Easy Homemade "Irish Cream" Body Scrub - Sweet Gift Idea!

Good Wednesday night to all! Recently, my friend Tina Fox invited me to a FREE class she was planning on attending at our local public library. The class (held last night) was on making homemade Irish Cream Body Scrub. That sounded enticing, so I hopped on over there and partook of the fun. It ended up being a simple and quick project that has so much thrifty gift-giving potential! I don't have a smart phone (I lovingly refer to it as my Dumb Phone - - hey, ignorance can be bliss!!), so Tina used hers to take this lovely picture that showcases all the necessary things to make the body scrub. The instructor at the library was very supportive of the fact that I am totally "glomming on" to her idea for my blog, too!

Here is what she did: mix together a 4 pound bag of sugar (about $2) and a 20 ounce bottle of Dawn Ultra Hand Renewal with Olay (about $3 without coupons). She used a hand mixer to make the process easier. Now, you can stop there.....OR, you can add essential oils. I added a few drops of McCormick Peppermint Oil to mine, but it smells great either way. The bag of sugar and bottle of dish soap made a huge bowl of sugar scrub, so the lady had several different containers to package it in. Tina said she had given out a similar scrub at Christmas, and had packaged it in baby food jars. For a larger gift, a salsa jar would also work. Any type of glass jar saved from a future in the trash is great! Spraypaint the lid, tie on a wooden stick for stirring, add a pretty ribbon and tag, and it is ready to give!! I kept the one I made last night for myself. It is on the kitchen sink, and I keep finding excuses to go wash my hands :)

So, to be ready by Christmas, SAVE YOUR JARS!!! ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE BABY FOOD JARS!!  Have a fun, frugal and fabulous day, from our house to yours!!!

It's a Tasty Thrifty Tuesday (yep, I'm a nerd!)

Good news: It's not Monday anymore. Yay! It seemed this evening that we had eaten meals that involved potatoes, corn and bread for like a week, and I was pretty tired of it. What was the antidote? Something SPICY!! So, searching through the cabinets I went.....think.....think.....oh yeah! Beans in the freezer, tortillas in the cabinet, rice, salsa, cheese...check, check, check. Everything came together nicely for a rice and bean burrito supper! Aside from my love for all things hot and spicy, this is a really cheap meal to have. For one, it is meatless. That alone makes it cheap. The ingredients I use are all very inexpensive, and are easy to keep on hand in the cabinet at all times. What did I use for my Rice and Bean Burritos?

From Dollar Tree:
10 ct. package of medium flour tortillas
8 ounce bag of "mexican shreds" shredded cheese
Jar of jalapeno slices (only used a a couple tablespoons)
Campbell's Traditional medium salsa (only used about a half cup)
Tortilla chips (just to crunch on between the soft burrito bites)

From Kroger:
Frozen leftover pinto beans (I always buy bags of dried beans and cook my own)
White rice (1 cup uncooked)
Taco seasoning (about 50 cents)

What I did: Thaw the recycled butter bowl full of beans in the microwave while the rice cooked on the stove. After the rice was done, I added 2/3 cup of water and the taco seasoning packet. I removed the beans from the microwave. Then, I scooped an icecream scoop of beans and two scoops of seasoned rice into the tortillas, tossed on about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and folded them up, placing them into a baking dish. Once it was full, I tossed a little more cheese on top and I baked it for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees - - just enough to allow the cheese to melt.

After you remove them from the oven, you can top them with a little salsa, cheese and peppers and they are delish! My guys love them too, despite the fact that they are huge meat eaters. These are very filling and actually make you feel as if you are eating something hearty and meaty. From the ingredients used, I still have plenty of tortilla chips, jalapenos, salsa, and rice left to use for other meals in the future. I estimate that I have about $3.50 in all ten tasty burritos. Try that Taco Bell!!!!! Your bean burrito is $1.09 for one burrito, which would mean ten of them would set me back $10.90 plus tax. By the way, Taco Bell, I may have picked up a couple of extra sauce packets the last time I visited with you. Here they are in the picture, heehee. They are in good hands.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous Tuesday, from our house to yours!!

"Hey Grandpa, What's for Supper?" Turkey Casserole...

I suppose I could have entitled this post "Turkey Leftovers Part II", considering my post several weeks back on Turkey Pot Pie. If you're looking for a super easy and tasty way to use up some leftover chicken or turkey, you have landed on the bulls-eye! On Saturday night, I baked a turkey. We ate a little of it but ultimately decided to cover it and put it in the fridge to have after church the next day. We went to church. We came home. Then, we ate......and ate and ate through Sunday lunch and supper as well as Monday lunch and supper. The hubby and I both took turkey, dressing, gravy and the other usual suspects to work today for lunch and we STILL had some leftovers lurking in the fridge. Puppy and Leonard even enjoyed some, of course. Now, I frown on wasting food, or anything else for that matter...so I had to use up the rest of this ol' bird (he could have been young, though....or "he" could have been a "she"...but I digress). To me, leftovers are the epitome of frugality PLUS they pose a challenge to my creativity that I actually appreciate.

Peering into the fridge, I remembered that I had run out of flour the other night making little muffin-tin pizzas. Darn. That put a damper on my plans until I saw the bag of corn meal hanging out patiently, beckoning me to pick it up. Sure - - why not. And so began my new "recipe": turkey casserole. I didn't think of taking a picture until I had dumped a big scoop of casserole and an even bigger scoop of cranberry sauce onto my plate a bit haphazardly. I could have staged it better for a prettier picture, I guess, but you'll get the idea. With its delicious cornbread crust, doesn't it look yummy?

Turkey Casserole

First, preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 by 13 pan (I used glass).  Then, mix up some cornbread batter:  2 to 2 1/2 cups cornmeal and 1 egg, plus enough milk to make it "mushy" and enough water to make the mixture pourable. Next, in another bowl add the following and mix together :

Can of creamed corn ( I felt like the "cream" in the creamed corn probably kept it moist

Can of green beans

About 2 cups of leftover turkey, cubed

About 1 cup leftover stuffing

Now, pour only enough of the cornbread batter on the bottom of the pan to cover it. Add turkey / veggie mixture and cover with remaining cornbread batter. Bake for 45 minutes. After I removed mine from the oven, I poured the leftover turkey gravy (had about 1/2 cup, which I watered down to make 3/4 cup so it would pour easier) over the top of the whole thing. 

I served my Turkey Casserole with a simple lettuce & cheese salad, cranberry sauce and rolls. And guess what........we still have a half a pan left!!!!!! It's like a miracle turkey or something. "Clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving..." To freeze or not to freeze? That, dear readers, is the question. I did find a really neat illustration on The Culinary Chase that humorously illustrates the various areas on a turkey that makes for the best leftover uses. Check it out:

Of course, I didn't use the "suggested" cut of meat for my recipe. For tonight's casserole, I went with the "anything goes" approach. Meat was flying (pun INTENDED) into the bowl from wings, legs, back and anywhere else from whence I could scrape it. The final verdict: Hubby said, "That's good, babe!" (usually won't eat the dark meat) and cleaned his heaped-up plate. Son said, "Yeah, Mom it was fine" and chased it with a Hershey bar, chips and popcorn. Personally, I don't know if I can handle any more turkey for a few more weeks, so tomorrow might be a Hamburger Helper night on Ridgewood Circle.

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous night, from our house to yours!

Cheap Eats = Good Eats, or... Directions? What Directions?

Good Tuesday night, dear readers! I may have mentioned in another post about the Hamburger Helper and Chicken Helper coupons I used at Dollar Tree to score eight 80 cent boxes of those respectable products by the wonderful Betty Crocker. I was super anxious to get home after work this afternoon. It was cold, snowy and windy, and all I wanted to do was rush home and cook something hot and yummy. However, I was also really hungry. It seemed eons ago that I had eaten lunch (or at least 4 hours, LOL). After rushing through the door, tossing off my coat and proceeding to look through the cabinets, I decided that some Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo would fit the bill perfectly for some warm comfort food on this snowy afternoon. As I assembled the things I needed, I made a grave discovery..............................NO MILK IN THE FRIDGE!!!

The kid. It had to be the kid. I glanced in the trash can only to see the empty jug just lying there. I could tell it had put up a good fight, but had met its match in a 12 year old growing boy over the course of a mere 24 hours. Panic ensued as I pondered my next step.....should I? Could I...........use............water?!? At this stage in the game, I had NO desire to make the grueling 5 minute, mile and a half trip back to Kroger. I just wanted to cook. And eat. I took the plunge and boldly went where few culinary purists have ventured. I measured out not the 1 1/2 cups of water and 2 1/2 cups of milk that Mrs. Crocker directed me to add to my Chicken Helper, but 4 CUPS of good old H2O and proceeded with the rest of the directions as if nothing had happened. I used tap water, even! We live on the edge here on Ridgewood Circle. It's just how we roll.

So, how did it turn out, you ask? Quite delicious, I must say, and the guys in the household thought so as well. I didn't tell them about the lack of dairy products in the dish until after the meal. They would have "missed" the milk in it had they known the truth. Go on - - try it for yourself. Here's what to look for, and as I said, they currently have it at Dollar Tree:

And...........here's the final product in the absence of the side dishes with which it was served tonight (baked potatoes, fried apples, cornbread and cheesecake):

Coupons are still available, folks. You can print an "80 cents off four boxes" HERE OR you can find a nice "90 cents off four boxes" by signing up on the Betty Crocker site HERE and clicking on the "coupons" tab. Both sources allowed me to get two prints out of each coupon. Don't forget to follow your Dollar Tree coupon policy, which you can find HERE. 

I'm gonna go ahead and let you in on another secret: I used canned chicken chunks from Dollar Tree in this recipe instead of cooking fresh raw chicken. It worked great, and gave me the added bonus of not having to wait for chicken to cook before I could get started with the rest of the recipe. I guess I really just threw the directions for preparation out the window on this one, huh? It turned out yummy AND my family of three will eat it for leftovers again tomorrow night. Total cost for it as the main entree was $1.80 plus a few pennies for the minimal amount of margarine and water used. Both cheap and good. Mission accomplished!

Have a fun, frugal and fabulous night, from our house to yours!