Unusual and Frugal Uses for Peanut Butter

I have to start by saying...I LOVE peanut butter!  I can eat it by the spoonful straight outta the jar...Oh, and "fluffer-nutter sammies...HEAVEN!  ;)  Listverse.com has some rather "different" uses for peanut butter.  I would have to make sure I didn't eat it all before using it.  Have you ever tried any of their tips??  Check it out...

www.graphicshunt.com

• To lubricate things....GET YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER!  Hmphf!  They recommend using it on lawn mower blades that begin to get rusty.  I will say, even when I don't have WD-40 on hand, I promise I have PB!
• Giving your puppers meds.  We do this and it is awesome!  We started all of our guys young taking their meds w/ PB.  Now, it's a treat for them to get things like Benedryl!
• In place of butter in recipes.  It gives a yummy, background flavor!  Yummm!
• Bait for Mousetraps...it's a wives' tale that mice like cheese.  They will come for PB instead.  I have to say, I have a problem sharing my PB with the rats!
• To remove sticky tags from surfaces...like that price tag right on the front of the mirror you buy at the store of yard sale!  Ugh!  Just smear a little PB on the spot with a rag and rub off!
• To make your house smell good after cooking fish...yeah, seriously!  Put a couple of tablespoons in a frying pan and fry it down for a couple of minutes.  Of course, I would worry about playing hell trying to clean the pan!!
• To polish leather furniture.  You know, I LOVE PB, but I don't know that I want my couch smelling like it simple b/c my dogs would eat my furniture!  They say to mix a tiny bit of perfume oil in it to combat this...sounds like work to me...but anyway, wax on, wax off!
• As THE main ingredient for cookies...I know, when I first read this, i was like DUH!  But what they are referring to is a recipe using PB with NO flour...sounds good to me. Check it out!  I would add a splash of vanilla extract to this recipe...as a matter of fact, I may make these tonight for my niece in the hospital.  :)
• To remove gum from your hair or the carpet...this is great for moms!
• In place of shaving cream.  Pls make sure it is CREAMY and not crunchy..ouch!  They say the oils in PB actually soften the skin as well.  Try it and let me know.  lol

http://burnsidewriterscollective.blogspot.com

Have you ever used PB as something other than an edible?  Let me know!  

Guest Post at SHopping Detox: How to Make Your OWN Laundry Detergent AND GIVEAWAY INFO

Hey, y'all!  First of all, I have been told that "just because we don't follow doesn't mean we don't read."  I understand that, but I have been collecting lots of FREE STUFF to do a giveaway.  ALL I need is 30 people following!  When I do, I will randomly choose one of those following...maybe even 2 because I think I have plenty of "stuff"! 

Anyway, I did a guest post for Annabella over at Shopping Detox while she is on vacation.  It is a step-by-step guide on how to make your own laundry detergent!  EASY!  CHEAP!  a couple of pennies a load!  So, if you're here from her blog, WELCOME!!  If you come here first, visit her blog and check out my article...and the other posts as well!  She is a trip and writes like you are sitting there talking to her.

So...make you some laundry detergent to save some money AND get rid of funky chemicals THEN follow my blog....OR go ahead and follow first, then make your detergent!  Let me know how it goes!!

Bananas:  Love 'em or hate 'em!  I LOVE them!  Did you know there are TONS of things you can use them for besides eating??  Bananas are so cheap so this intrigued me! After reading an article on Care2, I chose my fave ones to tell you about!

Bananas can be used to treat dry, damaged hair.  For the scoop on how to do it, check out THIS article

Who doesn't want whiter teeth?  Bananas are a natural whitener!!  Rub banana peel on your teeth for about two minutes every time you brush! 

This time of year, bugs are out full force!  Rub some banana peels on the bites to alleviate the itch.

Potassium also helps with the healing process for cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

Splinters stink!!  I'll have to tell my splinter story one day that ended in an ER trip (thanks, sis)!! If you press banana peels onto the splinter, the fruit’s natural enzymes will work to get that thing right outta there!

Bananas are a perfectly safe, healthy treat for your furrybaby!

To save on the hips when you have an ice cream craving, simply blend a frozen solid banana in a food processor or blender. You’ll be surprised how much it tastes like soft-serve ice cream!

 

Dried and ground banana peels make an awesome mulch for seedlings and new plants.

There are TONS more tips for using bananas in your daily life! Did I miss any really good ones?  What things have you used bananas for besides just for eating?

EASY, Frugal Replacement for Canned Cream of Soup

Have you ever read the ingredients on a can of Campbell's Cream of....Soup?  I hadn't until today...Wow!  Lately I have been paying more attention to WHERE my food comes from and WHAT unnecessary ingredients are in it, in other words, what words can I pronounce??  According to the Campbell's Food Service website, a can of Cream of Chicken Soup consists of:

Chicken Stock, Water, Vegetable Oil, Modified Food Starch, Wheat Flour, Cream (Milk), Contains Less Than 2% Of: Salt, Dehydrated Cooked Chicken, Soy Protein Concentrate, Monosodium Glutamate, Chicken Fat, Yeast Extract, Flavoring, Beta Carotene for Color, Chicken Flavor, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Butter (Milk).

I started by trying to figure out what some of the ingredients were that didn't sound like stuff I eat!

Modified food starch is a chemically altered food ingredient made from starch. Because many starches may contain gluten or have been contaminated with gluten, be on the look out for this ingredient in many of the foods sold today if you are eliminating gluten from your diet.

How It's Made

There are numerous ways that food starch can be modified; the method varies based on the starch itself and on what it will be used for. These are some methods of producing a modified starch:

• Treating it with acid
• Roasting it
• Treating it with sodium hydroxide
• Treating it with potassium hydroxide
• Adding a positive electrical charge
• Treating it with emulsifiers
• Treating it with starch ether 

What the hell??  Okay....moving along...Next...

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups and processed meats. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified MSG as a food ingredient that's "generally recognized as safe," the use of MSG remains controversial. For this reason, when MSG is added to food, the FDA requires that it be listed on the label. 

According to the truth in labeling, the risks associated with ingestion of (or even contact with) monosodium glutamate and other ingredients that contain MSG are simple and straightforward:

Brain damage

Endocrine disorders (obesity and reproductive disorders)

Behavior disorders

Adverse reactions      

            Neurodegenerative disease

Next.... 

Chicken Fat ...Umm....YUCK!!!  I throw all of that away when I cook and debone chicken!!

Next...

A known side effect of ingesting beta carotene is a yellow or orange discoloration of the skin. Commonly, this discoloration is found in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/528786-can-beta-carotene-change-your-skin-color/#ixzz1yG4ZymL5

Ummm...now I'm gonna turn orange (like Snookie) for eating soup??  OMGosh!

 

Okay, I'm done!  There are almost 20 ingredients in that can of soup, which I use to add to various recipes, so that would mean my casserole has around 5,967 (may be an exaggeration) ingredients?!?  This led me to wonder if I could just make it myself.  Literally seconds after typing "Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe" into my search engine, I had a 3 minute recipe for it.  I just made the equivalent of 5 cans of the stuff to throw in the freezer while I was heating up leftover chicken and rice for my (and the dogs') lunch.  I boiled a chicken Sunday to use for the dogs meals as well as some chicken and rice that I had been craving.  I always add the ingredients along with the chicken so I can use the stock simply because...I'm cheap, not to mention homemade chicken broth tastes SO much better!  I ended up getting 4, 3-cup containers of chicken stock and 5 "cans" (1.5 cups each) of Cream of Chicken Soup just by using what would have been thrown away from my boiled chicken.  I wanted to share my cheap and easy recipe with you...well, technically I adapted it from a recipe on milehimama's website.  Anyway, let me know what you think!  

Cream of Chicken Soup
Put 2 T butter in a pan.  Melt it.
Add 2 T of flour.  Stir it around until the flour is absorbed and it is starting to clump, about 1 minute.
Add 1 C of chicken broth/milk mixture.  A note about this:  I made a larger quantity than what this recipe makes so I ended up using 4 parts chicken stock to 1 part milk.  This is to your liking.  I did add a little more water as it thickened, but I think that's because it is in my nature to deviate from recipes! :) Whisk it in and heat until smooth. If you stir in a little liquid at a time, letting the flour absorb it, it helps to keep lumps from forming.  Cook and stir about 3 minutes, until smooth and heated through.  The longer you cook the thicker it will get.  Salt to taste.  You can add chicken bits if you like.  DONE!  How many ingredients did that use??  Butter, flour, water, stock, milk?  5??  We could even break the stock down farther but it would still be less than half AND they would be REAL food ingredients!  

Variations:
Cream of mushroom – cook up some chopped mushrooms in the butter, then sprinkle with the flour and proceed.  I'm making this sometime this week as well.
Cream of celery – soften finely chopped celery in the butter, then proceed.


I APOLOGIZE FOR THE FORMATTING!  BLOGGER IS LOSING ITS MIND!!

Just How Brave ARE You??

How experimental are you when it comes to what you eat?  I will pretty much try any fruits/veggies/non-once-breathing things.  Having said that, I HATE curry.  It is gross!  I won't even try it anymore!  Ugh!  The exception to fruit would have to be Durian...if Andrew Zimmer gags and spits it out, yeah, no way am I going to be able to choke it down!  Anyway, I've tried over half of them and of the 45 left, I would not eat only 15 of them.  Hey, I'll try almost anything once!!

The Very Good Taste Omnivore's 100 List

Rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (I hate curry)
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal (I hate curry)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (I don’t wanna die!!)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

My Score:  55

Homemade RAINBOW BREAD!

I love colors!  I guess my faves would have to be every shade of green and pink, but I love all colors.  That bleeds over into my cooking as well.  White is boring...nothing a little gel food coloring can't handle!  Check out my yummy bread....awesome and pretty!  Let me know if you'd like the EASY recipe I use!  If I can bake it, anyone can!  While I do admit I am a good cook, a baker I am not!!

Pretty!

The inside....my ghetto stove!  It was in here when we bought the house so I am using it until it dies!  Then I will have what I want!

AWESOME Suave Freebie & 100 recipes for LESS than $1

It has been a long time....

I have missed blogging!  I WILL be getting back into it soon!  For now, check out the 2 links below.  1 is for a FREE FULL SIZE Suave shampoo.  The other is for a site that has 100 recipes for less than $1 to make!  I'll be back to blog more soon!

SUAVE FREEBIE

100 CHEAP Recipes from AllYou

A Yummy, Good 4 You, CHEAP Breakfast!

I hate Sunday nights....that means Monday morning is coming up!!  I've had a good weekend celebrating hubby's birthday as well as snuggling w/ my furry babies!  No reality!!

My Sunday night ritual is to sit in front of my Excel spreadsheet and ponder over the food in our house.  From this, I create our weekly meal plan.  I was doing it 2-3 weeks at a time when I first started the Pantry Challenge, but now that I'm having to be creative, a week is all I can do!  I have had to go buy a few things here and there but I have saved AT LEAST 75% of my monthly grocery bill since I've started this!  :)  Awesome!  Oops...ADD moment!

Anyway...most Sundays I make a large pot of my "gourmet" oatmeal.  I wasn't an oatmeal person until the last few years.  I started buying Quaker Instant Raisins and Brown Sugar (or something like that).  At $3 for 8 packets (I think it has 8), I decided I had to do something different!  Now, I LOVE Oatmeal and HUBBY DOES TOO!!!  Wow!!  I also love starting the day w/ something warm on those cold mornings.  Here is my breakdown:

Oatmeal (Aldi) – 2.03 (tax inc) for 42oz. = 30 (1/2c)servings = .07 per serving

Walnuts (Aldi) – 2.34 (tax inc) for 8oz. =  8 (1oz) servings = .29 per serving

Golden raisins (Aldi) – 2.03 (tax inc) for 15oz. = 14 (1oz) servings = .15 per serving

Brown Sugar (Aldi) – 1.32 (tax inc) for 36oz. = 36 (1oz) servings = .03 per serving

My pot of oatmeal:

3c oatmeal - .07 x 6 =.42

2oz walnuts - .29 x 2 = .58

2oz raisins - .15 x 2 = .30

2oz brown sugar - .03 x 2 = .06

Made 6 servings

1 serving =  .22 per serving!!

VERSUS Starbucks @ $2.65 per serving AND theirs is instant…it’s good but mines better!

VERSUS McDonald’s @ $2.15 per serving…I’ve never had it.  I am not a McD’s fan unless it’s their unsweet tea w/ Equal. :)
                                                           My 6 meals of Yumminess

                                                               The finished product!

With Visions of Sugarplums Brown Sugar Dancing in my Head,

Joy

Cheap Recipe Alert! Cheesy/Garlic Flatbread

Summer...WHERE ARE YOU?!?!  I miss you, my friend!

Okay, now that I've gotten THAT off my chest...I can continue!

I had to share this cheap recipe real quick with you all.  It's cooking now so pics will be added in a bit!  For those of you who have ever been to KickBack Jack's Restaurant, you will def appreciate this!  One of my BFFs gave me a big bag full of "stuff".  Her dad's friend works at a grocery store and right before the bakery stuff goes out of date, he gives all of it to my friend's dad.  I get to reap the benefits sometimes!  This time she gave me 2 peach pies, a bag of flatbread, a bag of wraps, and pita pockets.  I tossed all of it in the freezer not really knowing exactly what I would do with it yet.  That's when the ghost of Kickback Jack came into my mind!

They make a cheesy flatbread to die for!  It's also CHEAP!  I defrosted the wheat flatbread my friend gave me in the microwave.  I placed it in a single layer on a baking sheet (had to do this in batches) and a spread a little butter on top.  I put it in the oven on 400 for about 5 minutes, took it out and added crushed garlic.  Add some grated cheese...don't be stingy!  Place back in oven and turn oven off.  Let set for 4-5 minutes.  YUM!!
Side note here...If you do not have a Pampered Chef Garlic Press you don't know what you're missing!  You know how cheap I am and I gladly paid my $17 bunches for it.  I know I got my money's worth in the first month of owning it!  You don't have to peel your clove or anything...pop it in the little spot, squeeze handles and you have freshly crushed garlic!

Cost Breakdown:
Flatbread -  free for me!
butter - I buy it from Aldi by the pound.  1 lb = $2.33, 1 stick = .58, 8 Tbsp in a stick = .07 and I probably used 2 Tbsp on all 5 pieces, so .14 butter
cheese - Bought it BOGO so 1.63 for the bag, 2 c in a bag and I used about 1/2 c for all 5 pieces.  .41 cheese
garlic - I buy my garlic at a local produce stand for $1.50 for 5 bulbs. 1 bulb = .30, I used 3 cloves and there are about 10 cloves in a bulb so .09 for garlic.

Cost for 5 large pieces of garlic/cheese bread = .64 which means each piece is a little less than .13.  WELL worth it!!

************************UPDATE*************************

So, after eating it for the first time I would make a couple of changes for next time.  I would use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.  The powder can be more evenly distributed.  I think this is the ONLY time you will hear me say powdered over fresh!  The other thing...MORE CHEESE!!  :)  You can never have too much!!

Dreaming of warm, tropical beaches...and cheese bread,

Joy

AWESOME Recipe: Sausage & Stuffing Criss-Cross Pastry

What a cold, yucky day!  Here in NC we have snow and ice...ugh!  I do want to start by remembering my cousin, Annette.  Friends and family said "good bye, for now" to her today.  We will meet again on the other side.

As you know, I've been living off my pantry and fridge/freezer for a little over a week now.  In the process, I have tried to be creative with recipes to use up things I have.  I found a WINNER!  I googled Puff Pastry and was given a sausage recipe.  Oh. My. Gosh!  It made me mad that I had eaten a BIG salad while the pastry thingie was cooking because I only had room for 2-3 bites!  My niece ate a big ole' piece and hubby ate 1.5 pieces and went back for seconds.  It ROCKED!  His words were, "I will definitely be asking for this again."  The best part:  EASY!!

I did make a few substitutions because of what I had on hand so I will tell you within the recipe what they were.  Also, a fresh jalapeno, finely chopped would be bangin' in this!

Sausage & Stuffing Criss-Cross Pastry

Ingredients

1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed * I used both sheets
2 eggs
1 tablespoon water
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage  * I used 1 roll of Paula Dean Sausage (.99 on sale a while back)
1 cup Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Stuffing
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)  *I had a purple onion, so that's what I used
1 cup chopped mushroom (about 3 ounces)  *did not have so I omitted...don't think it needed it at all!

Directions

Heat the oven to 375°F.  Beat 1 egg and water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk.

Mix the sausage, stuffing, remaining egg, onion and mushrooms in a large bowl.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  Cut slits 1-inch apart from the outer edge to the fold mark on each side of the pastry sheet.  Spoon the sausage mixture down the center of the pastry. Starting at one end, fold the pastry strips over the sausage mixture, alternating sides, to cover the sausage mixture. Place the pastry onto a baking sheet.  Brush the pastry with the egg mixture.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the sausage is cooked through.  Let the pastry cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

**Mine ended up making 2 rolls since I had extra sausage...we ate 1 whole one (3 of us...HUNGRY people) and have a whole one left. I'm one of those weird people who pretty much remembers how much I pay for almost everything.  My husband just asked how much dinner cost...based on what I paid for the ingredients when I purchased them, BOTH rolls came out to be around $3.40.  That is 2 meals for 3 people.  That's .57 per meal per person!  :)  I'll take it!

My husband is emailing me 2 pics that I took from his phone because I have a POC phone!  It takes FOREVER to get then though.  I will add them as soon as I receive them in email.  

Trying to stay warm,

Joy 
                                                               Sorry for the bad pic...love the camera phone!  Not!

All You Magazine and Pantry Recipes

I forgot to include this in my last post but I wanted to share a magazine with you that I have just ordered a yearly subscription of.  It's called All You and it has great coupons and cost-cutting tips.  It's only available at Wal-mart and the newstand price is around $2.30 after Wal-marts magazine discount.  I think I am paying around $1 an issue with my subscription.  You will definitely recoup that with just 1-2 coupons! 

I also signed up for their email newsletter which brings me to another tip.  You know how you have to enter your email address for almost everything online such as coupons?  Well, I have a separate email addy to use for those offers because I don't want my inbox bombarded!  Yahoo and google are great for free email accounts.  Anyway...as I was looking at the newsletter, something caught my eye!  RECIPES "SHOPPING FROM YOUR PANTRY"!!  How cool is that?!?!  I am sharing the direct link to that article below.

Get out there and save some $$$
Joy

http://www.allyou.com/food/one-list-five-meals/1-list-5-meals-week-15-00400000054129/