Homemade Goodness

So for a few months now I have been on an even bigger homemade kick than before. I'm addition to making my laundry soap I now make my own Bisquick, brownie mix, and muffin mix. I also started making my own no poo shampoo. I just got this book from the library today and after looking at it for a few min I ordered it from Amazon with my Swagbuck gift cards.

This is a one stop shop for all sorts of homemade recipes including; condiments, candles, soaps, remedies, food staples, beauty and health supplies, cleaning supplies and polishes, garden products, pet supplies, and household compounds.
There are 2 recipes in particular which would save you some money if you have kids.....homemade play dough and homemade finger paints.

Car Seat Redo

These are the before photos. Yuck Yuck, and thats even after I washed it twice. This was a hand me down from Evelyn's mom. I have a car seat for Brez, but when I watch Evelyn she needed a seat in my car. I got tired of the stinky ugly one, and decided to do something about it.

This is the after! I must say I am very happy with how it came out. I was really suprised, I had never done 

piping. Thanks to some great tutorials I got through it though.

Now on to a baby one!

Family Weekend

This is where JD has been for the last few months.

H-troop 5-15th CAV

This is all the grads sitting at attention waiting for the ceremony to start. If you look close you can see JD's head.

This is JD's head.

What a handsome bunch!

This is the end when the men get up and march around the whole compound.

Here they are marching....

JD is really good at this:-)

So is Brez lol

She can do it just like daddy!

Happy family moments:-)

A handsome man.

             Brezlin was glued to him for the weekend. Such a great trip even though it made me miss him more!

Home Made Quick Mix Recipes

 I am usually pretty scatterbrained and frantic.  I love the idea of homemade everything but I lack the time to make everything from scratch. I needed to simplify life a bit, remove some steps, without sacrificing quality and taste!! You can have high quality, delicious tasting food with the ease and convenience of a box mix, and its a great way to save money, and still have the homemade feel.

Bisquick
I made a big batch of this one and gave half to my mother in law. You can use it just like the kind you buy from the store, and when stored in the refrigerator it last a long time.

Prep Time: 15 minutes


Total Time: 15 minutes Ingredients:

•8 cups flour

•1-1/4 cups nonfat dry milk powder

•1/4 cup baking powder

•1 Tbsp. salt

•2 cups solid vegetable shortening

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine flour, milk, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in shortening until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal and the shortening is evenly distributed. Store in tightly closed covered container in a dark, cool place. Use in place of 'Bisquick' in any recipe.

Brownie Mix
This one I have not made but will make today. I have looked up tons of recipes and this one seems the best.

4 cups sifted flour

4 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup baking cocoa

1 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt


Sift together all of the above ingredients three times. Store in an airtight container.

To use, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine 1 3/4 cups Brownie Mix, 1/4 cup warm water, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 egg. Beat with electric mixer for 1 minute at medium speed. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped nuts, if desired. Pour into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until brownies test done. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into 3-inch squares or pie-shaped wedges.

Still looking for some cake mix recipes that look good. If anyone has a good recipe for dry cake mixes send me them.

Rya

PDF patterns how I love thee....Let me count the ways

First, you can print the pattern pieces out as your child grows in sizes!!

I have some really cute Pink Fig patterns that go from size 6m to 5T. Now these patterns cost like $12-$20 bucks each plus shipping. My daughter hits a growth spurt every summer, and I would hate to buy the same pattern every year! So I spend a lot of time tracing out the different sizes before I even use the pattern.  This is NO FUN, and I have some really cool patterns that I have not even opened because I am dreading the chore of tracing the sizes out. With PDF patterns I can just save the pattern pieces to a file and when My daughter hits a new size I can just re-print the pattern.

Second is price!

I find PDF patterns on ETSY for as cheap as $3.50, and even if I do spend $12-$15 on a pattern there is no shipping charges and it's good for years so its worth the money

Third, even if your new to sewing you can use one of these patterns easily.

There are lots of pictures in PDF patterns, and the instructions are very detailed. So unlike regular patterns you wont be stuck reading between the lines. And if your like me and you like to jump in before reading the instructions its easy enough to just fallow the pictures.



Happy New Year!!

This will be a busy year full of sewing! My New year resolution this year is to finish one project every day. I will start as soon as JD ships off on the 17th, Starting before then is impossible cause we have so much to do before he goes for boot camp. If I do one project a day I just might be ready for when the new baby comes in August.
Rya