Halloween For All

Halloween is a time for fun!

Dress up as your favorite movie character or super hero,

then go to the neighbors houses and get FREE candy.

Now for many kids, they LIVE for the candy!

Twix, Skittles, Nerds, or WarHeads, it doesn't really matter,

because it's candy and they love candy.

But not all kids are as excited about the candy.

For some kids they know that at the end of the night,

their candy will go away.

Most likely it will go to some weirdo middle school teacher who still

"Treat-or-Treats" in her school hallways.

(Yes, you read that right...

it's "Treat or Treat" because I don't encourage students pulling tricks on me.) HA!

Nevertheless, those kids will be left with any empty treat bag.

Now that's really sad.

So it's my goal to make it a fun night for all of my trick-or-treaters!

The Teal Pumpkin Project- Food Allergy & Education

All kids should have a fun time on Halloween,

and this is a way to make it that way.

Really, it's not that hard!

Just have a few things that aren't food related

for kids to pick.

That's really it!

Super easy,

and I have a feeling that many kids will pick the toys

even though they don't have any allergies.

I mean, seriously...

who doesn't want stickers?!

Or spiders and bats rings?!

That's just creepy fun.  :)

So what could you put out for kids to pick from?

Well, I just went to the dollar store and pick up a both of little things.

If you need a little more ideas,

here's a list from The Teal Pumpkin Project.

Ideas for Non-food Treats  

Available at dollar stores, party supply stores, or online shops, these low-cost items can be purchased and handed out to all trick-or-treaters, or made available in a separate bowl from candy if you choose to hand out both options. Nearly all of these items can be found in a Halloween theme or festive colors.

• Glow sticks, bracelets, or necklaces

• Pencils, pens, crayons or markers

• Bubbles

• Halloween erasers or pencil toppers

• Mini Slinkies

• Whistles, kazoos, or noisemakers

• Bouncy balls

• Finger puppets or novelty toys

• Coins

• Spider rings

• Vampire fangs

• Mini notepads

• Playing cards

• Bookmarks

• Stickers

• Stencils

Now this will make it a fun and safe Halloween for all kids!

Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?

Yep, I thought so.

Now go out and get a couple non-food items 

to offer to your trick-or-treaters.

You’ll get some big smiles from kids and parents for your effort,

but mostly you’ll bring awareness to others about allergy sensitivities. 

For more information about food allergies,

please visit F.A.R.E.- Food Allergy Research and Education

Pear Butter- A Look Back

I'm not sure how I let this post slip through my fingers,
but it did.
As I was cleaning and organizing my digital life here in blog world,
I discovered that this yummy post about my delicious
and new favorite butter recipe was overlooked.
Geesh!
This is just not right at all.
To try and fix this grotesque error,
here is a look back at a post written at the end of the summer.
Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

My summer of gifting continues,

And I'm not the one giving things away this time...

Well, at least not yet. ;)

I love to give,

but it's fabulous when people give me things 

that I can use in my quest to preserve the season.

Though I was thrilled to get a crate of pears,
I knew that my hands were going to pay a price for preserving the little beauties.
And they did.
In fact, I believe that today is the first day that my fingers
are not sore from the hours of peeling.
In case you weren't aware,
there really isn't a good way to handle pears.
Sure you could try the hot water trick that you use for peaches,
but I found that the pears have to be too soft to make it work.
Really, you just need a good, sharp peeler
and a lot of time.
A LOT of time.
This was not a quick project.
In fact, I peeled one day,
and then made sauce and butter the following day.

My fingers may disagree,
but the deliciousness of this butter was worth it.

Crockpot Pear Butter
Recipe Modified from Tammi Lee Tips

Ingredients:
Pears (enough to fill your crockpot)
1 cup Orange Juice
1 cup sugar (can be omitted)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Directions:
1. Peel and peel and peel the pears.
2. Add 1 cup of Orange Juice to your crockpot. (Add the sugar at this time too.)
3. Add pears to fill the crockpot to the top.
4. Turn on the crockpot to "high" for an hour, then turn in down to low for 10 hours.
5. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
6. Remove the lid for an hour or two to get a thicker consistency and to let the spices enrich the fruit.
7.  Follow the processing steps from The National Center for Home Food Preservation below.

Processing:

If this is your first time canning, please read up on the process at the The National Center for Home Food Preservation website. http://nchfp.uga.edu/
FYI- I process half-pint and pint jars for 10 minutes.

Simply Tomato-Basil Sauce

Whew! 
I feel like I can finally sit down this week and write on my beloved blog.
My life of a teacher in a middle school has been crrrr-aaa-zzzzy!
Seriously, crazy.  Coo-Coo.
I'm not sure if it's the quick shift from sunshine and hours of playing on dry grass,
to soggy lawns and thundering rain that did it...
but there has been a shift into a different layer of hormonal teenage energy.
Or was there a unique lunar event that I'm not aware of?
It's hard to know when working with the temperamental group called teens.

When I arrive home from the ups and downs of my day,
I like to keep life simple.
Well, simple, fresh and delicious is how I like things.

I've been collecting and freezing fresh tomatoes from local friends
and their family gardens for the last few weeks.
I knew that I wouldn't have time to can anything until school settled in for the year,
so freezing is the quick way to make sure I had the freshest ingredients for my sauce.
Plus, how could I turn down FREE, fresh, local, and delicious tomatoes?!
Now that would make me crrrraaaazzzy!
And I have enough crazy, coo-coo in my world.
Though things haven't really settled,
I'm settled enough to spend some extra time in my happy kitchen,
making a super simple tomato-basil sauce.

Super Easy Tomato Sauce
Recipe and Directions from Ball Preserving
More detail instructions and preservation tips on the website.
Follow the above link...really, it's good to know.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Tomatoes, cored
• Ball® Citric Acid or bottled lemon juice
• Salt (optional)
• Dried herbs (optional) I added basil, because I adore basil!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids
2. Wash and sort tomatoes, removing any bruised or discolored product. Quarter 6 tomatoes and place in a large stainless steel sauce saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a potato masher, crush tomatoes to release juices, stirring constantly. While maintaining a boil and stirring to prevent burning, quarter additional tomatoes, adding them to the saucepan as you work. Make sure the mixture continues to boil vigorously while you add, stir and crush the remaining tomatoes. When all tomatoes have been added, boil, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are soft and juicy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Working in batches, press tomatoes through a fine sieve, food mill or Victorio strainer to remove skins and seeds. Discard skins and seeds.
4. Return mixture to saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-high and boil until volume is reduced by at least one-third for a thin sauce. For a thicker sauce, cook until reduced by half.

Before filling each jar with tomato sauce, add lemon juice or citric acid to the hot jar in the quantity specified below:

• Pint: ¼ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice
• Quart: ½ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice

Add salt (optional) in the quantity specified below:

• Pint: ½ tsp
• Quart: 1 tsp

5. Add dried herbs (optional) to each jar.

6. Ladle hot sauce into prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot sauce. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

7. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process pint jars for 35 minutes and quart jars for 40 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store. For each quart jar of thin sauce, you'll need about 5lbs of tomatoes.

Apple Pie Vegan Cupcakes

I was born loving apples.
Whenever I was asked if I wanted juice,

I would pick apple over orange.
Same thing when I had any choice with fruit...
if there was something with apples, then my decision was really easy because I was going with the apple dish.

I guess the apple doesn't really fall far from the tree,
because my dad loves anything with apples too.
Apple pie was a staple growing up for holidays
and it continues to be something that can be found at family gatherings.

So when I was thinking about what kind of cupcakes I wanted to make for a friends' baby shower, I thought back to what she loved to order from me as a comfort food.  Immediately I knew...apple pie.  She orders my Dutch Apple Pie when she needs a little hug from my oven to her tummy, so making apple pie cupcakes with dutch apple crumbles seemed the perfect thing to spoil her.

~Apple Butter~

Apple Pie Cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (soy, rice, coconut, almond- whichever you prefer)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 apple butter or cinnamon applesauce 
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs.  non-dairy milk 
1 tsp vanilla extract
water- add a tsp at a time until you get the consistency that you would like.

Dutch Crumbles

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup melted vegan margarine

1/4 cup flour

1 cup quick oats

-------Stir all the ingredients together and broil until crispy.

Directions 
1. To make Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and lightly spray the liners with oil spray.  Or use my favorite baking cups.  I LOVE these! 
3. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in bowl. 
4. Stir in non-dairy milk, apple butter, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
5. Mix well. 
6. Fill liners 2/3 full and bake 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

7. Cool completely.

8. To make Icing: Beat all ingredients with electric mixer until smooth. 
Pipe onto cupcakes and sprinkle crumbles over the top. 

Let the cupcake icing set up a bit and then enjoy!

Summer Love with FFF

Summer flew by for me!
It always does,
but halfway through the summer my computer screen pooped out.
This really put a damper on my ability to create blog posts,
so some of the very special fence builds didn't get the time that they were due.
To try and give a beautiful light on these incredible dogs,
I've created a video to celebrate their new freedom.

Please enjoy a look into pure and simple love.

http://youtu.be/I_AHUsL5t7Y

Doesn't that make your heart all warm and fuzzy?

If so, you should come and experience it with us by volunteering.

Once you join the fun, you'll be hook on the joy.

www.fencesforfido.org

3 Pitties and a Rottie

 

2 builds and 4 dogs.
I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday,
can you?
No seriously...we should all help make the world a little better.
For me, it's always been about animals.
Either dogs or horses, those are the animals that tug on my heart.
But it's this face...

Yep, this sweet little face that makes me get up when I'm tired
and go help make a life a little more comfortable.





Spike, Cookie, and Chop
September 20, 2014

 Meet Spike

Meet Cookie

And little Pork Chop...he isn't staying, but he was there to play too! And get a lot of snuggles. :)

At Fences For Fido we are experts at snuggling and giving a crazy amount of love.
And the Fidos that we help, give it back to us in spades.

If you're wondering why the volunteers always smile, it's because we love what we do.

 It's difficult to not smile when you help unchain these cuties and make life a little more fun.

 Enjoy your new fence, little family!

And since a volunteers job is never done, the next week we continued to change lives.
Jax and his girl Aria
September 27, 2014





This build was for Jax,
but his girl Aria ran the show.
She LOVES this dog and this dog lives for her.
I can totally relate to this relationship. :)
As soon as I saw them together,
I knew this was a special relationship.
Love can be clearly seen.

 This build include these fabulous rings to clamp and a lot of drills, 

but these fence is now secure for Jax.

 Yep, we decorated the doghouse for Jax and Aria approved.

 This fence was done in no time at all and Jax was really ready to explore it all.

 And he was also ready to play!

After a little play, we had the last and very important job of hanging the sign.  

This was a job for Aria...

 ...and she did a PERFECT job! 

 Jax is a lucky dog to have such a great human to hangout with and play.

What a great way to spend a weekend morning!
Don't you think?
If you want to join in with all the fun,
check out our volunteer page and sign up.
No skills are required...
just have a heart to help and love.
Pretty easy prerequisites if you ask me.
www.fencesforfido.org