DIY Rainbow Cupcakes

I recently was asked to make Rainbow Cupcakes for someone, and I had never made them before.  Well they ended up being super easy and came out really neat.  Try them out for yourself, and play around with the colors to make them match whatever the theme/holiday is.

First mix up a box of white cake mix according to the package directions.  Then divide evenly into as many bowls as colors you have planned.  I did the typical 6 colors in the rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet).  Wilton Icing colors will give you a nice true deep color as opposed to the liquid food coloring you can get in the regular grocery store.  Make the colors slightly darker than you want as they will lighten a bit when baked.

Divide colors into cupcake liners.  I used a 1/2 ounce scoop but a teaspoon would work.  No matter how many colors you use, do not fill the liners more than 2/3 full to prevent over flow when baking.

Bake according to package directions.  Check for doneness by poking a toothpick into the cupcakes.  If it comes out clean or with very minimal crumbs than they are done.  Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan for further cooling.  Do not frost your cupcakes until they are fully cooled.

I couldn't resist and had to break one open to see how the rainbow effect turned out.  And they were so cool looking!

I ended up making 100 of these so divided them up and frosted them into all of the colors of the rainbow that I had used in the batter.  I made regular American Buttercreme (Shortening, Powdered Sugar, Water, Meringue Powder, and Vanilla)  You can of course use whatever suits your personal taste.  The Wilton Buttercream Recipe is a good basic icing to make.  Add a pinch of salt if you feel it is too sweet, but just a pinch.

Hope these brightened up your day and inspired you to try them out.  Homemade is always better than store bought!

DIY Garbage Disposal Pellets

We all throw scraps of food in our garbage disposal, some more than others.  Well after a while it can get an interesting aroma that is not pleasant.  There are many store brand of pellets, packets, and powders that are used for refreshing your disposal.  However they can range from $3-$4 or more and you get about 5 to use.  So roughly a dollar for each use.  These DIY pellets are around $1.50 or less to make for the whole batch and you get 24+  I didn't even bother pricing this out as I had all but the lemon in my house and I honestly think it cost less than the $1.50 I estimated.

DIY Garbage Disposal Pellets

3/4 Cup      Baking Soda
1/2 Cup      Salt (Regular Iodized Salt, Kosher Salt will not work as the crystals are too large)
1/2 Tsp.      Liquid Dish Soap
1 Each        Lemon

Sheet Pan
Parchment Paper
Small Scoop or Spoon

1. Mix the Baking Soda and Salt together in a small bowl.  Just mix until combined.

2. Zest the lemon peel and then cut in half.  Squeeze the juice out of the lemons, watching not to get any seeds in the bowl.  I used a citrus press to help with this.  Add the dish soap.

3. Mix all ingredients together.  It should resemble semi-wet sand.  You can add a little more dish soap if it is too dry.

4.  Using a rounded teaspoon or some type of scoop, portion out the mixture onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan.  If the pellets do not form into the spoon then the mixture is not wet enough.

5. Let dry overnight or until hard.  Place into a sealed air-tight jar.  As needed place 1-2 pellets in your disposal, turn it on and run hot water.  Fresh, Easy, Natural and Cheap!

DIY/Natural Copper Cleaning

I bought a really nice copper bowl years ago at a store called "Illuminations".  It is for holding floating candles but I have used it for various centerpieces.  For the past few years it has been on my patio and has tarnished from the weather.  Copper cleaning chemicals can be a little pricey, messy, and well they are chemicals.  So I researched a more natural approach.  There was a lot of options, but I choose to go with lemon and salt, two items I had around the house.

Yea it really is just those two ingredients and it works!  Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle some salt on the cut part.  The salt basically acts as a scrubbing agent.  Rub a thin layer all over the entire surface.  This will allow the areas you are not working on to soak and it will make your work much easier.

Here is my bowl after the lemon juice has soaked for a few minutes.  You can see spots already coming through bright and shiny.  Then start working the lemon in a circular scrubbing motion over and area until it is shiny.

Simply rinse clean with water and voila! I was shocked how fast and easy this was.  I am sure all of you with copper cookware will be happy to use this much easier and environmentally safe method.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup...Ultimate Comfort Food

Chicken noodle soup is the ultimate comfort food, for me at least.  Especially on chilly, rainy, or dreary days.  It also is the best help in fighting sickness.  It is packed with vegetables, protein, liquids to hydrate, and the warmth fills you to the core.  I know many people have their own versions, but here is mine.  It can be altered in any way you see fit.  I roasted my own whole chicken and picked the meat off but you can also just buy the whole chickens roasted for you from your supermarket deli, or cook chicken breast right in the soup and cut them up when they are cooked.  If you have never made soup I urge you to try this.  Soup is one of my favorite things to make because really you can do so many combinations and it is always a big bowl of comfort.  My whole 8 qt stock pot full cost me $9.  That is way more than you would get out of canned soup for that price and so much more rewarding.


Chicken Noodle Soup

3-4 Whole Carrots, peeled

1-2 Medium Sized Onions

3-4 Stalks of Celery

3 Yellow Summer Squash or Zucchini

1 Potato

1 Ear of Corn

1 Bay Leaf

Chicken (As much or little as you want in, however you want to buy it)

1 Can of Diced Tomatoes, or your favorite pasta sauce

1 Box of Chicken Stock, amount does not matter, you can use all stock or stock/water combo

Salt and Pepper

Reems Frozen Egg Noodles (or any pasta of your choosing)

1. Dice onions, carrots and celery.  I like chunky soup so I make them a medium size rough chop. This combination is called mirepoix and is the base to many soups.  Saute them in your pan with a little oil and the bay leaf.  Cook until just slightly starting to brown.

2. While the mirepoix is cooking, take time to chop the rest of the vegetables.  I slice the squash on the diagonal, chop the potato, and use the Pampered Chef kernel cutter to remove the corn from the cob.  Add ingredients to the pot along with stock/water to fill pot.  Leave space so it does not boil over.  Add the tomatoes or a little bit of your favorite pasta sauce for extra flavor.

4.  Let cook for as long as you want.  Simmer until the flavor is where you want it.  If chicken is already cooked you can add it whenever.  If you want to you can cook chicken in the soup now and pull it out, cool it and pick it apart to put back in the pot.  This adds a great natural flavor to the soup.  Check seasoning throughout cooking adding salt and pepper as needed.

5. When soup is ready, add the frozen egg noodles and cook for about 20 minutes until noodles are cooked. *Remove Bay Leaf!!

6. Serve with warm bread and save some for lunch the next day at work.  The flavor will be even better the next day.  And the noodles will soak up more soup making it a great thickness.

Enjoy and feel free to try this in a cock pot too.  This will surely be a hit for your family on those cold days!

Easy Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

I have loved sloppy joes ever since I was a kid.  And yes I always had Mamwich because well it is THE sloppy joe mix.  However, as with most canned food there are more ingredients than really need to be in there.  So I decided to try out homemade sloppy joes and was pleasantly surprised at how easy and delicious they were.  I will not go back to canned anymore.  And I love crock pot meals, so this was a win-win.  This recipe made enough for about 12 nicely filled sandwiches, but could be stretched out more if needed.  Another bonus was I had everything I needed in my house already except for a pepper and the ground beef.  And the ingredient amounts I list are just what I started with.  I did adjust some of the seasonings as it cooked. I like ketchup so I did end up adding more as it cooked down.  Some other recipe variations I found included BBQ Sauce and even some oatmeal as a thickener.  However, I feel this recipe is the basic sloppy joe recipe with the classic taste we all know.

Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

2 Pounds, Ground Beef

1 1/2 Cups, Ketchup

1 Cup, Mustard (I used spicy brown mustard because it's what was in the fridge)

1/4 Cup, Brown Sugar

1 Each, Onion

1 Each, Green Pepper

Garlic (I used granulated, but you can use garlic powder or fresh as well)

Salt and Pepper

Water/Stock, as needed

1. Brown ground beef on stove top.  Season with salt and pepper. Drain excess fat off.

2. Place beef into crock pot.  Add chopped onion, green pepper, and garlic.

3. Add ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar.

4.  Simmer on low heat for 5-6 hours, stirring and checking seasoning occasionally.  Add water or stock as needed if it becomes too thick, this will also help to create a nice "sloppy" sauce.  

Serve with any roll or bread of your choice.  And that's it! SUPER easy meal you can throw together in a pinch. Enjoy!

Cinnamon & Honey: The Natural Healers

I have seen and heard many things about cinnamon and honey so I decided to do a little research of my own.  I came across tons of information from many sites and books.  So as a overall clause I will say that none of this is specifically from one site and I take no credit for the actual information, but instead just that I am reporting it here for my readers to enjoy!

Medicine and health remedies can be pricey.  Sad but true that something that can help soothe or cure us from pain and discomfort is not exactly always affordable.  Now don't get me wrong I use medicine and believe in it when necessary and believe it can help.  However I am all about saving money and doing what I can in more natural manner.  These two natural substances have a pretty interesting list of benefits, many of which I cannot wait to try.

In Ancient Civilizations, such as the Chinese and Indian, cinnamon is viewed as a "hot" substance which can help to "dissolve" the cold or other "bugs" in the body.  And honey was viewed as a neutral substance to help balance out the body.  There has been an abundant amount of scientific research done on these two substances.  While there are skeptics, as with everything, there are also a large group of believers.  "Weekly World News", a Canadian magazine, even reported that despite honey's sweetness, in small controlled amounts it will not adversely affect diabetic patients.  As with all of these benefits listed below, a healthy and active diet is necessary as well to keep a healthy lifestyle.  So while it can help to reduce the bodies absorption of fat, that does not mean eat a big mac and fries every day! And finally when "consumed regularly" is listed, it can be done by taking a spoonful of honey sprinkled with cinnamon, spreading honey and cinnamon on bread, or making a "tea" using hot water, a spoonful or two of honey, and sprinkled cinnamon on top.

Benefits:

- Honey has natural anti-bacterial properties.  Spread it on wounds and burns to prevent infection.

- When consumed regularly, honey and cinnamon can help to clear clogged arteries and prevent heart disease.

- A tea of honey and cinnamon can help to destroy the bacteria causing a bladder infection as it passes through the bladder and urethra.  It can also help ease arthritis pain over time and help to lower cholesterol.

- A tablespoon of warmed honey mixed with 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon helps to cure coughing and other cold/sinus symptoms.  This yummy little spoonful can also help cure stomach aches and kill ulcers at their roots, reduce intestinal gas, and other indigestion.

- Honey is a natural occurring sugar/carb so can act as a natural healthy energy boost.  Many studies have shown that prolonged consumption of honey has raised energy levels in all ages of people without any negative side effects.  Remember this is a few tablespoons a day, not globs over everything you eat and is also in conjunction with a healthy diet.

- Making a 3:1 paste of honey and cinnamon will help to heal acne.  Apply the paste to your face at night and wash off in the morning.  It can also be used as a spot treatment and covered with a band aid over night.

- Raw natural honey is rich with vitamins and falvonoids which increase antioxidant activity.  This has been useful in helping to shorten the length of some illnesses, cure them, and help to add longevity to life.

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I encourage you to research this more for yourself and see just how great these benefits are. I know that I personally plan to start adding more honey and cinnamon to my diet and will be trying them out next time I get a cold.  Please take this as just information and consult with your doctor first if you have any concerns.  This is just "food for thought" and another way to help you pinch your pennies!

Easy 2 Ingredient Cake

This is a SUPER easy cake that only takes two ingredients, ice cream and flour!  Yes that is right, ice cream.  And because ice cream comes in so many flavors the possibilities are endless.  The consistency is more like a thick pancake but still its a super simple alternative to regular.  I served it with more of the ice cream I used to make it.  I choose cookies and creme flavor for my first try and it was delicious.  I imagine some hot fudge, caramel, or fruit syrups would have made this even better.

First you need 1 1/2 Cups of Self Rising Flour.  It needs to be the self rising flour so that it will have some cake like texture, otherwise you will just get a very dense brick.  Second you need 2 cups of softened ice cream.  I let mine sit for about 20 minutes so it would be easy to mix with the flour.  You need some type of pot that has a lid.  I used the amazing Pampered Chef Round Covered Baker.  It is part of their stoneware line, which I am a huge fan of all the whole collection.

Mix the ice cream and flour together. You will end up with a thick batter that almost looks like muffin batter.  Grease the pan as this cake will stick otherwise.

Bake for 30 minutes with cover on and 10 minutes with it off.  Now you may be able to experiment with other pans and no cover with less time.  Just remember this is a denser cake than a typical birthday cake.  But as I said I can totally imagine it covered with some chocolate syrup or ganache and sliced up with a side of ice cream.  It is a perfect size for 4-6 slices.  Enjoy and comment below with flavor combination ideas!