Making Monday...

Red Lobster Chedder Bay Biscuits!! Yum....

Okay, so these are sure to be a hit at your next potluck!!! I made these for my husband and his friends and they ate all 24 biscuits! LOL

I plan on making some of these for Thanksgiving!! My family will love them!

For The Biscuits:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix

1 Cup Cheddar cheese; Shredded

3/4 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons butter

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder For The Glaze:

1/4 cup butter of melted butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 dash of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cheddar cheese, milk, 2 tablespoons of butter that has been melted in the microwave, and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a medium bowl. Mix until well-combined. *with your hand or a spoon, the consistency should be like dough

3. Drop approximately 1/4-cup portions of the dough into a baking pan

4. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

*While the biscuits are baking….

5. Combine 1/4 cup of melted butter with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt in a bowl. Brush this mixture over the tops of each baked biscuit.

Serve warm.

Frugal Friday's

Fridays are dedicated to helping YOU save money! I will list out a tip of the day in hopes that my tips will help save you some dough!

1. Let the deals come to you!!!

Below I have listed some of the sites I have signed up to receive emails from. Typically I receive a email from these companies twice a week. Most of the time, each email contains awesome deals or coupons! I check each email, print the coupons or immediately take advantage of the deal (if it applies to me). I take full advantage of as many deals as possible. Sure, it is annoying to receive so many emails. But the benefits outweigh the cost of only having to click delete. Remember, I have GOALS! I really want to be DEBT free and a HOMEOWNER in my very near future.

Sign up and be patient! Trust me, it is really worth receiving the abundance of emails.

http://www.babiesrus.com/

http://oldnavy.gap.com/

http://www.travelzoo.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

http://www.hotwire.com/

http://www.retailmenot.com/

http://www.ruelala.com/

http://www.cheapcarribean.com/

http://www.babysteals.com/

http://www.kidsteals.com/

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/

http://www.cruisesonly.com/

Happy Saving!!!!

It's the small things...

My son walked into my room the other day and handed me this....

It's suppose to say "I love you mom". This is from my 6 year old son. He is so special to me for so many reasons. This is by far, one of the cutest, genuine things a kid could do...I just adore him.

 me: "aww little guy, this is so sweet..so tell me whose these people are, left to right"

 him: "well, there is me, then you..than dad (then he skips over the other person)..and the little one is baby sister"
me: ok, cool..but who is the other person next to your dad and baby sister?"

him: "umm, well..I don't know... maybe it's a cousin or something..."

me: lol, ok..doesn't matter..it's very nice of you to draw this for mommy.. I Love you kiddo..."
him: smile :)

I just love kids!

Apple Orchard or Cider Mill???

OK, what is it really? An Apple Orchard or Cider Mill??

Every year during the fall, my family, friends and I visit an Apple Orchard. Some of us like to hit the hayride and pick apples.

My step dad loves making apple jam and stores them in mason jars. He usually gives them out to the family.

 Some of us like to take our kids, so they can connect and have fun.

My son always insist on making one of those little sand “thing a ma jigs’” with the different colors (see pic below) .

My nieces and nephew love to play in the play area on the slides!

Some of us love the fresh warm donuts and hot chocolate. I usually head straight to the donut stand!I just can’t resists the smell of the fresh donuts being made! I love donuts and hot chocolate.

Some love the wine (my mom) and some just simply go because it’s a tradition. Typically it’s between 10 to 20 of us that meet up and spend the day together. It’s really a fun time.

So, my question is what is it really? What’s the difference between a Cider Mill vs. Apple Orchard? All the ones that I have been to have he same offerings. Hayrides, donuts, face painting, cider, fun areas, apple picking and pumkin patches. What should we call it? Does it really matter? I hear some people say they are going to the Apple Orchard and some say they are going to the Cider Mill, what’s the difference?

I decided to look them both up in Wikipedia and Online Dictionaries… and I also decided to ask some “online friends" of mine.

A Cider mill refers to the location, structure, or machinery used to crushed apples into apple juice for use in making apple cider, applejack, hard cider, apple wine, pectin and other products derived from apples. The mills used to manufacture the juice products, ferment them, store them and ship them, are usually located near apple orchards. Historically, the types of structure and machinery have varied greatly—including horse powered, water driven, and machine operated mills. The presses can be fixed or portable.

*source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_mill

	1.	Apple orchard - a grove of apple trees               orchard, woodlet, grove, plantation - garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth
*source:		http://www.thefreedictionary.com/apple+orchard

My online friends say they prefer to call them “orchards” because if there is no cider press, than it just makes more sense to call it an “orchard”.

Maybe I could make up a new name, The Apple Orchard Cider Mill? No? Okay, maybe not....

 I guess I’ll stick with what I have been calling them. The Good Old Apple Orchard. J

Making Monday....

Now that I am back to blogging, I thought that it would be cool to do a "Making Monday". Making Monday's will show off things that I have made by myself. And because I'm NOT that crafty, typically my "makings" will be about something I Loovveeee......and that is FOOD!!!

So let's begin...

Today, I am going to talk about making Homemade Baby Food. While I was pregnant, I did a lot of reading. I read Internet blogs, participated in baby online group discussions, and read a lot of magazines. There was so much information out there that really focused on (1). Healthy Lifestyles (2) Eating Organic (3) Saving Money & (4) DIY (Do it Yourself). Reading all this stuff convinced me that a. I was definitely going to breastfeed, and b. I was going to try out making my own baby food. Both would save me a lot of money!!! Sometimes I do feel guilty that I didn't research all this incredible information while I was pregnant with my son (whom I breastfed, formula fed and fed him store bought baby food), but he is healthy and doing just fine.

With my baby girl, I am exclusively breastfeeding, pumping every 4 hours and making her, her own homemade baby food. Making homemade baby food is really easy and not that time consuming! I really enjoy making homemade baby food because I know the ingredients that are in everything I am feeding my baby, and that makes me feel more comfortable buying food that I have no control over. This way I am able to avoid pesticides, baby food recalls, etc. I am NOT knocking anyone that uses store bought food, not at all. This is just a personal choice of mine. And to be quite honest, there may be a time that I am unable to make my own food and may have to purcahse a few organic jars of baby food. I'm just being honest. So my first week, I made a banana puree for my baby girl. She loved it!!!


What you will need. A Blender, food processor, Bullet or Baby Bullet. I chose to purchase a baby bullet set for a few reasons. We typically use our blender for mixing drinks, and I don't want to make baby's food with a blender that has been used with making alcoholic beverages. Also, the  baby bullet comes with everything you will need to blend and store your baby food! It only cost $59.99 Babies R Us or Bed, Bath and Beyond. you can use a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon at both of these places. I used a 20% off coupon!

Here is the baby bullet and all the component's:

This week I made:

 Homemade Sweet Potatoe Puree.

Ingredients: Sweet Potatoes and Breastmilk
Instructions:

1. Peel and wash your sweet potatoes

2. Cut up sweet potatoes in small chunks

3.Pour sweet potatoes into boiling water

4. Remove sweet potatoes and pour into blender (save and use the water while blending because the water contains healthy nutrients that were released from the sweet potatoe) *Also, I use a little bit of breastmilk for added taste. You can also use formula.
*Blend for about 15 seconds or until the sweet potatoe turns into a puree.

***If you really want to give baby a treat, also add a little banana in there to really give baby a yummy taste of healthy food!

5.Pour your puree into the baby bullet containers to store in the refrigerator:

6. Store the rest in the freezer ready containers:

I also purchased some additional little ice trays from the dollar store:

Last, but not least..FEED to baby!!!! S/he will love it!!!

P.S. It gets a little messy ;)

Frugal Friday's

I think that if I could, I would change my middle name to Frugal...seriously.  Past post prove that to me, it is very important to save $$$ where you can.  Now lets be clear, I am NOT CHEAP, however, I have found that using coupons, joining discount/frequent buyer programs and shopping on the for sale racks only- make a huge impact on saving $$$.

I give my mom credit on my non materialistic lifestyle. She raised us to be thankful for what we have and to not fall into the "have to have designer" pit.

I have so many financial goals, that need to be reached - and being frugal throughout my life will definitely pay off! My husband and I are in the process right now of taking the necessary steps to reach our goals of living a healthy, debt free lifestyle so that we will be able to secure not just our futures, but for our kids as well.

So anyway, I have decided to dedicate future Friday posts exclusively for subjects related to being FRUGAL!!! So, if you are ready to save some money, hit my blog up on Fridays for tips on HOW TO SAVE!!!!!!

Getting back to blogging!!

Ok, so you may have been wondering where the hell I have been for almost a year...well, I may just have to give you a photo recap of how my life has changed. I've been very, very, busy!

One of my last blogs stated that I had some things that I had been working on. Well, lets just say I succesfully fufilled those "things" I was working on and it produced a human being! LOL Take a look at what hubby and I made while on our honeymoon.....

YUP, so on our actual honeymoon (in the bahamas) we came back to the states with an additonal person...growing in my belly!!

Let me just give you a photo recap of the past year...

And here we are...My complete little gorgeous family!!

Yeah, so PLEASE FORGIVE me...as you can see, life has changed quite a bit for me, but I LOVE to write and I have SO MANY things to share with you! I can promise you that I AM BACK!!!
Welp, the blog name speaks for itself..the honeymoon AINT over in our household! We have proof!!!


Oh, and yes..thank you..I am so glad to be back!!!