There Are 10 Cups Of Brown Sugar In A 2 Kilogram Bag Of Brown Sugar

...I told you I was a bit OCD.

I'm working on my ingredient pricing list. Shopping yesterday, with a semi fussy baby who enjoys throwing things off of the cart (repeatedly), was not an enjoyable experience. I had planned to jot down a few prices as I shopped but that didn't happen.

However - I needed to stock up on a few things that happen to be on my ingredient pricing list, so I was able to fill in a few prices using my receipt. One of those items was brown sugar. Which comes in a 2 kilogram bag - I'm pretty sure that's the largest bag that I, as a regular everyday customer, can purchase.

I measure brown sugar by the cupful, not by the kilogram. This creates a problem because cups measure volume, and kilograms are a measure of weight. I was tired and certainly did not feel like taking my unopened bag of brown sugar and measuring it out cup by cup - so I hit up the Google.

Much to my surprise and disbelief, this site came up as one of the results. Common foods, measured out so beautifully and so well organized, I thought I might cry a little.

Have you ever wanted to know how many grams in a tablespoon? How about milliliters to a gram? And the answer to my query, how many cups in a kilogram. For all sorts of foods! Spices to beef to bamboo shoots (?!?) to cauliflower and yes, brown sugar.

But OCD Rina made an appearance and wanted to make sure. I don't know why I even bothered to look it up, because I'd want to test it for myself anyway. I really need to relax.

In any case, I measured out exactly 10 cups of packed brown sugar from my 2 kilogram bag. I was pleasantly surprised.

And now I know that there are most certainly 10 cups of brown sugar in a 2 kilogram bag.

Have a fantastic weekend, dear reader - I'll be working hard on the product and pricing list and want to have it finished by the end of Papa Bear's weekend. Wish me luck!!

What's your big project for the weekend?

Zucchini Strudel

My brother's wife's parents have a massive garden, and are always trying to share their produce with whomever will take it. My brother brought us a gigantic zucchini which had been sitting in our crisper for a few days until I spotted the recipe below, when I was putting together the Make It From Scratch carnival. Thanks to Stephanie, I used up half of that zucchini in this unique dessert, and the other half was shredded and is being stored in the freezer!

If you don't know it's zucchini, you'll think it's apples. Guaranteed.

Zucchini Strudel
Stephanie at Stop The Ride

Filling:
6-8 cups peeled, deseeded, diced zucchini
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Crust:
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 sticks (or 1 1/2 cups) butter

Simmer zucchini with lemon juice till tender.

In a large bowl, cut butter into flour and sugar until crumbly. Press half into 9x13 pan and bake at 375F for 10 minutes or until lightly golden.

While crust is baking, add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to zucchini.

Spread zucchini mixture over top of crust and top with remaining crust mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 375F.

So I Started My Own Business...

...and it's taken me forever to tell you about it.

I did though. Start my own business. It's still very much an infant right now - the product/pricing list is taking me forever. I blame my OCD tendencies. It's really just the pricing I'm having a tough time with, because I need to whittle an hour or so out of Papa Bear's days off to head to the grocery store (alone) with a notepad and pen so I can get pricing for ingredients.

...if a 10kg bag of unbleached flour is this much then the price per cup is that much...

Oy.

Sweet Rina, it's called - I'm selling cookies and pies and cakes and all sorts of things. Do you Facebook? You can join the Facebook group if you'd like.

The original idea is for me to prepare various cookie doughs and pies, then freeze them. You, the client, take said frozen items and bake them in your own kitchen...leaving the mess of dishes and the prep work to me!

Think about it: you've got the in laws coming for dinner. You've exhausted all of your energy and creativity in making a meal they'll be impressed with...and now you have to think about dessert? I don't think so.

Imagine this: after you've pulled your entree out of the oven, slide in one of my frozen pies - let's say, apple. It can bubble, brown and bake happily away while you and your family are eating the main meal...by the time you're done, your home is filled with the scent of gently spiced apples in an old fashioned, flaky pastry. Your mother in law won't know what to say...you can ask her to scoop the ice cream, perhaps!

How about those times when you just want a cookie or two? You'll be able to reach into your freezer, pull out one or two frozen cookie dough balls (or discs, depending on the type of cookie!), quickly bake them and satisfy your craving in less than 15 minutes...with no dishes, mess or effort.

When I thought about this idea a little more, I realized that not only do I want to make frozen goods, I want to make fresh as well. I want to supply cakes for special occasions (birthdays! anniversaries! simple weddings...?), sweet breads and squares for the lunchbox, unique pies, and several of my cousins are anticipating traditional Mennonite recipes from our Grandma. Perhaps I could even include snacks - a couple of friends have already requested Screaming Hot Peanuts.

So as you can see, it's still a work in progress. I received paperwork today that will allow me to be properly licensed with the Health Department (eeek an inspection!), and while I've chosen a type of logo, I'm still debating whether or not to colorize it. Perhaps you could offer your opinion?


Of course, I could skip color altogether and just go with black and white - which was how I was leaning in the beginning...but my sister asked if I could use color, so here are some options. What do you think?

I'm going to be using as many local ingredients as possible (eggs, butter, milk, fruit and vegetables, etc) and will be following old school, more traditional methods in the preparation. My goods are homemade, and they're going to look and taste that way - no pun intended, but cookie cutter style just isn't my thing. The crimping on one pie is going to be different from the next because I'm doing it by hand - not machine. And I'm adding something store bought goods can never claim to include: my love and passion for good food.

So...what do you think? Have I finally found my niche or am I crazy? Do you have any suggestions for making Sweet Rina soar? What should I be aware of in starting a home based business? Pour it on, dear reader, I crave your advice, suggestions, criticisms, info - I want it all!