Real Chips!

I bought some "Beets and Sweets" chips.  They are made with sweet potatoes and beets.  They were pretty good - except for the oil in which they were cooked - canola and/or safflower and/or sunflower.  Liquid vegetable oils are not stable for frying.  When they are heated they produce toxic compounds and by products.  So obviously anything fried is going to have heated vegetable oils, unless.... you don't cook them in vegetable oil!
That's why I decided to make some chips the old fashined way - the way that is good for you.



So I used lard I rendered myself!  Over a month ago I got a big chunk of back fat from the local farmers' market.  If you don't have all natural non-hydrogenated lard, you could try non-hydrogenated palm oil. (Probably won't taste as good...)

I rendered it and stored it in a glass jar in the fridge. 

I used my handy mandolin for slicing. (this thing saves so much time) Just watch your fingertips!

Then I fried them in small batches in a deep cast iron skillet.

The beets were tricky.  There is a fine line between still soggy and burnt.  I think next time I will lay the beet slices out to dry for a while before frying.

I used a spinkle of Real Salt when they were done and Voila!

They are delicious - and beautiful.

I gave Ben a taste test last night and he said my chips taste so much better than the ones from the store. Duh! 

America's Next Top Baby Model

 I decided to let Ruthie do some modeling of our new inventory.  She is so cute.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

College Savings? Probably Not

It's no secret that I like to do crafts with my kids.  A friend of mine gave me some of the cutest handmade hair clips as part of a baby shower gift before Ruthie was born.  I knew I would enjoy making something like that.  A seed was planted.

There was a ladies craft night featuring how to make said hair clips but I missed the activity when Ben and I decided to go see Harry Potter 6.  So I asked for a brief explanation over the phone and then decided to wing it.

First we found lots of fabric flowers on clearance at craft stores and at the dollar store.  This is the part that Julie and William love the most.

Then we start putting all of the disassembled flowers together in different ways to see what would look good.

Then I hot glue them together and we list them in our online Etsy store.  Of course many clips are kept in Julie's personal collection.  Like a baker who eats too much inventory - Julie has a hard time letting go her favorite ones (or any ones).

William likes them too.

Julie hand makes all of the packaging,
which is a lot of writing for a little girl.

Julie also did some "modeling".

Once they are in our online store we just wait for some one to buy them. After a purchase is made, Julie writes a personalized Thank You card, I package them up and we ship them off!

 So there you have it.  I run little business with my 5 year old daughter.  So far we have not made a profit yet, so I don't think college will be paid for by hair clips, but you never know...

To enter in our current giveaway please visit http://veaterfam.blogspot.com and follow instruction on how to enter. Giveaway ends on Nov. 13th.  There will be 2 winners! Good luck!

      

 Check out our store for up to date inventory.

www.sewmagical.etsy.com

Here are some of my favorites we have made (some still for sale, some long gone).