Flash Freezing 101

UPDATE: You can now find me at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

I never realized how easy it is to flash freeze vegetables. I have frozen vegetables before but the only problem was that I was expecting to pull the bag out and watch as each individual vegetable fell out of the bag and into the pan. Unfortunately when I pulled out the bag to use it, it was just a big ball of iced vegetables clumped all together. ICK!

Flash freezing is what you can do to prevent that from happening and enjoy your frozen veggies in the same way you enjoy the store bought frozen veggies.

It’s SUPER easy to do and will save you from having to throw out veggies and fruit that you bought but never used.

All you need is:

Wax paper

Cookie sheets

Freezer bags

Fruits/Veggies

Knife

Cutting board

First, lay out your cookie sheet and place a piece of wax paper on it. This will prevent your veggies from sticking to the cookie sheet and allow you to easily remove them once they are frozen.

Then, cut up your vegetables and fruit. Slice and dice to your hearts desire.

Next, lay out your veggies on the wax paper covered cookie sheet in a single layer.

Place your veggie filled cookie sheet in the freezer and set a timer for about 30 minutes. (Depending on how you slice & dice and what vegetables/fruits you are using you may need to leave them in there a little longer.)

After that, go about your day until you hear the timer ding. If the veggies are fully frozen, remove them. If not, leave them in there until they are frozen.

Lastly, remove the frozen veggies/fruits from the cookie sheet and dump into a freezer bag. Be sure to mark your bag with the date.

Viola! You now have your very own bagged, frozen vegetables and fruits. Now you can feel free to buy the discounted fruit and vegetables from the grocery store (provided you flash freeze them before they go bad.).

If you’d like to see a video tutorial, check out Faithful Provisions.

Linked up to:

Time Warp Wife

5 minutes for Mom

Far Above Rubies

Whole New Mom

Raising 4 Princesses

Christian Mommy Blogger

We are that Family

Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Little Natural Cottage

Life As Mom

Too Cute Kitchen Printables

Check out these cute kitchen printables at Over the Big Moon. You can download them for a quick DIY Kitchen Decor project.

My favorite is Be Grateful.

Thanks Over the Big Moon!!

DIY: Button Bracelet

For my first DIY project of 2012, I decided to try a project where I could “up-cycle” stuff I already had. I was super happy when I found this great button bracelet project on Hope Studios.

Click here to see the tutorial on how to do to make your very own button bracelet.

I didn’t have cord, so I used embroidery yarn. I liked how mine turned out, but I am more of a necklace girl so I think I am going to pull the bracelet apart and make it into a necklace. (I will need to get some more buttons though )

Thanks Hope Studios!

DIY: Household Binder

I’m so excited! I was able to finish my Household Binder before 2012 began! This is one step closer to my goal of being more organized this year.

I loved the fact that I didn’t have to spend a penny on making it (except for the ink to print the pages). I got the binder and folders from a free pile at work and I already had all the other materials at home. Since I didn’t want to spend money on dividers, I made some pocket dividers from file folders I got in a free pile at work. If you have to buy your supplies, file folders are much cheaper than pocket dividers. (Click here for the instructions on how to make your own.)

I will admit it was a little time consuming to complete but mostly because I went through about 50 or 60 templates to find the ones that I felt best fit my life and my personality.

When I told my hubby about it, he asked, “Would you be able to do the same thing digitally?” I said, “Yes I am sure, but I am a paper girl.” To which he replied, “Oh yeah, I forgot you like to kill trees.” haha  What can I say, he is a huggggeeeee techie. He doesn’t understand my love for writing things down and being able to check them off.  Although, I do still plan on using the reminders app in my phone because I can set alarms on things that have to be done by a certain time.

When you make your binder I want to encourage you to do two things.

1. Don’t be in a rush to finish it.

You want to make sure you are making something that fits YOU. Don’t just print off a bunch of pages from one web-site. (I did this last year and barely touched the binder-it just wasn’t me.) Take a few minutes at least to look through the different options you have and then to create your binder.

2. Personalize it.

You want something that you are going to WANT to use. It is important that it has the pages that you will use, and that it  matches your personality. Mine has a doodle page that I made a few months back on the front cover instead of a computer generated “Tiffany’s Household Binder”. I wanted something colorful that would motivate me to pick it up and use it. Be creative with yours as well! Maybe the perfectionist in you prefers something computer generated or maybe you’d rather make a collage. Whatever you do, personalize it.

Here are the things I used to make my household binder:

3 ring binder

3 ring hole punch

Dividers (Make your own)

Sharpie pens (for labeling and coloring my cover page)

Sheet protectors

Dry erase marker (All of my pages have sheet protectors and most of them I will just use a dry erase marker on so that I can reuse them week after week.)

Tape

Management Pages

I  divided mine into 5 different sections. I listed the sections below along with the pages I included in each one.

Finances

Bill Due Dates List

Monthly Budget (I use an excel spreadsheet, but Dave Ramsey has some templates that are great here.)

Healthcare Costs

Tax Checklist

Kitchen 

Menu Planner

Shopping List

Pantry Staples List

Blog

Blog Ideas Page

Blog Weekly Calendar

Maintenance

Monthly/Semi-Annual Cleaning List

Car Maintenance

Warranty Tracker

Personal

Memory Verse Cards

Bible Reading Chart

Doxology

(The Doxology Chart is a place where you write one thing that you are thankful for each day. Each page fits 124 days worth of things for which we are thankful. I created this doc so that by the end of the year, I will be able to look back and be reminded of all the blessings that God has given has me.)

Home Mission & Vision Statement

Goals Sheets

Baby stuff (Hospital bag list, etc)

Monthly Calendar

(I also plan on making a separate section for ministry/church, however I have not been able to find pages that I like so I am currently designing my own. I am taking some ideas from the ones found here.)

There are 3 pages that I have in the front of the binder without a label. They are:

Daily Planner ( I also like this one here.)

Daily Cleaning Schedule

Prayer Requests

I also have a loose file folder that holds all of my current bills.

Hope this will help and/or motivate you to make your own household binder, whether on paper or digitally, so that your 2012 is your most organized year so far!

Linked up to: WFMW and Raising Might Arrows (Proverbs 31 Thursday)

DIY: Pocket Dividers

I made these quick and cheap pocket dividers for my household notebook. A lot of you may have some of these lying around. I got mine out of a free pile at work. However if you have to buy them, it is much cheaper to buy regular file folders than pocket dividers.

You will need:

Scissors

Tape

3 ring hole punch

File folders

Instructions:

1. Get all your materials together.

2. Cut approximately a 1/2 inch off the top of the folder. (You will need to cut it to the size of your 3 ring binder so that it fits and can be flipped with ease in the binder.)

3. Cut the front flap of the folder to the pocket size of your choosing.

As you can see in the picture below, I did 5 different pocket sizes. The black folder I did not cut at all. I did tape the bottom so that I could slide papers in and out.

4. Tape the bottom of the folder and the side of the “pocket” with clear packing tape or clear scotch tape.

Viola! Your pocket dividers are ready to be labeled and put into your household binder. I will be posting about my household binder tomorrow.

2012 GOAL: DO MORE MYSELF (DIY PROJECTS)

I have found so many cool DIY projects that I want to try. I have printed them off and planned to do them…but then the more important items on my to-do list take over and these DIY projects fall to the wayside. Not in 2012! I am setting a goal to do one DIY project per month. (Thanks to the motivation of Money Saving Mom’s blog).

I’ll be sure to post and let you know if each one is a success so that you can give it a try!

January-Make my own fabric wall decal (for baby girl’s room)

February- Make my own clarifying face mask

March- Make my own windex

April- Learn how to french braid

May-Make my own diaper rash cream (I will post the recipe in May.)

June- Make my own Febreeze

July- Make my own laundry detergent (I am still looking for a good one that’s gentle for baby clothes)

August- Make my own lemon-tea hair rinse

September- Make my own sourdough bread (My daddio has a recipe I want to try.)

October- Make my own ketchup

November- Make my own frozen hashbrowns 

December- Make my own mayonnaise (I am still looking for a good recipe for this.)

Linked up to: Raising Homemakers

2012 Goal: ORGANIZE!!

One of my 2012 goals is to be more organized! I always have good intentions but struggle with the follow through that real organization requires. But now that Baby Girl is only 3 months away from being in our arms-I feel incredibly motivated to get as organized as humanly possible before her arrival.

As I was scanning the web for ideas, I found this post on Life as A Mom on how to make a personal planner! I LOVE THIS IDEA! I am a list person and even though we are in techno-age, I still love having things written out on paper!! There is just nothing like checking an item off my to do list- I feel so accomplished…even if it is just checking off  “put up laundry”.

For anyone out there with the same goal as me to be more organized, or if you are already an organization-loving lady (or gentleman ) then be sure to check out the post and let me know what you think.

She gives you the ideas to make your own or you can purchase her kit (pdf’s) to make your own.

Thanks Life As A Mom for helping me become at least a little more organized!

DIY: Glitter Heels

I loooove glitter and anything sparkly so I was pretty excited to happen upon this blog post about making your own glitter heels!! I am dying to try this on a pair I have at home.

This is a great way to give old shoes a new face and a longer life This is also a great way to put a little holiday **sparkle** into your wardrobe.

Thanks Project Soiree!

DIY: Zippered Wet Bag

For all you crafty peeps out there, I found a great craft that you can make for me (:) hehe)…or for any of your other buddies who are already mommies or are soon-to-be mommies.

I don’t plan on using cloth diapers, but this would be a handy little bag for when baby has accidents or just drools uncontrollably all over her clothes and is in need of a dry outfit!

Click here to see this easy and cut gift idea!

Thanks Saving By Making!

 

Homemade Shampoo that Leaves Your Hair Silky Smooth

Changing over our shampoo, soap, etc has been very hard for me not because I don’t believe that they are bad for us but because a lot of the natural stuff out there just doesn’t work…and I have been lazy when it comes to trying to make my own.

I just found this great post on Frugally Sustainable about how to make your own shampoo bar that actually leaves your hair smooth & silky. The problem I have with a lot of homemade/natural shampoos is that they generally leave your hair dry sooo I am super excited to give this recipe a try.

The great thing with making your own shampoo (or shampoo bar) is that it MUCH cheaper than buying, and even more importantly, it is much healthier!

Most store bought shampoos are filled with chemicals that really have no business touching your scalp or your hair. (Such as Propylene Glycol which is most commonly found in Anti-freeze!) Click here to see the top 10 toxins in shampoo and to learn more.

I will be trying this recipe out during the next couple weeks and am hoping for great results but according to Frugally Sustainable I won’t be disappointed!

What about you? Did you try this out or do you already have a great recipe for homemade shampoo, soap, laundry detergent that you like? If so, please feel free to share!!