Pinecone Ornaments

Make homemade pine cone ornaments for little or no cost. My kids collected pine cones from a friends yard and we used leftover gold spray paint, glitter, a glue pen and some ribbon and raffia I had left over from previous Christmas's. So easy and the kids loved making them. Can't wait to see them hanging on the tree.

From the Pantry Cheese and Noodles

These noodles are so easy to make and I almost always have the ingredients in the pantry and fridge for them. They are great for lunch or a side dish and they don't take any longer than a box of mac and cheese.


Cheese and Noodles

spaghetti noodles for for broke in half
splash of olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti noodles according to directions on package (I always add a splash of olive oil to mine to prevent the noodles from sticking). While spaghetti noddles cook place butter in small sauce pan over med/low heat and let melt. Add flour to melted butter, whisk together and let sit over heat for a minute. While whisking slowly add milk to the mixture whisking vigorously to prevent lumps. Add salt and pepper. Keep mixture over heat until it thickens into a sauce stirring frequently. Test to see if it is done by placing a spoon in mixture and pulling it out, if the sauce coats the spoon without sliding off then it is done. Add cheeses to sauce and whisk together. Pour on top of spaghetti noodles and toss, serves about 4.

Baby Its COLD Outside!

Wow it is really cold and windy here and expecting showers tomorrow. This cold weather makes me in the mood for warm yummy foods to keep us cozy in our house. 3 things I'm making to warm our bodies inside and out hot cocoa, bread pudding, and Creamy veggie soup, all my recipes and they are so yummy.

Hot Cocoa (so easy, but so satisfying)

6 cups of milk
3 tablespoons of cocoa
1/2 cup sugar

Add all ingredients in large pot and heat up slowly and gently, stirring often with a whisk. Do not allow milk to come to full boil. After heated through serve in mugs topped with whipped cream or marsh mellows.

Over the months I like to save the heels of our loaves of bread. I just stick them in the freezer and when I need bread for bread pudding, stuffing, or breading all I have to do is pull the bread out that I need and let it defrost for about half an hour. I consider it a free ingredient.

Bread Pudding

5 cups of bread torn into small bite size pieces
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8X8 pan and add bread crumbs to it. In a mixing bowl add the eggs and sugar, whisk together until well incorporated. Add spices and vanilla, mix well.
Well whisking egg and sugar mixture slowly add in the milk. Pour over top of bread being sure to wet all the bread with the custard mixture. Use the back of a spoon or your hands to press the bread down into the pan to make sure the bread has contact with the custard mixture. Place in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool, but serve warm if desired, which is my family's favorite. We also serve it with a mixture of milk, nutmeg, and sugar poured over the top.

Creamy Veggie Soup

1/2 half cups cauliflower florets
2 medium potatoes
1/2 cup of leeks (cleaned)
3 large carrots or 4-5 small
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
6 cups of chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk
1-1 1/2 cups of cooked chicken in chunks
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut cauliflower, potatoes, leeks, and carrots into pieces of the same sizes. Place on sheet pan. Toss veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30 minutes, mixing the veggies at least once during roasting time.
In large pot bring to simmer chicken broth/stock. Add veggies to the broth once roasting is complete. In either blender or food processor begin to add veggies and broth with ladle. Only fill the container 1/4 of the way so there are no spills or explosions due to heat expansion. Process until smooth or almost smooth depending on how chunky you like it. Ladle into a separate pot. Continue until all broth and veggies have been blended. Turn low heat under blended soup. Add milk, stir till blended, then add chicken chunks, heat through, salt and pepper to taste.

Keep your kids entertained

The lazy days of summer are about at an end and I don't know about you, but the closer summer comes to an end the more antsy my kids become. Here are some suggestions to help keep your kids entertained without breaking the bank or their spirit.

1) Take your kids on nightly walks or morning walks. Just a time during the day when the weather has cooled enough to enjoy being outside. My kids love walking the different streets of our neighborhood. Their favorite thing is to admire gardens of houses we walk by.

2) The dollar theater...if you area has one, use it :) Our theater has everyday $1.50 per person or my favorite 75C Monday. Our whole family gets in for $3.00!!! Air Conditioned and entertainment and it keeps the kids entertained for a few hours.

3) The best free source in my opinion is the library. My kids and I can spend at least a couple of hours in the library browsing the selections. Also, most libraries have craft days or theme programs and shows at least once a week for kids. Check out books and now you have some quiet time each day while your little ones read and look through their treasures they got to pick out themselves.

4) Have them create a nature craft. The cost: glue and googly eyes, just use imagination. Have your kids go and find branches leaves, rocks, anything that catches their eyes. Then when all is collected they can build little people or animals with the glue, attach the eyes and you have one fun creation your kids are bound to love. We did this when went camping and talk about entertained kids! They loved it. See the picture of two my girls did.

5) Join a mommie's group or a parents group. This is such a great resource. Play dates are always being arranged in these groups. Not only do your kids get to socialize, but you do as well. What a great opportunity to meet other people in your area. Check facebook and meetup.com to look for groups in your area.

Who needs IHOP?

I have been on a pancake kick lately and have been coming up with some really fun pancake creations I thought I would share. These pancakes are easy and fun to make. I just use the very simple just add water pancake mixes, that's right, no from scratch recipe here. This is actually a great way to get your kids involved in making breakfast too. Here are some fun and fantastic pancake creations.

Regular pancakes with fruit toppings. (great summer time breakfast treat because all the fruits are in season or use frozen when they aren't).
Pick a fruit and cut it into bite size pieces (strawberries, peaches, apples, blueberries, raspberries to name a few) . Place in a sauce pan, add 3 table spoons of water and 3 table spoons of sugar to each cup of fruit you use. Turn heat on med/low and let simmer until fruit breaks apart and a syrup has begun to form. Add more water if needed as the mixture simmers. Serve over warm pancakes. Add whip cream if desired.
***Tip if your sauce is too thin, add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 3 tablespoons of water, mix and then simmer with your fruit mixture. Should thicken right up.

Pancake add ins:
Blueberries. Mix your pancakes per directions on box and add a couple handfuls of fresh or frozen blueberries. Cook as usual. Caution, frozen blueberries may turn your pancakes blue, but still tastes great!

Chocolate chips. Add the chocolate chips to the prepared batter and cook as usual.

Cinnamon apple chunks. Cut apple into very fine pieces add to prepared batter, sprinkle in some cinnamon and cook as usual.

Peanut Butter and Jelly. Add a few table of peanut butter to batter and then check consistency of the batter, add water to thin it out if needed. After batter is the correct consistency swirl in your favorite jam. drop a few teaspoons in and swirl in with a knife. So pretty when they are done.

Pumpkin. Use a can of plain pumpkin mix. Add about 1/2 a cup to 4 servings of powdered batter and then add water till consistency is correct. Sprinkle in tsp cinnamon, pinch of cloves, and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg. Cook as usual.

Claire's blueberry/chocolate chip pancakes. Add in blueberries and chocolate chips to your batter, its like desert!

Have any pancake ideas you would like to share? Feel free to comment!

"Go Green" and Clean with what You Already Have - Cheaply

These days everyone is looking for ways to be environmentally friendly. Here are some of my favorite tips to clean with everyday things you have around the house with everyday products you already have. You can see a lot of ads on TV for all those environmentally friendly cleaning products but why pay out the extra money when you can use these items for a fourth of the cost?

* For dusting skip the expensive polish and use a micro-fiber mitt. I know that you may not have this yet, but once you buy it, it will pay for itself within a few months because you won't be using all that polish you were using before. After you use it just toss it in the wash for the next use. I'll even dampen it if I have a lot of dust to pick up. My favorite is Flylady's http://flylady.net/pages/FlyShop_d_duster.asp and it is only about $10.

* To clean windows put the vinegar that is already in your pantry into a spray bottle, spray, and wipe off with microfiber towels or newspaper. I buy vinegar buy the gallon, love the stuff!

* Use the same spray bottle with vinegar in it and attack that bathroom. It works fantastically in the shower and around the sink area. Spray, let it set for a minute, wipe it off and rinse.

* Have a tough cooked on stain on the stove? 1 part bleach to 5 parts water in a spray bottle. Spray over stain and then sprinkle baking soda over it. Let it set a couple of minutes. Use a washcloth to lightly scrub off. This won't scratch up your surface and to me works just as well as those harsh chemicals you can buy. You might need to repeat, but I'm telling you it really works. I am always fighting those yucky stains around my burners on my stove.

* Do you have tile floors? I do and when I was pregnant I would wash them with cleaners and they would make my floors so slippery. After slipping a couple of times when I was seven months pregnant, I came up with this solution. Add about 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol to your warm mop water, no other cleaning products needed. The rubbing alcohol sanitizes my floors and prevents them from getting that slipperiness that I was having problems with. And my floors look great too.

* Do you have a piece of clothing that has a smell you can't get out? Add a cup of vinegar to the wash along with detergent and wash as normal. This really helps. You might need to repeat, but the smell should come out after a couple of washes. You can also add vinegar straight to a potty spot from an animal to help get the smell out. Just add, let set for a few minutes, then blot it up.

I can tell you these items are so much cheaper than buying the factory made cleaning products and the work so well, why spend the money? Leave a comment if you have any suggestions or natural cleaning tips.

Pamper Yourself!

Here are five ideas to pamper yourself, in a hurry (if need be), easily, and definitely on a budget.

1. Stick your favorite face lotion/cream in the fridge. On a day you've had too much sun or just want something soothing, apply the cold lotion on your face. It feels sooooo good, I should know, I just did it!

2. Take 10 for yourself. Soak your feet in water, add epsom salt if you wish. Then wash your feet with a foot scrub, it moisturizes and sloughs off some of that dead skin we have a tendency to get on our summer feet. You can get foot scrubs at the dollar store.

3. Download your most relaxing music onto itunes, don't have it? Its free to download and you don't have to have an ipod to use it, just listen off your computer after you download your cds. Make a folder labeled RELAX. When stress is at its best steal 15 minutes to yourself and listen to your relaxing music with your eyes closed. Turn it up to block out the kids!

4. Stash your own little guilty pleasure such as little Dove chocolates or some dark chocolate, you know what you love. When things are hectic and you need to slow down find a quiet corner and take a minute to indulge in one of your little treats with your eyes closed and focus only on the taste in your mouth.

5. Buy yourself a little inexpensive bouquet of flowers next time you are at the grocery store, or if you happen to have flowers growing in your yard hand cut some and put them in a vase. Place them somewhere you will see whenever you walk through the livingroom. They'll make you smile when you see them. Who doesn't love flowers?

There are lots of little things we can do for ourselves that we normally don't think to do. Why because we are moms and life goes so quickly we barely make time to "smell the roses." While I wouldn't trade my life for anything, I do know that I need to try and recharge my batteries even if that means 2 minutes at a time.
If you have any fun ideas to pamper yourself that are fast and budget friendly please post a comment!