From Scratch...

YAY! It's Thursday! And our FIRST "From Scratch..." segment!

I hope that this segment doesn't DIS-courage you, but EN-courage you. I know what it is like to be a busy mom. I know what it is like to have a full plate AND a full SALAD plate! But a good full dinner, should always end with a FULL DESSERT plate! RIGHT?! Even though we are busy in our day-to-day lives, we still need to make priorities in life. One of MY priorities is to feed my family healthy food without breaking the bank. So I LOVE making things from scratch. It is like a nice dessert plate to me! It is satisfying to see my boys grow and be happy. It is also satisfying to see a happy hubby!

As I was telling a new friend, Debbie, yesterday on here, you can't start doing everything from scratch, all at once. First, I think you or I would totally hate it! Second, going from mostly convenience foods to all scratch made items, I think you may end up dyin' in the kitchen from exhaustion! I don't make everything from scratch yet, but I STRIVE to! And if I do little by little each week, I will get to it... maybe. HOPEFULLY! Starting from scratch just gives us a new skill in our lives as mothers, wives, home managers, housekeeper, nanny, bus driver, personal assistant (to a WONDERFUL MAN!), nurse, fire(wo)man & police (wo)man.

So, take it slow. Take it one day at a time. If it is a priority, it will work out.

And not everyday is a perfect "From Scratch..." kind of day. In fact, you WILL have flops and failures. When you do, don't let it beat you. Since when do you give burned or a nasty concoction of "so called food" permission to beat you? NEVER! Keep pluggin' away! Find a different recipe and try, try again! Ah, you will see what I mean in just a bit... I speak from experience!

Well, really my "from Scratch..." week started Monday. But I am going to start with Tuesday's Bread. The always delightful Grandmother bread. We have pretty much had this as our main bread in the house for the last several months. Everyone likes it. It's a keeper.



Yesterday, after I finally went and got my hair done by my sister (a WAY overdue appointment!), I came home in time to make some breakfast burritos with my oldest son. I got the idea from my SIL, Megan. With the idea of Breakfast burritos, you can pretty much do whatever you want. We started with our homemade tortillas. Well, I can't lie. I had some store bought that I had to use up also. Don't let food go bad! Use it! We also had eggs from our own chickens. And we used sausage patties that I got cheap a few weeks ago.


You put them together (I cut my patty on half to fit!), roll them in a paper towel (I used napkins, I don't have paper towels), then roll them in foil. Mmm...

We were able to make 14, with a dozen eggs. The boys are SO excited for breakfast. So, in the morning, turn the oven on, pop these bad boys in for a few minutes and EAT! I am SO not a morning person, so this is going to be great for us!

OK, I can't keep it from you any longer. The "flop of the week". That should also be a segment. I could probably give you one about once every 2 weeks or so... Don't tell, OK?

So, I posted my Yellow cake mix recipe on Monday. Before you start dumping your bags of mix that you put together or rip up your recipe card, IT ALL TURNS OUT GOOD IN THE END. I promise. So, we are going to be getting honey bees in the Spring. And I am trying to replace some sugar with some honey... Good right? Well, it started good.


See how pretty that picture is? I look like a professional cook or something! (OK, humor me alright?!) So, I got a couple mixes stirred and bagged. I got out my REAL VANILLA that my Mother-in-law got in the Dominican on a mission trip. YUM! I was set to go! I added 2 C. of honey instead of sugar... All looked well. I mixed it all up and poured it in the pan. I thought I would go fancy and do a Bundt pan. Look how fancy...


Yeah, major yuck... It was too moist. Half of it stuck in the pan! So, I decided to not be so gutsy, and also to not let this recipe AND HONEY beat me. So, try, try again! Next time, I used MOSTLY organic sugar, with honey. I normally do not buy organic sugar, it is definitely more expensive, but I had a good coupon!


So, mixed it all together with 1/2 C. of honey this time. And I could tell right away, while it was still mixing, that it was gonna be good... As it popped out of the pan, I was relieved! Here is the trouble maker with some powdered sugar on top:


Here it is with my dinner, YUM!


My problem the first time was too much moisture. I needed to cut out more of the water! DUH! :)

Last night we enjoyed leftovers for dinner, which in being frugal, you need to make sure you don't waste your food. Oh, and I didn't waste the "Flop" cake. My dogs and cats had a party! They LOVED it too! So much in fact, the didn't eat their regular food that night!

So, I can't wait to see how you all did! If you have a blog and posted, please share your link with us! If you don't have a blog, don't fret! Just give us a run-down of what you did in the comments section! I'm so excited to see how everyone did! Remember, one thing at a time!!!

Now, GO! :)

Practical Tip Tuesday

Because of necessity, I am bring out this practical tip this morning!

I woke to my husband telling me he had to leave for work but I needed to finish getting the boy's oatmeal ready, because it exploded in the microwave...

I know many of you will get hung up on the fact that my husband was up before me and getting breakfast for my boys... which I KNOW is awesome. But then the problem... sometimes there is a mess, like this morning.

So, today was the perfect day to pull out a practical tip that I have used for a while now. In a 2-3 cup microwave-safe glass measuring cup or bowl, put about 1/2 cup water and add about 2 Tablespoons lemon juice. Don't worry about stirring and don't get hung up on exact measurements. Then put this in the microwave for 2 minutes or so, until the water starts to boil and puts off some steam. When you open up your microwave, wipe down with a clean washcloth. To my amazement the first time I used it, everything (I mean everything, even from the chili 3 weeks ago) can be wiped out with ease! No chemicals! No muscle needed!

To read more practical tips, go here! Join in if you can share!

Free Shorts for Summer

I have 4 boys. And we have been through LOTS of jeans... I mean LOTS...

And after the holes in the knees got beyond repair, we used to throw them out. One day, however, my cheap husband cut every pair of their jeans that had holes, into shorts!

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So in the summer time, running around outside and playing, you will most likely see my boys in cut-off shorts. Fashionable??? Maybe in the 90's, but instead of spending even $5 for a pair of shorts for them to ruin outside, we use the jeans we would have thrown out anyways. We've also cut up their Khaki pants! I could probably even hem the edges, but I don't bother. They don't mind at all!

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So, instead of thinking there is nothing else to use your kids jeans for, cut them into play shorts for the summer!

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To see more Practical Tips, go HERE!

Practical Tip Tuesday

On Tuesday, I am going to start participating in Practical Tip Tuesday, where you give practical tips!

So, mine today, I actually did last night. I give all haircuts in my house. My husband's and my boy's. I used to do mine until my sister became a beautician and pretty much refused to let me do it myself. So, now I just do all of the boy's.

Here they are, all happy that I FINALLY cut their hair:

What is the practical tip in this? Don't be afraid to do it yourself! After my husband and I were first married, he went to a barber and and his hair buzzed. And paid too much. So he bought a Wahl Hair razor, with different heads to set the length of the hair. Out of necessity, I became the beautician, I mean barber, and started learning how to cut hair!

Last summer, after using that razor for 9 years, we got a new razor, this one by Vidal Sassoon. I'm not as big of a fan of the new one, but it serves it's purpose, high and tight cuts.

With my boy, Caden, pictured on the left above, I cut his hair with a pair of scissors. Yeah, a basic pair of cuttin'a piece of paper scissors. I know, I am going to invest in some real sheers. Last night, I also experimented with thinning the boy's hair (it is SO thick!), I did the top I left it a little longer and just thinned it.

So, my practical tip is: DO IT YOURSELF! Invest in some decent equipment, and cut hair yourself! I was never trained, and frankly had no desire to cut anyone's hair, but out of the frugalness of our hearts, we learn! =)

Do, you have a Practical Tip??? Go HERE to share, and to read other tips!