Homedids fo' kids

Disclaimer: If you don't know want to know what your kids are getting for Christmas from me, stop reading!

So I've posted about this method before. And here it is in truth making it's appearance for the holidays.

So the exact principle I described before is exactly how I did it again. Few slight modifications.

Firstly, this time I had to buy crayons for the project.
(And in the spirit of transparent honesty I will say this, Crayola really is superior for this project. This time I bought a different brand. Still good crayons, but the colors in Crayola I feel are more vibrant.)

And secondly, I bought new molds as well.


Target. $2.50 apiece. WHAT a deal!

And then I got some cute little tins to put them in.

This time however, since the shapes were bigger, I needed about four or five crayons per mold. But that's alright, I really like the bigger shapes.





Viola!



So! Cost breakdown:
Crayons - two boxes at $1.50 apiece
Molds - two at $2.50 apiece (but can be reused)
Tins - three at $1 apiece
Per present: $3.66 per present.

Not bad at all :)

How's the rest of you doing out there? On track? Behind? I admit, I'm a little behind. Thanksgiving whopped me quite a bit. But I'm back on my game now! ;) Next project coming together in the next couple of days...

Homedid Thanksgiving!

(Cure for the Common Turkey Reprise)



I know I know...

it's not technically Christmas. But I view Thanksgiving as the official start of the holiday festivities. You give your house that really deep clean before the out of town company shows up. Your supermarket puts all their baking needs on sale so you stock up.

And you have a dead bird thawing in your sink.

Our ancestors would be so proud.

So last year after the massive turkey landed into my oven I posted a collection of ideas for your leftover meat on my Facebook.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of these recipes they are making a comeback here today!
PLUS a few new ones.

HOT DAMN!

So lets get cracking!

For all of these turkey recipes, we are going to assume a few things. Namely that you have cooked and carved as much as possible off of your bird. It'll look something like...


Woof. That's tasty looking :)

So then you take your carcass and using your bare hands, strip EVERY BIT of meat/fat/skin off that thing as possible.

I'm not showing you a picture of that. That's gross.

And separate all that mess into two piles/dishes:
1.) Bones, cartilage, fat and skin
2.) Edible meat - put this into two separate bags. One pound into your fridge. The rest into pound portions in your freezer for later.

Once you have done that:

Turkey Soup

Todd actually said that this soup tastes like something his grandmother would make. And shit, that's an endorsement if I ever heard it!

Ingredients: turkey carcass, stockpot, 1 or 2 boxes o'chicken broth, water, two whole onion, 4/5 stalks celery, 4/5 carrots, 4/5 cloves garlic, EVOO, wine, assorted spices (salt, pepper, bay leaves, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary), egg noodles or dumpling of your choice.

Now, be warned, this DOES take quite a bit of time. You've been warned. But it's so totally worth it.

Place your carcass in the stockpot. Chances are you are going to have to snap some bones to get it to fit, that's fine. Just jam it in there. Also if you have the neck or giblets, add them too. Toss any fat/skin/cartilage from the carcass harvest in as well.

2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, one onion - rough chop all this into big pieces - toss into the pot.

Smash 2/3 cloves of garlic, don't even bother chopping - toss into pot.

(what we are doing is making stock first things first, so don't worry, the pretty stuff comes later)

Add two whole boxes of chicken broth. Don't get fancy or expensive, the 99 cent box is exactly what I used. Add enough water to cover the bones completely. (If you don't have broth, honestly you can use all water, but I think this gives more flavor.)

Season to taste. I don't use measurements, but I do use a pretty heavy hand on the spices. Stock is just the base for later, so what you put in now is roundabout how it will taste when you're done. I, personally, go for salt and pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon of crushed bay leaves and general shakes of rosemary, thyme and a slightly heavier dollop of parsley.

Bring this pot of goodness to a boil, partially cover and simmer for 1. 5 hours. But keep an eye on it, if any foam forms, scoop it off with a spoon and throw it away. You don't want it.

After the boiling, let the soup sit there a bit and cool off some. When the pot is workable, pull out the bones with metal tongs and toss them in the trash. You are officially done with them. Take your pasta colander and put it inside/over top another big pot you have. You are going to drain out the big pieces of veggies (see why we didn't mince them?) and just get a pot of nothing but liquid.

Presto! You just made home-did stock.

While it is sitting in that 2nd pot, give it a taste. It may have thickened while boiling with the lid on. If you think it's too strong or too thick, add some water. Up to 2 cups is pretty safe. But not too much, we still want some fatty-flavor.

Put your stockpot BACK on the stove and add 2/3 tablespoons of EVOO. We're going to SWEAT our veggies. So turn the heat on LOW.


(mir poux bitchez!!)
2/3 diced celery stalks, 2/3 diced carrots, one half diced onion, 2/3 minced garlic

Toss the veggies into the warmed pot. WE DO NOT WANT TO FRY THESE! Sweating them is like getting them to well...sweat their flavors into the oil. Roundabout 10 minutes on low. Keep stirring.

To this add about 1/4 cup wine. It's a holiday, chances are you will have some leftover. Literally any kind you have will work. And bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes, this will make a quick and dirty wine reduction. Keep stirring.

Once it smells DELICIOUS, and trust me it will - grab the stock you just made and pour it in carefully.

Take that turkey out of the fridge that we harvested off the carcass earlier and dump it all in.

Bring it all to a boil and simmer partially covered for about 4 hours. Keep an eye out for that foam again, scoop any off and throw it away.

BOOM! Home-did soup.

Boil up some eggs noodles and when you get ready to serve just put them in the bowl first and ladle in your soup. It's flavorful and hearty. Extra stuffing? Yeah, you can put that in the soup too. OH TRUST ME. Store the noodles separately, else they will get soggy in the soup. And it freezes AMAZINGLY.

BBQ Pulled Turkey in a Crock pot

Ingredients: 24 oz bottle of pepsi or coke, 1 TBS red pepper flakes, 2 minced gloves of garlic, 1 TBS liquid smoke, 1 TBS onion flakes, about 1 pound of leftover turkey (no chopping needed).

Toss it all into the crock pot at the same time.

Stir.

Cook on low 4/5 hours until your house smells delicious.

Serve on hamburger rolls with BBQ sauce.

How freaking simple? And it will be so tender you can shred it with a fork. My tip? Freeze half of it when you clean up the left overs the first night. Because yeah, it freezes awesome too.

Turkey Casserole

Ingredients: about 1 pound of leftover turkey diced to bite size, 1 pound of cooked macaroni, 1 can of cream of something soup, 1 cup of milk or sour cream, 2 or3 hand fulls of cheddar cheese, breadcrumbs.

Mix turkey, soup, sour cream and 1 or 2 hand fulls of cheese together in a square casserole dish. Add cooked noodles until evenly coated.

Top with 1 or 2 more hand fulls of cheese and breadcrumbs evenly on top.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes (since the turkey is already cooked, you just want to get it hot).

Serve.

Quick AND tasty. though doesn't freeze too well, but DAMN is it good the next day for lunch with a small salad. Not sure what more you could ask for.

Except maybe...

Chex Mix



Now...here is the thing about chex mix. It's REALLY forgiving and open to interpretation. You can find the recipe on EVERY box of the stuff. We have a few different kinds on hand usually. For this particular batch I used three cups each of rice, wheat and life cereal. Then one and a half cup of pretzels. And one cup each of oatmeal squares and honey nut chex. But there is a TON of cereal you can swap in and out. I see no need not to try cheerios or golden grahams :)

Then in a microwavable bowl I melt down an entire stick of butter and about 4 or 5 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce. When you have a liquid, I add garlic and onion power and season salt to the mix (mostly to preference or taste) and pour it over the whole big bowl of cereal.

Mix well.

Pop the bowl into the microwave for six minutes, stirring every two.

Spread it out on paper towels to dry/cool and sprinkle with a few shakes more of season salt.

The reason I like adding things like Life and Oatmeal squares is they are sweetened with brown sugar which add a nice little flavor depth to the mix. It's sweet, salty and savory at the same time.

**Added Sunday after the Thanks**
Mashed Potato Dumplings

So last year I decided to freeze my mashed potato left overs. BIG mistake. They didn't freeze well AT ALL.

This year I really wanted to do something better.

While making soup yesterday I remembered this idea I'd seen on a blog TWO Thanksgivings ago.

Ingredients: 1 cup mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup flour, 1 egg and salt and pepper to taste.

Now, I didn't follow that step by step, I admit. I used three cups potatoes, 1 1/2 flour gradually and two eggs. I patted the "dough" out onto my HEAVILY (it's REALLY sticky) floured counter and sliced it into about 1.5 inch or so squares.

Boiled for about 10 minutes (in the soup).

Oh.
My.
God.

My soup, with these dumplings...I'm ready for a food coma all over again.

I created something tonight.

I'm calling it "Thanksgiving Redux Soup"



This is the basic soup recipe from up top. I also added in my left over gravy. OH YES.

I boiled the dumplings in the soup as I reheated it.

And I scooped leftover stuffing into the bowl before spooning in the soup.

It's all the benefit of a huge turkey dinner, just in one bowl of soup.

Holy shit my friends. So good I feel like I need a food coma.

And that's a wrap folks!

I hope these give you a leg up (or turkey thigh) with what to do with all your leftovers.

But tell me, what are some of your best go-to ideas for all the leftovers? Potato pancakes? Stuffing pudding? Lemmie know!

(and just fyi as I come up with more recipes I will add them and re-post this entry)

The Puppy/Toddler Paradox

Over the past several months I've made a number of observations.

Never feed a child ravioli if you don't want to give it a bath directly afterwards.
Always bring a spare change of clothes, you will only ever need them when you don't have them.
And most importantly:

I do not have a toddler. I have a two legged hairless puppy.

Observe:

Puppies, before they are "potty trained" are a danger to your carpets. MUCH the same as a toddler. If you take the diaper off and your acrobutt gets away from you there is a 100% chance they will run from you giggling, find a nice spot to squat, and then pee on your carpet.

Paper, tissues, napkins...none of those things should be left near a puppy. They will shred or chew them. Sadly, the exact same precaution should be kept with a toddler. I watched her shred and then EAT the remaining roll of toilet paper yesterday. And yes I DID keep trying to take it from her. The minx kept HIDING PIECES.

Puppies will eat anything they find on the floor. That cheeto you pulled out from behind the couch when you vacuumed. It's covered in hair. The dog doesn't care. Neither does the toddler.

Puppies drink out of a dish on the floor. And usually make a huge puddle. The toddler decides something slightly different. This dish is obviously for her to wash her face and toys. Puddle included free of charge.

Chew toys, especially ones that squeak, are fun for puppies. They help build strong teeth and encourage play. Same with the toddler. She especially loves the spikey porcupine one.

Garbage cans provide a FEAST for a puppy. And without fail, the garbage can after your have a cold...you know, the one that's FULL of disgusting snot rags, oh man that is their FAVORITE can to knock over and mutilate. Sadly, toddlers feel the same.

When you take a puppy outside in your yard, in the beginning it's a really good idea to keep them on a leash. Chances are they will see or smell something AWESOME and need to eat it right away in a frenzied motion while you look away for a split second. Oh yeah, you totally guessed...toddler too.

Perhaps it's something in our human nature. I'm reading a pretty interesting book that says children during toddler hood go through all the stages of evolutionary man. Almost like our DNA is remembering the advances we've made through history, the paths our minds took to learn new tasks.

But where the HELL in this amazing scientific journey does it call for them to lick the bottom of your shoes??

I'm sorry, but this toddler phase is pretty disgusting.

And we haven't even gotten to poop finger paint yet.

*sigh*

So if you'll excuse me, I have to go to Pet Smart for a retractable leash and training pads.

...for the puppy of course ;)

Intelligent Couponing Results

So I used to post these on my facebook and then I stopped.

Because I was worried people would be all like "OH! So you think you're BETTER than us because you save money!"...or...something.

But it was recently brought to my attention that people liked reading them, and missed them.

So screw it!

I'm posting them here!

On this particular trip I had a WIC check, a rain check, newspaper and printed coupons and my bonus card.


Also includes a 10 pound bag of potatoes and a pound and a half of yellow onions.

Total before savings: $96.05
Total savings: $36.84
Total after savings: $59.21

I admit, a very large trip. But it's the week before Thanksgiving and I'm about to have a house guest. So extra supplies were needed.

And for giggles...

We've had our bonus card plus or minus six months now...
Year to date bonus card savings: $327.47
That does NOT include coupons. Just in store deals/freebies.

Homedid Supplies Roundup!

So I haven't officially started any construction on my homedid projects yet, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been work done.

Most people at this phase in the season are probably all talking about the things they bought for the big celebration.

Now I'm not going to lie, yes, I did buy a FEW things. Things that I just had to because otherwise I didn't have any laying around. But that being said, I spent ALL year saving up different bits of things to use for JUST this time of year.

For example, remember I had a baby? I may have mentioned this once or twice. Well, babies eat a LOT of baby food. That comes in jars. And me in my hippy dippy-ness just could NOT get myself to throw all of them away. So needless to say I have, um a TON of them. And I plan on using them!

Also for the past three years, I've bought new Christmas cards. And what do you do with those last ones that you never send because you bought too many? If you are like me, you stick them in a box and don't remember about them the next year.

Well NO MORE!

I made sure to set them somewhere VERY prominent so I wouldn't forget them. So this year, all mis-matched cards. Why not? Like anyone will noticed that they and their family got different cards. And anyway, I just blew my cover :)

And on a similar note, what do you do with all the cards people send you? Do you throw them away? It's okay, no shame in it. Me? No no, you should know better. I save them every year. Then I take stencils, like stars and circles and I cut out the front pattern in a design. Punch a whole in the top, thread some ribbon and BOOM!

Gift tags!

Aren't I clever?

So I've spent some time gathering those supplies and some glitter, paint, sharpies...you know, basic craft supplies. I am TOTALLY gearing up to make a TON of shit.

And now, the stuff I've bought...
Firstly - I hit up Target in their dollar section. I LOVE the dollar section. You can usually find some pretty amazing things there. Since all the present I am making are going to be homedid, I needed a lot of containers of all shapes and sizes. Here spending just $1 I don't really feel bad if all they do is throw it out when they are done. But I did my absolutely best to find things in tin or trays/baskets that are more than reusable.


Please I implore you - re-gift my baskets!!

And the last thing I've bought, I'm keeping under wraps. It's the one tutorial I am going to save for the very end. It's just THAT awesome in my opinion.

I will tell you this though: I bought two boxes of plain purple glass ornaments. $4 a box at Wal-mart. But easily my most complicated project and boy howdy it BETTER be worth it.

I also sat down earlier this week and wrote THE LIST.
Who's getting send cards.
Who's getting gifts.
What gift they are getting.
How many bags/bows/tags.
Any supplies.

And I'm happy to say that I'm finally ready to start the card writing. A multi-night project as I sit on my ass and watch bad TV :)

Oh, and btw - 38 days and counting.

Homedid Pumpkin Muffins

I am in love.

If you never hear from me again it's because I've eloped to Costa Rica with my new love.

Pumpkin Muffins.

As it's fall, pumpkin has been on sale left, right and sideways now for weeks in anticipation of turkey day. And as I'm wandering around the tubes, I found TWO recipes for pumpkin muffins. Oh what to do?

My solution was to sort of mash them together and make one kick ass batch of muffins.

And OH. MY. FRIENDS.

I totally did.

BEHOLD!

(a picture of the ACTUAL muffin I am sitting here eating)

So let's just get to it!




You will need: one can of pumpkin, 8 oz of cream cheese, one egg, yellow cake mix, coconut, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.

For muffins: beat together the yellow cake mix, spices (to your taste), can of pumpkin and 1 or 2 handfulls of coconut. It WILL be thick.


(and funneh lookin')

Set that aside.

Next, for the filling: cream together the cream cheese, egg, 1/4cup of sugar and 1Tbs of vanilla.


I know what you're thinking.

It's at this point that I stopped and texted my friend Lynn. She does this amazing little thing, right here.
And she knows a lot about food. So I told her I wasn't sure how these were going to turn out. Just didn't look right. Ya know?

So I apologize NOW if you have the same doubt, but I'm here to assure that they DO turn out fine. I promise!

Kay?

Let's keep moving!



I swear, I'm not a paid endorser for this product. But I swear by it. I've talked about it before. It NEVER yields a bad result!

I used it to grease and then flour my muffin tins. Mostly because I was out of papers. But it really adds nicely with the coconut inside, if I do say so myself :)

So first you fill the cups about 2/3 of the way full with the muffin mixture. Then you put 2 tablespoons of filling into each muffin. Personally, I found it easiest to make a 'well' with the spoon and then pour most of it in there. It'll run out on it's own.


(Again, I was REALLY unsure. But undaunted, I baked them.)

350 in the oven for about 25 minutes.

These are honestly some of the BEST things I have ever made. In my life. It's simple, but moist and delicious. I kept them covered in the fridge and they keep REALLY well. So if you were thinking of making your loved ones baked goods, but you won't see them all at the same time...(*hint hint*)

So consider this my first installment of...

*drum roll please*


(oh yeah, I totes made this myself using paint.)

I promised and I deliver! This logo will be on the top of every blog I post that will be related to this topic :)

I'm so clever.

So stay tuned folks! I've already bought a TON of supplies for all the wonderful things I have in mind. Prepare for the recipes! The pictures! And no doubt the fails...

Bring it Giftmas.

So share folks, how are you plans going? Are you on track? Tragically behind? Ready to light the house down the street on fire for already having their inflatable lawn ornaments out and running? Let me know!

And be good. Santa's watching :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

I don't know about you, but I *love* the fall.

The colors and scents, leaves changing, THE FOOD, Halloween...

so many great great things.

And instead of posting my previously planned "ZOMFG GIFTMAS!!1!" post about my holiday preparations, I thought I would take a pause here to show a little appreciation for the CRAZY busy last half of October that we had in these parts.



We took Charlotte to the pumpkin patch this year. Again it rained, much like last year. But at least THIS year she was awake. :)

Then:



I went and did this little thing with my best friend. Namely, saw Cyndi Lauper in concert. Live. On stage. RIGHT in front of me. Totally deserves mentioning.



This was also the first year that Charlie was able to participate in the pumpkin carving.



However, it did NOT go exactly as planned. As you can clearly see, that pumpkin holds nothing but unhappiness.



So I did most of the work. I carved her's free hand and drew the stencils for Todd's and mine. Not to shabby I would say :)

We went to a Halloween party, but sadly, I don't have any pictures. I forgot the camera at home.

However, I did manage this one, of the night we took her trick or treating...



Why yes, that IS a Star Wars costume, thanks for asking :)

All in all, even after ALL the crap that went wrong this month, (Todd's car finally biting the dust and leaving me stranded at home every. day.) the last part smoothed out nicely through the chaos.

And today I was allowed a lazy day with my family. We got haircuts, we went grocery shopping and then hung around the house dancing and singing silly songs like "Under the Boardwalk" to the baby.

Tomorrow however, is day 52. As in:

ATTENTION SHOPPERS: There are only 52 more shopping days until Christmas!

Which means all SORTS of things for me. Namely, I have to start working on the cards. I have to write a list of who I am making what presents for this year. I have to gather my supplies. And then yeah, MAKE all the presents. This is going to be a VERY busy 52 days, but we're in this together!

Right?!

*crickets*

Well, I'm posting through it. Not every day. But rest assured that you will get step by step instructions how to create a budget and kid friendly homedid ghetto prairie Christmas.

So what are YOU doing for giftmas this year? Lemmie know!

Love and face punches,
Alley