Interesting Finger Food Recipes

Another Saturday was spent in the Kitchen making baby food! This time I was experimenting with finger foods, and I came up with this crazy rice ball thing. I cooked some rice, put it in the food processor, added some tahini and some sprouts and whirred it up! It came out as a paste that I formed into small balls. They were pretty tasty fresh, and the baby loved them! I froze a tray, and put the rest in the fridge. The ones from the fridge re-warmed nicely when put in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Easy-peasy.

Sledding!

Green on a budget.

A long time ago some douche bag politician said that America is the only country whose poor people were fat. I don't remember who said it, or in what context but this has stuck in my brain. Well of course they are fat! Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and quality meats are freakin' expensive! You know whats not expensive? The McDonalds dollar menus. And the Wendy's dollar menu, and the Arby's 5 for 5, and KFC....need I go on? Take a trip to the grocery store and compare- what's going to feed a family for less? Canned food, boxed food, stuff with lots of crap and not alot of substance.

So whats a person to do?

I start by doing an exauhsting and neverending tour de grocery shopping. If I make it sound terrible, it's because it kinda is... however the family just can not afford convience anymore. What ever, here is what I do...
1. Shop the warehouse stores first. I go to Costco for staples, and the occasional organic surprise: Boca Burgers, organic frozen vegtables, free range organic eggs, organic bread and peanut butter. If I have some one to share it with, I'll buy the organic fresh produce- otherwise it's a waste.
2. Clip coupons: No every Sunday is a winner, but I'll get some pretty sweet deals every now and then.
3. Shop the generic brands- Both Cub and Rainbow have their own Organic lines, and truly the deals are good, and the taste is good. How can you lose?
4. Make frequent visits to the outlet, closeout, and overstock stores, like Big Lots. Sometimes you find things you need and actually use! Once I found Tom's of Maine toothpaste for $2.00 a tube (reg. 4.99 and up)- I now have enough toothpaste to last until next year. That same trip I also spied a ton of 7th Generation products for half their retail price. I also found West Soy plain soymilk at the Dollar Tree, and it wasn't even expired!;)

Your not going to cut your grocery bills in half or anything, but comparison shopping is really the only way to save.

Swim- tastic!

Christmas Day was Celebrated by taking Violet into the hotel pool for her first swim! She of course loved it.

Easy 15 Min Gifts!

I was on the search for easy gifts for my co-workers, and I was coming up empty. Everything I found that was sufficently cute enough required way too much time or $$ for supplies. I really wanted to make something simple, but also something my co-workers would actually want or use. The day after Christmas, my Aunt took us to an antique mall in Illnois called Vollo (I think), and the first thing I saw when I walked in was a little scrabble tray that spelled out "Booth One". Perfect! How easy! Scrabble Name Plates!

There is not too much too this project, just thrift a scrabble game and hot glue the names into the trays.

Now onto the baby stuff.... My love affair with oil cloth is kindled by it's no-sew qualities. I needed a couple of bibs and something to cover the tray of my vintage wooden high chair, since Violet refuses to eat politely. This project was super easy and would be a great shower present.

1. Trace a bib you like onto the wrong side of your oil cloth.
2. Cut out. I wanted to use pinking shears, but I couldn't find them- cute either way.
3. Use adhesive velcro and attach to each side of the bib.
Done.

The High Chair Bib was done sorta free hand- I laid the oil cloth on the tray and traced it, then cut it out. I then attached the adhesive velcro to both the bib and the sides of the High Chair tray.

Autum! Hooray!

pretty.much.the.cutest.

Homemade Laundry Detergent and Baby food. Only not together.

I used my MEA weekend to further my "prairie mom" skills. Well, I don't think prairie moms had food processors, but whatevs. I pureed a bag of organic pears and froze them in some tiny individual containers I got at the dollar store. Violet loves her pears! So far the only veggie I have made is peas, which I pureed and froze in ice cube trays. Pretty easy!

I also got an idea from my lovely www.craftster.org, and made my own powdered laundry detergent! This turned out awesome, but I have yet to wash the diapers with it so I will post and update about it's poo-fighting ablities...

To make your own cheap and awesome laundry soap you will need:
1. a food processor
2. 1 bar of soap that you like- I choose Kirks Castille because it was cheap, at my CUB, and it's all natural and fragrance and animal product free. I did also buy a Kiss My Face Olive Oil bar, but it was 4x the cost, so I am using that in the shower!!
3. 1/2 cup WASHING soda, not baking soda- I found it at CUB in the laundry area.
4. 1/2 cup Good old Borax- and you thought that was only used for making homemade silly putty!!

All you do is chop up the soap really fine in the FP, then add the powdered stuff and blend, then VIOLA! I use an old coffee scoop- one scoop per load.

Now if only I can figure out how to make my own proactiv solution I'll be set.