Healthy Food-Raisin Spice Cookies

I finally got up the courage to try my first sweet baked goods with all whole food ingredients. I prayed a lot while deciding on a recipe to try as well as during the whole process. I don't know why I was so nervous about this-maybe I'm afraid one bad experience will send us back to wanting all junk food again, I don't know.:-) It is dangerous territory to mess with one's favorite sweet treats.:-)

I decided to go with a recipe that already called for healthy ingredients and wait until I am more comfortable with using these ingredients to change some of our favorite recipes. I chose a Snickerdoodles recipe which looking back was kind of a silly decision, since the sucanat I was using for the sweetener is so dark, there was absolutely no way I could pass a dark colored cookie off as a snickerdoodle or sugar cookie that is traditionally white or very light-colored.:-)

The recipe already called for cinnamon and since the sucanat has a more molasses-type flavor, I added a handful of raisins and a small amount of ginger and re-named them as Raisin Spice Cookies. Although a fragile cookie, they taste really quite good-not too sweet. My husband likes them.:-) (Yes, he knows what's in them too. We try to be upfront and honest about those things around here.)

I chose this recipe from the little booklet, Healthy Cookies. Next time, I will probably try something with honey as the sweetener and hopefully, I'll start to get a feel on what ingredients work the best for us.

I'm very thankful for God's help in this healthy cooking endeavor! This small success gives me confidence to go on to the next thing!

A Family Tradition-Making Hungarian Pastries

At Christmas this year, my mother-in-law taught me how to make kiffles(pronounced kee-flee), a Hungarian pastry. This is a family tradition for them as my husband's family is Hungarian.(If you know our last name, you probably wondered where it came from-now you know!)

A kiffle is made of a rich dough that is rolled out and then filled with a walnut filling. Also used is a prune filling called lekvar. Apricot filling can also be used. After baking and cooling, these are sprinkled with powdered sugar.


Although, it is not that difficult to make kiffles, they are quite time-consuming. It is a 2-day process, consisting of making the dough, rolling it into little balls and refrigerating it overnight the first day. The second day is when you make the filling, roll the balls of dough into circles, fill and bake them. My mother-in-law made dozens and dozens of these for our dessert reception at our wedding a little over 2 years ago. I now have a greater appreciation for her hard work!:-)
None of these pictures show the kiffles sprinkled with powdered sugar, so just imagine them covered with white for the finished product.:-)

These are so yummy! They are my husband's favorite and I like them pretty well, too!

This link provides more information on kiffles. I was surprised, however,when googling this, to find that all the recipes are a little different and the pictures of the pastries in the link look nothing like our kiffles! There are a lot of variations to this pastry.

I was tickled to learn how to make these and excited to be able to add this tradition to my own family in the years to come!

Homemade Corndogs

Here is a picture of the homemade corndogs I made a couple of weeks ago! The picture is blurry but you can still see generally how they look. I used Alton Brown's recipe for these, which was easy to follow.

This was one of my attempts to learn something new by using ingredients that I already had on hand. (I didn't add the jalapeno peppers, but they were fine without.) Next time I will have more hotdogs on hand to use up the leftover batter, since there was a lot of extra. This time I made "fritters" out of it.

These turned out really tasty. My husband loved these! Of course, these are not a healthy recipe with the frying and all, so I won't be fixing these often. But you should at least try them once. It's really fun to "make your own" convenience foods at home!

Healthy Food-Homemade Granola and Healthy Food Changes

About this time last year, I was thinking a lot about making changes in our family's diet particularly from using refined flours and sugars to more whole grains and natural sweeteners. Looking back, I don't feel like I made that big of a dent in such a large goal. But then I got to thinking about the changes we have made in our eating and then I realized that a change such as this requires a lot of time and baby steps.

The changes we have made so far include:

• Eating brown rice instead of white rice.
• Using organic peanut butter instead of the very artificial over-sweet variety.
• Incorporating more bean-based meals into our diet.
  
• Gradually increasing the amount of whole wheat flour in my homemade bread.(I will be focusing more on this in the months to come!)
• Making almost a complete change from regular refined pasta to whole-grain pasta. (The brands we have tried are surprisingly very tasty and more filling so we don't eat as much!)
• Switching from margarine to real butter.

Wow! I didn't do so bad after all!

I have no plans of going completely 'crunchy" but I feel very strongly that God wants me to prepare as healthy of food as possible for my family. So far, I am focusing on doable changes that are financially and regionally possible.

This past week, I made some healthy granola that uses all natural products(no refined sugars). This recipe came from The Family Homestead. I made half of a batch to try it out and it makes a lot! In the future I will probably make a whole batch, especially if I have enough air-tight containers to keep it fresh. I was really concerned as to whether my husband would eat it as it doesn't have that nice sweet taste at first. I added raisins and some dried cranberries and I think that helped. But he loved it and so did I! So this will be the granola recipe that I will be using from now on...or until I find another that I like better.LOL!!!

Works For Me Wednesday-Keep Those Mayo Jar Lids!

I love using Mason jars for storing dry goods, leftovers and MYO mixes. But I had trouble with using the lids(top and ring) and keeping things fresh.

My solution- keep the lids off the plastic mayo jars. They fit the regular mouth jars perfectly! And they can be used again and again!

For more great Works For Me ideas, please visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Christmas Wrapping Inventory

*Blogger wouldn't let me post pictures of my organizing venture on this post for whatever reason, so you can view them below in the following post!

I tackled and organized my gift wrap box on Wednesday.It was actually a great time to do this with Christmas right around the corner. I could take inventory of my stock while I was already going through everything!

I had been keeping everything together in one gigantic Rubbermaid box, leftover from moving 2 years ago. I probably used it because it was long enough for rolls of gift wrap to lay flat. It was also big enough to keep my all-occasion and Christmas wrapping supplies together, resulting in a constant huge mess as it was very hard to keep organized. This box also takes up a lot of space!

In easy steps, here is how I went about organizing all of this.

1)Took everything out of box. This is especially fun if you have a toddler close by to help!

2)Sorted Christmas stuff into one pile and all-occasion wrappings into another.

3)One pile at a time, I sorted things by category. Such as ribbons and bows, tissue paper, gift bags, gift boxes, wrapping paper.

4) Determined I had way too much all-occasion supplies, so took a moment to declutter. I came up with a big gift bag full of gift bags and a gallon ziploc bag full of misc. bows and ribbons that I never use. What helped me to decide what I didn't need here was to think back to the types of gifts I normally give through-out the year. I realized that I mostly give container gifts, so that minimizes the use of gift wrap and gift bags.

5)Re-organized my all-occasion supplies. Wow! They all fit in one small box. What a concept!

6)Next, I tackled the Christmas pile. I know I will use most of this stuff, so I didn't declutter. I just organized! I have plenty of gift wrap, gift boxes and bags and ribbon to easily get me through this holiday season as well as the next, probably!

7)Put items I needed on my shopping list. All I need to buy is scotch tape and white tissue paper.

8)Put organized groups into containers for storage. Found a tall and narrow box for rolls of gift wrap to stand in and used a small square box for gift bags and boxes, as well as folded gift wrap and sheets of sticky tags. I took out an old Christmas bag to use for storing tissue paper and ribbons and bows. I'm going for functionality here and not aesthetics! This will work well to have out during the Christmas season.

9)Write reminder on shopping list to look at Rubbermaid gift wrap storage boxes. I've seen some tall ones that may work better than what I had been using. It would be nice at some point to have it all in containers with lids. Readers-feel free to let me know in the comments what works for you!

10)Sit back and enjoy! By doing this, I am putting myself in the mood to start wrapping my gifts. But of course, that will mess everything back up...:-)

Christmas Wrappings Organizing Pics

*Blogger wouldn't let me load these pics onto the above post, so here they are in a separate post!
Here is how I had it all "organized" before!


My big pile of stuff to sort out!


All-occasion gift wrappings all in one small box!


Christmas gift wrap supplies all organized!

The Farmer And Adele

We dressed up as the Farmer and Adele(say it fast and see if you can figure it out!)for our church's fall costume party last weekend.

We were forced into creativity with our costumes as I refuse to spend big bucks on dress-up outfits. I had everything I needed for my farmer's wife costume- a denim skirt, white vintage-type blouse, vintage apron and straw hat which I decorated with a couple fall silk flowers I had around the house. I bought my husband the cowboy hat(I could not find a regular farmer's straw hat anywhere!)on clearance for $3.24 at Target. It wasn't a bad deal; it would come in handy should he decide to take up ranching.

I made a blue ribbon out of cardstock and markers that read "#1 Farmer- Outstanding in My Field" for him to wear. He came up with the whole Farmer and Adele idea. There is no end to the puns and wisecracks around this house!

I also carried a basket lined with a cloth napkin as part of my outfit. It also doubled as candy basket for the kids who played my game.

For my game, I cleaned out a pumpkin and made a couple of bean bags for a Pumpkin Bean Bag Toss. Other games and activities included decorating a bag, cookie decorating, a cake walk, What's In The Box?(a mystery sensory activity), and Eating Donuts on a String, a variation of Bobbing for Apples. We also had some fun fall treats for refreshments.

We all enjoyed the evening so much, even though it had to be moved inside because of pouring down rain. We were thankful that the host family had a very large home for the event!

A Visit With My Nephew

My little nephew Knox came to visit for a few days last week. This was his first overnight trip away from his parents. He was very brave and we enjoyed having him here for several days. It is so much fun being an auntie!

Knox loves balls! He also looks so cute sitting in there!

Is it an ogre? No, it's a Knoxster wearing Shrek ears!

Auntie Mary Ann reading Knox his favorite book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.We wouldn't have survived those few days without it!

Blessings

Isn't it great that God knows our needs and takes care of them?

I've been going through my winter clothes and trying to get some semblance of a fall and winter wardobe going. It's hard to know what to wear during these months down here in South Carolina. It can be long sleeve and sweater weather one day and shorts and t-shirt the next!

But I have noticed that my winter clothing isn't in the best of shape. I only have a couple of long sleeve shirts and some look pretty bad. So I knew I would have to replace them some time soon. I asked God to help me find the right clothes at the right price, since He always knows about those things better than me. I hadn't thought any more about it until a friend brought a small bag of clothes to me at church today. Some I won't be able to wear, but at the bottom of the bag were two long sleeve shirts that will be perfect for fall and winter. The great thing is that I already have a shirt of the exact same style in different colors, so I already know that they will fit right and be modest.

As for the right price...who can argue with FREE!!

God also answers prayer and works through our own stupidity. Here's an example:

Over Labor Day weekend, Eckerds had a special going along with the Pepsi Company where you could buy 4 -12 packs of select Pepsi products for $10. The ad included a rebate form to send in to receive a rebate of $10. So I would get 4 packs of drinks for free. Not bad, huh?

Well, unfortunately, Eckerds sometimes misrepresents their sale items and gets things mixed up. Their ad pictured Aquafina water bottles as part of the deal, but the fine print on the rebate form didn't mention Aquafina as one of the qualifying products.

Well, I didn't read the fine print and purchased 3 12-packs of Aquafina and 1 Sierra Mist, since we drink very little carbonated beverages and almost nothing with caffeine.

I cut off the UPC symbols and sent the rebate form in, all the while feeling like a frugal and smart little homemaker. Then I read this post and realized that I had made a mistake by not reading the fine print. I was sickened to think I had just spent $10 that I wouldn't have spent otherwise and I felt like I had wasted some money. My husband helped me to calm down and look at the situation as a learning experience and I was thankful that it was only $10 and not $20.:-)

I also prayed about it and asked God to work it out however He thought was best. Then I put it out of my mind and only thought about it as a reminder to always read the fine print!

So imagine my surprise last week when I received a $10 rebate check from the Pepsi company! I certainly wasn't expecting anything and I was taking full responsibility for the error. I am thankful that God worked it out this way and you can be sure that I will continue to read the fine print and only submit rebates for items that I am assured are the ones that the rebate is for.

Just thought I'd share two little praise stories from my life this week! Thank you, God for your faithful provision!

25 Ways I Save

I saw this over at Like Merchant's Ships. Here are some ways that I am able to save money:
25 Ways I Save
1. Cook primarily from scratch.
2. Drink water almost exclusively; very few juices or soda beverages.
3. Shop with a list. And discipline myself to stick to that list!(Sometimes harder than others.)
4. Plan menus.(This helps me to make my shopping lists.)
5. Plan my errands for one trip. This saves gas, time and money. I don't like to shop all that well anyways, and if I am doing a whole mornings worth of errands, I am more ready to get my business done and head home!
6. Stay at home a lot!
7. Use what I have to cook or create crafts.
8. Pray before, during and after I shop.
9. Cultivate a contented spirit.
10. Take time to use coupons and rebates. This way, I get a bunch of stuff for free!
11.Buy basic clothes that I can mix and match.
12. Shop at thrift stores and yard sales.
13. Have a list for thrift stores and yard sales.
14. Limit my thrift store and yard sale shopping!!! (Are you with me here?!!!?)
15. Use the envelope system for budgeting. You can see where all your money goes.
16. Pay with cash. Cash is harder to part with than money you can't see. When the cash is gone, you need to wait to make a purchase.
17. Spend less than $2 a pound for most meats by watching the sales and marked down shelves.
18. Stay in tune with my needs vs. my wants.
19. Make some of my own cleaners.
20. Limit use of disposables.
21. Budget a certain amount of money for Christmas each month. This helps me to shop all year for gifts, saving me money and time when I can think more clearly, as opposed to the hectic holiday season.
22.Use less laundry soap than called for. I haven't noticed a difference in how clean the clothes are.
23. Keep a well-stocked pantry and freezer. Sometimes, it may take a little creative thinking, but I can usually come up with an edible meal without going to the store or ordering a pizza.
24.Being willing to branch out and research new frugal ideas and not being afraid to learn new skills that will benefit my family as well as improve our quality of life and budget.
25. Looking at our frugal lifestyle as a fun, rewarding and challenging hobby rather than having a "pity me" attitude.

Works For Me Wednesday-Kitchen Clean-Up Tip

Once again, it is Wednesday and time to share something that works for me! I love to cook, but the clean-up is another totally different subject.I am a really messy cook!

I especially hate cleaning up pancake and waffle batter. You know how it always drip, drip, drips on the counter and everywhere when pouring it on to the griddle or waffle iron? I used to use a regular wet rag to wash it up, but really hated how slimy, nasty and generally disgusting the rag would look and feel when I was done. So now, I just lay out a piece of wax paper under the mixing bowl of batter. When making waffles, I put out a huge piece of wax paper to put both the batter and the waffle iron on to catch all the drips. When done cooking, all I have to do is lift up the paper and toss it. This goes against my normal reluctance to use a lot of disposables, but it's so easy and definitely works for me!

Thanks again to Shannon for hosting Works For Me Wednesday!

Previous WFMW Posts:
Flu and Cold Season Preparation
Sewing tip
Have birthday cards ready
Menu Planning
Stamps in your mailbox
Stir Fry tips
Keep Aldi Bags In Your Car
Sacred Space and Bible Basket
MYO Mixes
Organize Receipts and Bills
Remember Your Tithe Check

Frugal Fridays- Cheap Toddler Toys

Thanks to Crystal at Biblical Womanhood for once again hosting Frugal Fridays!

When I first started doing some in-home childcare about a year ago, I didn't have very many toys or money to buy them.

Drawing from my experience as an Early Childhood major as well as using some common sense, I began looking around my house for items that the babies could play with. As I've been able, I've supplemented my toy basket with some nice classic toys from yard sales as well as a good selection of wonderful board books that were almost all purchased for a quarter each. (One day I sat down and figured out that buying all these books brand-new would be well over $100!) I also keep a good supply of basic art supplies handy such as crayons, used computer paper, markers, play dough, water color paints, etc.

I've found that the kids like playing with my homemade toys or the recyclables better than the store-bought toys! The basic items tend to keep their attention longer than the battery operated stuff they have at home.

I hate clutter, so I continually am cleaning out the toys and sorting to only keep one basket full of stuff in my living room. My living room is too small to have lots of toys all over! I rotate the toys in and out every month or so and that helps to keep interest up.

Here are some cheap things that I've found that the toddlers like:
~oatmeal containers
~any plastic container with a lid
~orange juice concentrate lids(I decorated these with a sticker on each and cut a slit in a coffee can for an inexpensive but fun, "Kerplunk" game. Remember it's toddlers we're talking about here!)
~laundry detergent scoops-wash these well and keep in your outdoor bag for sand and water play
~boxes- Aldi boxes work well as well as bigger boxes, especially when you have someone to push you around in your "train".:-)
~food boxes-these usually last a short while, then they get cluttery and I recycle them:-)
~wooden spoons and other non-dangerous utensils
~ tin or aluminum pie plates
~water bottles-clean and dry them then add colorful objects such as jingle bells, ribbon, shells, beads or colored water. Be sure to hot glue the lid on or only give a tightly shut one to a small child that you know is not able to open it yet. (Use your common sense with this because of the potential choking hazard and consider the age of your child.)
~measuring cups and other plastic kitchen items-I use these while cooking. It keeps them occupied as well as close by where I can see them and interact with them.
~diaper wipe boxes-fill with scarves or tie scarves together for child to reach in and keep pulling out.

Hope this gives someone some great frugal toy ideas. Let me know of any more you've used or thought of!

Children don't need expensive toys to learn or to be happy. Little ones love having a caring adult close by to sing, talk, play and include them in their daily activities.

Check out Crystal's blog for more great Frugal Friday tips!

A Sweet-Smelling Home

This time of year, as the weather turns a little cooler, and thoughts turn to the coziness of fall and winter, I start to make a real effort to make sure my home smells nice and sweet. Now, I do like my home to smell good all year round, but for fall and winter there is just something nice and cozy about the home smelling as though I've been baking!

A sweet-smelling home is one where family and friends will want to be! I love being at home when my house smells nice! For some reason, it just makes me feel more domestic. Our friends have commented on the nice homey smells in the house and how comforting it is to them.

A cute little story that tells of the power of fragrance is about a little girl from our church. About a year ago, she and her father stopped by unexpectedly one afternoon to get something from my husband. It so happened that I was baking some pumpkin muffins while they were here. The following Sunday, her mom commented how her little girl said that she wanted to live at Miss Mary Ann's house because it smelled so nice, like living in a gingerbread house! I share this story with you, not because my house always smells yummy-it doesn't- but to encourage you to make your home one that has smells that draw people, especially your family, in and make them want to stay!

Here are some ideas:
~Candles- I bought a pumpkin pie scented candle at Wal-Mart this week. It smells great and was very inexpensive. There are lots of food scented and other homey scents out there to choose from.

~ Simmer a potful of cinnamon sticks, orange peel, whole cloves, even apple slices in water. Keep adding water as needed. Just remember to turn the stove off if you are leaving the house!

~Add some spices(even kitchen spices that are old) to the vacuum cleaner bag.

~Set out a bowl of potpourri.

~Bake something special for your family. This won't only make your house smell yummy, but make your loved ones feel very special as they eat a fresh-baked treat.

~Sprinkle a carpet deodorizer/powder on the carpet before vacuuming. Glade makes some very nice scents. My favorite for year-round use is Fresh Linen. The dollar stores carry these too and they don't cost much at all.

~Keep your trash emptied! This will help a lot!We all have dirty diapers, food scraps and other garbage that contributes a less than pleasant odor to our homes. Emptying the trash every day or every other day(depending on your own family) and cleaning the trashcans on a somewhat regular basis will help this problem tremendously.

What are some ways you use to make your home smell sweet and nice?

Works For Me Wednesday-Sewing Tip

Here's a simple little tip for those of you who sew. I was finding that it was taking me so long to cut something out with all the pinning and such, so I looked around to see what kind of weights I could use. Big heavy magnets were the key! I put them around the edge of the fabric I'm cutting and it is quick and easy and works great! No more dealing with little pins! And they can be conveniently stored and used on my refrigerator when I'm not sewing.

Note: This doesn't work well with small items; the magnets get in the way and move around too much. So I use pins for the little things I'm cutting out. But this is a real time-saver for large pieces!

Be sure to check out Rocks in my dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas!

$1.59 Jacket

Several years ago, my mom gave my husband a brand-new jacket (uni-sex)that had been given to her and was too big. It fit him perfectly. The only problem was that her name was embroidered on it and unfortunately, mom and dear hubby don't share a name. And for some weird reaon, he didn't want to wear a coat with a woman's name on it(can't imagine why!!!).

Taking out the embroidery would have been quite time-consuming and most likely would've looked pretty bad by the time I was done. So we found an iron-on applique at the fabric store that fit over the name and I sewed it on over it.(I didn't iron it on because of potentially damaging the fabric.) It literally took me a minute to complete and Voila! he has a brand-new jacket for winter that only cost me about $1.59.

Too bad it only took me 3 years to get this simple project done.

Frugal Fridays-Yard Sale Cash

I love going to yard sales and I often find many useful items and gifts, as well as occasionally finding a few items to sell on Ebay.

As we all know, even shopping at yard sales costs money. And money is often scarce, right? But the great thing is that you can get so much for so little at yard sales. I have found that the only way to have some spending money for yard saling season is to save my change. We use the envelope system for our budgeting and at the end of each month, I carefully empty all the change into my yard sale change purses(one for quarters, one for nickels and dimes, and the heavy one is loaded with pennies-graduated size cosmetic bags that fit into each other; there is even room for dollar bills, but we don't usually have very many of those left!LOL!!!)

When we leave the house on Saturday morning to go treasure-hunting, I grab my change purse and my money is all right there. This also helps us to keep our spending in check and to choose our purchases carefully. Having a change purse helps to keep me in good favor with the sellers as I am not making a 50 cent purchase and asking them to give me change for a $20 dollar bill at 8 am. Having my change handy also immediately identifies me as an avid yard saler.:-) I have stopped using pennies for more than 10 or 25 cent purchases, much to the relief of my husband, who thinks pennies are made to be rolled, not counted out into dollar increments while he waits, embarrassed!!:-)

I will sometimes dip into another budget category to buy a bigger ticket item, such as a Christmas gift or piece of furniture that we have had on our list to buy. But otherwise, keeping my change for yard sales has really worked for us!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Be sure to check out Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday tips!

Works For Me Wednesday-Flu And Cold Season Preparation

Now is the time of year where I start to prepare for the flu and cold season by stocking up on "sick supplies". I try to keep regular cold and flu remedies on hand throughout the year, but as the seasons change, I am reminded to take note of what I have and what I need more of. Having these items on hand will hopefully eliminate those late night and early morning emergency trips to Wal-Mart as well as making it easier to get well if I am the one who gets sick.

Here is a list of what I keep on hand throughout the winter:

In the medicine cabinet:
-Tylenol
-Pepto-bismol
-Immodium
-Cold and Allergy meds
-extra asthma meds for me
-Vitamin C
-Echninacea
-Zinc
-Vaseline(for chapped lips and peeling noses)
-working thermometer

In the kitchen:
-Ginger Ale or 7-up
-Chicken Noodle Soup (also ingredients to make my own)
-Saltine crackers
-variety of juices-Orange, Grapefruit, Cranberry
-Jello
-lots of water, of course!:-)

In the house:
-Kleenex
-extra sheets and blankets(just in case!:-)

Be sure to visit Rocks In My Dryer for more great ideas and tips!

Washing My Shower Curtain Liner

My shower curtain liner always gets all gunky and nasty with mildew and soap scum. A while back I read a WFMW tip that said to throw it in the wash machine with bleach to wash. I washed it this way last week and then hung it in the bathroom to dry and it worked great! It was so much nicer than my previous way of dragging it outside and scrubbing and hosing down, etc. (I used cold water and a gentle and shorter cycle for this.)It came out all white and shiny with no stains in sight!

I don't have any idea whose blog I saw this tip on, but it was a really good tip-one I will be using often!

I thought I would pass this along!

Frugal Fridays- More Ground Beef

This is a very simple tip, one that some of you might already know about. But for the rest of us....:-)

I buy the 5 pound rolls of ground beef at Wal-Mart. I used to always cut them into 1 pound chunks to freeze in ziploc bags. Now I cut the roll into 6 pieces instead of 5. We get at least one more meal out of the roll and when mixed into soups or casseroles, we never miss the extra meat!

Another way to stretch the meat is to add a spoonful or two of browned ground beef to a freezer container every time you cook some. After a couple of weeks, you will have enough for another recipe.

These are just little ways that I'm able to stretch our grocery dollars a little further!

Thanks to Crystal at Biblical Womanhood for graciously hosting Frugal Fridays! Be sure to check out her blog for links to more frugal tips. You are also invited to join in the fun!