DIY: Frugal Flower Vases :)

 

Aren’t these flowers (and vases pretty?) I think so. I made these a little while back (when there was still snow on the ground  and I was just dying for spring to finally be here!) :) Sitting in my windowsill at college, they looked darling and brightened up my day (and the whiteness all around me, including my walls as you can see!) :) Anyways, these vases are great for anytime of year….perfect for all those little flowers your kids may bring you or your honey too! :)

Here’s how to make one:

You need:

• Some kind of bottle: I used an old Tylenol bottle that I removed the label from…..This size bottle works great for little vases….or you could use  a can or maybe  an old mayonnaise jar. 
• A tid-bit of string or twine you have lying around your house (you know you have some somewhere!:)
• A scrap of fabric
• Modge Podge (optional---not used here)
• Tape/glue

First, remove the label (if possible.) Scrub it off as best as your can. Then dry the container. Decorate the container with fabric and string according to your desires. Tape or glue it on. If desired, modge podge over it. :)

Tada! You’re done!

And it only took 5 mins of your time and thing you already had on hand!

Enjoy! I’d love to see pictures of what you did! :)

PS. I’m so sorry for not posting much of late….I’ve been very busy with school and work lately but hope to have more “food” (recipes) posted soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy the flowers!!! :)

Get Free Samples of New Naturally-Sweetened Crystal Light!

Hey there everyone! Here's a great link for free samples of the new naturally sweetened crystal light. That's right. No artificial sweeteners. Finally. :) It's made with cane sugar and truvia.  :) Yeah! :) It's only 15 calories per 8 oz. serving too. Try them out here. :)

The CUTEST little frugalist you ever did see! :) A must read. :)

This is my littlest brother. Baby brother is not a baby anymore, but he will always be my littlest baby brother to me. :) He is a doll! I’ve wanted to share photos of him with you in the past, but I haven’t ever done it. When I took this one and thought of why I took it, I couldn’t resist.

 

Baby brother (BB) has become quite the little “frugality rich” man on his own of late! He is constantly scavenging things others would consider, well, garbage. :) He must take after me. (I went “dumpster” [hall trash cans] diving in my junior and senior years of high school at the end of the year when the teachers would put those huge trash cans in the halls for kids to clean out their lockers. I wasn’t afraid to go through them and was quite pleased with what I found! I saved my family (we have a bunch of kiddos) lots of money for the future with the items I found. We are still using the almost new binders, notebooks, paper, pens, etc that I rescued those seemingly forever (though not truly) long years ago.  Among my finds were also two brand new looking winter coats! and a nice, expensive Jan Sport backpack along with many other such finds. I always enjoyed in being able to save money and especially being able to save money for my family too! :))

 

Anyways, back to the story behind this photo:

The pink pig in BB’s hand is the love of his life (of late). BB named him “Piggers”.
In our family dictionary under BB and piggers it says:
Piggers is the broken in half piggy bank BB rescued from the trash after Ari’s sister broke it open to get the money out. Now "Piggers" is BB’s pride and joy and he even had a birthday celebration last week with homemade invites and everything. That is when "Piggers" received the numerous stickers and around the same time that "Piggers" received a second layer of tape. This time he used the good stuff. (Duck tape.) It's been about two weeks since "Piggers" joined the family and though mom said "Piggers" must say on his dresser, "Piggers" comes down from the dresser frequently for hugs from BB and special occasions like "Piggers" birthday party last week. :)

Looks like we are both frugally rich! :)

 

PS. Don’t worry! There will be more recipe posts too soon, but I thought I should have more “frugal” posts once in a while and thought this was a perfect opportunity! :)

My First “Sweet Milk” Muffins! :)-

      Don’t these babies look good?! Mmm..I wanted to reach out and grab them! Never fear, I won’t (literally make them and grab one) because they are not allowed on my elimination diet (yet.) But, I’ve been meaning to post for a while and thought it was about time I did! :) This is a modified recipe from this source…

Hidden Squash ;) Sweet Milk Raisin Muffins

Dry ingredients:
2 cups flour (GF mix or whole wheat)

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1+ c. raisins (leftover from sweet milk)

Wet ingredients:
1 egg
1 1/4 cup shredded zucchini or shredded yellow squash (I used the second option!)  
1 T. lemon
1 1/4 cups sweet milk

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Mix the wet ingredients and then add the dry. Mix until just barley combined. Pour into greased (or papered :)) muffin cups. Cook for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. :) Enjoy (and glory in the fact that you used a vegetable that’s invisible and un-tastable and sweet milk in the same recipe!) :) Plus, by adding the soaked raisins, you are not wasting a thing! :) Frugality at it’s best!! :)

  

Did you make it? Let me know! :)

Another Elimination Diet Update and A General Call for HELP and IDEAS (including: Do you have any of these health problems?)

Hello everyone. I’m afraid this time I haven’t done so well with my elimination diet. I got really stressed out and concerned I wasn’t eating enough variety and then the thought of trying to just restrict myself to GF-DF-RSF (refined sugar-free) again (but with more variety then I was eating) stressed me out and I ate however I wanted today. That’s right. Totally off the bandwagon. I ate gluten (white flour even!), sugar! (what’s wrong with me!?), dairy. yadda yadda yadda I was surprised to find though at least that the French bread we had for dinner didn’t even taste that great to me (a big change for someone who used to love French bread) and bread in general. Anyways, I totally blew it today and I’m now paying for it.

  And I don’t know what to do. I’m concerned because I have (previous to today and my big binge on everything and anything BAD) just been eating brown rice, lentils, mangoes, applesauce, and maybe yams. That’s it! I’m worried about getting the nutrition I need and I keep adding in things one by one daily but I’m still concerned.

   I’m also having a lot of problems with my fibromyalgia (which I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before on this site.) Yes, I have fibro. I was diagnosed about 2 years ago or less but suspect I showed signs of it since early childhood. I have been really sore and tired and sick of being sore and tired!

   I also learned that IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) which I also have, is common with fibro. As is these symptoms (all of which I have and or take meds for) anxiety/depression, gastritis,  plantar fasciitis, back/neck pain/problems, heartburn, fogginess, not being able to concentrate, headaches, etc. I’m trying to learn more about these connections and what I can do to help them all. (I ordered this book from Amazon via a suggestion from one of my fabulous readers who also has fibro) and am waiting anxiously for it to come.

    Anyways, I am really struggling with stomach pain and knowing what to eat (as those few foods above seem to be the only ones I can handle), the fibro and fatigue, etc. I was wondering if any of you had any helpful suggestions on what I can do? I am thinking of just going back to the elimination diet and eat what my stomach can handle for now, get it calmed down, and try foods again. Any suggestions and help though would be greatly appreciated!

     Also, how do you keep from giving into temptations? I am struggling with the thought of having to bake/cook again more and all the time it takes and I don’t have. I  need connivance but yet don’t have a lot of money to spend and I still want connivance in things like having bread to make sandwiches etc. It is so hard to do it on such a tight budget (time and money wise) and with all the food of my family around me!? I will need to be GF, dairy-free, and sugar-free at least and actually more restricted than that if I stay on the elimination diet (which I think I should do?)

Ice-Cold Lemonade (Healthy and Calorie-Free!)+ (That doesn’t mean artificial sweeteners)

Here’s the simple, really frugal, recipe:

2 T. lemon juice

1/4 t. stevia (or to taste)

1 c. water

2 ice cubes

Mix. Sip. Enjoy.

Recipe Review: Another “Quick” Bread Recipe

Guess I’m really into quick, lately eh? :)

Anyways, this recipe is for a whole loaf of bread, but you don’t have to wait for it to rise or anything. (There’s no yeast.) 

The taste wasn’t quite like your typical bread but it still tasted good to me.

My best description of the flavor would be that it tastes like a “bread-like” pancake. Hard to imagine, I know! So you’ll just have to try it out and let me know what you think. (Note: It was however, good enough to post about and good enough to eat! :) It didn’t last long in my house!)

First off, I’d advise baking this bread in a smaller loaf pan (or double the recipe to use a regular sized loaf pan) with the rack placed in the top section of your oven.

Now, for the slightly altered recipe:

• 1 cup oat flour (GF if needed or another cup of flour/GF blend)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or GF blend) *I think this recipe would work well GF
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey (or agave, maple syrup, etc) 
• 1 tablespoon oil (or melted butter/earth balance/coconut oil)
• 1 cup milk (or non-dairy alternative)

Preheat your oven to 450 F. In a medium mixing bowl, combined the oil and honey. Add the other ingredients (besides the milk) and stir well. Add the milk gradually, stirring frequently. You may not need the whole cup. Add the milk until a soft dough forms. If you add a little too much milk, you can add a little more flour. Grease and flour your pan (as this dough is quite sticky.) Once you’ve made a soft dough  (GFer’s :), you will especially understand how “soft” this can be), place the dough in the greased pan. Place pan in the oven for twenty minutes or until top is golden and the insides are cooked well (check this with a toothpick.) Place on a cooling rack to cool. Cut and enjoy!

And as the original author suggests, “It's pretty dense, but great when fresh from the oven. Especially with butter [or earth balance/coconut oil] and honey [agave] on cold [or any] mornings!"

Did you make this? Are you going to try it GF? If so, let me know! I’d love to see how it turned out for you! :)

Mini Update: Elimination Diet

Hello all! I thought I would just pop-in really quick and let you know how the elimination diet is going......I had a set-back in that I was reacting to most of what I ate that was in phase 1- the hypo-allergenic list. :O So, I ended up starting over kind of. First, I just started with brown rice. That's it. That's all I ate for two meals. No salt/spices. Boring I know, but it helped my stomach calm down and let me know that yes, I definitely do fine with brown rice. Then I added lentils (brown/green) with no salt/spices. And I've been doing fine with those too. I've added good quality sea salt to them now too (just a little) which helps. I've tried to add in berries but haven't had much luck so far. I did add in a mango tonight and was pleased to find I didn't have any reactions! :) Yeah! :) So, know I know I can eat brown rice, brown lentils, and mangoes, and sea salt. As discouraging as that may sound (and was at first), I am actually ok with it because I am feeling much better! :) I've eaten only brown rice and lentils for the past few days pretty much (for every meal/snack) but it's actually started to become a comfort food for me. At first, I didn't think that I could do it and didn't like the lentils without spices (I had previously used cumin and turmeric) but now this food has become a comfort food because it feels good to my stomach!

I will continue to add in phase one foods one at a time and try them repeatedly too (especially if I notice any reactions) before moving on to another food...so this is going to be a lot longer process than I thought, but I am excited about the journey!

Oh, and two more things:
My aunt told me that fruit shouldn't be eaten with other foods (it disrupts digestion) and I think that's true for me....any one else heard of that?

And lastly, I eat a lot more frequently than I used to, but I figure, it's ok since this is all my body is eating and I only eat when I am hungry. :)

Recipe Review: Really Really Quick Single Serving Bun/Bread/Roll! :)

Wow! These beauties are really! as quick as this digital “instant photo” is! I don’t know how I found the link to this recipe, but man, this recipe is certainly a “wonder”!

I played around with it a little bit and here’s what I found:

The seeds really will help the appearance and probably texture too!

These will work probably with any flour you choose…whole grain even! (and that is whether you are GF or not!)

Don’t be intimidated by the almond flour (if you don’t have it on hand.) I didn’t and I just subbed for it with another tablespoon  of flour.

Here’s the recipe with some little alterations/ suggestions:

Ingredients:

1 egg

¾ teaspoon molasses (or try honey or agave)

2 tablespoons flour (try any whole grain flour like teff, sorghum, brown rice, whole wheat, etc)

1 tablespoon almond meal(or another tablespoon of flour)

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (or try chia seeds)

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon cocoa powder (for a darker color, not taste. Sub with the same amount of flour if you don’t want the color).

a pinch of salt, if you want

1 teaspoon sesame seeds (or cornmeal or finely ground nuts or poppy seeds, etc) Ohhh! I can envision a lemon bun! with poppy seeds! :)

In a cereal bowl, beat the egg and molasses (sweetener) with a fork, for about a minute. Now, add the flour, almond meal, ground flax seed, baking powder, and cocoa powder (if you so choose). Add in the salt (if you are adding it.) Add the egg, stir until smooth. Oil a 10 oz Pyrex custard cup (glass)  and sprinkle seeds (if you like) on the bottom and sides.

Pour the batter into the cup. Top with more seeds if you like.

Microwave for 90 seconds. That’s it! 90 seconds to having bread in your hands! It’s so amazing! I only wish I had thought of it! :)

Slice in half and serve! (Topped with “butter” dairy-free/not, jam, etc!)

 

My Journey (So Far) in Refined Sugar-Free Eating

I received the following comment from Debbie @ ajourneyinmotherhood.wordpress.com a while back:

“I read your blog and enjoy your recipes. I am trying to find a balance when it comes to cost in eliminating/replacing sugar. In the beginning of this journey, I decided that we would just replace it with maple syrup until I figured out how expensive that would be. Now we are down to the last of our maple syrup that we bought 1 month ago. I am rationing it. Next, I considered honey. Now, I am just not really sure. Where has this journey taken you and how did you get to where you are now?”

I didn’t answer that comment right away because I knew it would take me more than a few seconds to answer…but rather than take all that time to just tell Debbie about it, I thought you, my wonderful readers, might be interested to. So I decided to answer via post. :) lol

Ok, so…….here goes nothing! :)

I started eating sugar-free way back in 2008 :) …..so actually not that long ago. It just feels like it! I started to eat this way because I was having a lot of health problems and someone suggested (or maybe I read about it?) that I try sugar-free.

I started with using brown rice syrup and evaporated cane juice. Eventually, I was introduced to agave ,and I almost used exclusively agave nectar for quite a while. But that got quite expensive…. and I found myself rationing it too just like Debbie! Around that same time I had started learning about different sweeteners and had used them…and continue to learn and progress.

I don’t use unrefined cane sugar/evaporated cane juice/sucanut/rapunda etc because I found that I react to them more than other sweeteners…if nothing else, I tend to binge more on them and find them less healthy anyways in my opinion.

So what do I do/use now? I love using:

• Fruit! (Dried fruit, whole fruit, apple sauce, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, really ripe bananas, etc) I feel like this is a much more natural way to enjoy things sweet! :)
• Sweet Milk- this is a cheaper option that I recently have begun to experiment with and I love! :) Click on it for more info.
• Dates! Yum! Ok, so they are technically dried fruit, but I like them in all their forms……as date sugar and whole. I find they taste similar to brown sugar. :)
• Stevia (powdered, flavored, liquid, etc. You name it, as long as it isn’t  too bitter, I like it!)
• Honey

These 4 are the most frugally rich! I find that by using fruit in it’s more natural states and/or a little stevia and/or honey I can save a lot more money. I also buy more expensive items like stevia and honey in bulk…which also saves me money. And I tend to combine fruit and/or stevia/honey together so I use less of the more expensive and less “fruity” sweeteners.

What about agave? I have heard lots of bad news lately about agave but I’m not sure what to believe. Either way though, it hasn’t made it’s way back into my pantry of late because of the expense! I also found that I could binge just as much with agave (which is supposed to be low glycemic) as with regular sugar……but that might just be because I have a sweet-tooth problem! :) So, perhaps I will use it in the future, we’ll see. The cheapest way I’ve ever gotten it is through Amazon I think and in bulk…but still it was pretty expensive!

And maple syrup? Although I love this guy!! really, really I do!, I find it tougher to get larger quantities of him (which is cheaper than those little over-priced bottles) at the store and that it is as Debbie mentioned expensive. I don’t know how it really compared in price to honey either…I thought about checking that out but that was right before I started the elimination diet……in which I am not eating anything with sweeteners (unless it is fruit, dried fruit, fruit juice). It is difficult but amazingly not as hard as I thought it would be! The reason I am doing this is because I want to see how these “sugars” (for that’s what they are, even if they are much healthier) affect my body whether they cause more binging or other symptoms! I plan on trying cane sugar too eventually on this elimination diet.

Also, another tip that helps me to use refined sugar-free products frugally, is by using less. Liquid ingredients tend to use about half the amount called for in a recipe anyway, but I still like to reduce the amount as much as I can. You tastes do change over time and eventually you are able to use less sugar.

I also have heard a lot about coconut sugar/sap but haven’t had the opportunity to try it and I know it’s more expensive.

I occasionally will use molasses, brown rice syrup, etc in my cooking but not very often. I prefer the other above mentioned sweeteners. :)

Anyways, I think that’s about it! If anyone else has any tips or stories to share, feel free! :)

 

 

This is linked to pennywise platter thursdays :)