Those Who Help Themselves: Helping You to Live a More Self Reliant Lifestyle

DIY Repurposing: Pallets!

2012-02-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

I was ORIGINALLY going to do this for We Repurpose Wednesday, but I ended up fielding sick kiddos and just didn't have the energy to go looking very far to find things to do with pallets. LUCKILY it seems like the kids are feeling a bit better today (and dad's home and finally fielded the kids about 1/2 of the way through the day, which helps too), so I figured I'd finish this post up while I had the chance.

What inspired this post was looking at some old pictures my sister-in-law had e-mailed me about her deck that she'd made from pallets. It was a pretty easy project, from what I understand, and it turned out looking really good! So, I decided to see what other things you could make from pallets. And holy COW man you can build pretty much anything from pallets. I tried to include the ones that I found with tutorials, but there were some that were just worth mentioning (some of the hall tables, dressers, etc were just beautiful, but they didn't show you how to make them...it was almost cruel. I ended up linking to the ones that I figured people could do by looking at the picture if nothing else ;). So, here's a few ideas to fuel your creative fires tonight...

Pallet Chandelier

Pallet Coat Rack

Pallet Picnic Table


Pallet Coffee Table

Two Pallet Coffee Table

Pallet Coffee Table With Drawers

Pallet Desk

Pallet Bench (image courtesy of Google)

Pallet Kitchen Island


Pallet Lounge Chair

Pallet Potting Bench

Pallet Living Room Furniture

Pallet Shelves (image courtesy of Google)

Pallet Sectional

Pallet Deck Table

And there are TONS of other pallet projects out there to choose from. Pallet chairs, decks, planters...you name it. Very impressive stuff in some cases.

So, remember. The next time your kids want to go and grab a bunch of pallets for some bon fire...maybe you want to find them some other wood to use for the bonfire and grab those pallets for yourself ;).

Enjoy!

Common Knowledge Thursday: How to Jump Start a Car

2012-02-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

I KNOW there are people out there that do not know how to do this, so I figured this would be a very good thing to share for a Common Knowledge segment.

Go HERE where The Art of Manliness shows you how to jump start a car with and without jumper cables (and don't get too excited about the no jumper cable thing unless you have a standard).

Enjoy!

Health and Beauty: All Natural Shampoo Recipe

2012-02-02T13:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Wellness Mama for use of the image!

One of our Facebook Likers, e-mailed me and asked me if I could point them, once again, to the all natural shampoo recipe I posted on Facebook a couple of weeks ago (which by the way I post a lot up on Facebook that I don't here...I know that's terrible of me, but it's just so EASY to share things on Facebook and it doesn't require you to ~~fight~~ mess with Blogger. Sorry!). So, instead of posting it on Facebook again, I figured this was a good recipe to share with you all.

Really, of all the natural shampoo recipes I've tried in the past, this recipe looks not only sound, but I really want to try it. I'm really hating on the coconut allergy with my son right about now...although I keep thinking of making it for ME and just making sure I rinse really REALLY well. Oh so tempting!

Go HERE where Wellness Mama shows you how to make your own all natural shampoo that she swears works well with fine hair (like me) and it features a secret ingredient of coconut milk! Very very neat looking recipe!

Enjoy!

Easy Craft Idea: 8 Cute DIY Bookmark Ideas!

2012-02-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Good Life Books for use of the image!

Keep going round and round in your head about what to get that special "book worm" for their birthday, Christmas or just as a "cheer up life isn't terrible" type of gift? These would be PERFECT for the book lover in your life and a lot of the bookmark ideas are super simple and very cute! I thought the monster book marks were just cool looking :).

Go HERE where Good Life Books shares a neat list of DIY bookmark tutorials!

I'm so keeping these tutorials in mind for my husband for Christmas (and maybe a couple for me too ;).

Enjoy!

Recilpe Share: Flourless Gluten Free Pizza Crust!

2012-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Gluten Free Easily for use of the image!

And this one is really cool so long as you aren't allergic to eggs or dairy (I'm not sure how good substitutions would work in said recipe honestly as I've never tried it). But, I know I'll be giving it a try, although I'm curious if goat cheese would work instead of the cream cheese... :).

Go HERE where Gluten Free Easily shows you how to make a flourless gluten free pizza crust (and it looks totally yummy :).

Enjoy!

We Repurpose Wednesday (Late): Make Junk Mail Into Jewelery

2012-02-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to How to Make Jewelry for use of the image!

So, I was looking at the pile of junk mail that had suddenly deluged my mail box the other day. Then I went and cleaned out my purse and looked at the pile of receipts and other paper whatchamahoozitz that was in there and kept thinking, "My Lord, a lot of trees died for this". Now mind you I'm not a person who thinks every single thought eco-minded (I just plain don't have the energy for one...sorry to those of you who are Eco-conscious and DO have the energy to worry about things), but the idea that all of that paper was just going to go straight into a landfill (not to mention take up room in my dumpster) bugged me. Mind you, I do a FEW things to recycle my junk mail. I take any white envelope (or envelope that doesn't have writing on the back), remove the junk mail from said envelope and write my shopping list on the back of the envelope. When I was coupon shopping and knew exactly what coupons I was taking with me it worked doubly cool because you could literally stick your coupons in the envelope too and you'd be ready to rock.

But, looking at the pile of junk mail that was just plain going to get thrown out, I decided to look into things you could do with it.

And this is a really cool one. I'm thinking this would be an EXCELLENT (and I'm not joking) idea that you could work with to make something really cool looking and give as gifts for the holidays. Especially for those that are really tight on money...this would be a GREAT idea for kids to do for family members and you wouldn't be out a lot.

Go HERE where How to Make Jewelry shows you how to make paper beads that you can then string together to make jewelry. And before you look at me like I've gone off the deep end and that there is NO way that paper beads could ever look good...well take a look at these...

Thanks to Instructables for use of the image and the following 2 images

So, before you throw out your junk mail next time...try to think of some way to use it to your advantage beforehand!

Enjoy!

Take it to the Streets Tuesday: Self Sufficient Book Reading Suggestions?

2012-01-31T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well, this was actually a somewhat loaded question (since my reading list is expanding all the time), but I'm going to see what I can do here :).

"What books are on your reading list right now and what books would you suggest reading if I wanted to get into a more self sufficient lifestyle. I'm particularly interested in self-made cleaning supplies and beauty supplies.

Veronica"

Well, Veronica, this was sort of a hard question to answer, for some odd reason. Mainly because I am constantly researching self-sufficient living while reading other things (yeah, my Amazon cart shows it too ;) and I usually have about 12 (no joke) windows open on my computer at one time anymore just to keep track of things that I consider important.

So, here's what is in my current pile-o-books I'm reading when I have a few moments.

Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living.

You asked about a book that would tell you how to make your own cleaning supplies and beauty supplies? Well this book is IT! I consider this sort of like one of the "holy bibles" of my self-sufficiency collection. One of my blog readers, honestly I can't remember which one (sorry whoever you are, and thank you!), turned me onto this book and I LOVE it! This book covers EVERYTHING that you can hope for when it comes to do-it-yourself natural living. Soap making? Covered. Beauty products? Covered. Cleaning supplies? Definitely covered (Tea Tree Treasure is my go to mold remover now...it's awesome!). Want to make your own caulk? Yeah, they even give you recipes on how to do that! They've got recipes for your pet even. And it's all-natural recipes, so you can feel good that they are free of toxins. Very very cool book and it's never far from my side :).

Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

I never ever EVER thought I'd find a book about gardening one of those books you don't want to put down, but I was wrong! This book is awesome. Honestly, this is the first time I've read a book where the writer explains things like why do you put certain nutrients in the soil, why are raised beds preferable to dug gardens (and how to make it cost effective), etc. They even cover doing things like raising chickens on your 1/4 of an acre and how to dress said chickens if you use them for meat (if you are so inclined and/or don't have covenants against raising them). I'm so waiting for spring to put some of this into practice for my garden. Can not WAIT!

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables

This is another book I'm seeing as being an important resource around here. The book covers how to build a root cellar, yes, but also covers less conventional methods to preserve your summer harvest for the winter. The ones that intrigued me were removing the motor and other "mechanics" from a block freezer, burying it in your yard and using that as a make-shift mini root cellar and making one out of a basement window by building a box. They even show you how some people used a crawl space to their advantage in Suburbia and how to even make a closet into storage for your fruits and veggies. Definitely a recommend!

Why China Will Never Rule the World: Travels in the Two Chinas.

Okay, so this is the "oddball" read here, but you did ask what I was reading :). Written by a man named Troy Parfitt as he traveled all over China, he literally studied the idea if or if not China could indeed one day rule the world (the idea is pretty popular in the media). This book really drew me, honestly, because from the age of five until my freshmen year of college I had a pen-pal from Taiwan (and yes, we wrote at least once a month to each other) and I was curious as to what type of threat China really did pose to him and the world (especially since I've lost track of him throughout the years).

The book has a really engaging writing style and that REALLY helped me to concentrate as I read it, honestly. At the same time I was reading this book I was also reading one on Economics that had so many large, verbose vocabulary words used about once every other word, you felt like you need a Thesaurus and a Dictionary on hand to read them. So, honestly this book was a breath of fresh air to read. And it's really fascinating learning a lot of China's history since that is one of the many areas of history I plain didn't learn about (don't move from one state to another 3/4 of the way through a school year if you don't want holes in your education. Seriously).

I haven't gotten a chance to read this one all the way through, yet, which is sad since I've had it so long, but with relatives passing away, the son's various problems, etc. it's been hard. And then my husband horked the book. So, yeah, I'm hoping to get the last three chapters of the book read sometime soon.

And there you go. The books I've been reading and/or recommend to get you started on your journey. Thanks for writing!

Menu Plan Monday (Late): This Week's Menu

2012-01-31T12:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Healthful Pursuit for use of the image!

And so this week marks a "new" phase for me as after going to the ND yesterday I'm on (finally!) a path to good health and thus I'm on a new diet. Really and honestly the changes aren't that bad for me :). More dark greens (which I love anyway), drop some other things that aren't great for me, start drinking less coffee and more tea, more smoothies, etc (to get things like hemp seeds into my diet). So, the menu plan is going to start morphing a BIT, but not too bad here :).

So, here's this week's menu.

Breakfast (Our List of Choices this Week):

Whole Wheat Toast (for the kids)
Scrambled Eggs
Cereal (trying to get Alvah to at least TRY the buckwheat flakes)
Oat Free Granola
Baked Quinoa (I have GOT to make a big batch of this and freeze *laugh*).
Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Bake (this sounds totally awesome!)
Pumpkin Spiced Smoothie (for me)
Green Spinach Smoothie
Anything else the kid might eat (terrible of me I know, but breakfast really IS the hardest meal with them)

Lunch:

Breakfast Fried Rice (yeah I know it's for breakfast, but it sounds good) made with Caramelized Onion and Apple Cinnamon Maple Breakfast sausage (I'm going to switch the "sauce" ingredients in the fried rice to be more...well me friendly :).
Tuna Salad Sandwiches made with Advocado Mayo (can't WAIT to try this!!!)
Artichoke Parmesan Pasta with rice noodles and sans garlic. I hope the kids will at least TRY it.
Mac and Cheese (for the kiddos)
Cheese and Crackers
Home Made Chicken Nuggets (made with ground up chicken so it's more "fast food like") and French Fries.
Bone Broth with cheese and fruit slices (I KNOW odd combo, but I do like it)

Dinners:

Monday:
Steak
baked potatoes
salad (it was good by the way *laugh*)

Tuesday:
Roast Chicken Thighs
Roasted Kale, potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots (I just use some Non-Pontiac Pig Powder sans the garlic and toss a couple of tablespoons of that in with a good portion of olive oil, coat the chicken and veggies in it and roast in the oven at 375 degrees for about an hour or until the veggies are done. Spectacular!!!).

Wednesday:
Tacos (I'm just going to eat mine over corn chips and turn it into taco salad. Hey I HAVE corn chips *laugh*. The others love flour tortillas...one day I will get motivated and try to make them gluten free, but eh...it's just easier to eat the hard tacos for now ;).

Thursday:
Pan Fried Fish
Rice
Salad

Friday:
Sesame Noodles with Veggies Using shallots instead of garlic with some onion powder thrown in too and using rice noodles :).

Saturday:
Breakfast Dinner (Buckwheat Pancakes for me...brings back memories of my childhood right there as those were my father's favorite pancake :), regular pancakes for the kids and hubby, chicken sausage for me and bacon for the others.

Sunday:
I honest to goodness have no idea yet. Still waiting for inspiration to hit me. Probably going to be leftovers and/or eating out night (depending on what shopping we have to do in Wasilla) or something :).

Have Fun With Your Food Segments:

Finally Going to Make Water Kefir (grains should be ready today)
Make Home Made Cheese Crackers (since I didn't get to it last week)
Maybe other things (kids have colds and husband and I are barely holding our own in our fight not to get the cold too, so the week might go funky here).

And there you go folks. I hope your menu planning is going well this week too!

Health and Beauty: How to Make a Hard Lotion Bar

2012-01-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Google for use of the image

So, some of you are asking, "What IS a hard lotion bar?" Well, folks, a hard lotion bar is...well lotion that's in a bar and your body heat melts the bar and then you apply the lotion. It can also be called a solid lotion bar. Think of it as a lip balm for your entire body. And in this weather with how chapped I've seen people's hands and faces getting, I thought that this would be a good one to share.

So, go HERE where Hard Lotion.com gives you different recipes to try, how to make your own hard lotion bars, chest rub, whipped shea butter, etc. If you don't want to buy the materials separately too, they even sell hard lotion bar kits that you can purchase to make your own. Trust me you will be surprised how simple these are to make (compromised of 3 ingredients unless you mess with the formula) and if you are paying for them you will REALLY be surprised how easy they are to make.

If you can make lip balm, you can do this. Trust me.

Enjoy!

Keep the Kids Busy: Paint and Playdough Recipes (some gluten free!)

2012-01-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Sixty Second Parent for use of the image!

Argh! I can't remember which one of the pages I follow on Facebook linked to this originally, so I'm not sure who to give credit to on this one. If you happen to read this, whoever you are, sorry about that!

Anyway, another recipe for using mashed potatoes! Yes, seriously you can make play doh out of mashed potatoes (and it's gluten free if you make sure you use a gluten free food coloring! :).

Go HERE where Sixty Second Parent shares 5 recipes for simple paint and play doh recipes to keep your kids busy in this cold!

Enjoy!

Have Fun With Your Food: Oat-less Granola (Gluten Free)

2012-01-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

I am so, so proud of how this recipe turned out. I had nightmarish images of me shelling nuts for an hour and making a huge mess (who knew pecans could fly that far?) in the kitchen only to have the recipe itself burn and/or turn out tasting ucky.

I am quite proud to say though that I was able to adapt this recipe so that it worked, is totally oat free and now I have granola again.

Anyway, here's the recipe for an AWESOME tasting oat free granola that is gluten free too (and is free of most refined sugars...you could sub turbinado or sucanat in place of the brown sugar and come out just fine I'm sure). This is based HEAVILY on the recipe found at Food 52 but I omitted the coconut and the oats (obviously) and replaced things like the pumpkin seeds (didn't have them) and such. So, I'm going to share my recipe and let you figure out what additions or subtractions you can make on your own.

First up is the ingredient list. You don't need to use in-the-shell nuts, of course, but I do around here to avoid peanut cross contamination.

Oat Free Granola

3 cups Buckwheat Flakes (you can find these at Fred Meyer in the Organic section)
1 cup pistachios, shelled
1 cup mixed nuts, shelled(I used walnuts, filberts, brazil nuts...whatever came in the mixed shell-on nut bag I had)
1 cup almonds, non-roasted or salted, shelled (I used blue diamond brand due to peanut allergy)
1 1/4 cup raw pecan halves, left whole or coarsely chopped

3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla extract

Coarse salt

1. First I shelled my nuts, but if you are using already shelled nuts...well skip this as it's not like you have to do it twice, right? Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place all of your nuts in a bowl and then dump by 1/3s onto a chopping board. Coarse chop your nuts (trust me it's easier by the 1/3 at a time thing...just place your chopped nuts aside, do the next batch, push it into your already chopped nuts, etc). I milled mine down with a sharp knife and cut things into about 1/4 their original size. Why? Because I have fillings and the last thing I want to do is have my teeth break trying to chew something that is too big and crunchy. This method worked great. If you really want a rustic and pretty looking granola...well be prepared to chew than :). Set aside.

3. Place maple syrup, olive oil, brown sugar, vanilla and a couple hefty pinches of salt in a large pot (I used my 8 quart stock pot for this) and heat over low to medium heat until the brown sugar is melted. Add nuts and buckwheat flakes and stir well to combine everything (yes there will be liquid left in the bottom of the pot, don't panic about it :).

4. Pour out your cereal and nut mixture onto parchment lined baking sheets (I have 1/2 sheet pans and mine took up two of them). If you have liquid left in the bottom of your pot pour the remaining mixture over the top of your mixture. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Stir.

Picture of what granola looks like when done and cooling.

5. Cook in 5 minute increments until the nuts smell toasty and most of your liquid is gone. If you fear that it is going to burn before it's cooked all the way knock your heat down to 250 for the remainder of your cooking time/until it is done. When the mixture is golden brown and not much liquid is left, remove from oven (mine took 25 minutes total to get everything cooked nice). Let cool completely and store in an airtight container.

I had some this morning for breakfast. Can you say, "fab"? I can't wait to try this stuff on yogurt :). And here's hoping my son will at least try it!

Enjoy!

Recipe Share: Gluten Free Bread Recipe for Your Breadmaker!

2012-01-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lynn's Kitchen Adventures for use of the image!

This is for those of you who have e-mailed me asking (and in Brandy's case, begging...I hope this helps Brandy!) for a gluten free bread recipe you can make in your bread maker that doesn't come out tasting like a brick and/or a doorstop or requires loads of specialty flours.

Okay, I've tried many gluten free breads in my bread maker (both recipe-wise and mix-wise) and honestly so far this was the easiest and the best tasting one out of the bread maker I've tried (for regular bake-in-the-oven bread you can NOT beat MAID in Alaska's Gluten & Dairy Free Miracle Sandwich Bread, which also has a pretty short list of flours on it too, but I have yet been able to get it to turn out RIGHT in the bread maker...I've still got to work with my bread maker settings a bit :). And the ingredient list is really simple too, which is always nice.

Go HERE where Lynn's Kitchen Adventures shares a really nice recipe for gluten free bread made in your bread maker.

By the way I was out of powdered milk (cross contaminated with allergens when it was canned...yeah don't ask) and I found that just using milk (or milk alternative) in place of the powdered milk powder and just eliminating the water works well. Just be sure EVERYTHING is at room temp before you start your gluten free breads to make sure they rise correctly :).

Enjoy!

Sweet Savings Sunday: Some Amazon.com Deals for Today!

2012-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to say after cruising around Amazon (and ignoring my housework *whistles innocently*) I found some decent deals to share with you all.

Kraft Mayonnaise, 48-Ounce Container (Pack of 2) is 9.66 with Subscribe and Save.

Back To Nature Crispy Wheats Cracker, 8-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6) is 14.14 with Subscribe and Save.

Club Crackers, Original, 16-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 8.50 with Subscribe and Save.

These were my dad's favorite crackers so I just had to share...

GG Scandinavian Bran Crispbread, 3.5-Ounce Packages (Pack of 5) is 9.69 with Subscribe and Save.

Eight O'Clock Coffee, Original Whole Bean, 42-Ounce Package is 14.42 with Subscribe and Save. That's the consistency of 3.5 of the smaller bags, so I thought that was a decent deal :).

Eight O'Clock Coffee, French Roast Whole Bean, 36-Ounce Bag is 12.55 with Subscribe and Save. That's the consistency of 3 regular 12 oz bags (what is WITH coffee that it's been downsized so it's not a lb bag anymore? Gotta love economic downturns), which works out to be roughly 4.00 per "bag" of coffee. Which, considering the cheapest I've been able to score coffee at the store lately has been about 6.99 lb after coupon, I thought this was worth mentioning :).

Kashi GOLEAN Crunch! Cereal, Honey Almond Flax, 15-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 11.49 with Subscribe and Save. This stuff is good, but warning. If you have fillings this cereal can hurt as when they say "crunch" they MEAN "crunch"!

Special K Cereal, Fruit & Yogurt, 17.5-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4) is 11.90 with Subscribe and Save.

GLUTEN FREE DEALS!

Road's End Organics Gluten Free Golden Gravy Mix, Organic, 1-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 12) is 12.75 with Subscribe and Save (you can pick from two flavors too :).

Kay's Naturals Non-Gluten Kruncheeze, White Cheddar Cheese, 1.5-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12) is 8.87 with Subscribe and Save.

Maple Grove Farms Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix, 16-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 12.96 with Subscribe and Save.

Heartland Gluten Free Spaghetti, 12-Ounce Bags (Pack of 5) is 10.58 with Subscribe and Save. I love this pasta! I can't tell the difference between the Heartland and just regular wheat pasta. Too bad my son can't do corn or I'd just use this instead of the wheat pasta to tell the truth.

The Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix, 22-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6) is 23.46 with Subscribe and Save. That breaks down to 3.91 per box and this stuff is great for those of you who are new to being gluten free and just looking for something to throw in your bread maker :). I really liked it and I'm not alone. Most people say that this is one of the best gluten free breads on the market.

If you are looking for a soy free, gluten free and zero calorie noodle here's a good one for you...

Miracle Noodle Shirataki Angel Hair Pasta, 7-Ounce Packages (Pack of 6) is 13.17 with Subscribe and Save. I've heard that these are a good thing to use in place of noodles if you are trying to lose weight.

You can check out the rest of the deals on Miracle Noodles HERE.

I've never tried Miracle Noodles myself, honestly as anything that basically contains nothing sort of weirds me out (sort of like eggplant).

And those are the best deals I could find on Amazon.com today folks! Enjoy!

NOTE ABOUT SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE:

I have received some questions about Subscribe and Save, so here's how it works. You sign up for Subscribe and Save to deliver "re-orders" of the product you are ordering every so often (I usually go for six months just to be safe on things). After the order ships and/or you receive the item you "change your mind" and decide you don't want to get another order (I usually end up picking this option because when the item ships again you pay what the going rate at that TIME is for that item, so you can get reamed on cost), you can opt out of receiving future orders (and yes, you can choose to order said item again if you find a good deal on it without issue). Just go to "My Account" then "Manage Subscribe and Save Items" and then cancel what Subscribe and Saves you don't want to get repeat orders on or you can skip the next delivery, or even order another delivery if you are running out of an item. It's a pretty neat system actually :).

Hope that clears up some confusion!

Sweet Savings Sunday: Coupon Deals and Bargains Around the Web

2012-01-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

Here you go folks! Some way cool coupons to pick from :)

1.00/1 Pearl Olives (I've never seen a coupon for these before!).

Coupons.com Coupons...

1.00/1 Snapple 6 Pack
.75/1 French's Dijon Mustard
1.00/4 Fancy Feast Appetizers for Cats
1.00/1 Dimetapp
1.00/2 Ballparks Hotdogs
5.00/1 Hasbro Megapack Play Doh
3.00/1 Hasbro Transformers Deluxe Action Figure
1.00/1 Waterfront Bistro Barramundi Fillets (Carrs carries this brand)
1.00/1 Oregon Chai
1.00/1 Johnsonville Italian Sausage

Redplum.com Coupons

1.50/1 Breathe Right 12 Ct. or Smaller (use on the trial sized ones at Fred Meyer to get them for free, or look at Wal-Mart and see if they carry the travel sized packages for .97 or so to get them free plus overage).
1.50/1 Ecotrin Aspirin Therapy product
1.00/1 Tums 24 ct or higher
1.00/2 Quaker Chewy Style Granola Bars or Quaker Chewy Snackbars

Smartsource.com

1.00/5 Totinos Pizzas
1.00/1 Kikkoman Product (you can get cheap soy sauce with this at Fred Meyer and some Targets)
1.00/2 Nabisco Crackers

OTHER DEALS

Sign up for a free Craftsy account and you’ll get access to a free Online Quilt Block of the Month class with Amy Gibson. Each month, there’s a new video tutorial and a new quilting skill to learn. At the end of a year, you will have enough blocks made to put together a quilt. Pretty neat :). Thanks to Money Saving Mom for posting about this!

Sweet Savings Sunday: Fred Meyer Deals

2012-01-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

You know, I'm just going to split these up today, as the post gets really long once you include the Amazon deals and the coupon deals. So, here's the Fred Meyer deals for this week!

Man there are some SWEET deals going on at Fred Meyer this week (unfortunately not in the coupon match-up category, but still some great produce sales :).

Large Hass Avocados 1.25 each (I'm seeing guacamole to freeze in our future :)

Kroger Cheese on sale 2.50 with in-ad coupon (limit 4). Select Varieties, 6-8 oz Shredded, Bar or Slices.

Kroger 1 Dozen (the pic shows 18 ct, but it's 12 ct in the fine print) eggs on sale 2.00 with in-ad coupon (limit 2)

Fred Meyer Home Sense Bathroom Tissue 4.50 with in-ad coupon (limit 2). 12 ct. select varieties (this is as low as I've seen it in a while for this brand)

Foster Farms Ground Turkey (20 oz) on sale 3.99 with in-ad coupon (limit 4)

Recliners are on sale B1G1 for those in the market for big ticket items.

Fred Meyer Cottage Cheese or Sour Cream on sale 1.67 a piece (16 oz)

Anjou or Bosc Pears on sale .98 lb

Personal Watermelon on sale 3.99 each

Organic Braeburn or Cameo apples on sale 1.78 lb

Organic Navel Oranges on sale 1.49 lb

Colored Bell Peppers or English Cucumbers on sale 1.50 each

Nature's Path Organic Frozen Waffles on sale 2.49

Save 25% off Biokleen products

Huggies Pull-Ups or Goodnites on sale 19.49 (large packs)
Use 2.00/1 Coupon
OR
Use 1.50/1 Peelies found on packages (I know they are there because I grabbed one to get Pull-Ups yesterday)
Final Price: 17.49 to 17.99 per thing of diapers/pull-ups after coupon.

Always Infinity or Tampax Pearl on sale 3.99
Use the 2.00/1 Always Infinity from the January P&G (expires 1/31)
Final price: 1.99 per thing of Pads

And there's the best deals I could find at Fred Meyer this week. Enjoy!

Hearth and Home: Make Your Own Homemade Pledge!

2012-01-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

Want to make some homemade pledge for your wood furniture? Yeah, me too :). So, here's some REALLY easy (and very cool) recipes to try.

Homemade Pledge Recipe One (Super Simple):

In a 2 Cup Spray Bottle combine:

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice

Shake well before each use.

And here's another one that's a bit more complicated, but honestly I like it a bit better since I'm not sure how long the lemon juice will last before it starts growing things in your olive oil.

Homemade Pledge Recipe Two: (base recipe from The Make Your Own Zone)

In a 2 Cup (16 oz) Spray Bottle Combine:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon lemon essential oil (I use a combo of 1/4 tsp. sweet orange and 1/4 tsp. lemon essential oils just for a more "general citrusy type of smell. If you don't mind the scent of vinegar you can even leave the essential oil out, but I don't see why you would want to :)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1-3/4 to 2 cups water

Shake well before each use.

I'm still working on my own "homemade" recipe that will double as a leather conditioner (like my store bought "homemade pledge" that I buy from Picnic Basket Crafts), but haven't QUITE perfected it yet :).

Enjoy!

Health and Beauty: Make Speciality Soap Out of Repurposed Soap!

2012-01-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

This is for those who have written me totally freaked out at the idea of working with lye with their kids in the house, but also don't want to invest in melt and pour soap because of the "iffy" ingredients they'd have to add to make it "melt and pourable". I totally understand, so I wanted to share with you folks a third option that will work no matter what your view on the soap you use in it. It's called "re-batching" soap (or repurposing soap), which is essentially taking already made commercial soap, grating it down and re-melting it, adding things you like TO it and then remaking it into your own type of soap. It's pretty fun, ridiculously simple to do, and for those of you without contact allergies (where you don't have to make your soap from scratch) it makes a GREAT "wow" type of gift for someone.

First I do encourage you to find "real" soap for this...most commercial soaps available aren't soap, just detergents (Ivory is a good easy found alternative...at least from what I've heard, although I haven't checked the ingredients. It also has a pretty strong scent and you might have to get creative with essential oil scents there and Kirk's Castile soap is good :). Some ideas for additions to you new soap?

Herbs...Calendula and Lavender are ALWAYS good choices there.
Tea...like in the tea bags, not the liquid form (my sister-in-law LOVED the tea soaps I made for using on her feet as it had just enough exfoliating power to scrub down callouses)
Coffee grounds (coffee soap is great for the kitchen to get nasty smells off your hands)
Essential oils (watch these as some, like clove oil, aren't recommended for use when pregnant or nursing)
Get Creative!

Some ideas for soap molds?

Old frozen juice concentrate containers (with one end still on, of course, and well washed, double of course).
Old Refrigerated Paper Juice Containers and/or milk containers (well washed, just the bottoms cut off about 3 or so inches from the bottom or so so you have a nice "box" to contain the soap in, get it?)
Rubbermaid or Gladware Containers (it'll give you an odd, "not square" look but it'd work just fine)
Mold it into balls (not my fave as it's hard to hold onto a ball of soap when it's wet)
Store bought soap molds and/or chocolate molds (if you want to get creative)

If you want a good idea of a recipe to try to start out with, go HERE where Ecobites gives you a really nice recipe for milk and honey soap using repurposed soap bars :).

Enjoy!

Hearth and Home: Make Your Own Fabric Lined Baskets

2012-01-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, so so first off, you will NEED a basket for this ;). I love that this is a "no sew" method though and all you need is a glue gun, pinking shears, butcher's twine, etc. If you want to WASH your liners (for bread baskets, etc), I have a link to a sew tutorial too :).

Go HERE where Country Living Magazine walks you through how to make really simple fabric lined baskets (they used a really ratty old quilt and look how pretty they turned out?). Tip? Click on the pictures underneath the main picture to walk you through the tutorial...it's an odd system, but there it is.

Go HERE where Sew, Mama, Sew! shows you how to make a liner for your basket that you sew together.

Why do I bring this up? Well, you can get baskets CHEAP at the used stores! I just bought myself a nice long one for, I'm thinking, putting rolls or biscuits in for .50 at Thrifters Rock yesterday and I'm going to take some old jeans I have lying around, recycle the material and line the basket with it :). Very cool stuff!

Enjoy!

Simple Sewing: Make a Reusable Shopping Bag from a T-Shirt (2 methods)

2012-01-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Leethal.com for use of the image!

Before you ask...yes I'm on a t-shirt kick and plan to pick some up at the used store to do some of the awesome projects I've found the last little bit :).

Okay, so I love this idea I really do. Why? Because I have forgotten to pull my reusable shopping bags out of the washer and hang them up and then I end up pulling out a bag that has some melted pieces on it from the dryer or places where the plastic-like material has done some odd things. Not fun. Doing bags this way you can EASILY scrunch them up and throw them into your purse, you know they are made from 100% cotton so you know what is coming in contact with your food (if you purchase the right type of t-shirt anyway :), you can make ones that look cool AND you can just throw them in with your regular laundry. Total win-win situation here! And after reading up on them online they work WELL and are pretty tough.

So, check this idea out. Take an old t-shirt and with VERY minor sewing you can make a reusable shopping bag in like five minutes flat. OR with the other method you don't even need to sew (although honestly I think threading the string through the t-shirt would take me WAY longer than setting up my sewing machine) if you'd like!

So go HERE where Wild Onion Studio shows you how to make a reusable shopping bag from a t-shirt with very minimal sewing.

Or

Go HERE where Leethal.net shows you how to make a no-sew reusable shopping bag from a t-shirt! She even shares how she used them to wrap Christmas gifts in and save on the cost of wrapping paper (nice!).

Enjoy!

Health and Beauty: A Really Simple Anti-Itching Treatment (and it works!)

2012-01-27T21:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Google for the image!

Okay, so I was REALLY sort of "iffy" on this old home remedy when my grandmother told me about it, but I used it on a spider bite on the kiddo yesterday and darned if it didn't take the itch away. Mind you, she DID get a bit sticky (and you might have to deal with the kiddos eating it off their skin too *laugh*).

Next time your kids get a itchy spot from a bug bite or other rash try reaching for, not the usual anti-itching stick thing that shall remain nameless (that I can never FIND and thus why my daughter ended up being a guinea pig), but for your jar of honey and your container of cinnamon (who does NOT have those two things in their house?).

Mix honey and cinnamon together and smear it on the bug bite/itchy spot.

That's it! Simple huh?

The honey (preferably local and raw if you can get it, local if you can't get the raw honey and then last honey that you purchase at the store) is just a natural powerhouse of good stuff and then the cinnamon acts as a natural astringent (shrinks swollen tissues). My daughter was sticky, but completely itch free after applying it (and no I didn't measure I just added enough cinnamon so the honey looked...well cinnamon colored...it wasn't much :).

I thought it was a neat tip (and super cheap to try), so I thought I'd pass it along to all of you too as those anti-itching sticks can sure get expensive during the summertime.

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen: Make Peppermint Patties with Leftover Mashed Potatoes!

2012-01-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "In Between Laundry" for use of the image!

Um, yes you heard me right and MAN do they look good!

Go HERE where In Between Laundry shows you how to make peppermint patties with a "secret ingredient" of leftover mashed potatoes. Talk about inspiring!

Enjoy!

Simple Sewing: Make a T-Shirt into a Cloth Diaper!

2012-01-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Natural Violet for use of the image!

Okay, so this doesn't fall into "nose bleed simple", but honestly the tutorial is so simple I COULD follow it and I'm far from a sewing expert. She even has PDF files you can download for your pattern. Can't get simpler than that!

Go HERE where Natural Violet shows you how to turn a t-shirt into a cloth diaper! And a pocket diaper no less (I adored pocket diapers when I used cloth diapers :). I would have LOVED this tutorial before my daughter was born. I so would have gone nuts with it *laugh*.

Enjoy!

Eat Your Veggies: Asparagus, Brussels Sprouts and Zucchini Recipes to Try!

2012-01-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Cooking in Cast Iron for use of the image!

I have been working HARD around here to get my husband to eat more veggies in an attempt to influence my "I've always hated veggies and show no desire to start liking them now" daughter. She DID eat veggies when she was really small until my husband said that he thought veggies were icky in an off-handed attempt at humor one evening (note to parents: DO NOT say this in front of a 1 1/2 year old unless you never want them to eat veggies again. Seriously). Now, she'll still eat fruit like a champ, but getting her to eat veggies...not so much. My husband who believes that the world revolves around meat and starches has even started trying the veggie dishes I have been trying and LIKING them as of late (he even ate left over broccoli cheddar soup for lunch today! woot!) so here's hoping we might influence the children to eat their veggies sometime soon.

Combine my want to "test the vegetable waters" with a want to cook as much as possible in cast iron for the sake of the "low in iron" son and you have where this recipe list came from :).

Go HERE where Cooking in Cast Iron shows you how to make Pan-Grilled Glazed Asparagus, Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts and Skillet Zucchini Gratin.

Enjoy!

Health and Beauty: The Benefits of Lemon Water

2012-01-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Marcus Samuelsson.com for use of the image!

Reading articles like this makes me realize why I love taking lemon in my iced tea ;). I had no idea that lemon water (well or lemons period really) could do so much for your health and they even share a recipe for a lemon water concoction to try.

Go HERE where Marcus Samuelsson.com shares an interesting article on the health benefits of lemon water and shares a recipe to try as well.

Enjoy!

Allergy Friendly Friday: Grain Free Double Down Chocolate Power Muffins

2012-01-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "Love From the Oven" for use of the image!

And so, in honor of National Chocolate Cake Day (who knew right?) I thought I'd share a chocolate recipe for allergy friendly Friday :).

Check it out...

Go HERE where Love From the Oven shows you (via guest post) how to make chocolate muffins that are grain free and PACKED with nutrition (and they really look yummy too...beat that ;). Oh and by the way Fred Meyer in Palmer carries Coconut Flour now (it's expensive, but it's there :). Just wanted to pass that along to those who can use it.

Enjoy!

Hearth and Home: Make Your Own Olive Oil Lanterns (easy!)

2012-01-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

With how many power outages we have around here, I always love posts about easy light source ideas. This one is not only EASY, but also doesn't require me to keep lantern oil (and all of the lovely warnings about toxicity, flammability, and other nasties) around where it might get in trouble.

This lantern idea is SO easy and simple to do and requires olive oil, which burns clean (thus no smoke) and is readily available (for not much money at Costco, Three Bears, etc) as well as all natural.

So go HERE where Little House on the Prairie Living shows you how to make your own olive oil lanterns.

You know...come to think of it...if you were worried about the olive oil leaking in these things, just put the jars in the microwave (sans wick and metal of course) and melt in a few tablespoons of beeswax with your olive oil. After you melt the beeswax into the olive oil you could put the wick into the lantern and wait for it to cool and harden into a "balm-like" consistency. Then you could just tuck your wick inside your jar, put the wick holder inside the jar, put the lid on and then put your new "melting candle" on a shelf and voila! Instant emergency heat source and/or emergency vaseline (in it's cool state anyway ;). The heat should melt the beeswax/olive oil mixture with no problems and you won't have to worry about leaking oil. Just a thought.

Enjoy!

Easy Craft Idea: Make Headbands Out of Old T-Shirts

2012-01-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "Make it and Love it" for use of the image!

Have some old T-shirts that you are getting tired of falling out of your closet at you this time of year? Yeah, me either *shoves t-shirts back into box and balances it precariously in closet again*. Anyway, the next time you run into an old t-shirt that you don't need anymore, here's one of MANY (going to see a trend in t-shirt re-purposing posts here ;) things you can do with them.

Go HERE where Make it and Love it shows you how to make your own braided headband out of old t-shirts (now I just need to get the whole "5 braid" thing down and I'm set ;).

Enjoy!

Common Knowledge Thursday: How to Darn a Sock

2012-01-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "The Art of Doing Stuff" for use of the image!

Ever had one of those pairs of socks that you've had for years, loved, and then they developed a hole in the wrong spot (like right in the center of your arch...I mean HOW does that happen)?

Well, this happened to me not too long ago with my favorite pair of "super thick socks that are soft, love your feet and keep your feet warm in your boots even in this terribly frigid weather we are having" and I knew I had to do something about it. So, I went online and learned how to darn a sock.

Yes, "darn a sock" and no I'm not cussing it (well I did the time I pricked my finger fixing it, but you get the idea). Yes, that is an actual term and if you made fun of it I'm sure your grandmother would smack you with the nearest soft object for not knowing how to do it. My particular grandmother (who luckily lives far out of "whacking with pillow range") was also appalled that I didn't know how to do this as it was common knowledge in her day, so I figured I'd try to bring back that "common knowledge" to the "newer" generations :).

So, go HERE where The Art of Doing Stuff shows you how to darn a sock the next time you need to fix one of those pesky holes!

Enjoy!

We Repurpose Wednesday: Turn a Sock Into Doll Clothes!

2012-01-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Green Baby Guide for use of the image!

It's truly amazing what cool things you can dig up as you try to come up with ways to waste less.

Check this one out.

Go HERE where Green Baby Guide shows you how to turn an old sock into doll clothes!

Enjoy!

Can It: Macadamia Nut Pancake Syrup

2012-01-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

First I apologize for the odd quality to the photo. My camera was not being kind to me.

This is for my friend, Megan, who showed an interest in this when I mentioned I'd made it on Facebook AGES ago.

And yes, those are real macadamia nuts. I got them for a great price off of E-bay :). 1 lb of nuts cost me like 10.00 shipped, which sure beats the what, 6.00 for 2 oz. or whatever they go for now.

I wanted to make a special syrup one day to go with "tropical pancakes" (okay, so pancakes made with a bit of coconut flavoring for a "tropical taste" to them...by the way they were yummy *laugh*) and saw the macadamia nuts in my freezer. And so, I came to the brilliant (at least I like to think so ;) idea of combining the macadamia nuts with a traditional praline syrup recipe and canning it for future gifts and/or use.

Now, if you don't WANT to shell out the money on macadamia nuts...well it's your loss, but you can use pecans or even walnuts in this to make different praline-like syrups and they would all taste just peachy with this as the syrup takes on the taste of the nuts you put into it.

Macadamia Nut Praline-like Maple Syrup (adapted from Praline Syrup from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)...I note what I changed in parenthesis.

2 Cups Dark Corn Syrup (I used maple syrup...so didn't want the corn syrup in there sorry to say)
1/2 Cup Water (omit if using maple syrup since it has more water than corn syrup...just trust me on this!)
1/3 Cup Packed Brown Sugar (I'd think sucanat would work just fine)
1 Cup Macadamia Nut Pieces (or in my case mainly whole ones since I was lazy, which also led me to getting more "syrup" then the recipe called for after the fact...oops) or other nut pieces
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple flavoring (if using maple syrup)
1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.

2. In a stainless steel saucepan combine corn syrup (maple syrup), water (omitted if using maple syrup) and sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high, bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and stir in nuts and extract (s). Boil gently, stirring constantly (or it WILL burn) for 5 minutes.

3. Ladle hot syrup into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight.

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat (take of canner lid if you had it on) and let sit an additional 5 minutes. Remove jars, cool and store.

And by the way this stuff is AWESOME! I love my macadamia maple syrup. Yum! Although, honestly if I was going to do it over again I'd DEFINITELY chop up the nuts if I were you...it sure makes life easier (I always end up chopping mine up with my pancake *laugh*.

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen: Make Your Own Coffee Creamer!

2012-01-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Deliciously Organic for use of the image!

*Drags soapbox to front of room, stands up on it and clears throat*

"Uh...hi! My name is Erika, and I am a flavored coffee creamer addict!"

*Gets off soapbox and throws it over shoulder*

Anyway, seriously, my biggest weakness in my grocery budget every week is one that is hard to admit. I loves me some coffee creamer. I CAN and have drank coffee black and used to during college and my working years just because of the lack of the one thing I've found to be my greatest weakness. Wonderfully, thick sweet flavored coffee creamer.

Unfortunately, my son also likes my coffee creamer laden hot (well lukewarm...once you have kids you'll understand that part) beverage and likes to sip my coffee by reaching up, grabbing said mug and horking a big gulpfull before I know what hit me. When I also take into account the ingredient LIST on said coffee creamer and all of the chemicals it is made up of...for some odd reason putting those into MY body would bother me, but not enough to really worry about giving it up. Putting them into my SON'S body...well that REALLY bugs me. So, I went searching for coffee creamer alternatives that didn't require the use of a can of condensed milk (I don't like what sweetened condensed milk does to my teeth...it just makes them plague up WAY easier which I'm not fond of). And searching for an alternative to coffee creamers I ran into a land mine of greatness AND a great website...all at the same TIME! I know! I'm proud of me too ;).

So, go HERE where Deliciously Organic gives you like four recipes for coffee creamer to try (cinnamon strudel is SO going into my tea next time I want some!) that requires ingredients like milk, cream, maple syrup...you know all kinds of things you can pronounce (I am SURE you could use milk substitutes for the milk in the recipes and it would turn out JUST fine too :)! What a marvelous concept :).

Maybe I won't have to give up my coffee creamer afterall!

Enjoy!

Easy Gift Idea: How to Make Soap Crayons!

2012-01-25T12:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Squidoo for use of the image!

I am one of those people who swear come what may my children will not draw on my shower walls because it will encourage them to write on my ACTUAL walls, but that's just me (so far it HAS worked). But, if you are one of those parents who will not interfere with your child's creativity, here's an activity you can do (and is WAY cheaper than buying soap crayons at the store).

Go HERE where Instructables.com shows you how to make Soap Crayons. If you could find some chocolate molds cheap (or you could even use cookie cutters actually), you could make some really neat gifts for the special kiddos in your life :).

Enjoy!

Home Remedies: How to Heal a Cold Naturally

2012-01-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Bragg.com for use of the image!

If you are looking for some simple go-to remedies/helpers for getting over a cold, this is a good list to peruse and make some of the items off of (and yes, the ingredients in most of these are carried by your local store :). For instance the above apple cider vinegar is on sale for 3.99 at Fred Meyer this week (can't tell I'm a fan of it can you?).

Go HERE where Clay in His Hands shares some natural remedies and helpers to get over colds (since tis the cold and flu season!).

In the Kitchen: Amazingly Simple (Gourmet) Salsa

2012-01-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Organizing Home Life for use of the image!

Confession? One of the things I truly MISS bigtime since the garlic allergy is salsa. I have made salsa without the garlic and while I can make one heck of a picante sauce...it just isn't salsa and I continue to miss it on the rare occasions I eat corn chips :(.

But, for those of you who CAN have garlic in your house (you lucky ducks you ;) here's an AWESOME recipe I tried ages ago that takes LITERALLY 4 main ingredients (and yes you can find them all pretty easily as Cilantro does get carried by Fred Meyer and Carrs now at least...not sure about Wal-Mart).

Go HERE where Organizing Home Life shows you how to make a VERY simple and SUPER yummy gourmet-tasting salsa!

Enjoy!

Amazon.com: A Couple of Soy Free (and other allergy friendly) Deals Today!

2012-01-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

I was re-ordering things (and just plain ordering things) off of Amazon and noticed that a couple of the products I was ordering were soy free as well as peanut free (in the case of the almond butter) and coconut free (palm shortening :). So, to those unlucky people who are allergic to soy out there (talk about something being IN everything!) I just wanted to pass these along to you...

Turns out Barney Butter is soy free (no soy warning on the label anywhere and the ingredient list reads: Almonds, evaporated cane juice, palm fruit oil, sea salt. Made in an Almond only facility.). So, way cool there :). Sorry, I was all excited since I was looking through nut butters to make some cookies for a friend of mine's daughter who is allergic to soy around Christmas and had NO luck (that was before I found Barney Butter). So, I wanted to definitely pass that little tid-bit along as children need their nut butters (at least it is one of my go-to comfort foods :).

You can order Barney Butter through Vitacost.com who has a flat rate shipping to Alaska of like 9.98 or something like that (I get the garlic free veganaise for my back up mayonnaise through them and next time I order that I'll probably order the Barney Butter through them), so I wanted to pass that along. OR you can get the crunchy right now on Amazon.com for not a bad price...

Barney Butter Crunchy Almond Butter, 16-Ounce Jars (Pack of 3) is 24.84 with Subscribe and Save.

And here's a good deal on palm shortening (at least I THOUGHT so).

Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening, All Vegetable, 24-Ounce Containers (Pack of 4) is 25.99 and ships with free standard shipping (it'll ship with Super Saver Shipping for free, but if you're going to get it, why not get the Standard Shipping for free instead right?)! I was impressed with that one :).

Anyway, I just had to share these just because I was thrilled to find them. Amazon rocks! Ahem. Okay, I'm off to do other blogging now ;).

Enjoy!

Recipe Share: Home Made Energy Bar Recipes!

2012-01-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mother Nature Network for use of the image!

Wow! I saw this list on Gluten Free Easily's Facebook Page and had to share it! The recipes are gluten free, but look awesome to those non-gluten free folks out there too (I'd honestly replace the brown rice syrup with maple syrup, but I just plain like the taste better :).

Go HERE where The Mother Nature Network shares a really nice extensive list of recipes to make your own energy bars at home (and there are a LOT of good variations).

Enjoy!

Take it to the Streets Tuesday: Should My Salve Be Green?

2012-01-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

This latest question comes from Anonymous (least they didn't sign their name on their e-mail :).

"Hi,

I recently tried out your Eczema Cream Recipe and it works great, no complaints there! My biggest concern is that I accidentally doubled the amount of plantain oil *young toddler and husband talking in my ear...don't ask...* in the recipe and when my cream set the salve was green! Is this something I should be concerned about? Did I do something wrong that messed up the salve, since you said the salve tends to turn out yellow, correct? The oils don't smell bad or anything and the salve seems to work okay, but the green tint has me concerned."

*Laugh* I am so sorry that I didn't mention that little "quirk" with plantain. From what I gather plantain is green (in it's dried state...no duh that it's green alive, Erika *shakes head*) and has a tendency to leech that green tint into things you use it in (like plantain oil for instance. Look at your plantain oil compared to, say your Calendula oil. Notice the green tint to it?). Why other "green" plants don't seem to do it as well as plantain, you got me on that one (I'm no botanist, but I'm sure it has something to do with chlorophyll since that's what makes plants green...I think). But, I have definitely noticed that if I use a high portion of plantain oil in things that they do indeed turn a slight shade of green. So, don't panic and use the salve as needed. Just keep a nose out for funky smells (just in case) and make sure that nothing starts growing on your salve and you should be fine (if you used enough essential oil you should be okay anyway).

By the way, I'm THRILLED the salve worked for you =D. I'm quite proud of the recipe...although now I'm intrigued about doubling the plantain oil...;).

Menu Plan Monday: This Week's Menu!

2012-01-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

So, one of these days my children and my husband will allow me to stick to a menu plan with no changes for the week and I'll die of shock *laugh*. This last week we have one dinner go awry to get the son to actually eat some food (french fries and take out it ended up being) and my husband has been driving me NUTS and I mean NUTS about wanting a "real" pizza (basically a pizza with tons of processed meat on it, which our son can't have so home made pizzas don't HAVE any meat on them in the way of pepperoni or canadian bacon...and oy do I hear about it!) so I told him to just call the delivery guy and get his pizza before I did something violent *laugh*. So, while my husband and daughter ate pizza for dinner my son and I ate pancakes and home made non-garlic sausage. The entire week worked, but I hated my bank account by the end of the week because of it (we don't really EAT OUT anymore, so doing it twice in one week really hurt my sensibilities *laugh*).

This week is going to be sort of an odd week to be sure as I go in to get my tooth capped and depending how far gone the tooth is I might be looking at root canal surgery tomorrow too, so I'm planning on a lot of "mushy" types of foods for a few days around here to help my poor jaw recover (that and I have a really nasty large filling on the other side of my mouth from the side that is getting the cap and I can feel my tooth stressing when I eat crunchy/chewy things...so I'm definitely going to be babying my mouth for a little bit here).

So, here's this week's menu plan. I'm sort of looking forward to the experiments this week (if I'm up to them :).

BREAKFASTS:

Baked Quinoa (from freezer. Let's see how well it defrosts and re-heats huh?)
Whole Wheat Toast (from home made bread)
Home Made Granola Sans oats and coconut with some different additions (yup another odd experiment).
Blueberry Muffins (making those tonight)
Chocolate Mint Soother
Other Stuff as I come up with it (still thinking on a breakfast casserole, but definitely a work in progress)

LUNCHES:

Almond Apricot Hummus (minus garlic...I'm just going to use some onion powder and pray) with Brown Rice Pita Chips (just take Brown Rice Pitas and bake until crispy after coating with some olive oil and sea salt and voila! Pita chips :).
Tunafish on Crackers
Home made Mac and Cheese
Chips and Cheese
Egg Salad (left overs from yesterday)
French Toast (from freezer) with maple syrup (son will eat it, so I'm going to give it a try) and scrambled eggs.
Home Made Matza Ball Soup (okay, so I'm taking left over Thanksgiving stuffing from the freezer and putting a stuffing ball in the middle of a bowl of turkey soup. Trust me it tastes good and thanks to Rachel Ray for the idea ;).

DINNERS:

Monday:

Ummm...I'm still working on that. I'm thinking probably fried fish with spinach and rice, but it's definitely going to be a "wing it and see" type of night tonight.

Tuesday:

Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup...I'm just going to quickly adapt it to be gluten free. I'll put out bacon bits for the husband to put on top so he'll have his "meat" fix ;).
Home Made Bread (from freezer)

Wednesday:

Meatloaf (from freezer)
Mashed Potatoes (from fridge/left overs)
Green Beans

Thursday:

Beef Roast
Autumn Potato Gratin (one of my favorite Rachel Ray recipes and SO easy...using it to use up part of my Full Circle box that I'm picking up Thursday :). I use shallots instead of the garlic and MAN does it taste good!
Salad

Friday:

Balsamic Mustard Pork Chops
Rice Pilaf
Corn on the Cob

Saturday:

Steak
Loaded Baked Potatoes
Green Beans

Sunday:

Easy to Stuff Manicotti
Home Made Bread

ALTERNATIVE DINNERS (for the sore mouthed)

Lentil Soup
Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing (figuring that this might be easy enough to chew if I cut the bacon REALLY small)
Baked Brown Rice Salad (can't tell I got a new Alton Brown cookbook for Christmas can you *laugh*).
Breakfast Dinners (Cream of Rice, etc)

Deserts/Snacks

Candied Nuts (I'm going to mess around with sweeteners though so that they don't have coconut involved with them).
Carrot Sticks with Home Made Ranch-Like Dressing (since I'm removing the garlic)
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Frozen Yogurt
Fried Apples

Have Fun With Your Food Experiments:

Make Home Made Ranch Dressing Mix
Make Home Made Crackers (with Home Made Ranch Dressing Mix, Cheese, etc)
Make Oat-less Granola Bars

Feed Your Family on 250.00 a Month With Whole Foods? It Can Be Done!

2012-01-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Keeper of the Home for use of the image!

This article is not only cool, but it also is REALLY close to our prices, gives you recipe ideas and just an idea of how to get started.

Also, in response to those who have e-mailed me and asked me to maybe DO something like this to show what type of budget we have with the food allergies and everything in the house...give me a little bit of time to work on that and make SURE we have our dietary needs sorted first (since I'm still working on oat free, coconut free and now corn restricted diet). I'm not ignoring you, and honestly I'm psyched about challenging myself to see how low I can get our grocery budget too, but it's just going to take me a LITTLE bit of time to get it all worked out around here :).

Anyway, if you don't really have any dietary restrictions in your house and are just trying to go cheap on groceries, check out this post for inspiration.

Go HERE where Keeper of the Home shows you how to feed your family for (about) 250.00 a month with whole foods (she even puts organic milk into her budget!).

Enjoy!

Sweet Savings Sunday: Late, but Not Forgotten

2012-01-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry about being "out" yesterday. I've been doing food re-introduction with my son to "test the waters" when it comes to what foods cause his eczema and which ones are okay in small doses, etc (now that we've finally gotten his skin about 99.9% clear). Oddly enough the first real "epic fail" was popcorn...a food that I'd been feeding him with, what I thought, was no problems because he's not ALLERGIC to corn by the prick test he took. But, here we were, 4 hours to the second that he'd eaten the popcorn (and it was JUST popcorn made in a dedicated facility with finely pulverized kosher salt for popcorn salt and olive oil on it...that's IT) and red patches were breaking out over him, his skin was getting scaly and he was itching like mad. So, I guess he has a sensitivity to corn after all. So, yesterday it was the after-effects of a night with no sleep because he was itching all night and then trying to field a cranky toddler (while mom had a migraine from a thrown out back). So, yeah, I didn't get much done yesterday. But, here we are today and it's time to start figuring out shopping for the week again! Here's some things that I found that are on sale and caught my interest.

SALES

Fred Meyer

Whole Foods

Fresh Selections Mini Peeled Carrots (1 lb) 1.25 per bag with in-ad coupon! (limit 1). SUPER HOT!!!
Grape Tomatoes 2.00 per container with in-ad coupon (limit 1). SUPER HOT!!!
Gold Pineapple 3.00 a piece (This is as good as it gets for sale price on these really :).
Red or Green Grapes 2.88 lb
Green Onions or Bunch Radishes .59 each
Cucumbers or Bell Peppers .98 each
Navel Oranges 1.28 lb
Mayan Sweet Onions .98 lb
Kiwi .50 each
Broccoli Crowns or Cauliflower 1.28 lb
Wild Alaska True Cod Fillets 4.99 lb
Bandon Medium Cheddar Cheese 2 lb bar 5.99 with in-ad coupon (limit 2)

ORGANIC FOOD DEALS

Organic Fingerling Potatoes 3.00 per 1.5 lb bagBragg's Apple Cider Vinegar on sale 3.99 (this is as cheap as I've seen it in FOREVER!)

OTHER FOOD DEALS

Italian Bread (in bakery section) 1.50 per loaf
Doritos 3.00 per bag with in-ad coupon (limit 2)
Flat Out Bread on sale B1G1

They have a Buy 10 Save 5.00 Savings Event (it takes up the entire back cover of the Fred Meyer ad pretty much) The only one item that I can see where you'd save a LOT of money doing this is...

Velveeta Shells and Cheese and/or Easy Mac Cups. Buy 10, pay .69 a piece after 5.00 discount or 6.90 for 10 (that's cheaper than I've even seen them on Amazon, to give you an idea of how good of a deal this really is).

OTHER DEALS

Aussie Shampoo on sale 2.50 per bottle

*********************************

COUPONS/CODES

1. Get 5 Free Pamper's Gifts to Grow Points use code TWIT9PGYETBPA12 . Code is good through 1/26.

2. Two New Think Thin Printable Coupons Available (direct links to PDF files)
1.00/1 thinkThin bars
1.00/1 thinkThin bites

FACEBOOK OFFERS

There is anew Purex Crystals Printable Coupons offer available on Facebook. 1.50 off two bottles of Purex Crystal. Only 10,000 Purex Crystals Printable Coupons available everyday for the next four days, so be sure to check their page often to get yours.

The free Barista Prima Coffeehouse K-Cup samples are available again on the Barista Prima Facebook Page. This is only available to those who have not requested it before.

AMAZON DEALS

First the big news is that according to the Amazon.com Facebook page, Amazon Prime's free shipping policies now also apply to Alaska, Hawaii and Puetro Rico! So, way cool there :).

And here's some other items to get you started this week...

Apple Jacks Cereal, 12.2-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 9.98 with Subscribe and Save. This is below my target price of 2.50 per box for cereal, so I figured I'd mention it for those interested :).

Special K Cereal, Protein Plus, 13.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 10.61 with Subscribe and Save. This is the ONLY cereal I could find that you could eat on a gestational diabetic diet. The net carbs for a 1 cup serving are really low, especially for cereal and it actually tastes really good. At 10.61 for 4 boxes this is a really good price AND since the only place I could ever find the stuff was at Wal-Mart, I wanted to mention it to people who might not have a Wal-Mart near them.

Pop-Tarts, Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, 12-Count Tarts (Pack of 6) is 13.39 with Subscribe and Save. That's 2.23 per box, which is cheap for the small boxes anymore, let alone the 12 ct.

Kettle Chips, Sea Salt, 2-Ounce Bags (Pack of 24) is 16.44 with Subscribe and Save (at .68 a bag that's cheap cheap CHEAP!)...great for lunches :). The ONLY chips my son can eat, these suckers are made without canola oil (definitely a good thing).

This deal is still going on and it is STILL a great deal (considering one of the 15 oz containers goes for about 9.00 at Fred Meyer).

Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, 15-Ounce Tubs (Pack of 2) is 13.77 with Subscribe and Save, but use coupon code NUTIVJAN at checkout to pay 12.15 for 2 containers or 6.07 a piece.

Italica Extra Virgin Olive Oil Plus Vitamins A-D-E, 17-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2) is 10.00 with Subscribe and Save. For Vitamin enriched olive oil this is an EXCELLENT deal, and really even for olive oil this is a good deal!

Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauce, 8-Ounce Cans (Pack of 24) is 19.69 with Subscribe and Save. That's .82 per can! None too shabby!

Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauce, 15-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12) is 13.46 with Subscribe and Save.

Walnut Acres Organic Juice, Harvest Apple with Calcium, 32-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 4) is 12.74 with Subscribe and Save and is honestly one of the few juices that will ship up here. It's calcium fortified too and Organic, so really it's NOT a bad price for organic apple juice :).

Stash Premium Chai Spice Black Tea, Tea Bags, 20-Count Boxes (Pack of 6) is 10.10 with Subscribe and Save. That breaks down to 1.68 per box of tea!

Stash Premium English Breakfast Black Tea, Tea Bags, 20-Count Boxes (Pack of 6) is also 10.10 with Subscribe and Save. For Breakfast Tea this is a really good price (can't tell the breakfast teas are my fave can you *laugh*).

And there you go folks. The best deals I could dig up today! Enjoy!

Try Something New Saturday: The Water Kefir That Wasn't and the Search for the Perfect Square

2012-01-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I was hoping to show pictures of my beautifully developed water kefir that I'd made today, but yeah...it didn't happen.

I went on E-bay a couple of weeks ago and ordered what was described as water kefir grains. Never having MADE anything kefir related in my entire life, I didn't realize until later that I guess water kefir grains and milk kefir grains look different somehow? But, anyway, I took the little foil packet that came in the mail, followed the water kefir soda recipe I'd found online to the letter. As soon as I'd dissolved the kefir grains the mixture turned cloudy, which by the recipe I was following wasn't supposed to happen until later, but I figured I was just a novice yet and wasn't seeing it properly. So, I waited the appointed 3 days the recipe called for and checked the kefir mixture. And was greeted by a pretty nasty looking concoction that looked like it was growing white floaties with a bunch of yeast looking stuff on the bottom of the jar and not one little bubble was to be found anywhere.

Thinking that maybe I'd done something wrong I wrote to the folks I'd bought the grains from and asked some questions. Well, it turns out they checked my order and they'd screwed up and sent me MILK kefir grains instead of water kefir grains. So, the white floaty thingies in the water kefir was actually milk floaties that were probably NOT good to consume (like I was going to taste that stuff the way it looked anyway). They apologized profusely for the mistake, are sending me some of the proper grains and they even refunded me 3.00 to cover the cost of the juice I lost, so I REALLY can't complain too much. I guess the lesson I learned here is that you can not use milk kefir to make water kefir. Good to know I guess :).

So, since that experiment turned out to be a waste of time this week (I will try again when the new grains come in and let you know how it goes), I thought I'd share a side project instead.

Since I've cut back the deal blogging I have this wondrous thing called "time" again :). As you've seen I've been experimenting with things in the kitchen a lot, but I'm also relearning some old hobbies I haven't done in a while. I decided to pick up knitting again and just for fun I've launched a quest to figure out how much "stuff" I can EASILY make from just plain old knitted squares/rectangles. Not squares with fancy knitted frames or even things that require a pattern (seeing as how I have two kids who are constantly stringing themselves up in my yarn I knew this was going to be the only way I could really DO much in the way of hobby time...I swear my children are worse than kittens when it comes to playing with my yarn). Starting out I went simple. I went to Wal-Mart, bought some cotton yarn (it's like 1.95 per skein there...although I'm so going to invest in the really big spool the next time I go) and am just working on replacing some of the wash clothes and dish towels in my house.

When I had a lack of time I would buy the cotton knitted and crocheted wash clothes off of Etsy and so forth, but just haven't been impressed with the sizes I've gotten (I mean some of them are LITERALLY the size of a Scotch-Brite sponge...not ideal for trying to scrub a squirming kiddo). So, I decided that I wanted to make some larger sizes for scrubbing the kids. So, within the last, what, four days, I've got one dish towel done (or we can use it as a large wash cloth) and one standard sized wash cloth. I'm hoping to get one more standard sized wash cloth out of the rest of the cotton yarn skein I used for the standard wash cloth because if I can do that the cost would be downright comparable to a store bought wash cloth (the cheapy ones anyway).

I don't count my time involved as I consider knitting relaxing (least when I don't have a pattern to worry about). I just knit while we watch our nightly movie and/or when I just need to zone and let my mind check out for a few minutes...I find it's a way I can get into a near meditative state...and all the while I can get something functional out of it *laugh*.

Next up on my list of knitted "non-pattern" projects is I'm going to see about making a bath pouf out of some bamboo cotton (very soft) yarn I have and a soap keeper for the tub as well (to keep it hung up out of the way of the spray so my home made soap lasts longer). So, this should be fun :).

So, my self lesson this week? Patience is a virtue and finding "me" time doesn't mean you have to go out for a manicure. You can find some hobby that you love to do that will just relax you...even if it's just for five to ten minutes at a stretch and it DOES help!

I'm also going to work on doing home made gifts this year, including making some things for my daughter's dollhouse (so excited at making mini-things again *laugh*), so I'll share those projects if they turn out note worthy!

I'm off to work on getting my pantry organized/more functional (trying to find places for my appliances and cast iron that don't count sticking them wherever they'll fit), so later folks!

Keep the Kids Busy: Home Made Play-Doh Recipe

2012-01-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Simple Organized Living for use of the image!

This recipe was a new one on me, honestly, and it looks super simple to do.

A tip for making color vibrant and easy? Use Kool-aid packets to color the play-doh for a yummy smelling alternative (be careful though as the home made stuff will stain as well as the store bought stuff! So, watch your carpets!).

Go HERE where Simple Organized Living shares a recipe for making your own home made play doh!

Enjoy!

Keep the Kids Busy: Valentine Hands Print

2012-01-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Kaboose for use of the image!

This is a GREAT idea for an activity for the kids that will also double as a great gift idea for a spouse and/or parent.

Go HERE where Kaboose shows you how to make a VERY cute Valentine's Day Handprint Wall Hanging out of your children's hand prints :).

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen: Emergency Ingredient Substitutions!

2012-01-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Yummly.com for use of the image!

Here's a neat list of emergency substitutions in the kitchen so you (hopefully) won't get caught with your culinary pants down!

Go HERE where Yummly.com shares a nice extensive list of substitutions for your culinary adventures!

Enjoy!

8.99 for 48 Batteries at Fred Meyers (at least Eagle River)

2012-01-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "The Best Things in Life are Free" for use of the image!

I'm not sure if this is in all stores, but definitely Eagle River.

Go HERE where The Best Things in Life Are Free show you how to get 48 batteries for 8.99 at Fred Meyer!

Enjoy!

Allergy Friendly Friday: Gluten Free Puff Pastry and Allergy Friendly (soy free even!) Chocolate Chunks!

2012-01-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Tartelette for use of the image!

Okay, so this was going to be about the beauty that is puff pastry, but I had to tack on the chocolate chunk link just for my friend Sharon who has a daughter who is terribly allergic to soy (type A allergic type of allergic), and more importantly (since it's in EVERYTHING) soy lecithin. So, that link is for you, my friend :).

Go HERE where Tartelette shows you how to make a very very yummy looking puff pastry!

Thanks to Gluten Free Gigi for use of the image!

And then go HERE where Gluten Free Gigi shows you how to make allergy friendly chocolate chunks that only contain 4, count them FOUR, ingredients!

Enjoy all!

Common Knowledge Thursday: Learn How to Knit

2012-01-19T16:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Knittinghelp.com for use of the image!

I proudly state that I know how to knit...a straight LINE, but I know how to knit ;). I taught myself to knit (with some help from my mom, but I did self teach a LOT of the way) a long while ago and still consider myself to be somewhat of a novice. BUT, I do like knowing that I can knit a scarf if I want and that I can get creative knitting things like pot holders and such if I need to (buy used scarfs at yard sales and unravel them for CHEAP and a lot of times good quality yarn is a nice tip by the way :). Knitted items also make awesome home made Christmas gifts if you want to go with a personal touch.

So, go HERE where Knitting Help.com has a series of free videos you can watch so you too can join the ranks of those who know how to knit!

Enjoy!

Life in My Land: Target Deals Worth Mentioning!

2012-01-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "Life in My Land" for use of the image!

This includes free Mac N' Cheese folks, so be sure to check out the post if you want that :).

Go HERE where Life in My Land shares some current deals she found at Target, including the aforementioned free Mac N' Cheese.

Enjoy!

Sam's Club: Upcoming 10.00 Giftcard Rebate Offer

2012-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

This, I know, is going to appeal to those of you who have kiddos in diapers and/or young kids period (especially those of you who buy formula), so check this out. The following information was provided to me by Proctor and Gamble/P&G and Sam's Club through MyBlogSpark in an e-mail and I definitely wanted to pass it along.

"Don’t miss out on precious moments by wasting hours at the grocery store and fussing over budgets. Discover an easy way to save on baby essentials from P&G by buying them in bulk at Sam’s Club® this February! Purchase all the basics for baby at your local Sam’s Club store to save time and money with this limited-time $10 Gift Card offer.

Stock up on P&G products at Sam’s Club in February so you can afford to give your baby quality products and a little more mommy time

Pick up any two of the following baby products to receive a $10 Sam’s Club Gift Card toward your purchase made between Feb 1st and Feb 29th:
Pampers® Swaddlers® or Pampers Cruisers® Diapers
Pampers SoftCare™ Scented Baby Wipes
Similac® Advance® Powder or Similac Sensitive® Powder
Dreft® Liquid Laundry Detergent
Register for your Gift Card at http://www.SamsClub.com/giftcardoffer by March 14, 2012."

So, if you normally shop at Sam's Club anyway this is a nice bonus to take advantage of for sure! Getting money for buying things is always nice, so I wanted to make sure to pass this along!

Enjoy!

DIY: How to Build a Dollhouse w/ accessories and print outs!

2012-01-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Let's Build a Dollhouse.com for use of the image!

Okay, ahem, confession time. You know how when you are a kid and people ask what you want to be when you grow up? Some kids would answer, "A doctor!" or "A Fire Fighter". Me? I always wanted to answer, "I want to make miniatures and dollhouses when I grow up!" Sadly, my obsession with "small" things hasn't really diminished so much as I just try to keep it a hidden love ;).
But, this lady not only takes pride in her miniature obsession she shares all KINDS of awesome stuff! On this site you can get plans to build a dollhouse (you can even get Home Depot to cut your wood to dimensions like she did when you buy your wood), she shares how to get free printables for dollhouse wallpaper, paper food, how to make furniture from cardboard and cloth, etc. I'm in miniature loving heaven here *laugh*.

Go HERE where Let's Build a Dollhouse.com shows you how to build and decorate your own dollhouse in style.

Thanks to Ana-White.com for use of the image!

You can also go HERE where you can learn how to make a Dollhouse Bookcase (it's huge) that you can turn into a dollhouse, or shock of shocks, keep as a bookcase.

Thanks to Disney Family Fun for use of the image!

And if all of that is out of your budget or you don't have room? How about going HERE where Disney Family Fun shows you how to make a ranch style dollhouse out of cardboard that will slide under a bed when not in use and uses recyclables from around your house to make all the furniture (I was really impressed with how good AND functional the furniture really looks).

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen: Make Your Own Instant Oatmeal Packets!

2012-01-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Vegan Lunchbox for use of the image!

Once you realize how easy this is you are seriously going to wonder why you are shelling out close to 4.00 for 10 little envelopes of instant oatmeal (or whatever it goes for anymore).

Go HERE where Chickens in the Road shares a good "bulk" type of recipe for instant oatmeal (you can store it in a jar and just mix it up as needed).

Go HERE where Vegan Lunchbox shows you how to make instant oatmeal packets (and shares some AWESOME sounding "recipes" to put in your packets for cool breakfasts or snacks).

And

Go HERE where Tammy's Recipes shows you her recipe for home made instant oatmeal and some of her different flavors to try.

Want some more "steel cut oats" instead? Well...

GO HERE where The Kitchen shows you how to make steel cut oats once and use mason jars (woohoo! Yet another use for mason jars! ;) to make 5 days worth of breakfasts at one time for ease of serving later on!

Chickens in the Road even gives you the list of "stuff" that is in your store bought oatmeal packets compared to good old fashioned home made ones. So, go feed your kids less processed foods for cheaper than you'd buy them at the store and feel GOOD about what they are eating :).

Enjoy!

We Repurpose Wednesday: Turn a Milk Jug into a Sandwich or Snack Keeper

2012-01-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "The Kitchen" for use of the image!

I found this in my quest to try and find ways to reuse milk jugs (be prepared for more of these as we go through like a gallon of milk every other day around here...at least). These, if you put even a minimal amount of work into them, turn out SUPER cute, are totally food safe (since they are made from milk jugs) and if you end up having to throw them away you won't be out 10 bucks (which in the case of some reusable sandwich bags you would be.

Go HERE where The Kitchen points you to two tutorials on how to turn your milk jugs into a sandwich or snack keeper.

Enjoy!

Hearth and Home: Home Made Lavender Laundry Detergent (bulk) Recipe!

2012-01-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Wikipedia for use of the image!

If you want to make a HUGE batch of home made laundry detergent and just be done with it for quite a while, well here you go!

Go HERE where Mother Earth News shares a recipe for Lavender Laundry Detergent that will last a typical family of four for a year!

By the way, Fred Meyer sells Kirk's Castile soap in 3 packs. I've only been able to find the scented (it's not a terrible scent mind you), but it's usually hidden on the bottom shelf in the soap isle if you want to try the recipe with that.

Enjoy!

Recipe Share: Gingerade Coconut Kefir

2012-01-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "Cultured Foods for Life" for use of the image!

Want to get more pro-biotics in your diet, but really are getting tired of just eating yogurt? Well, here's a good alternative for you.

Go HERE where Cultured Food for Life shares a recipe for a truly yummy looking Gingerade Coconut Kefir (think Gingerade Coconut soda smoothie...yum!).

Enjoy!

Easy Snack Idea: No Bake Granola Crispy Treat Bars (and they're healthy too!)

2012-01-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "MAID in Alaska" for use of the image!

Man these look awesome...I might have to mess with this recipe and TRY to come up with something that would work instead of oats to see if the kiddo would eat this.

Go HERE where MAID in Alaska shows you how to make No Bake Granola Crispy Treat Bars. This would be awesome for afternoon snacks for the kids to keep their energy levels up until dinner is ready without them having to eat prepackaged ~~crap~~ foods.

Enjoy :).

Recipe Share: For Love of Bacon!

2012-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lynn's Kitchen Adventures for use of the image!

*Laugh* for some odd reason I start going through my e-mail and stuff today and just found bacon all over the place (mind you I haven't checked my e-mail in a couple of days...oops). Some of these recipes looks totally yummy though!

Go here where Lynn's Kitchen Adventures shares an awesome looking recipe for "Canadian Bacon Cheese Soup". How can you possibly go wrong with a recipe like that? Now to go and find out if Canadian Bacon has garlic in it...

Putting Bacon in non-traditional things seems to be catching on these days to.

Go HERE where ABC news.com shares a recipe for Coolhau Maple Bacon Hot Chocolate. I just had to share it because honestly that's just SO weird it had to be shared.

Enjoy!

Kid Friendly Affairs: Free Event This Saturday in Palmer

2012-01-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

We ran to McDonalds to get the kids some sodas today (never said I'd win parent of the year people ;) and they handed me a paper with this on it when they saw kids in the car. I thought I'd pass it along as it looks like it'd be a lot of fun.

"Please join us on Saturday the 21st of January for Snowflake Day! Children (12 and Under) can decorate both a snowflake and a sugar cookie (Provided by McDonalds). From 2 to 4 pm."

So, for those who can make that event, have fun! With this cold, I figure, every free event to get your kids out of the house has GOT to be a good thing :).

Enjoy!

Keep the Kids Busy: Flower Prints From Soda Bottles

2012-01-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Frugal Family Fun Blog for use of the image!

I think this is such a neat idea and a great way to reuse empty soda or water bottles and any new way to keep the kids busy in this weather is definitely a plus!

Go HERE where Frugal Family Fun Blog shows you how to make flower designs with some paint and a soda bottle.

Enjoy!

Hearth and Home: Make Your Own Reusable Swiffer Duster Covers

2012-01-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Dollar Store Crafts for use of the image!

I LOVE this project! Sure we don't have a dollar store up here, but we DO have used stores and I've never NOT found flannel receiving blankets by the truck load at them and you can also get the big pack of microfiber cloths at Costco and other stores as well. I'm definitely planning on making some of these as soon as my duster goes bye bye.

Go HERE where Dollar Store Crafts shows you how to make your own reusable Swiffer Duster Covers.

Enjoy!

Prepping for Spring (Gardening): The incredible egg!

2012-01-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Instructables.com for use of the image!

I read this in one of my magazines and loved the idea as it will help you to waste less, still get your seeds started and honestly who doesn't love seed starters that are instantly plantable AND you know EXACTLY what is in them.

Go HERE where Instructables.com shows you how to make your own seed starters out of just plain old eggshells. And the best part is that you could literally just start saving your eggshells (you might have to be a bit careful to crack them right, but it's not like you don't have time right now until spring *laugh*) and save yourself a few bucks buying peat containers.

Also, if you don't mind a bit of "iffy" in what is contained in the containers you can also use Egg Cartons as Seed Starters (thanks to Growing up Creative for sharing that tutorial :) as well.

I'm SO looking forward to Spring right now with the terribly cold temps, winds and just generally "crap" winter weather, so I thought I'd pass these tips along :).

Enjoy!

Recipe Share: Frozen Yogurt Recipes

2012-01-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks to 101 Cookbooks for use of the image.

I was going to do this in separate posts, but...eh...I think it's easier to do it this way as I used a base recipe for the vanilla frozen yogurt I made anyway :). By the way, the vanilla frozen yogurt is AWESOME on it's own so be sure to try that before you do anything else.

Want to make this recipe but don't want to pay a mint for greek style yogurt? Use this trick. Take regular plain yogurt. Put a wire mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth, some coffee filters or a (very clean) kitchen towel over a bowl. Pour your yogurt into the strainer and then place your yogurt with your "catch bowl" in your fridge for 6 hours or longer (honestly I usually do this overnight and pull it out in the morning). You'll come back to nice thick creamy greek-style yogurt that works well in this recipe or as a sour cream substitute (try it on baked potatoes...it'll rock your world!).

So, now that you have your yogurt go HERE where 101 Cookbooks shows you how to make a very very kicking vanilla frozen yogurt.

Then, to mix it up a bit do like I did (use your imagination on this one)...

Peach Frozen Yogurt

1 Recipe Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
1 Cup canned peaches, mushed into oblivion or pureed (I just mashed the heck out of mine with a fork until it was the right consistency for me :).
About 3 TBS peach juice (from can, or in my case from canning jar)

Freeze and process according to your ice cream maker directions and either enjoy straight out of the maker (which turns into a soft serve consistency) or freeze (turns a bit harder than ice cream but still scoopable). I'm loving on some of the peach frozen yogurt I made right now :).

Enjoy!

Health and Beauty: DIY Blackhead Remedy

2012-01-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "The Wife Life"for use of the image!

Acne problems? Instead of rushing out and spending a mint on some acne kit, how about trying a remedy that contains things in your own kitchen cabinets?

Go HERE where The Wife Life shows you how to make your own Bye Bye Blackhead remedy with common household materials!

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday: Loving Freezer Cooking!

2012-01-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

After weeks of really no hard work, just adding meals and baked goods here and there, I now have a good healthy storehouse of food to help me plan my meals for the next little bit and it feels GREAT! So, I'm going to start using some of those meals this week, as well as some hold overs from last week seeing as how the menu plan went completely out the window with the son having the flu and needing lots of cuddles.

Possible Breakfasts:

Baked Quinoa (from freezer)
Gluten Free Quinoa Blueberry Muffins (hopefully the son will at least try these)
Whole Wheat Toast
Cereal
Cream of Rice Cereal with Maple Syrup

Possible Lunches:

Tuna Salad
Mac & Cheese (home made)
Chili Fries
Chips and Cheese
Cheese Quesadillas (made with home made tortilla dough from freezer)
Other things as we come across them

Dinners:

Monday:

Shrimp and Grits-Style Quinoa

Tuesday:

Chicken Fried Steak (rice breading)
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans

Wednesday:

Quiche with Spinach and Goat Cheese

Thursday:

Steak
Maple Roasted Cabbage and Turnips with Hazelnuts/Walnuts/something. This is a recipe I'm adapting from Martha Stewart Living.

Friday:

Citrus Herb Crusted Chicken (yeah the recipe calls for fish, but I'm going to try it on chicken anyway :).
Lentil Gratin
Salad

Saturday:

Beef Terriyaki (from freezer)
Broccoli
White Rice

Sunday:

Some type of breakfast dinner from the freezer.

Have Fun With Your Food Projects:

~~Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins~~ (done)
~~Grits Style Quinoa~~ (done)
Kefir Soda

And there you have it folks. My menu plan for the week. Not much new and exciting, but it's something :).

Have Fun With Your Food: Gluten Free Quinoa Blueberry Muffins

2012-01-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Gluten Free Quinoa Blueberry Muffins. Odd combo huh? My first foray into gluten free baking and I lobbed a grenade, what can I say, and just prayed it landed in the edible range.

And hey, not only did they come out edible, they came out dense, cakey and have some nutritional value on top of being a baked good. So, I wanted to share it :). Remember, when you stop playing with your food life gets awful boring! Enjoy it!

Gluten Free Quinoa Blueberry Muffins

2/3 Cup Brown Rice Flour
2/3 Cup Almond Meal
1/4 Cup Arrowroot powder (for the life of me I couldn't find my tapioca starch)
2/3 Cup cooked and well drained quinoa, cooled (this would be a great use for leftovers, just make sure it's not savory flavored or anything :).
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup sugar (can go up to 1/2 cup if your applesauce isn't very sweet)
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cinnamon applesauce (or use regular applesauce and add like 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon)
1/2 Cup buttermilk (or 1 tsp lemon juice added to a measuring cup and then filled with milk to the 1/2 cup line).
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 Cup Frozen Blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix rice flour, almond meal, arrowroot powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix sugar and egg and mix until well incorporated. Add quinoa, applesauce buttermilk and lemon zest. Mix well to combine. Make a well in the dry ingredients and dump wet ingredients in. Mix until just combined and then fold in blueberries.

3. Put in muffin tins (each tin should be about 2/3 of the way full) that are WELL greased (I used non-stick spray and these STILL stuck on me).

4. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until brown around the edges and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. These are totally delicious warm. Nice and cakey and not grainy. Yum!

I baked at a lower temp because with the almond meal in these they could burn easily and burned nut meals taste nothing but bad. Just keep that in mind if you get impatient :).

Sorry I didn't make these dairy free and more allergy friendly, but I just wasn't willing to try my hand at doing that much messing with recipes just yet. Enjoy!

Have Fun With Your Food: Cheesy Grits Style Quinoa

2012-01-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

You guys are going to get tired of the quinoa recipes tonight, but I'm just so insanely proud of them I had to share :). This first one is Cheesy Grits Style Quinoa (trying to avoid corn as much as possible for the sake of the son's gut health). It came out tasting creamy with lucious cheesiness to it and even my very picky husband ate it with dinner :).

So, here's the recipe!

Grits-Style Quinoa

1/2 Cup Quinoa
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Heavy Cream (or just use whatever non-dairy you use and then add some arrowroot or other starch to thicken it to about heavy cream consistency :). You could also just reserve some of your cooking liquid, honestly and use that if you want more of a chickeny flavor to your "grits".
1 Cup Grated Cheese (I used a hard sheep's cheese that I really like that you can get at Costco or Three Bears) + a little more for the top (I think I used about 1/3 of a cup). You could also use whatever non-dairy cheese you like in this too I'd imagine.
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse Quinoa for 1/2 hour in plenty of water. Drain.

2. Place 2 Cups Chicken broth (I added some salt too as mine was pretty bland), quinoa and at LEAST 2 more cups of water (via MAID in Alaska Method for cooking quinoa) in a saucepan and cook quinoa about 20 minutes or until done (no longer chewy). Drain.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Move quinoa to an 8x8 baking dish. Mix egg and cream in a bowl and pour over quinoa. Pour cheese on top (you can use anywhere from 3/4 of a cup to 1 cup...depending how cheesy you like it) and mix well with other ingredients to combine. Sprinkle additional cheese on top and sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top.

5. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour or until mixture is set (I honestly think mine cooked a BIT long as the cheese on top was pretty crunchy, but it was still good). Remove from oven and let sit about 5 minutes. Serve.

Works really well with shrimp. I cooked my shrimp in 1 cup of white wine, 3 TBS of salt, about 2 cups of water and about 1 cup of chicken broth as well as about 3 tablespoons of Not Pontiac Pig Powder (I made it and omitted the garlic and doubled up on the onion powder a while back...worked slick). The shrimp turned out AWESOME and was a great accompaniment to this recipe.

Sweet Savings Sunday: Doing Things the Lazy Way

2012-01-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Since I've felt like I've been spinning my wheels the last like three days trying to get caught up (still working on my menu plan for this week for instance, which I will get up tonight), I was having a hard time getting overly motivated at the Fred Meyer ad since like nothing on sale (pretty much) was anything I could really USE around here (sorry folks).

But, hey, Elisa at Life in My Land was WAY awesome and did a lot of the match ups for me this week by sharing them on her blog. Thanks, Elisa!

So go HERE to check those out!

I will probably sporadically post up a few Amazon.com deals as I find them in the next couple of days instead of doing a compiled list to sort of make up for not doing them yesterday (like I said...chasing my own tail last week, so I'm just trying to get up my energies to get things more organized this week :). And as for coupons...ugh...from what I could dig up there really wasn't a whole lot of awesome to report last week, so hopefully this week will be better.

Enjoy and thanks again for the hard work on the Fred Meyer ad, Elisa!

Try Something New Saturday (late): Ginger Frozen Yogurt With Chai Syrup!

2012-01-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry, not a food photographer.

So, the ideas I had to try this week went pretty much flying out the proverbial window thanks to our old foe the stomach flu around here. But, last night I was DETERMINED to at least get something accomplished when it came to trying SOMETHING new this week. So, I decided to mess around with the two quarts of home made yogurt I'd made a couple of days before (this time I actually added an added cup of cream to the 1/2 gallon of milk I used and seriously it turned out like Brown Cow or other "cream on top" type of yogurt, but was thick enough to be greek style yogurt. Awesome stuff!).

I used the recipe On Frugal Granola and just tweaked it by adding the cream this time. It's a very easy recipe. With the cold the way it is I put my 2 quarts in a cooler with some 1 pint mason jars filled with warm water around it and then sat it where I knew our forced air heat would blow some warm drafts its way (figured it couldn't hurt). Don't put the lids on the jars and then just make sure your cooler lid will close and you're good to go doing that (don't want dust in your yogurt...that'd be icky).

So, staring at these two quarts of yogurt and knowing that we PROBABLY weren't going to be up for smoothies for a little bit and I'd already eaten two quarts of yogurt by myself (just mixed fruit with it and was eating it for breakfast) I tried to think of SOMETHING to do with this stuff so it wouldn't go bad on me (I have NO idea how long home made yogurt stays good for and didn't want to take a chance of it going bad on me...it was just too good). So, I IMMEDIATELY turned to the idea of making frozen yogurt.

I came up with this recipe last night and tweaked it up this morning and oh my GOSH even out of the ice cream maker and with the syrup still warm (you'll quickly notice the melting patches of frozen yogurt around the edges) this stuff is just awesome! So, here's my recipe for Ginger Frozen Yogurt with Chai Syrup.

Ginger Frozen Yogurt (makes about 1 pint)

1 1/2 Cups Greek Style Yogurt (I used home made of course)
1/4 Cup Sugar (I used Organic. You can go up as high as 1/2 cup, depending on how sweet you want it)
1/4 cup Ginger Syrup
2 TBS to 1/4 Cup Candied Ginger, chopped fine (depending on how much you like your ginger. I used 1/4 cup :).
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream (to compensate for the ginger syrup, but you could honestly also just add more yogurt if you'd like...I needed mine for another recipe I'm working on :).

Directions:

1. Freeze your ice cream maker core according to manufacturer directions. I always freeze my paddle too, just to be sure everything is freezing cold when I'm ready to put everything together.

2. If you are making your ginger syrup from scratch, do so and let it cool on your stovetop before starting ANYTHING as you are going to have to make this stuff COLD to set up your frozen yogurt :). You could safely cut down the amount of sugar in the ginger syrup recipe by about 1/4 on this one if you're not planning on canning the rest of the syrup when you are done (I had to battle the sweetness a few times to get it to work right).

3. Combine yogurt, cream, ginger syrup and sugar in a bowl and mix well to combine. Put in fridge for at LEAST 45 minutes to get cold (I put mine in for an hour).

4. Once well chilled pour your mixture into your running ice cream maker (remember to ALWAYS start your ice cream maker before adding anything or you are going to have a bad day). Prepare according to your ice cream maker directions (honestly I just eyeball mine anymore as I know when mine is ready...it takes mine about 20 minutes to get done). When the frozen yogurt is looking like a nice soft serve ice cream consistency add your finely chopped candied ginger. Do this slowly or you will seize up your machine. I pour like 1 tsp in at a time and wait for it to get well incorporated before adding the next bit.

5. When done you can serve immediately or put into freezer. I'm not sure how hard this will get, usually it sets up harder than ice cream, but still scoopable, but it sure is tasty :). Serve with Chai Syrup.

And here is the part that just...oh my goodness TOTALLY makes the recipe ever loving awesome!

Chai Syrup

1 3/4 Cups Ginger Syrup (I literally just used the rest of my pint jar I had, so that's where the odd measurement comes from).
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. cardamom (if you don't have cardamom you could honestly leave it out and add a bit of nutmeg or other spice...it's pretty spendy to buy).
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Dash of Nutmeg

Directions:

1. Add spices to ginger syrup in small saucepan and whisk well to combine. Heat to boiling and reduce heat to a simmer.

2. Simmer until volume is reduced by about 1/2.

3. Turn off heat and let sit until cool. Serve with Ginger Frozen Yogurt. Will keep for 1 to 2 months in fridge (check for funky smells and mold before each use).

Ideally, if you have whole spices this would work WAY better as you could literally add them to the syrup and then steep them in it, thus stopping any graininess issues and getting the most out of your spices. Here's the recipe for that if you have them...

Chai Syrup With Whole Spices:

1 3/4 Cups Ginger Syrup
1 Cinnamon Stick (about 2 inches long)
4 Whole Cloves
2 Cardamom Pods
1 Vanilla Bean (about 4 to 6 inches long, cut into 1 inch pieces)
1 Dash Fresh Grated Nutmeg

1. Combine in a pan with the ginger syrup and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.

2. Turn off heat and let sit at least 1 hour to steep. Strain out spices.

3. Bring back to boil and boil until about reduced 1/2 in volume.

4. Let cool and serve with Ginger Frozen Yogurt. Will keep for about 1 to 2 months in the fridge (always check for funky smells and mold before use)

I would have added the tea to the mix, but I was worried it would start to taste bitter when you reduced the syrup down, so I didn't want to chance it.

You could also, probably use a Chai Syrup mix, such as Oregon Chai or something for a topping, but I like this better as you know what is in it (you could even sub out the 1/4 cup ginger syrup in the frozen yogurt for the chai syrup and make yourself some chai frozen yogurt too, I suppose :).

If you want to thicken the syrup up (since it still is pretty thin) you can add a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream to the syrup, or some milk or milk alternative or something I'm sure to help thicken it up a bit. Just a thought. Personally I thought it was awesome just the way it was :).

Enjoy all!

Allergy Friendly Friday: Peanut and Tree Nut Free Free No-Bake Granola Bars

2012-01-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Tasty Kitchen for use of the image

Man, I wish I could think up a good "oat AND peanut free" alternative to granola bars. But, since I can't right now, here's one for the peanut and tree nut allergic out there...

Go HERE where Tasty Kitchen shares a recipe for No-Bake SunButter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (be sure to use nut free chocolate chips...like I have to tell you that, but you know... :).

Enjoy!

Simple Sewing: Make Your Own Lunch Bags

2012-01-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, so some of these, I'm sure, are sort of hard and some are sort of easy, but if you are looking for a way to make your own lunch bags for your kids, this is a neat thing to check out.

Go HERE where Babble.com gives you 10 different DIY tutorials on making your own lunch bags. Just click through the pictures on the bottom of the page and it'll link you to the separate tutorials.

Enjoy!

Common Knowledge Thursday: How to Fix a Snagged Sweater

2012-01-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

This is a super easy trick my mom taught me when I was a youngling, but I figured I'd pass it along to those who might not know how.

So, GO HERE where Real Simple.com shares a nifty tutorial on how to fix a snagged sweater without having to have someone fix it for you.

Enjoy!

We Repurpose Wednesday: That Old Towel

2012-01-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

Well, this was actually going to be the reader question for Yesterday, but since I missed yesterday due to illness with my boy child (who is still not feeling great, poor kiddo), I thought that I'd just save it for today and do double duty here. So, here's the "Take it to the Streets Tuesday" question and the "We Repurpose it Wednesday" post all in one! See, I'm multi-tasking =D.

Brenda, one of our readers asked if I had any ideas for repurposing towels. I guess when they say you can never have too many towels they were wrong as Brenda, who has a lot of foster kids, got a huge amount of them as a wedding present (by the way Brenda, congrats and God bless on the wedding :). She doesn't want to give them away or anything, but now she has a huge amount of "semi-old" towels as well as a bunch of new towels too. So, she asked me for some help for ideas and I thought I'd pass the list of things you can do with towels onto the rest of you (some of these are better left for cheap new towels...Target dollar area anyone? while some of them you can use old OR new towels to do :).

So, here are a few ideas that I dug up, Brenda. Hope you find some inspiration :).

Image Courtesy of FilthWizardry.com

Turn a tea towel into a pair of shorts for your kiddo.

Or...

Image Courtesy of FilthWizardry.com

A cute skirt?

Thanks to CraftyNest.com for use of the image

Turn an old pair of flip flops and an old towel into a pair of spa slippers (they tried to do machine sewing and the machine couldn't handle the bulk of the fabric. My advice would be to just hand sew it and make sure you have a good thimble and a thick upholstery needle to do it :).

Thanks to Marmadaisy.com for use of the image

Make a Spiffy Spa Headwrap (direct link to PDF file tutorial).

I found the above head wrap idea and this one when I was searching for home made spa projects I could do. This turns out pretty cool looking when you're done...

Thanks to Ruffles and Stuff for use of the image.

Make a cool Bath Pouf. Just as an aside if you've never been to Ruffles and Stuff you have to just hang out there one day and look around. Pretty cool site (at least I like it :).

Thanks to Curbly.com for use of the image.

Make Pillows out of them (I'm so going to try this one).

Thanks to Berlin Whimsy for use of the image!

Make a Swiffer Cover

Thanks to SewMamaSew for use of the image!

Sew Mama Sew shows you how to make a child's robe out of a towel HERE.

Thanks to MarthaStewart.com for use of the image

MarthaStewart.com shows you how to make hand towels into a handy dandy caddy thing for your bathroom HERE

Thanks to Chezlin for use of the image.

I find this to be an awesome idea. This is a tote bag and a towel all in one (it just folds out when you want into an actual towel). If you sew two towels together and maybe add some waterproof interfacing to this I'm seeing a super simple and super functional diaper changer :). Go HERE where Chezlin.com shows you how to do it!

Thanks to Craftzine.com for use of the image.

Go HERE where Craftzine.com shows you how to make a pretty cool (and really simple AND quick) tote bag out of an old beach towel (or if you find the 1.00 beach towels at Target soon...cheap project time!).

Thanks to MarthaStewart.com for use of the image

MarthaStewart.com shows you HERE how to make a nifty bath apron to help you keep dry while bathing the kiddo. These are easy and would make GREAT baby shower gifts.

Speaking of baby shower gifts...

Thanks to BHG.com for use of the image.

Go HERE where Better Homes and Gardens shows you how to make the cutest baby bundle towels for your next baby shower (or bundle of joy ;).

Thanks to MarthaStewart.com for use of the image

Recycle some old towels to make a travel mat for your special pet friends. MarthaStewart.com shows you how to make one HERE.

Thanks to Tissue Papers for use of the image!

GO HERE where Tissue Papers shows you how to make your own wearable beach cover up (this would be great to make for use out of the shower :).

Thanks to Centsational Girl for use of the image!

If you're looking for an easier one to do GO HERE where Centsational Girl shows you how to make a towel wrap that is easy to accomplish :).

Here would be a cool one to use various old towels that you like the colors.

Thanks to Fine Craft Guild for use of the image

Go HERE where Finecraftguild.com shows you how to make a bath mat (that looks SUPER cushy) out of old towels.

Thanks to Craft Evolution for use of the image!

And if you are looking for an easier bath mat, how about This really simple bath mat? You can find the tutorial On Craftevolution.com.

And there you go folks. A few ideas to reuse old towels. Hope you got inspired to try something new! Enjoy!

Hearth and Home: Home Made Lysol Recipe

2012-01-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

If you are wondering why I didn't post yesterday it's because my poor little boy came down with a terrible stomach bug and it became a battle to keep the poor kid hydrated for about 12 hours. LUCKILY *fingers crossed* we're hoping he's on the mend now. While all of this was going on I reached for my bottle of home made disinfecting spray/air freshener (think Lysol) constantly; to disinfect and to just plain take the sick smell out of the room (trying to avoid like heck that anyone else gets sick...of course then my daughter grabs her brothers soda and sucks it down while I'm not looking, so I'm not sure how effective my efforts are going to be in the long run *sigh*). So, now that my son is napping and we have a lull in sickness around here I thought I'd share this recipe. It's actually pretty simple, is gentle enough to use anywhere in the house pretty much (keep out of reach of the kiddos though as essential oils are potent and you don't want them going to town with this) and is just a nice overall "everyday" spray. I just use it anywhere I would think to use Lysol and hey...it doesn't irritate my lungs! This recipe is adapted from Nursery Room Spray found in Herbal Crafts: More than 60 Simple Projects to Beautify Your Home and Body.

Home Made Lysol

One 2 to 4 oz spray bottle (glass or metal preferably....I used a stainless steel bottle I had left over from some other product I'd bought and repurposed it).
3/4 to 1 teaspoon lavender essential oil (depending on how "lavender-y" you want your spray to smell like)
3/4 to 1 teaspoon sweet orange oil (I did 3/4 lavender and 1 teaspoon orange oil just because I like the smell of orange better)
1/2 teaspoon lemon essential oil
1/4 teaspoon tea tree oil...optional (I've made this before with the tea tree oil and it threw off the fragrance to the point I left it out the next time and upped the lavender oil...it just didn't smell...well right to me with the tea tree oil in it, but it's a good thing to add for germ killing power. If you use the tea tree oil knock back the lavender oil to 3/4 of a teaspoon).
Distilled Water

Fill bottle to about 1 inch from the top with distilled water (distilled water is "super cleaned" and doesn't grow mold or other things as readily as tap water) and then add your essential oils. Put the cap on and shake to combine. Spritz on objects or into the air as needed, shaking well before each use (the oils and water will separate naturally so you have to shake to re-combine them). Remember to label it so you know what is in it and always list ingredients on your bottles (to let other people know what is in them too...you don't want someone who is allergic to citrus, for instance, picking up this and spraying it around their face or something...it would be a bad thing).

Menu Plan Monday: Experimenting with Grains and Yogurt

2012-01-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Home Made Yogurt in Fridge and Ready to Rock!

So, last week's menu...well it didn't go so well. I was freezer cooking all week and my husband kept coming home and liking what I was cooking so we kept ending up eating what I was going to freeze that night for dinner instead of my actual scheduled dinner *laugh*. Hopefully this week will go a BIT better, although I'm planning on making additional things to freeze as I go along (and finish up some of the baked goods I have planned for breakfasts later on too) and hopefully by the end of this week my freezers will be chock full of yummy meals and and other edible goodies.

I'm going to expand my horizons a bit more this week by having more fun experimenting with grains. It should be an experience to be sure :).

So, here's this week's menu plan...

Breakfasts (I'm not going to list days as this is sort of a "whatever the kids are in the mood for" type of meal):

Baked Quinoa. Sooooo good!
Whole Wheat Toast (home made bread)
Cream of Rice cereal with maple syrup (or cream of wheat for the daughter and the hubby)
Other things as we think of them.
Smoothies (with home made Greek-style yogurt from fridge...yum!)

Lunches:

Tuna Salad on crackers and/or bread. Sounds easy doesn't it? Until you have a garlic allergy to deal with. I'm going to make this with Sweet Pumpkin Pickles with a few spices (mustard seed, etc) to cobble together my own version of Sweet Pickle Relish (note to self: Can some sweet pickle relish) and go from there. I'm hoping my Veganaise will get here in time so I don't have to make mayonnaise (it's not HARD or anything, but it goes bad so quickly I always feel like I'm throwing out money every time I make it). I found out the Spectrum brand Eggless Mayonaise has no garlic in it, just onion powder, so I ordered some from Vitacost. By the way, woohoo!
Chili Fries (with home made french fries and chili from pantry). The kids will eat fries, so I figure it's worth a shot.
Cheese Quesadillas (for the daughter) and white rice and shredded cheese for son (yeah, don't ask, but it's his thing)
Scrambled eggs
Anything else the kiddos might show an interest in eating (lately my daughter has been wanting to live off of cheese quesadillas and whole wheat toast. Love food jags).

Dinner:

Monday:

Spinach Salad with goat cheese, pitted kalamata olives and Prosciutto (all ready made stuff, so don't think I'm too good there ;)

Tuesday:

Braised Lamb Stew with Ginger. The hubby is fighting his acid reflux again and we're all fighting sinuses, so I thought this would be a good one. I'm going to have to mess with the recipe a bit to get rid of the oyster sauce (husband can not STAND the taste of shell fish), but I know this is a good base recipe to mess with :).

Wednesday:

Refrigerator Pie/Quiche. I'm going to use home made yogurt as a thickener in the recipe to thicken up the milk part of the recipe (since there's not too much to worry about :).

Thursday:

Steak
Maple Roasted Cabbage and Turnips with Hazelnuts/Walnuts/something (to the nut cracker away!). This is a recipe I'm adapting from Martha Stewart Living.
Green beans

Friday:

Citrus Herb Crusted Chicken (yeah the recipe calls for fish, but I'm going to try it on chicken anyway :).
Lentil Gratin (I'd honestly just go with this for dinner, but the husband loves his meat *laugh*)
Salad

Saturday:

Mustard and Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops
Rice
Corn on the Cob

Sunday:

Breakfast Dinner consisting of Chicken Sausage
Cheese "grits style" Quinoa (I'm just more curious as to how this would taste than anything honestly as I'm trying to reduce the amount of corn we consume for the sake of the youngest).
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (this one looks like it'd taste awesome so I just have to try it ;).

Have Fun With Your Food Experiments for the Week:

Home Made Cheese-Its
Cheesy Quinoa "Grits Style"
Lentil Gluten Free Scones (New Recipe that hopefully will be edible. Yeah, yeah. I'm an oddball :)
Froyo (or frogurt or ~~TCBY~~...wait don't want to get sued) or just plain frozen yogurt (that just doesn't sound as cool though).

Reader Question: "Do You Still Bargain Hunt?"

2012-01-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

They came! They finally came!

I just loved this question so much I had to share, since it sort of gave me a laugh (no offense John!).

"Hey,

Do you still bargain hunt at all now that you're running the new blog? I'm going to miss it if you never post any deals you find.

John"

The answer to that question is of COURSE I still bargain hunt :). I'm just not doing bargain hunting with coupons per say and honestly what I consider to be a bargain and something to get excited about anymore, others might not. For instance some of my biggest things I was just over the moon excited about this last week?

I used giftcards I got to Amazon to get everything on the table above plus a subscription to Hobby Farm Home. I got my first issue a few days ago and am LOVING on it (by the way if you want to subscribe to Mother Earth News do so through their website. It's MUCH cheaper than getting it through say Amazon or other third party deal. That's on my list of things to subscribe to here soon :).

What did I get above? This is so going to bore some people out there, but I'm still bubbly excited...

Nesco American Harvest FD-37 400 Watt Food Dehydrator. At 32.99 I'm not sure if it was the cheapest food dehydrator on the market, but I liked the reviews it received and am SO looking forward to using it this year (uh...by the way be on the lookout for dehydrated food posts ;). A couple of things already on my list are trying to master crackers and different types of fruit rolls in the hopes my son might eat them (I'm actually planning on over drying the fruit rolls a bit...sounds odd but the kid will eat paper, so I figure if I can get the texture close...).

Yogourmet Freeze Dried Kefir Starter, 1 oz. box (Pack of 2). I wanted to try my hand at doing things with Kefir to try and help heal my son's gut a bit (he still has problems with acid reflux from time to time, etc) and I found that Kefir is an excellent source of nutrition. The freeze dried stuff isn't EXACTLY the same as real grain kefir, since it's freeze dried, but since I'm never quite sure when I'm going to have a chance to do something I figured this was a good way to go, especially since 2 boxes makes a LOT of it and it was only 9.91 with Subscribe and Save :).

Remember my Waste Less New Years Resolution? Well, I decided to start working toward my goal by getting some things in the works. The last couple of weeks I've been finding resources so we can either recycle our paper or burn it, finding ways to recycle our plastic items, etc and one of the things I figure my garden will thank me for this summer is starting composting. So, I got some items to make my life a bit easier in that arena...

OXO Good Grips Compost Bin was 19.99 on Amazon. NO it wasn't the cheapest option available and it wasn't what I'd call something I'd want to put on my counter (it wouldn't go with the decor honestly), but it got good reviews and I'm keeping it under my sink, so it's not like people have to stare at it and wonder what the weird pail is :).

I got these bags to make my life easier BioBag Compostable Waste Bags, 3 Gallon - 25 count per box, but I only paid like 3.00 and some change for them (they're up to over 6.00 a box right now).

I'm a total nerd for getting excited about this stuff I know. I'm still waiting for the Bormioli Square Swing Bottle (these have 1 liter capacities on them) to get here so I can start messing around with making Kefir Soda (look for how that works out in future posts :).

All totaled for everything above (including a cast iron muffin pan that I purchased when it was down to 10.00 and some change on Amazon one day) cost me a whopping like 3.00 out of pocket after gift cards from Christmas, my birthday and redeemed Swagbucks (yes I waited until after Christmas to redeem all my giftcards...I was bad this year and spent the money on me ;) and just generally waiting for good sales to hit. Tip on trying to get good deals on Amazon? Add an item to your cart, save it for later and just keep bringing up your cart about once or twice a day for a few weeks...you'll realize quickly what your low bottom price on an item is. I'll also tend to search for the same items that I want (like a cast iron pie pan is on my list of things I want) whenever I hit Amazon and just wait. I've gotten a lot of really awesome deals from a marketplace seller who is liquidating inventory or something and sells their items super cheap through Amazon, so you can get your Free Super Saver Shipping AND an awesome deal on the item.

I also used a 5.00 giftcard that The Bulk Herb Store sends out on your birthday if you "Like" them on Facebook to get some herbs cheap.

My biggest local find that I was SUPER DUPER mega excited about was my local Fred Meyer had eggs on on Automatic Price Reduction for .99 a dozen one night, so I scored 5 dozen eggs for less than 5.00. You can't beat THAT price :). I've still got a lot of things planned to work with those too (including getting some quiche and things in the freezer here soon). Between that and the awesome deals on produce last week I got a lot of groceries (including an 8 cup Pyrex Measuring Cup and a 7x11 Pyrex baking dish from my husband for my birthday, a movie and a couple of other non-food items) for less than 80.00. It was one of those grocery trips that just make you feel GOOD :).

So, yeah, those were my shopping adventures for last week. Hope it wasn't too boring to read about. Enjoy and thanks for writing, John!

Simple Sewing: Make Your Own Hanging Book Sling

2012-01-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Penny Carnival for use of the image!

This project is so going onto my "to do" list as I could hang this sucker up high enough that my son couldn't get a hold of it to eat the books (some bedtime stories have suffered terrible fates so far when I had a book holder in the children's bedroom) and, at the same time, it'll have a small enough profile I won't have to worry about my kids whacking themselves on it. Double bonus is that the books are secured in the sling so you don't have to worry about them falling off of a shelf in an earthquake too :).

Go HERE where Penny Carnival shows you how to make your own book sling. You have to look at the various ones people have made down the page some too...so cute!

Enjoy!

Cheap (and Healthy) Eats: Make Your Own Cereal

2012-01-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Wikipedia for use of the image

And no, this isn't your usual fare of "Make Your Own Granola" you see everywhere (although I really do miss home made granola *laugh*). This article is really cool and you can quickly make these recipes as allergy and gluten free as you need without needing a lot of creativity to do it :).

Go HERE where Rodale.com shares different recipes for home made cereals. I love some of the ideas for puffed cereal and am really thinking of trying my hand at making my own flake cereals :).

Thanks to Kaleidoscope Farmer's Market (Facebook Page) for sharing this!

Sweet Savings Sunday: Sales, Coupons and Amazon.com Deals for the Week!

2012-01-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

Well here you go folks. Some things that I'm seeing that I consider to be note worthy sale-wise and coupon-wise this week...

Sales:

Fred Meyer

Hunts Pasta Sauce is on sale 1.25 a can
Use .50/3 coupon in the same ad.
Final Price: 1.08 a can after coupon (couldn't find a manufacturer Q to stack with this, but check All You and see if there's any in there :).

Large Navel Oranges .68 lb!!!! Woohoo! Me seeing some cool recipes next week :).

Foster Farms Ground Turkey, 20 oz package, 3.99 with in-ad coupon (that's pretty cheap consider what they are looking for on ground turkey anymore).

Barilla Pasta is on sale 1.25 a box.

Eggplant on sale 1.25 a piece (debating on this one. I've never cooked with eggplant before, but for this price I might just try it).

The big bag of Kettle Chips are on sale for 3.29 still (woohoo!). The plain chips are free of canola oil (made with safflower oil) and garlic cross-contamination. Love these chips!

Speed Stick Deodorants are on sale again for .99 after 1.00/1 in-store manufacturer Q.

COUPONS

You can print 2.00/1 Rembrandt Coupons at the following links...

Speaking of Coupons.com, there's some good coupons on there right now. Some highlights?

5.00/1 22 oz or larger Enfamil formula (any type)
B2G1 Play Doh 4 packs
B1G1 Scotch Brite Botanical Disinfecting Wipes
5.00/1 Evenflo Big Kid Booster Seat (use zipcode 90210 and sort by "baby" to find it faster)
5.00/1 Evenflo Exersaucer (use zipcode 90210 and sort by "baby" to find it faster)

Free Samples

You can send a free sample of Hills Brothers Cappuccino to a friend via Facebook. Just "like" them and then follow the steps to score your friend some today.

Get basically Microsoft Office free for your I-Pad by downloading the new CloudOn App for Free. This allows you to edit documents in Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point.

Amazon.com Deals!

Huggies Natural Care Baby Wipes, 6 packs of 56 wipes (336 total count) is currently 9.76 with Subscribe and Save, will ship to Alaska and that makes the packets 1.62 a piece (which is cheaper than sale prices I've seen on regular baby wipes in quite a while). I really LIKED these before my son couldn't use them anymore if that's any type of endorsement *laugh*.

Get 32 boxes of individual cereals for 12.22 shipped in this deal...

Kellogg's Cereal Fun Pak Variety Pack, 8-Count Assorted Single Serve Boxes (Pack of 4) is 12.22 with Subscribe and Save right now.

OR get 40 for 14.88...

Kellogg's Cereal Variety Pack, 10-Count Single Serve Boxes (Pack of 4) is 14.88 with Subscribe and Save.

AND if you want a HUGE amount of individual bowls of cereal to last you until the next millennium...

Kellogg's Cereal Favorites Variety Pack, Single Serve Bowls (Pack of 96) is 38.19 with Subscribe and Save. That's a lot of cereal *laugh*.

Kashi GOLEAN Crisp! Toasted Berry Crumble, 15-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 11.80 with Subscribe and Save right now or 2.80 per box. That's darn cheap for Kashi Cereal.

If you want a HUGE amount of Muesli here's a good deal...

Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli, 40-Ounce Bags (Pack of 4) is 24.27 with Subscribe and save. That's a total of 160 total ounces or 10 whopping lbs of Muesli.

Here's a decent deal on Pop-Tarts...

Pop-Tarts, Frosted S'mores, 12-Count Tarts (Pack of 12) is 30.57 with Subscribe and Save. That breaks down to 2.54 a box, which is honestly as cheap as I've seen the 12 ct. boxes in a LONG time.

Eggo Cereal, Maple Syrup Waffles Shapes, 9.4-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 4) is 9.32 with Subscribe and Save. That's 2.33 per box, which is a pretty good price for cereal anymore.

Annie's Homegrown White Cheddar Microwavable Mac & Cheese, 5-Count 2.15 Packets (Pack of 6) is 24.05 with Subscribe and Save right now. For 30 things of Organic Easy Mac (essentially :) I thought that was a darn fine deal.

Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, 15-Ounce Tubs (Pack of 2) is 13.77 with Subscribe and Save, but use coupon code NUTIVJAN at checkout to get an additional 10% off. Making the final tally 12.15 for 2 containers or 6.08 a piece.

And there you go folks. The best deals I can find around town this week. I'm off to try and eat something for lunch. Enjoy your day!

Home Remedies: Croup and Cough

2012-01-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Traditional Foods for use of the image.

Bonnie, one of our readers, is watching after her grandson, Benjamin. The poor kiddo is having terrible croup issues and she was wondering if I knew anything that could give the poor boy some relief until he can see the doctor on Tuesday.

Well, first off, I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV (same with naturpath), but I do know from relatives whose children have suffered from croup that there are a couple of simple things you can try that seem to really work to give the kiddos some relief.

1) Cold air. My sister-in-law spent many a night out on her front porch with her son when he had croup. The cold air helps to reduce swelling in the airway and helps to alleviate the symptoms. This is also an approved medical method that pediatricians will tell you to do.

2) A warm mist humidifier. Wal-Mart sells the Vicks ones for cheap from what I understand a lot of people say they've had success using these. I'd try adding in a couple of drops of Eucalyptus oil into the humidifier too as that'll help to alleviate congestion (Eucalyptus is what menthol everything is pretty much made with, so you know what the scent will be like :).

3) Put some Vapor Rub on their feet and stick their feet in socks at night. Believe it or not the vapor rub will evaporate upwards and seems to work better than slathering it on their chest. I was skeptical about this one, but used it on the kids the last cold we had and it worked wonders. Here's the recipe I use.

Home Made Vapor Rub (source: Mothering.com forum)

I made this myself and loved it, but put some of the adaptations I made in the recipe instructions below :).

Directions:

Combine in a 1/2 pint wide mouth mason jar:
1/8 c Olive Oil (I had good quality beeswax so this ended up doubled for me)
1/8 Tbsp Mango Butter (or any semi-soft or hard butter)...I used Shea Butter
1 Tbsp Beeswax, chopped

Microwave 1 minute, stir, & repeat in 30 sec intervals until beeswax is completely melted.

Blend in:
1/2 Tbsp Vit E (you could also use vegetable glycerin)
20 drops Eucalyptus Oil (I used about 30 or so)
10 drops Peppermint Oil
10 drops Sweet Orange Oil
10 drops Lavender Oil
10 drops Tea Tree Oil
Pour into a holding container and slather on as needed. Even my husband was amazed how much this stuff smelled and acted like vapor rub. With no petroleum bi-products or weird chemicals (and it doesn't break my son out...major bonus there!).

If you're looking for a bit of a simpler recipe to use I'd go with this one...

Cooking Traditional Foods has a recipe for home made vapor rub HERE that looks like a good one, doesn't require the semi-hard butter to be added and uses readily available essential oils (look to All About Herbs or Natural Pantry to find them locally I'd say).

4) Other remedies that I'm not familiar with. Homeopathic remedies are thus far out of my field of experience, so I'm going to link you to a couple of resources that goes over some of them...

5) Good old modern medicine! If you are worried about your kiddo doing something like stopping breathing or something, please get them to the ER! Preventive remedies are great and all, but in emergency situations modern medicine is there for a reason. Personally when my son's cough gets really bad, exposure to possible allergens or irritants to his skin or not, I reach for the good old albuterol vaporizer his doctor had me use on them when they had terrible coughs as babies and still use to this day (and no, neither of my children have asthma...it just helps to break up all the crud in the chest and open up air passages). She always makes sure I have current supplies of albuterol to give them breathing treatments if needed (which is seldom). It's a wonderful device that has kept both of my children out of the ER a couple of times.

Try Something New Saturday: Baked Quinoa Recipe (Gluten free)

2012-01-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

So, oatmeal. I love it. I miss it. Now that my son has been diagnosed with an oat allergy, I refuse to keep much of anything that can cross contaminate in our house. So, I started trying to think of alternatives.

And that is when inspiration hit me. What about Baked QUINOA?

Actually, I honestly can't take all of the credit for this recipe. Shirley from Gluten Free Easily posted something up about quinoa on her Facebook page (which by the way if you are in the LEAST gluten free, or just looking for culinary inspiration, you NEED to follow this woman on Facebook! You will NOT be sorry!) and I made a comment about maybe slow cooking quinoa in a crock pot and maybe making it into a breakfast alternative to oatmeal. I was actually sort of trying to suggest that SHE try it *laugh*, but she just told me, "Great idea! Do it!" (well paraphrased but you get the idea). Since I couldn't get someone else to do my "dirty work" for me, I decided to get off my keester, put this on my "try something new" list and just go with it.

I kept going over crock pot quinoa in my head, but finally decided against it for one simple reason. I never even tried OATMEAL in my crock pot (was always worried about sticking and burning issues since my crock pot is so big), so the idea of trying a new grain, as well as a new METHOD, was just totally outside of my comfort zone.

So, finally I decided to try baked quinoa. I'd baked oatmeal before and knew about what it should taste like and I'd know if the quinoa was a total and complete failure that way. So, I hit the books and the various magazines I had for inspiration and came up with a recipe, and made it today.

And you know what? It came out pretty DARN good, least in my humble opinion. If you eat this alone (right out of the pan that is) you'll get the quinoa aftertaste. As my husband put it after eating a few bites (he's never eaten quinoa, but was behind the idea of me trying new recipes that my son might eat), "It's got a vegetable-like aftertaste to it, but it's not bad. I'm not sure what I think of it." Since he didn't immediately spit it out and wipe his tongue (my experience when I'd cooked and eaten quinoa I'd made the first couple of times I made it), I figured this could be classified as a success. If you put some warm milk (or if eating straight out of the oven just pour some milk, or milk alternative, over it) and pour a bit of maple syrup over the top...it takes on a whole new layer of yumminess :). Just a note this made a LOT so if you want just like an 8x8 pan of this, cut this recipe in half. I got one 8x8 pan and a casserole dish FULL of this when it was done. I was going to make this with apples, but was afraid that they wouldn't cook quickly enough (you'll see why), so I went with blueberries and they worked fabulous (I had some wild blueberries in the freezer from a neighbor :).

So, here you go folks. Baked Quinoa. Enjoy!

Baked Quinoa

1 Cup uncooked quinoa (I used Bob's Red Mill brand)
6 TBS brown sugar, or whatever passes for a brown sugar alternative :)
6 TBS granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs (or egg alternative. The egg is used as a binder in the recipe :)
1/2 cup milk (almond milk or coconut milk would be awesome in this by the way)
2 TBS vegetable oil (I used safflower oil)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Cup blueberries, frozen or fresh. You could also add about 1/2 cup of peaches, pears or something like that to add to the fruitiness too if you wish.

Directions:

1. Before we get started on anything else, cook your quinoa. Sounds like an odd start to things huh? Just trust me on this. First soak your quinoa in PLENTY of water (I used my 8 quart stock pot filled up about 3/4 of the way). This helps to remove a nasty bitter tasting coating the quinoa has on it. I soak mine for 30 minutes or so giving the water a stir a couple of times. After the soak is over drain the quinoa and place back in your pot with plenty of fresh water (once again I went up about 2/3 of the way up the stock pot with fresh water). This is cooking quinoa via the MAID in Alaska method and it works FABULOUSLY! Bring the quinoa to a boil and boil until done (as in no longer super chewy and it's expanded in volume a lot). Mine took about 25 minutes or so on a good simmer.

2. Drain your quinoa again. I just left mine in the drainer while I put the rest of the ingredients together, mixed the final product up in the pot I cooked it in and then added it to my baking dishes (hey if you can save yourself from having to wash another bowl, why not right?).

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well to combine. In a separate bowl beat your eggs and then add the rest of your liquid ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients and dump in your wet ingredients. Mix until all dry ingredients have been incorporated. Put quinoa back in your original pot and add your "batter". Mix to combine and then fold in your fruit.

4. Pour mixture into a 9x13 pan (or in my case a casserole dish and an 8x8 pan). Bake 30 to 40 minutes (the 8x8 pan was done in 30, the casserole dish was done in about 40 minutes) or until golden brown around the edges and the mixture is set.

Serve warm with milk or serve with warm milk (if doing left overs) and some maple syrup. Nuts, if you can have them might be a nice addition, especially a few specks of pecan or something similar served on top. Yum!

The nice part about cooking the quinoa in plenty of water and then draining it BEFORE really "starting" the recipe, is that it doesn't end up completely overpowering and makes it play well with others a LOT better. I liked the way the quinoa turned out a LOT with this recipe I have to proudly admit :).

Just as a side note, since this is quinoa, I'm going to try and freeze one pan of mine and see how it does (since it's not like it's oatmeal that isn't going to freeze well at all) for a little bit. I'll try to give you an update on that :).

Overall I'd say that this recipe and this experiment trying something new outside of my "comfort zone" worked out rather well. I hope you enjoy it too! Enjoy!

Allergy Friendly Friday: Egg and Garlic Free Mayonnaise Recipes

2012-01-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to foodinjars.com for use of the image!

This is for Cheryl, who wrote me asking if I had a recipe for a garlic and egg free mayonnaise. Since basically ANY home made mayonnaise doesn't have garlic in it, I went searching for egg free mayonnaise recipes to share :). So, here you go girlfriend! Any recipe that calls for canola oil I'd sub out safflower oil or olive oil (if you like an olive like taste to your mayonnaise), but that's just me.

Eggless Mayonnaise (source: All Recipes.com)

3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup powdered milk
1 cup canola oil, or as needed

Directions

Combine the water, sugar, salt, mustard, paprika, vinegar, lemon juice, and powdered milk in a blender. Puree until smooth. With the blender running, drizzle in the oil in a slow, steady stream. If you add it too fast, the mixture will not thicken. Use more or less oil to make it the thickness you like. Store in the refrigerator.

****************************

And here's one for the dairy intolerant too...

Eggless Mayonnaise, Vegetarian (Source: Cooks.com)

3 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon prepared mustard
6 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions:

Put all the ingredients except the oil in a blender. Blend on the lowest speed.

Gradually-literally one drop at a time-add the oil until the mixture starts to thicken.

Continue blending until thickened and smooth. Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator.

Yield: 3/4 c.

Have Fun With Your Food: Balsamic Lingonberry Mustard Pork

2012-01-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

Well, part one of my "culinary experiments" for the week was definitely a win :). The recipe came out flavorful with just the right combination of spice and sweet going on with just a touch of heat from the mustard.

Just a note: Sorry for the lack of a good photo of the pork. I took the above picture and stuck the pork in the fridge to eat later on, thinking that I'd have a great opportunity to stage the pork when I served it with salad and stuff....that was before my husband came home and immediately consumed one entire pork chop and half of another before I could stop him *laugh*. So, this is as good as the picture gets. And no, the pork isn't burned or anything. The dark on it comes from the balsamic vinegar used in the sauce. It browns and caramelizes into a yummy coating for the pork :).

So, here's how that recipe dance went. The measurements are somewhat approximated as I'm terrible at doing "by the seat of my pants" cooking, but I'm pretty sure this will come out tasting about right and the best part about a recipe like this is that you can just adjust it to your tastes once you have the list of base ingredients.

Balsamic Lingonberry Mustard Pork

1 TBS Ligonberry Mustard (you could also use some spicy brown mustard, say about a 2 tsp and mix it in with about 1 teaspoon of raspberry preserves or other berry preserves to get NEAR the same effect).
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (I used Kirkland brand)
2 TBS dried thyme leaves (or I'd use about 2 1/2 tbs fresh leaves)
1 TBS honey (I used local)

First spray your cooking vessel of choice with non-stick cooking spray. Trust me your pan will love you later and you'll love not trying to scrub off burned on sugar...trust me I learned that lesson a while back the hard way.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust the sauce to your personal preferences (if you like it sweeter add a bit more honey or preserves if not using the fruit based mustard, etc. or use more vinegar or mustard if you like it tarter). Then spread sauce evenly over pork chops (I used my silicone pastry brush to do this part as it made slathering the meat easier and the sauce was pretty thick) and cook in a 375 degree oven until done (mine were defrosted and took about 45 minutes or so to get well done). I cooked mine covered for about 25 minutes and then took the foil off for the last 15 minutes of cooking to carmelize the sauce onto the meat. Yum! You could also use this on a pork loin and I think it'd come out really good too!

Serve with a nice salad with a balsamic vinaigrette for a complimentary type of side dish. I also served ours with some applesauce (husband loves applesauce and pork together) and some rice. It was delish.

Hope you are having fun with your food this week as well :).

Common Knowledge Thursday: How to Pick Produce

2012-01-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

Image Courtesy of Google

So, in this weekly section I figure I'm going to go over some things that some people are going to consider elementary, but honestly a LOT of people don't know how to do and, in some cases, are too embarassed to admit. So, here's today's tip.

Go HERE to read a very informative article on how to choose fresh produce. They go through tons of different fruits and vegetables and how to tell if they are good to buy.

Enjoy!

Freezer Cooking Update: Making Progress!

2012-01-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I worked long into last night (since I didn't start working until after 3:00 pm I thought I did pretty good honestly), but got some things accomplished. My list so far...

White Bread x 1 (yes, I only got one loaf of bread made yesterday and yes I know that is sad). I just use the bread machine recipe for white bread, put it on the dough cycle and let it go until it beeps. I then punch said dough down, remove it to a bread pan (I got some cast iron ones for Christmas from my mother-in-law and am officially in love with them :) that is coated in oil, hit the top of the dough with some oil, cover with a clean dishtowel and let rise for about 1/2 an hour or until doubled in volume (I use bread machine yeast so the rising goes a lot quicker). Place in a 400 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. When bread tapped on the bottom sounds hollow it's done.

I found I have 4 loaves of gluten free bread in the freezer and since I'm only eaten a gluten reduced diet (eating gluten free more) since it helps my stomach issues, I think that'll last me for quite some time :).

I made the following sauces/marinades/dressings too to use as meat marinades. Now when I take garlic out of a recipe lately I immediately replace one clove of garlic with about 1/2 to 3/4 of a teaspoon onion powder instead. For the most part it works pretty good (least to me :). Just an FYI to the garlic allergic out there who are reading the following recipes so you have your conversions.

Teriyaki Sauce (sans garlic and corn starch mixture) with thin sliced beef, cut up and put into freezer bags x 2. I'll thicken the mixture with some arrowroot powder mixed with a bit of water when the time comes to cook it so that you don't get weird texture issues once you defrost it. I've heard that if you are allergic to soy you can use coconut aminos to replace soy sauce (since I've been asked), but that's not my camp of food allergies :).

Italian Dressing (sans garlic and with added vinegar and red pepper flake as it just plain didn't taste right otherwise) made into kits that Elisa maps out HERE x 2. Figure these are definitely worth a shot, especially since you make them in the crock pot when you're ready to cook.

Asian Dressing in kits x 2 (sans garlic). I added some extra ginger since I was using dried ginger instead of fresh and then added a TOUCH of orange extract (I'd say like 1/4 tsp). Turned out pretty good actually :). I used the Asian dressing to make some asian crock pot kits that Elisa talked about too (both Italian and Asian kits were made with chicken).

Pizza x 1 (husband decided we needed to eat it for dinner) and breadsticks x 1 (same thing)

Twice Baked Potatoes. Got 20 potato halves out of this recipe and they were big enough that we decided that 1/2 of a potato would work for a side dish with dinners. That makes me have 5 sides taken care of (should the children decide to eat the potatoes) for dinners. Woohoo! By the way I make my baked potatoes via the Alton Brown method (I'm sure people are going to die of shock there right ;) and they bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and come out perfect every time. So, mine took a bit less time to get done.

Diced Chicken made with home made Montreal Steak Seasoning and other spices, sauteed on stovetop and then bagged, tagged and frozen for quick casseroles later. 1 gallon sized freezer bag.

So, on the agenda for tonight is...

Doughnuts (got a doughnut maker for Christmas and am looking forward to trying it out, especially when I found out the doughnuts are freezable!).
Tortilla Dough, made up and put in freezer to make fresh tortillas later.
Gingerbread Waffles
Pancakes
Easy to Stuff Manicotti
Popsicles (for the daughter so I'm not shelling out 5.49 for a box of popsicles at the store!)
More Bread (whole wheat, white and artisan breads are on the agenda, but those are going to take some days to get done :).
Home Made Yogurt

And other stuff as I think of it. So, I'm out to do more work. Enjoy your evening folks!

Have Fun With Your Food: How to Make Yogurt!

2012-01-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

Image Courtesy of Faithful Provisions

Main reason I'm sharing this is because I'm making it tonight and am praying it comes out okay *laugh* (I'm just making 2 quarts though). I bought some Vosko's yogurt special at Carrs to try this (look for live active cultures in your plain yogurt for your yogurt starter). I hope it comes out okay, as I'm looking forward to some yogurt pie (one day I'll share the recipe), frozen yogurt and smoothies in my near future.

Go HERE where Frugal Granola shares a recipe for making yogurt that is so simple even I'm thinking of trying it *laugh*.

Enjoy!

We Repurpose Wednesday: The Wonderful Mason Jar!

2012-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

So, once you get into the whole "self sufficiency" lifestyle you're going to notice something. *Leans in close* Mason jars? It seems like they GROW or something! Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but if you, like me, HATE to throw away ANY glass jars...well you start to end up with a little "issue" of things to do with some of them. So, here's just SOME ideas (I might have to make this a series honestly) on how to reuse your empty mason jars.

Image Courtesy of Big Red Kitchen

Big Red Kitchen shows you HERE (well starts to since it's an ongoing series right now :) on how to make your own mason jar meals (don't they look pretty???).

Thanks to Our Best Bites for use of the image

Our Best Bites shows you HERE how to make individual pies in a 1/2 pint mason jar. I love this idea an am hoping to make some, cap them and then stack them in the freezer for go to desserts later! So much fun :).

Thanks to Weeping Cherries for use of the image.

What household DOESN'T have hose clamps in Alaska? Just take some hose clamps, some mason jars and some wall molding pieces and go to town on this cool mason jar wall organizer :).

Source: Pinterest

Grab a canning jar rack, some jars and some string lights and you got yourself one cool chandelier!

Image Courtesy of The Common Cents Home

The Common Cents Home shows you HERE how to make your own foaming mason jar soap dispenser. I think these are so cool looking!

Image Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart shows you HERE how to make etched glass storage jars. This would be especially cool to use on those big jars from pickles and such :).

Image Courtesy of Raised in Cotton

Raised in Cotton shows you HERE how to make mason jars into oil lanterns.

Photojojo shows you HERE how to make jar photo frames.

Our Big Earth shows you HERE how to make jar terrariums out of things your kids find. Good one for home schoolers :).

Under the Shelf Organizer

Yarn Dispenser

Magnetized Storage Strip

Home Made Simple shares a BUNCH of cool ideas HERE on different things to do with mason jars. Some of them are pictured above.

Image Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart shows you HERE how to make your own mason jar sewing kit.

Image Courtesy of Gingerbread Snowflakes

Go HERE where Gingerbread Snowflakes shows you how to make your own Mod Podge mason jar lanterns (or jar lanterns period :).

Image Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart shows you HERE how to make jelly jar candles (8 oz. jelly jars work out to be 1/2 pint, by the way...just use straight sided or wide mouth mason jars, not regular mouthed so they don't build up heat...that's at least my advice).

Image Courtesy of Organized Christmas

Organized Christmas gives you one nice list of gifts you can make and give in a jar HERE.

And there you go folks. Hope something sparked your creativity here ;). Enjoy your jars! I know I love mine!

New Yoga Class in Wasilla!

2012-01-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

I know that getting healthy is a big part of a lot of New Year's Resolutions out there so I wanted to pass this along.

Thanks to Stephanie D. for the information!

"Mariah Moon
‎
~~My Teaching Debut at The Anjali Yoga Room~~

When: FRIDAY, Jan. 6 2012, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
What: $5 Community Yoga
Where: Anjali Yoga Room in Wasilla, below Cedarholm Insurance

Perfect for Everyone! Hope to see some familiar faces! ♥

{Show up 10-15 minutes early to fill out forms if you are new to the studio}"

Enjoy all!

Take it to the Streets Tuesday: Spiced Honey Recipe?

2012-01-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

Our question, well request *laugh*, today comes from one of our readers, Jennifer.

"Hi,

Not really a question, but more a request. I read your post on Facebook a while back that you'd come up with a honey recipe to can and was wondering if you'd share it.

Thank you!

Jennifer Z."

Sure thing, Jennifer. Here you go!

******************

Spiced Honey With Lemon (from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)

Makes about 3 pints.
1 lemon, end pieces removed and cut into 6 even slices
12 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
2 2/3 cup liquid honey

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids (see canning section for more information on canning)

2. Stud each slice of lemon with 2 cloves (I just stuck it through the pulp of the lemon, but the directions actually said to do it through the peel...I just wasn't that worried about it). In a non-reactive saucepan (I used stainless steel), combine lemon slices, honey and cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil gently for 2 minutes.

3. Using tongs, remove lemon slices and place 2 in each canning jar. Remove cinnamon sticks and place one in each jar. Ladle hot honey into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger tight (remember the ring is JUST there to hold the lid in place until the adhesive has time to melt and mesh the lid to the jar...screwing it down super hard is NOT going to help the process, so go with finger tight and save yourself the hernia :).

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water (I usually go for about 2 inches above the jars). Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let jars sit another 5 minutes and then remove, cool and store.

This stuff REALLY helps a sore throat big time and is great to help a cough since the honey coats your throat and helps sooth tissues. I actually like the taste of this stuff so much I'll eat it with a teaspoon, but you can also put it in tea as well or anywhere else you could see needing some citrus and sweet applied (oatmeal or say iced tea come to mind too).

Tomorrow is Freezer Cooking Day

2012-01-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I should say HOPEFULLY tomorrow is going to START the freezer cooking marathon.

I've been super duper busy this last year and well...freezer cooking just took a back seat to everything else that was going on. And boy, oh boy, between that and the dietary changes we ended up facing around here, did my wallet EVER feel the impact.

But, now that a new year has rolled around, I'm determined to get back in the old freezer cooking saddle. So, it's going to be a busy week for me around here. My plans?

1. To fill up my small block freezer (that is now empty) with all kinds of baked goodies.

I'm planning on making loads of bread (remembering, like a smart person, to label my gluten free loaves so my husband doesn't pull one out by accident and have a coronary fit), waffles, pancakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, etc, put them through the old food saver and freezing them. This way I will hopefully save myself from spending out the yin yang for things on the fly (and since I don't trust anything from the bakery at the store for cross contamination with peanuts...well baked goods are even more of a luxury around here). I'm even thinking of trying my hand at making my own tortillas. But, we'll see how far I get and how little SLEEP I get this week.

2. To make marinades and putting some meat in the freezer with them. On my list to do here is...

Teriyaki Sauce (sans garlic of course). After I make a big batch of this I'm going to put it in thin cut steaks for beef teriyaki and some cut up chicken pieces for chicken teriyaki nights.
Italian Dressing (sans garlic and just using onion powder instead): To make a marinade for chicken and veggies.
Asian Dressing (sans...yeah you get the idea) to marinade chicken in for a quick dinner later on.
Balsamic Vinaigrette to use as a marinade for pork chops and chicken (home made recipe...I'll share it after I make it :).

3. Season some meat. Basically this is going to consist of making some taco meat ahead of time for easy dinners later.

4. Make some make ahead meals/stuff for quick dinners later. On that list is...

Pizzas. I keep hoping my son will at least TRY the new "garlic-less" pizza. It'd at least get some more nutrition in his diet.
Easy to Stuff Manicotti
Chicken Lo Mein kits
Twice Baked Potatoes (so looking forward to trying this one out :).
Farmhouse Chicken Casserole with left over Thanksgiving stuffing from freezer.

And other stuff as I come up with it. I am really looking forward to the mass of produce sales at Fred Meyer this week (so, so excited!) so that I can stock up and use those to my advantage toward the freezer cooking too! I was HOPING to get to Carrs last Friday for the 5.00 chicken tenderloins, but it just didn't happen, so I'm thinking of maybe picking up a few whole chickens as the .99 lb at Fred Meyer this week. I'll just have to see what happens when I get there :).

So, yeah, if you don't see a "lot" of me the next little bit, I'm just super busy and will try to remember to take pictures *laugh*.

Health and Beauty: A Really Cheap (and all natural) Eczema and Psorasis Relief Tip!

2012-01-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, first I have NO idea how well this works, but I've hit some forums where people swear that this works and works well, so when you get that "eyebrow up into the sky" look on your face, please keep an open mind *laugh*.

Next time you have a bad psorasis or eczema break out, try reaching, not for your steroid creams first, but for the head of cabbage in your fridge. Here's what you do...

1. Take outer leaves of cabbage and rinse well under running water. Gently pat dry with clean cotton cloth or even better air dry.

2. Spread leaves on a board or table so that the inner side of leaves face upwards (inner side of leaves must face up as they contain the most valuable nutrients with less chemicals).

3. Bruise the inner sides by rolling out with a rolling pin (if you don't have a rolling pin use a glass that has a decently smooth surface on it and use that...it works in a pinch). This ensures that cells and nutrients are broken and that the juice is flowing.

4. Then wrap the leaves around the affected part of the body ensuring comfort. Secure with gauze or cloth (I'd think that cloth would be more comfortable). If you have a break out in an odd area I'd definitely ask for help with this. Leave on for at least an hour. Remove leaves.

From what I understand, be prepared for an awful smell. This smell confirms that the toxin drawing properties of the cabbage has done it's job. People have reported really astounding, and fast, results using this method, so I wanted to pass it along to others suffering from skin ailments. Especially considering how cheap we can get cabbage up here :). Makes me wish my son would put up with having cabbage strapped to him for an hour.

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday: This Week's Menu!

2012-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

*Laugh* I really tried to think of something clever to follow up the Menu Plan intro and my mind is just completely blanked. Love those moments. I think the total of 2 hours of sleep (sporadic at that) I, my husband and my son got last night (I'm not sure what is up with the kiddo the last week, but he'll just wake up SCREAMING after about an hour of sleep and just be super cranky and nasty all night long. Not fun) just sort of made my brain stop functioning.

So, I've decided to do what I like to call, "sneaky gluten free cooking" when it comes to our menu plans for a while (I'll put good old gluten containing things in about once a week or something to keep the hubby happy) just to cut down on the gluten in our diet for the sake of MY stomach and, honestly, I'm hoping that by cutting down things like corn and gluten that maybe, possibly, we might start to heal some of Alvah's internal troubles and help his eczema issues clear up a bit. Least I can hope.

So, here's the menu plan for this week. I'll share recipes as I make them (if they turn out edible that is). So, here's what I'll be making this week. Breakfast and lunch are always sort of "put in an order and I'll make it for you" with my daughter and with my son...whatever he'll eat goes onto a plate and hopefully he'll graze. So, I'm going to focus on supper fair. Per usual this menu will be completely garlic, peanut and oat free (not likey cross contamination issues in the house).

Monday:

Balsamic Honey Mustard Pork (made with Lingonberry Mustard from Salmonberry Origins on Etsy. On the fly recipe on my part. Here's hoping it turns out good.
Rice Pilaf
Home made apple sauce from pantry

Tuesday:

Chicken and Cheesy Rice Casserole (this is an awesome new recipe I sort of discovered by accident one night out of desperation for something to make for dinner that I'll share later in the week. Warning to those trying to avoid any preservatives...it calls for Velveeta. Sorry! :)

Wednesday:

Steak with home made Montreal Steak Seasoning (recipe coming soon)
Chard from pantry
Shallot Mashed Potatoes

Thursday:

Orange Brined Chicken. The recipe link links you to a duck recipe from Alton Brown. I just use the EXACT same brine, cutting out the garlic and adding in a bit more thyme and shallots and use it on a whole roasting chicken. Makes a majorly awesome bird!
White Rice
Mixed Veggies with dill

Friday:

Meatloaf (I use rice crumbs and it makes a darn fine meatloaf)
Potato Cakes (sans the cran apple relish part of the recipe).
Glazed Carrots made with home made ginger ale. Ohhhh yeah!

Saturday:

Leftovers

Sunday:

Breakfast dinner (usually consisting of pancakes, since my son will eat them like a champ, some type of meat product for the hubby and eggs).

"Having Fun With Your Food" recipes for this week:

Balsamic Pork with Ligonberry Mustard
Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Quinoa...Yes you read that right. I'm going to work on a new recipe of my own here. Okay, so Gluten Free Easily challenged me to try this and have some fun with my food, so darn it I'm going to try it and see if I can make a decent oatmeal substitute with Quinoa. Wish me luck here!