It's hard to be Domestic!

So I'm working on being more domestic. It's probably a good idea for me because I put "Domestic CEO" on anything that asks for my occupation. Well if any body asked for credentials, they might be disappointed. So here is what I've been working on....

"Bottled Butter"

I got the idea from my friend Connie, she has a second blog that is for all her creative stuff. So pretty much I copied this from her. But hey, I now have butter in my food storage. So here is what I did.

Start by heating up some jars for about 20 minutes

I put them on a cookie sheet so I wouldn't knock them over.

Then you are going to start melting your butter in a pot. I did 6 pounds of butter (12 cups). And you are going to melt it, stirring often so you don't scorch the bottom. You want it to get to a gentle boil. After that it needs to simmer for about 5-8 minutes.

Here is my butter getting frothy, and starting to boil.

Start ladling it into the prepared jars (don't forget to boil your lids) using a a jar funnel.

The 6 lbs. filled 7 pint jars. Next time I think I'll do half pint jars.

Now here is the time consuming part. Up to now you've only been working for about 45 minutes. But after you put the butter in the jars wipe the rim and put the lid and ring on tighten as much as possible. As you see the separation start shaking the jars. Do this every 10 minutes to start, it will get progressively longer as it takes longer to separate. When the jars are cool enough to handle by hand give them a good shake and then put them in the refrigerator.

Check on them often and if you see them separate shake them. Keep them in the refrigerator for an hour. After that take them out and date them. You can now keep the butter for 3-5 years in a cool dark place. You can use it as you would regular butter and because it's already soft it's good for cooking.

This is right after the final shake as it is setting.

Ok next we have bread....hey I needed to try out this butter...

So making bread I've used my bread machine but for some reason it keeps falling in the middle giving the bread "ears" when it is cut. The boys get a kick out of it but it just frustrated me. So I made bread for the first time. I know I know!!!! Here I am, trying to be domestic and I've never made bread! Well I'm happy to say that it worked!!!! And it tasted good!

I ended up making a HUGE mess!!
It's ugly but hey, it's the taste that counts right?!
My homemade bread and bottled butter. Yeah, I impressed myself!

On a side note this is why you don't let brother dress brothers. I was busy so I had James and Tommy help get Tim dressed, and boy did he look like a mess! (they were pretty proud though)