Wow! I have had multiple things each day. Has it been the same for everyone else? A friend of mine thinks it is because Winter is coming and Covid might be an issue so we are trying to fit in everything we can, while we can. She may be right. Chances are there is more than one factor at play. However, the end result is that I have been busy, in every facet of my life. If it has been the same for you, take a load off in peace and quiet for a few minutes and read my blog post. Deep breaths everyone!
Recipes
It has been really hot so there has been a minimal amount of cooking in my house but I do have a couple for you.
Mixed Fruit and Nut Cookies *Martha Stewart
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 1/2 cups chopped dried apricots
- 1 1/2 cups chopped dates
- 1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pistachios
- Step 1Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Step 2Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth. Add sugars, and mix until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time until combined; mix in vanilla.
- Step 3Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in coconut, apricots, dates, macadamias, and pistachios.
- Step 4Drop batter, 2 heaping tablespoons at a time, onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven; transfer cookies on parchment paper to a wire rack to cool completely.
These cookies were quite possibly the best cookies I have ever made. I don’t care for coconut or pistachios that much and I had a couple bags of dried fruit and nut mix on hand that included cherries, raisins, walnuts and a couple other items. I simply added up the amount of fruit and nuts in the recipe (which came to 7.5 cups) and used the corresponding amount of the mix that I had. It worked wonderfully. As I always do, I took them out of the oven a couple of minutes earlier then called for in the recipe. In this case I took them out at 13 minutes. However, that is just my oven so you would need to try your first sheet of cookies, watch them and the time they are done to your taste and finish the rest accordingly. This recipe makes more than they say it will. That was not a bad thing!
Baking Mix Peach Cobbler
- 1cup Original Bisquick™ mix
- 1cup milk
- 1/2teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2cup butter, melted
- 1cup sugar
- 1can (29 ounces) sliced peaches, drained
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Stir together Bisquick™ mix, milk and nutmeg in ungreased 8-inch square (2-quart) glass baking dish. Stir in butter until blended. Stir together sugar and peaches; spoon over batter.
- Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until golden.
This recipe was DELICIOUS! I used a store brand of baking mix since that is what I had on hand and it worked just the same. So, don’t be afraid to try that.
Brick Chicken
I fix chicken thighs in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil and the seasonings on the chicken that I like. Brick chicken is simply a great way to get a even sear and a crisp chicken. You simply place a slightly smaller skillet or grill (I used cast iron) and place it directly on top of the chicken in the pan. Then weight it down with two or three cans from your pantry (don’t worry, the contents won’t cook) and cook your chicken!
I have several different categories of hacks this month so I decided to divide them up, unlike I usually do.
Kitchen/Cooking Hacks
When making brown rice or quinoa use tea infused water for a little extra flavor. Earl Grey or Chai seem to be two most popular.
Keep your plastic wrap in the fridge. It is much easier to come off the roll and to cut when cold.
Spray your measuring spoons with pan spray. Everything comes out so much cleaner.
Tomatoes last longer when stored stem side down.
Ripen fruit faster in a paper bag. This works so well for avocados, bananas and peaches.
Freeze cheese before grating. The whole process is so much easier!
If you need powdered sugar and are out of it. Just put regular sugar in a spice or coffee grinder, pulsing it until you get the consistency of powdered sugar.
When using products from a box, cut the corner off to use as a pour spout.
If you are removing kernels from cobs of corn, place the cob in the center hole of a bundt or angel food cake pan. The kernels automatically fall into the pan and you don’t lose any.
If a wooden spoon gets a little gunky, sticky or stinky, as they sometimes do, you can fix it. Use baking soda to clean your spoon or other wooden utensils and always when storing wooden utensils, wipe them dry and rub with a small amount of olive oil.
If your homemade marinara is a little acidic for your taste just peel a whole carrot and simmer it for a bit in the sauce. The carrot will absorb the acid.
Everyone gets the meal kit discounts or freebie offers in the mail or email. Use the good deals to try the services and just remember to cancel when your deal expires.
Check out the front and back pages of your grocery store sale flyers. They feature products called “loss leaders” where the grocery store actually loses a little money in order to bring you into the store. Try to use these items for your week’s menu and to stock up on non-edible items.
I was going on a road trip and wanted iced tea. I had plenty of bottles of water so I put a tea bag in each bottle and let it sit overnight. I had great drinks for the road. Here is a photo from when I first put the tea bags in.
Around the House Hacks
When trying to put a suction cup to a pane of glass we usually wet the cup a little. Vaseline works much better and doesn’t dry out allowing suction cup to fall. Use a thin coat.
When hanging something on the wall that has more than one hanger, use a piece of paper to make a map of the back of the object, marking where you need nails. Use the stencil on the wall so you know where to put your nails or other hangers. You can do this right through the paper and then just rip the paper down.
You know those unsightly water stain marks you get sometimes on your ceiling? Save repainting by just mixing a solution of 9 parts water to 1 part bleach and using a spray bottle to spritz the area. The stain should disappear in a few days.
Saving a Little Money Hacks (and who doesn’t like that!)
Buy a lifetime National Park Pass if you are 62 or older. It is only $80 and well worth it. Your whole carload gets in for free at 423 sites that the Park Service oversees.
When traveling ask locals where to eat. They will give better advice than the hotel desk.
Any reusable bottle can get through the TSA check as long as it is empty. Just fill it in the restroom or water fountain (once they are usable again) and save money on expensive airport bottles of water.
Clean your car wiper blades to make them last longer and clean better. About once a month wipe them off with rubbing alcohol and then clean the windshield.
Get no cost service at auto parts stores. If you buy windshield wipers, batteries or the like at a parts store the sales staff will install them for you.
If a chat window pops up on your computer desktop when you are shopping online don’t be afraid to say that you are interested in an item but the price is a bit too much. Haggling still works!
If you use the ShopSavvy app you can scan the barcode on an item in the store and see if it is available at another store for a better price.
Ask about safe homeownership discounts on your house insurance. If you haven’t made a claim in a long time your company might discount the cost of your insurance, sometimes as much as 20%.
When printing out things from your computer use ink stingy fonts to save on ink cartridge replacement. Fonts like Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman and Century Gothic are ink guzzlers. Use light or condensed versions instead.
Find freebies on Facebook. Join a Buy Nothing Facebook group. There a many group pages in your area where items are up for grabs for free!
Use the warehouse section of Amazon to get better deals in multiple categories.
When getting a prescription filled ask the pharmacist if you are getting the best price (some automatically check for you) or use a pharmacy discount site like GoodRx. You can also use it for human medicines prescribed for you pet.
If you aren’t at higher than normal risk for cavities you might only need x-rays every 2 years. Ask your dentist about this.
Calling all Crafty People (or wanna be crafty people)
Two of my friends and I got together to paint rocks. We painted some to assemble like a turtle and others to be cacti. We used art brushes and acrylic paint. Since ours were going to be outside we sprayed them with a clear coat to protect the color.
I painted a plain clay pot to look like a head and face. In addition to the face color I painted eyes, eyelashes and lips. A headband, wooden bead for a nose, and sunglasses were added to complete the project. I coated it completely with a clear coat to protect it from the outside (before adding the sunglasses and headband). I put a corkscrew bush in her and her name is Carla.
For the next project I purchased a bin and 5 sets of rope from Dollar Tree. Using my hot glue gun I went around the bin with the rope, gluing as I went. Once done,using hot glue, I added the butterflies that I had on hand. I am using it right now to display my vintage road maps.
I went to a cute little shop selling vintage things with a friend and bought 3 little glass tubes. It inspired me to use a vintage door plate and doorknob that I had saved to make this little cutie. I just made a hanger from a piece of jute and securely glued the doorknob in place. I would like to find a skeleton key to dangle from the doorknob to complete this project.
A friend of mine and I saw a pineapple made out of sunflowers in a store for $25. Of course, we didn’t want to pay that much so we set about figuring a way to make one ourselves. We collected sunflowers from the Dollar Tree and found something to use as the top of the pineapple. But then, how to make the base? I knew we had to cut it out of cardboard but we needed something to make it 3D. We ended up using a small pineapple decor piece from the Dollar Tree. We removed the tinsel from it and just used the plastic base, since it was kind of crowned, in the center. We put this on top of some bunched up newspaper and wrapped the hole thing in burlap ribbon. To that we added the flowers one at a time with hot glue. The flowers were super easy just to pull of the stems. Then we used what we had for a top and applied a little glue to the bottom of it and stuck it into the newspaper. We were able to do this between the flowers at the top of the piece. We each made a bow out of our choice of ribbon. I used burlap as you can see. I fashioned a hanger with floral wire to the back and it is on my front door.
I have a lot of fun sharing with you. It is my hope you have a little fun reading too! Leave a comment. I love them! Also, be sure to sign up so that you get an email notification whenever I make a new post (which is once a month). Enjoy the wind down of summer!
