Return to Blogging, and Cloth Napkins

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog.  I've been keeping up with the homeschool blog, Learning Curve, but I've just not been faithful here.   Now that we're on our last year of homeschooling, I'm trying to transition back to this blog as well.  At some point, I'll catch you up to the last few years, but for now, here's a new post!

With things being odd, at best, with being able to find what you want and need at the grocery stores, and prices being unbelievable, I'm trying to cut cost and be more self-sufficient.   I recently had the opportunity to score a lot of cloth table napkins, for FREE!  

I decided to just roll the napkins up and stand them on end in a sturdy, deep basket.  This is both decorative and makes them easy to grab when setting the table for dinner.  Once used, these can just be chucked into the laundry with dish towels or other linens.  It's a money saver, but also seems to add an air of coziness to the dinner table as well.  

Worst case scenario, in the even "feminine hygiene items" become hard to find over coming months, these can transition into that use as well.  That may seem like an odd idea, but nothing at this point is outside the realm of possibility.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls - Recipe

During our recent blizzard I had a sudden hankering for hot cinnamon rolls.  Unfortunately I hadn't planned for this hankering, so there were no pre-made rolls in a tube in the fridge.   Google truly is a lovely thing.  Finding that most cinnamon rolls require all-purpose flour and yeast is not so lovely.  But, Google didn't let me down and I finally found a recipe which used self rising flour.  Insert angelic choir voices here, grins.

Here's the recipe I found.

1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp. shortening
3 cups self rising flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine/butter softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tbsp. cinnamon

Place flour in bowl and cut the shortening into the flour.  Then add the milk and stir well.  When a soft dough has formed, place the dough on a lightly floured counter top and knead briefly.   Roll out your dough into a 20X14 inch rectangle.  Spread butter/margarine evenly over dough.

Combine sugars and cinnamon and sprinkle over the butter.  Roll the dough up, jelly roll style and slice into 1/2  inch thick slices.  Place slides side by side in a greased 13X9 baking dish.  If any of your sugar/cinnamon mix fell out of the edges, just dump it back on top at this point.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

While the rolls bake, make a simple glaze.

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Pour the glaze onto the rolls while warm and serve.  

Since this recipe uses self rising flour, these rolls have a more dense, biscuit consistency...but they still taste amazing on a cold winter morning.  These rolls also rewarm nicely in the microwave. 

You could also add cream cheese to your glaze mixture....and a little vanilla to the dough mixture.y

Enjoy!

Corn-Flake Cookies

Every now and then I find myself with things in my pantry that I don’t normally buy.   Sometimes, I find myself needing to create a “food to share” at an event, and when the planets align and I have unusual things on the pantry, I make the best of it.

Such was the case this week, and I found out on Tuesday morning that the kids needed to take finger foods to their 4-H club meeting…on Tuesday evening.   (Gah!)  I whipped up a tasty batch of corn-flake cookies and amazed the children with it’s simplicity and taste.  I thought I’d share with you, in case you happen to have extra corn flakes to use up, ahem.

Ingredients:

1 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
6 cups of cornflakes (or Cheerios, or other cereal)

Pour the cereal in a large bowl and lay out a couple of sheets of waxed paper or parchment paper.  Trust me, you want to have this step ready and waiting.

In a saucepan, combine the corn syrup and white sugar and bring to full rolling boil (stirring constantly).   Add the peanut butter and stir until well blended.

Pour the hot mixture over the cereal and stir to combine and coat all the cereal pieces.   Try not to crush the cereal, but you do need to work pretty quickly.

Drop by the spoonful onto waxed or parchment paper.   Allow to cool completely before putting in containers.    

You can tweak this to make it your own.  Vary the cereal, add chocolate chips, or nuts or mini-marshmallows and see what you come up with !

Reclaiming Our Home–The Final Chapter

You may recall, I went on my quest of Reclaiming Our Home last year.   This started off with a little painting in the living room, that then turned into a complete kitchen make over (in two parts) and finished up with the master bedroom and Lindsey’s room.

By the time I’d done all of that I had depleted my energy, enthusiasm and funds.   I promised Olivia I’d do her room this summer.   This project was at the top of my things to do list for the summer.  

When we first bought the house in 2008, I put up this border, to cover the existing border and viola!, Olivia’s room was ready.

It was the perfect princessy, little girl room.   Who knew seven years would race by and my little girl would suddenly be a “tween”?

The first thing to go was the border, and under it was this border.   The princessy room had previously housed a boy.

Once the borders were down, I painted KILZ on the green to make it easier to cover with the light new color.  For the record, one can get quite the buzz from working with KILZ in a closed room, ahem.

I’m a huge fan of Valspar paints.   Olivia picked “Beach Sparkle” for her walls and then “Icy Blue” for the contrast color.   Once she picked the colors, I decided to do all the walls in the Beach Sparkle, and then do the furniture and shelves in the Ice Blue.

The Icy Blue is VERY light blue, almost more of a mint than a blue.  However, when the furniture was finished and placed in the room, it picked up on the other blue, and gave the furniture a bit of a glow in the dark look.

This old dresser has a story of it’s own.  Check it out here.

I decided to keep the fuchsia curtains and I think it adds a nice pop of color to contrast the blues.   I’ll be keeping my eyes open for a new comforter set on the clearance racks.

I say this is the final chapter, but who knows. Neither bathroom has been updated, yet, ahem.

Trash to Treasure–The Chest of Drawers

Olivia has been in need of a dresser for quite some time.  I’ve been keeping my eye out at yard sales and things of that nature to no avail.  Then recently someone on our local FreeCycle group offered up a chest of drawers that “needs a little work”.  

We obviously have varying definitions of the word “little”.  This is what we picked up.   I had already taken the drawers out at this point, but needless to say, they were equally in need of a “little work”.

I have no clue what the black stain on the top and sides were, but it wasn’t coming off, that’s for sure.

Thankfully, my husband has worked in several hand crafted furniture companies over the years (and loves that kind of work), so he pulled a Bob the Builder and said “I can fix it.”   Yes he can!

With some effort and time the piece was sturdy.   With a little effort and some left over paint the piece became pretty and went to live in Olivia’s room.

Isn’t it lovely?  And heavy, my gosh is this thing heavy!!   Just one of those “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” kind of stories.

Preparing For Winter

It’s officially that time of year, the time to start preparing for the winter.   Yes, really…in August.   This preparation has absolutely NOTHING to do with all those crazy winter weather predictions floating around on Face Book.   This is what we do every year. 

Behold the mega pile of wood!

Yes, we use wood as a major heat source during the winter.   It keeps our gas & electric bill from going through the roof, and it’s just much cozier as well.   Another added bonus, is that if the electricity goes off, I can still cook on our little wood stove.   We also replaced all the stove pipe this year, so we are ready to roll!

Believe it or not, wood stacking is one of the kids favorite “family activities”.    They do a lot of roll playing while they work.   Trying to beat the blizzard, watching for marauding Indians and  tending to the young’uns are just a few of the things that happen during wood stacking at our house.

Next we’ll reevaluate the canned and dry goods and see what purchases we need to make as well.   This alleviates those necessary trips to the store when everyone else is in “snow crazy” mode.

Do you do anything to prepare for the winter, or are you a take it as it comes kinda person?

Frugal Shopping–The Chicken Store

Stretching the grocery budget is a big deal for many families, including mine.   One of the ways I make our money stretch is by going to the local “chicken store” and buying meats in bulk,  breaking them into smaller packages and freezing them for individual meals.   We are fortunate to live in an area that has a lot of poultry facilities, which means I have 2 different stores I can hit.  Once carries  chicken and pork, the other turkey and beef.

Recently I went on a little road trip, and spent a total of $125 on meats.

We ended up with:

6 packs of ground beef
3 beef roasts
2 packs turkey cutlets
2 packs ground turkey
7 packs of raw chicken thighs
13 packs of raw chicken breast tenders
21 packs of precooked, breaded chicken breast

That’s 51 meals at $2.45 cents per meal if we use each item for 1 meal. However, the burger, roasts and ground turkey will make more than one meal.   That’s not bad at all for a family of 4!

Check your local area and see if you have any poultry processing facilities.   You might be happy to find you have a gold mine in your own back yard, or at least within driving distance.

What Do I Do With All This Leftover Turkey?

Come on, admit it, you’ve thought that in the days following Thanksgiving.  Haven’t you?

Well, here’s the thing you just freeze it and use it whenever, because it’s paid for, it’s cooked, and it’s good….but after a week of leftovers it’s hard to remember any of that.

We had our official Thanksgiving meal the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  By that Monday the husband announced “I’m done with the turkey".   Well, ok, but you’ll eat it at some point, we’re certainly not throwing it out!

So here’s what I did.  I pulled all the meat of the bones and froze it in quart size freezer bags.  I did the same with the leftover giblet gravy (yes gravy freezes well).

This week it was cold and rainy and I wanted some comfort food that stuck with you.   So I pulled out a bag of turkey and a bag of gravy and threw it in a pot…followed be chopping the left over celery and a good sized onion.  Then I threw in about a teaspoon of rubbed sage.

Looks disgusting, doesn’t it?

But hang with me folks.  Then I added some broth and let it cook for a couple of hours, and added a bit of salt and pepper.   The house smelled INCREDIBLE!

Just as the husband walked through the door I mixed up a batch of dumplings.  I made the fat fluffy dumplings.   Simply use self rising flour and water and stir until it reaches the consistency of biscuit dough, then drop by spoonful's into your boiling liquid and cover for about 10 minutes.

Then you have this…

Some of the absolute BEST turkey ‘n dumplings I’ve ever tasted.   Try this on a cold, dreary winter evening and believe me, you’ll be glad you did!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Last fall I bought all the necessary ingredients to make my first batch of laundry detergent.  Then I went back to work and the laundry detergent never materialized.  Until today.

The recipe is fairly simple, and so are the instructions.

1 bar of soap
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax

Grate the bar of soap and and put it in 4 cups of hot water and stir until dissolved. (So yeah, I cooked mine in a saucepan over medium heat…it works.)  

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half way with hot water, add the soap water, Borax and washing soda.  Stir well, until it’s all dissolved.

Fill the 5 gallon bucket to the top with water, stir and let sit over night.

The next day fill a laundry detergent bottle half full with the mixture, add warm water to fill the container and shake well and you are in the laundry business.   This 5 gallon mixture is diluted 50/50 each time it’s used, so you end up with 10 gallons of laundry detergent.  Pretty simple huh? 

This of course will last us a LONG time, washing roughly 180 loads of laundry per batch.   I have enough ingredients left over to make another 5 or 6 batches in time to come.  All for less than $7.   Pretty thrifty, eh?

Frugal In It’s Simplest Form

Today I’m the guest blogger over at Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling.  Here’s a snippet of my post.

Shortly after the birth of our second child, we found ourselves on a VERY strict budget. To be honest, we had $25 a week to feed the four of us and that included diapers, hygiene products and all the cleaners and paper products. Granted the baby was breastfed, and Olivia was around 3 and not a big eater, but still $25 didn’t go far in the natural….

To read the rest of the story head over to Frugal In It’s Simplest Form at  Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling.

Vinegar

My friend Amy (Hi Amy!) makes fun of me a lot because of vinegar.  Most of my cleaning, and household questions are answered with “use vinegar”.  Or at least in Amy’s mind that’s my most popular answer.

So just to prove to her that I’m not crazy here are a few good uses for vinegar.

Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.

Remove soap buildup and odors from the dishwasher by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar inside the empty machine and running it through a whole cycle. Do monthly.

For stained and smelly plastic food containers, wipe them with a cloth dampened with white distilled vinegar.

Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of undiluted white distilled vinegar.

Kill germs all around the bathroom with a spray of full-strength white distilled vinegar. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

Mix up an inexpensive tile cleaner by adding 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup white distilled vinegar, and 1 cup ammonia to a gallon of warm water.

To make the toilet bowl sparkle, pour in a cup or more of diluted white distilled vinegar and let it sit several hours or overnight. Scrub well with the toilet brush and flush.

Create your own window cleaning solution by combining 1/2 cup non-sudsy ammonia, 1 cup white distilled vinegar, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch in a gallon of water.

To clean and disinfect baby toys add a good-sized splash of white distilled vinegar to soapy water.

Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy? Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Kill weeds and grass growing in unwanted places by pouring full-strength white distilled vinegar on them. This works especially well in crevices and cracks of walkways and driveways.

Sanitize outdoor furniture and picnic tables with a cloth soaked in white distilled vinegar.

Make nail polish last longer. Wipe fingernails with cotton balls dipped in white distilled vinegar before putting on nail polish.

For cuts and scrapes, use white distilled vinegar as an antiseptic.

Remove the leftover odor after a rider has been carsick by leaving a bowl of white distilled vinegar overnight on the floor.

Keep car windows frost-free overnight in winter by coating them with a solution of 3 parts white distilled vinegar to 1 part water.

Cats hate the smell of vinegar. If you have a cat that is marking its territory around your house, spray the area with white distilled vinegar then rinse with a hose.

Tenderize meat with white distilled vinegar. Use it in marinades or when slow cooking any tough, inexpensive cuts of meat.

Remove kitchen odors that come from burnt pots or when cooking certain foods by boiling a small amount of water with 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar so that the steam circulates throughout the room

Now if you still aren’t convinced,  you can go to Vinegar Tips to check out 1001 uses for vinegar. 

The Urban Dairy

I know a lot of you have larger families than we do. We have only two children. Two children who LOVE milk. So we go through a LOT of the stuff. Being a one income family, I cut costs where I can. So I had several options looming before me on the milk front, 1) buy a cow; 2) stop drinking milk; 3) powdered milk.

Now I know, that to some of you, the thought of number 3 above is probably the least appealing of those scenarios. However, I've found that powdered milk, that has been REFRIGERATED prior to drinking tastes just like skim milk. Please note I said REFRIGERATED; that is the key, do not drink it at room temp or at tap water temp, just sayin'.

A 4lb. box will make 20 quarts (5 gallons). I use the Martins store brand and it costs me $11.19 (costs may vary in your location). The beauty to it, besides the lower costs is that I don't have to store several gallons of milk in the fridge, nor do I have to make milk runs to the store during the week (which inevitably causes needless spending on something else that jumps in the cart mysteriously of its own free will).

So there you have it folks, a little something that's definitely working for me in more ways than one!

Head on over to We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me Wednesday!

Laundry Detergent Recipe

You may be reading the title of this post and asking yourself "why??" With small children running around, you do a LOT of laundry. The cost of detergent is ridiculous so to save money, here is a great recipe to make your own for much much less.

6 cups Borax
6 cups Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA)
3 bars of bath soap.

Use a cheese grater and grate the bars of soap, then allow them to sit and dry out for a couple of days. Run the grated, dried soap through your food processor to pulverize it. You can also do the same with the borax and soda if you want it to be finer.

In a large container thoroughly mix all ingredients. When ready to do laundry use 1 tablespoon per load, 2 tablespoons if your load is really soiled.

To save on fabric softener expenses, get another large container with a lid. Use 1 part liquid softener to 8 parts water. Cut several sponges in half and place into the container to soak. When you're ready to throw your clothes into the dryer, squeeze the excess softener from the sponge and toss into the dryer. When your load is finished return the sponge to soak in the solution again.

You'll save MEGA bucks on this alone. Another tip, is to save all of your bar soap remnants for this task instead of buying new bars.