Christmas Baking hints

Baking goodies for friends has been a very fun tradition for Team Southerland.  Sometimes the holidays get very busy and the enjoyment of this tradition can be squeezed out by the hustle and bustle of visitors, activities, recitals, and trips.

One thing that can bring some joy back into baking for our friends is to start baking early.  Most cookies and candies will freeze very well.  It's easy to bake one item on several different days and just freeze them until you are ready to assemble the goodie plates.

Packing the plates can be such a fun time!  We have found pretty clear plastic plates for about $1 a piece around the holidays at the grocery store or the dollar store.  They make great plates for giving away goodies.  Another packaging idea is to wrap your paper plate in decorative plastic wrap.  Or, use plain paper plates and use a hole punch to punch holes around the edge.  Weave some ribbon through the holes to decorate the plate and wrap in clear plastic wrap tying it at the top with a matching ribbon.  There are plenty of ideas online of how to create neat packing ideas for goodies.

Chicken hints

Mommy will often bake chicken in the oven with no seasonings.  When it has cooled, we cube it by cutting it up with the meat scissors and then store it in the freeze to use later for chicken pot pie, chicken fried rice, or soups.

If baking a whole chicken, once you cut off the meat to use for other meals, don't throw the bones away.  Use it to make chicken stock to put in the freezer for chicken pot pie and soups.  You can do the same thing with a turkey.

Once again, anything you can do to streamline dinner prep will make your life easier at the end of the day when everyone is tired.  It will also cut down on the "we don't have anything to eat so let's go out to eat" phenomenon. 
Love Always,
Mommy

Butter hints

We often fry things in a tablespoon or two of butter.  I will take stick up butter and cut it into tablespoon slices then store it in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator to make it easy to grab just a tablespoon at a time.
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If you forget to set a stick of butter out, grate the butter onto a small plate.  The grated butter will soften very quickly and be ready to spread.  It also looks pretty neat!

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Cutting in Butter shortcut- Grate cold butter into dry ingredients then use a pastry cutter to quickly cut in butter.  Much faster than using just a pastry cutter.

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Rule of thumb for substituting salted for unsalted butter in a recipe is to omit the extra salt in the recipe. (Omit 1/4 tsp of salt per 1/2 C of butter).

Real butter is good for you if it is made from milk that does not have hormones or antibiotics in it.  Butter made from raw milk is best.  Margarine is very bad for you and our family has chosen not to use it at all.  If something has ingredients you can't pronounce in it, it's better to stay away from it.  The more things we can make from scratch the better it will be for our health.  It is often a more frugal way to feed your family as well.  :)
Love Always,
Mommy

Laundry Detergent

1   bar Dove soap, unscented
1  C.  Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½  Cup Borax


Grate soap with a grater.  Mix all ingredients. 


For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. 


Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads) 


We have been using this for awhile now and it works great, even on Jonathan's diapers when we use white vinegar with it to help disinfect.  We save a lot of money by making and using this detergent and Mommy really likes how well it cleans our clothes.  We made big batches of it at a time and store it in a gallon bucket with a tight fitting lid.  You don't want the little guys to get into this as they shouldn't put the Borax in their mouth.
Love Always,
Mommy