Fall Teacher Appreciation Gift

How cute is this fall time teacher appreciation gift?  My sister in law made this using an apple from her apple tree, homemade caramel sauce, and a little tag that says "thanks for helping me FALL in love with school."  She's also a teacher, so she always has the best teacher-gift ideas!  I also really enjoy that this is a totally frugal, and easy gift to make, yet it looks so darn cute.

You could alter this for any type of teacher/coach.  I.e. "Thanks for helping me FALL in love with soccer/dance/piano/singing/etc,"

I'm looking forward to trying out this caramel sauce.  I think apples dipped in caramel sauce are fantastic, and it reminds me of my childhood.  

Last Week's Homemade Items

I've been slacking lately on the saving money/making things from scratch/planning ahead for meals type stuff.  These are all things I'm really quite good at, so it bothers me when I don't intentionally do those things well.  I HATE having to buy granola bars at the store.  And yet when I don't take the time to make them at home, I end up wasting money on granola bars at the store with ingredients I can't even read.  

This past week, I finally decided that I've had enough, and I got to work.  I planned out my menu for the week utilizing my pantry and freezer.  I went grocery shopping, and then I got started on a few things for the week.  First, I made a batch of granola bars.  These take 5-10 minutes of hands on prep, and 5 minutes packaging them up at the end.  The recipe yields at least 20 bars.

I had recently run out of my Costco sized taco seasoning, and so I made a batch of my own.  I buy my spices in bulk at Winco, which saves an incredible amount of money (if you don't have a Winco, you can buy some bulk spices on Amazon for a decent price, too)!  I tried it tonight on tacos for the first time and it was delicious.

We love yogurt at our house, so the next thing on my list was to start making yogurt regularly again.  I make my yogurt in the crock pot, and it is so easy that it's truly a no brainer for saving money and eating healthy.  Plus, I can make a tub of organic yogurt for just $1.50 (organic milk here in NV at Costco is $6/gallon, and I make 4 cups of milk at a time into yogurt).  

A new thing for my list this week was to make and can my own BBQ sauce.  I followed these directions here to make a double batch of BBQ sauce.  Her recipe calls for a 14-Spice rub mix, so I made that, too (which I used on chicken a couple one night this week-tasty!).  My BBQ loving daughter Zoe gave this recipe a thumbs up.  I was able to can 5 jars of this using a double batch (plus a small jar for the fridge).  I gave one away to a friend this week, and have the others in my cabinet.

Lastly, I started some peppermint extract. I use a ton of this in the winter, and I figured it would also make a great gift.  It's so easy, too.  It's just peppermint leaves and vodka.  It's sitting up high in a cabinet right now and will stay there for another month or two.  I have a huge peppermint plant in front of my house that I used for this.  

Next week, I plan to harvest more peppermint from my plant and dry them out to make tea for the winter.  Since the plant is going strong right now, we just use fresh leaves for peppermint tea.  Peppermint plants grow like crazy.  I planted this one two years ago and it was just a tiny thing.  I've harvested pretty big chunks off of it maybe 10-12 times this summer already, and it's even bigger than it was earlier this spring.  I should be able to get plenty of tea leaves out of it...perhaps I can also give homemade tea leaves for Christmas!

What things have you been making this week?

Cherry Picking Day and What I Made

My 3 year old picking cherries with me.

My Mother-in-Law's cherry tree is exploding with beautiful cherries this year.  My kids spent Sunday through Wednesday at her house this week, and so that gave me two opportunities to pick tons of cherries (drop-off and pick-up).  I brought home 4 gallon bags full of cherries the first time, and a 2 1/2 gallon bucket full the second time.  And seriously, people, my heart was so happy.

My 4 year old "pitting" cherries after I picked them up.

I had so many cherries and I wanted to try so many things.  I have never owned a Cherry Pitter before, and actually I had no idea these things even existed until I searched for it online.  I bought this one in red.  It works wonderfully, and it is small enough to store easily in my already over-crowded drawers.  Both of my girls took turns pitting the cherries, too, as it is a pretty safe little tool.

Maraschino Cherries

On Monday, I made maraschino cherries (did you know commercial maraschino cherries are soaked in bleach-yuck!).  I just spent 5 minutes searching Pinterest for this recipe to share with you all until I realized that I had actually pinned it.  Geez.  I think I need more sleep.  Anyway, I used this recipe for my cherries, and I used concord grape juice instead of cherry juice because of the cost.  These are amazing, and the juice is tasty and perfect to use in Shirley Temple drinks.  I canned three tiny jars, and one large jar using these directions.  If you are looking to try canning, and don't want to spend a lot of money, I bought this kit for just $15 and used my own large pot for the hot water bath.  I'm sure the fancy equipment and pots would be nice, but this is some great starter equipment.

Then I moved on to the pie filling.  In total, I made 3 batches of 5 cups each (enough for 3 pies).  I used this recipe (this lady's pictures are amazing, don't you think?).  I froze two batches, and put the third in a jar in the fridge to be used this weekend. 

I made three jars of cherry jam using this recipe.  I also canned these, though we are already flying through our first jar!  SO delicious.

Finally, I made some popsicles for the kiddos using 1/2 cup leftover grape juice, 1/2 cup chopped cherries, and 1/2 cup chopped strawberries.  Above is the picture of all my final goods ;)

I'm super proud of myself for spending time making all of these and actually canning some things all on my own!  My fingertips were brownish for a couple days from pitting all those cherries, though!

Have you ever made anything with fresh cherries?  Are any fruit trees ripening where you live?

{Easy} Mint Oreo Truffles

I'm sure you, like me, have seen a variety of these Oreo truffles all over Pinterest world.  They're super popular, and I've been wanting to try some for a while now.  I saw another blogger use the Cool Mint Oreos, and knew I had to try it!  The original recipe for these is actually from Kraftrecipes.com. The best part?  They're SUPER duper easy, and only need 4 ingredients!

       

I made these for Saint Patrick's Day, and I used the Cool Mint Oreos and lime green candy melts for on top.  

Ingredients:

 1 bag cool mint Oreos

green candy melts

dipping chocolate, or chocolate chips

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

Directions:

1.  In a food processor, put the entire bag of Oreos, and blend until they are in fine crumbs.

2. Transfer to a large bowl, add in softened cream cheese, and use a mixer to fully combine ingredients. 

3.  Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

4.  Scoop mixture into 1 inch balls, and place on a wax-paper lined plate.

5.  Refrigerate for another 30 minutes (you can also put them in the freezer).

6.  Melt your chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments until smooth and melted.

7.  Dip Oreo balls into the chocolate using 2 forks to dip, roll them around, and remove them back to a wax lined plate.

8.  Place back in the fridge to firm the chocolate.  Melt the green candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments until smooth.  

9.  Transfer green melts to a plastic baggie, cut the tip, and drizzle over truffles.  

10.  Store in the fridge until ready to eat.  They soften/melt very easily at room temp!

   

Ninja Turtle Cake

I recently "traded work" with a gal.  She made some stellar artwork for my ebook, and in exchange, I made her a ninja turtle cake for her boyfriends birthday (further confirming my notion that boys never fully grow up...).  This was a really fun cake to make.  I only wish I could've eaten it, too!  I used this yellow cake recipe.

, 

As for the chocolate frosting, I have found a new favorite.  Seriously.  This is so good.  I made some minor adjustments to accommodate my love for dark chocolate.  This is probably the easiest and tastiest frosting I've ever made, so it will probably become a staple in my cake-making in the future.  Here's the recipe:

Dark Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:
*1 cup butter-softened
*4 cups powdered sugar
*1 1/4 c Hershey's dark cocoa powder
*1 T vanilla
*1/3 c milk

Directions:
*Cream butter.
*Mix in powdered sugar slowly.
*Add vanilla and cocoa.
*Slowly mix in the milk.

That's it!  Easy and delicious!

Here's how I put the cake together:

1 layer of yellow cake

cover with chocolate frosting

1 layer of yellow cake

cover with chocolate frosting

cover sides with chocolate frosting and smooth it out (if it's not sooth, the bumps will show through the fondant)

Then, the fondant.

This easy marshmallow fondant is SO easy to make and work with.  I've used it a number of times and always love the results.  It will be white.  Split it up into portions for the different colors.  For this ninja turtle cake, I rolled most of it into green, a small portion orange, and a small portion white.  I used Wilton's gel colors.  I stuck some white for the eyes, cut slits out of the orange, and placed the orange mask over his eyes.  I then used black squeeze frosting to dot the eyes.  Then the mouth...I rolled out the white, and used a knife to cut it into shape.  Then I used the black frosting to make the teeth.  

When working with this fondant, powdered sugar is your friend.  It will prevent sticking.  BUT, you'll end up with the white stuff all over your cake.  To get it off, get your hands a TINY bit wet and rub it over the powdered sugar spots.  This will clean up your cake.  You can also use a slightly wet rag, but I like the control I have with my own fingers.  Also, when layering fondant over fondant, if you rub your moist fingers between the layers, they will stick better.  And again, the key here is only "sightly damp" fingers (I wet my hands and then dab them on a dry towel first).  

From start to finish, this cake took me about 3 hours.  I LOVE how it turned out!

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

This recipe is 1) easy and 2) delicious...which means I made it more than once this December ;)

While you can absolutely make this from scratch, my new promotion to "mom of 4" has left me in an odd state of using pre-made foods occasionally-gasp!  

For the easy cheater way...

You will need...

*Mini muffin pan

*Peanut butter cookie mix (and any ingredients to make the mix...i.e. eggs, oil, etc)

*Mini Reese's peanut butter cups, wrappers removed.

What to do...

*Grease or spray muffin pan

*Mix peanut butter cookie dough according to package instructions.

*Roll into small balls and place inside mini muffin pan holes.  Make sure the balls are only about 2/3 of the muffin hole, or they will totally overflow!

*Bake cookies according to directions.

*Remove from the oven and immediately press peanut butter cups into the top of the cookies.  

*Allow to cool before removing as they can easily fall apart if they are still hot. 

Eat one.  Or two.  Or five.  I won't tell.  

Peppermint Crunch Fudge

For Thanksgiving this year, I tried out this "easy" fudge recipe.  It had one layer of chocolate, and one layer of peanut butter.  It seemed like every recipe I found on Pinterest used the microwave and a mixture of chocolate and sweetened condensed milk for the layers.  Genius and so simple!  Then I saw this peppermint fudge idea on Pinterest via Six Sister's Stuff, and it was basically the same concept but on the stove and with three layers.  Since I clearly lack the ability to properly melt chocolate on the stove, I went for the super easy microwave version again :)

You will need:

*2 cups dark chocolate chips

*2 cups white chocolate chips

*1 bag (10 oz) candy cane hershey kisses

*1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk, divided
*Crushed candy canes (optional)

To make it:

*Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with foil and grease it with butter or a non stick spray.

*In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate and half of the milk.  Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stir, and repeat until smooth and melty.
*Pour chocolate mixture into the pan.  Refrigerate.

*Pour white chocolate chips and the other half of the milk into another bowl.  Microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring, and repeating until melty.
*Pour this layer over the chocolate layer and quickly spread it evenly.  Refrigerate.

*Melt candy cane hershey kisses for 30 seconds at a time until melted.
*Pour over the top of the white chocolate layer.
*Pour crushed candy canes over the top before it hardens.

*Refrigerate until firm.  Cut and serve.



We brought half of this batch to our local firefighters (along with a few other homemade goodies), and I sent the other half to work with Ben the next day.  Peppermint and chocolate are one of my favorite combos, and fudge is one of my favorite holiday treats, so I absolutely LOVED these.  

No Sugar Holiday Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sause was always a holiday favorite of mine growing up.  I only liked the "jellied" kind, and thought people who ate the chunky kind were so strange.  Then a couple years ago I tried making my own.  Not only did I discover that I loved hot cranberry sauce, but I discovered that the "chunky" kind was so amazingly delicious.  I have not bought canned cranberry sauce since that discovery.  

Typically, you would add sugar into a cranberry sauce recipe, but since I don't like all that unnecessary sugar, I use honey instead.  Here is the simplest (and most delicious) cranberry sauce you will ever make:

You will Need:

1 (12 oz) bag of cranberries

1 cup orange juice (from a container or juice your own)

1/2-3/4 cup honey (adjust to your tastes)

Dash or two of cinnamon

*Put all ingredients into a medium pot and turn the heat to medium high.

*Cook, stirring occasionally until you begin to notice the cranberries "popping"

*Once most of the cranberries have "popped," turn the heat down to low and cook for another 5 minutes.  

*Remove from heat and allow to stand.  The mixture will continue to thicken as it stands.

You can serve this warm (which is so good), or refrigerate it until it's nice and cold before serving.

Freezer Cooking for a New Baby #5

This is the 5th post in the "Freezer Cooking for a New Baby" series.  I hope you've been finding some inspiration to fill your freezer with yummy foods that will save you both time and money.  Be sure to check out all the posts in this series.  Each post contains at least three different recipes or freezer friendly food ideas.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

#1: Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies


This is a delicious cookies recipe that also happens to be freezer friendly!  I like that I can pull out just the amount of cookies that I wold like to bake and leave the rest in the fridge.  One batch makes about 48 cookies.  I usually make a batch of the dough, bake some for dessert that night, and freeze the rest.  Don't forget that when freezing cookie dough balls like this, you will want to lay the balls flat on a plate for about 30 minutes until they are slightly frozen, and then bag all of them together.  This prevents them from sticking together.  The recipe that I use for these cookies can be found on Money Saving Mom's website HERE.

#2: Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my personal favorite meals.  I whipped up two large lasagnas, and prepared them in Dollar Store disposable trays.  I used my recipe found HERE, but I replaced the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese (it's really good, less expensive, and I don't think you can even tell a difference).  To freeze, just prepare the lasagna like normal, but do not cook it.  You can actually just bake these from their frozen state.  I bake these at 425 F for about 2 hours from frozen (or until they are cooked through).

#3: Pureed Pumpkin


If you've never made your own pumpkin puree before, you are certainly missing out!  Fresh pumpkin puree is so yummy.  I  teach you how to bake and puree your own pumpkin HERE.

Note 1: Don't stick a wooden spoon inside the top of your food processor to help the pumpkin "move along".  It will not only break your spoon (resulting in a frantic hunt for the missing pieces among the puree), but it might also snap the plastic piece on the bottom of your processor that holds the blade in place.  It will quickly find it's new home in your garbage = sad.

Note 2: To freeze, bag, label, and freeze flat.  This small pumpkin from my local Trader Joe's yielded about 3 3/4 cups pumpkin puree.



Now, I know many of you may still be wondering how to store all this stuff in your freezer.  As I always say, lay the bags flat to freeze.  This makes it easy to stuff them in "file folder" style (either on top of each other or upright) and saves a lot of space.  Here is a picture of one of my pull out freezer drawers:



You can see, I have 6 gallon sized ziploc bags full of meals in this drawer, and it's very easy to see and grab what I need.
 When using disposable trays, I just stack them one on top of the other.  I use smaller spaces on the sides to store some of the smaller bags (like the pumpkin bags which were in sandwich sized bags).



What have you added to your freezer lately?  Any creative storage tips?

Freezer Cooking for a New Baby #4

Today's post is a continuation in the "Freezer Cooking for a New Baby" series.  I've been stocking my freezer full of yummy, easy or low prep meals that are also frugal, and I've been sharing them all here with you!  Be sure to check out all the posts in this series to get some great ideas for your freezer!  (Post 1, Post 2, Post 3)

#1: Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

This is one of my favorite meals.  My family will eat it for lunch or dinner, and it can be changed up a bit by eating it in different ways (wrapped in a tortilla, hamburger bun, sandwich roll).  I buy a huge boneless pork shoulder butt from Costco (someone please explain to me a "shoulder butt"...that makes no sense to me).  This one cost us $27, and I totally forgot to check how many pounds that was.  You can see, though, that it fills both my large and medium crock pots to the top!  Here's how I cook it:

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

*In a crock pot, add your pork (shoulder, butt, or the oddly named shoulder butt :))

*Pour root beer over the top.  Pour enough to cover most of the pork, but still leave about 1-2" of space to the top lid.

*Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the meat is tender and a fork easily "pulls" the meat apart.

*Drain off the excess liquid from the soda.  

*Shred the meat with two forks.

* Mix in 1 bottle of BBQ sauce.  Stir thoroughly. 

*Freeze into individual bags (don't forget to freeze them laying flat).

Our family can usually eat 6, sometimes 7, meals from one of these large pork pieces.  We will usually serve a steamed veggie and sweet potato fries along side it, and sometimes even have left overs from the portion.  So, while it seems pricey at first, it really is not too expensive at all in the long run.

#2: Stuffed Bell Peppers

There are two ways to make ahead and freeze stuffed bell peppers.  The first is to actually stuff, bake for 20 minutes or so, freeze individually, wrap individually in plastic wrap, and then freeze flat in a ziploc bag.  The upside to this method is that they are totally ready to go once you defrost them (just throw in the oven to warm throughout).  The down side is that bell pepper loose a little of their firmness when frozen.  Since my husband is not a huge fan of that down side, we go with plan B.

Plan B is to make the insides of the bell peppers and freeze it alone.  When you are ready to eat them, just defrost the bag, and use fresh bell peppers to stuff, bake, and eat.  The second reason I like this method is that our children do not like to eat the bell peppers, but they do like the insides.  I will usually cook up some rotini noodles and pour their portion of the bell pepper stuffings over the top.  They love it!

My bell pepper recipe is HERE.  Keep in mind that my recipe there is for a large group, so it will make a lot.  Just scale it down.  This is one recipe where I really don't measure a whole lot.  I just add whatever I have on hand and it always turns out great!  

We made two huge bags of bell pepper insides to add to our freezer.

#3: Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo


While I did make two batches of Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, I only froze one.  I used one the next night for dinner.  This is also another simple one.  While I love homemade Alfredo, I usually use canned for the sake of ease when doing freezer cooking.

Freezer Friendly Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, mix together:

*1 1/2- 2 jars Alfredo sauce
*1 pound chopped chicken breast (or whatever chicken pieces you prefer)
*1-2 diced tomatoes
*1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
*Optional: Chopped mushrooms (we like them, but it can sometimes change the color of the sauce a bit when defrosting, which may be a turn-off for some people)

On the bag write: "Defrost.  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Pour mixture into a 9x13 glass pan and cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is done and sauce is hot and bubbly.  Meanwhile cook fettuccine noodles.  When both are done, stir together and serve hot."  Or some version of that which you'll understand :)

Serve alongside garlic bread or french bread or a steamed veggie.

Freezer Cooking for a New Baby #3

This post is #3 in the "Freezer Cooking for a New Baby" series.  While it is my intentional journey of preparing my freezer for the birth of baby #4, freezer cooking is something that I recommend everyone try...it saves both time and money!  Be sure to check out all the posts, ideas, and recipes in this series!  (Read Part 1 and Part 2)

#1: Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole


I followed Money Saving Mom's recipe on this one.  It was fast, easy, and frugal to put together.  While she divides hers up into 4 bags, I felt that each of those portions would be just a little bit too small for my family.  I instead divided the batch up into 3 gallon sized Ziploc bags.  I am in LOVE with cheese/rice/broccoli combinations, so I'm sure this will be a great meal!

#2: Teriyaki Chicken and Marinated Chicken

My 4 year old helped me assemble two bags of Teriyaki Chicken.  This is a crock pot meal, meaning you just thaw it out and dump it into a crock pot to cook all day.  Super easy!
Here's my recipe:

Freezer Friendly Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken

In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, combine the following:

*1-2 lbs of boneless chicken (I use boneless chicken breasts)
*1/2 cup-1 cup chopped carrots
*1 can chopped pineapple WITH the juice
*1/2 sliced purple onion
*3/4 cup teriyaki sauce or marinade

On the bag write: "Defrost, dump into crock pot, cook on low 6-8 hours or until done.  Serve over rice."

Depending on how much chicken you use, you may need to add a little more teriyaki sauce when you pour it into the crock pot.  Also, remember how I told you in part 1 that I cook and freeze brown rice?  This is a perfect meal to pull out one of those bags!

The third bag pictured above was made with our extra chicken breasts.  We just dumped a Lawry's marinade inside the bag, mixed it around, and sealed it.  You can cook it in the crock pot or on the stove or in the oven.  It's just marinated chicken :)


#3: Sliced and Chopped Strawberries


I ended up with a bunch of strawberries that were *almost* bad.  I tasked my 5 year old with rinsing and sorting the good from the bad.  If you've never frozen strawberries before, see my how-to tutorial HERE.

We use chopped frozen strawberries to add to our oatmeal in the mornings.  They can also be used to add to smoothies or other blended drinks.


At this point, I've had to seriously organize my freezer.  It's already getting full, and I have so many more things to make!  Yikes!

Don't forget: lay your ziploc bags FLAT to freeze.  This way, once frozen, you will be able to organize them in your freezer "file folder" style, which saves a lot of space.  

Have you been joining me in stocking up your freezer?  What have you added to your freezer recently?

FREE: 101 Days of Christmas eBook

101 Days of Christmas eBook is FREE today on Amazon!  Free, Christmas, and eBook fit nicely together into my vocabulary :)

The book has over "101 Recipes and Crafts for a DIY Holiday."  Looks like fun to me!  I can't wait to read through it.

Homemade Pizza Bites (Freezer Friendly)

We love homemade pizza at our house.  In fact, we rarely (if ever) buy a pizza elsewhere because we think ours are way better anyway (not to mention less expensive).  

A few months ago I had this idea to make pizza bites using my Pampered Chef mini muffin pan thingy.  We ate some (and enjoyed them), but I also tried freezing some and defrosting them a couple days later for lunch and was super surprised at how great they turned out.

1.  Preheat oven to 450 F.  

2.  Start with a basic pizza dough.  We regularly use THIS recipe because it is pretty quick to prep and doesn't require the dough to rise much at all (maybe 15 minutes total).  It's really tasty.

3.  Roll dough into small balls.  If you have a press thingy made for the mini muffin pan, use it to push down in the middle of each ball of dough to cause the dough to spread to the sides and create a well in the middle (dip it in flour to keep it from sticking).  If you don't have a press tool, you can just use your fingers or a spoon to spread the dough out around to the edges.

4.  Pour a small scoop of sauce into each hole.  We usually just use regular pasta sauce, either store bought or homemade.  Don't add too much; remember that your dough will rise when baked.

5.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over the tops.  We use whatever cheese we have on hand.

6.  Leave as is or add a small slice of pepperoni or other topping on top.  

7.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is done and cheese has melted.  Depending on how much dough I've used in each spot, the time can certainly vary, so just watch them so that you don't burn them accidentally.  

8.  If eating right away, scoop them out and enjoy warm.  If you are freezing them, allow them to cool for 10-15 minutes, then pull them out and lay them in a flat layer on a dish and place in the freezer for about an hour.  Once they feel slightly frozen, you can pull them off the dish and place them in a Ziploc bag and leave them in the fridge.

9.  To defrost, place in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are warm throughout.  

My kiddos really like these pizza bites.  I like that it is an easy lunch for the days when I just don't want to have to actually "make" something :)  I always love having easy options in my freezer.  

What are your favorite easy lunches to serve your kiddos?

Tomato Caprese Salad Bites

Have you ever had a tomato caprese salad before?  I hadn't until recently and I absolutely fell in love!  So did Ben, which was very odd since he doesn't even like tomatoes.  (Imagine my surprise watching him eat a whole slice of tomato off of the salad at a restaurant!)  Since that beautiful moment, I've been making these salads for Ben and I at hime. 

The other day at snack time, though, I was really wanting to have some, yet didn't want to eat a whole salad for snack (because that would be weird).  And so, I just made a few bite-sized pieces.  It was perfect, easy, and satisfying!  

Tomato Caprese Salad Bites

INGREDIENTS:

*Lettuce, chopped into 1-2" slices (can use any kind, but I used romaine)

*Tomatoes, thick sliced and cut into halves (try heirloom if they're in season)

*Whole milk mozzarella, sliced and chopped into bite-sized pieces

*Pepper

*Olive oil

*Balsamic Vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

*Layer your "bites" with the lettuce on the bottom, topped with a cheese and tomato slice.  Sprinkle crushed pepper all over the tops to taste.  

*The easiest way to not over-do the oil and vinegar is to mix them together in a separate container or bowl.  I would mix about a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of oil:vinegar.  Drizzle the mixture over the tops of your bites.  You do not have to pre-mix the oil and vinegar, I just find it easier to control evenness of the two.

*Enjoy!

4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies

While browsing Pinterest last week, I happened to stumble across these little beauties.  I was having a serious sweet craving, and literally had nothing in my house.  So, when I stumbled across the words "Nutella" (which I actually had) and "brownies" in the same sentence I was all over it!  To my surprise, there were just a couple ingredients in these babies.  AND it only made 12 mini brownies....i.e. I can't eat too much.  

Right here is where I would put the credit for this tasty treat, however when I went back to Pinterest to find it, I A) could not find the specific link from which I followed  and B) realized that there are a million (slight exaggeration) of people who have posted this recipe in some variation (where I have I been for all this tasty consumption???). 

 Anywho, fortunately these were so simple I could remember them off the top of my head.  I left out chopped hazelnuts on top (add if you'd like) and added peanut butter to the recipe because everyone knows that anything chocolate is 10x better with peanut butter.

4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and fill 12 mini-muffin tray spots with a liner

2.  In a bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup Nutella with 1 egg

3.  Mix in 2 TBS chunky peanut butter (I used Adam's)

4.  Once creamy, stir in 5 TBS all purpose flour (it will be thick)

5.  Pour mixture into lined mini muffin pan, filling approximately 2/3 full

6.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Make approximately 12 mini brownies.

Enjoy!  

Homemade Deodorant for Under $.25 a Batch

One of my favorite money saving techniques is to make things at home.  It often takes very little work and yields a hefty savings.  Not only does it save money, but the health benefits are often a big deal, too.  Parabens and aluminum, found in deodorants, have been thought to cause many health issues, including a possible link to cancer.  No thank you.  So, my husband and I decided to try out a homemade recipe.  After both talking to and reading from people who have tried DIY deodorants, I felt confident that it would be strong enough for both of us to at least try.



The Recipe
In a bowl, mix together:

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 corn starch

Then, 1 TBS at a time, mix in coconut oil until you achieve a desired consistency.  I used about 3 TBS in mine.

Store in a container, and use your fingers to apply a small amount each morning ;)

The Verdict
After about a week of us both using this deodorant, I am happy to say we are homemade deodorant converts!  My husband is able to work out at lunch and return to work without needing more deodorant, and I make it the whole day smelling fresh, too!

For the price (depending on where you buy your ingredients, it works out to around $.18-$.25 per batch!), I will happily scoop my deodorant out of a little jar!  I have seen people wash out old deodorant tubes and fill it with their homemade stuff.  The only problem I see with this method is that coconut oil turns to a liquid when it's warm.  If you needed to travel with it and you had it in a tube, I would imagine hat you may end up with a big mess!  Ours stays relatively solid in our bathroom.  

The Best Ever Strawberry Dip

Nearly every time I serve up this tasty dip, everyone looks at me like I'm crazy.  And then they taste it.  And they feel disappointed they've been missing out on this deliciousness all their lives.  "What is it?",  you might be wondering.  Well, it's a strawberry dip made with brown sugar and......sour cream!  No joke.  

All you need for this tasty recipe is a bowl of washed strawberries, a small bowl of sour cream, and a small bowl of brown sugar.  Dip your strawberries in the sour cream, and then in the brown sugar.  And then eat, be amazed, and repeat the process.  Pretty simple, eh?  What are you waiting for?  Go try it out!  Be sure to come back here and tell me how amazed you were once you actually tried it, too, okay?

P.S....this was actually served at our wedding 8 years ago by one of our guests/friends.  She used styrofoam craft balls and put the strawberries on toothpicks into the balls to make it look like a strawberry "tree".  The sour cream and brown sugar were served just next to it.  It was AMAZING and beautiful! 

Homemade Water Color Paints

Yesterday we decided to make some of our own water color paints.  My kids love water colors, but they always run out WAY too quickly.  Plus, although they are "non-toxic", I've always thought they have a pretty odd smell to them.  So, we were off to Pinterest to find a recipe!  

We found one that looked pretty when finished (because that's important, you know), and we got started on this new project!  It was so simple and yielded a ton of paint!  Plus, it looks beautiful on paper!  I don't think I'll ever buy water colors again.



First, pour 1 cup baking soda in a bowl with a pour spout.  Then, slowly add in 3/4 cup vinegar.  It will bubble a lot, so just make sure to go slow enough that it doesn't bubble over!  This is, of course, the coolest part for the kids to watch.

Stir well.  Add 2 TBL corn syrup and 1 cup corn starch to the mix.  Stir well until it is all combined. This will be a little tricky.  Have you ever made the goop recipe?  This recipe reminds me of that!  If you touch it quickly or press hard on it or stir too fast, the mixture will feel rock hard.  If you move slowly through the mixture, it is like a liquid.  Just do your best to mix it all up.  Even though it feels hard, when you begin to pour it, it will pour smoothly.

Pour the mixture into an ice cube tray.  We used 3 trays (so each kid could have one), and filled them 1/4 way.  You do not want them super full or it will be a challenge to mix in the color without causing it to spill over.

Here are our 3 trays, ready to be mixed with color!

Lastly, mix food coloring in with each small tray to make whatever colors you desire.  I allowed the girls to mix all their own colors.  Ellie must've really liked green, because she ended up with 4 shades of green ;)  Mix these using popsicle sticks.  You may have to finish stirring your kids for them as the mixture does get hard when you try to stir it.  The kids could mix in the top half, but the bottom halves of their mixtures were untouched and still white.  

These are the finished trays.  They will be nice and wet.  Allow them to dry overnight or until they are solid and dry to the touch.  Ours took a little less than 24 hours.

Use just like regular water colors!  These are seriously amazing!  I can't believe how simple it was to make, and I love that there are no chemicals in them!  Plus, they will last forever!