baby slightly different so then everything gets washed and taken care of.At the end of play time, he always calls me in so I can have the towel ready to carry her back to her room and he hands her to me. It's just so much easier that way.

I love it when my husband does the baths because then I can get stuff done, like cleaning up her room or vacuuming my room (she hates the vacuum). My daughter loves bath time and will stay in there until she's shivering (although we do have a bath room heater so she can stay in longer. We got it as a very thoughtful Christmas present).

Yesterday, my husband had a work call that he occupied him for 15 hours (yeah, I know. His job is nuts. He wasn't even on call!). In other words, I had to handle bath time by myself because even though we don't bathe her every day, it was time. I ran the tub, washed her all over, and then she started to play. She got about 5 minutes of bath time before she got a look on her face. It didn't register with me that she was pooping until ploooop, out came the poop. I got her out of the tub, cleaned her up, and did a poor job drying her (it's so much easier with two people! Maybe if your baby can stand, you can put them on the bath mat and dry them off but she isn't ready for that yet). Then I drained the tub and got her ready.

Now, you have to not only clean the tub and the bath mat, you also have to clean all the bath toys. This is such a pain. I looked up different ways people go about this online. Some people just clean the tub with regular cleaner and clean the toys with soap and water. Others use a bleach solution of some sort and/or boiling water. I decided to go the lazy route and do the cleaner with soap and water. I figure with all the other germs she comes into contact with every day (crawling around on a floor people walk on in shoes, putting everything and anything in her mouth, things that have been in other kid's mouths first, etc) that this can't be all that bad.

Either way, I hope this never happens again (although some people say around a year is when kids start) and, unrelated, we are going to start potty training her! I'm surprisingly excited about it. We ordered her potty on Amazon today so I will be sure to do a review of it when it comes.

Pork Chops and Banana Ice Cream

There are certain things I always have on hand. Pork chops are usually one of them because they are so cheap. I always buy the boneless ones. We have been out of them for about a month or more now but they just weren't going on sale. When I was at the store this past week, I saw they had bone-in pork chops for a pretty decent price. I probably sat in front of them for five whole minutes, trying to decide if I should get them or not. I finally decided on yes. Bones aren't that scary (we get whole chickens from David's grandma for free because she raises them for meat and those have bones so these shouldn't bother me so much).

So I found a recipe for bone-in and boy am I glad I made it! This recipe was really easy, pretty quick, and so so so good!! I added garlic powder instead of pepper (we just aren't fans of pepper but love garlic). I also didn't measure out any of the spices. Instead, I just rubbed them directly onto the chops because bone-in pork chops are HUGE and I had made up my spice mixture before I took the chops out of the fridge. I'm used to our boneless ones that are probably half that size. In other words, I had enough seasoning for about half of one of these chops.

I also had a hard time following the part where it says not to move the chops around in the pan while cooking. I LOVE stirring things and making sure things don't stick. I liked that these did give it a nice char in spots but I didn't like that it filled my kitchen with smoke so I was gagging practically the entire time I was making these. I had the thicker chops so I did have to put them in the oven too but that was no big deal.

I really recommend these! (in case you couldn't tell)

Then, I was trying to use up some frozen bananas and I found on pinterest that you can make ice cream out of them. You take 2 or 3 bananas (pre-frozen), peel them, and throw them in the blender. You blend until you get an ice cream consistency (just a couple minutes) and voila! You have ice cream. It's great. It's quick, easy, and tastes like ice cream. I couldn't believe that it was just bananas. No added sugars or fat or anything!

Cheesy Quinoa Bites and Buckeye Balls with Rice Krispies

A long time ago, I pinned these cheesy quinoa bites but I never got around to making them. I made something similar, veggie egg bites (sorry I don't have the link back but you should be able to search for it in my history of posts) and those were amazing so I expected good things from these.

They were great! I do have the complaint that there is a 1:3 ratio for dry quinoa vs cooked and the recipe calls for 2 cups cooked quinoa. That doesn't really make for easy measuring for the dry, so I just did a half cup of dry. However, I didn't change any of the amounts of the other ingredients. I think they turned out just fine. I did leave out the green onion and I substituted the cilantro for parsley. I also did cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan, just because it was what I had on hand. We baked them for 15 minutes but weren't sure when they were supposed to be done. We figured since they held their shape after taking them out of the pan, they were done. Next time, I might add more vegetables to the mix. It was a LOT of quinoa per bite.

I will also mention that we only got 6 and a half bites out of this. Granted, our muffin tray is a little big but it's not jumbo or anything. Even if we used a mini muffin tray, there is no way I would've got 20+ bites out of this. Maybe I made that much less quinoa? I don't know. I can't figure it out but it was plenty of food for David and me.

For dessert, I made peanut butter balls with rice krispies. These are extremely similar to buckeye balls. In fact, I think they're the same thing, just with the addition of the cereal. I like them better with the cereal too. I like the crunch it gives it with a different texture. We weren't able to fully coat ours with chocolate but I like them even without the chocolate! We will definitely be making these again! We only did a half hour in the fridge for the balls without chocolate and then an hour in the freezer with the chocolate. Best of all, you don't have to soften butter ahead of time or even bake them!

Blueberry Lemon Cookies

I know this is another blueberry recipe but I still had more to use up (they were on sale really cheap so I basically bought them in bulk!). I got the recipe here but it's divided between two pages. This was really obnoxious to me when I was trying to bake them so I will repost it all below. Note: This is the original recipe. My changes will follow.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups blueberries
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In an electric bowl mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, add lemon zest and juice, and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients into the batter.
5. Carefully fold in the blueberries after all the ingredients have been mixed together.
6. Allow dough to cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to overnight.
7. Preheat oven to 350.
8. Use a small scoop (about 1 tbsp size) and place rounded balls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil (or non-stick cookie sheets).
9. Bake for 11-14 minutes, until the bottoms are slightly golden brown (the edges should not brown).

Instead of the lemon zest and juice, I just used a little lemon extract. I also used all purpose flour, rather than cake flour. I never understood buying all those different types of flours. I don't know how much of a difference it really makes. I only buy all purpose and whole wheat and those are different, for obvious reasons.

I noticed the recipe didn't say when to add the vanilla so I added it when it says to add the lemon, since my lemon was also an extract. We cooled our dough for about 24 hours because we kind of forgot about it. When we baked, we realized how stupid it is to say "cook until the bottoms are brown" when you can't see the bottoms! We kind of guessed. One of our batches was a little darker than the other but they both turned out fine. I don't know if they would've been over done had the edges been brown too but I try to follow recipes carefully.

I will mention that this recipe made about 2 dozen cookies (and we ended up sharing about half of them as a thank you to David's parents for watching our baby for her very first sleepover!). They had a scone-like consistency, but they were really good. I'm actually not a huge fan of lemon so I found that a bit overpowering but the people who tried them and like lemon said they were fantastic. I would probably make these again, keeping my changes, but I'm not sure it's worth it to refrigerate the dough before baking.