Valentine Crayons - WFMW

Yesterday, during our snow day, the two littles and I made valentine crayons. I found the idea over at Family Fun.

To do this frugal and fun project you need:

• two blonde willing helpers, hair color optional

• heart shaped muffin tins or silicon baking cups, we used the silicon baking cups from Wilson which cost just under $9 and made this project no longer frugal!! But hey, the $9 was worth it for the fun we've had...and we'll re-use them.


• old, broken, junky crayons, any church basement is a good source for these if you don't have your own...just ask first.

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Peel the crayons. This step will help you experience, in a slight way, Chinese Bamboo torture.

Break crayons into 1" or so pieces and fill your muffin cups to slightly overflowing. If you used mini-cups bake for 10 to 15 minutes. We used full-sized cups and it took 30 minutes to melt the crayons. Let cool. Pop out.

While baking these I thought we'd done something wrong. Coming out of the oven my crayons looked like tie-dye gone wrong, not like the Family Fun pic. But this was because I was looking at the bottom of the crayon.

Thankfully when we popped out the cool crayon they looked wonderful!

The next step will be to package these cuties. We will put a card behind them in a treat bag. Optional sayings could be:

• You color my world!
• Valentine, you make my heart melt!
• Happy Valentine's Day, for "crayon" out loud!

We have another snow day today, so we may be trying this valentine idea too!

For more great tips for your life in general, go to Works For Me Wednesday, hosted this week by Don't Try This At Home!

Snow White Visits the Library

Here's my little princess at today's Princess Party at our local library. Sorry for the blur; forgot the flash.

This Snow White costume was a Christmas present. She requested it and I knew it was a "must do". She'd worn her store-bought one to shreds.

I made the costume from Simplicity 9384. This pattern is not for a beginner. The bodice had self-made piping. The sleeves were sewn with three layers of fabric and multiple steps.

But it was cheaper to make than most princess costumes. The fabrics are all broadcloth purchased at 50% off. There are no special trims. The only notions were thread, hooks & eyes, interfacing, zipper, and elastic. I had all of those on hand except the zipper.

I made this costume a bit big, in hopes it will fit her the Summer of 2009. I'm dreaming of another trip to Disney...

But for now, we satisfy ourselves with a Princess Party at the library. Enjoy the pictures!

Riveting story time...

Crown with jewels, glitter and feathers...

And a princess parade!

Taco Meat in the Crockpot - GFCF

This is my all-time favorite recipe. There is absolutely no prep to this recipe. Just throw it all in, stir it up, and ignore how gross it looks. Six to seven hours later, stir it up again and voila you have "taco meat".

Use the meat for nachos, tacos, burritos, whatever your heart desires. And, of course, it's cheap...and GFCF. I found this recipe somewhere on the internet...not sure where... and adapted it to make it a bit cheaper.

Taco Meat in the Crockpot

2 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 1/2 c. dried pinto beans
1 medium onion, chopped
1 heaping tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
2 packets GFCF taco seasonings or the equivalent of your own homemade mix
4 c. water

Put all in the crockpot. Stir till mixed. Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. Stir and drain if necessary. Serve as desired.

This recipe serves our family of 7 for about $3.50 without toppings. We have enough leftover for our ASD son's lunch box. You can substitute dry onions in this recipe, just increase the water by 1/2 cup.

Cloth Baby Shoes Completed!

Here they are! Two cozy little baby shoes, size 0-6 months.

I used navy corduroy with blue fleece for the right pair. The left pair are blue plaid wool with the same fleece.

I deviated from the pattern in just a couple ways. First, I used the main fabric for the sole instead of the recommended suede fleece. Since these fabrics are already heavy, I did not use a double layer of the main fabric for the sole. I just interfaced it. These shoes will never be walked in. That should be sufficient.

The second change I made is on the heel. I left the main fabric showing with the fleece as trim. The pattern shows doing the opposite.

The instructions on this tutorial are excellent. My only advice would be to follow them!

The first pair I made, I decided I knew better. The pattern says to fold down the top heel, sandwiching the elastic inside. I feared catching the elastic as I stitched. Surely I could just thread the elastic through after everything was sewn together.

Wrong!

I think it took me over an hour to thread the elastic through. The multiple layers of fabric and interfacing made threading virtually impossible. Lesson learned!

If you use heavy fabrics (as I did) make sure to use a heavy weight machine needle. I can't emphasize that enough. You truly need a denim or similar weight needle and go slow. Or you'll be breaking needles!

If you want to give these shoes a try, check out the Cloth Shoes Flickr group. There are lots of cute ideas. I've made my shoes very plain because of time constraints. But the toes of these cloth shoes just cry out for embellishment!

Sewing Baby Shoes Today

I'm making cloth baby shoes today for a baby shower on Saturday. My good friend Crissy is having her third boy.

Joanna's pattern (at Stardustshoes) are famous! They're highlighted at Sew Mama Sew!, Michael Miller Fabrics, and pictured in Mary Engelbreit Home Companion. Not to mention all the no-name bloggers like me that rave about them.

And...be still my frugal heart...her pattern-slash-tutorial is free! What a gal.

The first time I made these little guys, I was a bit embarrassed to bring such a small and easily made gift. But the response was wonderful. Maybe because the shoes look like Robeez.

It never ceases to amaze me that one morning + fabric scraps = adulation.

So once again, I pull out this great pattern. All the pieces are cut, interfaced, and marked for two pair of baby boy cloth shoes.

Stay tuned...pictures and comments upon completion.

Memorizing Scripture - WFMW

Scripture memory is not one of my strong points. Whiling away the hours at the computer IS.

So rather than fight my issues, I try to find ways to embrace them. Or least find some redeeming quality...

And how do I do that with the computer? Why by using "The Scripture Memory System," a downloadable program at memoryverses.org. And, bless my frugal heart, this program is freeware!

It works likethis: I type in the verse I am learning. The program quizzes me in multiple ways and keeps a score. After scoring high enough repetitively, the verse is moved to "review".

All verses are tracked and shuffled. I can quiz myself on the whole lot or just portions.

There's even a voice feature. This little parrot guy will fly down and say the verses to me. He sounds a bit creepy. But, hey, you auditory learners might just love that feature.

This simple program has helped me learn many verses. And helped me feel better about my screen-time when I should have been scrubbing the floors...

Or cooking dinner...

Or folding laundry...

Or sleeping...

But hey, no guilt here. There's no higher calling than memorizing Scripture!

Oh...there is something in the Bible about moderation isn't there. Shoot.

Check over at Rocks in My Dryer for What Works for Me Wednesday. You find lots of cool tips...maybe even additional ways to legitimize your computer time!

Beef Enchiladas - GFCF Style

Here is the promised recipe and review for Beef Enchiladas! The picture at right is before baking. This recipe originally comes from Hillbilly Housewife. Her website is full of very frugal recipes. Many can be adapted for the GFCF diet.

Beef Enchiladas
2 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 chpd. onion
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
4 cups warm water
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Dash EACH oregano, black pepper
20-25 soft corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef or turkey and onion. Drain. Mix tomato paste, water, and spices in a separate bowl. Pour 1/2 of sauce mixture into skillet with meat. Heat together for a minute or so. Remove from heat. Warm corn tortillas. Roll each tortilla with about 3 T. of meat. Place in a large baking dish with seam side down. Cover with remaining sauce. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Top with refried beans, soy sour cream, lettuce, or desired toppings as you serve.

A few notes...

Don't squeeze 25 of these enchiladas into the same pan. It looks good in the picture above, but trust me, this recipe works much better when divided between two dishes.

Corn tortillas do not roll well unless they are hot. I've never been able to achieve the right temperature with the microwave. I've taken to heating them on a dry skillet for a few seconds in each side. You should see them steaming before they're done.

My son loves these in his lunch! I always hope there will be a few left for the next day. But there rarely is. If your family is not as big ours, consider using the extra for lunches.

This recipe feeds our family of 7 for about $5.

WFMW - Window Cleaner without Vinegar

Everyone is in love with vinegar these days. For good reason. But I'm not a fan of vinegar-based window cleaners. I love my tried and true Beverly Nye window cleaner recipe.

It takes rubbing alcohol and ammonia. *gasp*

I know, I know. It's harsher. But let me tell you what I have washed off my windows...and walls...and stove...and refrigerator with this stuff.

Finger grime, crayon, food, snot, grease, face prints, and unnamed substances I did not care to know their origin.

Eeewww.

And so I'll stick by my window cleaner and say..."It Works for Me!!"

Beverly Nye's Window Cleaner

1 pint water
4 tbsp. rubbing alcohol
4 tbsp. sudsy ammonia
squirt of food coloring if desired.

Mix and pour into a spray bottle.

See other great tips at Rocks in My Dryer's Works for Me Wednesday.

Tortilla Chip Pie - GFCF Style

One of my favorite frugal recipes is Hillbilly Housewife's Tortilla Chip Pie. It's extremely easy to make this GFCF by leaving out the cheese and double checking that your chips, spices, and tomato sauce are GFCF. Here's my adaptation of the recipe for our large family and the GFCF diet. The picture at left is before the dish is baked.

Tortilla Chip Pie

4 - 15 oz. cans kidney beans, drained

2 lb. ground turkey

1 small onion, chopped

2 tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 - 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown turkey and onions. Drain. Add
kidney beans, tomato sauce and spices. Let simmer five minutes or so. Pour into
9 x 13 baking pan or casserole of similar capacity. Top with tortilla chips,
poking them into the meat mixture. Bake for 20 minutes. You can serve this as is, or serve as a taco salad with lettuce, salsa, soy sour cream, etc.

I usually can make this dish for around $6, feeding a family of 7. I highly recommend sifting through the recipes at Hillbilly Housewife. She cooks very simply without using seasoning mixes, cream soups, pre-made sauces, etc. I find those factors make her recipes very frugal and easier to adapt for GFCF. I'll be highlighting her Beef Enchiladas next time we have them for supper. It's a wonderful recipe!!

Packing GFCF Lunches

Packing school lunches has been the hardest part of the GFCF diet for me, and I think for my son. He loved eating the hot lunches our little Christian school provided. I'm so thankful that Joseph is so easy going. He has rarely complained about the switch, but I can see the wistful look once in awhile.

So here is what has worked for us, so far...

1. Leftovers from the night before. This is by far Joseph's favorite. We pack up a container of last night's Tortilla Chip Pie, Crock Pot Chili, or Enchiladas and he's a happy camper.
2. Rice Crackers from the Oriental section of Kroger and cut-up GFCF deli meat. A homemade Lunchable!
3. Peanut Butter on Health Valley Rice Bran Crackers. These crackers have a similar taste to Graham Crackers. I find them in the organic sections at both Kroger and Giant Eagle.
4. Rolled GFCF deli meat. Sometimes I roll it plain, sometimes with a lettuce leaf. He likes it either way.
5. GFCF bun made from Bob's Red Milk GF Bread Mix and a GFCF sausage pattie, with mustard of course!
6. GFCF sliced bread (above brand) with GFCF deli meat.
7. And on Friday, which is pizza day at our school, he gets homemade pizza using this recipe, topped with Ragu Organic Garden Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce and Hormel Pepperoni.

Only the protein/main dish is listed above. I find the rest of the lunch easy to pack. I try to include a fruit or vegetable and a GFCF cookie or tortilla chips. We have reusable juice boxes that I put in lemonade, 100% juice, or caffeine-free tea.

Packing GFCF lunches has forced me to think ahead more. But it's doable. And worth it, especially since we're now seeing more smiles and eye contact!

Frugal Alternatives for Day Planners

It's that time of year. I'm ready to shell out money for the coolest looking planner on the market. Those pink covers with brown polka-dots might hold the answer to my organizational woes!

This temptation besets me every New Year. Finally, I've grown more discerning. There are three facts I know about myself and about Day Planners. I now extended grace to my psyche and admit these facts...without guilt.

1. I am visual, so visual that I think a pretty calendar will instantly transform me. Memo to self: a pink cover with brown polka dots won't keep my sink clear of dirty dishes.


2. I am fickle, so fickle that in a month I will be bored of the calendar. But, empty planner pages will not conquer my Mt. Laundry.


3. I struggle with inner voices of guilt. In a month that expensive, pink and brown polka dotted calendar will scream failure.

So, what do I do with this urge for a Day Planner? And the desire to get organized...again.

Well, I plan to make use of it before it flits away. I am going to try to get organized. I do plan to use some type of planner. But I am committed to make my planner simple, small, and free.

In a month or so, I will give myself any needed grace if the little planner is collecting dust. Life is too short for guilt. Period.

If you're like me, then you may enjoy these links. Each will take you to a site that has some type of free, printable calendar or planner.

Warning: some of these options are very detailed. Be kind to yourself. Keep it simple.

Weekly Planner and To Do Lists
DIY Planner
Household Notebook
Homeschool & Organizer Planner (most of these pages are not specifically homeschool)
Kristen's Guide Calendars & Planners (scroll down past the ads)

Laura's Slow Cooker Chili

There's various forms of this recipe on the Internet. But I wanted to share with you how I've adapted it for our gluten-free, casein-free, frugal family. I've made a few changes to the original recipe for our family-size, dietary restrictions, and taste. This recipe is just enough to feed our family of 7, including three teenage boys. It goes even further with a pan of cornbread. But I've yet to perfect GFCF cornbread...

Laura's Slow Cooker
Chili

adapted by Beth @ I Can Fly

2 lb. ground turkey

3 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

6 tbsp. honey

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 15 oz. cans kidney beans, drained

2 15 oz. cans black beans, drained

3/4 medium onion, chopped

3 tbsp. chili powder

2 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 pinches black pepper

1 1/2 pinches allspice

additional salt to taste

Brown turkey; use oil if necessary. Drain. Mix tomato sauce, honey, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. Simmer till thick. Coat slow cooker with cooking spray. Put in browned turkey, thickened sauce, and remaining ingredients. Stir to mix. This is a thick chili; add water if desired. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. Good served with corn chips, soy sour cream, cheese-sub or cheese if tolerated.

I would estimate I make this meal for under $6.50, feeding 7.

You can find loads of frugal tips at Frugal Friday on Crystal's Blog, Biblical Womanhood.

2008 Budget Challenge

Crystal at Money Saving Mom has issued the 2008 Financial Challenge! And I'm in. This will be a multi-step process from what I can tell. First we're going to work on budgeting.

As a ministry family our income is a bit modest for a family of seven. But believe you me, it's worlds better than where we were four years ago! So no complaining here.

But we do have a few challenges. On my husband's income alone we have about $100 leeway every two weeks. I earn a small salary as his office assistant and I sell hand made soaps. These two things are what gets us from week to week, all those unexpected expenses.

For being unexpected, they sure do come up regularly!! Budgeting for three teenagers, now there's a topic!

Anywhoo, yes we do have a budget. Basicly a list of bills and when they're due. Budget-wise my goal for 2008 is to see us pare down where we can, see if I can earn a bit more, and see if we can get some emergency savings.

God's provision is good. He's not failed us yet. But I think my stomach acid would calm down if we could have some savings...

So go check Crystal's blog out and join the challenge! Let's make 2008 a financially great year!

Loaded Baked Potatoes - Frugal, GFCF, and Yummy!

My ASD son loves potatoes. With this diet, that's a huge blessing! He particularly likes baked potatoes. And so one of my new favorite GFCF meals is loaded baked potatoes.

To bake a potato, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Scrub the skin of your potato. If you want a soft-skinned potato rub the skin with oil or GFCF margarine. Prick the potato several times with a fork to let steam out during cooking. You can wrap your potato in foil or not, either way works. Medium sized potatoes will be done in an hour. My potatoes last night took about and hour and fifteen minutes. To tell if their done, just plunge the fork in. There should be little resistance with a done potato.

I don't like microwaved potatoes. I'd rather just have something else, but there are days when the microwave is a life saver. So here are the directions for microwaving your potato. Prepare the skin as if you were baking. Do NOT wrap in foil. Some will wrap in saran wrap, but I have found that unnecessary and it leads to burns! The saran holds in steam and when you unwrap it...you get the picture. Anyway, put your potato on a plate and microwave between 3 and 8 minutes, depending on the size of your potato. You don't want your potato to be completely done. Give it an additional 5 minutes of rest time in the microwave so it can continue to cook as the steam is released.

Have you ever baked your potato in the crockpot? I love this option! Prepare your potatoes as you would for baking. Use foil if desired. Pack the crock pot full and put on low for 8 to 10 hours, high for 4. No need for water in the crockpot. The potatoes will steam themselves.

Now for the yummy part: Loading your potato! This is where you can please all members of your family (hopefully). Everyone can top their potato as they like. Non-GFCF family members can have their goodies and hopefully you have the equivalent on hand for your GFCF child.

Toppings we enjoy:

GFCF margarine

sour cream/soy sour cream

cooked broccoli

crisp bacon

chives

and for the non-GFCF, sharp cheddar cheese

salt & pepper

The options are limitless. You could have vegetarian chili, any chopped veggie known to man, salsa, gravy, herbs, sauces...you name it!

5 out of 7 in my family will eat this meal. In our home, that translates to "a keeper"!

Frugal, Homemade, Aluminum-Free Baking Powder - WFMW

In our pursuit to remove all offenses from my autistic son's diet, aluminum-free baking powder is a must. I'm frugal at heart so throwing away my reserves of baking powder was painful! They were purchased for a small percentage of what aluminum-free baking powders cost.

Then I had one of those "duh" moments! I had completely forgotten about my Tightwad Gazette books. The detailed price comparisons of baking powders complete with homemade recipe had slipped my mind!

2 parts cornstarch, arrowroot, or tapioca starch/flour
1 part baking soda
1 part cream of tartar

The above recipe is good if you would like to pre-mix your baking powder. The cornstarch keeps the baking soda and cream of tartar from reacting. If absolute frugality is your goal then use this combination...

1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
in place of each teaspoon of baking powder in your recipe.

If you have a bulk foods store near you (we live near Amish communities) then you can find the cream of tartar at very reasonable prices, making your baking powder even more cost effective!

Cooking GFCF has not been good for the grocery budget. So I get excited when I stumble across little helps like this!

Happy Works for Me Wednesday!