Friday, June 27, 2014

Starbucks copycat Double Chocolatey Chip Frappe

Well, it is Summer 2014 and Tim Horton's around here came out with a "Frozen Hot Chocolate". I was hoping it would be just as good as Starbucks Double Chocolatey Chip Frappe (DCCF); but the disappointment in this drink was huge. It literally tastes like some crappy Nestlequik Chocolate milk with some watered down ice! Just really gross!

So I got to thinking about what my awesome Hot Chocolate Mix might taste like with some ice and milk blended up. I mean I love it hot and chocolatey in the cold months, but what about during these hot months?!

I love my Starbucks DCCF but it gets expensive and I hate getting it with any of the kids with me because I end up feeling guilty, LOL I can really only spluge once a month too.

So, DH went out and got me the Farberware Rocket Blender so I could try my  Hot Chocolate Mix FROZEN!


So I start with my Rocket cup with ice.

Then I cover the ice with milk.

Add my 3/8C (or 1/4C + 1/8C) of the Hot Chocolate Mix:


Place on blender and blend!


Now you're ready to enjoy!

I got some insulated cups so I can take them on the go. I even have lids for them. Yum!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Homemade Oatmeal Packets

Oatmeal Packets and Bowl of OatmealHomemade Oatmeal Packets

I've been getting into Pinterest more (my one sister can attest to that), and I love the money saving tips and tricks I come across, and this was one of them, since our family LOVES oatmeal.

Quick, easy, cheap, and filling too! Plus, we don't go through a gallon of milk a day if it were dry cereal.

I've found many different recipes and this is the one we come up with. Simple, easy, and cheap!

  • ½C Quick Oats
  • 1 tsp Powdered Milk or Powdered Creamer
  • 2 Tbl Brown Sugar
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 pinch Salt
We usually do an assembly line processes since we have so many hands so it goes kind of quick. But our canister of oats can make up to about 30 packets of oatmeal. I store them in a shoe box next to the microwave with the directions on the box JIC a kid forgets what to do.

To cook, add 1 packet into a bowl with at least ½C of Water Depending on the consistency you like you can add a couple of tablespoons more water for a thinner oatmeal. My kids vary, and it really doesn't matter. As long as it's about a 1:1 ratio of oats to water it should turn out fine. Adding extra water helps thin it out and I like mine a bit more thin compared the kids.

Place in the microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir, and add whatever extras you want - dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts, honey, jams, jellies, etc etc etc - use your imagination.

My oats cost about $2.19, my brown sugar is $1.49. Creamer is cheaper than powdered milk, but I usually keep that in my house as a staple now, but factor in maybe $1-$2 for the added milk and I get 30 packets for $4.68-$5.68 which breaks down to .16¢ - .19¢ a packet, compared to the pre-packaged stuff for about $2.99-$3.99 and you only get 6 packets which = 50¢ - 67¢ a packet and you've just saved yourself a BUNCH of money. Especially if you are feeding a family of 10!

Taking the conservative numbers $4.68 for 30 packets vs $14.95 for 30 packets - store bought. You've saved $10.27!!

I can deal with that!

*Now some people have posted that they run their oats through a blender or food processor to make the oats more fine, but we have not had a problem with using straight from the canister.*

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Pumpkin Spice Dump Cake

Pumpkin Spice cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
1 box - Spice Cake mix
1- 15oz can of pumpkin
2- stick melted butter
-I also added a couple dashes of Pumpkin Pie Spice *optional*

Mix well, put into a 9x13 pan (was thick so you'd have to spread it), and bake at 350º for about 20 mins, or until done (clean knife & all)

4oz cream cheese
½ Cup butter (1 stick) softened
1tsp Vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2½+ cps of powdered sugar - (add until you get the flavor & consistency you want)

Cream together.

This is a super moist and delicious cake. Served warm is best but yuo really can not go wrong with it at ANY temperature!

Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip





It's actually a cookie "dough" type dip you can EAT guilt free . . ish. It's a dip without eggs and is delicious! It’s also great because it’s gluten free.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 8-ounce block of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cups chocolate chips
Fruit, cookies, crackers -- whatever you want to serve this with



Instructions:
1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Set aside to cool, and whisk in vanilla.



2. Cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar for 60 seconds. With mixer on low speed, add in brown sugar and butter mixture. Mix until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.



3. Garnish with additional chopped chocolate. Serve with fruit, cookies, crackers, pretzels, or just a spoon.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Mint Double Chocolate Chip Cookies



So what do I do with left over mini chocolate chips & Andes mint bits? Make cookies of course!

Sunday we had an ice cream social and I had enough left over mini chocolate chips & Andes mint bits that I knew I could make them into cookies. I kind of made up my own recipe and it was perfect!

*Pre-heat oven to 350º

2C Flour
½ C Chocolate Baking Powder
1tsp Salt
2tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Baking Soda

Mix in a bowl & set aside.

1C Softend Butter
1C Brown Sugar
½C Sugar
2 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla

Cream together in a large bowl.
Once creamed, slowly add in (in about 3 different parts) the flour mix, blending well after each addition. Mix well.

½ bag Andes Mint Baking Bits
½ bag Mini Chocolate Chips (semi-sweet)

Add chocolate mint & chips to the mix and blend well.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a greased or lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350º for apx 12 minutes.
Cool & enjoy!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Revisiting the Laundry Detergent

About a month ago Yahoo posted this story about laundry detergent . After reading the article I started wondering why I had been putting off making my own detergent.

I knew it would save me money, but I guess I kind of thought that it wouldn't work as well as the stuff I bought pre-made at the store. But this story convinced me that I was simply not thinking straight.

To quote the article:

Is Detergent Even Necessary?

I recently did a TV news story showing people how to make their own laundry detergent for a fraction of the cost of store bought. (It's right here on Yahoo!: check it out.)

As I said in my story, while it may sound impossible, laundry detergent may not even be necessary at all. The blog Funny about Money decided to forgo it completely as part of an experiment. Here's a quote:

"By and large, all of the freshly washed clothing came out with an odor: It smelled of clean water!"

You might be surprised to learn that, while clothing has been around since the fig leaf, laundry detergent is relatively new. And yet, ancient people were presumably able to make their clothing at least somewhat clean. How?

As it turns out, something that may be even more effective than soap is agitation. Ancient people used rocks and rivers, but your modern washing machine can clean lightly soiled clothes by just pushing them around in water.

In other words, people actually do get away without using detergent at all. But if the idea of using nothing more than water to wash your gym socks sounds a little scuzzy, not to worry. You can still wring significant savings from your laundry money by making your own detergent. It's not hard.



Well that kind of said it all for me. I mean it basically says just agitating the laundry was enough to get it clean.

Okay, fine . . .but I like clean smelling clothes . . . ie I like some scent to my clothes to denote they are cleaner, LOL

So when we ran out of laundry detergent this month I bypassed the commercial stuff and started looking for the ingredients from the homemade laundry detergent recipe I have on hand.

The washing soda was a little more difficult to find, and according to some sites most Kroger chain stores (other stores Albertson's, Smith's, A&H, Acme, SavOn, Ace). If you can't find them at your local stores you frequent you can simply call this phone number 1-800-524-1328 and have the UPC code 33200-03020(this is the UPC code for the washing soda). The service will ask for your zip code and then tell you the places in your area that sell the item. (I believe this service will locate most items if you have the UPC code number.)

We luckily found the washing soda at our Kroger's store. We don't normally shop there so it wasn't first on our list of places to check. We will be going there a couple times a year now for this house hold essential.

Also, if all else fails, you can order the Washing Soda from ANY Ace Hardware store, via their online service and they will ship it to your local store for free. Here's their LINK.

Everything else, ingredient wise, I got at Wal-Mart. I bought our 5 gallon buckets at Lowe's for about $3.50 each. We got two, one for the detergent and one for the fabric softener. I also got used spoons, measuring devices, cheese grater, and a pot at garage sales and thrift stores. My total start up costs came to $32. This includes all ingredients, buckets, & utensils.

I won't have to buy new ingredients until sometime in the fall I think. I am guesstimating things for now until I know for sure. I don't forsee needing to make more fabric softener ANY time soon, and I am guesstimating that I'll need to make laundry detergent at least once a month and my ingredients SHOULD last at least 6 months.

Here is my break down of the cost:

Wal-mart:
OxyClean $4 (used for powdered detergent)
Borax $3
8pk Bar Soap $3 (I used Dial's Spring scented soap. Love it!)
Liquid Fab Softener $8
3pk Sponges $2

Kroger:
Washing Soda $3

Lowe's:
2- 5gal buckets with lids $6

Thrift Store:
Used Pot
Used Cheese Grater
Used Stirring Spoon
Used Measuring cups
**Thrift Total: $3

Total Start up cost: $32

Total cost for 6mo worth of Liquid Laundry Detergent: $13
Total cost for 4mo worth of Powdered Laundry Detergent: $20 (will be using more liquid than powdered though)
Total Cost for 6mo worth of Fabric Softener: $8

Normally we have been buying laundry detergent 1-2 times a month at about $8-$12 a bottle/box. This does NOT include costs for a Bounce Bar, dryer sheets, or fabric softener; depending on what hit our fancy that month. Those costs ranged anywhere from $2 - $8 a month.

So now our "monthly" costs will be about $2 a month for detergent and $1 a month for fabric softener.

**********

So, we made the detergent this past weekend. I grated the soap and we started "cooking" the water and soap and I knew it had to melt all of the soap shavings. I filled the bucket up half way with the hot water and then dumped the liquid soap in and started stirring. We then added the powdered ingredients and stirred more.

It was at this point I started questioning if this was actually going to work or not, LOL

So we added the rest of the water and gave it a few more final stirs, snapped the lid on and took it to the basement.

It was still ALL liquidy and I knew it was supposed to gel, but my doubts crept in on whether or not I did it right, used the right soap, or perhaps not enough of the bar soap.

Thankfully 24+ hours later we checked on the soap and much to my happiness, the soap did what it was supposed to do!! WooHoo! It gelled! It smells great, based on the soap I chose to use too.

The day before we had gotten the buckets I decided to try the powdered soap. With the extra boost from the OxyClean I think we'll reserve that for more soiled clothes and just use the liquid soap for normal laundry.

All in all, we are very pleased with how cheap, easy, clean, simple, and great this stuff works. I doubt I'll go back to buying laundry detergent again. How can I?!

Quick & Easy Chicken Pot Pie

1-2 pkgs 8ct Buttermilk Biscuits Jumbo size
2-3 Cups Cooked Chicken Cubed*
3 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cans Mixed Vegetables (drained)
1 can Green Beans (drained)
1 Tbsp Ground Pepper

In a large bowl mix together the chicken, soup, veggies, and pepper.

In large baking dish use one package of the biscuits as a crust. Press into the bottom of the greased baking dish, using your fingers to worktowards the edges and to cover the bottom.

Add chicken mixture to the crust.

With 2nd package of bisuits, either roll out and place on top of chicken mixture or use your fingers to stretch and flatten dough out as much as possible and then lay on top of chicken mixture.

In a pre-heated oven of 350º, bake for 40-60 minutes, covered in foil. Take foil off 10 minutes before removing from oven so biscuits get golden brown.

Cool and enjoy!

*Gordon's Food Service sells pre-cooked, pre-diced chicken in the frozen food section. We use this and it's perfect. We LOVE this find of ours. You can also do this yourself with boneless chicken breasts. Just cook, dice, and freeze. Use when you need to. This makes dinner preperations SUPER EASY!!