New Supper Tunic Shirt

(A guest post from Becky) I finally have something new to post, yippee!  I have been looking for a nice super tunic (just an extra long tunic) pattern to make, but I hadn't found a pattern that would look nice with the length added.  Here is the finished product of 5 days worth of ripping and sewing, configuring and brainstorming.  I am really happy with the results, especially since I made the pattern from just looking at a picture!  I don't know if I will ever make another one like it since I had no idea how it turned out the way it did!  True to style, I didn't have any pattern pieces and I didn't write anything down, because I was just sewing and fixing as I went along.  It worked though, so I'm happy with it!

here is the picture that used from http://www.shukronline.com/

Hot Breakfast Extravaganza

Most of you might think this is yucky, but we have tried it an like it ... I encourage you to do the same (if you don't already).

We often have hot cereal for breakfast ... oatmeal, grits, teff, or whatever. But many times we do not finish all that is in the pan. In the past I have tried to add the left-over hot cereal to muffins or quick breads. The flaw in this however is that either 1) I do not feel like making muffins or quick breads right at that moment ... so ... 2) it sits in the fridge, gets forgotten, starts growing and then gets thrown away. I really HATE throwing food away so I always end up feeling bad.

That is until I found a solution!

I now have a 1 gallon sturdy plastic honey jug that I keep in my chest freezer. Whenever there is left-over hot cereal, the breakfast person scrapes the contents of the pan out into the honey bucket in the freezer. This has become our left-over hot breakfast bucket. When it's full, I take it out and put it in the fridge. The next few days we have what looks like slop for breakfast ... but it tastes really good! Best of all, we are using up something that would have eventually been thrown away ... that's almost like having two or three 'free' meals.

We do the same thing for left-0ver broth and veggies ... they have their own bucket and this eventually becomes some sort of soup. If we have a little meat, we might throw that in the bucket too.

Sweet Potato Pie and Pretzels

Today Brianna and I had a nice time in the kitchen. She made sweet potato pie and I made soft baked pretzels. YUM.

We did not get pictures of every step, but we got enough I think?

First, the crust. I got unbleached white flour especially for Brianna ... it's the easiest to use for crusts. Our grinder grinds the wheat berries so course and the first crust she ever tried to make did not work at all. I can get it to work fine, but for someone just starting, it might be nicer to start with unbleached white flour. As you can see, her crust turned out well :)

The filling ... I'm not sure what all I told her to put in there, but I THINK it was 6c mashed sweet potatoes, 3 eggs, 1/2c brown sugar, 1t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg, 1t vanilla and 1/4c butter, melted. Blend it all together and spread into the crusts.

She decided to use the extra crust dough to make decorations for the tops ...

Ready to bake ... 425 for 15 minutes and 300 till done (over 50 minutes). The filling will be firm and the crust will be golden brown.
All done!

Guess what we are having for dessert tonight ...

Brianna thought to take pictures of the pretzels a little too late, so you'll have to use your imagination for the first few steps. I used my whole wheat bread recipe; I followed all the steps until the shaping of the loaves. Instead I rolled it out to about a 10" x 12" rectangle and cut into 12 - 12" long strips. Roll them out a little more with your hands, shape and put on a greased cookie sheet. Next, bake them in a preheated oven set to 475 for 4 minutes. Once done, have ready a pot of boiling water with 2T of salt added. Lower 3 or 4 at a time into the pot, boil for 2 minutes, turning once in between. Remove with a slotted spoon. Set on a towel for a minute or so to drain, and then put back onto a well greased cookie sheet.

Brush with an egg white wash - one egg white and 1T water.

Sprinkle with coarse salt.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes ... till golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. I brushed it with melted butter before taking it off the cookie sheet.
Enjoy!

My new dress pattern

Well, I'm getting closer to the kind of dress I'd like to wear. This is the results of a lot of hard work, thinking, etc. I took the top of a tunic I like and made a pattern for the dress bodice and sleeves out of that; the dress skirt is from a skirt I like. The tunic top is from an actual pattern, but I altered that a bit too.
I want to make one change next time - I hope to figure out how to make the tunic top a 'boat neck' so I do not have to have the slit in the front (it's hard to see in these pictures).
The fabric is a king-sized sheet I got from the thrift store - $1. It was PINK, but I dyed it taupe. The dye was not quite $2. So, that's about $3 plus labor. I might change the color at some point; it seems a little too light for my liking. I get things stained up and dirty quickly, so dark colors are better.



The back looks a little fitted here, but it's actually not; I think my elbows must have been pulling on the fabric.

Moths, larva and other critters

I wont put pictures of roaches here ... we know what they look like. So, what do you do if/when you find critters in your grains? I recently had a poll going with several choices. I see now that I should have been a little more specific with some of the more open ended questions, but it is still obvious what more than half of the people who answered would do if they found critters in their grains - "Yuck, that's totally disgusting - I throw it out of course!" With some it would depend on what kind, how many and whether the bugs were dead or alive. And then there were some that would sift out the critters and use the flour/grain anyway. I was encouraged by the amount of responses in this category ... I am glad to know more of you would do that than what I thought ... about 20% of you, or, 1 out of 5.

What would I do? I sift them out and use the flour or grain ... the kind of bug does not matter, nor does the amount or whether it's/they're dead or alive. There are some at my fellowship that do not appreciate this in the same way I do, so out of respect for them, I will use 'good flour' (usually fresh ground in my vitamix) when I'm making bread for the fellowship meal.

Why do I ask?

A Sister in the Lord shared a story with me one evening when we were going through her scrapbook from their time in Ghana. I pray I get the story right ... basically she said that nearly every time they used their flour, they had to first sift the bugs/worms out of it. One time there was so many of them and they were so small they slipped right through the sifter she used ... and there on the counter was a pile of really wiggly flour. She said that was just too much for her seeing that flour move all around like that. So she had her helper girl dump the flour behind their house/hut in the trees. Not too long after that, she saw some little girls scooping the flour up off the dirt; she knew they were bringing it home and giving it to their mother. All that time they had spent there living just like these people ... they had good testimonies and all ... and then this. She regrets not using that flour - if they could do it, why couldn't she?

I was so blessed to hear this testimony and it has really helped me to care what is in my food - just pick it out and use it. We are so spoiled here in the U.S.

I think it would be really interested to do a comparison of food here in the U.S. verses food somewhere else. Compare all sorts of things like what's eaten, how much, how often, variety, etc. If anyone knows of a good place to look for this information, please share.

In the mean time, I want to challenge everyone to use what you have, even if there are bugs in it. People all over the world do it every day; you can too. Cooking it should destroy most or all of the 'bad stuff'. I also want to challenge you all to eat more simple. Start off with adding more brown rice to your diet. If you already do that, then add more beans. If you already do that, then add something else cheap and healthy, or take out something unhealthy whether cheap or not (soda, candy, chips, white stuff, etc.).

I have so many ideas but not enough time.

A New Poll!

It's been a while. My absence from this blog can be attributed to numerous factors, however I will spare you the details and just say that some things are more important.

So, what's on my mind? In a word ... bugs.

Have you ever gotten into a bag of flour or other grain and found that some little critter decided to make their happy abode there? Why not? It's dark, warm, comfortable, climate-controlled, and ~ best of all ~ basically an unlimited supply of food!

So, what do you do?

How about a poll ... SEE ABOVE!! (or go to the main blog page Frugal Home and Health) I have set up a poll and plan to base my next post on the results. PLEASE VOTE!

Cleaning: From Top to Bottom

Well, I've thought for a while about what cleaning job to post first ... but I've also been very busy to say the least.  I was going to start with the bathroom, however I had another thought.  Why not do something that's all over the house?  So this coming week, if you can, I suggest focusing on:

COBWEBS AND DUST

Yes ... both are everywhere!  Do a quick walk through your house and look up - more likely than not you'll find at least SOME of both.  If you are like most people however, you will find a LOT of both.  Cobwebs like to stick to the corners of walls, the tops and corners of doors, the ceiling, windows, and other places too.  While dust can and will be found just about everywhere, for this first cleaning, only focus on the dust that is on the tops of the door and window frames; the other dust [shelves, pictures, clocks, etc.] will be taken care of some other time - unless you have the time and energy to do them now. 

TO DO
Go through your house with some sort of cobweb sweeper.  A broom works well, however you can also use a duster with an extended handle or a vacuum attachment.  Sweep every corner of each room from top to bottom.  Also sweep along the top of each wall where it meets the ceiling.  If it's been a long time since you've done this, or if you have a lot of spiders, you may also need to sweep each wall - paying close attention to where pictures, shelves, or other furniture meet the wall.
Next go through with a damp cloth and wipe the tops of each door and window frame.  In our old house, this was a job for my tall son.  I had to drag a step stool around, however all he had to do was lift his arm up comfortably.  :)  If you have time and baseboards, wipe those too.  This is a good job for a shorter child.  :)  :)
Now, you are done ... unless all that dust sitting around bothers you, in which case, you may want to do a quick dusting and vacuuming. 

That's it for now.  If you have suggestions on this topic, please post a comment.  With as busy as I've been, I'll need all the help and brain-power I can get!

Homemade Yogurt (using goat milk or other milk)

After a few attempts and failures at making my own yogurt at home, I finally found a way that works.  Well, I didn't really find it, I just asked a some sisters here how they made their goat yogurt and I listened to their advice :)

Ingredients:
2 quarts of goat milk (you can use cow milk if you'd like)
1c powdered milk
1/2c yogurt starter (a sister here gave me some of her yogurt)
1/2c sugar (I used brown; next time I will add a little stevia too)
~1t vanilla extract and 1t of lemon extract (optional)

Pour the milk in the pan and heat till it's at 180 degrees (I used a meat thermometer).  Turn it OFF, mix in everything except the yogurt starter, and let it sit 'til it's at 120 degrees.  Add the yogurt starter, mix well, and pour into jars.  I got 2qts and 1c from mine.

Place the jars into a cooler, cover with the hotest tap water you have, and close the lid.  Let it sit for at least 3 hours before checking.  Tilt the jar a little to see if it is thick and set.  If it needs more time also refresh the water with new hot water.  Mine took about 4 1/2 hours or so.

Store in the fridge and use however you normally use yogurt ... we enjoyed ours with fresh fruit and a little nutmeg.  YUM!

Early church quote on gluttony

The early church had a lot to say about gluttony and eating with simplicity ... here is a quote I found today:

Some men, in truth, live that they may eat, as the irrational creatures, "whose life is their belly, and nothing else." But the Instructor commands us to eat that we may live. For neither is food our business, nor is pleasure our aim; but both are on account of our life here, which the Word is training up to immortality. Wherefore also there is discrimination to be employed in reference to food. And it is to be simple, truly plain, suiting precisely simple and artless children--as ministering to life, not to luxury. And the life to which it conduces consists of two things--health and strength; to which plainness of fare is most suitable, being conducive both to digestion and lightness of body, from which come growth, and health, and right strength, not strength that is wrong or dangerous and wretched, as is that of athletes produced by compulsory feeding. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195)

Raw Goat Cheese and Whey & Raw / Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut

I finally got the rennet tablets and was able to make my own raw goat cheese and whey; we like it much better than the cooked stuff I demonstrated a few months ago (homemade goat cheese and whey using vinegar).
The milk is best used fresh from the goat, still warm.  If it has been refrigerated, put the gallon jug in a sink full of hot water and stir periodically till it is warm but NOT hot.  

The rennet looks like this ... you only need a small amount.  My first batch did not set right so I added a tiny bit more and that did the job good.  Gently crush it between two spoons and stir it into the milk.

It should set in about a half hour or less.  Pour into a strainer set in a bowl to catch the whey.  Here's the cheese:

And here is the whey:

The finished product ... 3 1/2qts of whey and about 2c of cheese - be sure to mix in 1t-1 1/2t of salt into the cheese.  You can also mix other things like onion flakes, Italian seasonings, or any other flavor to suit your taste.

LACTO-FERMENTATION
In the last post I did on goat cheese and whey, I listed several things to do with the whey.  One more you could do is make raw, fermented cabbage (a.k.a. raw sauerkraut or lacto-fermented sauerkraut).  Shred 1 medium head of cabbage.  Place in a bowl with 1T salt and 1/4c whey.  Pound till the juices come out good ... at least 10 minutes.  I did not have meat mallet so I used a small glass olive jar ... it worked just fine.  Shove it into a quart jar - the juice should come up over the cabbage at least a half inch.  Leave about an inch of headspace.  Set on the counter, in the counter, or wherever you'd like, for 3 days. It should start to bubble after 3-4 days. We left ours on the counter top for a little over 3 weeks before we put it in the fridge. I've heard the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it gets, though we just started doing this so I cannot make an accurate statement on that! (update - it tastes great even after being in the fridge for months).
- variation: if you do not have whey, you can substitute with one additional tablespoon of salt.

CLICK HERE FOR A BLOG POST WITH PICTURES: Sauerkraut

FYI - here is an article on Lacto-Fermentation.

Cleaning your home

I have been cleaning houses professionally for several years now and have a good idea of what people miss when cleaning various rooms in their home.  I plan to have a weekly series of posts in which I describe [in detail, yet as simply as possible] how to properly clean each room from top to bottom. Maybe I'll set up a weekly cleaning challenge??  We'll see how ambitious I get ;)

Keep your eyes open for my first 'cleaning your home' post!

Garden Fresh Sushi- Made at home for under $3!

I love sushi!! If you love sushi, then you know what I'm talking about:) I know that some people don't want to try it because they believe that it is only made with raw fish, but that's not true.  Sushi is so versatile, you can put anything you want to in it that you like.  I made some of this the other night, and it was so easy, that even if you've never seen a sushi roll, you can make this in under 10 minutes flat!  Not to mention that it only cost about $3 total! ( that may even be way over the cost) compared to the $15   per roll you would pay at your favorite sushi spot.  This is made with veggies from the garden and a little extras.

Garden Fresh Sushi rolls( for 1-2 people)

• 2 dried nori (dried seaweed)sheets.  These can be purchased at any Asian market. They usually come in a pack of 10 or more for under $4.
• 1/2 cup hot rice, whatever kind you have on hand.  It's better to use left over rice that has been reheated, as it is not as mushy, but use what you got.
• 1 Ripe Avocado
• 3 thinly sliced sandwich slices of Tomato
• 1/2 small cucumber
• 2 T cream cheese (optional)
• 3 T Soy Sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
• Sriracha Japanese hot sauce

Reheat the rice by steaming it a little.  While that is steaming, slice up your avocado,  tomato, and cucumber, all julienne style (in long, thin strips). Get out your two sheets of nori and lay them on a plate,  then  pile 1/4 cup of hot rice at one end of each of the sheets, leaving about 1 inch of nori without rice on that same end, and spread the rice out like you would when filling a burrito. 

Next, lay strips of your veggies on top of the rice.  Grab that end of the sheet where you put your filling and wrap it gently over the filling until it is completely encased.  Then continue to roll up the rest of the sheet.  Lay the roll so that the end of the sheet is under the roll, so that the heat from the rice seals the roll.

 Now get a very sharp knife and lay your rolls on a cutting board and slice thin circles like you would a cinnamon roll.  Move your rolls to your plate, grab you some soy or whatever in a separate bowl and your hot sauce.  I like using chop sticks too:) 

 If you want to put cream cheese on them, just cut off a little and put little dabs on each piece with a dot of hot sauce then dip it in your soy. 

These are sooo simple and so good, I've made them twice in 3 days!  Let me know how you like them, or if you make other sushi concoctions at home.

- Becky

Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Crisp (mock apple crisp) and more!

It's that time of year again ... the time when you have so many zucchinis you think you are going to get sick of looking at them, let alone eat them ... and if your loving neighbor gives you one more zucchini, you might have to scream.  Ok... not really.  But, let's put all those zucchini to good use!!

This morning we had mock-apple crisp and I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread.  Here are the recipes I used.

MOCK APPLE CRISP (using zucchini instead of apples)
5c chopped zucchini (I did not peal mine, but you might want to)
1/8c sugar
1t apple pie spice
*mix and put into a greased 8x8 pan or a small rectangular pan:

Topping:
1c oats
1/2c whole wheat flour
1/4c sugar
1t stevia
1t apple pie spice
1/4t salt
*Mix and cut in 1/2c butter.  Put on top of the zucchini:

Bake 400 degrees till golden brown on top.

We had our zucchini crisp for breakfast; we served it in bowls with goat milk and fresh strawberries. 

Zucchini Bread (makes 4 loaves)
DRY:
6c whole wheat flour
4t cinnamon (1T+1t)
1t nutmeg
2t baking soda
1t salt
1t baking powder
1c sugar
2t stevia
WET:
4c shredded zucchini
1c oil
4 eggs
1c liquid of some kind (pineapple juice works well; can also use water, whey, milk, etc.)
crushed pineapple ... 2 cups or so?
2t lemon extract or lemon zest

Mix dry, mix wet, then combine till just mixed.  Pour into 4 greased bread pans.  Bake at 350 till done ... about 30 minutes or so till tops are golden brown and a butter knife tests clean.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan.  If you leave it in the pan, it will get soggy.

Italian Polenta

Polenta is very cheap, easy, and delicious.  I ran into a good deal at a bent and dent store for grits/polenta and stocked up.

 

First, cook your grits - We had a lot of people eating, so I used 9c water, 1 1/2t salt, 3c grits, 4 1/2T butter.  Bring to a boil, cover, simmer for about 30 minutes.  Stir frequently; it will stick.  When it's done, pour/spoon into a greased bowl of some sort; I chose 2-9" pie plates.  Sit for 10 minutes or so.

Cover the pie plate with a cutting board or other flat object large enough to fit completely over the top. 

Invert.

Remove the pie plate; it should hold the shape of the dish.

Slice however large or small you prefer.

Serve with some sort of tomato sauce over the top; I prefer a simple marinara.

Basic Marinara Sauce
1/4c extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
1/4 a medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, pressed
2-28oz cans of diced tomatoes or 6c fresh diced tomatoes
Salt and basil to taste. (start with a teaspoon of each and add more if desired)

Saute the onions in the olive oil.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer uncovered till desired consistency is achieved. 

Italian Style Green Beans
Using 2 pounds of steamed/cooked green beans, stir in about 2T each of butter and evoo, 1t-2t each oregano and basil, 1t or more of salt and garlic powder to taste.
We really enjoy having green beans this way.

How to Make Your Own Cheese

About a year and a half ago, I did a post on my other blog about how to make cheese from powdered milk. We were living in the Philippines at the time and they do not have dairy products like what we have here. They mainly have powdered milk or milk that is processed for a long shelf life, and both are pretty pricey. I was really interested in making yogurt and simple cheeses like cottage cheese, or "farmers cheese", and some spreadable cheese. Well, I was never able to make any before we returned to the states, so I just posted the recipes that I had found. So now that we are back, I thought a post on making your own cheese would be fitting.

We are starting to receive an abundance of goat's milk from some of the families that we fellowship with here, so Joanne has started making things like yogurt( made with the crockpot) and herbed farmer's cheese. I have 2 quarts of goats milk in the fridge right now and was looking up some information about liquid rennet and found this useful site-Fankhauser Cheese Course

Wow, this website has so much useful (besides my most favorite word when it comes to this kind of stuff)practical information, plus the next best thing- great step by step pictures:) Here are some links from this site for:

• Beginning Cheese Making
• How to Make a Cheese Press

I think I'm going to make yogurt first then experiment with some other cheeses. Let us know if you make any of your own cheeses and if you have links to some of your creations, great!

- Becky

{Photo of cheese board courtesy of the web site Fromages.com}

Ceviche

The other day, Brian introduced us to a new favorite - a Peruvian dish called Ceviche.  YUM!  I was a little skeptical at first since the fish is not cooked, however I'm always up for trying something new and I'm sure glad I did.

This is not a very good picture, but it's the only one that turned out good enough ...

Ceviche
- 4 potatoes
- 4 sweet potatoes 
- 1 red onion, sliced VERY thin
- 1 cup fresh lime juice (~12 limes)
- 1/2 rib celery, sliced
- 1/4 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
- 1/4t ground cumin
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 habanero or jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced (use as little or as much as you'd like)
- Salt to taste
- 2 pounds of fish, cut into 1/2" pieces - today we had salmon, so that's what we used.  Brian said it does not matter at all what type of fish you use. Also, shrimp, crab, &/or squid can be added.
- Leaf, romaine, bib or other type of lettuce.

1) Cover the potatoes with water and cook till tender.  Set aside till easy to handle.
2) Blend/process till smooth - lime juice, cumin, celery and cilantro.  Pour into large bowl and add 3/4 of the onion, and all of the garlic, pepper, salt and fish.
3) Let it marinate for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.  It is done when it turns firm and opaque.
4) Peel (opt.) and slice the potatoes.
To serve: cover plate with lettuce, top with fish mixture, fresh onions and potatoes.  Can spoon the marinade over all for extra flavor.

Bulk Cooking ... OH deer!

This is a very simple, tasty, versatile and cheap recipe ... I don't have a name for it, but it's made of ground meat, beans and rice.  I season it 'Mexican-style' (???) - onions, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, etc.

The recipe is really whatever you want it to be, but I'll tell you roughly what I used [all measurements are approximate]:
*4 pounds of ground deer meat (fry with onions and garlic)
*6 cups of brown rice, cooked (turns out to be a big pot of cooked rice)
*2 gallon freezer bags of cooked beans (I cleaned out my freezer and found garbanzo and navy beans, so that's what I used this time)
*Season to taste; add water to help stir it.
[can omit the meat and add more beans or lentils for a vegetarian option; we use meat if we get it for free, otherwise we leave it out]

Allow to cool, and then store in serving size freezer bags.  I'll get about 4 gallon freezer bags out of what you see in the picture - it's a very large bowl!  I store in gallon bags, thaw one out and then use it over several days for various things.  Some ideas are taco stuffing, casseroles, taco soup, nachos/haystacks, burritos, or whatever else suits your tastes.  Enjoy!

Cost break-down
Meat - $0 (free deer from friends)
Rice - ~$1 (buy in bulk for about $.80 a pound)
Beans - ~$2 (buy in bulk for about $1 a pound)
Seasonings - ~$1 (??? maybe I'm being liberal here?)

Total cost - ~$4 ... and it will last for many meals.

Plum Jam & Jelly

The children and a brother from church we walking to the thrift store the other day and came across a plum tree in someone's yard.  Later on they knocked on the door and asked the man if they could pick the plums.  He was more than happy to let them have it.  That evening we had several gallons of plums ... we already had an abundance of fruit flies, so I wanted to make sure they got taken care of as soon as possible.

Plum Jam!  First I washed them all in the sink.  Then a few of us cut a slit in each one.  These went into two large pots.  I added enough water to cover, brought to a boil, and simmered for about 5 minutes. 

The result (this is not all of it though)...

I decided to try and smash them through a strainer ... this worked pretty well.  We got all the stones out and it did not take too long, all things considered.

The smashed fruit went back into a large pot with seasonings (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves).  I use Pomona's Universal Pectin ... this allows for less sugar (a lot less).  For 21 cups of jam I used 5 cups of sweetener [we did not have enough of any one sweetener, so I used a combination of things]; if anyone knows about making jam, they know that this is a significantly lower amount of sugar.  I looked up Sure-Jell recipes online; their 'Triple Berry Jam' calls for 5 cups of prepared fruit and 7 cups of sugar.  If I would have used Sure-Jell, I would have needed more than 28 cups of sugar for my 21 cups of prepared fruit!!!  WOW. 

So now what to do with all that liquid from the water and the fruit?  JELLY!  I put it all in a large pot, along with the stones (there was a little fruit left on the stones), and simmer for several hours. 

It reduced a lot more than this, but this is the only picture we have of it reducing.  I should have stirred it more often ... some of it burned to the bottom and produced a smoky flavor in the finished jelly :) no one minds though (it just tastes unique!).  I added sweetener as well as a little almond and vanilla extract.

The reward for all our hard work ... 32+ pints of FREE jam and jelly!

Here's a picture from another angle - I wanted to show that you can use other jars and re-use lids several times.  Notice the front two jars on the left; one is a bullion jar and one is a fancy canned fruit jar someone gave to me.  I re-use canning lids 4 or more times; it just depends on if the seal is hard or not (if it's a little soft, it still has some life in it).  I will caution however that it is NOT recommended to re-use lids, so don't blame it on me if you do this and your jars do not seal right ... although so far I have not had a problem with this.