Freezer Breakfast Burritos

Assemble all your ingredients - plan out what flavors you want cook up the basic's.
          
I choose bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, corn, red onion, cheese, hashbrowns & tortillas

I dump everything into slightly warm tortilla shells - keeping the meats separate.

Wrap, fold tightly into tinfoil add to freezer bags and freeze.

One at a time, pull out either defrost the night before or use the defrost setting on the microwave before, microwaving on high 1-2 min.

I packaged the bacon burritos & sausage burritos into two different gallon freezer bags

You can use any breakfast foods you like as long as its not fresh veggies ;)

great for once a month cooking!

Home-Made Stain Remover

I found this recipe on Pinterest comparing it to "shout" - I won't stoop that low - this is The Best Stain Remover!
I used it on a pink dress that had washed in chocolate stains - weird white stains on my hubby, doggy vomit & cranberry stains - every single one came up sparkling clean!

Now first off I halved the recipe because my bottle couldn't hold the full recipe (by half a cup) I recommend always pre-filling your container to find out how much it will take before mixing anything!
Luckily I read through the measurements and took a good long look at my tiny bottle - filled it - measured it out and cut the recipe in half!
Love it!

Edit: 3/8/12

I can't tell you how amazing this is!
I only wish I had taken before and after photos to show you how amazing this is! Next time I will.

1. My daughter had hidden one of her bright pink dress shirts under her bed due to a large dried chocolate stain (around 4x3 inch). I honestly didn't take a photo because I was only hoping to reduce the stain - I did not expect a full removal and a return to brand new like color!

2. My daughter again had hidden one of her new blankets from me due to an INK stain! 6x5 inches HUGE! Dried in - maybe a month of sitting and soaking into the cloth. Also some splashes of paint, grape juice & pizza stains (this coming from someone who is not supposed to have food in her bedroom!). Again I added the stain remover more as a what the hay! then because I had hopes of it even lightening.
Not only did it come all the way out - I can't even find where it was!

Next time I will take and add before and after photos.

Foil Baked Veggies & Fish

Spray foil sheet - layout veggies along it in layers. I like the potatoes on the bottom for several reasons. 1. it give stability to the rest of the piece & I like them browned and slightly crispy.
I am practicing my fancier presentations for when I have parties - throwing veggies in the packet works just as well.

cook at 350 for 20 min then add in your foil wrapped fish (spray, fish, seasoning &/or lemon) cook for another 20-25 min then eat!

Yummy goodness very minimal prep!

Sugar Lime Hand Scrub

use a tsp on your hands - rub and wash!

To use it as a body scrub please follow the directions on my personal blog - found here

Home Made Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn
My kids ate this up so fast I had to hold them back just to take the photo!
This time I pre-melted butter added the cinnamon and the sugar cooked the popcorn and then tossed it.
I will not do this next time.

What you need:
One brown paper lunch bag
1/4 C un-popped popcorn
1 Tbls butter
Cinnamon/Sugar

Add the corn kernels into the brown bag and fold it over twice - don't secure it.
Pop on high for 2-3 minutes or until there are 5-10 second pauses between popping.
Empty into a large bowl pour melted butter over the top - toss once or twice - then add in flavoring in this case cinnamon & sugar.

No more paying for expense popcorn & the chemicals they add in. No more needing to pull out a large rarely used popcorn maker, or heating oil on the stove (particularly dangerous for klutzes like me!)
Just a cheap brown bag and a microwave.

Provolone Potoato Soup

This is a very amazing vegetable soup, also easy, tasty & cheap!

First I started with Storage Powdered Potato Soup Mix, then I cut up several carrots, added in crushed garlic, yesterdays leftover potatoes, & some frozen broccoli.
You can toss in almost anything. Timing is what is important. I used fresh carrots - so I had to throw them in first so that they would cook fully by the time the rest of the soup was done. The leftover potatoes I tossed in during the last five minutes - too early and they would turn to mush.

Soup - taste wise is one of the most flexible foods you can find. Knowing how to cook what you put in & when to put it in is key!

When everything was all cooked up and ready I poured it into my Ikea individual soup bowls covered the top with provolone cheese microwaved each one for 1-2 minutes and voila!
A meal worthy of any Home Style Restaurant!

30 minutes from pot to table and all food I had in my fridge! Leftovers fit for royalty!

Home Made Bug Spray

I had been married just under two years when we took my daughter (8 months old) camping. I love camping. Really I do, in fact several of our wedding present were camping items.
My worry grew over mosquito's, that year, West Nile Virus was bad. However, covering an infant in bug spray in not something I was comfortable with.

After some research I found many complicated home made bug sprays. (Very complex and not all kid friendly ingredients.)
However, after reading up on mosquito repelling plants I bought one spray bottle filled it with water and added in 20 drops of clove bud oil.
It was amazing!
For 8 years I only used water and Clove - I was able to spray it directly into my daughters face and not worry about it hurting her eyes or her chewing on her hands or for that matter rubbing her eyes!
One large stress down!
Last summer (after a hard winter and a very long wet spring) the mosquito's were the worst I had ever seen here.
So if you live in a very heavy mosquito area you may want to look into adding Rosemary, Lemon Grass & Lavender. I have not tried them on an infant and would say try at your own risk.

Now you might not believe me, but this works better than products on the market with dangerous chemicals in them!
9 years ago I switched and I promise you I will never go back!
I am also adding these plants into my garden to keep my yard naturally mosquito free (works on a few other biting insects).

Home Made Guide to Safety

 My shopping list reads like a science experiment gone wrong.

Basic ingredients for both Personal and Home care recipes are:

Essential Oils
Baking soda
Peroxide
White/distilled Vinegar
Dish detergent
Fels Naptha (or bar soap)
20 Mule Team Borax
Washing Soda
Kosher Salt & other various salts
Liquid Castile Soap
Glycerin
Boric Acid
Sugar
Camphor
Petroleum Jelly
Rubbing Alcohol
Hydrogen Peroxide
Lemon Juice
Ammonia 

Yes there are many many more, however, how well did you pay attention to Chemistry in high school?
If you store Ammonia near Chlorine you might end up with potentially lethal Chlorine Gas?
Ok so you are a pro at storing them safely, are you also going to make sure you don't make TWO Home-Made products in you kitchen one that calls for bleach and one that calls for Ammonia on the same day? I try to avoid bleach altogether now, but be aware these are still ACTIVE Chemicals and can when mixed incorrectly cause problems.

Also take another good long look at the list.
If you are "jumping" on the Home Made, Toxic Chemical Free, Green & Eco Friendly, Allergy Friendly, Asthma friendly, money saving, bandwagon for the first time you may buy many of these items in bulk.
If you happen to be doing a mammoth shop, where you also buy Anti freeze, fertilizer, bleach & various weed killers guess who may end up tapping your phone lines?

Also its a very good way to burn yourself out.
My recommendation?
Make one thing at a time to replace what you have used up. Stock pile recipes and slowly gather your cleaning supplies so as to not break the bank.

Also read up on Kitchen Chemical Safety & storing safety

Here is an EXTENSIVE site from our government on product safety
Basic cleaning Safety tips
Prevention & Care Safety tips
Serious Chemical Home Safety - explosions, gas leaks, toxic fumes ect.

Eliminating dangerous & toxic chemicals from our daily lives will improve your overall health and peace of mind, not to mention many other benefits.

Dutch Babies - first attempt

This is the Recipe for Dutch Babies as well as HOW they are SUPPOSED to look! Dutch Babies

I followed all the steps using a nonstick pan/oven safe rather than cast iron. Also not sure if the pan was SUPER hot when I added the batter... I didn't want to burn the butter.
Either on of those things must have messed up my attempt.

That said they are only a half fail - they failed in they didn't, fluff, puff, rise or fall.
They still tasted wonderful!
I will be trying this recipe again - not sure when, but I promise I will post a redo!

Turkey Empanadas - Spanish Eggrolls!

Now I love "Egg Roll" recipes. In fact in my Favorite Recipe tab I am making a tab just for Egg Roll food.

What is an Egg Roll recipe? You ask.
An Egg Roll recipe is where you use leftovers or food on hand in a flexible recipe that changes and adapts to the moment.

While recipes abound for Egg Rolls and good Chinese restaurants stick to the same recipe so as not to lose customers - most people understand that they started by the normal stay at home mama, grandma ect to stretch the budget and reuse leftovers.

What most people don't realize is that EVERY food genre and culture has at least one good "egg roll" recipe.

Last night I made Spanish Empanadas for the first time! They were delicious and yes for the first time I followed a recipe.
Black beans, corn & beef Emanadas
In the end mine didn't really come out the same I changed a few of the cooking methods and substituted one ingredient for another, with ingredients I had on hand.
They were delicious!

First I started with a Empanada Dough recipe or you can buy pre-made.

Then I cooked my ground turkey and spices in one pan while browning the garlic and onion in the other.
While they cooked I shredded a few carrots and pulled out the frozen corn and canned re-fried beans.

 

I poured out the grease from the turkey at least once before adding in the re-fried beans. I added the shredded carrots & corn to the onions and garlic - cooked until soft then added the meat mix  into the larger pan with veggies. 

I also did the veggies mix in the larger pan so that when I moved one to the other the major of the grease would be left behind.

I rolled out ten balls of Emanada dough, rolled them out into 6 inch circles. Fill the insides, wrap, use water to seal the edges, press together with a fork. Coat bottom and top with veg oil. Bake at 425 d for 25-30 mins. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 min.

This time I didn't use cheese but I might the next. Good part is that you can use, beans, rice, meat, veggies the possibilities are endless!

In fact all you have to do is look up "Empanadas Recipes" you can find them with any type of meat to fruit pies!

Reduce & Re-Use that's also Good for you!

For several months now I have been getting my milk from our local dairy delivered once a week, fresh to my door step.
Then right before Thanksgiving my best friend bought me the Soda Stream.


With both I get HUGE health benefits as well as amazing amounts of green/eco saving numbers.

Heathwise
For the cola ~ I can make my syrup with Stevia & a slight bit of Agave which is MUCH MUCH better for you and MUCH lower glycemic levels.
For the milk ~ its cold processed instead of pasteurized. The bonus is the FDA and state laws require so many levels of testing and health procedures for "Raw" milk. Safety laws that are NOT applied to pasteurized milk. One article I read called it the difference between live clean milk and the sterilization of dirty milk.
Now not all raw milk is equal. If you have a local trusted reputable dairy I say look into it!
Also with cold processed milk you get the live healthy bacteria that helps your intestine track vs. pasteurized which has been boiled til every bit of bacteria good and bad is dead.

Eco/Green wise
For the Cola ~ I save plastic by not buying it in bottles and cans but reusing the same 3 BPS free bottles over and over and over.
It save's all the gas and electricity to make & transport the bottles and soda.
For the Milk ~ Since they re-use the bottles that save a ton of plastic. Also since its local it saves all the gas and packaging of transporting long distances.
Not to mention supports local business as well as organic & green products.

See - Good for you - Good for the Earth!