Thursdays: From Scratch (Week 2)

This weeks from scratch journey led me to making brown sugar muffins, 2 batches of whole wheat hamburger buns, 4 loaves of cinnamon raisin bread, cinnamon raisin bread french toast, dried cranberries, 2 batches of yogurt,  part of an apron for Joshua,  learning to patch holes in jeans, and window cleaner.  I will be posting pictures at a later time.

My dried cranberries were an utter failure.  I had the crazy idea to set a pan with waxed paper and cranberries cut in half on top of our wood stove.  When I saw that it was too warm, I set it on the counter for a while and then in the oven at 200 degrees for a few hours.  Needless to say, I burned them!  After talking with a friend whose mom dried all their fruit, she said that she put them on a pan and set the pan in the attic for a few days because the air was drier up there.  I will persevere and keep trying until I get them right and then I will try my hand at drying grapes.  The idea of making my own dried fruit is very impressive to me because of the high cost of dried fruit.  If anyone else has had any luck drying your own fruit without paying for a food dehydrator I would love to hear how you did it.

Making things from scratch saves a lot of money and is totally worth the time.  The children love it just as much as I do and they are learning right along with me.  This week I plan on looking for a recipe for homemade ravioli. If anyone else wants to share of their journey in making homemade pasta, please share.  Also, I would like to venture out and start sewing more, but I have not yet figured out how to fit that into the schedule more then about once a week.  Any suggestions?

Don't forget to hop on over to Sarah's blog http://8-muddyboots.blogspot.com and read how others  journey from scratch went this week.  She would love to have more join her on her journey.  It does not have to be a lot of work.  One recipe a week or one thing made from scratch a week is a big help when it comes to becoming a frugal mom.