Arm Warmers Made From Socks

My kids love Arm Warmers! They are probably the easiest and fastest thing I have ever made. I love that they allow my kids to wear their favorite short sleeve shirts all year long. They are also wonderful for these fall days when it is chilly in the morning, but warms up in the afternoon. My kids can leave for school with their arms covered and it is easy to strip off their Arm Warmers as the temperature goes up.

To make Arm Warmers you will need just a few supplies:
Needle
Thread
Scissors
A pair of Socks (To make warmers for children you will need a pair of adult size knee high socks. To make warmers for an adult you will need a pair of adult size thigh high socks)

 

Step One- Cut foot part of socks off, just above heel.

Step Two- Fold cut edge of sock tube over about 3/8 of an inch and whip stitch all the way around opening.

And they are ready to go!

Arm Warmers make a very thoughtful, handmade Christmas gift (hmmm, maybe a stocking stuffer idea?). The last few times I have been to Big Lots they have had 4 packs of Knee Highs for $5. That makes each pair of Arm Warmers $1.25 and they only take 15-20 minutes to whip up.

100 Calorie Chocolate Cupcakes

I always gain weight in the summer. Am I the only one this happens to? The lack of schedule and abundance of fun summery activities cause me to lose all track of what I am putting in my mouth. Uggghhh, it's horrible! Now that summer is over, I am on a mission to lose my summer weight plus some.

On a recent episode of The Biggest Loser, they featured cupcakes made by Curtis Stone that were only 100 calories. A very exciting prospect! I had to have them. I Googled it to find the recipe. Disappointment is what followed. The recipe was not simple and ALL of the reviews were terrible. The internet consensus was that these cupcakes were disgusting. I was undetoured and I Googled on... I'm so glad I did.

I found this awesome recipe on Medicinenet.com and it is fantastic. These cupcakes ring in at a super-duper 98 calories, and 1.8 g of fat. My kids ate them today for their after-school snack and had absolutely no idea that they were anything but typical cupcakes. When I informed them that the cupcakes were not bad for them they asked to have them EVERYDAY!

If you are going to try one recipe, this is the one. I'm going to be making these often!

100 Calorie Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

• 18.25-ounce box Devil's Food Cake Mix
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
• 5 large egg whites (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients (except powdered sugar) in a large mixing bowl. Blend with hand mixer for 2 minutes. Divide batter between 24 greased or paper lined cupcake tins. Bake for 17 minutes.  Once cooled dust with powdered sugar.

Ooey- Gooey Cake Mix Recipe

Do yourself a favor... make this recipe! ( didn't say it would be a favor to your waistband, but oh my goodness, the deliciousness)

A few months ago, cake mixes were on a major sale. I felt compelled to stock up, adding these to my food storage supply... then they went on sale even cheaper! I ended up with over 20 boxes of cake mix in my pantry. After buying all of the mixes it occurred to me that at most I make 5-6 birthday cakes a year, and I'm not really too fond of cake, so I started to think creatively. This is what was created:

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter/margarine, melted
• 1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
• 1.5-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (additional)
  
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter and cake mix in large bowl. Mix with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over bottom of 15x10" cookie sheet pan and press. Sprinkle with 1.5-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips and almonds. In microwave melt milk chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in 20 second intervals until melted. Pour milk mixture evenly over pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Hair Detangler Spray

This is so easy and works so well, even my six year old was impressed. Recently, we ran out of store-bought hair detangler spray and I decided to make my own. I made my homemade version right in my empty bottle, however this could also be done in a dollar store spray bottle just as well. To mix Detangler Spray in this 10 oz bottle I combined 2 oz. of regular, super cheapo conditioner with tap water and shook it up. (Told you it was easy!)

It works perfect in my daughters hair and does not cause any greasiness. It works every bit as well as the store-bought stuff and the snarls come right out. No need to have morning drama over getting the tangles out, this takes care of the problem and makes hair smooth, soft and shiny to boot.

Cheesy Pigs In a Blanket Recipe

This is a super easy recipe that you can have on the table in less than 30 minutes. I like that, especially when I really want to make something for my family, but I have procrastinated it all day.


Cheesy Pigs in a Blanket Recipe
2 cups flour
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 TBS butter cut into small pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk
8 hot dogs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Cut butter into mixture. Mix in cheese and buttermilk and knead to achieve smooth dough consistency. Roll dough out on floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into approximately 6"x4" squares. Wrap each square of dough around a hot dog and place on well greased baking sheet with seam down. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown.


This is a real kid pleaser. And really, who doesn't love pigs in a blanket? This is a great, cheap way to make them without needing the overpriced and unhealthy canned biscuits.

Enjoy!

The 5 Minute Solution

Our home has changed! We have changed five minutes at a time. This is the greatest parenting discovery since 'Head to Toe Baby Wash.'

I got so frustrated with harping on my kids to clean their room. I nagged and bugged and usually ended up going in and doing the cleaning myself. My kids are all tidy children who enjoy an organized living environment, the problem was that by simply telling them to go clean their room they were extremely over-whelmed. They didn't have a clue about where to begin, they were also depressed about the prospect of spending a large chunk of time on the chore.

The Solution: Every morning and every evening I set a digital kitchen timer for 5 minutes. I tell the kids they have 5 minutes to clean their room. I loudly announce "On your marks, get set... GO!" and start the timer. They rush into their rooms and clean until they hear the timer go off. It is a small amount of time, over before they have a chance to get bored. I tell them that they must find something to clean. If their room is already tidy then they can straighten books on the shelves, clean out their sock drawer or organize their toys.

We have been setting the timer now for over a month. Their room looks fantastic ALL THE TIME! I am never worried when they ask if their friends can come in to play. When I go in, to clean their room, once a week, I need to do little more than dust and a quick vacuum. They have also not complained about cleaning time, ever! Can you believe that? Not one complaint in over a month! I love this system!

I also think that cleaning for 5 minutes, twice a day is establishing a great routine and habit for the rest of their lives.

If you are frustrated by kid clutter, try 5 minute cleaning intervals. It might take a few days to get the room as clean as you'd like, but it will happen. And best of all, it will stay clean!

Cool Like That...

Almost every one of my most favorite Bloggers has made one. I decided I needed to jump on the bandwagon and become a part of the cool club.

With a trip to the thrift store to get a candle stick, a wooden appetizer tray and a cake stand dome I was on my way.

I especially love that my tray is complete with a cool trivet so I can set my hot pots on it at dinner time.

Yeah, now I'm feeling cool!

How to dust a ceiling fan

After a long summer of hot weather and ceiling fans running non-stop, I was horrified when I finally gave them a rest last week. The amount of dust that had accumulated over the summer was embarrassing. I can't believe that dust bunnies hadn't begun to spontaneously fly around the room.

Time to get them clean!

For the first time this was a chore I didn't dread. The reason was, I have a new trick for dusting ceiling fans. I used an old pillowcase. I got it damp, wrung it out really well, and covered and wiped one blade at a time with the case.

All of the yucky dirt was trapped inside the pillow case and wasn't falling off in chunks in my face or landing on my white couch below. It worked like a charm and I had the fans cleaned in only a few minutes.

Oh, oh, oh... it's MAGIC!

You may have notice that when I gave you my list of recipes, the recipe for Yellow Squash Puree Mac n Cheese (which I got from Everyday Food Storage) includes an ingredient called Magic Mix. Oh, how I LOVE Magic Mix. It is probably the greatest thing to happen to my kitchen since peanut butter. I keep Magic Mix in my refrigerator at all times and use it in so many ways.


Magic Mix Recipe
2 1/3 cups powdered milk
1 cup white flour
1 cup butter at room temperature
Mix ingredients in food processor until they have the consistency of corn meal. Store in an air tight container in your refrigerator. ( I have stored mine for up to 3 months with absolutely no quality issues)

Besides using this in the mac n cheese recipe, Magic Mix is good for any white sauce you make. It is the only way I make sausage gravy for my fantastic biscuit recipe.

To make a white sauce simply mix 2/3 cup Magic Mix with 1 cup of water and stir constantly over medium heat until boiling. It will thicken nicely and your gravies will have absolutely NO lumps. You can add cheese to this, or sausage, or a little cream cheese for an Alfredo sauce. The possibilities are limitless. I also really like making Magic Mix Pudding.

Magic Mix Pudding Recipe
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup Magic Mix
2-3 Tbs Cocoa (optional)
2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla

Combine first 4 ingredients over medium heat until it bubbles. Remove from heat and beat in vanilla. Chill in refrigerator.

This is a yummy cooked pudding with a fantastic pudding skin on the top. Never fear, if you are one of those (and I just don't understand this) who don't like the skin, you can cover it with plastic wrap as it cools and there will be little to no pudding skin.

Check out this site for some additional Magic Mix ideas!

Feed Your Family For Less Than $30 Per Week- Part 2

Step two of my plan to feed my family on less than $30 per week was to start laying it out on a calendar. Plan out which days I would cook which meals. I opened up blank calendar templates for six weeks and began plugging meals in. I focused on trying to get a well rounded week. I didn't want to have chicken three times in a row or make pizza the same week I make spaghetti. I also plotted out my plans for breakfasts. I decided that I would make 4 different breakfasts each week and on the 5th morning it would be mom's choice. The 4 breakfasts will repeat week after week.

Here is my six week meal plan.

Knoedel Recipe

I say Kanoodle, you say knoedel... let's call the whole thing off!

In an effort to broaden our families culinary horizons I stumbled into the world of Knoedels.

Knoedel is an Austrian dish of pure comfort and merriment. By definition, they are big, round, poached or boiled dumplings made without yeast. By taste they are hot, moist, yumminess floating in delicious broth.

I found many recipes for Knoedels made out of potatoes, but I didn't have any potatoes on hand. Then I found a recipe for Knoedels made out of Cream of Wheat. Yeah, Cream of Wheat, like the yummy hot cereal that we love so much in winter time. Also known as Farina (C of W) Knoedels. I browsed over the recipe (cream of wheat... good, butter... good, eggs... good!) and decided that there was nothing not to like and oh boy, was I ever right!

The easy, peasy recipe:
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
1 cup cream of wheat

Mix together butter (just slightly softened) and 2 eggs. Add salt and slowly stir in Cream of Wheat. Shape into small teaspoon sized balls(they will triple in size when cooked). Drop all balls into boiling water at the same time. Boil uncovered for 2 minutes then remove from heat and cover for 15 minutes... don't peek at them durning this time. After the 15 minutes remove dumplings from hot water and add them to 1 quart (32 oz) of hot broth (chicken, veggie, ham, beef). Serve hot and enjoy.
These have become a staple in our house. They require easy ingredients that are always in my pantry and they are quick and easy.

These are fantastic when you are sick, easy when you don't have many ingredients on hand and a wonderful "memory" food for the kids.

Feed Your Family For Less Than $30 Per Week

I have been working very hard on a project that I'm so excited about! I have been working for the last week to organize a food plan for my family. I have compiled recipes, planned meals, prepared a shopping list and purchased 18 weeks worth of food.

This alone might not sound monumental. Oh, but it is! The most exciting part of this is that I have created a plan to feed my family good, nutritious, and delicious home-cooked meals for the next four and a half months and all of the food to do it cost me less than $500. When the grocery bills were all calculated, I was amazed at the incredibly low total. 

All of the recipes that I have planned are tried and true family favorites. I focused on meals that are super easy and fast... and of course we have to have Deep Dish Pizza a few times too! I cook 4-5 dinners per week for my family, we usually eat out or have some other plans once a week and we eat leftovers 1-2 nights per week. I also planned breakfasts (no more cold, sugary cereal) and bought lunch fixin's for the kiddos.

Because I am so excited about my recipes, menu and shopping totals, I have decided to share all of my hard work with you. Feel free to follow my meal plan, or use bits and pieces of it to lower your food bills and build your food storage.

Since this is such a big project, it will take me a few days to share and explain. Please, use the link below to access the collection of dinner recipes that I have compiled.


Recipe Collection

Some of these recipes have been shared before at The Common Cents Home, others are new, but all are fantastic. In the coming days I will be going into more detail about some of the new recipes. I will also share my calendar, shopping lists and tricks.

After this, I will NEVER look at meal planning the same way again!

Removing Grease Stains

Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding? The main character's dad uses Windex to cure every ailment and problem the family has. When I was growing up my dad was a little like that, but his cure of choice was Paint Thinner. It seemed like every stain or issue we had, paint thinner was the answer. The main thing he used it for was removing grease stains, both from carpet and clothing. It works great! That stain in the picture was very old, in fact it had been there since we moved into our house. I have used vinegar and steam cleaned over it multiple times. It is in an out of sight location so I haven't ever gotten around to ridding the carpet of it once and for all, until yesterday. I decided it was time.

I got out the trusty Paint Thinner and poured a generous amount on an old rag. It takes a good amount of scrubbing at the spot, but that stubborn grease stain came out of there in less than 3 minutes.

See! Gone! (I left that little spot right by the can in tact just so that you would know this was the same area of carpet and there was no "tom-foolery" involved.) The Paint Thinner removed an old, old grease stain in less than three minutes! The great part about this remedy is that it works on most clothing, too. Next time, you get grease on your pants from the car door, or your bicycle chain, you don't have to throw them out. Try Paint Thinner when all else has failed!

Cooking a Perfect Ear of Corn

 

I was looking for a definitive answer on how to cook the world's greatest corn on the cob. Googling the question brought me a million different answers. I had no idea who to believe or which method to start with. Then it occurred to me, what do you do when you want to cook the best sweet corn? You ask someone who really knows about sweet corn. Well, where do they really know about sweet corn? Iowa, of course! So that is exactly what I did. I went to the source of the matter. I got myself a lesson from a good friend of mine who grew up in Iowa. And let me tell you something, it was the most worthwhile lesson I have ever gotten.

Not only is this method fast and super easy. I have now repeated the method about a dozen times and had perfect, delicious, kernel popping, sweet corn each time! I was surprised at how easy it is to get a perfectly cooked ear of corn. Want to know the insider secrets? Alright, here it is...

-Husk corn and remove silk
-Bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove. You want to have enough room and water for your ears of corn to float freely in the pot.
-Carefully, drop corn into boiling water (unfortunately, this is a warning from experience.)
-Cover with lid and boil for exactly 6 minutes.
-At the end of six minutes your corn should have a strong corn smell and the color will have deepened.

That's it! Perfect corn every time!

*One last fantastic insider tip. If you get a batch of corn that isn't as sweet as you would like, add a little sugar to the boiling water before dropping in the corn. It'll sweeten your ears right up.

The Great Big Unexpected Kitchen Redo

Once upon a time...

My kitchen looked a little something like this.

When we moved into our house three years ago, we quickly painted the yellow cabinets white and the yellow walls sage green. And then we went about our merry way for the next three years. Until, last month, when I decided this kitchen just wasn't "floating my boat" anymore. So, I sent my hubs and the kiddos away for a weekend and painted my laminate counter tops. (I know we've already talked about that little adventure, and how happy I was with the results, but really that is where this whole story begins!) After painting the counter tops, this is what I ended up with:

It looked great. I was in love with my new counter tops. But a new situation arose in the process. Check it out:

While prepping my counter tops, I had to remove some old yucky caulk that was between the laminate and the wall. This also removed a chunk of the wall. ... That's ok, I really wanted a back-splash anyway. So, while I was away my husband tackled that project. He put bead board up for me. It looked fantastic! (sorry no pictures) I loved it so much. But the new counter tops and pretty white back splash made my cabinets look just a little dingy, well ok, they looked A LOT dingy! I suggested that we lightly sand them and give them a fresh coat of paint. The husband agreed. While we were at it, he wanted to replace the hinges because they looked like this:

yuckiness!

We took all of the cabinets down and got out the electric sander. As soon as we started layers of paint began peeling off! Oh, NO! Sanding was clearly NOT going to work. We discussed and decided that the better route might be to try to strip the cabinets. I ran to the local hardware store, bought a can of stripper and was excited to watch the paint start bubbling away. It was like a really cool high school chemistry demonstration. I was thinking this was going to work. However, after three strips, there was still paint on the cabinets. They looked a little something like this:

There was much-too-much paint left on there to simply paint over. The surface was rough and yucky (I seem to be using that word a lot in conjunction with my old kitchen.) We discussed the amount of time and stripper it would take to remove all of the layers of paint, and decided that it would be a lot of work and money and we probably still wouldn't be happy with the out-come.

Time to explore other options! Our cabinets had routered edges. We needed to figure out a way to re-face the cabinets, and make the edges work. More bead board, here we come! I sanded down all of the cabinet edges as much as possible to make them smooth while my husband cut trim pieces and bead board. We used Liquid Nails to attach the bead board to the cabinets and drawers.

And more Liquid Nails to attach trim around each one. We used masking tape to hold them together while the Liquid Nails "set." We literally had tape holding our whole kitchen together.

Since we had brand new faces on our cabinets, why not replace the handles? My husband has always hated the old ones and now we could get any size we wanted since there was no concern over matching up old screw holes. I went for the brushed nickle small sash pulls.

What had started so small and simple, quickly snowballed into a giant four day project, (My husband was pretty sure I was trying to kill him when I selected the handles that had 4 screws EACH in them) but I could not be more thrilled with the outcome! The entire project (including the counter tops) came in at about $200, and gave us a whole new look.

 And she cooked Happily Ever After!

Wait a minute! Did someone say something about a new tile floor?!?

...and the kitchen saga continues...

Homemade Deep Dish Pizza

Have you ever tried to make pizza at home and thought "ehhh, it's not as good as the pizzeria, but it's not bad for homemade pizza"? I've done that so many times! And then I tried this recipe, this isn't just good for homemade pizza, it is some of the best pizza I've ever eaten! It is fantastic and so cheap to make at home. My family gets really excited on pizza night when I tell them that I'm making deep dish pizza. I'll be honest, this isn't a fast recipe but it is worth the time and really it doesn't require too much hands on work, you just need to allow for "rising" time.

I came across this recipe over at The Frugal Girl and it has become a regular on my dinner rotation.

Deep Dish Pizza Recipe
1 medium potato
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
3 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup warm water
6 Tbs vegetable oil
1 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 jar Spaghetti Sauce
1 lb mozzarella cheese grated
meat and veggie pizza toppings as desired

-Peel and quarter potato and boil in small saucepan for 10 minutes until fork tender. Once cooled grate potato using large holes on box grater. Measure out 1 cup of grated potato.

-Mix 3 cups flour, yeast, and salt in large mixing bowl. Slowly add warm water and 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Begin kneading until water seems incorporated, then add 1 cup grated potato and knead an additional 3 minutes; adding more flour as needed to achieve good dough consistency.

-Cover and allow to rise in a warm location for 1 hour

-Pour 2 Tbs of vegetable oil each into two 9 inch round cake pans. Divide dough in half, press into roughly 9 inch round shapes and place in each pan. Press them out in pan to fill evenly.

- Cover dough and allow to rise for 30 minutes while preheating oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees with pizza stone on bottom rack of oven.

-After the 30 minute rise, poke the crusts all over with a fork. Place the pans on the pizza stone in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

-Top crust with Spahgetti sauce, cheese and toppings. Move the pizza stone to upper shelf, return the pans to the oven and continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes.

-Remove from oven, allow to cool and slice. Close your eyes and imagine you are at Round Table pizza, it's that good!

I have learned to allow 2 1/2 hours for the preparation of this pizza. I realize it requires some advance planning, but believe me, it is worth the effort! (Thanks Frugal Girl for a favorite recipe.)

Chalk it up- DIY Chalkboard

Do your kids come and ask you 30 times a day "What's for dinner?" I got so tired of answering, the same question, that I decided to make a cute and easy little chalkboard.

I picked up an old cupboard door at ReStore for under $2. I painted the outside green and the inside with chalkboard paint (can be found at your craft store, or in spray paint form at your hardware store). There was already one hole in the door for a knob pull, but I decided to drill a second hole and use to vintage reproduction knobs I had to make apron hangers. I love having my aprons in plain view, they are cute and now I don't forget to put them on. The board is hung with the biggest 3M wall hangers I could find. Once I was done, I decided that my chalkboard was looking just a little too plain... it needed some cute writing on it. Obviously, I've seen the vinyl letter rage that is everywhere, but I hadn't yet participated in vinyl lettering in any way. I knew that vinyl letters were exactly what this project was needing.

It was Holli's Hobbies to the rescue. I sent Holli an email telling her about my project and giving her a rough idea of what I was looking for. She was absolutely wonderful to work with. Holli made suggestions, interpreted my mish-mash of thoughts and created the EXACT signage I was dreaming of. Her prices were incredibly reasonable and she was fast... both at responding and delivering. I couldn't be more happy with my letters. I love how it turned out so much I may be hooked on Vinyl letters.

My entire custom board cost about $10 and my son thinks that having "what's for dinner?" up there for him to check anytime he wants is one of the best ideas I've ever had.

Favorite Things Friday- Veggie Peeler

I. don't normally pay a bit of attention to name brands. Usually, if it isn't on my Wal-Mart shelf, I don't even know about it. I tend to steer toward the cheapest price and sometimes skimp on quality in the process. But there are a few key things that experience has taught me are a priority and I am willing to spend a little more. Sometimes, I accidentally cross paths with an item of superior quality and then it is like angels singing in my ear and I can't live without them. That's what happened about 15 years ago when I first used a Pampered Chef Veggie Peeler. I fell in love!
Even though I was not yet married and still lived in an apartment full of roommates, I bought myself one of those peelers. I hid it from my roommates and pulled it out only when I was in the kitchen cooking. I have had that very same peeler all this time. It has not rusted or dulled one bit in almost 15 years. I love it as much now as I did when I first splurged on it. My peeler has seen me through pounds and pounds of carrots and potatoes and on occasion a cucumber or two.

Now, the irony of this is that when I went to write this post I visited the Pampered Chef web site to borrow a photo of their peeler and it was only then that I realized that these fantastic peelers aren't expensive at all! In fact, you can buy a new one for $6.50. That is a bargain! With the added cost appeal, the Pampered Chef Vegetable Peeler qualifies as a Favorite Thing, now even more than I previously believed.