DIY Meal Bars

These baked meal bars are great on the go as a quick meals on the go, or if you just don't like a big breakfast. These are quick and easy to whip together as well!



Ingredients:

2 cups oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1/2 dry nonfat milk
1/2 cup honey
3 TBS brown sugar
3 TBS peanut butter
1/2 tsp salt

Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper leaving enough on either side of the dish so that you can use it to lift the bars out of the dish after they have cooled.

Mix oats, almonds, cranberries, blueberries and milk in a bowl.

Combine honey, brown sugar, peanut butter and salt in a small sauce pan and heat till the peanut butter has melted.

Combine dry and wet ingredients and coat thoroughly. I just got in there with my hands to completely coat.

Press mixture into your baking dish evenly and bake at 300 degrees for 35 min on the middle rack.

Let bars COMPLETELY cool before pulling out and slicing into bars.

Take a very sharp knife and slice into the size bars you prefer!

Chicken Noodle Soup Meal Jar

Recipe time!!! Here is a delicious meal in a jar recipe that will be shelf stable for 5 years when packaged as directed!!

I do not sponsor for any certain brand so you may use your brand of choice. I use a mixture of thrive, augason farms, and homemade.

For this recipe I didn't use any homemade items, but here you go! My chicken noodle soup in a jar!!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups egg noodles
1 cup freeze dried chicken ( for mine I used the vegetarian chicken alternative )
1/4 cup dehydrated chopped onion
2/3 cups freeze dried carrots
1/3 cup freeze dried celery
1-2 tbs chicken bouillon
a pinch of pepper

Layer all your ingredients in your jar, top with an O2 absorber and adjust ring and lid onto your mason jar.

For extra protection I also use my jar sealer attachment for my food saver.

This takes very little time so I usually do about 10 at a time!

Enjoy!!

Avacado and Honey Facemask

This is just a quick simple homemade moisturizer mask!

Ingredients:

1/2 ripe avocado
1/4 cup honey

Mash your avocado into a creamy paste

Add honey and mix thoroughly.

Apply mixture evenly over your face

Leave on for 10 minutes

Rinse face with warm water, wipe with warm washcloth to ensure you have removed all of the mask from your face!

Done! Enjoy friends.

Revitalize Your Hair With Coconut Oil

Us women sure are rough on our hair.. we perm it, dye it, crimp it, curl it, and straighten! We also put gel, hairspray, and so many other products it's not even funny, no wonder our hair is dry and dead!!


Here is an overnight treatment that will leave your hair revitalized, soft by giving it back the natural oils that our daily use shampoos strip it of!


What you need:
Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Shower Cap

Wrap a towel around your shoulders to protect your clothing from oil stains. Since you are doing this before bed make sure to already have your jammies on prior to treating your hair

Take your coconut oil and completely saturate your hair with the oil. (best if hair is dry before applying)

Take and run a comb through it to ensure you get every strand.

My daughter took this photo.. didn't even say  "Say Cheese" don't I look so happy?


Take and twist your hair up and put on your shower cap, you can also use a hair towel to ensure you don't get any on your pillow and blankets.

Leave this on overnight and it the morning shampoo it out.. you won't regret this, it will leave your hair so smooth and silky!!!!

Totally got photobombed by the 7 year old haha


Use this treatment every other week or as needed!

Homemade Fabric Softener

Here is a simple cheap recipe that really is worth it. The prices of fabric softener are seriously outrageous. These takes very little time to whip together, and is extremely cheap.

There are tons of hair conditioner scents out there so you can choose your favorite, and if you want a little added scent add in some essential oils to strengthen the scent!!

Ingredients:
6 cups hot water
2 cups hair conditioner
3 cups vinegar


Combine hot water and hair conditioner to dissolve the hair conditioner. Use a wire whisk if needed.

Add in the vinegar and combine and put into the container of your choice using a funnel!

You can use an old milk jug, oj jug or here I have mine in an old coffee creamer container. (which was cleaned out completely before hand.)

 Use 1/2 cup per load, don't worry the vinegar scent will not come through on your clothes.


This will settle over time so make sure before adding it give it a shake.

Enjoy folks!

No Sew Fleece Blanket

Living in the great northwest, most of the year we are covered in fuzzy pj pants, sweats, sweaters and fleece blankets! I don't buy fleece blankets, I make them. Today I am going to share how to make your own, NO SEWING needed!!!

What you need:
2 equal pieces of fleece material
Scissors
ruler


Choose the size you want your blanket to be, these ones here are for the kids when they lay on the couch so they are a bit smaller.

You will need two peices of fabric, the print of your choice as you can see this is my middle child's blanket so of course it is tinker bell! The other side is a purple solid color.

Lay them on top of each with the "wrong" sides facing each other or the softest sides facing down for the solid color on the bottom and the softest facing up for the printed piece. Getting them as flat as possible

I take a piece of cardboard cut 5x5 like so

Place it in the corner of your fabric and cut out your 5x5 piece of fabric. Do this to all 4 corners of your blanket.

To make the fringe cut your fabric 5 inches deep leaving 1 inch space inbetween, do this all around the blanket.

Take each fringe piece and double knot as tight as possible so it doesn't come undone!

Do this all the way around and.. I like to tie them once all the way around and then move to the couch to do the second knot so I'm not sitting on the floor for the entire project

Mr. Skyler didn't wanna get up so I could take a picture so I told him he was going on the internet.. so he covered his face .. haha silly boy!!

Tada! No sew blanket, I've never had an issue with the knots coming undone in the wash, or any other issues with these blankets. They are warm, fuzzy and fun!!!

Ms. Stacia showing off her brand new tinkerbell blanket!!
Here is another one of the John Deere one that I've recently made.. Adult sized.

Enjoy folks!!

Homemade Granola

Use this delicious recipe to add crunch to your yogurt or just pour a little almond milk over this alone and enjoy.

A healthy flavorful alternative to those breakfast cereals and bars that are FULL of sugar!!


Granola:
4 cups quick oats
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp hazelnut extract
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
add in your choice of dried fruits. Blueberries, cranberries, raisins.. etc..

Preheat your oven to 300


Combine oats, almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.

In a small pot on low warm your honey and oil and stir in the extracts

Add liquid to the oats mixture and combine with a wooden spoon. Use gloved hand to fully distribute.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 20-30 min stirring ever 10 minutes.








Allow to cool to room temperature and add in your choice of dried fruits and place in an air tight container

Enjoy to your liking!!! Thanks for visiting y'all!!!

Homemade Better Bisquick Recipe

Ok, so since I did my mini pancake bites in my previous blog post, I figured I should probably give you the recipe for the homemade bisquick I make here and never have to run out of and always have on hand. (without the added stuff inside that you don't know what it is.)

Bisquick is so versatile, you can make numerous things with it... from pancakes, to biscuits to chicken and dumplins to fried chicken. It's expensive! So lets save you some money and make it at home!!!

Ingredients:
6 cups of flour
3 TBS baking powder
1 TBS salt
1 cup vegetable shortening

Take all your dry ingredients and mix together
take your 1 cup of shortening and cut this into your dry ingredients until it looks almost like a cornmeal.

I always make a double batch because I use it constantly with 3 little ones around.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge, and use as you would the regular old bisquick.
( I do not know the original source of this recipe but I know it is floating around all over the interwebs )


WARNING: With this recipe you will never buy bisquick again!!! :)

Mini Pancake Bites

Afternoon y'all!!! 

   Well, we made to our halfway through point in the week, yay! We sure have been busy busy around here with our garden planning and regular house hold activities, kids going back to school after winter break and getting back into the groove of things. 

So today I thought I would show you guys a quick easy breakfast fix for those busy mornings, rushing kids out the door and getting yourself off to work. 

Mini Pancake Bites:

2 cups home made bisquick ( View next blog )

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Topping choices:

chocolate chips

sausage

bacon

really.. the choices are endless 

Preheat your oven to 350

Mix it all together and seperate evenly into a muffin tin. 

Pop on all of your toppings and back about 15 min.

Now, really how easy is that? To make it even easier mix up a big batch of pancake mix and store it in the fridge inside of a recycled ketchup container!! :-D

Next I will show you how to make homemade bisquick! 

Dehydrated Ground Turkey

Hey y'all!!! Okay so here is a food storage helper for ya today!!

I've taken a dive into the dehydrating world and let me tell you, I'm HOOKED!
My dehydrator has given me many treats that me and kids both love. I swear my children every time I go to the kitchen and they see those giant aluminum things sitting on the counters my oldest shakes her head and just turns the other way like "momma's gone Coo Coo" hahaha But.. that is besides the point.

Today I'm gonna show you my recipe to dehydrate Ground Turkey.

So I took 1lb of Ground Turkey and about a 1/2 cup of my homemade breadcrumbs and mashed that all together.

I then cooked it till it was cooked all the way through and then laid it out on thick paper towels to absorb all the extra moisture.. I changed out my paper towels and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Next morning I came in and divided my turkey in between 2 of my trays and let it dry for 2 hours at 145 after that I dropped the temp down to 125 for 6 more hours.

The finished product was GORGEOUS. I still have no idea exactly how long dehydrated meat will last. I have been told that if stored properly and in a cool dry place OUT of direct sunlight that it will last for at least a year. I only made a pound of this so I'm obviously going to be using it before then but I do intend on experimenting to see how long this will last us after proper storage.

Thanks for droppin by y'all!!!

Homemade Laundry Soap!!!

WOW!!! What a LONG weekend. Sorry ya'll the laptop has been down the last couple days, but watch out, I'm back in action. 

So first of all, veterans day weekend was an absolute BLAST!!! Started out the weekend by doing one of my favorite things, you got it, line dancing at the local country bar!! That's me there in the middle with the white lace shirt on. :)

 Followed by a day out in the woods with my older brother!!! Beers, Mud, and woods? Can I get a hell ya???

 My most favorite past time!!! Gettin a little mud on them tires!!! Doin it country style!!

 

Well, that was my weekend!!! 

Today I have some homemade laundry soap on the menu.. Love love love this recipe, I will never buy store bought soap EVER again!!! Took me literally under 30 minutes to make. No kidding. Plus it smells amazing, I don't have to use fabric softener unless I'm doing my towels that is. :)

Ok, here we go.. 

Ingredients:

2 bars fels naptha or zote bar laundry soap grated.

1 box borax

 

1 box WASHING soda not to be confused with BAKING soda. 

Oxi Clean I use the smallest tub of it. 

Scent Booster such as downy unstoppables or gain fireworks. (entire bottle of it.)

I mix all of my ingredients in double bagged trash bags then transfer to my container.

Grate your soap and pour ALL the named above items into your trash bags, give it a toss or 10 and transfer into your preffered container. 

The oxi clean comes with a scoop. I reuse the scoop and use it to put my soap into the DRUM of my HE washer, DO NOT put in the soap tray, but into the yes DRUM. 

 

It really really is cost effective, a child ran off with my receipt so I'm going to be making another batch in a few weeks and will post my savings and exact measurements on the boxes of ingredients and some more pictures to come.

Please, if you have questions or comments, please feel free. Love getting feedback!!

Till next time, later ya'll!!!