Healthy Cooking- Candied sweet potato and yam

I love this recipe. A great alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving Yams.

Ingredients

1 Medium Yam (1 cup cooked)
1 Medium Sweet Potato (1 Cup cooked)
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Butter (I use Smart Balance)
3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar (I use 1 1/2 Tbsp.  Splenda Brown Sugar Mix)
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch allspice
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch black pepper

Bring water to boil in large stock pot. Add sweet potato and yam with their skin on. Cook until tender. Let cool, then peel and dice. You should have about 1 cup.

In a pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add butter and melt. Add yam, sweet potato, brown sugar and spices. Reduce heat to a simmer until sugar is melted and yam and sweet potato is glazed.

Enjoy!

Healthy Cooking- Banana Fruit Salad

This is a quick and easy recipe!

Banana Fruit Salad
1 Cup green grapes, sliced in half
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 Cup Orange Juice

Toss together all the ingredients in a bowl and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Don't worry about the Bananas going brown the acid in the orange juice keeps them fresh.

Enjoy!

Cleaning Tip- Lysol

I love Lysol! It is great tool for fast cleaning germs. So some quicks tips are as follows; When empty your laundry baskets spray some lysol in them to kill all those nasty germs hidden in there. It's rather gross when you think about it. Yikes! And don't forget to clean those baskets that carry the clean laundry. No need to get the clean clothes covered in germs.

Also spray out your garbage cans in between cleaning, if you like you can also sprinkle some baking soda in the bottom of your cans to keep down on smell. I find that Lysol does the trick generally so baking soda is not needed. Also if you have a mainly paper trash can you can place extra trash sacks at the bottom of your garbage can so that you don't have to run to the cleaning closet every time.

With all the wet boots coming in the house, it can be a wonderful help in keeping those boots from becoming smelly.

Last Lysol tip is when making the beds in the morning in between changing sheets, quickly spray some Lysol on the sheets and blankets.

Now if you have allergies or want a more chemical free cleaning, I recommend using a steam cleaner to quickly do these functions.

Sewing- Pajama Bottoms

So yesterday I got a little nuts trying to clean out my extra fabric and decided to make my kids some Pajama Bottoms. It is super simple and easy to do without a pattern. Great for a beginning project.  I use Flannel for our pjs. All you need is a pair of Pjs, some wrapping paper ( I like this the best, better for adult sizes) or paper grocery sack, fabric, crayon, scissors, 1/2 in wide elastic band and thread. I have included a link to a tutorial  that is great. http://www.ehow.com/how_5894250_sew-pajama-pants.html I will post some of my pictures later.

Just fold your pants in half making sure that you pull the crotch out flat. Lay on wrapping paper, trace with crayon or marker giving about 1/2 seam allowance except at top and bottom of pants. for this add 2 inches extra. For me I found that my kids had outgrown the pants so I needed to add around 3 to 4 inches on the bottom. Cut your pattern out. Simple so far!

Then lay your pattern on your fabric with the crotch away from the fold of the fabric. Cut out twice. Sew the inside leg up to the crotch. Make sure that you are sewing with the right side of the fabric together so that the seam is on the inside.  Once both pieces are sewed, match the waist and crotch together and sew. For the waist fold down inside leaving enough room for the elastic. Sew around making sure to leave a opening for the elastic to fit inside.  Measure your waist size pulling a little tight and then add a inch. I use a safety pin at the end of the elastic to make it easy to push through the waist band. Sew the edges of the elastic together. and finish up the waist. A neat tip is you can use a Serger to finish the waist by grabbing the edge of the elastic so it can not twist inside. You can also modify to add a drawstring.

Now all you have left to do is hem the legs. And there you have a cute pair of Pj bottoms.

Organizing Tip- Clothes Clothes and More Clothes

Organizing Tip- Well if you are anything like me, clothes seem to be EVERYWHERE in my house. Laundry is my biggest source of frustration. So first tip in the Laundry is to get rid of what you don't need. Rules to live by, If it is too small, wore out or just plain doesn't look good on you. Get Rid of it! If you haven't worn it within a year or two, Get Rid of It! With the exception of when you are pregnant, it can be at least a year before you look at your pre-pregnant clothes again. Also formal wear or little black dresses don't count either unless it doesn't fit you. If you have other kids that you are saving clothes for, only save the ones in mint condition. Store them in bins downstairs and with a simple piece of tape you can label them by size. A simple way I have found of going through clothes is when I fold laundry. I simply pick out the ones that it is time for them to move on. Or you can just hit those closets and go nuts!

Hair Bows

So I have been making tons of hairbows and having a blast at it.It is a great way to let your creative side take over.  I went to my local store (Walmart) and picked out some satin ribbons that I thought were cute. I bought alligator clips at Sallys for around six dollars for 80.  Now I know that most people use grosgrain ribbon but I wanted mine to be a little bit fancier. I taught myself how to make hairbows by searching online for intructions. I love YouTube! So I have listed a few websites for you to try your hand at it. I figured it costs about two dollars a hair bow to make.

www.girlythingsbows.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjDOfMoRvEY

Good luck and have fun crafting!

Organizing tip- Everything has a home

In my house the rule is that everything has a home, if it doesn't, find it a home and if you can't find it a home it belongs in someone else's home. We have taught this to all our kids, our three year old is so cute. She always puts her toys away saying they missed their mom and dad. :)