Monday, December 19, 2011

Clorox Cleanup for only $0.05

Yeah I know it sounds crazy but it's true! Only 5₵ and it takes like 5 seconds to make!

Fact: Brent HATES pickels! Pretty sure it's the vinegar since the smell makes him sick. He loves it being clean but can't stand the smell since i've been cleaning with vinegar and baking soda. But it's so cheap and cleans great! I had to find a solution...

I came across this website that had a cheap cleaner disinfectant for pennies! *score* And it works just as good if not better than the Clorox Cleanup you get in the store.

Here's what it takes:

*1/4 cup of bleach
*1 tablespoon of dish detergent
*water



Add bleach and detergent to squirt bottle, fill with water and shake.

How does the price compare?
1 Bottle of Clorox Cleanup around $4.00
1 Bottle of homemade Clorox Cleanup around $0.05

I mean seriously, why buy it again?!?!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

B-A-N-A-N-A-S and pie...yum!

With the Christmas season, i've been so busy getting ready and enjoying the time with my family, that I have not really done any craft projects since the wooden pallet display.

I am actually working on a diy project right now, but I can't tell you what it is cause it's part of a Christmas present. I'll post about it after Christmas though.

If i've been doing anything from Pinterest, it's cooking. So i'll share with you another fabulous recipe that I came across.

(Oh and if you saw a pin labeled "Cowboy Casserole" in my "yummy in my tummy" board you will now notice that it is no longer there.  WARNING: It was not so yummy at all! Do not make that casserole...you will NOT go back for seconds.)

I made this dessert. It is SOOOOO good!

Banoffee "Danger" Pie

What You Need:
*3 bananas (Am I the only one that sings Hollaback Girl every time I spell banana?)
*1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
*Graham cracker pie crust
*1 tub of cool whip
*chocolate bar (i used left over halloween candy, you could use like 2 hershey kisses if you wanted)


Your first step can be done way ahead of time (at least hours but can be as much as months before).  I bought 3 cans, did them at the same time and I have 2 cans left over. Enough for 2 more pies! Remove the label on the condensed milk and submerge the unopened can in pot of water. Cover and boil for 2.5 hours. Warning: Be sure to keep the can covered by water at all times!! You will have to continue to add water to the pot.

After 2.5hrs of boiling, take the pot off the stove to cool. When you open your can you will now see that you just made home made toffee! I swear it tastes soooooooo good too. I know it's weird and hard to believe but I SWEAR to you, it's toffee!

Slice your bananas (...ain't no hollaback girl...) and place them in the pie crust. You can do it all formal or you can go crazy and let the bananas fall where they may.

Pour your can of toffee over bananas.

Top with coolwhip

Optional: Grate chocolate over top of coolwhip.

**Refridgerate until time to serve.**

This is seriously one of the best pies i've ever had! To quote, "Danger is this pies middle name not only because is it tasty and calorically sinful but its also incredibly easy to make! A dangerous combination. If you are on a diet, avert your eyes!"

One taste and you will not be able to resist the gooey yumminess!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Lasagna Soup

Last night I got Brent to eat tomatoes...and he liked them. If you know my husband, you know that this is absolutely amazing. See, as much as I love my husband, his taste pallet is that of a 6yr olds. lol While everyone's plates on Holidays are full of different colored veggies and sides...his are always brown (meat), white (potatoes) and yellow (pasta or corn). So when he tried my soup, with big chunks of fire roasted tomatoes AND 1cup of chopped onions and said he liked it and then ate 2 huge bowls, I almost fell over!

With that being said, if you know my husband will eat it, then you know this is some pretty awesome soup. The name alone, to me, makes it sound tasty. AND I even made it look pretty! A lot of times I will try to make something and it tastes really good but the appearance isn't what the pic looks like at all. lol. This soup, however, looked very very close to the picture of the professionals!

SO I present to you...Lasagna Soup!
(this is not my pic but mine looked pretty much just like this)

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage
3 c. chopped onions (we are not an onion family so I only used 1cup and it was great)
4 garlic cloves, minced (1/8tsp of garlic powder =1garlic clove)
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 c. chicken stock
8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy. Stir in basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

Servings:  8

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Pallet love!

True story...I kept seeing all these pallet projects on pinterest and I loved them. Except, I didn't have a pallet. I had called a couple of places but they all used theres. One day I was driving by where the Crazy Cajun used to be and someone had dumped a bunch of old wood there. Right in front was this pallet...sitting there...taunting me...saying "get me." So, I did. As soon as I did, I called my dad and my grandfather and asked if it was stealing...I felt so bad and I was not going to have a piece of stolen wood in my living room. Since it was abandoned and left there as trash and junk, it was clarified that it was not stealing. It was a someone's trash was another person's treasure type deal. I never thought i'd use that phrase lol

Now that you know the history between me and my precious pallet, I'll show you what we did with it. With my husband's super strength, cause i'm a pansy and couldn't do it, he ripped a couple of the boards off. I cleaned it up and we hung it up on the wall. I had to use some hardcore nails though because pallets are really heavy! I think they're made out of oak and that's why. Anyways, here is the finished project. It completes my living room!







Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Country candles

I've been looking for something to put in the middle of my table for a while and have had no luck until today. As I was cleaning, because i've been up since 5:30am, I came across this antique plate and all these random candles I had laying around from previous decorations. Then I remembered I had a small strip of burlap left and some raffia...

Combine with a hot glue gun and bam! Country candles! They're not the greatest but they were free...and i'm cheap. lol





Monday, November 28, 2011

The start of Christmas decorations...

I've completed 2 DIY Christmas decorations. Both are super easy, one just takes time.

1)epson salt as snow. Never really thought about it until I saw a pin...but it looks just like snow in candle holders! It's also way cheaper for the amount you get than buying fake snow.


2) Burlap Tree Garland. I didn't think I could do this but it turned out to be really easy. It just took about 2hrs in all. I spaced it out in to 2 days. lol

Our tree is 6.5ft so I used about 4yds of Burlap and cut them in to long strips about 2-4in wide. I really didn't measure it I just used my naked eye and guessed. I measured out in string how long I thought the garland was supposed to be to wrap around our tree a couple of times. Then took a small crochet needle and on the hook I tied the end of the string. You fold the strips of burlap just like you would to make a paper fan. It kinda looks like an accordian. Then you pierce the crochet needle through the middle of the burlap and pull it all the way through. Keep doing that until all your strips are on the string.

It looks like one big accordian. To make it prettier just start twisting random parts of the garland. Since burlap frays, you can modge podge the edges if you'd like. It will stop it from fraying.

Anyways, here's how mine turned out. I love it!


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Two-fer!

Because of the holiday season, i'm not sure I have time to do any crafts before Thanksgiving. So, i'll talk about some cleaning tips i've learned the past couple of weeks.

For your glassware cooking dishes...This is so awesome and easy. I will wash them in the dishwasher but I swear that some of the food has baked in to the glass. I decided to try this trick to get the residue off! All you need is:
1)your dish
2)dish soap
3) a ball of aluminum foil
Wash it all like normal and scrub with foil and...

WA-LA!


Another thing i've learned is there are some beautiful combinations out there. Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, meat and potatoes and my newest favorite combination


Baby Oil and Turtle Wax!

Let me explain. Baby oil can be used to polish your chrome. Apply a dab to a cotton cloth and use it to shine everything from faucets to hubcaps. I mean, really, who owns chrome polish anyway? Turtle Wax will polish faucets, sinks, tile, even shower doors! It leaves behind a protective barrier against water and soap buildup. So brush your teeth and spit that toothpaste with no worries of it leaving spots behind! Needless to say, with these 2 products, my bathrooms sparkle brighter than Edward Cullen.

Friday, November 18, 2011

The Great Grater!

I found something I thought would be the cutest to go in the kitchen. I was right. lol. I was at a yardsale a couple of weekends ago and found a rusting cheese grater for 25¢

So what do you get when you have a rusting grater, a tea light candle and some raffia?

This:



This grater candle cost me less than  $2.00!
Just becareful, the handle of the grater can get hot so I would just blow it out through the holes.



Thursday, November 17, 2011

My obsession with Baking Soda...

Hello, my name is Candace and i'm addicted to Pinterest.   My favorite things are the DIY and How to's...I've tried tons of stuff on there! Most of it has worked and is at awesome low cost prices! Which to me, is a wonderful thing! And even though one preschooler and a baby runs my house now, soon it will be a preschooler and a toddler and they're both boys...so low cost is the bomb!

So I thought it would be neat to start a blog about my pinterest adventures. Gah, I hope ppl read this. =)

Right now i've decided to go au'natural...with cleaning. My cleaning supplies has been replaced with Baking Soda galore, Borax, Washing Powder, Vinegar and Fels Naptha soap. lol I am obsessed with Baking Soda! I have been using it for everything. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! From cleaning tubs to face scrubs.

I came across a pin talking about cleaning stainless steel. I decided to try it on my sink. If you have stainless steel sinks then you know that you can clean and clean and clean them and sometimes they still have a brown residue.


So here is my sink before. See the residue in the left side...ew.

I got about 3/4cup of Baking Soda and mixed enough Peroxide with it to make a paste. Then using your hands, or a cloth if you want, rub it on the stainless steel.

Then rinse. I'm fairly pleased with the outcome. The residue is completely gone in the left side.