Homemade baby food

      This isn't anything really exciting, unless you're into saving money, and you have a kid who is eating like crazy!!! :-) Before Chloe was born, I knew that I wanted to make as much of her food as I could. I could control the quality of the food and save money that way! Part of making sure I was saving money by making her food was to make sure I am smart when I grocery shop. I look for the deals and when one pops up, I stock up.

     A couple weeks ago Kroger was having a sale on carrots. HURRAY! Perfect to make baby food! I got a 2 lb. bag of whole carrots for 79 cents!!! Not only is that a great deal to begin with, it was going to be even bigger savings once I made it into baby food, so I pretty much did a happy dance in the store. Don't judge. I love a good deal. 

     I peeled and chunked the entire 2 lb. bag of carrots and put them into a saucepan with just a little water. Now, some may disagree with me, but I do not put a ton of water in with the veggies when I cook them down. I wanted to keep as many of the nutrients as possible, and if I added a ton of extra water, the nutrients would just go down the drain when I strained out the excess water. So, I add a little water and just keep an eye on it to make sure there is enough water throughout the cooking process. Turn on the burner to medium low, and simmer away for about 30-45 minutes. The carrots will then be tender and ready for mashing!

     If you have a food processor or blender, you could totally use that to chop up the carrots, but I prefer to use a potato masher. SO mash, mash, mash away and now you have baby food! This batch made at least 4 meals for Chloe. For under 20 cents per serving, that's an awesome price compared to about $1 for the same amount of baby food bought from a store! And there's no nasty preservatives in this baby food!  Happy Mashing!!

Homemade applesauce and chipped dishes

     Sometimes I just need to do something really domestic. Yesterday I just had to make applesauce. I was so happy when I went grocery shopping and in the reduced produce section there were tons of organic apples for CHEAP! Love Kroger! So home I went to peel and core the apples. Add them all to a saucepan from my grandma and they simmered away for about 30 minutes until they were soft. Then I mashed them up and let the homemade applesauce cool. 

     This morning I pulled out a chipped bowl from a set of dishes that belonged to another grandma and baby had organic homemade applesauce for breakfast! Talk about easy, delicious, domestic, and nostalgic! There's nothing like using your grandma Meyer's recipe to make it then eating it with dishes and silverware from grandma Farney. Makes me miss both those wonderful women so much! 

Clean your jewelry with kitchen supplies!

     I've had some jewelry sitting around that I haven't worn since college, mostly because it looked really tarnished. I saw a recipe online to clean your jewelry so I thought I'd give it a try! Let me tell ya! It works like a charm! And I didn't have to buy anything. I had all the supplies on hand!

     -Cover the inside of a bowl with aluminum foil. You can not skip this step or it will turn your jewelry black! 

     -Heat 1 cup of water in the microwave for about 2 minutes. It doesn't need to boil it just needs to be really hot! Pour the water into the aluminum covered bowl.   

     -Add 1 tablespoon each of salt, baking soda, and dish washing soap. Add your jewelry in the bowl after that. 

     Now you wait for 5-10 minutes!! After the time is up, remove the jewelry and rinse with water then dry and buff with a soft cloth. Admire your clean jewelry!!! 

     Note: this will not replace silver finish that has worn away, it just cleans the silver finish that is still on your jewelry.

DIY Orange Cleaner

     Not long after we moved to Texas, my sister came to visit us! She brought a bag of oranges for us to snack on, and I remembered this DIY cleaner I had seen on the internet. Time to experiment!!

    I placed peels from about 6 oranges in a canning jar and filled it up with white vinegar. Then I placed it on the shelf in our laundry closet. Most of the tutorials I had read suggested letting the peels soak for about 2 weeks. Well, I totally forgot about this little jar of goodness so the peels soaked for about a month! Anyways! I strained out the peels and other little bits and was left with about a cup and a half of orange syrupy stuff. I filled the rest of the jar with water and now a beautiful jar of all natural homemade cleaner awaits my OCD self to take it on a cleaning spree! 

     Is it sad that I'm so excited to try this stuff out? It smells fresh and citrusy. (Is that a word?) 

This cleaner was so easy to make, if I can do it, anyone can! Happy cleaning!

Make delicious sweet tea without an aftertaste!

     I don't know about you, but I love sweet tea! Living in "the South" for the past 6 years has rubbed off on me and now I like my tea about as sweet as syrup! The only thing I don't like about most sweet teas is the aftertaste. 

      I've only ever had one sweet tea that didn't have an after taste and that was from hub's grandmother. She, of course, has a special "tea making pan". I don't have the magical pan so I've been trying different ways to make tea without that horrible aftertaste. Well. I found one!!! And it's the easiest tea recipe EVER! You let the sun do all the work for you! 

First, find a glass gallon sized jar. I got lucky and my mom had one she didn't need so I asked for it!

Next, fill the jar with water. I use tap water.

 

Then, place 2 tea bags in the jar (I use Lipton iced tea brand). Screw on the lid with the little tails of the tea bags hanging out the edge so they don't sink to the bottom of the jar.

 

Next, place your jar out in full sun for about 3-5 hours. In the Texas heat and sun sometimes my tea only takes 2 hours to brew. This particular batch sat in the sun for 3 hours. 

Finally, after your tea has brewed to the strength you desire, bring it inside and sweeten it if you wish. I use about 1 and 1/4 cup sugar. Then pour over ice for a fantastic aftertaste free drink!