My Obsession with Mason Jars

If you have ever been to my house you will quickly see my love of Fiestaware....but I have recently discovered another obsession: Mason Jars. I was tired of the clutter in my pantry and cabinets and decided to organize with these amazing contraptions.

 I did the baking shelf: caramel chips, white chocolate chips, semi sweet chips, milk chocolate chips as well as assorted nuts.

And in the pantry: dried beans, noodles, rice.

At this point I thought I was pretty cool. I had a interesting balance of country and city going on in my kitchen that was very "me." And then I found these at Target yesterday:

That's right....GALLON SIZE MASON jars. I now have storage for the flour and sugar I insist on buying in bulk. I was a little too excited, not gonna lie.

Then I got my free copy of Country Woman magazine (Its in the Taste of Home family). And they had craft ideas for Mason Jars. So I made a pin cushion/notions holder and some candles.





I am sure I will come up with more cool things to do with these jars..but this is what I have done so far.

My Love Affair With My Freezer-Preserving Food

So, lets not tell Joe, but I have a not so secret love affair with my freezer. The thought of wasting food makes me sad...I don't want to throw money away. So while my freezer has the normal things in it: veggies, ice cream, the husband's chicken nuggets, most of my freezer is filled with excess foods. I buy large quantities of butter and freeze the extras, I buy most meats and sea foods in bulk to save money and freeze them in serving size portions. Lately I have learned the joy of freezing things I would not have thought of to freeze. For example, I learned how to freeze bagels. This helps me eat them at my slow pace with my ever changing taste buds. Earlier this month I posted two blogs about recipes: Pumpkin Chip Cookies and Cinnamon Rolls. I have some of both of those in my freezer right now; half the cookie dough and one pie plate full of rolls. And this week I have started preserving veggies from my garden in my freezer. I don't have time to cook them as fast as they grow, and I would hate to waste my food. So I have shredded zucchini in my freezer and sliced, blanched summer squash! Yay for fresh food year round! Now if only I had a stand alone freezer....

I don't think I have enough freezer bags in there....