Featured on Remodelaholic!

I'm super excited today because tonight my frugal mud room storage is being featured over at Remodelaholic!




Remodelaholic has been on my blog list for ages now, because every day they feature amazing DIY and remodeling projects found all over the WWW.  They also have linky parties each week for DIY Projects, Recipes, and a For Sale by Owner link-up for those of you with etsy shops or other home businesses!  Be sure to go visit Remodelaholic!  (My post should be up around 6PM EST tonight).

RoadKill Rescue Feature

Today my red spraypainted chair is being featured over at RoadKill Rescue!!  I LOVE the idea for this blog...."one man's trash is another woman's treasure!"  All the projects show great transformations....and they all begin with an item that was obtained for FREE!  (Now that is my kind of project!!)  Whether it was a dumpster dive, a curb pick-up, or something you already had around the house - these are the types of things being featured from all over the blogosphere!

Go check it out, and be inspired!!

Crock Pot Cooking

Crock pots (I believe slow cooker would be the correct term, since Crock Pot is a brand name?) have to be one of my favorite inventions ever.  Right after indoor plumbing and internet (thanks again for that one, Al Gore!).

Crock Pots have evolved over the years, from the basic on/off model to the programmable version, to a slow cooker trio, to the small little dipper (perfect for warm dips like queso!)  I personally have the one pictured above - nothing fancy, but it serves it's purpose.


New to cooking with your crock pot?  Here's a few hints....
1)  Find a good cookbook.  I use the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook - it has over 700 recipes!  Of course there are plenty of good recipes available by searching online too.
2)  Can't spend time in the morning getting everything ready to go in the slow cooker?  This may seem like a really simple idea, but get everything ready the night before and keep it in the refrigerator.  That way all you need to do in the morning is push a few buttons.
3)  Sometimes the worst part about slow cooker cooking is the clean-up.  There are liners available that work really well, but if you don't want to spend the money, spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray!


Want to know my latest favorite crock pot recipe?  BBQ Pork Sandwiches!  Besides being super easy, it's also really frugal, and also counts as a freezer meal, which I love.  I wait until pork loin goes on sale for around $1.69/lb.  Where I shop, this sale is typically good for only the big cuts of meat - around 10 or so pounds, but the butcher will cut it at no charge!  So here's what I do...buy about 10 pounds and have the butcher cut it in thirds.  I then take it home and put each third in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer.  To make the BBQ Pork, first thaw the pork loin.  Put it in the crock pot and pour a can of root beer over it.  Cook on low for 5 - 5 1/2 hours.  Shred with forks, scooping off any fat.  Mix with your favorite BBQ sauce and cook for another half hour.  Serve on rolls.  That's it!  It feeds a crowd, so if I'm making it for just my family, I can freeze the leftovers for another meal.

Do you love your crock pot too?  What is your favorite slow cooker recipe?

Linking to a few of my favorites ~ check them out!

So FUN to be featured ~ THANKS!

Beautiful (FREE) Hydrangea Wreath

At the end of July, I forced myself to take down my patriotic wreath and since then my front door has been looking mighty empty.  With saving for an adoption, I have been trying to be very conscious about the amount of money I spend on non-necessities...and a new wreath, or materials to make one, doesn't really fit under the "needs" category!  Nikki from Thrifty Decorating to the rescue!  She made a beautiful hydrangea wreath and inspired me to do the same.

Mine was slightly different because I had a wire wreath form to use (left over from my Christmas greenery wreath).  After picking the best blooms from my hydrangeas, I used some florist wire to attach them to the wreath.

I just kept going until the wreath was filled!  (Yeah, I switched to working on the living room floor halfway through like always!)

My hydrangeas aren't too big, so the blooms were a bit limited, which made the wreath lack some fullness....so I added a raffia bow to try and make the lack of bloomage less noticeable.

Here's the finished product on the front door ~ I like how it turned out, and of course the best part is that it was totally FREE!  Thanks for the inspiration, Nikki!

Linking to a few of my favorites ~ check them out!!

It's always exciting to be featured ~ thanks so much!

Old Crate + Old Casters = New Table

Yippee for another great yard sale find...this delightful old crate...

Rope handles...

Worn letters on the front.... (5 B J 5 ......any ideas?)

The best part?  Only $6!

My hubby added some casters he had found, and turned the crate into a cute little table on wheels!

So, this space that needed a table earlier this summer....

now has one!  (And I'm loving that it can be moved super easily for when I get the urge to rearrange!)

Gotta love old stuff that can be turned into something new!

Linking to a few of my favorites ~ check them out!

It is always an honor to be featured ~ THANKS so much!

Rocking Chair Redo

Back here I showed you this kid's rocking chair that I bought at a yard sale...

Our Carly has this weird fascination with anything she can sit in or on.  She will find the strangest things to use as a seat....for example, back around Easter....

Yep, that would be her brother's Easter bucket.  Anyway, when I saw the rocker pictured above at a yard sale, I knew she would love it.  It was priced at $5 but I offered the $3 I had in my pocket and they accepted ~ good deal!

A few coats (ok, a lot of coats) of Rustoleum's "Sweet Pea" and here's what it looks like now...

The stuffed monkey is in place of my little monkey who wouldn't sit still long enough to have her picture taken!  She really does love her new and improved chair though.  And I should clarify...it wasn't Rustoleum's fault that it took so many coats of paint.  My primer spraypaint was clogged and I couldn't get it to work, but I really wanted to do the project right then and there (ever happen to you?!), so I didn't use a primer....which won't be happening again.  (Note to self:  buy more primer, or else this will happen again!)

Linking to a few of my favorites ~ check them out!

Always such an honor to be featured ~ THANK YOU!

Patriotic Breakfast

I am literally up to my neck in berries.  Strawberry season is long gone, but this week I picked 4 quarts of red raspberries and bought 20 (yes, twenty) pounds of blueberries. 

 

We've eaten lots of berries.  I've made Banana-Raspberry Bread and Blueberry Muffins, and frozen a lot of blueberries to be used throughout the year.  But still, I have a lot of berries.  I'm thinking 20 pounds might have been going a smidge overboard.  (Although at $34, I'll have blueberries year round for a fraction of what they would be if I'd be buying them at the grocery store).

Today as I was searching blueberry recipes, I came upon one for Blueberry Sauce.  Super easy:  combine 1 lb blueberries, 1/2 c sugar, 3 tbsp lemon juice, and 2 tsp cornstarch in a medium saucepan.  Stir over medium heat until cornstarch dissolves and then boil four minutes, stirring occasionally.

The wheels started turning and I decided to use the last of my red raspberries to make raspberry sauce.  I used basically the same recipe, just tweaking things as I went along.  Since the 4th of July is almost here, I used the two sauces for a patriotic breakfast-for-dinner tonight.  French toast with red, white (Reddi-Whip), and blue toppings!

Both sauces were delicious....Jackson especially loved the blueberry sauce and also put some on his ice cream for dessert.  I still have quite a few blueberries left, so I'm planning on making more of this sauce to freeze.....I'm imagining it on pancakes, cheesecake, angel food cake, there are tons of possibilities!

Anyone have any favorite blueberry recipes to share? 

Linking up to a few of my favorites!

It's such an honor to be featured!  Thanks to...

4th of July Decor on the Cheap: Wreath

For some reason, I have never decorated much for the 4th of July, and this year I wanted to start remedying that.  Since I don't exactly devote a large portion of our budget to seasonal decorating, I needed to come up with some cheap ideas to make our home a little more festive and patriotic.  I turned to the blogosphere and found this cutey wreath from The Creative Imperative.

I loved the idea, wanted to come up with something similar, and here's what I ended up with....

Looking back, I think I should have made the stripes a little thinner so they looked more American Flag-like and not so much like a candy cane, but that's ok.  Please note there are exactly 13 buttons ~ how very colonial of me!

Patriotic?  It's a wreath version of an American flag.  Check.
Easy?  A little time consuming, but my 5 year old probably could have done it, so Check.
Cheap?  I already had the yarn and buttons, so all I needed was the wreath form.  I bought a straw wreath for under $3 at Joann's ~ Check!

As a bonus, I finally took my Spring Wreath off the front door!  Yep, now that it's officially summer, bird's nests were officially starting to look weird and out of place.

**Don't forget to enter my very first giveaway, ending 6/30......check it out ~ there's new stuff in Katie's shop!**

Linking up to a few of my favorites!

It's always such an honor to be featured!  Thanks to the following...

The BEST Strawberry Pie (True Story.)

Oh my.  This pie is seriously so good.  My mouth starts watering around mid-April just dreaming of the upcoming strawberries and this very pie.  After we pick berries each year, this is the first dessert I make.  I only make it with fresh picked berries, because no other berries would do it justice.  It is a taste sensation!

I wish I could take credit for coming up with this recipe, but it's actually from Taste of Home.

Strawberry Lover's Pie

Ingredients ~
3 squares (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate, divided
1 tbsp butter
1 pastry shell (9 inches), baked
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sour cream
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 to 4 c fresh strawberries, hulled
1/3 c strawberry jam, melted

1)  In a saucepan, melt 2 oz chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring constantly; spread or brush over the bottom and up the sides of pastry shell.  Chill.  (*I used chocolate chips and a little vegetable oil, and microwaved it to melt).
2)  Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Spread over chocolate layer; cover and chill for 2 hours.  (*I just realized that when I doubled this recipe, I forgot to double the amount of cream cheese, and it turned out just fine.....even cut out some calories!)
3)  Arrange strawberries, tip end up, atop the filling.  Brush jam over strawberries - this makes a pretty shiny glazed look.  Melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle over all.  Chill and serve.

Enjoy!

 

Linking to some of my favorites!

Thanks so much the feature!!!!