Time to whip out my beloved crock-pot, I love them so much I have 2. Yes I know it's the last week of June and you're probably wondering why I'm crazy enough to use a crock-pot with all the heat and humidity. Well crock-pot cooking is not just for winter, in fact it's a perfect solution to cooking dinner on a hot summer day. The crock-pot doesn't put off much heat, you just have to throw everything in it and run off to the beach or pool instead of worrying about standing over a hot stove. It makes the summer enjoyable.
Yes I also know I'm not Italian, far from it, but I do love my Italian food. So my recipe is a combination of 2 recipes that came from two Italians I knew...I just love it ♥
2~28oz cans of Tomato sauce
2~28oz cans of Tomato puree
2~12oz cans of Tomato paste
1~28oz can of water
1 and 1/4 cups of table wine of your choice (or substitute with 3/4 cup of sugar)
1 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese
4 Garlic cloves, diced
1/2 cup of Fresh chopped parsley, chopped finely
1/4 cup of Fresh chopped oregano, chopped finely
5 large fresh basil leaves, chopped finely
1 med. size onion, diced finely
Olive oil
Saute diced onion and 2 chopped basil leaves in olive oil until onion is tender and translucent. Add onions and remaining ingredients in the crock-pot. I prefer to use table wine in the recipe, even tho the alcohol wears off with the cooking, it cuts the acidity taste of the tomatoes and gives it a deeper savory taste, compare to sugar which gives it a sweet taste which why I dislike about jarred sauce. But the choice is yours. Cook on low for 4 hours, every hour or two remove the cover and stir the sauce away from the sides. If you have crock-pot has a warm setting, place it on warm for additional 4 hours. If your crock-pot doesn't, just continue cooking on low for another 2 hours.
This makes a lot so you can freeze what you have leftover or home can it in Mason jars.
Whether you're looking for a replacement crock-pot or you're looking for your first one I suggest Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker, you'll find an Amazon link to the right. I personally love Amazon because you can find a range of prices the item.
If you plan home canning it and are new to it read my post about it here
Sterilize all jars and lids
For every pint size mason jars you use add 1/2 tsp. of lemon juice along with the sauce, for quart size jar you add 1 tsp. of lemon juice along with the sauce. Don't worry you will never taste the lemon juice, it's just there to bring up the acidity level enough to do the waterbath method for sealing the Jars.
Thanks for stopping by, Become a Fan and follow My blog for more fun ideas~ Thank you, Carleen
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About 7 months ago I got myself in jam, a jam my family hasn't let me out of since. At the time it was Halloween, 3 months after moving into a new place. I promised my family Pizza before we ran out the front door to go Trick-or-Treating, only to find out there was no pizza place willing to deliver to us in the boondocks. Not willing to run out for it I came up with making my own. Took me about an hour and half, at the time I thought it was too long for me to deal with but since my family loved it, it was time worth doing.
For the Crust you will need:
1 tbsp. of yeast
1-1/2 cups of water- 105* to 110*
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. sugar
3-1/2 to 4 cups of Flour*
Your favorite toppings
* now it depends on what type of crust you want depends on the type of flour you use. For a crunchy crust you use bread flour. For a chewy crust you use all purpose flour. With my experimenting I noticed when I make thin crust I use all purpose because bread flour makes it way too crunchy. With Thick crust I use Bread flour so it gives it a soft crunch unlike all purpose flour makes it chewy.
In a standing mixer combine yeast and water and let it stand for about 5 minutes, until the yeast is foamy. Put the dough hook on the standing mixer and add remaining ingredients and enough flour to make a soft dough. You place the dough in a well greased bowl and let it rise for about 45 minutes until doubled in size.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 400*
Depends on if you want a large deep dish pizza it makes 1, if you make thin crust pizza's like me I get one 10" round pizza and one 9x13 Sicilian pie (square pizza).
Grease the pan you're using , I make my 10" on a baking stone and my Sicilian pie (square) I use a regular 9x13 cookie sheet.
Time to punch down the dough and shape. Some people use a rolling pin to shape the dough, I just use my hands to shape it. Make a small lip around the edges to prevent your toppings from sliding off. You then prick the dough lightly with a fork in the middle (to prevent the dough from bubbling up), Place the dough in the oven for 5 minutes.
When you take the dough out you're going to see it all puffy, don't freak, when you place your toppings on and continue cooking it it will settle down.
Now with my pies I top it with homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, half of one pie I put sausage. Sometimes I get creative and put everything but the kitchen sink on a pie just for myself. But put what you like
Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of your crust. Once you see the edges are a lightly golden color, you know it's done.
once you take it out let it sit for a few moments to settle...then enjoy :)
Thanks for stopping by, Become a Fan and follow My blog for more fun ideas~ Thank you, Carleen
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Alright this is where me being cheapskate chimes in. I always love to save money and always will. I tried the homemade dry laundry detergent that you can find everywhere on pinterest. It worked but it only lasted me 2 months even thou the recipe swears it would last up to a year. Then I came across the Duggers (19kids and counting) Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent. So I thought if works and lasts for a family of 21 then why not try it myself. So I took their original recipe and put my own little twist to it. I made a little booboo making it, but it was a good mistake. Dugger's recipe is concentrated, my mistake made mine ultra-concentrated (if that's even a phrase).
Mine is as follows:
5 gallon bucket
2 Fels-Naptha laundry soup bars
2 cups Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1-1/2 cups Liquid Fabric Softener
Fels-Naptha, Borax and washing soda you can find in the laundry aisle close to one another. DO NOT substitute Baking Soda for the washing soda, it's not the same chemical makeup.
Using a peeler make thin slivers of the 2 bars of soap. And place in a stainless steal pot with 8 cups of hot tap water and heat on med low heat till soap is fully dissolved, stirring constantly. Meanwhile throw washing soda and borax in the bucket. Once the soap is dissolved place it in the bucket and stir so that the dry mix can dissolve.
Next, keeping the bucket on the floor and using the spray nozzle from your kitchen faucet fill your bucket with HOT tap water, stopping every once in awhile to give a good mix. If you don't have one of the kitchen faucet sprayers, you can do it with the shower head, you just want a sprayer to help you mix it up.Fill to about 3 inches from the top.
Now it's time for you to cover it and let it sit and work it's magic for 6 hours.
After 6 hours when you take off the cover you will notice a big mass of soft gooey soap floating in small amount of liquid. Now this is when you're going to get a little soaped up yourself. So roll up your sleeves because you are going to put hands in and break up the big mass of gooey soap. No matter which recipe you use, mine or the Duggers, it's still going to be lumpy, you just need to break up the big lump. Learn from my mistake and wear short sleeves and take your rings off. I had to go fishing for my wedding ring at one point.
At this time is when I added in the fabric softener. Then stick your hands in and mix well. After that you let it sit for another 6 hours
Remember patience is a virtue
Now it's been a total of 12 hours and you're almost there!!!!!
Now take a clean used container, like a gallon milk jug or cleaned out detergent bottle, and fill halfway with Hot tap water and fill the rest with your homemade detergent. Shake well and let it cool....and there you did it
In a top loading machine, use 5/8 cup per load, a total of 180 loads.
In
a front loading machine, use
1/4 cup per load, a total of 640 loads!
this should last you for about 3 to 4 months
***I forgot to mention, You need to shake the laundry bottle you use to store your diluted mixture, even diluted it still gets lumpy****
Thanks for stopping by, Become a Fan and follow My blog for more fun ideas~ Thank you, Carleen
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*** UPDATE*** You can find my recipe for my homemade Fabric softener here
****UPDATED #2**** I just made my second batch and I didn't have liquid fabric softener on hand, so I made it without and I personally think it smells WONDERFUL from the Fels-Naptha so this time around I'm going to leave the fabric softener out. and stick with the cheap non scented dryer fabric softener sheets so I can enjoy that wonderful smell. Thought I should share :)
Welcome, My name is Carleen and I would like to invite you to step into my Crafty kitchen.
Let me share some fun facts about myself, I'm mother of two and wife to a wonderful husband. I have a love of cooking,
home canning, knitting, quilting, basic crafts and pinching every penny my little fingers can grab, which I'm happy to share with you in this blog.
To me, family comes first and will love to show my ideas and thoughts
on how to do so. I feel like life is to short to be worrying over the
little things, and because of that I like to make things simple and
have fun while doing it.
My
love of cooking runs deep but like most people I don't have all the
time in the world to do it. So in a lot of my recipes you will notice
center around my beloved crockpot, I have two of them and I love them
so much. For the meals that I don't use the crock-pot for are very easy
to follow. I'm also a pro at home-canning so you will notice a lot of my
recipes I double and then go about canning them, which I'm going to
take you step by step on how to do. To expand on the home-canning I will
be sharing homemade jellies and jams and homemade gifts you can give
(which everyone loves to receive). Hopefully you can enjoy the meals and
I'm always open to suggestions or your take on the recipes that I
share.
Baking
is another passion of mine. My mother was never a baker so this just
picked up when I was younger and expanded as time went on. My speciality
is bread but I love to do pies, cookies and much more as well. So grab
your spatula and get ready for it :)
Crafts
is another favorite of mine. I picked up quilting a few years back, but
I do more sewing crafts then quilts. In this blog I'm going to be
showing you both :) I love knitting but I have to admit I cheat at it, I
use the kniffty knitter. If you're not familiar with the kniffty
kitter, just hang around and you'll see. I also do everyday type of
crafts. I will show off my talents (at least I feel like they're
talents) in this blog.
So hang around and become a follower of my blog and you'll be amazed at the creativity I can bring out of you :)
Thanks for stopping by ~ Carleen
Follow Carleen's Crafty Kitchen on Pinterest
Yes I also know I'm not Italian, far from it, but I do love my Italian food. So my recipe is a combination of 2 recipes that came from two Italians I knew...I just love it ♥ 
Saute diced onion and 2 chopped basil leaves in olive oil until onion is tender and translucent. Add onions and remaining ingredients in the crock-pot. I prefer to use table wine in the recipe, even tho the alcohol wears off with the cooking, it cuts the acidity taste of the tomatoes and gives it a deeper savory taste, compare to sugar which gives it a sweet taste which why I dislike about jarred sauce. But the choice is yours. Cook on low for 4 hours, every hour or two remove the cover and stir the sauce away from the sides. If you have crock-pot has a warm setting, place it on warm for additional 4 hours. If your crock-pot doesn't, just continue cooking on low for another 2 hours.
