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Amy’s Notebook 03.18.09

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

I want to make this beautiful spring wreath (@ A Soft Place to Land)

I love this personalized tote bag tutorial (@ a sister for the bean)

I would have never thought of covering stains on a skirt with fabric yo-yos (@ Craftzine)

I adore this sweet little pincushion tutorial (@ Etsy)

These iced oatmeal applesauce cookies look delicious (@ Mad About Martha)

This is a great tutorial for spring cleaning your sewing machine (@ Craft Nectar)

This wishing well is such a sweet little treat for children (@ Here We Are Together)

I still want to try making doughnuts with the kids (@ The Artful Parent)

I want to make this lemon bread recipe (@ i have to say…)

These chocolate mint cupcakes would be a wonderful treat (@ Simply Recipes)

I am going to have to remember this chip clip idea the next time we play cards (@ Parent Hacks)

I love this idea for a thrifty flower girl dress (@ Like Merchant Ships)

This fish and chips recipe looks so good (@ Coconut & Lime)

Here is another fish recipe I would like to try- Sicilian-Style Cod (@ Serious Eats)

These banana espresso chocolate chip muffins look like a wonderful addition to any brunch (@ Annie’s Eats)

This is a great little tutorial on growing potatoes in a trash can (@ DIY Maven)

I adore these little pretzel shamrocks– definitely making these next year (@ On a Whim)

I love this cute little bag of beans (@ The Purl Bee)

This recipe for barbecue sauce looks yummy (@ The Perfect Pantry)

I like these tips for how to frost a cupcake (@ The Kitchn)

I love this top ten napkin fold techniques (Yes But No ButYes)

There are so many fun new knitting projects in the spring issue of Knitty (@ Knitty)

I am going to have to see if this recipe for banana muffins with streusel topping are better than my recipe (Genesis of a Cook)

I love this t-shirt makeover (@ Banana Frog)

I think these lemon cookies look so delicious (@ plumpudding)

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Posted in Amy's Notebook | 9 Comments »

Apron Full of Giveaways 03.17.09

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009


I am back from Austin and just trying to play catch-up on all of my email, laundry, and phone calls. Thank you all for your sweet travel wishes and I can’t wait to share my pictures from our SXSW adventure. I came home to a sick child and a mounting amount of to-do’s, but I am so happy to be home with my children again.

We are wrapping up our great LeapFrog Tag Reader giveaway so make sure to get your entries in by 8PM EST! We also have a new giveaway up for ten copies of the Twilight DVD.

As an aside, this is the coolest apron in the world. Can someone please make this for me?

Follow the links below to find out how to enter to win these fabulous giveaways!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

To enter, please follow the links below. (photo credit: filsetficelles)

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Posted in Giveaways | 5 Comments »

The Cost of a Homemade Happy Meal

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

I admitted to you that we had a problem eating out too much and one of the places that I have felt we spent far too many dollars over the years is McDonald’s. It is just down the road, it is inexpensive, and it is quick. I will say that it is also not good for me, not always warm, and I never feel that great after eating it.

I wanted to show you the cost difference on a store-bought Happy Meal versus the cost on a homemade Happy Meal. I do use the term “homemade” quite loosely because I am purchasing the chicken nuggets so if you wanted to save even more, you could definitely make a batch instead.

McDonald’s Happy Meal

4-Piece Chicken Nuggets
Apples
Reduced Fat Milk
Small Toy

Total Cost of Store-Bought Happy Meal- $3.19 plus tax (this is in Indiana, costs may vary depending on location)

Here is my homemade version for my children that I made for them. I have included exactly what would be included in the meal, but made at home.

Tyson 100% All Natural Chicken Nuggets- 45 per package, cost $6.55 (at our local supermarket, price may vary- I had a great coupon that I will not include in the total!)
4 Piece Nugget Equivalent- .15 each x 4= $.60

1 Gallon of Milk- 16 cups in 1 gallon, cost $1.99 (current price at our local Aldi)
1 Cup of Milk Equivalent- $.12

Apple Slices- 3 pounds for $2.99 (current price at our local Aldi)
Apple Slices- $.25 (generous amount considering how few are in the package)

Total Cost of Homemade Happy Meal- $.97

While $2.22 difference might not seem like much, if you times that by the amount of children that you have in your family plus the amount that you spend on your own meals, there is a huge cost savings to making even your own fast food at home. We try to stick to the $1 Double Cheeseburgers, but Trent, at The Simple Dollar, breaks down the cost of making those double cheeseburgers at home and found that even that price could be beat.

For me, it is hard to get out of the mindset that I shouldn’t have prepackaged foods in my house. We keep our grocery budget low by making things at home. If I am out of commission or we have had a hectic night, I am often wishing that we had a few more convenience foods in our house.

A couple of bags of chicken nuggets in the freezer for these nights would still be more cost-effective than running out to McDonald’s.

And to my poor math teacher that had to tutor me every single day after math class, I would like to thank you for believing in me and working with me over those difficult years in high school. Who would have ever dreamed that I would be putting together a story problem daily that makes my husband shake his head and roll his eyes at me? I have become obsessed with the subject I hated the most so thank you, Mr. Rossi, for never giving up on me! Thanks to your thoughtful tutoring, I have become a human calculator and can crunch numbers on diapers, price per ounces on cans, and dare I say it…even Happy Meals that would make you so proud.

Related Posts:

Boo to McDonald’s
Cracking the McDonald’s Coffee Code

Is anyone else plagued with the human calculator syndrome? What has surprised that is more cost-effective to your household budget?

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 35 Comments »

Baked Salmon With Lemony Rice Pilaf

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Salmon is one of my favorite types of fish and I couldn’t wait to try this recipe out. It mimics the same flavors as the Herb Baked Tilapia, but offers the addition of the lemon seasoning to add a unique twist to one of my family’s favorite meals.

Our whole family really loved this dish and I loved adding a side of the homemade Lemony Rice Pilaf since the fish had the hint of lemon flavoring throughout it.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as our family did!

Baked Salmon

1 lb salmon fillets (I used the frozen fillets from Aldi Supermarket)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Lawry’s Lemon Pepper
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1 cup dry breadcrumbs (I used Italian breadcrumbs)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Fillet salmon and place skin side down on a glass baking dish. Spread a generous amount of mayonnaise; cover entire top of fish. Sprinkle liberally with seasoned salt, cheese and dry bread crumbs. Bake about 25 to 30 minutes, uncovered (with the frozen fillet portions, fifteen-twenty minutes should be plenty of time). Place under broiler until top turns brown.

Lemony Rice Pilaf (Courtesy of Recipezaar)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil, preferably canola oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
3 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock makes this vegetarian/vegan)
1 grated lemon, rind of
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley
fresh ground pepper

In a heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and cook onion for 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in rice, then stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover; let simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and parsley; taste and add pepper if you wish. Note: This reheats very well so you can make a double batch for another night, if you like!

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Posted in Main Dishes | 10 Comments »

Freebie Friday: March 13, 2009

Friday, March 13th, 2009

At this moment, I am flying in a plane and heading to Austin for three days with my husband to South By Southwest Interactive. I would love to kindly thank my sponsors- Abbott Zone Perfect and Walmart for sponsoring me so I can learn more great tips and tricks to make my website successful.

A huge thanks also to Johnson’s, Tyson Foods, and Fast Fixin’ for supplying food and products for my family in my absence. It was great to not have to worry about food or restocking the first aid kit (we shall pray no one needs it) thanks to these thoughtful inclusions from these great companies.

And most importantly, thank you Grandma for watching our kids so my husband & I can run away on a geek honeymoon. It is our first time attending a conference together and we are both so excited about all we will learn while we are there and all our great friends we will see.

One more huge round of thanks to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for generously sharing her freebie list with us each week. Aren’t we lucky? Be sure to enter Heather’s Yo-Plait Yo-Plus Giveaway and her list of new Cellfire coupons to use on your Kroger shopping.

Don’t forget to enter our amazing LeapFrog giveaway. We are offering one lucky winner a LeapFrog Tag Reader plus five books AND another set to give away to your local library all just for pledging to read to your children. Our Twilight giveaway is really rocking with over $150 worth of movie loot for you or a super fan in your life. We also have our weekly Apron Full of Giveaways where you can find all of the latest giveaways on the web. How cool is that?

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone!

Health & Beauty

Caress Evenly Gorgeous Body Wash

Emergen-C

Entertainment
Mandy Moore song download from new album Amanda Leigh
Seven Mile Breakdown by Taylor Hicks (free song download at Amazon.com)
Sacred Sounds Music free MP3s
Rosetta Stone Irish Language lessons (thru March 19)
Carnival House Party
Monsters vs Aliens free movie poster at Office Depot

Home & Garden

aerie Any One Undie Free (in-store coupon, no purchase required)
Lucy Free Socks (in-store coupon, no purchase required)
Red Gold Tote Bag (OH and WI residents only)

Upcoming Freebie Events:
Please call your local store or restaurant to confirm they are participating in these freebie events.
MARCH

11-14 – Pottery Barn Kids Sing Along
14 – Toys ‘R Us Barbie’s Birthday Bash – Decorate a Barbie Party Hat Noon to 2 pm
14 – Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinic – Make a Tabletop Basketball
20 – Borders Twilight DVD Release Party – starts at 10 pm
26 – The Home Depot Do-It-Herself Workshop – Floor Tile Basics 7 to 8:30 pm

APRIL

4 – The Home Depot Kids Workshop – Make a window birdhouse 9 to Noon
4&5 – Museums on Us – Free admission for Bank of America accountholders
6 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free small coffee
7 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free medium coffee for all 39-year-olds

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Posted in Freebies | 5 Comments »

Simplifying Your Grocery Day Podcast & Resource List

Thursday, March 12th, 2009


A HUGE thank you to Aviva Goldfarb for joining us this week on MomAdvice Simplified. I hope you can take a half hour out of your day to listen to Aviva’s advice on simplifying your grocery day. Aviva has some really excellent advice for what to stock in your pantry, meal ideas for those crazy nights when you don’t know what to fix, and ideas for how to streamline the menu planning process.

Congrats to our lucky winner, Genevieve, on winning a 6-month subscription to the menu planning service. We hope it relieves the stress of planning for their family.

Here is today’s resource list from the show:

The Six O’Clock Scramble– This is Aviva’s menu planning service that you can use to plan your family meals. Each recipe is tried and true and will include a grocery list to make those grocery trips easier.

The Six O’Clock Scramble Cookbook– Aviva shares her recipes and menu plans in this handy cookbook and I would definitely recommend that moms check this out for some menu planning inspiration!

Grocery Shopping– This article gives you some quick & easy tips for simplifying your grocery day and staying on track with your budget.

35 Ways to Save on Grocery Day– This is my absolute favorite post on ways to save with links back to recipes and tips for ways to save money on your groceries.

On next week’s show…

Next week This week we will be joined by Julie Murphy Casserly to discuss tips on simplifying money-management. Julie will help us identify our preconceived thoughts and feelings about money, how to overcome negative thoughts and put ourselves on a path to a positive financial future. Julie is a CLU, ChFC, CFP® and a 14-year veteran of the financial services industry and author of the new book, The Emotion Behind Money: Building Wealth from the Inside Out. Julie’s mission to “financially heal America” by helping people understand their emotions behind money, and how these attitudes affect how they earn, spend and save – or, conversely, accumulate debt. She delves into the emotion and psychology behind her clients monetary issues.

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 3 Comments »

MomAdvice Simplified: Simplifying Grocery Day

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

On MomAdvice Simplified, my weekly podcast for moms, I will be speaking with Aviva Goldfarb on simplifying our grocery day. Aviva is the author of the book, “The Six O’Clock Scramble” and founder of TheScramble.com and I am sure she is going to be sharing a wealth of information for our listeners.

Aviva will be sharing some of her tips for making dinnertime healthier while saving time and money along the way. She will also be discussing time-saving tips for planning your dinnertime meals in advance, how to maximize your time and budget at the grocery store and how to waste less food each week. I am really looking forward to sharing that interview with you!

Please be sure to tune in because Aviva is going to be sharing with our readers a chance to win a free six-month membership to The Six O’Clock Scramble dinner planning services just for those who listen in!

Just as a reminder, you can listen to the show live every Thursday at 2PM EST or you can listen later right here on my the left sidebar! Check back after the show for our resource list so you can explore all of the great links to the books and advice that we share during our half hour.

Aviva will be joining us live so if you have any questions you would like me to ask her, please leave them here and I will try to squeeze them into our show!

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 2 Comments »

Notebook Experiments: Are Homemade Bubbles Better?

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

I wasn’t able to get to any experimenting this week so I wanted to share one of my favorite experiments with you that I have completed so far. If you haven’t tried this recipe, I swear it is worth those little moments of effort!

Experiment: Can homemade bubbles trump our dollar store variety?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 05.29.08

Materials Needed: Please see Sparkle Power for specific directions on how to complete this experiment. I was able to find the glycerin behind the pharmacist counter at Super Target. The container of glycerin was $2.69 for four ounces. I also mixed my bubble solution up in an old milk jug (inspired by Frugal Dad’s uses for milk jugs) which made it easier to pour and store our homemade bubble solution. The bubble wands were found at the Dollar Spot at Target.

Results: Is it just me or are the dollar store bubbles horrible? My son is able to blow bubbles with these, but my daughter really got frustrated because she couldn’t seem to blow any bubbles before her wand would need to be dipped again.

I was really excited to try this recipe for bubbles and couldn’t wait to mix up a batch of these for the kids.

I followed Candace’s suggestions and actually mixed these up the night before so the ingredients had plenty of time to incorporate. I had some pink dish soap in my pantry so I used that- your bubbles will be whatever color of dish soap you choose.

The next night, we spent an entire evening blowing bubbles and everyone had to take a turn waving the wands through the air to make the giant bubbles. These bubbles were so amazing that our neighbors came over to ask where we had gotten the bubbles from. I couldn’t wait to share the recipe with them and pass it on! After seeing our bubble pictures, my mother-in-law is even going to make some of these for her own house so the kids can blow these bubbles over there too.

Conclusion: Homemade bubbles rocked the socks off of the dollar store bubbles. Thanks to Sparkle Power for such a fun recipe. I will never buy those bubbles again and I hope it is a recipe that we can pass down through generations!

**********************

I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Wednesday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original craftster’s blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can’t wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

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Posted in Kids Crafts | 11 Comments »

Amy’s Notebook 03.11.09

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

I love this idea for creating placemats (@ Wise Craft)

I enjoy getting a glimpse into extreme home makeovers to inspire my home (@ The Inspired Room)

This revamped storage shelf is darling (@ ohdeedoh)

I like these place card holders made from recycled corks (@ Lifehacker)

I really needed this reminder to focus a bit more on those sinking funds (@ Simple Mom)

I need to find some fun things around the house to spray paint (@ A Soft Place to Land)

These crunchy oven baked fries look delicious (@ Joy the Baker)

If I could eat spicy food, I would be indulging in these lotsa hotsa tacos (@ Make & Takes)

These homemade corn dogs look like a fun treat (@ chaos in the kitchen)

This woven button coaster is so chic (@ Craftstylish)

I love this post on breaking the frugal rules (@ The Small Notebook)

I want to knit up some of these candy-striped washcloths for the holidays (@ Knit With KT)

On the flip side, I love this post on discovering the necessities in your home (@ Money Saving Mom)

I want to make this Amish Friendship Bread starter sometime (@ Skip To My Lou)

I love this kitchen island makeover (@ Nesting Place)

I won’t give up on trying to make pretzels (@ The Artful Parent)

I want to try these silver dollar pancakes (@ Serious Eats)

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Posted in Amy's Notebook | 3 Comments »

Apron Full of Giveaways 03.10.09

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Welcome to The Apron Full of Giveaways for this week. We have a couple of great giveaways going on this week that I can’t wait to share with you. You can enter this week in a contest for a case of the new V-8 V-Fusion and a great little L.L. Bean V-Fusion tote bag, but you will need to hurry and enter by 8PM EST tonight!

Our latest giveaway is for one Green LeapFrogTag reader + 5 books (chosen by LeapFrog) for personal use, as well as an expanded-memory LeapFrog School Tag reader + 10 books (chosen by LeapFrog) to donate to your local library.

We are also giving away two Twilight gift packs to two lucky readers!

Follow the links below to find out how to enter to win these fabulous giveaways!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons, but feel free to check out the Etsy seller to find out how to buy these cute aprons and apron patterns! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

To enter, please follow the links below. (photo credit: Becky Striepe)

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Posted in Giveaways | 1 Comment »

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