Football and "Wings"

September is the start of football, and the start of baking and cooking for me. There is something about cooking in the fall while a game is on tv. We like to eat healthy(not always, but a good amount of the time)and I have been wanting to try a recipe I found on Pinterest for cauliflower buffalo "wings". I got this recipe from The Curvy Carrot.

The ingredients consist of buttermilk, flour, garlic salt, 1 head of cauliflower, and buffalo sauce(I like Frank's)

          Before it went into the oven the first time:

Once I coated the cauliflower with the buffalo sauce and butter:

Final result:

I served it with celery and carrots. David had ranch dip and I had blue cheese. We really liked this....of course it's not the same as wings but it was satisfying and nice and spicy!

We got Ivy's ears pierced yesterday:

Her birthstone is ruby :)

Cleaning Solution Update

Ivy got her DTAP shot yesterday, so this weekend mommy is taking her to get her ears pierced! I'm thinking pearls :)

Update on the cleaning solution I made on my last entry: It works GREAT! It does have a vinegary(is that a word? lol) smell but you can smell the lemon as well and I'm sure if you left it to sit for longer that the vinegar smell wouldn't be as strong. I have found it makes an excellent furniture polish and gets rid of dust quite well. I also have been using it on the kitchen counter and it cuts through everything. I need to get a spray bottle, but for now I just dip a cloth into the solution.

As I was browsing my Pinterest boards a week ago, I found a pin about regrowing green onions. I had some available and I love these things and always use them, so I gave it a try. All you have to do is place them in some water on your windowsill and trim the tops when they get too long. I then cut them up and place in an empty water bottle in the freezer. Word to the wise: pat the onions that you cut really well with a towel to get moisture off. It helps not make them soggy when you use them.

Recently, I have been working on our budget and trying hard to save. David has a retirement account, but we need to look into other saving accounts as well and also want to plan a Disney vacation someday :) 

I found these money envelope templates from One Good Thing By Jillee

I printed them out with some cardstock that I had around because it's pretty. I am trying to cut our grocery bill down to 75.00 a week not including Ivy's formula. We don't have to worry about diapers too often because we use cloth diapers except for at night and when going out. Same goes for wipes.

 It's gonna be a challenge but I like challenges :)

Well hello there

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I updated this thing. Since my last post I have had a baby, Ivy Noelle, who is such a sweetheart. I have also moved to Augusta, GA. We will only be here for 9 more months then it's packing and moving again, but hey, that's Army life for ya!

Many of my friends know that we use cloth diapers. It's economical, easy, and helps the environment. Well recently I decided I wanted to try converting our household cleaners into homemade ones for one or all of those same reasons.

 Right now I have lemon peels, lime peels, vinegar, water, and a bay leaf simmering on the stove. I got this idea from: Fountain Avenue Kitchen. She uses a mason jar with only vinegar and orange peels and lets it soak for 2 weeks, thus making the orange smell stronger than the vinegar. I didn't have oranges, but I had a lemon and lime available and decided to try speeding up the process by heating the mixture. Once it cooled a bit, I added it to a mason jar. I will let it sit overnight and see how it smells and how well it works for an all purpose cleaner.

I apologize for the low quality picture, but I can't seem to find my usb cable to hook my camera up to the computer so I had to use my cell phone :-/

Quiet time seems to be over for my son, so it's time to go. Thanks for reading and I WILL be adding more posts!

S'mores Oatmeal

It has been getting a *little* cooler outside, and it makes me wanna bake and eat oatmeal. I don't care much for oatmeal but I have been doing a lot of experimenting and as long as I have some sort of chocolate in it, I am happy. Last night I saw marshmallows, chocolate chips, and oatmeal in the pantry. So I decided that I would try to make s'mores oatmeal in the morning.

It turned out really tasty and is about 300 cals for a serving :)

All I did was use old fashioned oats, added 1/4 cup marshmallows(leave a few out to top the oatmeal with), stirred till they were melted, added 1 tbsp chocolate chips(leave a few out for the top), then topped with the leftover choco chips, marshmallows and added a crumbled animal cracker on top. I would have used 1 square off a graham cracker if I had any but they animal cracker worked :) 

Yesterday, we went to get Ray shoes for fall and winter. I am not a huge fan of Kmart but they do have good sales on shoes. We got 3 pairs for him and boots for myself for only 50.00! Also, I discovered that my child wears size TEN. Talk about big feet! He is only 2.5! He has been doing so well with potty training. Within 10 days he was staying dry at naptime and pooping on the potty. It feels weird not having to wash cloth diapers anymore. He uses pull ups(cheap off brand of course) for bedtime.

David goes to the field tomorrow for a couple weeks so we won't be getting to the pumpkin patch till he comes home for a weekend. Then he goes back out for 3 weeks and will be back in time for my birthday :)  

Our plans to go to Tuscon in December will probably not be happening, as money always gets tight around this time of year. We *might* get another chance before we leave El Paso. Which is hopefully soon. 

Time to go do some laundry and spend time with the hubby before he leaves. Have a good day all!

Hobbies...A List.

So my hubby has been trying to find a hobby. I started running off ideas to him and realized that there are probably a gazillion(okay maybe not that many)hobbies that one can do. I decided to start a list here for anyone that may be searching for one :)

1. Painting
2. Drawing
3. Scrapbook
3. Cardmaking
4. Make Candles
5. Crocheting(my personal fav!)
6. Knitting
7. Sewing
8. Make Soap
9. Woodworking
10. Baking
11. Cooking
12. Breadmaking 
13. Make Jewelry
14. Learn how to build a computer/upgrade a computer
15. Do book reviews, movie reviews, restaurant reviews
16. Write a novel
17. Build model airplanes, boats, etc
18. Make a comic book

I will add to this list as I think of ideas...or if anyone wants to contribute, shoot me an email!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!

Mmmmmm! These were so delicious. Don't mind the glaze...I was too lazy to take out my mixer to whip the frosting. These things are damn tasty but are a bit of work. Worth it in my opinion!

I found the recipe here. My husband LOVES Cinnabon so I knew he would love these. There are a couple things I messed up on but they STILL came out amazing.

Pictures of the process for comparison if you decide to try these :)

The dough before it rose

The dough after it rose

Slicing the roll...I was gonna take a picture of the rolled out dough with all the luscious cinnamony goodness but forgot amidst the drooling :)

After rising a 2nd time and ready to go into the oven

Enjoy!!

I don't know if it's just my oven or what, but a few of these were really doughy on the bottom. This has happened to me before with canned ones so any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Now onto my latest crochet endeavor:

An Angry Birds hat for my Godson! Took awhile and had me cussing a few times but well worth the finished product!

Back to enjoying my wine and to watch hubby play Resident Evil! Goodnight all!

Pepperoni Rolls

This pay period has been quite long, and when that happens our kitchen is pretty bare. So one needs to be creative :)  I had Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Minis and some American cheese. I also ALWAYS have yeast. I buy the jar and keep it in the freezer(a tip from my brother!) so it lasts how ever long I need it to. Anyways, the idea popped into my head to make some sort of pepperoni bread. I decided to use THIS recipe for dinner rolls and tweaked it.

I added the pepperoni in the middle(about 5 pieces), then some cheese. I left a couple without cheese on purpose. 

My little guy was of course helping mommy :)

Then I pursed the top of each roll to cover the cheese and pepperoni. Cooking spray went on top, along with basil and oregano, followed by a little bit of shredded cheddar. 

12 minutes later....

Yumm! They turned out very tasty. The top of the rolls tasted like Subway's italian herb and cheese bread. I recommend using regular sized pepperoni though and some more cheese. 

Now for my son's fall and Halloween art because I love showing him off :)

Thanks for reading and have a great day all!!!