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

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!

Health and Beauty: The Best Eczema Fighting Creme Recipe!

2012-01-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Picture of finished salve

Okay, so the subject is a bit pretentious I have to admit, but honestly I am super duper proud of this recipe and I will tell you this much. If you have severe eczema or know someone who does, first get tested for allergies (since that honestly was the first step in helping my son). Second, try making this salve/creme. If I had more time and motivation I'd seriously try to market it. Yes, it is THAT good.

First a disclaimer. I do not work for the FDA, I'm not evaluated by the FDA and wouldn't even know where to begin if I wanted to be. I am not a herbalist or a naturpath and the only degree I hold is a marketing degree, so please do not assume by any means I'm an expert in this. This is just something I've concocted through my own need for something to help my son's eczema and the research I've found through various sources.

Now, here's a list of base ingredients for you and why I used them.

1. Calendula (aka pot marigold).

This is the most mild and super moisturizing herb I could find when I researched the heck out of it. I use it constantly in everything from soaps to salves for us around here. Heck, I even made it into herb shampoo. So, yes, I believe highly in this herb :).

2. Comfrey

One of the most powerful topical healers out there, Comfrey has been known to do everything from help to knit bones to heal bruises faster. It's a big one found in a lot of natural healing products. I was sort of skeptical about it's healing properties, to tell the truth, until I used it to make a combo salve with Calendula. Within a day my son's eczema patches were literally flaking off of his skin that was now healthy underneath. The one drawback to just a comfrey/calendula salve was that the skin was healing TOO fast and making him itch almost as bad as the eczema did (although, honestly, he did look better without those cracked bleeding patches on him).

3. Plantain

The best anti-itching herb I've found to date. This stuff is used as topical application to help itching from things like poison ivy and poison oak, so I figured it was hopefully strong enough to combat the surface itching with eczema. And it does. So well so that I'm currently letting a 2 cup batch of plantain oil cure and I'm going to add it to a misting bottle to coat my kiddo when he flares.

4. St. John's Wort

A good anti-inflammatory herb, I added this in to help with the terrible red irritated spots that just needed something to help reduce inflammation. And it seems to work, so it's staying in the salve for now :).

And now here's the process to make it...

Step 1: Make your oils. Take 1/4 cup of your herb and place in a mason jar and add in 1/2 cup of olive oil to the jar. Let steep for two weeks, turning a couple of times a week (be sure to label your oils so that you know what they are).

Step 2: Once your oils are done, strain them through a wire mesh strainer (in the case of comfrey and plantain I'd definitely suggest using some cheese cloth to strain out any tiny bits too). I then add the now herb infused oils to pint sized mason jars and relabel them so that I have them labeled for later use and be sure to label the BOTTLE and not the top of the jar...if you get your lids confused it can lead to bad things...not that I'd know anything about that or anything *looks off to side and whistles innocently*. And now we're ready to rock with the actual recipe.

Note: The recipe calls for a small portion of unrefined shea butter. This is NOT shea butter lotion or something from the store. It's like a hard butter consistency. You can order it through Country Soap Shack on Etsy or other places I'm sure, such as E-bay. You can also use any butter really...mango butter, cocoa butter (although this would make your salve smell sort of like chocolate), etc. You can also find a lot of supplies, such as Calendula at All About Herbs, so don't think you have to order this all online if you don't want to.

Eczema Healing Salve/Creme

1/4 cup Calendula Oil
1/4 cup Comfrey Oil
1/8 cup St. John's Wort Oil
1/8 Cup Plantain Oil
1 1/2 TBSP Beeswax pellets or 2 TBSP grated beeswax (I use high quality beeswax bead thingies from Country Soap Shack, so I went with a tablespoon PLUS a little bit extra and that was it for mine. It resulted in a soft salve once I mixed it up after cooled).
1/2 teaspoon (about I just broke off a small chunk that LOOKED to be about 1/2 teaspoon) chunk of shea butter
5 to 10 drops lavender essential oil, depending on preference (honestly I go with MAX 5 drops of lavender oil in my salves just because I find it's got a strong scent).
2, 1/4 Pint Canning Jars (at least the stuff I made filled up two of them without any extra)

Place infused oils in a double boiler on your stove or in a big microwave safe vessel (I actually use my 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup for this) and add beeswax and shea butter. Heat over low heat on stovetop until beeswax and shea butter are melted or microwave on high for 1 minute and then in 20 second increments until beeswax and shea butter are melted. Add your essential oil and mix with a chop stick until well mixed and then pour oil mixture into your canning jars. Let sit until cooled and if it's got a hard consistency to it, I usually take said chop stick and just mush the crud out of the salve until it's nice and smooth, but this salve turned out very well for me and required little manipulation to get it to turn into a soft and light Vaseline-like consistency.

This is some cool stuff. It goes on super soft and the shea butter makes the salve just have this soft after-effect on the skin. I love how it makes my son's skin feels after I apply it and the salve heals the eczema outbreaks super fast. Now I just need to make an anti-itching tincture to counteract the internal effects of the eczema and I'll be set :).

Here's a picture of my son's foot and ankle 24 hours after I started using this stuff. Picture the "before" picture being the same leg, but with scabs and some open bleeding from him scratching the skin off the top of his foot...

Even after a severely nasty flair up the last few days, his skin is already doing better and the nasty skin is flaking off. I'm not easily impressed with salves and cremes, but this stuff, so far anyway, rocks the Casbah!

Wondering where I buy my herbs and stuff so you can make your own? Well here you go...

Calendula: You can purchase this by the pound, but only the full flowers (least that I found) at All About Herbs in Palmer and Wasilla. The last time I was in there it was 13.00 for a lb bag. I order mine online through Jen's Enchanted Garden on Etsy right now. I love that she goes by weight, not volume, so even 1/4 lb is a REALLY nice amount of calendula petals. AND it's the petals, not the full flower, so you end up with more petals that way :).
Comfrey, Plantain, St. John's Wort: I ordered mine through The Bulk Herb Store. Love that place :). By the way, 1/2 lb of Plantain? Will last you forever. Awesomely huge amount :).
Shea Butter, Beeswax beads: Country Soap Shack on Etsy, but I know you can find them other places as well. I know for sure that the Bulk Herb Store also carries the beeswax. Country Soap Shack, I've found, just has great quality products and their beeswax is pretty darn cheap (1 lb of the stuff cost me 12.00 shipped and that'll be enough Beeswax to last me a long time :).
Lavender Essential Oil: Cheapest place I've found essential oils, now that Fred Meyer stopped carrying them (I miss the sales on those oils *sniff*) is Amazon.com. In SOME cases, such as Sweet Orange Oil, it seems like All About Herbs isn't too bad, but I've found that even through Marketplace sellers on Amazon AFTER shipping the oils are many times much cheaper than buying them through All About Herbs.

And there you are folks. One of the "projects" I've been up to lately. Enjoy! I'm off to make pork and sauerkraut for dinner (it's a Polish thing I picked up from my grandma and her husband for luck in the New Year). Enjoy your evening!

EDIT: Just a couple of answer to some quick questions I've gotten from people about the instructions.

1) The olive oil used is just good old olive oil you buy at the store...nothing special about it. I just buy mine at Costco or Three Bears in the big mondo jug as it's more cost effective. Olive oil is used because it's like the only oil that naturally doesn't go rancid on you, thus is good for making health and beauty products out of. It gives you a long shelf life.

2) When I say, "turn the jar a couple of times a week" I don't mean to turn it over and leave it. Sorry about that. If you do that you're going to end up with oil all over your counter as mason jars do NOT vacuum seal unless you can them. Just swish the contents in the jar enough to get the herbs and oil moving around and then put it right back on the shelf to steep some more :).

3) YES, if you lose track of time you can steep the herbs and oil indefinitely. Some people were concerned with the 2 week thing. That's just a minimum amount of time you're going to want to steep your oils for so that they're effective. Honestly the St. John's Wort oil and the Calendula oil I'm using right now *coughs* got strained at about a month because I didn't need them right away and lost track of time. I, like you, am human, so don't sweat it :).

4) You can mix the salve with metal or wood utensils, yes, but NOT plastic ones unless you want one heck of a oily coating on them. I use the chop stick to mix because it gets into tight areas without issue and trust me you make salves a couple of times you'll learn to love the chop stick (once you try to stick a teaspoon into a thing of newly formed salve to mush it up and you'll quickly see what I mean :). Just pick up some throw away sets at your store's sushi counter or ask for a couple of extra pairs the next time you get chinese food. They come in very handy.

5) 1/4 pint mason jars are found at the grocery store. You don't have to order them online or anything. I was in this phase where I thought you needed "lotion" containers and ordered them online. They were double walled plastic deals and were expensive. They're nice containers, don't get me wrong, but I didn't like the cost involved, especially after handing out a couple of jars of salve to relatives and realizing I was going to have to reorder them. I found that you can get 12 1/4 pint mason jars, even in off season pricing, at Fred Meyers for about 10.00, which was a LOT cheaper (I was paying that for 4 of the double walled plastic ones after shipping). And the nice part about the mason jars if that you won't feel badly if you end up giving a couple away for people to try your new salve. Just make sure you label your jars (labels come with the jars) so that you know what is in them as beeswax makes pretty much everything turn yellow, so it all tends to start looking the same.

If you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail me, Facebook the question or post it here (if Blogger will let you :).

The New Blogging Schedule (Spoiler alert ;)

2011-12-31T17:59:00.000-08:00

Well I think I FINALLY found a weekly schedule that works for me on the new blog. I hope you'll like it too. And hey, I even found room for coupons and deals in there (old habits die hard what can I say). So, here's what the schedule is looking like right now...

Monday: Menu Plan Monday...sharing menu plan for the week and hopefully giving you some ideas in the meantime. I WILL (making a mental affirmation here) be sure to share recipes and link to ones I'm trying if it's not one of my own :).

Tuesday: Take It to the Streets Tuesday...where I'll answer reader questions/requests on things or heck even look up an answer to something I was curious about and just share it with you all. Remember, ~~useless facts~~ new knowledge will put a wrinkle in your brain!

Wednesday: We Reuse it Wednesday....this will be where I share tips on everything from repurposing things to some ideas on what to do with leftovers. Remember, one of my resolutions is to waste less...I figure this will help me to do that :).

Thursday: Common Knowledge Thursday...this segment is going to focus on just generally things everyone should know or learn how to do to make themselves more self reliant.

Friday: Allergy Friendly Friday...I figure this will be a good spot to share some of the recipes I'm looking up all the time on the internet. This will cover everything from gluten free recipes, peanut free recipes, garlic free recipes, etc. I'll of course share allergen information (like what it's free of, duh right) on the recipe so it will (hopefully) be a quick reference look up type of deal for you all.

Saturday: Try Something New Saturday...I'm HOPING to try one new "thing" a week to do this year...even if it's just try something new with an essential oil, try a new food at the store I've never tried, etc. Consider this like "watch experiments blow up in Erika's face" segments as I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of failures, but you never learn if you don't try right? So far on my list is making home made cheez-its (since I am REALLY looking for a recipe that doesn't use garlic for my poor cheese loving boy), making cheese (that one is going to be different, but fun I think), making strawberry pie filling, etc. Now mind you, some of the projects on my list are going to take MUCH longer than a week, but I'll be doing one POST a week...dig? So, if I ever get around to making the rag quilt on my list and blog about it don't think it took me a week and I was able to clone myself. I'm all too human believe you me :).

Sunday: Sweet Savings Sunday! This is where coupons and deals come in folks. I'll share a list of cool coupons that are still available for the week (if there are any) and some highlights of foods on sales at the store and such. I figure this will A) Not totally cut the legs out from underneath the people who want to see deals (I'm figuring this will be a good way to summarize any cool Amazon finds I find too) and also help me to keep my "deal finding" skills up and keep up on store sales for the week :).

Now mind you this is not the only blogging I'm going to be doing. Be prepared for some canning posts coming up, freezer cooking/baking days and recipes as well as some cool recipes for home made salves and other projects. I just figure by doing a schedule it'll inspire me to do a blog post a day (if nothing else) and just give you a "feel" for the new blog a bit.

My New Years Resolutions and go ahead and share yours :)

2011-12-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

And a Happy New Years Eve to all of you out there! I'm doing something different this year in that I'm actually making New Years Resolutions. Why? Well, believe it or not I've always been a "list" type of person...well at least until I had kids...then I was lucky to tread water in the chaos. This coming year, though, especially after this last year...I want it to be different. I want it to have some purpose and direction and by doing such I hope it will help pull me out of the "funk" I've been in since my dad passed away and such. So, here's my New Years Resolutions (and yes, I will be sharing ways in which I'm implementing these on the blog as well).

1) Waste Less.

Odd choice for #1 on my list huh? Well, not really to me. The main reason I'm determined to waste less is this. I'm tired of throwing away about 17 bazillion cubic feet of trash a week. I mean it's REALLY getting on my nerves. And I'm tired of paying through the nose for garbage service that I'm not using (people stealing my garbage service by using my dumpster to throw their stuff away, a relative who abuses the privilege of using said dumpster, etc...sometimes I really wish my husband didn't work construction and wanted the thing to help take care of his father's properties *scowl*). So, I'm going to work on reducing our waste around here in the hopes that I will be able to cancel said dumpster (or at least tell said relative to put the darn thing on his property because it's no longer going to sit in my yard if I'm not using it) and just be able to deal with less money, quite literally, getting "thrown away" every month.

That and honestly waste just bugs me because it seems...well wasteful...so things like trying to potty train my son have gotten bumped up on my priority list (that and autistic or not, having my three year old running around in diapers just sits badly with me if I'm not at least TRYING to help potty train him). So, be prepared for some new ways to reuse/recycle things in my attempts to reduce the amount of things going into the trash (milk jugs are going to be a big one since we go through about 1 gallon of milk a day around here, etc).

2. Wake up earlier.

I know, I'm laughing my tooshie off at this one too considering the sheer miniscule amount of sleep I get now, but I'm figuring it this way. I am going to work on doing things like taking a 1 hour nap in the 2 hour gap I have while my children are at school three days a week and trying really hard to at LEAST get my kids to bed earlier and work on getting things like an herbal sleep aid and stop itching tincture in the works for my son so he will (hopefullly) start sleeping 4 hours straight every night. If I can do that, I'd be golden to get up an hour earlier than my kids and thus able to do things like get some "me" time in the mornings, scope out my day and just generally wake up before I have to deal with the rest of the day closing in. Which leads me to my next goal...

3. Get ~~my crap together~~ organized.

I have definitely noticed a sheer downhill slide in my ability to keep track of things since having kids and this last year I've been TERRIBLE about keeping track of when things are due (until I wake up panicked first thing in the morning realizing that a bill is due that day, etc), what month whose birthday falls in, etc. So, this year I'm going to get more organized if it kills me. That means meticulously setting one day aside and plugging in alarms into my cell phone for when bills are due (and no I do not do auto pay and I never will...I'm too much of a control freak for it), etc. That means getting things like menu plans down every week (I've been doing okay at this, but need to get it down to a science) and sticking to them and working like heck to make sure that dinner is done at the right time every night so that I can sit the kids down at the table and try to get my son to try more foods...thus hopefully expanding his severely limited diet.

4. Work on my thinking on food allergies, and allergies period so that I consider them a challenge, not a curse.

This one is going to be challenging to be sure. The allergies around here have, quite literally, turned my world upside down. But, I'm determined to find the bright side to this here tornado going on. I'm finding that I like working with herbs and making my own things like shampoos and salves (and finding recipes that work) and I'm figuring as I find things that work, I'll share them with you all too...hopefully by helping some people out there with eczema, maybe I can help to justify why my little boy has to suffer and itch so much...try to think of him as "chosen" rather than "cursed"...sounds odd I know, but it's all in the perspective.

5. Focus on me a little bit more.

I've gotten so many lectures from relatives and friends this year that if I don't start taking care of myself I'm not going to be any good to anyone. So, I figure I'm going to work on that too. Start doing things like making sure I'm eating (have a terrible tendency to skip breakfast and lunch...oops), taking some time to do things that I want to do (write, read, paint, craft, etc) and just generally find some time to de-stress (ie breathe) before I find myself in a mental ward with a breakdown someday (and yes, we have those in the family tree, so I am worried about it).

And...

6. Just try to have a better year than this year!

So, what are your New Years Resolutions for the coming year?

Free Cheescake Cookbook Download: Amazon.com

2011-12-31T12:42:00.000-08:00

Oooo! This could be deadly on my waistline...

Amazon.com has the cookbook Simply Delicious Cheesecake Recipes - Baking A Perfect Cheesecake for free right now. This is for Kindle, but you can download their free app to view the book on your home computer or other device HERE.

Just remember that while the price is free right now this can change at any time, so be sure to check and make sure the price is 0.00 before adding the book to your cart.

Enjoy!

Wal-Mart.com: Free Sample of Meow Mix Cat Food

2011-12-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

Go HERE and click on the link to receive a coupon for a free cup of Meow Mix Paté Toppers, and a 1.00/1 off any size bag of Meow Mix Tender Centers cat food. Hey, at least you'll know that Wal-Mart (in theory) should carry it right?

Enjoy!

Amazon.com: Good Deal on Batteries!

2011-12-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

Feeling bereft at the loss of batteries after the holiday season? Well, here's a good deal that Amazon is running on Duracell Batteries right now if you want to get some more!

Duracell Coppertop AA Batteries, 28-Count is 11.04 with Subscribe and Save. That's an awesome price for 28 batteries, since normally at the store, what like 8 batteries runs that much??? Just thought I'd pass it along!

Enjoy!

1.50/1 Airborne Immune Support Product

2011-12-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

Go and print a 1.50/1 Airborne Immune Support Product HERE.

This is definitely a good coupon to have this time of year.

Enjoy!

1.00/1 Ecotools = Cheap Mini-poufs at Wal-Mart and Target (supposedly)

2011-12-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

Am I the ONLY person in creation that had no idea what the name for a bath pouf was till like 3 years ago? I always called them the "mesh bath poofy things"...close I guess *laugh*.

Anyway, Coupons.com has a new coupon out for 1.00/1 Ecotools. This is a line that Target and Wal-Mart both carry (supposedly). Use the coupon on the mini poufs (itty bitty ones) to get them for cheap (down in the Lower 48 they can get them free, but I'm not overly optimistic about that up here).

Enjoy!

Getting Back on Track With Schooling After an Extended Break

2011-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to The Happy Housewife for use of the image

I found this article had some good tips in it, especially since I KNOW how tough it can be getting back on track after the holidays with home schooling (helped my mother-in-law home school my sister-in-laws for a while).

Go HERE where The Happy Housewife did a post on how to get back on track with homeschooling (or heck getting back on track for regular school even) after the holiday break.

Enjoy!

An Important Announcement (Blog Related)

2011-12-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, first off, this is something that has not been easy for me to come to. I've really worked hard to build up this blog for the last three years and I hope that it has been of some help to some of you out there. But, coming Januaray 1st, 2012 there's going to be a huge change made to the blog here.

I'm no longer going to be doing deal blogging.

I KNOW that most of you out there that follow the blog, follow it for the coupon deals and the bargains that I dig up, but here's why I'm doing what I'm doing.

1) Over the last year and a half I've seen a downward slide in the coupons that are available (those of you "oldie" blog followers have probably noticed that I do a lot of Amazon shopping...well that's because that's where the best deals have been, sad as that is to admit). It has been a depressing turn of events to be sure, but the double downside to that is that as a deal blogger this has made my job REALLY difficult to update the blog regularly and try to dig up things for folks to get enthusiastic about, thus my work time on the blog has about doubled, which makes it a lot more difficult to juggle my "everyday" things around here and that makes those things much more overwhelming for me.

2) Honestly folks, I just plain can't get overly enthusiastic about coupons these days. With the food allergies around here, along with the environmental and contact allergies on top of it, I'm literally making EVERYTHING. The only thing I am using coupons for right now are household things like sponges (no cleaners though), toothbrushes, razors and stuff like that. I have to make my our soap, shampoo, lotions and cremes, make about 90% of our food items (trust me ask my husband about the lack of snack foods in our house...it has been a matter of great loss to him *laugh*), lip balms and even healthcare items. It's not that I mind DOING that, but blogging about free toothpaste when you can't print the coupon and use it yourself...well there's some loss of enthusiasm there (although I've found that I enjoy DOING the other things myself, which is where the DIY aspect of the blog came in).

3) I'm busy and getting more and more busy by the day. My son is in therapy, of course, for his autism and is in school along with my daughter and my son's OT wants to step up his OT time, which I have NO problem doing at all and I'm hoping to one day *fingers, toes and everything else crossed* that I'll get a call from a speech therapist someday for him to do private speech therapy too. So, the "free time" I had to blog is going to be even less than I have now. And it's hard enough with the time I DO have now. For instance in the time it took to write this post my son has eaten through 3 VHS tape covers, destroyed 2 of his sister's new toys, etc...any parent understands where I'm coming from there, but any parent with a special needs child will DEFINITELY understand where I am coming from.

Don't get me wrong. I am going to continue blogging. But, I've decided, at least for now, to focus on a blog about Self-Sufficiency (trying like heck to make it fun for me and for those reading) and just let the coupons and deals slide. That way I won't feel pressured by my own Type A tendencies to blog at least once a day (or multiple times a day most times) to keep on top of deals for you all. This will help limit my time online (theoretically) and allow me more time to clean my house, spend time with my kids and maybe somehow get in some "me" time that doesn't revolve around blogging.

I have GREATLY enjoyed the time I've spent blogging, don't get me wrong. I find it fun and I get a near high off of finding some awesome deal to share with you all. And, honestly, I probably WILL share any killer deal I find with you all just because I honestly DO believe that saving money goes hand in hand with being self-sufficient, but I just plain can't do the day to day drudgery of deal blogging anymore with my life the way it is right now. Maybe someday in the future, should our circumstances around here change, I can make it work again and love blogging about coupons. Right now though...it just isn't going to work.

I know that this is potentially going to kill the blog that I've worked really hard the last 3 years to build up, and I will not blame you if you unsubscribe to the blog, unlike us on Facebook or stop following on Twitter. But, I just have to do this for me. I hope you all understand and THANK you to all of you who have followed this blog from the beginning or have joined up since. I appreciate each and every one of you and hope you'll at least consider visiting the new blog, when launched, in the following months.

The name of the blog will be changing, but, for now, will be found at the same old address until I can mesh out how everything is going to work (that and I don't want to create a new blog...I am proud of the work I've done here). The name, however, will be changing (of course) to a name more appropriate to what I'm trying to accomplish with the new blog direction. Don't worry though until January 1st the deal blogging will continue and if you are looking for deals after that be sure to follow the following Alaska Coupon blogs...

Life in My Land
The Best Things in Life Are Free
Alaska's Best Grocery Deals (this is her Facebook link since she's sort of pressed for time and updates Facebook the most :)
The Good Deal Divas
Tracer's Coupon Affair

Thanks again for reading and for those of you who will inevitably leave, thank you for reading the blog and I wish you the best of luck in the future!

Target.com: A BUNCH of new coupons released (and some hot ones!)

2011-12-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

Target.com has released a bunch of new coupons and there are definitely some to get enthusiastic about! The ones that are catching my eye?

2.00/1 Pull-Ups Jumbo Pack or Larger (I was excited to see this one)

1.00/1 Up&Up Cleaning Product (use it on sponges to get those cheap or look for sales on cleaning supplies)

.75/1 Up&Up Feminine Care Product (use it to get liners for .25 or so)

1.00/1 Up&Up Fabric Softener Sheets 35 ct or higher (the 35 ct ones weren't that expensive when I used to buy fabric softener for my sister-in-law). Tip: Rip your sheets in half. They'll still work just fine and you'll get twice the amount of fabric softener out of your box (and extend the life of your dryer by preventing fabric softener build up on your lint filter).

.50/1 Up&Up Disposable Tabletop Item (use on small things of napkins or straws to get those cheap, I'd think).

.50/1 Up&Up Eyecare Product (use on the small bottles of lubricating drops to get those for cheap).

Maybelline Mascara (uhhh...around 5.00 I'd assume?)
Use the 2.00/1 Maybelline Mascara Target Coupon
Stack with 1.00/1 Maybelline New York Great Lash Lots of Lashes (IE link, since Firefox is causing problems for me today)
Final Price: Pretty darn cheap.

Enjoy!

1.50/2 Food Should Taste Good Chips (PDF file)

2011-12-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

Go HERE to print a coupon good for 1.50/2 Food Should Taste Good Chips (direct link to PDF file). This is only good till 1/6/12 so be sure to print it only if you are planning on using it within the time specified :).

Enjoy!

1.50/2 Chex Coupon

2011-12-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

Go HERE to get a 1.50/2 Boxes of Chex Coupon (look for the link at the top of the page).

Enjoy!

1.00/1 Schar Gluten Free Products (Facebook Offer)

2011-12-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

Go HERE to print a coupon good for 1.00/1 Schar Gluten Free Products. I actually liked their bread crumbs and their cheddar cracker snack thingies (not Goldfish, but not bad either).

Enjoy!

1.00/1 Aquafresh Extreme Clean Coupon Reset = Cheap Travel Sized Toothpaste!

2011-12-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

Go HERE to print a 1.00/1 Aquafresh Extreme Clean Toothpaste Coupon. This has been reset so if you printed it before, you should be able to print it again. Use this on the travel sized tubes at Target to get them for like .10 after coupon.

Enjoy!

Going to be out for most of the week

2011-12-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write "in" and let everyone know that I'm PROBABLY going to be taking the most of this next week off. I might be popping in once in a while, but honestly online deals aren't going to really be that great for us because the items would never get up here on time for Christmas and coupons MIGHT pop up, but for the most part I'm thinking they already "are" up because companies want them there for holiday shopping.

The main reason, though, is because with my grandpa passing away I got majorly behind on things like housework and just general "real life" stuff. It's been a tough last couple of weeks for me and my extended family. With my dad and my grandfather not being around for Christmas this year...it's going to be sort of a hard holiday season for me, so I want to concentrate on the positive as much as possible and the real meaning of Christmas (I won't go into the religious connotations, but you get the idea if you are :).

This is also the first year my daughter is showing enthusiasm for the holiday and I'm sort of enjoying this time with her (I'm actually sort of enjoying my son pulling ornaments off the tree and flicking them too...in his own way he's enjoying Christmas :). We have Christmas cookies (and hot chocolate on a stick) to make the next couple of days, some pictures to draw for relatives and "E-mails" to write to Santa, etc.

So, anyway, if I don't "see" you in the next week (should our paths not cross or whatever), have a great holiday and I'll see you soon :).

DIY Home Made Christmas Gifts (DIY): Hot Chocolate on a Stick

2011-12-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Make and Takes for use of the image!

When one of our Facebook fans shared this I HAD to post about it. This looks majorly yummy, super easy to do and is a great one to spread to neighbors and friends alike.

Go HERE where Make and Takes shows you how to make Hot Chocolate on a Stick (it melts in hot milk...yummmmmm!!!!).

Thanks for sharing, Jen!

Home Made Christmas Gifts (DIY): Recipes for Your Holiday

2011-12-17T16:43:00.000-08:00

Image Courtesy of Lexie's Kitchen

Here's just a "these recipes are cool" post to maybe spark some holiday creativity among everyone in case you are thinking of putting baked goods on your list of things to make for Christmas this year :).

Go HERE where Lynn's Kitchen Adventures shares a really yummy looking list of holiday baking goodness (and yes, most of the recipes are gluten free or can easily be converted :).

If you are looking for a really super yummy gluten free alternative to her coconut cake, go HERE where MAID in Alaska shares a awesome recipe (I've made it sans coconut flakes for a birthday cake and even that was great tasting :) for coconut cake.

Go HERE where Lexie's Kitchen shares a really yummy looking recipe for allergen friendly spritz cookies (loves me some spritz cookies :).

Go HERE where Foodnetwork.com shares their 12 days of cookies. I always love looking at these :).

Here's a link to one of my favorite super easy cookie recipes of all time and yes, it DOES taste like thin mints! Recipe for Thin Mint Ritz Cookies via Allrecipes.com.

And there you are folks. Just a few recipes I thought I'd share :).

Enjoy!

Home Made Christmas Gift (DIY): Cake Pops & Dog Treats

2011-12-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Happy Housewife for use of the image

Looking for a "wow" gift to amaze and astound others? Well, cake pops seem to do just that :). So, I thought I'd share this when I found it to help you out with some of your holiday festivities.

Go HERE where The Happy Housewife (can't tell this is one of my favorite sites to cruise around on the last couple of days can you ;) shares a really nice cake pop tutorial and also shares a recipe for home made dog biscuits (one reader suggested omitting the garlic powder as it's not good for dogs, just an FYI).

Enjoy!

Freezer Cooking Friday: Pumpkin Pancakes and Gingerbread Waffles

2011-12-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Foodnetwork.com for use of the image

What do pumpkin pancakes and gingerbread waffles recipes have in common? Well for one they both freeze well (just put some wax paper between them, stack in a ziplock bag and freeze OR freeze them solid on a cookie sheet and then stack in freezer bags :). The waffles, if you have a waffle iron that makes small waffles, could even be put into the toaster like an Eggo, but I'd be careful to watch it and make sure they don't burn since they have sugar in them. And two: They both contain pumpkin!

Go HERE for a really yummy recipe courtesy of Rachel Ray and 30 Minute Meals via Foodnetwork.com where she shares a truly YUMMY recipe for gingerbread waffles! These things taste awesome (yes, they do taste like gingerbread) and they contain pumpkin so they are pretty healthy too :).

AND

Go HERE where The Happy Housewife shows you how to make pumpkin pancakes! Yes, I'm still into pumpkin right now before you ask ;).

Enjoy!

B2G1 Nabisco Crackers Printable Coupon

2011-12-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

Coupons.com has a new coupon out for Buy 2 Nabisco Crackers Get One Free (max value 2.50)...pull up
"Foods" as a category to find it faster. Mine was on page 2 under foods.

Use this combined with holiday sales to help score crackers cheaper for the rest of the year (I am JUST finishing up my last container of Ritz that I got for free with coupons two years ago...it was an awesome stockpile to work through). Trust me get crackers while they are on sale cheap for holiday entertaining to see you through the "what's a cracker sale" months in the middle of summer :).

Enjoy!

Scotch Brite: B1G1 Wipes Coupon

2011-12-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

Go and print a new Scotch Brite Printable Coupon for Buy One Disinfecting Wipes Container Get One Free. These used to sell for about 2.00 a container, so this might be a good coupon to arm yourself with before heading out to Wal-Mart (they used to be cheaper there...sorry haven't bought commercial cleaners in almost a year now, so I'm sort of out of the loop on that one).

Enjoy!

Hallmark: Save 5.00 on any purchase of 10.00 or more (in store)

2011-12-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Man, I miss the 5.00 off any purchase coupons they used to come out with, but if you are waiting to the last minute to get Christmas cards or wrapping paper and such, this is a good coupon to have...

Go HERE to print a coupon for 5.00 off your purchase of 10.00 or more at any Hallmark Gold Crown Store.

Enjoy!

Disney Store: Free Shipping with Any Purchase (today only)

2011-12-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

The Disney Store has free shipping today too! Just use code FREESHIP at check out.

Some of my favorite finds?

The Minnie Mouse Shopping Cart with Accessories for 15.00 this comes with a reusable shopping bag, a convertible shopping cart and some play food. Cute!

My daughter loves "Tangled" so when I saw this I thought it was so cute...

Rupunzel 19" Plush Doll is 12.00

Anyway there are some good deals to be had today, so be sure to check them out if your kids like anything Disney :).

Gymboree.com: Free Shipping Today Only

2011-12-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Today is free shipping day and that means it's time to take advantage of the fact that SOME businesses when they say, "Free Shipping on Any Order" mean, "Free Shipping on Any Order, Even to Alaska"!

Gymboree is offering free shipping today on any order. I looked through their deals and honestly unless you shop there regularly...ummm...I'm REALLY not sure it's worth it.

But, check out this cute doll they have and the proceeds go to St. Jude Children's Hospital (one of my favorite charities of all time)...

Holiday Doll Benefiting St. Jude is 15.37 on sale and is SUPER cute. And the proceeds go to a wonderful charity. I call that a definite win-win!

Enjoy!

EDIT: This is weird. On the page itself (thanks for the head's up Charlotte!) it says that Alaska is exempt from the free shipping, but when I put in a dummy order for the doll overhead it showed it was still free shipping to Alaska. So, ummm...yeah...I guess it might or might not work up here. Sorry folks!

Tide Free and Gentle 2, 50 oz bottles for 9.67 shipped!

2011-12-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

Ugh...never try to type when exhausted. I'm discovering all kinds of new ways to mis-type things that I NEVER misspell (har...I just misspelled misspell due to typing wrong...love it ;).

Anyway, after five minutes writing this sentence, this deal is still available and after price comping this stuff at the stores, this is a GOOD deal! Especially when you consider this is Tide's green line (repackaged in newer and cooler labeling from what I've researched) and people normally pay like 9.00 per BOTTLE for this stuff at the store (and after having to switch to Seventh Generation Free and Clear as it's the only safe detergent for my son's allergies...9.00 sounds cheap to me right now...how sad is that?).

Tide Free and Gentle 50 oz. bottles (2 pack) is currently 10.17 with Subscribe and Save. But, clip the .50/1 coupon below the product description and you'll get two bottles for 9.67 shipped or 4.83 a bottle.

Enjoy!

Free Barista Prima K-Cup 4 Cup Sampler to 3 of your Facebook Friends!

2011-12-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

Give the gift of free K-Cups to three friends! You could also ask your friends to send one back to you, but you are only eligible for the Barista Prima K-Cups if you haven't received one through previous promotions. Which, by the way, even if you have a single brew coffee maker (I have the Mr. Coffee single brew, which cost me 9.99 at Fred Meyer) you can just open up the K-Cups and dump them into your coffee maker and voila! Free coffee (and really if you're not too picky, since all of the flavors were good and somewhat similar tasting...at least tome, you could open up all four, dump them into your coffee maker and make at LEAST 1/2 pot of coffee and if you're a coffee woosy like me that'd make an entire pot ;).

Go HERE to send your friends some coffee love!

Enjoy!

Amazon.com: Innotab for 79.00 (blue) in stock!

2011-12-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

This is going to sell out fast if past performance is any indication. But, from some irate e-mails I've gotten, I get the impression that SOME people didn't get one of these before they sold out like hot cakes, so I wanted to make sure to point this out in case you wanted the Innotab by V-Tech (I've mainly been getting irate e-mails about the Leappad but thought I'd point this out anyway). We bought the last one of these that Target had in stock a couple of weeks ago and my husband and I have both played with it (we got it for our son to get him used to touch screens and to get some letter software and stuff for) and we both were actually really impressed with it.

The V-Tech Innotab in Blue is 79.00 and ships free with Super Saver Shipping right now. So, grab them before they are gone!

Enjoy!

Home Made Christmas Gifts (DIY): Make Your Own Felt Play Food

2011-12-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to "While Wearing Heels" for use of the image!

My daughter is a play food addict *laugh*. She asks for play food every single time we go to the store, loves to play restaurant and cook for her dolls in her play kitchen, etc. Of course I'm not overly impressed with how fast the plastic play food falls apart and now that I know that Alvah is allergic to some chemical additives, I'm not overly fond of the idea of him chewing on said plastic play food. So, when I ran across this tutorial I book marked it and figured I'd share in case any of you wanted to make a certain special child in your life very happy by making some felt play food for Christmas.

Go HERE where While Wearing Heels shows you how to make various types of felt play food! The tutorials are really easy to follow too, which is nice because when it comes to three dimensional "building" in the sewing arena I'm a complete novice.

Enjoy!

Amazon.com: 24 Rolls of Ultra Charmin for Less than 20.00 Shipped!

2011-12-15T12:02:00.000-08:00

Yay! It's back again! Check this deal out...

Amazon.com has 24 Rolls of Charmin Ultra (that stuff is nice I have to say :) for 22.05 with Subscribe and Save. But, clip the 3.00/1 Coupon down below the basic product description (yes you read that right...3.00 off!) to get it down to 19.05 shipped!

And yes, this does ship up here :).

Enjoy!

Education.com: GREAT ideas for Christmas Crafts for Kids and Adults

2011-12-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

This page is SO cool! It's got free downloadable pages for coloring and other things and it also has some awesome ideas for home made Christmas gifts, including making slipper socks, a Hershey Kiss Christmas Tree (great idea for a sweetheart gift) and others! And if you look for the link on the side of the page you can download a free Christmas Activity book.

Go Check it Out on Education.com now!

Enjoy!

Amazon.com: Good Deal on Craft Kits for Kids (today only)

2011-12-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm sorry but this sale just gets me all excited just because I was SUCH a crafting nerd when I was a kid (well really, look at the blog...I'm still a crafting nerd ;). I would have LOVED receiving these kits. Of course, I got equally excited when my dad bought me paint by numbers too, so really all was well with the universe there ;).

Amazon.com has a pretty cool sale going today on Alex Craft kits (50% off). Here's some of the highlights...

Alex Toys My First Sewing Kit is 14.00 and ships free with Super Saver Shipping orders over 25.00.

Alex Toys Yarn Craft Kit is 14.00 and eligible for Super Saver Shipping (and it even comes with a wicker basket! Squee!).

Alex Toys Knot a Quilt Kit is 14.00 and is eligible for Super Saver Shipping.

Alex Toys Friends 4 Ever Bracelet Making Kit is 14.00 and is eligible for Super Saver Shipping.

Alex Desk To Go is 10.00 and is eligible...well you get the idea.

Alex Ready, Set, School Activity Box, Alex Little Hands Series is 14.00 today only. This set looks pretty cool too :).

Anyway, I just wanted to pass the sale along because there's some pretty cool stuff.

Enjoy!

Free Download: 12 Months of Digital Scrapbooking Pages

2011-12-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

One of these days I WILL get to try scrapbooking. I even have a scrapbooking kit that my sister-in-law gave me years ago that I as of yet have not even cracked open (love that lack of time thing).

Anyway, if you ARE into scrapbooking here's a good deal for you! Homeschool Creations is offering 12 months of digital scrapbooking pages for free.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for posting about this!

Health and Beauty Thursday: How to make Elderberry Syrup

2011-12-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to My Blessed Life for use of the image

With cold and flu season kicked into full gear, I thought this was definitely a good recipe to share. It has a LOT of immune boosters in it and I've heard nothing but good things about how it helps to kick a cold faster. And with it being sweet it's definitely kid friendly too!

Go HERE where My Blessed Life shows you how to make Elderberry Syrup.

Enjoy!

Keep Warm When the Weather Turns Cold: Chocolate Mint Soother

2011-12-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks to The Heavenly Homemaker for use of the image!

Okay, I'm sorry, but this is SO getting made at my house this weekend! This looks absolutely AMAZING, would taste loads better than Carnation Instant Breakfast (I still shudder at the memory of my mom having us drink that for breakfast as a kid...I never liked the taste at all, but drank it just to get something in my stomach.. No wonder I have digestive issues today *laugh*), and it looks SUPER simple to make. And it'd definitely warm you up after being outside in the cold nasty weather too!

Go HERE where The Heavenly Homemaker shows you how to make a Chocolate Mint Soother.

If you're not a chocolate mint fan (shame on you ;) you could also try her Warm Vanilla Soother as well.

The recipes are also gluten free and you could easily make it corn free by using arrowroot powder instead of corn starch. People (from reading the comments) have also had great luck with using almond milk instead of regular milk in the recipe (actually they say it tastes even better than the whole milk), so it seems like a pretty versatile recipe. The only thing I can't think of anything you could really SUB and make it taste the same would be the eggs, but I am not a culinary maestro either ;).

Enjoy!