I found this recipe for Jello Poke Cake on Kraft.com, but I did some substitution.  Here’s what the recipe said:

I substituted grape jello for strawberry and poured it into a bundt pan instead and didn’t top it at all.  The problem I had was that the poking didn’t limit the jello entering just those areas.  It seeped into the entire porous cake.    BUT it tasted good and it looked nice and purple.

If you try it, please let me know how it turned out!

Have a Grape Day!

A long time ago, in a purple galaxy far, far away, I began writing a grape eBook sharing all my secrets for redesigning things inexpensively  in order to make them purple.  Due to some other deadlines, I had to abandon this project long ago.  However, I’d like to pick it back up again and see it through to completion.

It will cover things like:

1. Tie Dying, applique, sewing, puff paints and other ways to purple-ize clothing

2. Inexpensive ways to add purple touches to the rooms of your house

3. Creative and fun crafts for kids

4. Purple recipes

5. Ways to make ordinary food purple using food coloring, fruit, etc.

and much more!  It won’t just be perfect for those of us who seek to purple-ize our lives, but also for those wishing to re-purpose items instead of wasting them or having to purchase new.

My original idea was to call it Purple-izing for Pennies, but I don’t think that will work well because I want to write it not just for purple lovers but for all who want to repurpose things in order to save money.  So…what would you call such an eBook?  I’d really love to hear your ideas.

If I actually use your title, I will give you a free copy of the eBook as a thank you!

Thank you and…

Have a GRAPE Day!

With unsweetened apple sauce.  Delish

A friend of mine said she made a good chicken dish using grape jelly.  I thought it sounded gross, but she said it was really good.  So I looked online for a recipe and found several. Some used dried mustard, some used ketchup. Some used lots of different spices and some used just these ingredients.  I didn’t have most of these ingredients so I was still searching when I discovered that one of the recipes using just mustard and ketchup said it tasted almost like a grape BBQ sauce.  So I decided to try it using BBQ sauce!

It was very good, but I hadn’t used the rest of the grape jelly in a long time.  In talking with my daughter on the phone about her dinner plans, I got the idea to add unsweetened apple sauce instead of BBQ sauce and to use my crockpot instead of my oven.  So I tried it.  Know what?  It was really good and it created a thicker sauce with a unique texture.  Here’s the revised recipe.  Try it and tell me how it turned out for you!

Ingredients:

1 cup grape jelly

1/4 cup BBQ sauce 

squirt of Dijon mustard  (Replace both of these with unsweetened apple sauce)

1 pound chicken tender strips

Directions:

Line the bottom of the crock pot with chicken tender strips and add in the grape jelly. Pour the apple sauce on top, just enough to cover the chicken.  Set the crock pot for whatever time frame you need, stirring occasionally until done.

Enjoy and…Have a GRAPE Day!

Do you have a grape purple recipe?  Pleas share it here.

As some of you already know, 2012 was a very difficult year for me.  Aside from the normal busy-ness of being a work-at-home-schooling mom to a very clever 13 y/o, I’ve had some health issues for the last 35 yrs that have grown in severity and number since giving birth to the aforementioned clever teen.

After reaching the ripe old age of half a century (Wow! That sounds worse. I think I’ll stick to saying 50), I find myself needing, once again, to downsize the amount of my workload and stress factor.

To that end, I am going to take a step back from the weekly publishing of this blog and make it a monthly affair.  I’m also having to step back from many of my responsibilities over at my “day job” at Art of Eloquence as well.

The good news is that I’ve found a doctor I think will actually help me with my thyroid and other hormonal issues as well as the other challenges I have faced as a result.  My appointment is tomorrow, so I’d love your prayers as I embark on what I hope will be the beginning of the end of a very long and frustrating 35 year journey.

I will continue to post grape fun over on the For the Love of Purple Facebook Fan Page each day as I find purple items of interest to look at or ponder.  I hope you’ll help me out by posting your own over there.

Please feel free to post any feedback or questions you may have and, of course…

Have a GRAPE Day!

The Purple Pinkie Project:

According to this article, “If students at four Ken-Ton elementary schools arrive home this week with bright purple fingers, they haven’t been playing in the art supplies, or eating grape ice pops.  They’re been helping fight polio.”

Here’s how: “The project raises money for distribution of the polio vaccine in countries where the disease is still on the rise, by letting children who donate $1 paint their fingers purple in solidarity with children in those countries, where those who have been vaccinated get a purple mark on their little fingers.”

Have a GRAPE Day!

Three purple mice.  Three purple mice.

They have so much fun.  They have so much fun.

One ran after the farmer’s wife,

Another doused her with lavender light,

The last ran off to save his grape life,

Three purple mice.

Hope you enjoyed the story.  Have a GRAPE Day!

It doesn’t take much to purple-ize your food.  Here are a few quick and easy techniques:

1) Food Coloring:

Purple Milk can be made by adding either purple food coloring (which will give you a deeper purple color if you can find it) or by adding the recommended red and blue drops.

You can also make purple milk by adding a strawberry syrup or a scoop of strawberry mix and then adding a drop of blue food coloring.

If you can find purple potatoes, Purple Mashed Potatoes can be made by following the same directions.

2)Blueberries/Blackberries:

A delicious Purple Shake can be yours by adding some blueberries or blackberries to a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the blender.  Or leave it unblended and fold in the blueberries or blackberries!

3) Soda/Grapes 

7Up with frozen purple grapes in it makes for a lovely drink where you don’t need ice!

Make some Grape Water by adding a few grape juice ice cubes you made by pouring grape juice into a grapes ice cube mold.

Have a GRAPE Day!

Time flies when you’re having purple fun!  I never did get around to doing a purple year in review in December so I’m doing it now.  We learned a lot of things about purple last year and here is a short recap with links to the original stories:

A post back in January of 2012, we learned that Purple Majesty Potatoes “are high in anthocyanin, an antioxidant which is   linked to potential health benefits in treating diabetes, inflammation and   age-related disease.”

We had a grape quiz.  You can still try your hand at this purple knowledge.

We asked, How Purple Are You?  You can still add up your purple points and compare them to my fellow readers.

I reported on a Purple Play Dough Recipe.

I wrote the Emperor’s Purple Clothes.

I had a grape riddle for you.

I shared how a baby squirrel got a purple caste.

I posted two different versions of The Purple Song.

I created a video of the story I wrote called Plumeria, the Princess of Purple.

There was a new species of purple crab discovered.

We discussed the issue of whether there can be such a thing as too much purple.

and I had a review post on all the poor purple products I had reported on.

What was your favorite post in 2012?  What would you like to see in 2013?

Share and have a GRAPE day!

It’s a new year!  It’s a new opportunity to replace your old, sad, UNpurple things with bright, new, shiny (well, if you want them shiny) PURPLE things!

What are you looking to get your purple hands on this year?  Maybe we can help each other find it…and for a reasonable price!  Maybe we can make it ourselves?

I’m probably going to be looking for a new cell phone this year.  Mine is on it’s last battery cell.  I just can’t find a phone I like that isn’t one of those smart phones.  That’s my phone to the left there.

Smart phones like the iPhone I shared about earlier this week are too big for my little hand to hold, too heavy and they have all that techie stuff on it I can never figure out. PLUS, Verizon would charge me for the data package I don’t want and won’t use!  Any ideas for me?

So post your comments and let’s help each other make 2013 The purplest year ever!

Have a GRAPE Day!

I have a very old phone because I’m not very techie. My dd programmed my address book in my flip phone and I avoid using it because I don’t know how to access it.  lol

My old flip phone is purple…VERY purple.  My phone has a hard time holding battery charge so I’m sure I’ll be looking for a new phone sometime soon.  Unfortunately, most new phones are smart phones, but they are not smart enough to come in purple.  But that’s not the only issue I have with the smart phones.

My dh and dd have an iPhone.  These phones are rather heavy and wide–too wide for my small hands to hold comfortably.  My dh uses his all the time to look things up on the web. My dd updates Facebook from her iPhone.  What I noticed most about these new fangled and highly digital iPhones is that if you want to purple-ize them, you have to buy a skin that makes the phone even thicker…until now!

Surfing around on the internet for new purple things, I found this iPhone case called Violet Purple Barely There Slim Case.  Isn’t it grape?  Here‘s where I found it, in case you are an iPhone user and want to purple-ize it.  I don’t know anything about this site so do your own research before you order.

Now you can have an even GRAPER Day!