Thirsty??

Ever heard of Tummy Tickler Apple Juice? Walmart carries a three pack for around $4. The containers come filled with apple juice and the lid is spill-proof. They are dishwasher safe (just cut off the label before you wash it). The lids are interchangeable and come with cute cartoon carachters on them. We have Clifford, Bob-the-builder, Princess, and Little Einsteins lids. I have also seen lids with Sesame St characters. I like them much better than spill-proof sippy/straw cups (parts are not interchangeable with different brands, and if you loose a piece, the cup is no longer good). So next time you're at the Walmart, mozie on over to the juice isle and pick up some Tummy Ticklers. You'll thank me later. ;^D

Cause You Know You'll be Baking a Pie This Fall

This is my new favorite tip ever! I can't believe I had never heard of it before this last week. It is for pie making, which I am all over. I love baking pie, eating pie, serving pie, I just love pie!
When baking a pie it will tell you to cover the edges with foil so they don't over brown during the baking process. I used to fold thin (4-5 in. wide) pieces of foil together to make a long strip and then fold them over the edge of the pie.
That will never happening again.


The new technique:
-pull out just more than enough foil to cover your pie plate
-tear off the square of foil and fold into quarters
-cut a sizable arch from the center corner of the foil (this will result in a big circle shaped whole)
-unfold and place over pie, gently tighten edges of foil around rim of pie, and bake!

Seriously, so much easier than what I used to do!

Rice-A-Roni

Because I am cheap, we have bought this stuff before. To make my cheapness extend as much as possible, I have discovered how to make a box of Rice-a-Roni extend into an entire meal.
For those of you who have had the privileged of feeding my husband and/or children, you know that they are eaters! Before I perfected my Rice-A- Roni meal, a box of this was near useless in feeding my family.

Here is what I do:
I add an extra 1/4-1/2 C plain rice, white or brown, to the rice mix from the box.
I follow the regular instructions, just using a larger pan. If it says fry rice, I fry all of the rice- my added rice included. Then when it comes time to add the water, I add twice as much water as I did my extra rice in addition to what it calls for on the box, (ie: 1/2 C extra rice, add 1 C extra water, if it was only 1/4 C extra rice I only add 1/2 C water.) Then I add chicken. If you want to add raw chicken, add it right after the water and seasoning, stir in, cover and cook for the required time. If you add canned chicken, you can add it when you have 7 minutes or so to go in your cook time. Then, I always add a vegetable to the top of the rice and chicken 5-7 minutes before the cooking time is complete.
For the chicken and broccoli Rice-a-Roni, I add broccoli. For the chicken fajita, I add 1 chopped green bell pepper, etc.

There you have it. A meal in a box. Better for you than hamburger helper and most of the time cheaper. When you can get Rice-A-Roni on sale for 69 cents a box and already have frozen veggies in your freezer and left over/canned chicken meat from a meal, that makes out to be a super cheap, easy meal for the whole family.

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

The Disney BuleRay edition of Snow White came out yesterday. At walmart, you can buy it for $19.99. BUT before you do- go to snowwhiteoffer.com and print your $10.00 off coupon. Yes, then you will get a brand new Disney BlueRay for $9.99!

ps: if you already bought it before you found out about the coupon like I did, take in the coupon and your receipt. They refunded me the difference no problem. :)

pps: I forgot to mention that if you don't have a BlueRay player- you still want to buy it, as it is a BlueRay/DVD combo.

Put out the fire!

We have to put the dog dish on the stove (ideally it would be the counter but the place where it is out of the way is by the back door, which is right next to the stove) when it is not in use because Miles likes to eat the dog food and play in the water. Amelia has been vigilant about watching out for Miles and the dish.

A few days ago I had finished processing some jars so I moved my steam canner to the sink. The element on the stove was still super hot. As usual, Miles was making his way for the dog food. Amelia, being on the look out, promptly moved the plastic dish to the top of the hot stove. Melted plastic dish and smoke ensued. I grabbed for our baking soda and dumped a generous amount of it onto the plastic that was melting/melted onto the element and the smoking stopped. Once it had cooled completely, it was much easier to scrape off (than it would have been without the baking soda).
Keep baking soda above your stove in case of melting plastic or small oil fires. It will smother the flames and stop the smoke.

Yeast Daiper Rash??

For those mothers out there, I would be shocked if none of your babies have ever had a yeast diaper rash. Many of you know that you can get a perscription of Nystanin yeast diaper rash ointment from your doctor. But did you also know that there is an over the counter product that works to treat yeast rash??
True story: We were on vacation in OR and Amelia and Miles had yeast diaper rashes from the antibiotics they were taking for their ear infections. I asked my father-in-law, who is a doctor, to call in a prescription for Nystatin. He told me to just pick up some Lamisil when were in town at Walmart, that it has the same active ingredient and would work just as well.
Sure enough, Lamisil did he trick for both bums.

Save at Savers

Did you know that there are coupons to use at Savers Thrift Store??
I didn't, until one time I was checking out and the lady at the register asked if I had a coupon to use for the transaction. I was a little confused and asked her how I would get coupons? She said that when you donate stuff, you ask for a coupon and they will give you one to use on a future purchase.
I was a bit bummed seeing as I had taken loads and loads of stuff in the past to Savers and none of the men working offered me a coupon for my donations. Apparently this is something they don't offer you, you must know about it and ask for it.
Now every time I go to drop off stuff to my neighborhood Savers donation center, I am sure to ask for a coupon.