Strawberry Pizza

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The Lesson:  Use what you have. 

I found a huge sale on cake mixes for $.49 each about 9 months ago and I bough a LOT.  Normally we don’t consider cake mixes food, but when I need to take a treat to a gathering, it can make it a lot less stressful.   I’ve tried making cake from scratch and I’ve never gotten it to turn out well.  (Unless it is fruit filled cake, like fresh apple cake, carrot or zucchini cake–Yum!)

Cake mixes make cake (duh), but they also make cookies, brownies, sweet pie crust, and fruit crisp topping. 

This summer has been especially busy for us and I often feel overwhelmed.  I needed a quick snack to take to our monthly family worship gathering and thought about what I had on hand:  cake mix, fresh strawberries that really needed to be used, a tiny amount of powdered sugar, strawberry jello, and an open brick of cream cheese needing to be used.  Strawberry pizza was the natural choice!  Since I was using what I had on hand, I didn’t follow a recipe.  Here’s what I did:

Strawberry Pizza:

Crust:  1 cake mix, 1 stick butter melted, 1 egg.  Mix all together in an electric mixer and roll onto a pizza pan.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely

Frosting:  8 oz cream cheese (can use lowfat or non-fat) 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Whip together and spread over crust.

Top with sliced strawberries.  You can glaze with strawberry jello mixed with 1/2 cup warm water until it dissolves.  But it was almost too sweet that way.  It would have been better plain or with whipped cream.

New Wall Art: Framed Pointe Shoes

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The lesson:  If you can’t find what you want at a price you can afford, wait.  It will turn up.

While we were thinking of ideas for my daughters’ bedroom remodel, I decided it would be fun to add a little piece that nods to their love of ballet.  I was going to need a large oval frame and an old pair of pointe shoes.  As I shopped discount decor stores I found that most frames like that retailed for $50!  Even on clearance the best I could do was $25.  It just wasn’t going to work within my budget.

I decided to wait it out.  A few weeks later a neighbor put this frame in her garage sale for $5.  It was like new and still had the $50.00 price tag on it!

What I show you next will make many people cringe.  It was hard for me to think about too, but the black and gold, gorgeous as it was, wouldn’t look right for my purpose.  So I painted it.

At first I thought I had totally ruined it and was so glad I only risked $5.  But I braced my shoulders and focused on the plan.  I found a retired pair of pointe shoes on Etsy for $20.  They were a huge splurge for the room, but were a fraction of what I had seen other shoes go for.  Add a little ribbon from stash and voila.

I hung it from a Wall Dog screw and just for giggles hot glued a rhinestone over the screwhead.  It’s perfect, sigh.

Stir Fry at Home

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The Lesson:  Use what you have on hand.

Happy Birthday to my husband, Darren!  He helped me make the meal below.  Even though it was a simple thing to prepare and the rice cooker and frozen eggrolls made it a snap, I got in over my head with 2 pans to stir and other things to tend to and he rescued me.  Thanks dear!

Stir fry is one thing we rarely do the same twice.  If you have a reliable sauce recipe (one to follow), then you can just use what you have to fill out the dish.

This time we used a couple of chicken breasts, sliced and cooked in a skillet.  I cooked the sauce with the chicken after the chicken was mostly done.  This same sauce is nice with beef, pork, or shrimp too.

The vegetables were the rest of a bag of baby carrots, zucchini from my mother-in-loves garden, sliced onions, and fresh mushrooms that we happened to snag for $.77 a carton.  I’ve found it’s nice to add the crunchiest veggies first since they take the longest to cook.  I gradually add vegetables based on their cooking time.

The eggrolls were homemade and pre-frozen recipe here.  We baked them on a cookie sheet at 350 for 3o minutes and didn’t worry about thawing first.  Yum!

Here’s our sauce recipe which was passed to me from my sister-in-love, Gena.

Stir-Fry Sauce

2 cups cold water

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (or powder)

Shake everything together in a blender jar until the cornstarch is dissolved.  Pour over your browned meat and cook and stir until sauce is bubbling and thickened.  Combine meat, sauce and vegetables together and serve over rice.

The Girls Get Desks!

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I found two desks this week at garage sales for $25 each.  This first desk wasn’t worth the $25 I firmly decided when I got home.  It had been chewed on by a dog all up and down the legs.  The top had deep grooves drug into it and the drawer pulls are antique and an odd size that isn’t made anymore.  You’d think I’d have noticed those things before I bought it.  But I had seen the desk on craigslist and drove 35 miles to pick it up.  I think I had love dust in my eyes.

Before

 When I finally got the desk home, and started sanding the honeymoon was OVER.  This desk was a lot of work.  I filled in all the gouges with wood puddy and sanded everything as smooth as possible.  Then gave it 2 coats of oil based rustoleum paint in glossy white.  I gave it a light spray paint at the end to get rid of any brush strokes.

After--just needs drawer pulls

 She turned out pretty :).  I’m still trying to decide what to do about drawer pulls. I tried ribbon–too flimsy.  Then I thought about making my own from wire and crystal beads.  But I think I may just spray paint the old ones brushed nickel and call it done. 

Before

 I had originally planned to get two desks of similar style.  I had two 7 drawer desks picked out and bought the first one on faith.  But the second seller sold his desk, pulled his listing, and never returned my emails :(.  Then I found this adorable piece and fell in love again.

Love the scallop on the drawer

 It took a lot less sanding and puttying to get it in order and painted up easily.  The best part is the drawer pulls were a single hole so I could get some inexpensive glass knobs from Walmart ($6 for 2) to finish the redo. 

Cute little feet

 I’m so glad I jumped into this project!  The desks look great side by side and I’m over my fear of working with oil paint.  It covers so well and outside the fumes aren’t anything to worry about.  It cleaned up easily too.  The mineral spirits just melted the paint right off the brush and it washed out in half the time latex does.

After

 I just had an idea!  Why not putty in the holes on Heidi’s desk, repaint over it and drill single holes for glass knobs? Excuse me, I think I’ll go get started :).

Side-by-side

More IQ Lamps

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IQ lamps are gorgeous and inexpensive to make.  I love that they blend well with a modern theme or victorian/shabby chic.  

I made 2 more this week for my daughters.  There is no central light fixture in their room and it can get pretty dark.  To help, we added the rose lamp, 2 huge mirrors on the large wall and iq lamps.  Here’s a pdf file IQ lamp curly corners 2 on page of the pattern I used.  You can click here to see my first IQ lamp post with more information. 

 This IQ lamp is unique because it is designed to puff out a little more and look “curly.”  It’s also known as the Mexican style IQ lamp. 

If you use 2 Hobby Lobby coupons for the vellum (110 lb clear “frosted” vellum in the drafting department), the lamp shade costs $4.20.  The Hemma lamp cord from Ikea to finish out the lamp is $3.99.  I used a 15 watt compact fluorescent bulb to help reduct fire risk. 

The main reason for writing this post, is the clearest video on how to put one of these together is in Spanish.  I made an English video in case any non-Spanish folks would like to make one.  The Spanish video is nice because the 2 colors really help you see what is going on.  Watching both should make it really clear for you.

How to Take-in a Skirt Waist

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Are you losing weight or plan to but don’t want to lose your favorite skirt?  Here’s a two minute alteration that will keep your clothes fitting great and can be undone if necessary.

Oops!  Youtube linked a racy video to this one.  I apologize if any of you saw that link.  I’m fixing the problem but it will take about an hour.  Check back to see the video.

How to Take in a Skirt Waist from Angela Coffman on Vimeo.

P.S.  This skirt has a side zipper.  If your skirt has a back zipper, put in 2 equal sized pleats on either side of the zipper.  Instead of pressing the pleats to center on itself, press them away from the zipper.

It’s Here!

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We had a blast last night trying out our new gadget from www.csn.com.  It’s going to take some practice to look professional at it.  Our finished product looked nothing like the pictures on the box, but it sure did taste good!

Congratulations to Amber, Commentor #97!  She won the ebook set and has the links in her inbox.

Christa M, Erica T, Julie G, Valerie of Tangled Wood Hills, and Christine M all guessed correctly.  I was shocked to get so many correct guesses since I thought I was so clever—haha.  But that just proves my insistance that Grocery Shrink readers are the smartest ever.

JN # 44 had the most unique guess “A samovar?* Had to have a unique guess- though the wrong season. Would love to win! * a heated metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water in and around Russia. They are really “cool” looking.”  I’m going to have to go look that up!”

I would have loved to have received any of the things you guessed, but watch the video to see the big reveal…

Jack Mackerel vs. Salmon

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I love Jack Mackerel.  It is half the price of Salmon with double the nutrition per serving.  Here’s a video for you on how to prepare a simple recipe and what to expect when you open the can.  It’s not very clear in the video but the ingredients are:

1 Can Jack Mackerel–$1.32

1 Sleeve Saltine Crackers $.25

2 Eggs–$.16

This feeds four people for $1.73 (or $.44 a serving!) and is loaded with protein. 

Recycled Popsicles

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When I was a young bride, there were a lot of useful things I threw away.  I didn’t realize they were useful.  I drained my canned vegetables and fruit right down the sink!  When we decided to get out of debt and tighten our belt, I looked at everything in a new way.  I save the vegetable broth as a base for soups, gravy, and for cooking rice and quinoa in.  And the fruit juice (or light syrup) I saved for ……

It’s interesting to see my old kitchen in this video!  It doesn’t seem so bad now that I’ve lived without anything for so many months, lol.  But you can sort of see the hole around and under the stove top which is one of the reasons we decided to gut the place and start over.  We just heard that our cabinets are in and we are making arrangements to pick them up Monday.  I’m still a little bewildered how Darren and I are going to assemble and install them ourselves.  But I have a drill and I’m willing to work—just tell me what to do!

It feels like it’s going to be a long time before everything is finished.  I’d like to use Ikea countertops because I love the look and the price!  But the nearest Ikea is 600 miles away and then I will still need to stain and waterproof them.  Plus cut a hole for the sink and install them.  At this point, I’m not sure how to do any of that, but not knowing how hasn’t stopped me from trying before :).

Easy Home Grown Sprouts!

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Update:  I’ve had several people ask about where to buy a hemp bag.  My daughter, Heidi, planned to make them and sell them on Etsy, but it’s just too much for her with school.  We bought our hemp fabric at fabric.com but ready made bags are available at Amazon.  They can be pricey!  And if that’s just too much for you, or if you aren’t sure you are a sprouting fan.  You can just line your colander with a cotton dishtowel and sprout that way.  Cover the seeds with the damp towel between rinsing.  (Note:  this will tea dye your towel in spots, so don’t use a favorite!)

It’s been more than a year since I posted a video.  I was waiting for everything to be perfect so I can film.   I finally decided doing it imperfectly was better than not doing it at all since it’s never perfect around here.  My children ran the camera, helped with the demo, and screamed in the background.  It was a family affair :). 

I love sprouts!  They are crunchy, sweet, nutty, full of viatmins and cheap!  It’s so easy to do in just a few minutes.  I don’t even have a kitchen sink and managed to do it.  With a hemp sprouting bag, you can grow sprouts as you travel.  They take up very little space and need very little care.  I made mine from 100% hemp fabric from fabric.com.  It’s pricey but I had a coupon and for one yard could make several bags for the cost of one ready made bag?  Don’t want to sew a bag?  You can buy them ready made from Amazon: Sproutman Hemp Sprout Bag  Or if you are doing a lot of sprouts, line a colander with a cotton tea towel and use it instead of a sprouting bag.  It will stain your towel permanently (like tea dyeing) but it works great.  I once did a lot of wheat seed this way that I dehydrated and milled for sprouted wheat flour.

This method works with any kind of sprout.  Watch the video to see how easy it is.  Or watch to see my kitchen in construction.  Or to see me without makeup :).  In the last scene, I had been lying in bed when I gasped–“my sprouts!”   I threw a shirt over my pjs, pulled my oldest daughter out of bed and filmed the last segment.  Now you’ll know why I look like that–bwa ha ha.  But they sure did taste good.  I wish I had gotten a photo of the salad.  It was simple:  Romaine lettuce from Costco, sprouts, dried cranberries, and shredded carrots.  I ate it with my fingers because I was too impatient to find a plate and dressing, yum!