Homemade Doggie Treats!

With the silly amount of puppies currently inhabiting our life, I figure now was as good of a time to try to make my own dog treats. 

I immediately began googling and pinteresting for recipes. 

There are a lot of recipe options!!

After looking at approximately 15 recipes and noticing the similarities between them all, I figured I could just create a recipe and see how it turned out. 

Ingredients; 

1/3 cup of Peanut Butter

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour 

1 tbl Vegetable Oil 

1 cup of Oatmeal 

1 cup of Water 

Combine water, peanut butter, and oil together. 

Slowly add flour to wet mixture one cup at a time with your mixture on low speed. 

Kneed in Oatmeal (I did this by hand!). 

 Roll and cut into various shapes for your fur babies! 

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

*these treats don't expand so they will hold the shape of your cookie cutter!*

My fur babies loved these treats! 

Store in an airtight container for optimal texture. 

 

Applesauce!

I recently purchased a 4lb bag of apples from my local grocery store. They were regularly $4.99 but were reduced 50% because some of them were a little soft and bruised. 

These apples were perfect for applesauce!

 

 

 

All You Need; 

- Crockpot 

- Apples (peeled, cored, & diced)

- 1 tbl of cinnamon 

- 2 tbl of brown sugar 

- 1/2 cup of water 

 

Peel, core, and dice all your apples to approximately the same size. 

Place all apples into your crock pot and pour half a cup of water on top. 

Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar on top of apples and stir to combine. 

Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5-6 hours stirring occasionally. 

I highly recommend leaving the applesauce on your counter to cool some before placing into fridge safe containers. 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Freezing Herbs

I had some leftover rosemary from a recipe and before it went bad I decided to freeze it in olive oil. 

All you need to do is put rosemary into empty ice cube trays and cover it with olive oil. Pop the trays into the freezer and wait for them to completely freeze. Pop them out of the ice cube trays and put them in a freezer safe bag for future use in recipes. 
This can be done with any herb you have on hand! 

Super simple. Super frugal. 

Revamped Spare Room Guest Bed

Our spare room has been a challenge since we moved in almost 3 years ago. 

It has been a struggle to;

a) Find appropriate Storage & Organization

b)  Create a Guest Space while having a play area for my niece and nephews

c) Re-do the room for an affordable price 

While spring cleaning we've been sorting, organizing, and donating items in that spare room. We recently took 2 car trips worth of donations to goodwill. It both felt good and helped in the de-cluttering process.

The same day we took the loads to goodwill, we stopped by Jysk because it was right by the donation center. 

Isn't there a saying - something about donating stuff and buying new stuff the same day? haha

We got lucky and there were having a bedding clearance. 

We were able to find some that was both gender neutral, but pretty and something both of us actually agree on. 

We previously purchased the bed mat at Walmart for $10. 

Deuvet Cover $12.99

Striped Throw Pillow $6.00

Total; $28.99

This price is great considering the one duevet cover we were looking at first was $40.00 on its own!

There is still much, much more to be accomplished in that room, but we've made tremendous progress the last couple of weeks and hope to continue to do so in the upcoming future. 

I will keep you updated with photos :D

Money Saving With Produce

There are some easy ways to save money on fresh produce for you an your family.

Obviously, looking for sales on produce is the first step to saving money in the produce department. Sales are a great way to trim your grocery budget in all departments in the grocery store.

There are not a lot of coupons available for fresh produce, so finding great sales are the best way to save money.
Shopping the seasons are always great as well.
Click here for a list of produce and the best time of year to purchase!

When you find a deal you can't pass up it is always a good idea to buy extras and do some freezing for future recipes!

These peppers were a little soft, but nothing that wasn't easily fixed by washing chopping and throwing in the freezer.


Now we have a huge bag of peppers in our freezer waiting to be used! 

DIY Frugal Floor Cleaner

If you're anything like me, you hate spending money on unnecessary things. 

I hate buying floor cleaner. 

I feel like floor cleaner is basically a combination of the other cleaners I already purchase, but in a bottle labelled 'floor' just to get you to buy it.

So, I decided to make my own.

And let me tell you. 

It works wonders. 

Living in an apartment has its perks, but what is the most annoying about our apartment is that the entry way leads right into the kitchen. 

And this is Canada. 

We get a lot of snow. 

So we are constantly tracking in snow, slush, dirt, salt, and who knows what else!

I needed a super cleaner that was going to get the job done the first time.

Ingredients;

4 cups hot water (*if your tap water doesn't get hot enough, boil some or use water directly from the keurig!)

2-3 tablespoons of Dishsoap (I prefer sunlight for this!)

1/2 cup of vinegar 

1/8 cup of baking soda

the juice of 1 lemon

Homemade Cheesy Scallop Potatoes

I love me some scallop potatoes. 

I'm usually a cheater and will buy the boxed kind, or if I am feeling extra cheater-y I will buy the frozen kind.

I know, I know. 

But, I wanted to try to make my own scallop potatoes. 

I've wanted to do it for awhile now and I finally decided to do it the other day. 

I also discovered something. 

All the ingredients to make the potatoes were cheaper than the boxed ones, and a lot cheaper than the frozen kind. 

I estimate for this recipe its about $3-$4 depending on where you purchase your ingredients.

Ingredients;

3 - 4 Russet Potatoes (washed and sliced very thin)

2 tbl of butter 

2 tbl of flour

1 1/2 cups of milk

1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese 

salt and pepper to taste

Cheese Sauce

In a small sauce pan, melt butter and mix in flour. 

Stir until completely incorporated. 

Add milk and whisk. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Bring to a boil stirring occasionally. 

Stir in cheese until melted and smooth. 

In the bottom of a casserole dish, make a layer of potatoes that completely covers the bottom. 

Add half the cheese to cover the potatoes. 

Add another layer of potatoes to cover the cheese sauce. 

Add remaining of cheese sauce. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour until golden brown and bubbly. 

Finished Product. Yum-o.

Tomato Macaroni Soup

This recipe is one of my all time favorites. 

Mostly because of how versatile it really is. 

The tomato base of this soup is easy, inexpensive, and healthier than using a cream base. 

 

 

What you Need For The Base; 

- Can of Original Tomato Sauce 

- Carton of Broth (Chicken or Vegetable)

- Can of Crushed Tomatoes 

- Salt & Pepper to Taste

 

 

To make the base all you have to do is empty the pasta sauce into a large soup pot and slowly add the broth. Whisk until combined. 

 

Add Ins; 

- Elbow Pasta 

- Carrots 

- Celery 

- Zucchini 

- Potatoes 

- Spinach 

- Anything you have! 

 

If choosing to add pasta or vegetables, I recommend bringing the base mixture to a steady boil before adding your yummy extras. 

The finished product. 

I went with a very simple soup of the tomato base, elbow pasta and canned tomatoes.

Served with warm grilled cheese for dipping. 

Delicious. Easy. Quick. Frugal.