When Life gives you lemons, make Lemonade... No really

See that thing on the side bar that says "Tip of the Week"?  Yes you mean that tip that has changed oh 1 in the entire time?  Yep that's the one!!  Well this post was going to be a little tidbit for there but the more I thought about it the more I had to say.  Lemons!!  Lemons are great little buggers and are really pretty useful.  If you are anything like me I run across recipes that call for fresh lemon juice or lemon zest and I don't have any.  La sigh :(.  So usually the next trip to the store I end up picking some up and then they sit because I can't remember what I was going to use them for.  So then after about a week or so the skins start to look a little sad.....

This is where the tips come in.  My husbands grandfather is a chef.  He has studied all over the world and has won some pretty major competitions, (at least that is my guess his trophies/plates are all in French).  He gave me this fantastic idea to do with the lemons before they go bad.  Start by juicing them, then you freeze the juice.  I suppose you could even zest them and put the zest in with the juice if you desire.  Grandpa Hans puts his juice in ice cube trays and then when he wants a glass of lemonade one cube and couple spoonfuls of sugar and water, and TA DA you have a single size serving of fresh lemonade.

I put the juice in freezer bags and toss them in the freezer.  Then when I need it I thaw off as much as I need and away I go.  This can be done with all citrus juice!

Another thing that you could do with the leftover peel is to stick them in a bottle or jar and fill the jar with vinegar.  Wait one week and you have a completely green, chemical free, super cleaner that combines the power of citrus and vinegar.  Remove the lemon peels and  mix 1 part cleaner to 1 part water and use anywhere!  This could also be done with limes, oranges, or even grapefruit.

Garbage disposal a little stinky??  Next citrus fruit you peel stick the peels down the disposal and run.  Then your drain will smell much better!

Hope you find at least one of these tips helpful!

Calling all Moms

I need some opinions if you please....  I am scheduled to be induced 3 weeks from tomorrow if he doesn't decide to make his appearance sooner.  I bet you can all guess which one I am voting for!  Our infant carrier has expired and I am looking for a new one.  Since this is most likely our last baby, I am not wanting to spend a grundle of money but I also want style and safety.  So here is where I need your input, please.  Which style handle was your favorite??  I am open to suggestions.

For the other kids we used a Baby Trend car seat because we liked this handle.

These are a few of the other options out there.  Tell me what you liked and didn't like and why.  Thanks

Bed Head

Lainey lately has been waking up with lots of bed head.  Her hair seems to be in an awkward stage anyway as she is growing it back out.  I just took her in for a trim I was hoping that would help.  Not so much.  It seems like even after a shampoo and condition we still have the tangles.  And even with a leave in conditioner it still seems to be stringy and dry through out the day.  So I have been looking into some solutions.  I remembered as a child I had this same problem only my hair was very thin.  Lainey has thick hair.  I remembered that my mom used to have me sleep on a silky pillowcase.  These help to reduce the friction when we rub our heads against our pillows in our sleep.  I also learned that braiding hair before bed can lessen the friction and damage from rubbing our heads in our sleep.  A detangler can also help get the knots out before combing so we lessen the damage caused but combing it out.  I also read about hair conditions in children especially little blond children.  You can read about it here. If you have a child that has this problem or you do hopefully this helps :)

Nope I am not dead, and a great recipe.

So it has been months since I have posted.  This pregnancy at least in the  later stages has been extremely hard on me.  I am experiencing things that I have never had to in my previous pregnancies.  I basically have barely enough energy to make sure that my family is: fed, alive and the house not completely destroyed.  While it is driving me bonkers I have had no projects going just because I......  I am not really sure how to finish that sentence.  Anywho, I have absolutely no desire to cook whatsoever, so meals around here have been a lot lacking.  I went to the grocery store the other night without a meal plan in mind but we were out of the basics and so I had no choice but to go.  So I bought a lot of really random things hoping to be able to come up with some sort of meal out of them.  One of the things I bought was a turkey Kielbasa (Polish Sausage), I grew up eating these and like them.  My mom would just slice them into 1 inch hunks and make some bbq sauce.  This just didn't sound good at the moment and so I googled recipes for Kielbasa.  I found this one, Kielbasa and Potato Skillet.

Recipe:

• 5 large potatoes , cut in bite sized chunks
• 1 lb kielbasa , sliced
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups shredded American cheese

Directions:

1. 1
   In dutch oven, brown potatoes, kielbasa, onion and peppers in oil.
2. 2
   Add seasonings and water.
3. 3
   Bring to a boil.
4. 4
   Cover tightly and cook for 20 minutes on low, stirring occasionally.
5. 5
   Uncover and put cheese on top.
6. 6
   Simmer until cheese is melted.

I changed a few things, I don't have an indoor dutch oven or a skillet big enough to handle this recipe so I used a pot.  Second it is really hard to brown raw potatoes but I tried anyway.  Nothing turned brown.  I didn't have a green bell pepper so I used 1/2 a pablano pepper (cross between a jalapeno and a green bell).  After simmering it for the 20 minutes I drained most of the water off. Then added Cheddar cheese.  It was really good!!!!  The potatoes got a cheesy and almost creamy like texture.  Lance ate 3 helpings!  It was also really easy.  I will be making this again and loved how it smelled while it was cooking.

A bedroom makeover? Sure!!

So I have been really trying hard to get the girls to keep their room clean.  Which is somewhat hypocritical considering what my room looks like.  So I am making an effort to clean (gut the crap) up my room.  I have been making the bed every day etc.  Lance comes home the other day and says we need to paint our room :) WOOOHOOOO!!  PERMISSION to redecorate.  I kinda went through a phase of wanting to change up the colors a couple of years ago.  Didn't end up doing it.  Our bedspread is really stained, the dust ruffle was colored on with pen, and it needs to go.  I did beige as a neutral before but this time I am thinking white.  I want a down comforter with a duvet cover that can be taken off and washed/bleached.  Our bedroom is quite small so I want to do something that will open it up and give it a bigger feel.  I think the stark white with some splashes of color will accomplish this.  However I have the hardest time choosing colors ACK!!  So here are a few things that I am liking, tell me which one is your fave.  You will see a reoccurring color that I am quite fond of right now.

 I like the middle three.

 The coral and the gray.

 This one is a little more orange than coral but I love the blue and dark grey with it.

I think this is my favorite with the coral the dark gray and the white.

Tell me what you think!!

In a Rut

So I have become a addict victim of Pinterest.  I have to admit that I spend more than my fair share of time sitting at the computer lately browsing through the glorious world of Pinterest.  I think you probably know what I am talking about and if you don't....  Get over there right now!!!  So I have been going a little stir crazy without any projects going on because the weather turned to cold to spray paint.  The bathroom is inches from being complete but I am waiting for some vinyl I ordered.  I digress.  So today I told the hubby I need to do something or I might just go crazy (well crazier than usual).  So I saw this shirt on Pinterest and knew I had to make it for the girls.  I was thinking that they would wear it on Thanksgiving but I don't think I can wait that long for them to wear it.  Click on this link for the tutorial.  I should have waited to take the pictures with them on the girls but they are asleep and I couldn't wait!!!

 Lainey loves giraffes so hers has a giraffe print.

 Lilly loves baby jaguars so hers has a jaguar print.

Another recipe, OK??

So lately I have posted a lot of recipes.  I am pregnant and food is playing a big roll in my world right now.  I am happy to admit that as of my last appointment I had only gained 1 pound.  Not bad for being 20 weeks along.  I however am a week out from my next appointment so we will see how much Halloween weight I have gained.  With that in mind here goes....  I mentioned pumpkin before.  I love it this time of year and try to cook with it as much as possible.  I have been craving a pumpkin spice steamer for weeks now.  I can't bring myself to buy one at Starbucks for 3.50.  Nor can I bring myself to buy a bottle of the flavoring.  I'm cheap I know, but groceries are expensive these days.  4.00 is almost 2 gallons of milk.  In a random search for something to make for dinner tonight I stumbled across a recipe to make your own pumpkin spice syrup.  Here is the recipe I found.  I was like I can do that, and I did only differently :)
So here is what I did, and we had it on our pancakes for dinner and it was delish.

3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (you could use white)
1 tsp pumpkin spice mix
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp pumpkin puree
Boil you water and add sugar.  Stir till disolved.  Add seasonings and pumpkin puree and cook for 5 minutes. Mine got rather thick and gooey.  Store in fridge.  Now you can have your own homemade pumpkin spice steamer, latte or whatever you choose to do with it.