And the Winner Is...

In order to choose the winner of our competition in the most egalitarian fashion, we intended to conduct a poll. By utilizing a privately-contracted statistician from Gallup, your responses were to be rigorously scrutinized in order to determine which one most appealed to this blog's target demographic. Unfortunately...that would be really really really expensive. So the results were decided by a 10 year old picking his favorite number out of those that correlated with each poster. Congratulations goes to Kristie Taylor! Thanks to all who left comments. We enjoyed them all!

End of Summer Giveaway

The official end of summer is almost upon us. We would love to hear about your summer! Leave a comment below about your favorite part of this summer, and one reader will receive a $50.00 http://www.restaurant.com/ gift card. The winner will be announced on September 22nd (the official last day of summer).

Sparkling Windows (or at my house ones you can at least see through)

I have stacks of newspaper waiting to go to the recycle center in my husband's shop. He was thrilled when I found out you can clean your windows using newspaper! This is actually a preferred method, because it does not leave the "dust" that paper towels tend to leave. It's also greener! For a light cleaning take one sheet or even a half sheet and wad it up until its soft and pliable. When the paper is the right texture use it to clean your windows...no cleaner necessary just elbow grease. For heavier cleaning follow above directions and add cleaner; 2 great ones are :
  Vinegar Window Cleaner:
Use 1 part vinegar for every 1 part water
spray on glass and use softened newspaper to wipe off
Hopefully, you always have white vinegar on hand. It's great stuff & we'll have lots of uses for it to share with you soon!

Lemon Juice Window Cleaner:
Use 2 parts water for every 1 part lemon juice
spray on glass and use softened newspaper to wipe off

Air Freshener

I recently started using homemade air freshener. My first batch was sweet orange flavored, the second clove. This is a great air freshener to spritz throughout the house. The baking soda works as a deodorizer as well. The recipe is very simple and a great alternative to burning candles.
You will need :
1 spray bottle
1/4c baking soda
HOT water - use enough to fill spray bottle

approximately 1tsp essential oil of your choice (depending on how strong you want the fragrance)

Mix all ingredients in the spray bottle and shake well before each use. If you don't have essential oils you can use 1/4-1/2c lemon juice.
Amazon has a great price on essential oils!

Freezer Meals=Double Meals

picture from www.30daygourmet.com/

Doubling recipes is not a new concept, I know. But I feel compelled to post this because it has made my life so much easier lately. I have been doubling almost all the recipes that I prepare each night, then freezing the second meal. No joke. It's that simple. Freezer bags and a few extra ingredients of what we are buying already is all I need.
Unless a meal cannot go in a freezer bag (ie. lasagna), there is no need to buy disposable containers. Freezer bags lay flat and do not take up a lot of space.
Over the past two weeks I have frozen mexican casserole, chicken casserole, olive bread, sloppy joe filling, taco filling, brown sugar-glazed salmon, corn salad, and chicken salad. All waiting patiently in my deep freezer for a night that I don't have time to cook. It is so much easier to just double what I am already preparing than to prepare it a second time.
Let us know if you have any freezing tips to share. We will have more posts to come on freezing soon! Cut back on your kitchen time and let us know how you spent it instead!
                                                

And the Winner is...

Congratulations to Kelly Brownlow for winning the No Dining out Challenge. She will be rewarded a $25 gift card for Restaurant.com! Thanks to all who participated and be looking out for upcoming challenges and an awesome GIVEAWAY!

Change Is In The Air

We are excited about our blog's new look! Don't you think it's cute? We are adding cool new features everyday! Please sign up to follow us or click our button below to link us to your site. We will gladly link back!