How-to: Canning Green Beans

Right now is canning season for me. Unfortunately it comes at the hottest time of the year and I don't have AC. It can be a little miserable, but I consider it worth the sweat.

I learned how to can from my in-laws. Ironically, my mom does can as well, but I guess in my teens I never had the patience to learn. The most important thing to know in canning is that you have to follow the instructions to the letter. If you don't, the best that can happen is your stuff doesn't seal right, the worst that can happen is you get very very sick eating what you canned.

Now that I've totally freaked you out about canning, I'm here to tell you that I've canned for 6 years now and I've never gotten sick. Or any of my family. If I can do it, you can do it.

So, without further ado, here's a look at canning green beans.

First of all, you'll need a pressure canner (the big pot to the right that has a pressure gauge lid, it's pictured below in its entirety if you have no clue what I'm talking about), a big stock pot, a little pot for lids, jars, lids, a funnel, a ladle, salt, and of course green beans.

Fill your stock pot full of water and turn it on high so it will be boiling by the time you need it. Also fill the pressure canner with water until it's a couple inches deep. I add a little vinegar to the water as well because we have hard water. This prevents my jars from being covered in a white film that you can get from canning with hard water. Turn this burner on high as well.

Now onto the beans. Start out by snapping both ends of your green beans. You'll also need to snap them into about 2-in pieces so they fit better in the jars and so you can eat them easily of course. Then wash your green beans well. I wash them at least twice. These lovely green beans came straight from our garden.

After they are washed, fill your jars with the beans. Make sure you shake the jars while you're filling them so you can get as many green beans in there as possible. When they cook they shrink a little and you don't want your canned jars to be half-water.

Fill the jars to the bottom ring with the green beans. Then add 1 tsp. salt per jar (if you're using quart jars. If they are pint jars you'll need 1/2 tsp salt per jar). Now would be a good time to fill your little pot halfway with water and put your jar lids in it. Turn it on medium heat to get your lids hot and ready.

Using a funnel, fill your jars with boiling water, leaving at least 1/2 inch of space between the top of the water and the very top of the jar.

Now take a knife and run it down periodically around the jar's insides. This helps get any air bubbles out so the greens beans fit in the jar better. After you do that, make sure you wipe the lip of your jar with a paper towel to get off any water or salt you may have gotten on it (if you don't, there's a possibility your jars won't seal).

Now grab one of your hot lids (I love my little canning magnet!), put it on and then tighten your ring on. Interesting enough, it's better if you don't tighten it the tightest it can go. My husband helped me once by doing the tightening part and half of those jars didn't seal. We figured out it's because he tightened them so tight that there wasn't room for the lid to pop. So from now on, weak sauce here is the one who tightens the rings. :)

Put your jars in the pressure canner and put on the lid, making sure to twist it so it's completely closed and tight. By the way, my canner is big enough that if I'm canning pints, I can stack them on top of each other and fit 20 pints. If I'm doing quarts, only 7 fits like in the picture above. So just so you know, if your canner is big enough, it's okay to stack them on top of each other.

The weight

Now you wait and watch carefully. The thing circled above is the steam valve. Note that there is no weight on it yet. Once steam has been coming out of this valve steadily for a few minutes, put the weight on. Then the pressure inside the canner will start to rise.

Now this is important: The pressure you process your jars by depends on your altitude. The chart above shows you what pressure to keep it at for your altitude and for how long (depends on the size of jar). For my altitude, we process everything at 13 lbs of pressure.

**It's good to get your canner pressure gauge checked every few years at least. Gauges can become slightly off over time. I've had mine for 4 years now and it's about 1/2 lb off now. Not too big of a deal, I just process my stuff 1/2-1 lb. higher than 13 lbs.

Almost there

 Once your gauge is up to pressure for your altitude (this will take 5-10 minutes to achieve), turn the heat down until it remains steady at that pressure and start your timer for 20 or 25 minutes (depending on whether you're using pints or quarts). YOU MUST WATCH YOUR GAUGE THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE PROCESSING. If you don't, your pressure could rise to a dangerous level and your canner could explode. With that said, if it gets 1 or even 2 lbs over what you're supposed to process it at, it's okay. It's better to go 1 lb over than 1 lb under (because your jars may not seal if you go under). But that doesn't mean you can just walk away. It can change pressure quickly if you're not watching and monitoring the heat.

When your timer goes off after 20-25 minutes, pick the canner off the burner and move to a cold burner. DO NOT OPEN THE LID OR TAKE OFF THE WEIGHT. Let your canner sit until all the way down from pressure (gauge is at 0) AND the pressure pop up falls down.

The pressure pop up... I'm sure there's a technical word for it, but that's what I call it. :)

 Then open your lid away from you (so the steam and water doesn't burn you) and pull out your jars with your canning gripper (again, I don't know the technical word for it). Put your jars on a towel to cool so your counter won't be ruined and let them sit for at least 12 hours (if you move them within this time, they could not seal). Within an hour of taking them out of the canner, you should hear them pop which means they sealed! If after 5 hours they still haven't sealed, put them in your fridge and eat them within a week. If you do it right, you shouldn't have very many or any at all that don't seal.

And you're done! It's hard work, but believe me, there's nothing more rewarding than seeing those finished jars. You feel like the domestic superwoman. :) Even if you're a sweaty mess afterwards like me...

FHE Lesson: How The Birds Got Their Colors

For those of you who are not LDS, in my church we are encouraged to spend one night a week as a family in which we do wholesome activities together and/or learn more about spiritual topics. To learn more about this, go here. Even if you are not of the same faith, I encourage you to start this with your own family. It is a great way to bond and make memories!

Here's another of my favorite FHE lessons growing up. It's a story to teach about patience, something I'm still in desperate need of learning. :) My son loves this story and I'm sure your kids will too. Just print it out and cut out the birds!

Guest Post: Write Up My Alley

I enjoy all kinds of design. I love a well-done web page, a tastefully-decorated room, or an amazing book cover. I also love words. I love to read, I love to write, and I love to edit (I know, I'm totally weird that way). 

To give a little background on myself, I graduated with a Bachelors in Spanish Education, but my minor was in Journalism Education. I took a few design-related classes in order to fill my requirements and I worked for the university's newspaper to help make it through school. These two things got me in the world of design and it wasn't until after I graduated that I realized I should have gone for a Bachelors in Graphic Design. I would love to learn how to design on the computer more at least.

Anyways, that was a partial side-note to segway into my guest post today. When I worked for the university's newspaper I met Lindsay and we have kept in touch through blogs since school. She recently posted a few blogging tips and since I am shocked at how many people don't know how to use good design/format for their personal blogs, I asked her permission to share it. So without further ado, here are some tips on fonts and blogging from my good friend Lindsay!

I don't consider myself an expert on blogging. If I were, I'd be one of those women who has thousands of followers and doesn't have a day job. But after four years of blogging and reading more blogs than I'd care to admit (let's just say that it takes me about an hour to get through all of the blogs I read every day), I feel like I can share the following tips with you if you're looking for ways to make your blog more readable and user-friendly. Take them with a grain of salt. Your blog should be personal and unique, like you are. These are just a few things I've found helpful.

Fonts need to be legible and can make or break your blog. This sounds like a no-brainer, but honestly, blogs that use a script font or cutesy scrapbooky font for their main body text are an instant turn-off for me. I love fun fonts just as much as the next girl, but if people can't read what you have to say, they're not going to keep reading your blog. Without getting too much into design principles, I will just recommend that you follow these guidelines with fonts:

1. Choose a sans serif font for your blog's body text. A little graphic design tutorial here: A serif is a stroke that extends from a letter. For example, Times New Roman is a serif font because the letters all have little platforms underneath them or above them. Arial is a sans serif font, as are Century Gothic (one of my personal favorites) and Helvetica. Why should you do this? Sans serif fonts are easier to read -- and if you plan on using a fun font as an accent, you need to have the contrast between the two for a pleasing design.

2. Use a maximum of three fonts on your blog. This sounds limiting, but honestly, it's not. You can take one font (Century Gothic, for example) and bold it, italicize it, enlarge it or shrink it and make it look different. When you have more than three fonts on your blog, it looks cluttered and distracts from the most important thing -- what you're writing. Also, only one of your fonts should be artsy. The trick is to use the bold font as an accent, not as the main font, so that it stands out.

3. Don't get too crazy with the colors. Pay attention to how the color of your text looks against your blog background. If you have a dark background, you need to have light text and vice versa. Neon-colored text is always hard to read, and white can look neon on a really bright blog background. When in doubt, stick with black and a lighter colored background. It's usually easier to read.

4. Strive for a happy medium in font size. Text that's too tiny is impossible to read, and paragraphs written in size 20 font are just obnoxious. The end.

5. Never use Comic Sans MS. This is just my rule. I absolutely detest that font -- and several others. But that is the main one. It just looks tacky and brings people back to 1994 in a bad way.

Break your text into bite-size paragraphs. When you're writing for the web, it's so important to keep your text in small chunks so that it's easy to read. A high school friend of mine (and aspiring writer) once wanted me to read his blog and give me his opinion on it, and I confess, I was only able to read one post of his. He didn't break his text into paragraphs at all, so it was impossible to keep your place. It felt like I was reading a stream of consciousness -- in the worst possible way. When in doubt, keep your paragraphs to no more than five sentences.

Always open links in a new tab. I cannot tell you how annoying it is when bloggers post a link but don't set it to open in a new tab or window. When you don't, it hurts you because a) it sends people away from your blog and makes it frustrating to try to navigate your way back and b) it doesn't allow people to finish reading your post.

Provide visual interest with pictures. This post is a bad example, since it doesn't have a picture, but your blog is always more appealing with at least one photo in it. Unless, of course, it's a crappy photo.

Just my two cents about blogging! What are your blog pet peeves?

I Know That There Are Amazing Teens Out There

Teenagers have always had a bad rep, but it seems that today's teens especially are known for being lazy, disrespectful, self-absorbed, etc. As a mom, this can be really discouraging. Especially as you see how world teenagers are nowadays. It makes me think, "How in the world can I raise a good, righteous kid in a time like this?"

The following video gives me hope. This young man, Spencer, is amazing. I've seen this video countless times and I still cry through it. It's just so powerful to see how Christlike he is. I hope that when my son grows up, he can be as dedicated, spiritual, humble, and loving.

My Squash Recipe

What is it about zucchini and yellow squash that makes it either produce like CRAZY or not really grow at all? Some years we have so much and other years we're lucky if we get three.

This year, we've already harvested a lot and it's still coming! We've given some away and I've made everything from plain boiled squash to zucchini bread. But I was getting sick of both and decided to fry up some squash with some of our favorite seasonings. And it was a hit!

So naturally I'm sharing it with you all. And even though the picture on the right doesn't look very appetizing (if only I had an amazing camera), believe me, it was good. Also, I used too much butter when I made it, but the recipe below is right.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Tips on Thrift Buying

Summer is the time for thrift buying. Not only are there yard sales every Saturday, but the season comes right after Spring Cleaning which inevitably means an influx of things in Deseret Industries or Goodwill. Yes, some people still do spring cleaning. :)

If you're a skeptic thrift-buyer or too lazy to thrift-buy, I'm here to reassure you that it is TOTALLY worth it. With a lot of looking and some creativity, you can find some really great stuff for A LOT less than you would pay in stores. It's kind of like being on a treasure hunt, except not every man's trash is another man's treasure. Whoever made that saying up has a whole garage full of unused junk.

So whether you fit the hesitant thrift shopper or not, here are some tips on how to be smart in thrift buying:

Frame: $1 at DI, Scrap fabric and ribbon: free

1) Create a list and stick to it. This is hands down where people usually get in trouble when they thrift shop. If you don't know what you really want or need, you end up buying a lot of stuff that you never use that just sits in your basement/closet. That would be a waste of money which is the opposite of the idea of thrift buying! So, figure out what you need/want and write it down, complete with dimensions if it's furniture or wall hangings and sizes if it's clothing. Believe me, just having a list will help you save money.

2) Ignore #1 if you find something absolutely amazing BUT you have to have a place in mind for it. Lists are great, but you can't pass up something that you fall in love with or is an AMAZING deal. That's the golden moments of thrift buying. It makes all the sorting-through-junk worthwhile! HOWEVER, before you buy it make sure you have a place in mind for it or check with yourself that you're really going to use it. No matter how much you love it, it's still a waste of money if it ends up in YOUR next yard sale.

$8 suit for my son in a couple years, found at a yard sale

3) Research. I'm not saying that you necessarily sit down at the computer and google search before you go shopping. I'm talking about two kinds of research: The research you do when you pay attention to how much things that are important to you cost and the research you do when you are surfing Pinterest seeing what other people do with items they find at thrift stores/yard sales. (So I guess that means the next time your hubby asks what you're doing on Pinterest AGAIN you can say "researching")  

These two kinds of research will help you know if the price you're paying is really a good deal and will give you ideas of what you can do with things that are beat up or are generally used for a different purpose. It is simply amazing the creativity that you'll find out there using "junk." And how EASY it is!

4) Haggle if it's too much or you're buying a lot (obviously you can only do this at yard sales, not DI). If you've done your research, you should know if they've marked something too high. Or maybe you just really don't want to pay that much for it. So haggle. See if they're willing to go lower, the worst they can do is say no. (I'm a complete hypocrite in saying this because I have a REALLY hard time haggling, but my sister-in-law is great at it and I've seen it work for her A LOT.) People usually just want to sell as much as they can. HOWEVER, don't insult their intelligence by offering them WAY LESS. It's just plain rude and might tick them off so they don't sell it to you for any price.

Also, if you're buying a lot of things at a particular yard sale, offer them a flat amount for everything. Usually people will cut you a deal that way because they're so glad you're buying so much! But again, make sure it's a reasonable amount.

Almost a complete set of Levels 1-4 Alfred's Basic Piano Library for 25 CENTS each at a yard sale. AMAZING since they're normally $6 each! Yeah I didn't haggle on that one!

5) Map out your yard sales before you go. I learned this from another yard-sale goer in my neighborhood. Nowadays with our technology, a lot of people post their yard sales on craigslist beforehand. It's a good idea to get on and see where they are and what they're selling. Sometimes you can tell that it's just not going to be a good one and it's not worth your time. But mostly, this is a good idea so you're not driving back and forth across town all day. Map out your route to save you some time!

6) Remember that a little TLC can go a long way. Like I said above, if you've looked on Pinterest, you know it's amazing how you can transform something with a little elbow grease and paint/fabric/etc. If you don't believe me, look at some of my own thrift store before and after pictures:

Before: $5 find at DI

After. Simple fabric recover with plastic protection against the outdoors.

Before: $10 find at DI (can you tell I love Deseret Industries?)

After: Simple repaint and knob replacement

Before, bought at DI for $2

After. It's now in my son's room full of pictures.

Before: $80 find at a thrift store where my parents' live

After: I wish I could take credit for this one but it's all my sister. She's amazing at refinishing furniture.

Just a quick word on the dresser above: I spent $130 TOTAL on it. For a large, beautiful piece of furniture like the one above, that is an AMAZING price. And no one would know it was a thrift store find unless I told them (which I usually do because I'm still so pumped on how little it cost!).

So, armed with my tips on thrift buying, get yourself out there and find some great deals! Don't get discouraged if you don't find something the first couple of times. You have to be patient and go a lot, but if you do, you will find some great stuff!

Low Calorie Dinners and Desserts That Don't Require Weird Ingredients

First of all, I don't think I'm fat. Not by any means. However, in the last year I've gained 10 pounds which is just enough to make me too big for my favorite shorts and to loathe the way my shirts emphasize my new little paunch.

So, I downloaded an app on my phone called My Fitness Pal that counts calories for me and subtracts my exercise from those calories. It's so easy! I put in my goal which was to lose 1/2 pound a week and it gives me how many calories I can eat a day: 1650. Then I just input what I eat for each meal and what I did for exercise (and for how long) and it adds and subtracts all the calories for me. It has been a huge eye-opener for me just to see how many calories certain things are.

For instance, yogurt can have a LOT of calories depending on the kind you buy. Veggies and fruits? Some of them don't even have enough calories per serving to even add to my calorie counter. Seasonings don't count as calories either. But meat is high in calories. And I'm sure these are all things that everyone already knew and I just figured out. :)

So when I originally found that in order to lose 1/2 pound a week I had to eat only 1650 (more if I exercise!), I thought "I can do that." Then I started adding some of my favorite meals and snacks and found that it was harder than I thought.

Therefore, I'm sharing with you some of the low-calorie dinners and desserts that I've found. Besides the Lime Chicken Salad, under each recipe I'll put how many calories a serving is but since I'm just taking the total calories of the meal and dividing it, I don't know exactly the measurement of each serving. But if you're making the whole recipe and dividing it up, you'll know how many calories the serving is. I hope that makes sense.


Black Bean Soup from Our Best Bites
You can find the recipe for this yummy soup here.

If you divide the soup into 5 servings, it makes each serving about 223 calories. Pair this soup with 10 Mission yellow corn tortilla chips and you have a meal for only 323 calories!



Explosion on Your Tastebuds Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tian
You can find the recipe for the chicken here.
       **Note a difference: Instead of using 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs, I made it with 1 lb. of chicken
           breasts and my calorie count reflects this change.

You can find the recipe for the Summer Vegetable Tian here.

If you divide the Chicken recipe into 4 servings and the Vegetable Tian into 5 servings, a serving of each gives you a meal of 380 calories! And they're both real yummy!


Lime Chicken Salad (1 serving recipe)  approx. 400 calories
6 leaves of romaine lettuce, cut up
1/4 cup black beans
1/3 of a medium avocado, cut into cubes or slices

1/4 cup corn
1/8 cup green onions
1/8 cup cilantro
1/2 cup chicken breast, cooked and shredded or diced,
Assorted seasonings

2 Tbsp. Italian dressing

Season the cooked chicken breast with whatever seasonings you want. I put a little lime juice and garlic powder on it. Then create a salad with the remaining ingredients, pouring the Italian dressing over the top.


Healthy Energy Bites
You can find this recipe here.

I actually only use 1/4 cup honey in this recipe because I think 1/3 cup makes them too sweet for me. But if you use the original recipe and make 20 equal balls with it, it makes each ball only 145 calories!




Banana Icecream
This recipe only calls for bananas, peanut butter, and cocoa powder! You can find it here.

If you divide this recipe into 4 servings, it makes each serving only 165 calories!





I hope this helps if you are looking for low-calorie meals/desserts. I know that there are even less-calorie meals and desserts out there, but I really can't afford all the weird ingredients that those recipes require. A good rule of thumb is to eat more fruits and veggies and less meat, carbs, and sugary stuff. Not only are they more healthy for you but they're less calories too!