Homemade Holiday Spice Mocha

Our Christmas countdown is quickly turning into the Twelve Days of Coffee. And I'm not complaining :)

Today, I woke to find my sweet Hubby had left half a pot of coffee for me. YES! I love my coffee and appreciated the thought, but I couldn't help being a little bummed because I had been walking to the kitchen with visions of different spice combos to sprinkle into my coffee grounds that morning.
Then inspiration hit and I am now completely content as I sip on my Holiday Spice Mocha while Baby Boy watches his morning cartoons.

Here's the non-recipe:

Homemade Holiday Spice Mocha
Coffee
Powdered hot chocolate
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Whipped cream


-Pour a mug of freshly brewed coffee.
-Add powdered hot chocolate to taste and sugar if needed. I added a BUNCH of hot chocolate because it smelled so good!
-Sprinkle nutmeg and cinnamon to taste. Stir well.
-Top with a dollop of whipped topping and sprinkle a little nutmeg and cinnamon on that as well.

Enjoy your rich cup of homemade mocha :)

Check out my Homemade Vanilla Pumpkin Spice Coffee recipe.

Homemade Holiday Flavored Coffee

Rachel, one of my amazing, frugal mama friends has been making me drool every morning with her Facebook status, talking about different holidayish drinks she's starting her day with. Hot cider....pumpkin spice coffee... egg nog... Pure torture!

This morning, I was determined to try a homemade version using what we have in our cabinets. Why not just buy some gourmet coffee at the store? Um, have you read my blog? I like to find homemade.... hacks, if you will, to my dilemmas. I'm the girl who tried to create homemade allspice substitute just because!

So right now, Hubby and I are loving my latest experiment: Vanilla Pumpkin Spice Coffee. Mmmm! It's delicious and so easy. In case you, frugal diva that you are, wanted to try it for yourself, here's the recipe:

Homemade Vanilla Pumpkin Spice Coffee
-Coffee grounds, enough for a full pot
-1 tsp pumpkin spice
-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Fill your coffee pot with water. 
Add filter filled with coffee grounds.
Add pumpkin spice and stir into coffee grounds
Drizzle vanilla extract into grounds. You can stir. I didn't and the flavor was still great.
Turn on coffee pot and brew. 
Serve with sugar and/or creamer to taste. Enjoy your cozy cuppa :)

I'm so excited that this worked! Think of all the spices you usually keep in the kitchen. The possibilities are endless, and oh so deliciously budget friendly.

I think Cinnamon Nutmeg Coffee is somewhere in our near future. If you try any fabulous new combos with your own kitchen spices, be sure to share your recipes!

Hummus, Sour Cream and Paneer

We had some raw milk about to go bad, and after a couple of quick internet searches I was able to find a few easy ways to make it last longer by making sour cream and paneer! Since I was in a creating mood today, I also decided to whip up some hummus to go with the fresh veggies Hubby picked up the other day. Yum. I love hummus.

You can see the recipe I used to make sour cream here, and the paneer recipe is here.

 Click here for a delicious (and simple) hummus recipe.

All these homemade goodies are good news for the celery sticks, bell peppers and cucumbers in my fridge! The sour cream can be used to create a homemade ranch sauce and  other nutritious dips for veggies, or served on the ever popular baked potato. It's also an ingredient in some of the tastiest coffee cakes.

Homemade sour cream :)

I think hummus is the perfect savory veggie dip or mayo substitute in sandwiches. And it's packed with iron too. It turned out lemony with a beautiful sesame flavor and just the right hint of garlic.

And of course I had to sample a little during lunch.

Clockwise from the top: One jalapeno pickle, fresh cucumbers for dipping,
hummus with a little olive oil and black pepper, spicy thai cucumber salad,
and some sweet gherkins. So GOOD!

I've never made paneer before but love it in Indian dishes. Now I can try making a vegetarian dish with paneer here at home. I'm so excited!

From over 1/2 gallon of milk, I got 1 cup of paneer and 4 cups of liquid.

I can't wait until we get more raw milk so I can try my hand at making a small amount of butter and then cream cheese after our next yogurt batch. Who knew milk could be so much fun?  I know it may seem like I play more with the milk than anything else, but we do actually drink tons of it too :).

Tutorial Tuesday: Tasty Food on a Budget

Like many families, we're on a tight budget for, well everything. I've shared some of my deals when it comes to shopping, but today I wanted to write about serving your family tasty food even on a budget. It can be done!

Hubby could do with less flavorful food, because he doesn't complain much. But I must have flavor. If flavor isn't throwing a party on my food, I am not satisfied! Invest in spices and whatever savory veggie your family favors. We like garlic and onions.

Remember the pork chops from the other day? Well, I want to show you what I do to make it stretch by using one pork chop for an entire meal, but while still giving us a variety of flavor.

I love to marinate meat of all kinds in whatever we have on hand. Here's how it usually goes:

-In a large zip top bag, throw in your marinade ingredients. For this, it was a tablespoon of minced garlic, about 1/2 cup of soy sauce and a few teaspoons of grape jelly.

-Massage the bag for wet ingredients, shake for dry ingredients, until well blended. 

-Toss in the meat. Seal the bag with as little air in it as possible and turn it over a few times to make sure all of the meat gets coated. 

-Place in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight. Even 30 min will make a difference.

I took two others and tossed ingredients for dry rubs into the bags, added the meat and massaged the spices in.
I ended up with the beginning of 3 meals for us.

Top to bottom:
Lemon pepper, turmeric and paprika dry rub
Soy sauce, grape jelly, and minced garlic
Salt, pepper and garlic powder dry rub


So now I have the main ingredient to 3 dinners with distinctly different flavor partays. Oh yeah.

I will usually take meat that's marinaded over night and slice it up for a stir fry with veggies, or maybe fried rice or whatever else I'm in the mood to make at the moment. The options are endless and only limited by your imagination.

The trick, as many of my fabulous fellow SAHMs know, is to flesh out whatever meal you make with cheap but filling items like rice, bread, potatoes and/or lots of veggies. That way you have enough for everyone and everyone gets full, without emptying your pocket book.

As for my seemingly odd spice combos, I like to throw things together trusting my knowledge on the flavors and what I know we like. Try it, you'll be surprised at how great things turn out when you trust your preferences. It might be a total failure at first, but forget what's popular, trust your tastes and do what works for your family. Once you get more comfortable with the flavors usually stocked in your cabinets, you'll be ready to rock every meal!

Wishing you many tasty meals, Beauties!

Cheapskate 101: Getting Something for (Almost) Nothing

Please welcome Barbie from Wannabe Cheapskate. I've asked her to guest post once a week about tips on coupon shopping and great ways to save moola for your family! If you're looking into teaching yourself how to super coupon shop or just find better bargains in general online or in stores, read on! Don't forget to check back here for more tips and visit Wannabe Cheapskate for more in depth posts on Barbie's deals. Here's her first post for you beautiful readers! Enjoy:

Cheapskate 101: Getting Something for (Almost) Nothing

Something for nothing -- sound too good to be true?  Not with Swagbucks!  Swagbucks is a search engine site.  You do all your searching through Swagbucks instead of google or bing, and you occasionally win Swagbucks.  Once you have enough Swagbucks, you redeem them for really great rewards, like Amazon.com gift cards or PayPal payouts.  I've earned $15 through Swagbucks.  No, I'll never get rich, but that's $15 that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, and I got that money by doing something we all do all the time anyway.

Want in?  Follow these steps:
1. Go to www.swagbucks.com.
2. Click the "Register" tab in the upper right hand corner.
3. Fill in your info.
4. You'll get 30 Swagbucks just for registering, plus another 50 on your birthday!
5. Download the tool bar to increase your earnings.
6. Whenever you need to look something up, go through swagbucks.  You can even make swagbucks.com your home page to make it easier.
7.  You won't win every time you search, but you'll win in multiples of swagbucks -- up to 50 per search, or even more!
8.  Once you hit 450 swagbucks, you have enough for a $5 Amazon e-gift card.  Or 700 will get you that $5 PayPal payment.

There are rewards that are not gift card related, but I prefer those to the others. I am on my way to another PayPal payment -- just under 200 Swagucks to earn, and I'll be there!  I usually win something every day; today I won 10 for searching "addicted to saving".

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!Every Friday is Mega-Swagbucks Day, when the Swagbuck winnings are more frequent and larger!

Get your swagbucks account started, and get searching!


Hey, it's Kilika here. Thinking of joining swagbucks because of this post? Click here to join up and Barbie will receive a few bonus points for the referral! You can also get your own referral code or banner once you sign up. Post it on your website or in emails so you can tell people about swagbucks and get credit if they join through your link! Just another way to rack up points you can trade in for free prizes. 
Have a beautiful, money saving day :)

Dollar Tree Mirror Redo

One Dollar Tree mirror that has never quite fit in.

Forgive my smudgy prints all over it :) 

Add some pretty sea glass I found on clearance at Michaels. Oh, Michaels, you addicting store!

It didn't turn out how I wanted, and you could see the hot glue through the pieces of glass.


Then I remembered how much I loved Laurie @ Scene of the Grime's seashell encrusted mirror.
So I added another layer, this time with Mod Podge.
 Et voila!

Methinks I love it.

Along with my slightly embellished starfish plaque, I'm on my way to collecting beachy decor for the master bedroom. Now to figure out where to put it.

Thanks, Laurie for the inspiration!

Do you have a themed room that you're collecting loot for?

Linked to:

Work It Out Wednesday: Not in the Mood

I'm very deflated this week.
Most of it is because we've been establishing an earlier nap time for Baby Boy and we all know how fun that can be. He's going through a huge growth spurt and the poor little guy was just tired out and not getting enough rest, so we adjusted his schedule to allow for more rest. Getting him there was Not. Fun. But now we're in the home stretch, thanks to The Baby Whisperer and it's downhill from here on out. But I'm still not caught up on sleep. I think I shall catnap today and really focus on healthy food choices today to make up for the lack of exercise.

In the hope of being frugal and healthy, I tried to experiment with my nearly over ripe tomatoes and cucumbers from my last farmer's market trip.
The result was marinaded cukes and tommy toes that could burn the chest hair off a leprechaun.

Yay! I found a use for my pretty thrift shop jar!

Memos to self:
-Dilute the vinegar and ease up on the mustard powder.
-Next time, get Hubby to taste it first instead of taking a foolishly huge chomp out of a cucumber and almost
spitting fire, giving Hubby leave to be amused (and wary of your homemade concoctions).

And those are words of wisdom from a lady who could hardly talk for nearly 20 minutes after that fatal taste.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, Beauties. Steer clear of the mustard powder!

Susan's Just as Lazy, Only Prettier

Remember my lazy susan from a recent thrifting trip?
Well, when I found it I knew it would have to be cleaned and/or revamped but I really thought I could take the easy way out and just get away with giving it a good scrub.

That was a nice dream.

It turns out (get it?) that the stains are permanent. Well, poor lazy me. Time to sort through my fabric stash and get out the Mod Podge.


First things first, it had to be taken apart.  You can really see the stains in this photo.

Next, I made a template and traced it onto my fabric.

Good old Mod Podge. I was a little heavy handed with it. It's been years since I've used it and forgot that a little goes a long way.

After adding the material and a few top coats of mod podge, so it can be wiped clean after use.

Doesn't little Suzie look fabulous?

I love it! It's so me :)

Isn't that fabric adorable?

I love turtles......

My pretty coasters have a nice place to hang out until they're needed. 

And the lazy susan is perfect for tea time snacks.

What's your favorite frugal makeover? 

Linked to:

Frugal Goo Gone

I promised in yesterday's homemade sugar scrub post to write about how I like to remove labels so I can reuse the jars.

You can use Goo Gone. It's an awesome product. But I don't usually have it lying around.
For most labels, a long soak in extremely hot soapy water makes them easy to remove.
But there are some companies that are overzealous in their application of adhesive.
This tutorial is for those stubborn labels (*cough* smuckers).

This sticky label is mocking me. It resisted a hot soak, but now, oh now it's war!

Tada! No big secret, just a little knowledge.
The magic product in a bottle that automotive body artists have been using for a long time to remove decals and bumper stickers (when they're out of Goo Gone, obviously): Mayonnaise.

Smear some mayonnaise all over the label that thinks it's there to stay.

Let it set for 20 minutes as you contemplate life. Or do nothing. Doing nothing's good too.
Wash and marvel as the label and tacky residue wipe off with a regular sponge.
Fill with whatever you want! I recommend a good sugar scrub. But that's just me.

Before you run off and start eyeing the poor jars that are in your fridge and unceremoniously dumping their contents so you can try this, check out this refreshing foot scrub recipe made with coarse salt.

Happy Almost the Weekend Day!

Well, Come On In!

An entire post shamelessly dedicated to our work in progress "Entryway".

Welcome! Please hang your hat/coat/diaper bag on our handy dandy wrought iron coat hanger thingy.

Enjoy a breath of fresh air, courtesy our air purifying house plants as we walk the long way to the living room (ie turn immediately to the right) and make small talk.

I'm sorry, what? Oh, these old things! I found the black storage cubes on clearance at WalMart ($14 marked down from $24!), but I won't bore you with that. 

Or the story about how I desperately tried to put them together and set them up before a certain little boy could wake up from his nap and, oh, I don't know, swallow a screw or something.

Oh, thank you, I love that purple and gold runner too! 

The bowl? It's from Samoa. I wore the lei in it for my sister's wedding and the flower's one of my favorites to wear in my hair. 

You love candles too? I adore candles! The two you see here are my homemade citronella candles. Oh, yes, they really come in handy for relaxing outside in the evenings. You should stop by sometime! I promise, they work and you'll go home bite free.

Oh, you noticed the green stretch canvas art?

Since you're a guest, there's no way I'm showing you what they really are.

Why on earth would I tell you I smoothed some fabric around styrofoam and secured it with a little hot glue?

I'll just smile and thank you for noticing them while making a mental note to get around to gluing a bit of paper or plain fabric to the back ASAP! 

Hopefully, they won't fall over, exposing the unfinished back, while you're visiting.

Oh, yes, that's a clay tea light lantern from Ten Thousand Villages (one of my favorite stores!). It's one of my favorite things.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Why yes, I do love plants, how can you tell? You didn't, by chance happen to notice the jungle of plants taking over the tiny bit of space in front of our door, did you? 

Well, in that case I'll just keep to myself how I'd like to gush about how pretty I think this plant is in it's gorgeous metallic silver swirls container. 

It was a clearance find as well (Hobby Lobby $5 marked down from $20), but you don't want to hear about that. 

Well, enough small talk, you must be hungry. We're so glad you're here! Dinner's ready, so please, grab a drink and have a seat while my son charms food off your plate. 

Quick, he's distracted, dig in before his drink is gone!

Psst, anyone have a solution for those unsightly peg holes that come with *ahem* cheapo furniture?

Homemade Brass Cleaner

A friend asked me about a homemade brass cleaner and I was excited to realize I knew the answer! So I thought I'd share while it was on my mind:


The tried and true at home cleaner for brass is ketchup, as many people know.

Ketchup Brass Cleaner
-Rub ketchup onto brass.
-Remove with a wet cloth.
-Buff with a dry cloth.
That's it!


 But for a truly homemade cleaner, here's the recipe:

Homemade Brass Cleaner
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
Flour

Mix vinegar and salt.
Add flour a small spoonful at a time and mix. You just want enough to make a paste.
Rub paste onto brass. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Rinse or remove with wet washcloth.
Buff with a dry cloth.

Everyone has homemade cleaners they grew up using and maybe have forgotten about. Some people even use these cleaners all the time without realizing what frugal homemade geniuses they are! I'm always up for learning new things and would love to know: What are your favorite homemade cleaners?

I'm linking to:

Homemade Swiffer Wet Jet Refill

I recently used the last of my wet jet solution and was sadly contemplating the retirement of my swiffer to storage because I couldn't afford the refills. That same day, I found out about homemade baby wipes and after making my own, I thought, why don't I make my own swiffer refill?

There was only one difficulty (getting the cap off) but otherwise, it's a breeze!

Here's what I used:
Empty Swiffer cleaning solution bottle
1 cup of hot water
Vinegar and water mix


After struggling to get the cap off and ending up frustrated, an idea struck! Well, it's back to basic science then. I boiled a few cups of water and put the wet jet bottle in upside down for a couple of minutes to let the plastic expand.

Two minutes later, the cap twisted off easily! You have no idea how pleased I was. I was literally smiling for the rest of the day because this worked :)

I was in such a rush, though, that I forgot to take a photo of the cap off of the bottle. Oh well.

Next, I filled it with vinegar and water and replaced the cap.

Popped it back into the swiffer sweeper thingy....

Presto! Ready for action. Aaahhhh.... saving money is sweet bliss.

For the moment, I'm good on the swiffer pads, but when those run out, there's no way I'm buying more. I'm already planning to make washable pads out of old towels or something. But, we'll handle that when the time comes. For now, I'm so glad I still get to use my swiffer!

I'm linking to:

Weekend Bargains

Here are more bargains I found during a fun shopping trip with friends:

-Lovely starfish carving. A Big Lots find! Originally $20 marked down to $5! Slap some paint on it and it will be perfect in our slowly evolving resort style bedroom. 

And by ever evolving I mean that the only part of it that looks resortish at the moment is the plant on top of our mini fridge.

-Hanging votive candles. Thrifted for $2 each.

-Wrought iron candle stands. All three for $2. Well, what was I to do? I just had to bring them home.

-Watering can. I can't believe I finally have one! I love you, Big Lots clearance! $6 marked down to $3.

-More terra cotta pots for my plant addiction. Thrifted 3 for $2. 

Seems like the bargain fairy is hanging around :). She can stay for a while as far as I'm concerned, because I'm still looking for a few things!

What bargains did you find last weekend?

Homemade Baby Wipes

Homemade Mamas posted a recipe for homemade baby wipes. Uh huh. Homemade. Baby Wipes! Brilliant!

I found it at a particularly fortuitous time. I was about to run out of baby wipes and was thinking, there's just got to be a better way. Then as I was posting my entry to last week's HodgePodge Friday party: Voila! One of the fabulous projects was this little gem of information. As soon as I read about it, I called Hubby and asked him to pick up some paper towels. The brand I wanted couldn't be found smaller than a nine pack, so yeah. We're good on wipes for a long time!

If that recipe isn't your style here are a few more that may suit you and your baby. Girl in Air also has a tutorial that is amazingly easy and had a couple great tips I wish I'd read before making my first homemade baby wipes. 

I had fun making them and loved knowing I was saving money in a new way that will really make a difference for us! Here's my first attempt:

Cut a roll of paper towels in half.

Tip 1: DO NOT use a serrated knife unless you're in the mood to clean up a mess.

Tip 2: Leave the cardboard tube in the middle unless you're in the mood to clean up a mess. It's much easier to pull out once the paper towels soak up the liquid.  

Gather your materials. I used olive oil, unscented body wash, and lavender oil (for the lovely smell and cleansing properties).

I poured my boiled, cooled water into an empty wipes tub then added a few squirts of body wash, a few squirts of olive oil and 2 drops of lavender oil. 

Mixed them all up. I love using chopsticks instead of a whisk for mixing.
Hey, I still whisk, but when the whisk is in the sink, the chopsticks get to party.

I placed one half of the paper towel roll in the mix and turned it over a few times to let it soak up on every side.

TIP 3: When it's soaked up all the liquid, the tube in the center can be removed easily. 

Since the container isn't air tight, I put a sheet of plastic wrap on top before closing. 

 TIP 4:

Using a tall container where your wipes stand on end is more convenient than one where they lay on their side. It really makes it easier to pull out one wipe at a time.

I thought I could make it work, but the paper towels tore even with careful handling as I turned the wet roll over to remove a single wipe. I'll be on the lookout for a taller container. 

Minutes after I finished making these, my son needed a diaper change. Is it sad to admit I was excited to use my new wipes?
I'm so happy with them, other than the container. They clean just as well as store bought wipes and they smell wonderful! Next time, I'll lessen the amount of water and add more olive oil. One of these days I'll find the right combo for us.

I love saving money! It might be a bit of an obsession, but hey, I make my own amusement around here. Have you discovered a new way to save money lately?