Healthier Fast Food Choices

Is it possible to go Christmas Shopping and have lunch at the mall for less than 500 calories?  Apparently so!  Here is another great story by iVillage about how we can make healthier food choices even when we have to make quick stops at fast food restaurants for dinner or lunch!  Not all of these restaurants are available in my area, but I have hear of almost all of them!

Cheap, Homemeade Carpet Stain Remover!

I am a very big fan of the blog site One Good Thing By Jillee.  So when I read a post she had made about a Homemeade Carpet Stain Remover I had to try it!  

My daughter had a sleep over a couple of years ago, and unbeknownst (it must be a word, spell check liked it!) to me they had spilled pancake syrup on the carpet in my living room.  I tried everything to get that spot out.  Unfortunately, it had sat for a couple days before I even saw it.  I rarely go into the living room.  There is no time to watch TV, and if we have a busy couple of days, well, it can be a while...  Thankfully I had been able to cover it up by sliding the Loveseat forward a couple inches.

Anyways, I tried to get that spot out but nothing worked.  I even allowed the Kirby Salesman into our home to do a "free carpet cleaning demonstration" in the hopes that he could get it out.  No such luck!  I didn't end up buying the Kirby (nice system) but not in our budget.

Never the less, when I saw this post on Jillee's blog I had to try it!

It worked!  I filled a spray bottle halfway with Ammonia and filled it the rest of the way with hot water.  Got out a white towel to make sure I followed the directions exactly and plugged in my iron.

I gave that syrup spot a good spray, soaking it well.  Placed my towel over top and started ironing it with my hot iron.  I lifted the towel after ironing maybe 45 seconds (+/-) and da da da da!  It was gone!

It really worked!  Next I worked on that spot where someone spilled pop at my son's birthday party.  That disappeared too!  So I kept going.  I know have a spot free carpets in my home!  Yeah!!! 

Just be sure you don't inhale too much of the ammonia fumes!

Although we still needed to shampoo our carpets with a machine.  My husband recently did this.  (something I just physically can't do) Wow, I couldn't believe all the yuck he got out that you couldn't see.  

Hopefully someday soon that money tree will start growing in our backyard, OR we learn to live on a budget and we can put in hardwood floors throughout the house.  

Until then, I know how to get the carpet stains out and with kids, I am sure there will be more!

Sick Children & Chicken Noodle Soup!

So I made my pot of Chicken Soup for my sick children.  I have always believed that Chicken soup helps relieve your cold symptoms.  Here is a link that discusses why!

I always make an extra large pot so I can freeze some for future emergencies.  I cook my noodles on the side and add them to the bowl as I serve.  Otherwise, the noodles get mushy in the freezer.  Plus, once my family doesn't want any more soup (which is pretty much by the second bowl!) I can make Chicken & Bisciuts! Yeah!

Maybe I should give you my Chicken Soup recipe first? I do tend to get ahead of myself...

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup:

1 Whole, Organic, Free Range Chicken

1 1/2 lbs. Organic Baby Carrots, sliced

1 lb. Organic Celery, Sliced & Diced

1 Lg. Organic Onion, Sliced & Diced

Couple dashes of Salt & Pepper

Chicken Bullion, to your taste specifications

Noodles, Rice, Pasta, whatever you have/want to add at the end!

Boil your chicken gently in a very large pot until the chicken is cooked & easily pulled off the bone.  My pot has a strainer in it, if your lucky enough to have one use that!  Once the chicken is cooked you want to remove the chicken and all the bones from your pot so it may cool.  

Once you have removed all the chicken parts from your pot of chicken stock, gently add the vegetables. Yes, you have actually made your own chicken stock! Let them simmer until tender.   Please feel free to get creative with your veggies here.  There are so many veggies you can add to mix up the recipe!  I added half a bag of chopped Kale to this batch.  Not bad, my son wasn't so very fond, but that is nothing new! (click on this link to discover why Kale  is considered the "Queen of Greens")

In the meantime, let your chicken cool a bit.  It helps to pull sections of the chicken apart.  This will help it cool faster.  You really don't want to try breaking up the chicken with your fingers.  It Hurts!

Pull all of your chicken meat off of the bones.  Save some of the mushy/yucky looking stuff for your dog if you have one.  If your like me, he/she will be standing at your feet waiting for something to drop!  Makes our Sunshine so happy!  Cut up the chicken meat into bite size pieces and add to your pot of simmering veggies.

Start taste testing your broth to determine how much Chicken Bullion you like in your soup. Start with a couple tablespoons, and stir.  Then taste it. Repeat if you want more.   We like ours pretty salty, so I add almost a full container of the powdered  stuff!  Enjoy!

New to Blogging - Uuugh!

So here I am trying to figure out this whole blogging thing.  I spent the whole morning researching. Don't get me wrong, I love finding new stuff on the internet! But, there are so many things I really should be doing.
  It has been awhile since I have added anything to this blog, oops!

I had gotten pretty discouraged wondering how/why I can't get any followers!  Not that I thought the Magical Blogging Fairy would come along & make this successful.  But shouldn't Somebody?, Anybody? want to hear my magical rantings (lol) ?

Time they say.  It all takes time.  Uuugh!  I want to start contributing to this financially sinking ship now, NOT IN TIME!

Fortunately, there are a lot of bloggers out there who offer support and say just keep plugging away!

So I stopped for a moment to start my pot of Chicken Soup.  I am no Julia Child, but I was taught that when your sick there is nothing better than homemade chicken soup.  I have a sick child at home, time to make some soup! I guess I should have started it before I sat down at the computer.  I do tend to get stuck!

I am really trying to use only organic, free-range chickens.  If I'm going to take the time to cook something homemade (which, Good Lord, is time consuming!) I don't want to give my family food with chemicals! It is a little more expensive, but the price is going down

Of course, as I was cutting up my bag of baby carrots, I remembered hearing how they are rinsed in Chlorine! Oh Poop!

So I headed over to Snoopes.com to find the answer.  I'm not sure if I trust that it is totally safe, but we sure do eat an awful lot of them in our house!  So for now, I guess they're better than eating Potato Chips! (Oh, how I love a bag of Salty Chips!)

We have a number of issues in my little family (physical, sensory, emotional....) anyhow, all the talk out there says that it is all those awful chemicals that are contributing/causing/making worse so many of our problems!

So for now I'm going to try to be more organic as long as it isn't too difficult!  I will not be starting any alfalfa sprouts!

But back to my rantings...I will keep trying.  I believe there are others (hello...) out there like me who want easier, more healthful ways to raise our families!

My Kitchen Escapades: Lunchbox Icepacks

I just found the link to this in one of my favorite emails - Living Rich With Coupons!  Yeah! What a wonderfully inexpensive solution to all those expensive lunch box freezer ice blocks! My Kitchen Escapades: Lunchbox Icepacks !

We go thru so many of these especially in the summer when we take numerous salads to picnics & parties, and if we happen to leave it there, oh well!  I will be buying the larger sponges with the big zip tight freezes bags for that purpose of course!

 But, I can only imagine the $ I'll save!  How many of those fancy lunchbox ice blocks end up in the school's cafeteria garbage?  Once my daughter even threw her change purse full of money into the garbage!  Actually, I think she did it more than that.  Obviously, we quit sending money in with her for lunch after that.  It is so much easier to just refill their lunch $ accounts with a monthly check!  If only school lunches tasted better.  The new Federal Laws are helping to make them healthier, but not that much!  All those foods made with canned & preservative filled foods! YUCK!

As I was reading this blog, I immediately thought of my Mother.  She recently injured her foot and needed to purchase an Ice Pack, to ice her foot throughout the day to reduce the swelling.  Unfortunately, she lives on a very tight budget.  So when she went to the store to buy one, she couldn't imagine spending so much money.  It was way beyond her budget!  I recommended to her something my Girl Scout Troop learned while earning their Safety Badge.  Using a zip tight bag with water and placing it in the freezer to have handy for emergency uses.  My Mother was concerned about how hard & un-conforming this would be.  This would solve that problem!  I am sure that within a couple of minutes the sponges would defrost to a point that would allow it to be wrapped in a dish towel and place on your swollen appendage!  I can't wait to share this with our local Fire Department Safety Instructor & my Girl Scout Troop!  Of course my Mother too!

This was my first time visiting this blog site, but it looks like a good one!  It is amazing how many bloggers are out there with incredibly great ideas.  I'll keep sharing the great ones as I find them!

Choosing Snacks - Which is Healthier?

I ran across this article on iVillage today. Boy was I surprised by some of the unhealthy choices in snacks I had been making for my kids!  You think your making good choices, but how do we really know?  Some of the choices didn't surprise me at all.  Others just blew me away! Check it out for yourself and see what you think.  "Which is Worse? Healthy and Unhealthy Choices! could be a great resource for me while I am in the snack aisle of the grocery store. Thank goodness for smart phones!

How to Reduce Spider & Varicose Veins with Essential Oils...

I seriously have to try this!  I have had my veins stripped in my right leg, I don't recommend it! Of course the day after I had mine done my 2 year old son came down with the flu.  The only place he wanted to be was cuddled up on Mommy's lap, moving all my stitches around.  Made the scars even worse! Uuugh!  I was planning on looking into a vein treatment center, but if this works....Yay!  I'll let you know! Thanks Rebecca at Camp Wander!

Camp Wander: How to Reduce Spider & Varicose Veins with Essenti...: By a show of hands , how many wear long pants all summer  to avoid showing your legs because of unsightly spider veins or varicose vei...