Birthday Treat Buckets-A Practical Alternative to "Goody Bags"

One of the fourteen treat buckets I made.

My baby did it.  She graduated out of the baby stage.  She's an official two year old! It's amazing how fast two years goes by.

Mariella

We had her birthday party at a wonderful place in Gainesville, GA called: INK. http://www.inkfun.org/ If you live nearby or are ever in the area, this is a wonderful place to bring kids!  Anyway, since her party was at a museum, of sorts, we didn't have a real "theme".  Mariella LOVES Minnie Mouse.  I think it's because we got her this incredibly soft, stuffed Minnie, when we went to Disney last time.

I wanted to cut vinyl Minnies and Mickeys on my Silhouette for the buckets, but that bad thing called, "Lack of Time", took control and I didn't get that done.  I also wanted to put hand crafted Minnie bows in the girls' buckets, but, well you know my excuse! (I will share pictures of those bows soon!)  So, I'll tell you what I did do.

Since she adores Minnie, I got her a Minnie themed birthday cake.  I tried to tie the treat buckets(I got at The Dollar Tree) into the theme.  Using my Silhouette, I cut the guests' names with the Disney font, Waltograph (it can be downloaded for free!). I used pink vinyl for the girls and blue for the boys.  I gave family treat buckets, as opposed to individual ones, simply because I ran out of time.

Each bucket had homemade Playdough in it. http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2011/01/easy-safe-not-as-messy-homemade.html I made five different colors.  Since we were at a museum that didn't serve or sell food, I worried that our guests would get hungry.  So, I put popcorn, fruit snacks, and rice krispy treats in the buckets as well.  I topped each bucket with coordinating tissue paper. Although they weren't exactly what I wanted, they were cute and the buckets can be used again and again! 

I'll admit, these treat buckets were a bit time consuming but I didn't send my friends home with a lot of junky stuff for their kids.  I also didn't spend a ton of money on them. I think the guests really liked them and I was happy with how they turned out. 

This is just another example of how you can turn something blah into tada with a little vinyl and a Silhouette!

Happy 2nd Birthday, My Sweet, Sweet Mariella!

 

An Easy, Safe, Not as Messy, Homemade Playdough!

My Homemade Playdough

Face it, Playdough is crumbly and I think it stinks! Of course, I'm SUPER sensitive to smells (hence the reason I don't want to set foot (or even drive thru McDonalds).

My friend Lesli shared this wonderful Playdough recipe with me.  She got it from her daughters' school.

Play Dough
1 ¼ cup flour
¼ cup salt
1 package of Kool Aid
1 cup boiling water
1 ½ Tablespoon oil
Mix dry ingredients. Mix liquid ingredients. Pour together in bowl. Knead into ball. Keep in Ziploc.

Of course, the color of Kool Aid dictates the color of your Playdough.  The only color that's a challenge to get is yellow.  I doubled the recipe, so I used two packs of yellow KoolAid and added a pack of orange KoolAid.  It was a close yellow.

I promise, this Playdough smells great.  If little hands put some in their mouths, no worries.  It will taste EXTREMELY salty but won't hurt them.  The oil keeps the Playdough from being crumbly. It's oh so soft. It lasts for months in a Ziploc bag. The best part is for about $5 you can make enough playdough for more than twenty kids!

"Happy Birthday", Welcome Mat-A Tutorial

What can you do with a door mat that cost $1?

This was so easy!
Materials Needed:
A doormat-I bought mine at IKEA for $1, seriously!  I bought a few so be on the lookout for some more mats.
Paint-I used fabric paint because I thought it would be more durable
A piece of chalk-any color that will show up on the mat
Paintbrushes

Step 1-Using your chalk, draw whatever images and words you'd like on your mat.

Step 2-Using your paint, paint over the images you drew.

I used paint that was easy to squirt out of the bottle so I could literally write with the paint.

For the balloons, I painted a thick ridge on the outside, but smoothed out the paint on the inside.

I like the dimension the outer ridge gives the balloon.

All four balloons are done.

Well, almost.  I had to paint in the strings.

As soon as the paint dries, I'll dust off the extra chalk, beneath the balloon strings, and set it out with the rest of the birthday decorations, to prepare for my baby's 2nd birthday on January 23rd.

I'm sort of guessing, you'll see a couple more of these doormats, in the future!

Menu Planning: Determining your Menu

Hopefully, you have followed my steps so far on Menu Planning (Setting up a Food Inventory, Making the most of your cookbooks,  and organizing your menu).  Now you are ready to determine your menu and then go shopping!

Using your basic food list, organized cookbooks, budget, grocery ads and a calendar or a fun Menu Board, let's determine this week's menu!

Determine your Menu

• Looking at a week at a time, choose a meal for each day.  Write these on your calendar or Menu Board.
• Don't forget to include side dishes, breads and dessert (if you choose). 
• If you have a day that is particular busy, make it a Crock-pot meal.
• Include a leftover meal if you don't use those up for lunches.
• Remember if the week gets hectic, switch meals around!

Here is my menu plan for this week:

Sunday:  Mom's Beef Barbecue on buns, leftover sides
Monday:  Grilled Kielbasa, seasoned noodles, green beans
Tuesday:  Henri's Crock-pot Beef Roast with mushrooms served on egg noodles, broccoli, homemade sourdough bread (rising as I write)
Wednesday:  BBQ Chicken Pizza leftovers from freezer (it's just the kids and I for dinner)
Thursday:  Chicken Fried Rice with peas & carrots mixed in
Friday:  Ham slice, macaroni and cheese, peas, cornbread
Saturday:  Easy Teriyaki Chicken with oriental vegetables and pineapple over rice

Go Grocery Shopping:

• Make your list and stick to it!  All those extras that aren't needed will bust your budget.  It is okay to buy items for stocking up, just make sure you plan on those before going!

Enjoy a week filled with meals that are planned and save you money!

I hope you enjoyed this series on menu planning.  Share your thoughts, tips and this week's menu!  We love hearing from our readers!   

Happy Menu Planning!

Menu Planning: Organizing your Menu

The cost of food is probably one of the most expensive items on your monthly budget.  You can drastically cut the cost of your food budget by Menu Planning.

Menu Planning should be fun and easy.  It is a chance to make your favorite foods or try out some new recipes.  If you take the steps I have provided (setting up a Food Inventory and making the most of your cookbooks), then the next steps will be an easy process.

Before we get started, grab some supplies:  paper, pencil or pen, calendar, your food inventory list, your recipe files and a couple of cookbooks.

If this is your first time organizing a menu, then I highly suggest you start with just one week.  Don't try to make a menu for the whole month.  It will seem like an insurmountable task.  Start small and go from there.

Basic Meal list

• On your paper, jot down basic meals that your family frequently eats, i.e (Spaghetti, grilled chicken, soups, etc).  Don't forget to include side dishes and desserts (if you like).  Having a list of basic meals will be your starting point.

Meeting your budget needs

• If you are on a tight budget, I suggest that you try to eat out of your food on hand.  This is where your Food Inventory can really come in handy.  Choose meals that use up as much of your pantry, refrigerator and freezer items.
• If money isn't an issue this month, stock up on items that you use frequently (cream of mushroom or chicken, soups, baking goods, rice, assortment of noodles, etc).  
• Buy in bulk.  I use a Foodsaver and buy my meats in bulk.  The Foodsaver helps me store my food flat in the freezer (huge space saver) and keep it fresh longer.
• Plan meals based on what is on sale.  Check the grocery ads before making your menu plan for the week.  This will save you money and allow you to stock up on inexpensive items.

Determine your food budget

• Look at your grocery bills from last month.  Add them all up and then divide them by 4.  You can estimate that cost per week for this month.
• Choose a set amount per week and stick to it!  Use cash, you will spend less and when the money is gone so is the opportunity to buy more that week.
• Reward yourself for going under your food budget.  If you have money leftover at the end of the week, you can put it towards next week,  use it for something fun like craft supplies or save up for something you want in the future.

Planning the menu

• Start small.  Just plan your dinners for one week.  If you need to plan breakfast and lunch meals add those the following week, after you've had a successful week.
• Utilize leftovers.  I put leftovers on the menu for at least one night or for a lunch. If you have enough for another meal, freeze it for another week's menu.  I group all our leftovers and make another meal of the combination.  This is a great meal for a busy day when you don't feel like cooking.  If you don't want another dinner of leftovers, use them up for lunch throughout the week. Putting leftovers in the garbage is throwing away your money!
• Don't be afraid to move around your meals throughout the week.  You aren't stuck making soup on Tuesday if it is a warmer day.  Switch it for another day.
• Plan ahead.  If you are making something that a meat needs to be thawed, put it in the refrigerator the night before or early in the morning.  Nothing deters cooking more than not having your supplies ready.
• Make a menu board.   You can write all your meals on this and it will be in an easy place to remind you.  Plus, it's just pretty! This can be hung on the wall or put in a pretty wrought iron holder. 
  
   
  On to Determining your Menu...

Healthy Eating is Living Green-A Guest Post

My cousin, Jennifer, writes a blog about living green: journeytoagreenlife.blogspot.com.  I am really impressed with all she's shared through her blog. Her blog includes great tips for living a healthier life.  I was especially interested in her post about green household cleaners.  They are safer and cheap!

I asked Jennifer if she would be willing to write a guest post for our site.  I know many of us our looking to make healthy changes as our New Year Resolutions.  Jennifer has offered some great suggestions to head us in the right direction. 

After reading this post, remember to head on over to journeytoagreenlife.blogspot.com to get more great suggestions!  Thanks again, Jennifer!

Shannon

Healthy Eating is Living Green, Recipes Included!!

I have been experimenting with only home cooked foods and I am going to share some of my ideas with you. My goal is to not buy anything in a package other than the staples and some hard to produce items.

I have been on a journey to living a more green life. In this journey I have begun changing the eating habits of my family. My interest is piqued any time there is a new health news report on foods or eating habits. Having a son with multiple food allergies has also raised my awareness of the ingredients in the prepackaged foods we purchase. I have found the only way to feed my family the best and control the exact ingredients in the food we eat is to make it myself.
My son Eli was allergic to dairy and soy for the first year and a half of his life (I say "was" because he has since outgrown the soy allergy). He is also allergic to eggs, nuts, and a few other foods. There was only one brand of frozen French baguette's that he could eat because they did not contain any dairy, egg, or soy. This began my "basic foods" home cooking. I started making my own pizza crusts, rolls, and bread so that Eli could enjoy some of what the rest of us were eating. I realized that it was not only easy to bake these basic foods myself but it really didn't take much time either. The taste was unbelievable! It is unnerving the amount of ingredients and preservatives that are in some basic foods such as bread and pizza dough. Anyways this started my experimenting and opened my eyes to some healthy alternatives to pre-packaged foods.

When I grocery shop I pretty much buy the basic staples and anything that I cannot create myself within a reasonable budget and time frame. Anything I buy prepackaged I always check the ingredients to make sure there are not lots of fillers or unneccessary ingredients. Here is a great site you can find info on all those hard to pronounce ingredients and what to look for and avoid:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/healthy-ingredients
Some of the things I have started making from scratch are tortillas, bread, waffles, pizza crusts, sweets like cookies and pies, and seasonings like chili and taco seasoning. My shopping lists usually consist of staples like flour, sugar, sunbutter, rice, meats, eggs, milk, spices, nuts and seeds and apple juice(this is something I have not found a way to produce better or more efficiently than the manufacturers). I try to buy my produce from local produce stands or farms to keep it green. I have found that in doing this my grocery bill has decreased and the amount of money we spend on eating out. These savings are a great way to buy some organic products that typically cost more.

My next big recipe will be making fresh cheeses. I haven't done so yet but my mindset is "if it can be done, I can do it myself". I am currently looking for somewhere to purchase unpasturized goats milk so that I can make some that the entire family can enjoy. Below you can find some of my recipes and try them out yourself. I do most of my baking dairy and egg free so you can always substitute real eggs and dairy where I use egg substitute and soy or rice milk. I have found that this way of cooking and preparing meals it great for a budget and your health. You will find you can be very satisfied with your meals and at the same time be consuming less calories and sodium than if you were using prepackaged foods or eating out and consuming no nitrates. I even sneak in fresh spinach in my brownies and anywhere else I can hide the vibrant color from my older kids. I always use fresh veggies as my fillers in homemade breads, sauces, soups, and even meatloaf. This is a great way to get picky kid to eat their share of veggies sometimes without even knowing:) Enjoy!

Fresh Salsa
3 fresh tomatoes
1/2 medium onion
1 green chili
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
Blend all ingredients in a food processor and serve

Homemade Hamburger Buns
2 tbsp dry active yeast
1 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg replacer
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 cup of fresh chopped spinach
Dissolve yeast in warm water, stir in oil and sugar - let stand 5 minutes. Add egg replacer, salt, white flour, and 1/2 cup of wheat flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking to your hands. Fold in spinach. Knead 5 minutes. Divide into 8 pieces, shape into a disc. Let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Turkey Chili
1 lb. ground turkey
1 green pepper chopped
1 onion chopped
1 zucchini chopped
1 yellow squash chopped
3 tomatoes chopped
1 can tomato paste (you can substitute tomato soup for a healthier option or homemade tomato sauce))
homemade chili seasoning to taste (recipe below)
Saute turkey and veggies in a dash of olive oil. When cooked thoroughly add tomatoes, and tomato sauce and season. Simmer for at least an hour to let all the flavors meld.


Homemade Chili Seasoning
1 tbsp paprika
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp seasoned pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Store in an airtight container and season chili to taste. You can double or triple the recipe to save on time and have a larger amount on hand.

Pizza Crust
1 cup warm water
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cups flour
1 pack quick rise yeast
Top with favorite pizza topping and bake at 425 until browned.

Zucchini Lime Carrot Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg substitute
1/2 tsp lime zest
Im a mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, sal, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another bowl combine sugar, shredded zucchini and carrots, olive oil, egg substitute, and lime zest and mix well. Add flour mixture and stir until combined.
Pour batter into a 8x4x2 inch loaf pan and bake at 350 for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Great for a healthy breakfast alternative to pancakes or poptarts.

We would like to thank Jennifer for sharing her wisdom and expertise.  If you have something you'd like to guest blog about, please let us know!

Menu Planning: Making the most of your cookbooks

The next step in your Menu Planning process is to make the most of your cookbooks.  I love cookbooks.  I have WAY too many.  I also love cooking magazines like Taste of Home, Simple and Delicious and Cook's Country.  These are fabulous for new recipes.

Don't have many cookbooks to choose from?  Utilize your local library!  I search their catalog and request cookbooks frequently.  Then I look through them and write down recipes I would like to try.  Cookbooks can be expensive and the library is free!

Cookbooks are a waste unless you are properly utilizing them!  Let me share with you how I make the most of my cookbooks.

1.  Grab a cookbook and some post-it notes.  I like using the longer post-it notes that are lined.
Here is the cookbook that I am using as an example, it is a great one for Southern Cooks.

2.  Now take a few minutes and go through the cookbook.  You don't need to linger on recipes, just browse each page.  Write down the page number and the name of a recipe you would like to try.
3.  Once you have a page filled, put the post-it note on the inside cover of your cookbook.

4.  Go through the entire cookbook and make a listing of all the recipes you would like to try.  Here is a picture of all my post-its.  This was a large cookbook so I had many recipes I wanted to try.  There are about 3-4 post-it pages on each of the front pages of this cookbook.

5.  When you are ready to try some new recipes, you can flip quickly through your post-it notes versus the entire cookbook.
6.  I highlight recipes I have tried and put a note beside them whether it was good, great or a keeper.  If I especially liked it (a keeper), I add it to my recipe files.  If I didn't like the recipe, I mark it out and I know not to try it again.

This process can take some time, but if you sit down and do a couple of cookbooks at a time or one a day, you can easily have all your cookbooks organized and ready to use!  While you are catching up on shows, grab a cookbook and make the most of your time.

I have three challenges for you:

• If you haven't already done so, make a food inventory.  See my post on this:  Menu Planning: Setting up a Food Inventory
• Go through your cookbooks and follow the process above.
• Take one cookbook and make some new meals out of it for the next month (or two, depending on the size of the cookbook).  You will enjoy the new meals and so will your family.  I am taking this challenge as well!

Tomorrow, I will share Menu Planning:  Organizing your menu.

Menu Planning: Setting up a Food Inventory

It's a new year and time to get your budgeting skills a fresh start. In the coming days and weeks, I will share with you how I make the most of our family's money through some simple techniques.

I'm a stay-at-home Mom of 3 kids and I am also married to a Youth Minister.  I must know how to budget or we would be in BIG trouble.  When anyone says that they couldn't possibly afford to stay home with their kids, I remind them what little we live on.  It's possible, but it requires sacrifice and lots of planning.

One of the easiest ways to save money and meet a tight budget is by planning your meals. There are many meal planning services out there. I have done one, but I wasn't impressed with the recipes.  If you plan your meals yourself, you will make meals your family likes and not have wasteful spending. I have some helpful tips to get you started on your way to easy Menu Planning.

Before you think of menu planning and your food budget, you need to take stock of what food items you have in the house. I call this my Food Inventory.

Setting up a Food Inventory
1.  Grab a piece of paper and head to your pantry.  This is a great time to reorganize if you need to.  I don't have a pantry closet, but just two free standing pantries.  I start listing all that I have in my pantry shelf by shelf.  Yes, this is tedious, but it will save you money by not purchasing items you already have in stock.

I am a computer person, so I have my Food Inventory on my stickies on my Mac.  Here is a picture of command central.

Here is a close up of what I list:

I do this for every shelf.
2.  Move to your refrigerator.  List all the essential ingredients you have on hand.  You don't need to list items you always keep in stock such as milk, eggs, butter, ketchup, mayo (unless you need to pick these up).  List the items that you can use up in recipes, such as, green peppers, celery, green onions, carrots, etc.
3.  Now go to your freezer.  List everything you have in your freezer.  I list all the vegetables I have, the quantities of each meat.  Side note:  I use a Food Saver (best thing ever) and buy my meats in bulk.  Therefore I list that I have 5 chicken or 6 ground beef.
4.  If you have a deep freezer, an additional refrigerator or other food storage area, list all your food items in each of those.
5.  I put my list on my stickies so that I can delete weekly or easily add items that I bring home for the store.  If you don't have stickies, you could put your list in a word document. 
6.  Each month or every two months, depending on how well I have kept up with my storage, I go back and update my Food Inventory by going through this process again.

Now you have your first task to complete.  Go take a Food Inventory of everything you have on hand.  Next we will make the most of your cookbooks!