Homeschooling Preschoolers

I know that not all of you are homeschooling.  I also realize that not all of you have preschoolers.  But I wanted to post this anyway, because homeschooling preschoolers is pretty fun stuff.  Pass this link on to anyone who might fit the bill.

When my first Fish Sticks were preschool age, I went all out.  I had just quit teaching not long before and I was ready to get back in gear.  I spent countless hours of fun (for me at least) preparing lesson plans and coordinating our snack and craft to go with our letter of the week and all kind of craziness.

Nowadays preschool does not take priority in our homeschool day.  1st grade does.  BUT I still want to teach my preschooler his letters (without letting PBS or Disney do all the fun stuff) and let him have some fun memories at the same time.  If you are not a mom desiring to homeschool, don't worry.  This is easy stuff that anyone can do.  It doesn't take long either.  Call it crafts, not homeschooling if it makes you feel less pressure.  :)

So for today's post, I'm just going through what I do weekly to teach the letter of the week. 

 

Monday I introduce the letter and use the Letter People song and coloring sheet.  These are ancient - like from the 1970's or something but they are tried and true.  I'm sure there's other things out there on the market but this is what we have.  Vowels are girls.  Consonants are boys.  Mrs. A says "AHHH - choo!"  Mr. B has beautiful buttons.  Mr. C has cotton candy.  Mr. D. has delicious donuts and so on.

Wednesday I draw a block letter on construction paper and we glue something on the letter that starts with that letter.  E for egg shells.

 M for macaroni

 P for popcorn

 Some letters can be tricky like Q.  We used question mark stickers from my scrapbooking days.

 Friday we do a craft on a sheet of construction paper for that letter.  These are the favorite because instead of hanging them all over the walls with tape or thumb tacks, I strung yarn across the school room walls near the ceiling and tape the art on it in order.  The kids love looking at it.

 Most of these I just made up but a few of them were xeroxed pictures we cut and glued together like the dog and Eskimo.

 If you are not an artist in any shape or form, you could easily print something off of the internet.

 My first grader loves art so I let her do one too.  We usually do this when my youngest is napping.

 Think 3D when you plan your craft.  Fabric scraps, yarn, tissue paper, pipe cleaners....get the idea?

 I think the monkey is one of my favorites because Little Man (age 5) has his beloved Monk Moo blankie with monkey head so when we did the letter M he insisted on us making a Monk Moo.  I had no clue how to craft a monkey so I sketched his face and made this pattern.  It's a perfect likeness of good ole Monk Moo.

We are on letter V right now and I didn't take photos for the rest of the letters, but let me know if you want to see or if you wanted me to list what we glued on each block letter on Wednesdays.  I'd be happy to share.  You can also check out www.letteroftheweek.com where a mom has posted detailed lesson plans for pre-K and kindergarten.  I used her "curriculum" in my first years as a homeschool mom.  She lists books from the library to read, Bible stories that coordinate, nursery rhymes, snack ideas, etc.  Good stuff.  Also www.dltk-kids.com is a great place to find any printables on any topic for kids or crafts.  I've used it for years!

See??  Not much time.  Lots of fun using supplies most moms keep on hand.  It only takes 20-30 minutes 3 times a week.  Turn off Barney and make the memories with your kiddos!  Save Barney for that long road trip.  :)

Grocery Store Stock Up

Like I mentioned before, I don't usually coupon much at the grocery stores, mainly because the foods are usually processed and I try to keep down the processed food intake in our house.  I'm not an extremist and so you will occasionally find Fruit Loops or Ramen noodles in the pantry if I have gotten a really good deal on them.

I went to Harris Teeter today because they had a big 10 for $10 sale going on like Kroger regularly runs.  Some of them had coupon match ups so it was worth my money to stock up on things.  Even without a coupon, it seemed a good time to stock up. 

For the groceries in the picture, my grand total was $48.88.  I got $64.35 VIC savings - meaning the Harris Teeter sale prices.  I got an additional $86.95 savings just from coupons this go round. 

Here's my breakdown:

2 Sargento sliced cheese - with coupon 99 cents each
6 Cool Whip - with coupon 49 cents each
3 Karo Corn Syrup - with coupon 70 cents each
3 McCormick food coloring - with coupon FREE
1 Bertolli Pasta Sauce  - with coupon 22 cents
1 Krunchers Kettle Chips - with coupon 89 cents
2 Marshmallow cream - 97 cents each (BOGO)
6 Maruchan Yakisoba - with coupon 19 cents each
6  Theatre Box candy - with coupon 25 cents each (great for Easter baskets!)
5 Pillsbury Cake mix - $1 each
5 Kraft BBQ sauce - $1 each
5 Harris Teeter ketchup - $1 each
5 Harris Teeter cereal - $1 each
2 Harris Teeter cereal - 87 cents each
2 Kraft Mayo - with coupon $2.25 each
7 Harris Teeter storage bags (various sizes) - $1 each

Faithful Provisions does not post Harris Teeter weekly deals unless they are having super double coupons but I occasionally check Southern Savers since HT is the closest grocery to me.  Because Southern Savers is not in TN, sometimes the coupon match ups that she posts are not ones that I have.  If you don't mind that inconvenience, it's worth checking into the deals.

April's Menu Planning

Well I told you that I would let you in on my April Menu Plan and here it is.

Years ago I found a web site called Mom Advice.  I don't even remember who told me about it, maybe my own mom, but it had a detailed explanation about how to shop at Aldi.  At the time, we didn't even have an Aldi close by but after reading about it, I began taking an occasional trip to Dickson (30 minutes away) to have the wonderful shopping experience of Aldi.

Aldi reminded me of the Cold Storage grocery store that I shopped at while living in Singapore for 2 years.  Cold Storage was the size of a gas station convenience store.  There were about 5 aisle of food and a small wall of the fridge/freezer section.  Shopping there was so simple.  There were 10 kinds of cereals to choose from, only one ketchup and mustard brand, and all the produce was reasonably priced.  Upon re-entering the great USA, shopping was an overwhelming experience for me.  What?  We really produce green ketchup?  Why are there 98 kinds of cereals to choose from??  Adjusting back was all part of my reverse culture shock.

So when I discovered Aldi, it was bit of Singapore for me, minus the dried shrimp paste, beancurd and aubergines.  It's simple and I love it.  I'm in and out of there in no time.  Thankfully we now have an Aldi close by and the manager, Jesse, knows me by name!

Back to my menu planning....Amy at Mom Advice wrote up 2 monthly meal plans shopping only at Aldi.  These 2 consisted of 15-18 supper menus (including side dishes) and about 3 snacks.  She includes a shopping list with price break down also.  At the time she wrote these, the grocery list totaled $150!!!!!!!!!!  Now prices have gone up considerably since then, even at Aldi, but the prices still beat most all other competitors.  Her meals are good, other than a few of the cream soup/sour cream/cheesey meals that don't do much for healthy eating, but they are not in excess. I have printed and used these 2 monthly meal plans probably 1-2 times each per year since discovering them.  Some of the recipes are our favorites!

She also did another month meal plan for crock pots and another called "Living out of your Pantry."  This month, I am doing the Living out of your Pantry meal plan for our family.  It consists of 16 meals.  I have printed off her grocery list, menu (which includes links to other sites for the recipe) and have put them in a binder that I reuse.

So there's my best kept secret, now shared with you.  Go to Mom Advice and clink on Food on the bottom of the home page to see what meal plans you can print out to make your shopping and cooking experience simple and yummy, not to mention within a budget!

Wisdom from my Kitchen Window

Deals This Week

 CVS

 I only got a few things this week at CVS.  Sorry I didn't take a photo before I put my goods where they belong.  I got a bag of jelly beans for free (no coupon, just ECBs), 2 single serving Mars chocolate peanut butter Easter eggs for free and I made $1 with a coupon, and 2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste for free (with coupon and ECBs).  I planned on getting 3 Schick Hydro Silk Razors for $1.99 each but had to get a rain check on those because they were out.  Total:  Just paid tax and made $1.

Walgreens

At Walgreens this week I got 2 boxes of U by Kotex for $1 each after coupons and Register Rewards, 2 Colgate toothbrushes for 50 cents each after coupons and RR, and Mentholatum Pain Relief gel for 99 cents after RR.  Total:  $4 before tax

Kroger

Kroger had some good sales this week on their 10 for $10 items.  I purchased 5 Colgate toothpastes, 5 Colgate toothbrushes and had a coupon from the mail for a free Kroger peanut butter.  Grand total after coupons:  $1.75

The toothpastes and toothbrushes will be great giveaways for those in need!  They also have Ivory Body Wash for $1 each and there is a 35 cent off coupon in the Proctor and Gamble coupon booklet from 3/4.  Kroger will double that so it will only cost 30 cents each.  I had 3 of those coupons but Kroger was out of them.  I will check back tomorrow at a different Kroger that we pass on the way to a baseball game.

If you are interested in catching these deals there is a $1 off Colgate toothbrush and toothpaste coupon from 3/11 in Smart Source.  It specifies what type of brush and paste but I found that it worked for the ones on sale this week.  Also there is another set of coupons from this past Sunday's paper in Smart Source for 40 cents off the toothbrush and 75 cents off the toothpaste.  I used a combination of these to score the deals above.  The Kotex coupon was also in this past Sunday's paper.

Shh - Don't Tell

 Remember I told you I have an overabundance of squash in my freezer with very few squash eaters?  Shh - don't tell but today I'm sneaking it into our Sausage Beef Spaghetti.  I cooked it well, put it in the food processor.

 Added a can of tomato paste, a couple jars of my homemade canned spaghetti sauce.

Added the browned meat and stirred. I think it's pretty well hidden.  What do you think?  Now, can I get away with it?  We'll see....

Update since writing this post....Good news.  I pulled it off.  The Fish Sticks AND My Man LOVED supper and several Fish Sticks said "I want this for my birthday!".  SCORE!!

Microwave Herbed Oyster Crackers

 Baseball is in full swing for us right now.  That means that many days I am picking up the Fish Sticks and heading straight to a baseball game.  Within minutes of loading up in the car, snacks are requested.  Herbed Oyster crackers have always been a favorite of ours.  I get a bag of oyster crackers at Aldi for 99 cents and the rest of the ingredients I keep on hand.

This week it dawned on me to try to do these in the microwave like I do the caramel popcorn.  I mixed up the ingredients in a paper lunch sack.  Tossed it well.  Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Shook it up really good.  Cooked it for another 30 seconds and let it cool on the counter in the sack.  Poured it in a ziploc bag as we headed out the door with a cooler of water bottles.  Perfect!!  Cheap and Easy!

 Herbed Oyster Crackers
1 bag oyster crackers (16 oz.)
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dill weed
1 package (or 2 Tb.) dry Ranch dressing

Announcement Board

 I am a calendar girl.  In my family growing up we all had a Daytimer book - filled with every bit of information we might ever need to record and recall.  We all relied on our books so much that we nick-named them our "Brain."  (My Man says I have stunted my short term memory by training myself to have to write everything down.)  Once paper started becoming outdated, we all tried moving our Brains into a handheld Palm.  It was a painful move to make and many of us didn't last with it but went right back to our paper Brains.

Over the years I had changed and tweeked my Brain.  One day I plan on sharing with you my Home Management notebook.  I am a big fan of Google calendar and I'll save that one for another post too.  And My Man got me an iPhone for Christmas and I'm wondering what I ever did without it.  But sometimes when you are managing a house full of kids, it's best to just write something out and post it.

So Sunday nights are my nights for organizing our week for all to see.  It's the announcement board of the home.  I write our schedule out on a great little wipe-off board I found at Dollar Tree.  I just copy it off my Google calendar so my son can see when his baseball games are and his orthodontist appointment, my daughter can remember her speech therapy and they all won't wake up this coming Friday a.m. dressed in their school uniforms because they forgot that it's the first day of spring break.

Then I write out our menu for the week.  This is always subject to change at my discretion, but it's a general outline of what I might be fixing.

The Fish Sticks just like to see what the plan is for the week and I find that it helps me also in getting glances throughout the day just in case I'm not on top of my iPhone reminders or Google calendar.

Houses just run better when there's order.

Beware of Mushy

Years ago when I began my love affair with my crock pot, I quickly learned that the recipes that called for rice turned out pretty gooey and yucky.

As you know, I have been cooking in my crock pot for this month from Fix-It and Forget-It cookbook.  They have been great meals and it's been so nice to throw them together early in the day and avoid the pre-supper rushing around during homework time.

Tonight my recipe was a chicken rice with broccoli.  I decided to switch the recipe up a bit and actually cook the rice in the broth with the chicken instead of adding cooked rice like the recipe said.  I kept an eye on it for 2 hours on low and then added the other ingredients according to the recipe.

I'd love to tell you that all was wonderful with fluffy, white rice instead of mush, but as you can see in the photo, we had some mush.  I even had a Fish Stick call it gooey, another one mushy and another one soggy.  *SIGH*

So my idea didn't exactly cure the rice in the crock pot problem.  I will say that it was less mushy than it would have been if I had followed the recipe and I will also add that it still tasted pretty good.

So there's my warning if you have never used rice in your crock pot.  DON'T!  The only remedy that might work is to add the cooked rice in the last hour on LOW.  I just might give it a try and let you know how it goes.

And BTW, I worked on my meal plan for April - just getting a week ahead of myself - and I can't wait to share some great information that you will LOVE if you like having a meal plan but don't have the time or desire to work on one.  I'll try to give you time too to plan it for April yourself.  I bet you'll love it as much as I do!

BIG Deals this Week!

 I got an awesome deal today at CVS.  These great slippers are regularly $14.99 and they were 90% off.  I paid $1.49 for each one.  I got 13 pairs.  I got a variety of brown and black, men and women's and different sizes.  They would make great gifts, after we take what we can use now.  I bought some last year that were not the croc style but the style in the middle of the photo and we loved them.  The soles are thick and solid and stand up for occasional outdoor wear.

 At Harris Teeter beginning today is Triple Coupons (up to 99 cents).  Remember at HT you can only use 3 of the same coupon per day and a total of 20 coupons.  Here's the deals that I got:
Cake Mix - 35 cents each
Bounce - $1.39 each
Heluva Dip - 80 cents each
Welch's Jelly - 44 cents each
Ricola - Free
Mentos Gum - Free
Yakisoba Noodles - Free
My total with tax was $10.15

 At CVS I got:
9 Suave shampoo and conditioners - for 55 cents each
4 Carefree liners - FREE
Got2b hair styling spray - 99 cents
2 Colgate toothpaste - 49 cents each
4 Schick razor cartridges - $1.19 each
Total without tax - about $12

At Walgreens I got:
Neosporin Essentials Trial Pack - Made $3 because I had a $3 off coupon and a mail-in-rebate that will reimburse the cost
Just for Men Hair coloring (anyone need/want it?) - I made $3 because I got $3 Register Reward back on it and have a mail-in-rebate also making it free
Acai Berry Cleanse - FREE (with Register Reward)
Breathe Right strips - FREE (I had a register-printed coupon for a free box from Walgreens that expired  this month)
So my total was I spent nothing and made $6!!

Because ya'll aren't big on leaving comments, I'm not sure what you enjoy reading about and what is helpful when it comes to couponing.  If you want me to leave more specifics on how I got these deals - like where the coupons were, just comment and let me know. I'm happy to revise the post so you can get these too.

Crock Pot Desserts

You might remember that my meal planning this month was 20 meals taken from the crock pot cookbook Fix-It and Forget-It.  We have thoroughly enjoyed all the meals.  Some I was a bit hesitant about but we are pretty adventurous eaters and so far there were no bombs.  I think my favorite was the chicken curry with onions and sweet potatoes!

I also wrote down some crock pot desserts because in all my years of loving on my crock pot, I have neglected to try desserts.

I planned on sharing some great and easy crock pot dessert recipes with you, but since the blog is titled "Feeding the Fish Sticks," I assumed that maybe one prerequisite would be that the Fish Sticks love the recipe that I share.  So far they haven't been a big hit with them or My Man.  There have been a couple that I LOVED and everyone else just said OK about.

This one pictured was pumpkin pudding and I thought it was great....no other such sentiments in the Fish House.  I tried a chocolate peanut butter pudding cake.  Same response.  Then I did an apple cobbler.  The cobbler part was soggy instead of crunchy and caked together in chunks...edible but not worth repeating.  I've got 3 more to try.... Lemon Pudding Cake, Chocolate Fudge Cake and Blue and Black Berry Cobbler.  I've got my fingers crossed that maybe one of those will be blog worthy.  I'll keep you posted.

Wisdom from My Kitchen Window

Natural Cold Remedy

This year has been the warmest winter I can remember since moving to this beautiful area, but for some reason it has been our sickest winter.  As soon as the crud of colds makes its round with the Fish Sticks, I feel  like we barely have a breather before some 48 hour stomach bug makes its own rounds too.  YUCKO!!

Well I try my hardest to approach things naturally, allowing our body to heal FIRST without strong intervention.  If I start losing the battle, then I pull out the "big guns" and head to my medicine cabinet (which is FULLY stocked from my drug store couponing!).

So when my eldest had to come home early from school because his cough was constant and wouldn't let up, I started with this...a cup of hot water, juice of half a lemon with a heaping tablespoon of raw, local honey.  It soothes the cough, breaks up the mucous and the honey (if raw) has antibacterial properties.  Garlic is by far the strongest natural antibiotic out there, so I had him swallow a small, clove whole. 

These are things that most folks keep on hand so you don't have to be a professional herbalist to grab these great home remedies.  If you're brave, add a dash of cayenne pepper too.  It aids in circulation, and helps kick that cold also.

Laundry in the Fish House

 Today is LAUNDRY DAY.  Here's what laundry day looks like for us.  My Man had the wonderful idea when he built our house that he would put a stacked washer and dryer upstairs for the Fish Stick's laundry.  How grateful I am that I no longer have to lug laundry up and down the stairs, although I'm sure my flab would appreciate a bit more lugging up and down.

My mom always had a laundry day. I remember the hallway being filled with laundry for the majority of the day as she sorted, washed, dried, folded and stacked for us to put away.  I did things like that for a long time and then added another laundry day as the family grew.  I'm not the best about completing the laundry 100% in a day.  I wish I did, but I forget to stay on top of the buzzer.  I throw the dry clothes on the couch, saying I will fold them later.  I leave folded laundry sitting in my closet or worst yet, I leave dry clothes in the dryer for days to be a big, wrinkly mess.

So back in August, I was revamping my daily schedule after sending 3 kids to school and only homeschooling 3 little ones.  I decided every Fish Stick would have their own laundry days.  Monday was the parents, Tuesday was the boys, Wednesday was the middle girls, Thursday was the oldest and youngest girls and then Friday was the parents again.  I gave it my best shot but honestly, my bad laundry habits listed above just worsened, not to mention I realized I didn't like doing laundry enough to spread it out into 5 days a week.

As part of my New Year's Resolution changes I decided to go back to the old way but commit to doing it better.  So far, so good.  Monday is LAUNDRY DAY!!  Whoo Hoo!!  All laundry upstairs hits the hallway the night before and I throw in a load as I am tucking all Fish Sticks in bed.  In the a.m. I throw in a downstairs load, switch a load upstairs and turn on the baby monitor.  I can hear the upstair's buzzer on the monitor and guess what?  I'm actually listening to the buzzer and jumping up to switch out the laundry when I hear it.  I also found that bringing dry clothes into my closet and hanging and putting away as I fold works much better for my bad procrastination habits of old.

As for the Fish Sticks, well they have 24 hours after all laundry is complete (beginning Monday night usually) to put their clothes in their dresser.  My 5 year old Fish Stick gets his sorted by his Mama to put up and my 3 year old Fish Stick gets her folded laundry handed to her so she can lay them in the opened drawer.  If the laundry is not put up in 24 hours, then the Fish Stick has to wash, dry, fold and put up their own laundry the following week.  Pretty motivating, huh?  It has only happened 3 times and oh, were they ever sad they forgot to put up their laundry!  Not too bad.

Couponing Boo Boo

I made a mistake today in my Walgreens run.  It wasn't a horrible mistake, but it was a $3 mistake.  I know some of you think it's not even worth blogging about, but I was just frustrated that I wasn't more careful.  Does shopping with 3 young kids count for an easy distraction?

So this week at Walgreens, I needed to buy 2 Colgate toothpastes and 2 Colgate toothbrushes and use coupons for $1 off and 75 cents off from 3/11 SS and 2/26 SS.  Pay $9.50 out of pocket.  Get $5 back in Register Rewards and mail in a rebate for $5 that is found in 1/29 SS (but expires 3/15 so snag it NOW if you want to try this!).  All of it would be FREE!!  I accidentally got 4 toothpastes instead.  I still will get the mail in rebate but I only got the $3 Register Reward.  The other $2 one was only for toothbrushes.  The toothbrush coupon worked for the toothpaste so I never caught my own mistake.  But honestly, getting 4 tubes of toothpaste for $2 isn't so bad.

Then I purchased 2 Irish Spring body washes for $3 each (total $6).  I had one coupon for $1 off deodorant and a coupon for 50 cents off of body wash (deodorant was also part of the sale).  I rather have body wash over deodorant so I tried the $1 off coupon for body wash but it didn't work.  Oh Stink!  So I ended up paying $1 each for body wash instead of getting them for 50 cents each.

Still a good shopping day.

I have intentions to go to CVS to get Pedia Care Liquid for 99 cents after ECB (no coupon required), Zyrtec for free with ECB (no coupon required) and get the Irish Spring Deodorant for 50 cents each since I still have those coupons and they have the same deal as CVS this week.

If you have no coupons, go head out to CVS and stock your medicine cabinet with the first 2 items for sure!!

Homemade Crock Pot Yogurt

A friend asked me to tell you how I made yogurt in my crock pot.  I learned to do this about 2 years ago.  It is so easy and inexpensive that I make it almost weekly.

Crock Pot Yogurt

Pour 1/2 gallon of milk in crock pot.

Set on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Turn off and unplug.  Leave covered and undisturbed for 3 hours.

Take 2 cups of warmed milk out and place in small bowl.  Whisk with the 2 cups of warm milk 1/2 cup of plain yogurt with LIVE cultures (check label).  I like to use just plain whole yogurt.

Optional:  You can add a thickening agent like 1/2 cup of powdered milk or 1 pack of unflavored gelatin.

Stir that mixture back into the crock pot.  Cover and wrap crock pot in thick bath towel and let sit for 8+ hours.  Refrigerate.

After making this once, save 1/2 cup of the yogurt to use as your starter for the next batch.  There's so many things you can make with this healthy yogurt.  The Fish Sticks love it drizzled with honey, served with homemade granola, added to thicken up a smoothie, with a spoonful of jam stirred up to add sweetness and chunks of fruit.  I like it best with sliced bananas, a few drops of vanilla stevia and a few sprinkles of cinnamon.

If it's too runny for you, you can strain it through a colander lined with some knit (like a t-shirt).  I did this the first time I made it and left it in the fridge too long straining.  The yogurt then was way too thick, so keep an eye on it.

Couponing the Grocery Stores

I've posted several times to get you started on using coupons to save your family money buying from Walgreens and CVS. 

After "mastering" the pharmacy stores, I ventured out to coupon at the grocery store.  The situations that happen on the tv for "Extreme Couponing" are just not realistic, in my opinion.  From what I hear, the stores have seen the series and have cracked down considerably on their coupon policies to prevent people from buying $1,000 of groceries and paying 50 cents for it.

My issue with couponing the grocery stores is often times I sacrifice nutrition in order to save a buck.  Occasionally it may be worth it to me to purchase some processed snack I would normally never purchase just because it cost me pennies to buy.  It serves as a special treat to the Fish Sticks and is just occasional.  I do look at my favorite coupon website each week to see what deals I can snag at Kroger and Publix but on most weeks, I pass.  To get a pack of 4 flavored yogurts for 50 cents with coupons just doesn't seem worth it when I have 6 kids and make natural, Greek-style yogurt by the half gallon in my crock pot almost weekly and only pay for the half gallon of milk (which cost me $1.50).  It lasts much longer and is much better for them with a spoonful of raw, local honey on it or mixed with a smoothie.  If I can get cereal for $1 a box, then it's worth my trip.  Oftentimes I can find toiletry items or paper goods that are worth the effort to coupon at the grocery store.

So if your family enjoys packaged foods more than mine does, couponing the grocery stores is something that would be worth checking into.  If you try to shy away from those things as much as possible, don't steer clear altogether, just skim the deals weekly to see what your family might benefit from.

As I catch deals at the grocery, I will be sure and share them in time for you to grab them too.

Tummy Troubles

The Fish Sticks have been having the crud quite a bit in the last 2 months.  In January the 48 hour stomach bug made its rounds through 5 of the 6 of them.  Then in February it came right back and made its round again.

With the stomach bug, there's not much you can do but let your body do what it needs to do to flush out what's ailin' it.  One thing though that I have found helps is to tell my Fish Sticks to soak in a hot tub with about 1/2 to 1 cup of Epsom Salt and about 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil.  Epsom Salt draws toxins out of the body, the hot/warm water relaxes tight, upset tummies and Tea Tree Oil has antibiotic properties that can soak through the skin and inhaled through the steam.

Liven Up Veggies

I don't know about you, but sometimes we just get tired of plain, boiled vegetables.  They can end up being leftovers for several nights in a row if they aren't spiced up a bit. 

I try to avoid too much fattening additives in my cooking like cream soups and cheeses, but every once in a while I will add some to a veggie to give it a kick. 

This week I made Cream Cheese Corn.  I had a huge block of cream cheese that I bought at Sam's a while back (for the cream cheese Trisket cucumber snack I posted about).  I boiled the corn (frozen from last summer's garden), drained it and added a little salt, pepper, minced dried onion (maybe 1 TB) and probably 6 oz. of cream cheese cubed.  It melted into a creamy yumminess. 

What do you do to spice up vegetables for your family?

Hot Cocoa Mix

We love hot cocoa around here.  Boxes of it seem to be economical when I can get them for 1.00 each but after one round of everyone having a cup, there doesn't seem to be many packs remaining in the box.

I started making homemade hot cocoa from a Betty Crocker recipe which we all love but it requires at least 4 cups of milk and can be time consuming when everyone wants a quick cup right away to help us thaw from playing outside.

Although this winter has been so mild in TN (did we even have a winter this year??), I found an instant recipe that seemed to be reasonable in price and I was willing to try it for an after school snack today.

It made about a half gallon bucket and 5 out of the 6 Fish Sticks said it was very yummy.  The other one wanted more sugar in his to which he was denied.  :)

Hot Cocoa Mix

4 c. powdered sugar

2 c. coca

5 c. powdered milk

2 tsp. salt

4 tsp. corn starch

2 pinches cayenne

Freezer Inventory

 I hesitate writing this blog post because some of you might make the false conclusion that I am OCD and I promise you, I am not.  I do like order and I do strive to be organized.  I also am not a perfectionist....here's the BUT....but, I am the manager of 8 people and I do have a total of 4 refridgerator/freezers so I realized recently that it's important for my own sanity to know what those bottomless, frozen pits contain.

SO, I took everything out of them, tried to organize them someway (like meat on one shelf, veggies on another, etc.) and then wrote out an inventory for each one.  The 2 in the laundry room I taped to the door.  The one in the basement and the one in my kitchen I keep in my Home Management notebook.  I wrote them in pencil so I can easily add tallies and erase them.

 The benefits of doing this is that it helps me tremendously in meal planning.  It also helps me not keep things in my freezer for eternity until there is more frost on them than food. 

Before I do my monthly meal plans, I can quickly scan the freezer inventory lists and can see if I need to buy more pork or if I have lots of squash from this summer's garden that I need to use up.  I know this will also help me when I begin to plant the garden next month.  I can gauge how much vegetables we have eaten since last summer's garden so I won't over plant any particular vegetable.  Speaking of, anyone want any frozen yellow squash or zucchini??  I'd love to erase some of those tallies!  :)

Pot Soaker Tip

A few month ago I found a recipe for homemade dishwashing powder.  I was so excited about trying it.  The recipe called for one part Borax to one part washing soda and a few drops of lemon essential oil.  Unfortunately the recipe did not clean my dishes, it left a sandy residue on everything and even made this white crust on the inside of my dishwasher (which unfortunately is still there).  So what was I to do with this half gallon bucket of dishwasher powder that I didn't want to use anymore?
Then I discovered something wonderful!  I sprinkled a heaping tablespoon of it one night to let my nasty, caked-on crock pot soak.  One hour later that goop just came right off with a few scrapes from my bowl scraper (an old credit card would work fine for this too).  It doesn't bubble or make suds, but somehow the combination works great as a pot soaker.  Now I keep a bucket under my sink to toss in my yucky pans and pots.  It works wonders.  Give it a try!

STRAWBERRIES

Strawberries are only 79 cents for 16 oz. this week.  I bought 40!!!  We love strawberries and I have learned over the last year to STOCK UP when things go on sale to use throughout the year.  I did this last year and we have enjoyed fruits all year long that I froze. 

Now if I can only make the time to wash, trim and freeze them all before the Fish Sticks eat them fresh!

Drug Store Run This Week

 At CVS I purchased 5 Revlon eye shadows, 1 bag of CVS jelly beans and 2 Soft Soap body wash.
The body wash was 2 for $7 with $5 ECB back.  That made them just $1 each.  There was a coupon for $1.50 off in Smart Source from 2/12.  That meant that I got both for free and even made $1.00 total.

The eye shadow was $5.49 each and I got $4 ECB back on each one with a limit of 6.  They came to $1.49 each.  Supposedly there was a $1 off coupon floating around from SS 1/29 but I didn't have it in my coupons - bummer.

The jelly beans were 99 cents with 99 cents back in ECBs so they were free.

 So my total before tax including my future ECBs was $6.45.

At Walgreens I purchased 2 Soft Soap body wash, 2 Desitin, 1 Colgate, 1 Walgreens Nasal Mist and 3 caramels.

 The body wash was $3 each with a $3 Register Reward when you buy 2.  I used 2 of the $1.50 off coupons making them both free.

The Desitin was $3 each also with $2 back when you buy 2 (other J&J baby products were on sale too).  I printed 2 $1 off coupons from the internet making them $1 each.

The Colgate was $3 with $3 back in RR making it free but with a 75 cent off coupon from SS 2/26, I made 75 cents from purchasing it.

The nasal mist was $5 with $5 in RR back so that was free also.

When I got to the check out I realized I had 6 items and used 5 coupons.  Remember Walgreens has a policy that the paper transactions can not exceed the number of items??  I then could not pay for my total using the Register Rewards from last week.  I grabbed 3 caramels at the check out totaling another 99 cents so that I could use 4 Register Rewards to pay.

My total minus tax but including RR for next week's purchase was $1.25.

Rice Pudding

Yesterday we tried a new snack. I noticed when I was menu planning that Fix-It and Forget-It had Old Fashioned Rice Pudding in the dessert section.  A Mexican friend taught me to fix Sweet Rice for the Fish Sticks several years ago and I thought maybe this recipe might be similar.  The texture was not soupy like the Sweet Rice but most of them really liked it.  I thought it made a great snack too and the best part was it used ingredients I keep on hand and I made it at lunch in the crock pot so it was ready after school.

Old Fashioned Rice Pudding

2 1/2 cups cooked rice

1 1/2 cups whole milk (probably any would do)

2/3 cup brown sugar

3 eggs, beaten

3 Tb. butter, melted

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. raisins (we left those out)

Mix all ingredients and pour into lightly greased crock pot.  Cook on high 1-2 hours or low 4-6 hours.  Stir once during last 30 minutes.  Serve warm and cold.

So yummy!  Try it!