Jammin' in the New Year!!

YES... 

I have found THE perfect jam recipe!

TOMATO JAM

}cue angels singing{

This past summer, I found THIS recipe from Marisa at Food In Jars.

And let me tell you it has become a favorite of Cookie Man!

Sooo Perfect, I may change his name to 

"Tomato Jam Man"!

OK...not doing any name changes...as of now, 

but I will revisit the idea after another batch of this Tomato Wonder is made!!

It's great on Turkey Burgers

and the Cookie Man LOVES it in an egg burrito!

The recipe calls for every delicious morsel of the tomato to be used...

skin, seeds ...the WHOLE ENCHILADA!

Oh my!!

This spicy jam would be GREAT on my mom's enchiladas!!

*note to self...CALL YOUR MOM!!

The last couple of times I made the jam, it took me 2 hours to finely chop the tomatoes!

2 HOURS!!

 I have 4 kids 5yo and under...

PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS AN EASIER WAY!!

HELLO!!!

}cue angels singing...AGAIN!{

See this...

It's my juicer! 

And I LOVE IT!

I love it so much I may change my name to 

"Vallima-joos"!

*wink- he he

OK...but seriously, it has revolutionized MY Tomato Jam making!

I simply juiced the 5 pounds of tomatoes then threw the pulp in the pot!!!

 BAM!!

Done in 5 minutes!!

Added the ingredients!

and went from this

 to this...

 in 2 hours!
  

What can you do in the New Year to 'Lighten your load', in the kitchen or around your home?

Linking to

 

Happy New Year!!

I've enjoyed the break but 

I am so excited to get back to blogging!

It's 11:15pm and I just realized I didn't take a picture for the blog!

 Welcome to a New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

Celebrating Our 6 Year Anniversary

Our Unity Candle

Happy 6 year wedding anniversary Cookie Man!!

 

To Celebrate Our Marriage - DAY 17

I am still participating in the 31 Days of Love Challenge at Time-Warp Wife.

 "31 Days of Love" will challenge you daily to live beyond yourself, 

to put aside your preconceived ideas of what romance should look like, 

and seek out true love that is sacrificial and intentional." 

-Darlene Schacht

I decided to keep it private and work on it through journaling and lots of prayer.

I find it has already helped me so much as a wife.

Click on the above link and read the daily challenges! 

They are amazing.

Here are some of my favorites so far:

Day 6 -Two Ways to Pursue Your Husband 

Day 9- Make Every Day a "Root Canal" Day 

Day 11- Just Ask Him! 

Day 16- Where is my fairytale?

Fishin'

And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." 

~Matthew 4:19

Star Wars The Party

A long, long time ago 

in a galaxy far, far away,

A boy was born.

His name was UNO.

This is his party.

{cue Star Wars Theme music}

Cookie Man challenged me to a budget of $60.

And I did it!

I made the invitations,but only made 6 to pass out.

I did have them printed for $1.50 total!

The kids were told to come dressed as their favorite Star Wars Character.

The party favors, the light sabers took half of the budget, $27

but I wouldn't have traded that for anything.

They were great!!

Battle on the Galactic Grass

UNO recieved his gifts from us the day of his birthday.

The gifts became part of the party decor = FREE.

Birthday Gifts = Free Decor

The Millennium Falcon was a gift from Christmas. The Helmet- a garage sale find

I normally would have made the cupcake toppers

but I saved the packaging from his gifts and 

with my 1 1/2" circle cutter began to cut out the images from the packaging!

It was super simple and FREE!

 

Cookie Man's mom made the cupcakes = FREE!

UNO and his sisters

 

We ordered pizza, which was $30.

For drinks, I made Lemonade with ReaLemon Juice and Sugar, which I already had = FREE!

DOS as Princess Leia

For games/ activities, Cookie Man recorded Star Wars music and sounds on the iPad.

It definitely set the mood of the party.

Imagine kids swinging their light sabers and the light saber sound echoing in the background...AWESOMENESS... = FREE!!

 

Cookie Man drew the Death Star on the back wall, it was for a game that we didn't end up doing 

but it looked great! Outdoor Decorations = FREE!

Kick the ball at the Storm Trooper

We had the jumper up that my sister gave me for my birthday = FREE!

 

Each kid also received a Jedi Training Certificate that Cookie Man found on the internet.

Cookie Man edited it in Photoshop.

(Also, there is also a typo on the certificate...Padewan instead of Padwan)

TRES... the cutest Darth Vader and her Jedi certificate

I usually get so caught up in the presentation of the party that I don't really think of cost.

I am happy Cookie Man challenged me.

It was definitely simple and stress free!

 

I'm not really sure where this fits in to the theme but I LOVE HIM!!

UNO had a great time with his friends...

and THAT is the most important thing!

 

Happy Birthday UNO!

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU