Weekly Menu

I am not sure why I didn't think of this before or realize that this would really help my busy family out, but we have started a weekly menu plan. The light bulb finally turned on after visiting a friend in Michigan and seeing her dry erase board full of dinner ideas for the week. I was getting pretty bored with my usual dinner routines and scrambling around at the last minute and making a mish mosh of random items for dinner. I also knew it was getting pretty boring for my family when my husband announced that we have tacos like 3 times a week!

I already have a dry erase board that I use to write down the activities for the month so I took the side of it and designated it the dinner menu side! The boys and I brainstormed on what we should have for dinner for the week. I wanted to include them because if it was up to me I would make vegetarian or adult dishes all week and I would hear the lovely whining of "I am not eating this! It is gross!". Including them really worked out well and they get really excited to check to see what is for dinner that night of the week.

It also really helped when going to the grocery store. I usually just had a mental menu that I would try to remember when going shopping. Or I would just get whatever and throw it together and see how it turned out. This way I was able to figure out what we had and what we needed. I was even thinking that it may help if I ever wanted to venture into the crazy life known as couponing!

Here is am amature photo of what our menu is like for this week:

 

 

With the boys starting soccer and tae kwon do, we are busy every night this week! This menu has been so much more helpful than I ever realized it would! And thanks to Pinterest and the All Recipes App for my phone, I am able to find new recipes when I am in a rut.

 

 

Here are a links to some of the recipes I am making this week:

*Kids Fave

 

 

Picture Via: Better Homes and Gardens

 

Meatloaf*

 

 

Picture Via Yummly.Com

 

Corn Casserole*

 

 

Picture Via SkinnyTaste.com

 

Lasagna Roll Ups

 

 

Picture Via Better Homes and Gardens

 

Tortellini Bake

 

 

I hope to make this post a weekly thing! Good Cookin' to ya!

 

For That Spoiled Dog In Your Life: Homemade Dog Treats

We have had Ziggy in our life for the past couple of months. He is so cute and really smart, but such a little shit sometimes! But that's a puppy for you. All of the cute things they do out weigh all the stuff they chew up and ruin. Well on super good days I like to give Ziggy these homemade dog treats. I got this recipe from my Android Phone App called AllRecipes but you can also find it at AllRecipes.com. Most of the ingredients you should have in your house and the ones you don't are at your local grocery store.

You will need:

1 egg

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup mashed banana

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 egg white, lightly beaten, for brushing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Stir together the egg, peanut butter, banana, and honey in a medium bowl; blend thoroughly.

Stir in the flour and wheat germ; mix well.

Turn dough out onto a floured board and roll to 1/4 inch thick.

Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter ( I just used the smallest cookie cutter I had, I also rolled small pieces into balls just to see what they would turn out like *I don't have pictures of that, but I am sure you can use your imagination*). Place on prepared baking sheet, and brush tops with egg white.

Bake biscuits in preheated oven until dried and golden brown, about 30 minutes, depending on size. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

These are the finished product right out of the oven. My house smelled so delicious while they were cooking and my sons and I taste tested them because they had ingredients in them that we all have ate before (they were delicious).

I cannot tell you enough how much Ziggy LOVES these treats. Ok, he may love anything that is considered a "treat" but every time I open my pantry door he is right there ready for a treat!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I have made my own laundry soap awhile back. I think I like the process of doing a project and that is why I liked making the laundry soap. But I did get out of it for awhile because of the process! It isn't time consuming, just takes a few steps. 

With everyone being broke asses due to the price of gas, this laundry soap is very cost effective. It smells delicious, is gentle, better for the environment and easy to make! There are so many homemade cleaning supplies that you can find online. You may already have the ingredient in your house! And if you don't, the ingredient are so cost effective you have them to make multiple laundry soaps and/or cleaning solutions.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup baking soda
-1/4 cup washing soda (sodium carbonate)
-1/4 cup Borax
-3/4 cup unpacked soap flakes*

*You can use pretty much any soap that you have, but I like using Zote soap. If you live in Indiana you can get this at any grocery store and even big lots.

Tools:

You will need a grater, measuring cups, chopper or butter knife, bowl,  plastic tub with lid, and scoop.

Directions:

1. First you start off by grating the soap into a bowl (I prefer a glass bowl). I have found that the Zote soap tends to be a little more damp than dry when you first take it out of the package. If you let it sit out in the open a day or two and let it dry it, it is so much easier to grate!

I like Zote soap because it is made specifically for laundry and it is larger than normal soap.

The smell is nice too.

This is what your soap will look like after grating. I use the smaller grate size, but there may be some bigger chunks or pieces. This is where the chopper or butter knife comes in. If your soap is too wet let it dry a bit and then chop, it will be much easier. After chopping I let my soap flakes dry out more on top of my fridge (or a place where the kids won't get at it or I won't spill it)  with no cover over the bowl. I just like he flakes drier because they break into smaller pieces and mix better with the next ingredients.

2. Get your plastic tub with the lid and measuring cups ready. Then grab the Borax, washing soda, baking soda and soap flakes.

Now the above recipe calls for a small amount of each of these ingredients. I end up doing one round of adding all of the ingredients to plastic tub and then I keep adding until I do not have anymore soap flakes. You end up using 3 or 4 times the amount of the above recipe. I have not added it all up and made the exact ingredient amounts because I go by how much soap I have grated up. Plus, this just works for me and I stick with it!

3. Once it is all mixed I put the lid on and shake up the mixture or if your tub is large enough you can mix it with a spoon. Ends up looking like this:

I used a 1/4 cup measuring spoon, that I was actually going to take to Goodwill, for scooping.

I use one scoop in my laundry and that's it! It will not suds up like a "traditional" laundry detergent, but that does not mean it isn't working. The suds in your "traditional" laundry soap are just chemicals added for visual effects anyways!

I have also gone to using vinegar as a fabric softener. So cost effective and it really does make my clothes really soft!

Hope you try this out! If you do, let me know!

Homemade Crayons

I have seen homemade crayons on various parts of the web, like at KittyBabyLove.com, PlanetGreen.com, and Earth Grown Crayons. They seem so simple to make and who doesn't have old broken crayons laying around?

I have been searching for the right type of mold to put the melted crayon wax in for awhile. I had no success until my recent trip to IKEA. Once we had the vessels to make crayons, the homemade crayon party was on!

Homemade Crayons

You will need:

• An assortment of broken crayons, preferably older, used crayons because no one likes breaking a perfectly good crayon to bits. (Well, maybe kids do, but adults would rather cherish new crayons until the next homemade crayon party!)

• Old tin cans (such as soup cans or canned veggie cans) preferably washed or rinsed out. You can also use glass or ceramic jars (I used old jelly jars because I didn't have any tin cans around). They should be small and something you will not use again unless it is for crayon making or other art projects. *The wax from the crayons may not wash off well after the melting.

• A small pot, you may want to pick one up from a local thrift store on the cheap or be prepared to scrub away or put it away for another art project. *The wax from the crayons also got a little on my pan and didn't come off that well, so just giving you fair warning.

• Long popsicle or craft sticks or old spoon (not plastic) that you might not mind throwing away when finished. *You will use these for stirring the melted crayons so it might be wise not to use any untensils that you may use for eating with afterwards.

• Plastic flexible molds. You can also use tin foil made into shapes as described at KittyBabyLove.com

• Oven Mitt and/or pot holder *Also, something you won't mind if wax gets on them.

• I also had cardboard handy that I put under the mold as I was pouring the melted wax into them to protect my counter.

First you need to gather all of the old and broken crayons that you have laying around the house (you know you have some!). You then take all of those crayons and begin to remove any wrappers that are on them.

The boys going through the crayons.

We decided to do yellow, green, red, blue mixed with metallic crayons, and brown mixed with gold crayons. You will want to also break them into small pieces so they can melt easier.

These are the jars I ended up using. I didn't use the large one, but all of the small ones worked out great.

Start off by putting the pan with cold water onto the stove and let boil. Once boiled set the jar of crayons into the water and let reboil. I found it helpful to keep a watchful eye on it as they are melting and to keep stirring until fully melted.

Yellow crayons in the ceramic bowl as they begin to melt.

Once the crayons are melted, it will be VERY hot! Do not hesitate to use extra caution at this time. I used the oven mitts to hold the jar as I stirred in the boiling water and when I removed the jar from the water. Turn the stove either on low or off and put the jar onto the cardboard so you can get a better grasp on the jar when ready to pour into the mold.

Here are the molds from IKEA. They are originally made for long thick ice cubes, but will now be our new crayon molds.

Try to work quickly, but safely, when pouring the melted crayons into the molds. I tried my best to pour the melted crayons in as neatly as possible, but it didn't matter in the end because you can carve or break off any extra pieces as you please. Let the molds cool as long as needed.

Once cooled, pop them out of the molds (this is where flexible molds work the best) and color to your hearts intent!

These were so easy and I feel like I really liked doing it more than the kids! The boys got a little bored with the beginning of the project because it took awhile to take all of the wrappers off the crayons and break them into small pieces. But once we got into the actual part of melting the crayons they were very interested! All I had to do was explain to them that we were doing a science experiment and making something new from something old and they were hooked! They couldn't wait for them to cool so they could create some art and to be able to call themselves scientists!