Try It Out Tuesday - Orange Marmalade (IS apparently harder than it looks!)

I decided on trying my hand at orange marmalade this week to use up a gigantic bag of oranges we had in the fridge (which apparently no one was going to eat).

Click here for the original pin on my Food/Recipes board.

Follow me on Pinterest.

*Don't forget to click over to Kelly's blog, My Purple Brick Road, for a tasty review of Nutella S'mores!

I chose this recipe simply because it looked easy, fool-proof and didn't use pectin (I don't keep that on hand and didn't want to buy any).  This particular site gave wonderful step by step directions and photos.  The original recipe it links to is here.

I peeled the oranges, slivered the peel, cut up the oranges and plopped them all into my trusty stock pot.

I added water and sugar in the amounts called for and set it to boiling. I am damn sure think this is where I went wrong.

When I looked back over the recipe (I read it a dozen times before I started, one would think I'd get it right!)...it says to boil the oranges and peel for at least an hour until soft...THEN add the sugar.  It should only take about an hour to hour and a half to obtain marmalade-y texture and consistency.

Yeah, right. 

I boiled and boiled and boiled my mixture. 

And boiled some more.

When it hit the three hour mark with no signs of the slightest inclination of jelling...I called it a draw. 


I now have a stock pot full of orange vanilla sludge.  It smells wonderful, it even tastes pretty good.  However, it is no where NEAR marmalade.

Modifications: I added about a tsp of vanilla. It smelled delicious and gave it an interesting flavor.

Fail Factors: The entire project was a total and utter fail. But I believe that is all my fault as I didn't wait to add the sugar.

For The Win: The recipe really is simple. (And successful if done right, I assume).

Will I attempt this recipe again? Yes, simply because I will NOT BE DEFEATED!!! LOL

Have you made homemade jams or jellies?  With or without pectin? How have yours turned out? Any tips for the novice?

*"Try It Out Tuesday" is a blog hop (or blog party) created by 3 friends, and is inspired by Pinterest. We choose one, sometimes two "pins" (if you want to be labeled an overachiever, just sayin') per week, try them out, and review them on our blogs. Anyone can join in, just leave the link to your Try It Out Tuesday post in the comments and we'll add you to the list! C'mon, Try It Out!

Try It Out Tuesday: Homemade Cleaners

Welcome to the first installment of "Try It Out Tuesday"!

What is that?

Well...Try It Out Tuesday came about during a knit night with two of my best gals.  We were chatting about Pinterest...ah yes, the evil time sucking bandit that is Pinterest!  We all agreed that Pinterest is certainly fun, definitely addicting, but also a little intimidating.  I lamented that I loved to pin all these wonderful ideas, crafts, recipes, et al...but wondered when I would ever get the time to try them.

We put our cute little heads together (I think it was more their idea...I just jumped on the bandwagon!) and came up with our own little blog hop we're calling "Try It Out Tuesday"!

Every week we will choose at least one "pin" that we've been wanting to try and, well, TRY IT!  (Hence TRY it ou...well, you know.)  Keep notes and take pictures to document your experiment, then on Tuesday morning, blog about your experience.  Seems pretty simple, huh?  We'll eventually have a linky tool if we get enough people interested in participating, but for now Kelly, Mary and I are linking to each other.  If anyone else reading this is interested in joining us, please feel free!  Snag the graphic I made and TRY IT OUT!!! :)

Go see what my other gals are up to:
Mary: Book Review, "Being George Washington"
and
Kelly: DIY Suncatchers

Now, without further ado, my first "Try It Out Tuesday":

HOMEMADE CLEANERS

I've been wanting to try homemade cleaning products for some time now, as it seems to be "all the rage".  Actually I'm just sick of cleaning with foul smelling chemicals and spending a fortune on them!  Lots of people I know are into making homemade laundry soap and fabric softener, dishwasher soap, etc.  I'm not that far into it yet (although I did just order some organic soapnuts to use in lieu of commercial laundry soap. That'll be another post.).  

I came across a few different pins that were recipes for homemade cleaners.  I started with All-Purpose Cleaner (my recipe is one I tweaked from several different places). 

All Purpose Cleaner

1 Cup white vinegar

2 Cups hot water

2 tsp dish detergent (for added grease cutting power)

2 tsp lemon juice (to cut the vinegar smell, most recipes call for using essential oils to fragrance and boost antibacterial/disinfecting properties, but I just worked with what I had on hand)

A "splash" of rubbing alcohol (for that streak-free shine!)

I mixed it all together and got to cleaning.  However...I neglected to take pictures!  DOH!  It works wonderful on all my kitchen AND bathroom surfaces.  I even sprayed a light mist on my laminate flooring in the living room and gave it a quick damp mop and it worked great.  

My second experiment this week was using baking soda to clean.  

I have a glass top stove in the apartment we just moved into.  The previous owners were obviously as fastidious as I am about things being clean, and there were several spots on the cooktop that wouldn't come off no matter how much I scrubbed.  I read about baking soda being a great scrubbing cleanser without being too abrasive, so I decided to try it.  I dampened the cook top, dumped a bit of baking soda on the grungy part and scrubbed my little heart out with a damp sponge.  It took some doing, but I think the results speak for themselves.  Before: 

See the uckiness?  And after:

Not perfect, but much better!

I've also started using baking soda in the bathroom as toilet cleaner.  I know, I was skeptical too.  Come to find out, if you sprinkle a generous amount on your not so fresh toilet and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then spray it with homemade all purpose cleaner and scrub as usual, it will be sparkly clean and fresh as a daisy.  Seriously.  See?

Before:

And after:

Oh yeah, that IS a disposable coffee cup, repurposed as a baking soda shaker for the bathroom!!!  

So...there you have my "Try It Out Tuesday"...all about homemade cleaners!

Do you use homemade cleansers or have a tried and true DIY home tip?  Post it in the comments for us all to try!