Update on my sick husband - he's feeling better, but tired. His doctor (the nurse said she had the virus recently too) said he caught a virus, and it was very unusual for such a high fever. Thankfully, the fever broke quicker than we thought it would. I gave him ibuprofen, a hot cup of feverfew (I grow this) tea, and an ice pack for his neck. He loved the chicken and wild rice soup for dinner and it set well for him. He's on the mend, and it's going around in our area. I have downed our 4 thieves vinegar as a preventative (trust me on this one, it works, but it is not tasty ha ha!).
I am going back to making my own face cream. The most recent one I purchased is irritating one of my eyes, so homemade it is. I am checking my supplies today.
If you are a self sufficient DIY person, where do you buy organic apricot oil?
The recipe calls for lanolin, but I'm leaving it out.
Which would be better - shea butter or cocoa butter? I'm thinking cocoa butter would add too much oil to my skin. Or another suggestion was coconut oil.
It only took me 16 years, but while my husband rested, I went in search for a tool to remove the pedastal washer and dryer drawers. I took them outside to clean, since we still have decent weather. They are srubbed and sanitized, and ready to be re-organized on another day. I will sort and re-access what we need/use and don't need, or what we need re-supplied. I may even add a mat inside the drawers (like under the sink type liners).
We have been having cooler days, so I started roasting the pie pumpkins to puree and freeze. I am sure I have shared this process, but will share again.
I scrub the pumpkins, slice in half, and scoop out the seeds and innards. I have always found, that my melon baller tool has been the best tool to remove the pumkin guts and seeds.
I clean the seeds from the guts, rinse them, and dry them to roast later. The remaining guts go to the chickens.
I use my largest pan, which holds about 3 pumpkins. I roast home grown on 375°F for 50-60 minutes. If I buy them, which I did buy some from our produce stand, they seem to be more firm, so they take longer to roast. I have now only have those pumpkins, so I plan to roast them at 400°F for maybe 35-45 minutes. I just check them to make sure they are soft. I also use a fork to pierce the back side of the cut and cleaned pumpkin before roasting.
I later decided to place the pumpkins on parchment paper.
I let the pumpkins cool, then scoop the pumpkin out with a spoon.
I place the cooked pumpkin in my food processor and process until it turns into a puree.
I used a quart freezer bag, so I can flatten the bag very thin, saving much space in the freezer. I am using Glad bags, as the bottom is not a flat bottom like some have, making it easier to remove, when frozen, to thaw and cook/bake with.
I simply use my canner lifter tool to hold the bag to fill. It works, so I have not purchased anything fancier.
Another photo of how the jar lifter doubles as a bag holder. In this photo I was bagging roasted spaghetti squash.
I lay the bags flat on a baking sheet, and place it in the freezer until the bags are frozen. I them place them in the freezer where I have space.
We are down to our last bag of pumpkin in the freezer from last year, so this is good timing. Although, I would normally have this done by the end of September or early October. I just made us some pumpkin oat pancakes, and they were delicous (a small batch, perfect for two people).
I took a few bits of time (while the pumpkins were cooling), and enjoyed the library for once. I also purged some craft supplies I do not use anymore, and donated them to the kids library programs. They were happy to get them.
