Whole Wheat Biscuits and Gravy

Sorry for the lack of attention you all have been gettin', cold season has struck our area and my poor girls got it! Not that that's the greatest excuse, but hey kiddo's come first!

So that being said I'm keeping it short and sweet. So here is your recipe, in two parts!

Whole Wheat Biscuits
makes about 8

1 cup Sprouted Wheat Flour
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1-2 tsp Real Sea Salt (to preference)
6-8 tbsp Butter (to preference)
1 cup Buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
Cut in butter until crumbly
Mix in buttermilk until just combined, not too much!
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.
Gently pat into a circle and cut out your biscuits (I use a cup)
Place on a cookie sheet in a 425-450 degree oven for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Whole Wheat Gravy

1/2-1 lb Pork Breakfast Sausage
2 cups of Milk
1/2 cup of Cream
1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Salt (or to Taste)
1 tsp. Pepper (or to Taste)

Brown Sausage in a pan.
Add your Flour mix it in to the grease.
Add your Milk and Cream
Mix in your Salt and Pepper.
Stir over medium heat until sauce starts to thicken.
Keep on low until ready to serve.

Top your biscuits with the gravy (and even some cheddar cheese if you are so inclined) and serve to your hungry hungry brood. Yes even my 8 month old eats it!

Enjoy!

Living More Simply: Dishwashing

Ah the dish washing chore. People around here, ok I, despise washing dishes. I thought that the dishwasher was God's gift to me, and people like me. Until I did some math and some real evaluating.

Have you ever noticed how much work a dishwasher really is? Really unless you have that stellar reputation of person who rinses and loads the dishwasher the very second after the dish is dirty, you have to scrub your dishes before they go in the dishwasher, or as everyone has witnessed from time to time the entire load ends up with crummy yucky stuff plastered to it.

Now that alone, seems like extra work to me. Usually if I've rinsed my dishes well enough to put them in the dishwasher I might has well have added the soap and they'd be clean by the time they got there! Seems like I just wasted time!

After pondering that, I started looking at all those things I cannot wash in my dishwasher. My pans. aren't the pans the worst part of the dishes? Couple that with the fact that most pans, especially those with any kind of non-stick coating, are not dishwasher safe, so if you are putting these things in the dishwasher you are voiding your warranties and not guaranteeing the safety of your pots and pans. The cast iron that I use often, can't be dishwasher-ed unless I want to re-season them every time I cook. Not a real useful thing.

Looking around at that I started wondering if there was more that I wasn't seeing. We stopped using the dishwasher and started washing ALL of our dishes by hand. I mean I was essentially doing that anyways! We stuck a towel on the counter and used that to lay dishes out to dry and after a month, lo and behold our electric bill was TWENTY DOLLARS cheaper! I never in my wildest dreams thought that the dishwasher could possibly eat up that much money!

After a few months of watching our electric bill being consistently cheaper, my husband had an assignment for his environmental science class to measure the amount of energy you used on a daily bases for something like four days. Now I had no idea you could actually calculate this total! I know I must be blonde right? (actually red-head, worse than blonde!) We did the math our dishwasher eats up 120 volts at 8.5 amps, meaning it eats up 1020 watts (volts times amps) while it's running.  If I did the other math properly (hours of use times current cost of electricity) with running the dishwasher once a day (about an hour) it eats approximately 17 dollars or electricity a month, not including the gas to heat the water it uses. So my totals were not that far off!

Looking at the hand washing method, I can safely assume that the amount of energy to heat three to five gallons of water that I use while hand washing (and sometimes used while rinsing and loading the dishwasher anyways) is significantly less than the dishwasher eats up. While I can't calculate for the water usage as we don't pay for water where we are at currently, I still would guess that it doesn't cost as much because I was using the water to rinse the dishes before they went into the dishwasher anyways. All in all for our family washing the dishes by hand is far simpler than washing them with the machine. As an added bonus my dishes have never been cleaner!

Now I'm not saying go out and tape off your dishwasher, never use it again. That would be crazy! But, if you are interested in living with less work and using less energy, it might be time to evaluate your dishwashers actual potential. Are you getting the bang for your buck? Turns out, we weren't!

Sprouted Wheat Pancakes and Berry Syrup

It's recipe time!
I've been experimenting with buttermilk pancakes for a few months now and I think we've finally hit a recipe that tastes good and has the healthy aspects we like. . . And if you top it with yummy berry syrup, it makes an awesome breakfast!


Sprouted Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 1/4 Cups Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Tsp. Sea Salt
1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
1-3 Tbsp. Honey (to sweetness preference)
1 1/3 Cup Buttermilk
1 Egg
2-3 Tbsp. Butter- Melted

Mix together Flour Salt and Baking Soda in a medium bowl. Drizzle with Honey. In a seperate container beat together Egg, buttermilk and butter (make sure the butter isn't too hot!). Mix together and drop by 1/4 cup (or smaller if you prefer, I make "baby" drip pancakes for the kiddo) onto a hot greased skillet or griddle. Once the top is slightly "bubbly" (see photo below) flip them, they should be perfectly browned on the bottom. Cook until the two sides match. Top with Syrup (Berry recipe below) and whip cream or butter.

Berry Syrup/ Sauce

1/2 cup- 1 cup Berries
a touch of water
3 Tbsp Honey or Maple Syrup per 1/2 cup of berries

Simmer on Medium-Low until pancakes are ready and berries are soft.

Pancakes are definately a favorite breakfast around here!

Broken Silence and Thanksgiving Photo's

Sorry for the silence around here the past few days (or has it been weeks?). We have had quite the busy days lately!

We hosted our first Thanksgiving as "Real Foodies" this year and I think it was a great hit! My mom fell in love with some recipe's in the Williams and Sonoma Thanksgiving menu this year and so we tweaked and nudged their recipe's Real Food style.

We had the Turkey, which my husband didn't do "out of the book" he makes the best apple baked turkey ever so we stuck with that and although I can't tell you what's in it (because I never cook Turkey) I can say it was awesome!

Creamed mashed potatoes are another great traditional dish, which we did, but we used 1/2 red and 1/2 russett instead of the traditional all russett potatoes and heavy cream instead of milk which was an idea inspired by Williams and Sonoma, which was great! Plus whipping them with my hand blender made them extra creamy, which is a good plus!

We made cranberry compote out of their recipe book too. That. Stuff. Rocked! Of course as I'm not big on wine I substituted for the wine, but it was awesome all the same! (Oh and just and FYI type of deal, I have NO problem with occasional drinks, it's just not a flavor I like)

And there were a few other dishes, but if you ask me the show stopper was the amazing Maple Pumpkin Pecan Pie from Kelly at Imperfect Homemaking. That thing took the cake and is now my favorite pumpkin pie ever! Thank you Kelly for that recipe!

And so now you know what took up some of my absence time on to the rest.
I worked on Christmas presents and my advent list, which I'll get to more posting here soon (Kid's toy Fishing Sets, Handmade Dolls, Cloth Napkins, Vanilla etc.) But what really took me away . .

Potty Training!

My kiddo has been potty aware for quite some time now, we have been changing her exclusively in the bathroom since we moved here at the beginning of the year and have been sitting her on the potty (with this amazingly cool kid potty seat) since she was about 6 months old. Well in the past week something clicked. I made a couple new pairs of underwear for Miss Noodle and she decided she wanted underwear every morning. Although she isn't doing quite as well today as she was this weekend, she only had 5 total accidents in 3 days! One of those days she wore one pair of underwear the entire day! She has been doing better and better over the past month and I think, she may be ready for underwear during the day all the time! But of course, it's time consuming for the mommy and daddy, hence silence. . .

And now . . The awaited . . Pictures! Our table this year was simple, but I think pretty. I used a sheet for the tablecloth and made some cloth napkins out of some linen I found in my spare fabrics pile. You can tell me what you think. . .

and there you have it. Our Thanksgiving and last couple weeks!

Banana Ice Cream

Pictures to come next time I make this stuff . . .  :o)

Ok, to be fair calling this stuff ice cream isn't exactly right, cause it's not. But it's good and cold and healthy and my kiddo eats this as her ice cream . . It has no added sugars, fats, or preservatives and is loaded with nutrients so it fits into my standards for her health diet.

You ready? Ok those bananas on your counter, peel them and throw them in the freezer. The more ripe the banana the more banana flavor to have less bananayness freeze them a little on the green side.

Once they are frozen chunk them into your blender.
Sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder or vanilla if desired (I use about 1/2 tsp per 3 bananas)
Splash with milk and blend to desired consistency adding milk as necessary.

That's it! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! Enjoy with the kiddo's or pop in the freezer and store for later like you would traditional ice cream.

What kind of natural and healthy desserts do you feed your kids? Do they enjoy them as much as traditional dessert?

Our Favorite Oatmeal

This oatmeal is warm and tasty and it's a fall favorite of ours. It seems like there are so many oatmeal recipes, but this one is by far our favorite.

1 cup boiling water
1 cup Milk
1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats (or Quick Oats)
1/3 cup cranberries
1/3 cup chopped nuts (we usually do almonds)
1/3 cup or less brown sugar (sweetened to taste kinda)
A tiny bit of maple syrup

It's an easy peasy recipe this recipe I make. Boiling water in pot, add milk. stir till combined and warm. Add oats. Combine Well. I usually let the oats simmer while I prep the nuts

I then add the nuts berries and sugar. . .

Mix it all together well . . Split between our bowls. . .

Pour on some syrup and enjoy! Simple right?

What are your family's favorite oatmeal recipe's?

Excellent Salted Pumpkin Seeds

Ahh! Fall is here, pumpkins, falling leaves, pumpkins, acorn squash, pumpkins, leaf fights, pumpkins, thankfulness; did I mention pumpkins?

We love everything pumpkin around here this time of year, or at least I do. I make pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice latte's, pumpkin cream cheese muffins, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin seeds. Oh there are a million more recipes, but these are by far our favorites. While I will most likely post more about the other recipes later on, today is about the seeds.

Aside from storing them for planting next summer, one of the best uses for those seeds after you carve out your pumpkins is a treat for, well, most of the people I know. Salty, buttery, snack pumpkin seeds.

So without further ado here is my recipe for pumpkin seeds

You will need:

1- 1 1/2 cup of Pumpkin Seeds (about two carving pumpkins worth)
1 1/2 tbsp Sea Salt (Divided)
3 tbsp Butter (we use Homemade)
water to fill pot to 1/2 full

A small sauce pot
A Colander (or a lot of patience)
A cookie sheet (with or without tin foil cover)
An Oven or Toaster Oven

Bring 1/2 pot of water to boil. Reduce Heat. Add 1 tbsp of your sea salt. Add seeds. Boil for about 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.
Drain and rinse your Pumpkin Seeds in cool water (colander is really helpful for this)
Melt your butter into the pot you just used. Add remaining salt to the butter.
Toss your seeds back in the pot and cook on medium low in the salty butter for about 3 minutes.
Dump the whole pot, butter and all onto a cookie sheet, lined with foil makes for easy clean up but isn't necessary. Spread out to approximately single layer.
Pop in the oven at 300 Degrees. Stir about every 10 minutes. Usually it only takes about 35 minutes to get the crispy golden seeds.
Let Cool.
Enjoy!

Boiling the seeds sucks the salty ness into the seeds and makes them a bit more flavorful than if you were to simply rinse them and bake them. We have also done seasoned seeds in the same manner and they turn out just as great! Experiment for yourself!

What kind of pumpkin treats do you like? Have you made pumpkin seeds before? What are your favorite methods?

Making Sweet Butter

Sweet Butter is one of the easiest things to make, and yet often one of the things most people would rather buy. Although we have no access to Raw Milk right now and therefore no cultured butter, there are still a great deal of benefits to churning (or shaking) butter at home.

When you make it yourself you have the added benefit of knowing exactly what is in your butter. No natural flavors, no added coloring agents (such as Annatto), no added preservatives, oils, or nitrogen and if you trace where your milk comes from you can know that the milk isn't altered and is harvested from naturally raised cows.

Another great benefit is the limited processing allows for fresher butter which means more/better flavor.

If you have a raw milk supplier you can "culture" your cream and make cultured butter adding a great deal more nutritional value to your butter.

and finally .. . Drum roll please . . . . The Buttermilk. . . Oh how you will love the buttermilk! This milk is much better than any store bought buttermilk. Store bought buttermilk is often not buttermilk at all but rather fermented skim milk! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttermilk
The buttermilk you get from churning your own butter is by far superior and makes excellent pancakes!

Although there are many methods of churning your own butter at home some using blenders and whisks, some with traditional churns, I've heard of people using stand mixers, we shake our butter.

As we use it quickly we don't usually worry too much about pressing the butter and we usually make it in small batches. This method is cake easy and really doesn't even require too much thought. Our whole family participate! Ok ok enough blabbing are you ready?

Get an empty jar with a tight sealing lid. We use old peanut butter jars most of the time.

Fill your jar 3/4 full of Heavy Whipping Cream (or fresh cultured cream)

Let the jar sit until the cream is room temperature.

Shake the snot out of it! You will notice as you shake that the cream will become very thick (the whip cream stage) and then almost suddenly it will start to clump together and there will be liquid swishing in the jar.

Congrats you have butter. You then just need to separate the butter and buttermilk.











Pour out the milk (save it for your pancakes tomorrow!) and keep shaking. Shake and pour, shake and pour until you can't get much more milk out of the butter.

Refrigerate or freeze both your Butter and Buttermilk. Or just enjoy it on some rolls right away. This butter will last anywhere from 3-6 days in refrigeration. If you need it to last longer you can press more milk out of the butter either using knives and wax paper or a butter press, or even washing the butter with water. We rarely do this as we use what we make quite quickly.

Bon Appetite!

What methods have you tried to make butter? What do you think of fresh butter?

My New Favorite Toy

The other day, in the midst of making my banana ice cream for my toddler (I promise I will share the easiest recipe in the world with you very soon!) My blender decided to die. . . It made this awful grinding noise and started emitting a terrible burnt plastic odor. Although I am sure it will work for a few more blends, I am too scared to touch it again. I really don't want to clean up the mess after it's final fail! Soo . . We did some research this time around.

We don't like spending money that we know is going to be wasted, really I just don't like spending money but that's beside the point. I figured buying another cheapo blender really would accomplish nothing but waste in the end. Even though a 3 year life is amazing for a $20.00 blender, if we spend more and buy quality, we won't need to replace it as often (if ever) and that is much better all around. No extra waste, no extra spending long term, and with the tool we want better results. Note: I said the tool we want. . .

I have been researching for months on blenders. The pro's and con's of high powered blenders, brands and price comparison's, durability, on and on and on. The blender I settled on is a Blendtec. They work great, have a good quality reputation, can do everything I would ask of a blender and their customer service is friendly. The problem: they start at around 350 and right now we can barely spare 50! I cringe at the thought of buying a lesser product to replace it later, but 350 is just not in the budget! and who knows how long it would take to come up with that kind of money! Plus we're in the midst of our canning season and we use the blender a lot!

Recently, I have been hearing a ton about immersion or 'stick' blenders. They are compact, handheld, mini blenders with oodles of possibilities. We would want one of these anyways eventually, but just how many possibilities are there? Could we use one of these instead of a traditional blender? We decided to give it a try. In my usual stickler style, I decided we must buy a quality stick blender not just any old thing to test. I saw a Kitchenaid at Target and instantly I was hooked. I love Kitchenaid products, they work well and have awesome customer service! I bought it, took it home and to my dismay, the item I purchased, was used. It had been used, returned, and reshelved. I resolved to return it and replace it with an identical, unused one. Then I saw the booklet that showed the Kitchenaid Hand Blender product line.

They have a whole attachment series for these handy tools that could replace 2 other small appliances I own! The stick blender itself, the whisk attachment to replace our hand mixer and a chopper (essentially a mini food processor). So now to make a loooong story short, we bought this one:

At $100 it was a bit more than I wanted to spend, however, I love it! It blends fruit for smoothies beautifully and I'm coming up with hundreds of new recipe's to test including homemade mayonnaise! And as a bonus I get to pass along three small appliances that took up tons of space in my cupboards, but were pretty well necessity in our kitchen!

I promise to share in the future how well it works and if I indeed decide that it will permanently replace a full size blender. But for now it seems to work great!

Happy Monday!

Stephanie

Simple Honey Wheat Bread

I love bread. Love it. But I have noticed that unless I buy the expensive organic bread I get sick. Like really bad. I think there is something wrong with the conventionally grown flour supply. I buy organic flour myself and the more I switch our grain items to organic the less allergy problems I end up struggling with. I don’t want to go back to having awful allergy problems but paying 4.89 for a loaf of bread is getting crazy!

I have decided to make my own. I mean why not people did it in the old days and I already buy all organic flour. I’ve even heard that soaking grains and baking your own bread is better for you. Although this isn’t a soaked bread recipe I plan to make it that way (or make soaked bread that is similar) soon. Anyways, this recipe turned out really well! Here goes!

2 Cups Warm Water
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 TBSP Active Dry Yeast
1 TSP Salt
1/3 Cup Honey
1/3 Cup Oil ( I used Olive Oil)
5 Cups All Purpose or Bread Flour ( I have worked  in a little more wheat flour alternatively)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add honey, and stir well. Mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and vegetable oil. Work all-purpose flour in gradually. I found that I actually had to knead some of the flour in, around cup 4 it starts getting really difficult to work in more flour!

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for at least 10 to 15 minutes. When dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a well-oiled bowl. Turn it several times in the bowl to coat the surface of the dough, and cover with a damp cloth. 

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Punch down the dough. Shape into two loaves, and place into two well-greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise until dough is 1 to 1 1/2 inches above pans.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

Homemade Applesauce

You Will Need:

10-12 apples (pick your favorite)

A touch of water

Optional Cinnamon
Optional Sugar or Honey (Unsweetened at home is actually quite sweet usually leaving sweetening unnecessary)

Canning supplies if you intend to can your applesauce for later.

Making applesauce is easy. One of my favorite fall tasks and well whenever we run out of applesauce, which happens often with the little ones that love it!  I used to use Lindsay’s method (Passionate Homemaking) then I moved out of my parent’s house and realized the value of a good blender.

 

My new method for applesauce still preserves many of the great nutrients but works better for people  with cheap (or no) blenders.

I start by peeling and chopping all of the apples, They need to be cubes that will cook well and mash later depending on the smoothness of applesauce you like. Think making mashed potatoes :o)

I put all my chunks in a pot and add a tiny bit of water. If you are adding cinnamon most people say do it after it’s sauce, I say add it now, gives the flavors more time to meld. Turn the pot on to medium heat and stir until the apples begin to soften. If you prefer chunkier applesauce, as soon as the apples begin to soften start mashing or blending if you like smooth applesauce let it boil and cook a little longer.

If you are canning your applesauce (as I do) start your jar sanitizing while the apples cook. Sanitize 4 or 5 2cup (pint I guess?) jars for larger apples 1 or 2 jars for smaller apples.

Once the apples reach the softness of your choice, transfer the mixture to your second rate blender or pull out your potato masher.  Mash or blend your apples to the desired consistency. Your applesauce is done. Enjoy or can for later enjoyment.

Pull your jars out and ready them for the sauce. Fill the jars leaving about an inch of headspace (to the edge of the ring). Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.  Allow the jars to cool on the counter Label and store for later!

Enjoy your applesauce!

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt

Ahh, yogurt, great with fruit or even just by itself. Full of good bacteria and loaded with great nutrients. One dietary need that makes digestion easier, as well as weight loss. It regulates metabolism and generally leads to a healthier you. As adding probiotics to your diet often will. The only problem is that the yogurt you buy in stores is either expensive, full of bad stuff like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, or both! Making it at home ensures that great benefit, on a budget and without the nasty stuff that almost negates the benefit you would receive. 

I have been experimenting with several methods of making yogurt for quite some time and have developed a method that works for me. Experiment with this and other recipes to find what works best for you! The benefits are definitely worth it!

Really you can make whatever kind of yogurt you want with this recipe, but be aware that leaving out the honey (or maple syrup) makes very sour yogurt!

To begin you will need:

A large pot for sanitizing jars and later incubating the yogurt (I use the bottom half of my pressure cooker)

A sauce pan of pot large enough to hold half a gallon of milk, (I use a 6 quart pot, but really you could use a smaller pot, I make 2 quarts (half a gallon) at a time)

a thermometer that will measure as low as 100 degrees Fahrenheit and up to at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit (I am told you can use your own judgement, but this really is much easier with the thermometer)

2- quart sized mason jars or 5- 2 cup mason jars to store your yogurt. (you can use other storage means, however glass seems to work best as you can sanitize it easily and it can be used for everything, incubation and storage)

1/2 gallon of milk

1/2 cup to 1 cup honey or maple syrup

1/2 ounce of vanilla

Yogurt Starter (can be either freeze dried starter like I used today or 1/2 cup of plain cultured yogurt either from a  previous batch or from the store)

About an hour and the ability to check on your yogurt throughout the day.

Lets begin:


Put your milk, honey or maple syrup (sweetened to your preference), and vanilla into your saucepot and turn the temp to medium- medium high.
Keep stirring your milk and check the temperature often, it needs to be 180 degrees, at this temp it will start to form a film on the sides of the pot and it is almost boiling.

In the meantime, fill your incubation pot with hot water and place in your jars. Bring this pot to a rapid boil. (I usually put my lids in as well, but this isn't necessary as you aren't actually canning these) Boil your jars for about 5 minutes and then drain the jars (not the pot) and turn them upside down on a towel to dry. Turn the heat off on your incubation pot (you may even need to add a little cold water before incubating your yogurt).

Once your yogurt reaches 180 degrees, Turn off the heat and remove 1-2 cup of milk from the pot. Divide the remainder between your incubation jars. Now all of these jars and your removed milk needs to cool to about 120 degrees.

At 120 degrees you will mix in your starter. Take your 1/2 cup of yogurt or 10 ml of freeze dried starter and add to the milk you set aside. Don't mix this too much! you will just need to stir enough to wet the freeze dried or mix chunks into the milk. I usually use a smaller mason jar and cap it and shake gently once or twice.

 You will then divide this milk between your incubation jars. Make sure there are a few chunks of starter in each jar.
Cap your incubation jars and turn them upside down (and back up) twice.

Make sure your incubation pot's water is at 120 degrees or less. Too hot and the cultures will deactivate and you will end up with soupy yogurt. Once to temp, put your yogurt in the incubation pot.
You will now leave it there, alone. . don't disturb your yogurt for several hours. You will want to periodically check the water to be sure the temp stays in between 85-110 degrees. You can turn the stove on to heat the water when needed. Keep the water warm for the entire incubation time which is anywhere from 4 hours up to 18 hours, I used to leave it over night, but the water would cool making the time pointless, I now leave it for 8-12 hours depending on my schedule.
That's it, once your incubation is done you should have thick creamy yogurt, better than you could get in the store! Put it in your fridge and enjoy it!


Happy Feasting!

Stephanie

Homemade Produce Bags . . Why pay $6.95 for three bags when I can make eight of them for $3?

Produce bags seem like a pointless project, I mean every grocery store provides plastic bags to carry your produce home right? But how often do you leave your produce in these bags in your fridge and have all of your food spoil?

I constantly was watching food spoil, I've heard that letting your produce breathe keeps this to a minimum, but a produce bag from the store won't let that happen!

Enter project: make simple produce bags to carry our produce, and store it in the fridge. We'll see how well they work in the next couple weeks.

These bags are so simple almost anyone can make them! I was impatient and spaced to take pictures while I was making them, but I don't think anyone really needs my amateur photo's to make these!

I bought a yard and a half of toole for $2.05. and had leftover jute yarn from a prior project, but you could really use just about anything to make a pull cord closure.

I cut the toole into rectangles, roughly a foot wide by 2 feet long. I then sewed a tube (for the closure) into one of the long sides. After that you fold the toole so that it is more square and sew the sides (except the tubed side) Run your ribbon through the tube and tie it so that it won't fall out. 

Ta Da!! Fabulous produce bags for almost nothing!!

Happy Projecting!

Stephanie