Greetings my friends! How is everyone doing? I am doing alright. I have had a busy day that is for sure. My came by for a visit and for dinner and I HAD to clean my house. At least straighten. It was far from clean, but acceptable. I made them dinner and they brought our nephew with them (3 1/2 years old) and boy did he get on my last nerve! He was into everything. Oh well...I guess you have more patience if they are your own. I made a pot of chili today and pig in the blankets. It was fairly good. But I BURNED UP my cinnamon rolls...right in front of them. Smoke rolling everywhere. Oh well...what can you do? I just cut the tops off of them and served them anyway...the bottoms were burned only...LOL. And you all know how cheap I am...I wasn't about to throw away all that food. Rich is at work...which brings me to another bit of news. After only being at the new hospital that he works at now for four months, he has been offered a charge nurse position. I am very proud of him. Also, they might have him go to Ft. Worth, TX to observe another ER and restructure their ER when he gets back. He is doing so well and believe me, if he is happy, we are all a lot happier.
FRUGAL TIP
This is for anyone who has a baby or a small child. When they are sick, it is not unusual to have to give them Pedialyte...and boy is that stuff expensive! When Jared was much tinier, he had to have some, but only a small amount. If you don't use it up within 48 hours, it says you have to toss it. What a waste. So here is what I did and didn't have any problems. I poured the rest into 2 ounce increments (because he was small...you could make them larger 4-8 ounces portions would work too). I used disposable playtex
nursing bags (well, Walmart brand). Once I got them divided out, I rolled up the top and got all the air out of it and sealed them with freezer tape and marked them. I then froze them like I do breast milk. There is absolutely no reason why this wouldn't keep for a while frozen and that way you would have it available in an amount you need. Obviously after a few months, it would need to be tossed, but that way if something crops back up again, you won't have to buy another giant bottle of expensive pedialyte. Just thaw a bag of it out. It can be frozen or they wouldn't make pedialyte popcycles!
RECIPE
Twice Baked Potatoes
4 medium baking potatoes
2 tablespoons margarine
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped broccoli flowerettes
1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
Pierce potato skin with a fork. Bake potatoes at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until fork tender. Let stand 5 minutes.
Cut a thin slice off tip of each potato. Carefully scoop out potato insides and reserve shells. In large bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed, beat potato and margarine until creamy. Gradually beat in milk, garlic powder and black pepper; stir in broccoli and red pepper. Spoon mixture into reserve shells. Arrange in baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until hot.
Have a good day!
Alice
SAHM to Jared 5 months old
