January 8, 2008

Leftover Mashed Potato SoupIn a large pot, mix potatoes with the following ratios. To every two cups of leftover mashed potatoes, add 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup broth/stock/juice, 1/2 stick butter/oleo, 1 tsp. celery salt, dash of pepper.

 

Creole LiverFry bacon until crisp and remove fat. Dredge liver with flour and brown in bacon fat. Add rest of ingredients and bacon. Cover and simmer 45 minutes. Serve with spaghetti.

 

Banana Chocolate Cake With Coffee FrostingPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar; add lightly beaten eggs and baking soda dissolved in sour cream. Beat well and add mashed bananas, flour, salt and vanilla.

 

Coffee Ice Cream PieCrush cookies and add melted butter. Mix well. Press into 9 inch pie pan and chill. Melt squares of chocolate over hot water and stir in sugar and butter. Slowly add evaporated milk. Stir occasionally until thickened.

 

Holiday ClosetI converted a closet into a Holiday Pantry area. I have a large 3 drawer plastic bin unit to hold Christmas ornaments.

 

Buy Calendars After the Holidays For Half PriceEveryone in my immediate family and several close friends know that within a day or two after Christmas, I'll hit the local bookstores (Borders, Barnes and Noble) and get calendars at 1/2 price, and give them as their "after Christmas/Hanukkah gifts". I spend as much as $100, but get $200 in calendars.

 

Fabric Christmas Bags For Green Gift WrappingWrapping Christmas gifts is easy for me, I started using cloth bags. I sewed them from Christmas cloth purchased after Christmas a few years ago. I made several for all my gifts in different sizes and shapes, used draw string in top to close them.

 

Multi-Purpose Wax Paper SheetsI buy at Sam's, a large store where you can buy in bulk. There are others in your area, I am sure. If not, cut up sheets yourself and store in an empty large Kleenex box.

 

Cinnamon Air FreshenerWhen someone is coming over to my home and I don't have time to air it out and I don't want that obvious smell of an air freshener spray, I just sprinkle a tiny dash of cinnamon on to my electric burner.

 

Organizing Craft Supplies With Recycled ContainersI have all sorts of tiny crafting materials (wiggle eyes, acrylic jewels, needles, beads, etc) and not a lot of space to store them, we live full time in our camper. I tried looking for storage boxes but the compartments were either too small or too large for most of the materials.

 

Painted GourdsWe do a lot of painted gourds. We sell quite a few. We grew these gourds and then cleaned and painted them.

 

Cassidy (Terrier Mix)Cassidy is about 3 years old and is a Terrier mix. She was an adopted shelter puppy.

 

Craft: Polka-Dot PensThis photo came out a little fuzzy, but I think you get the idea. This project is much easier and less time consuming than it initially appears. It's a great way to use up scraps of construction paper, keep little fingers busy, and turn ordinary pens into something special.

 

Under The Christmas TreePresents under our tree. My daughter made my Webkinz a beautiful red sweater.