Homemade Applesauce

In trying to ditch the fruit in can, bag, jar and cup with high fructose, I made applesauce.

Sarah's Applesause
I peeled, cored and chopped just 2 apples to start and put in a sauce pan
Then added 1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
and cooked for 15 min. covered until tender.
Then put it in the food processor.

The warm cinnamon applesauce tasted and smelled delicious! My oldest said she didn't like warm applesauce; so I put it in the fridge to cool down. After a few hrs. I had her try the cold applesauce but it was too cold. This baby bear wanted something to be just right at room temp. Ugh! The rest of us loved this recipe warm or cold.

I then tried to just simply slice up the apple for my oldest. She loves them! She now is off the sugar filled applesauce cups and eats the fresh stuff. She loves them even more when the apples are peeled.

Banana, Mango Smoothie

While I was at the grocery store, I was pondering over just how much processed foods there are and everything has a ton of fructose syrup, sugar and preservatives. I always buy the canned fruit, fruit cups and jarred applesauce because they last longer and so my daughter doesn't have brown apples at school. My goal this trip was not to buy fruit in a can, bag, cup or jar and try to get them to eat fresh fruit.

My 1st stop is the produce section. Believe it or not, half of my shopping cart gets filled with stuff from this section. This time, I actually put a mango is my shopping cart! I never had a mango before. My youngest sniffed it and didn't want anything to do with it; but in the shopping cart it went anyway.



Strawberry, Banana, Mango Smoothie
I got home and unloaded all my fruit. I love smoothies and decided to make one. I threw in my blender...

1 cup strawberries,
1 banana,
1 mango,
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk.

It was delish. Smoothies are a great way to get a lot of fruit into you, even that mango! My youngest loved it. My oldest spit it out :(

Flubber Recipe

We discovered Flubber at the kids' day event. The girls loved playing with it! Here's the recipe.

Flubber

 

Mixture 1:

1 ½ cups warm water

2 cups Elmer’s Glue

Food coloring

 

Mixture 2:

3 tsp. Borax

1 cup Warm Water

Stir mixture 1 together in 1 bowl.

Mixture 2 in another bowl.

Make sure both are mixed well.

Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2.

There is no need to stir the mixture but you can if you want because it is the chemical reaction that actually makes the flubber. When it is in a glob work it for 2-3 minutes. Initially it feels wet but it eventually dries up to the final product.

Romano's Macaroni Grill Bread Recipe

I love Macaroni Grill mostly for their bread. It is not very often that I go there. Maybe, once a year to celebrate a birthday or an anniversary. My strategy - to eat a half a loaf of delicious bread and leave some room for dinner. Then, eat the rest of my dinner for a lunch that I would actually look forward to eating.

You don't need to spend money to eat at Macaroni Grill to have their delicious bread. You can make it at home and have it whenever you want! Be careful. Eat everything in moderation. Slice and dip in olive oil and cracked pepper. Yum-O! Here's the recipe which I give credit to Jo Lager for posting it on allrecipes.com.

Jo's Rosemary Bread

Ingredients

1 cup water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select white bread cycle. Press Start

Homemade Diaper Wipes

I have been making diaper wipes for 5 1/2 years since my oldest was a baby. Making wipes for 2 kids has saved quite a bit of money. I started making wipes when I heard that the alcohol in most diaper wipes was not good for newborn baby's skin. I used non alcoholic wipes before I came across how to make my own wipes. The recipe was so easy and inexpensive that I have never bought any wipes. So here's the recipe.

I roll of Bounty (this brand is the best)

Cut the roll in half. (An electric knife works great)

Take the cardboard out of rolls

Put rolls side by side in container. ( I use a salad spinner)

In a bowl, mix 2 1/4 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of baby shampoo, 1 tablespoon baby oil

Pour mixture over paper towel rolls so they are moist.

Rip apart each paper towel square and fold in half.

You can store make wipes in previously used diaper wipe containers.

The cost to make is about $1 for about 120 wipes.

Homemade Peanut Butter

More time than normal was spent at home on Saturday due to the rain; so I decided to make some homemade peanut butter. I happened to have all the ingredients to make it; which was all of 3 ingredients - peanuts, vegetable oil and honey. I dug out the food processor, dumped in the ingredients and in less than 10 min. I got peanut butter! I didn't think it was that easy to make and wasn't sure how good it was going to taste. I asked my husband to try it and he was a little hesitant; but said "Hey, this tastes like Peanut Butter"!

The girls and I eat PB&J all the time; so this recipe will hopefully be used a lot. I have not tried it in the girls sandwiches; so I hope they like it.

Peanut Butter
2 1/2 cups peanuts
4 tablespoons oil ( Vegetable, Canola - NOT Olive)
2 tablespoons honey (For me this is optional)

Put peanuts in processor until they are well grounded.
Slowly add oil and mix well.
Add honey and mix again. The honey thickens it.
Pour into a container and refrigerate. If it becomes too thick, add more oil.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

One of my first products I made was homemade laundry detergent. I started making it because my daughter was constantly itchy in some areas and nothing I changed to seemed to help. I changed her bathing soap, stopped using bubble bath, lotions and nothing worked. I then thought that maybe the store bought detergent may be the cause. I found this laundry soap recipe and her itching had completely stopped. This not only helped my daughter; but it cleans our clothes, does not use harsh chemicals and it saves me a lot of money.

Heavy soiled clothes will need extra attention. Use the Fels Naptha bar and scrub clothing using water to make a lather, then wash. The process may need to be repeated if needed. Fels Naptha works great for removing stains. No need to buy stain removing agents which can save even more money.

This recipe is very easy and it only costs about $.05 per load compared to $.15-.30 a load using store bought detergent.

Powdered Laundry Soap

1/2 bar Fels Naptha soap
1 cup Washing Soda (Not Baking Soda)
1 cup Borax

Directions
Grate 1/2 bar (I use the small holes in my cheese grater)
Mix all ingredients
Use 1-2 tablespoons per load

Please note: You will not see any suds in your machine, so don't think you need to add more.
Makes about 40 loads