Yummy goodness

So as the weather is a little cooler - even for Florida. And the AC is turned off so the oven starts to get more use. It is just hard to even consider turning that hot box on when it is over 80 degrees outside - and humid.

Today has been a cool day and a wonderful day to turn on the oven instead of turning on a heater to get the damp chill out. During the week I don't tend to cook much, but the weekends carry the chance to get lost in a bit of kitchen experimentation.

What was on the menu today? These muffins! The recipe is wonderful and they really aren't that bad for you. I made them last weekend and added some dried blueberries that I happened to have on hand. Really wonderful. This time I added some chocolate and coconut. Don't let the fact that it is vegan scare you off - I'm a vegetarian myself but I used regular butter instead of soy butter it mentions. The true plus is how sweet they are without a lot of sugar. The best tip to share is that these are better if you can bear to let them cool. The warm muffins are a little more bland and stick their muffin paper. Somehow they are 20 times better after they cool.

We also made a batch of corn muffins. Kind of sweet corn muffins, but they turned out well.

And since the oven was already on, I threw in a butternut squash to roast. Although, I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it yet. Better to cook it while the oven was on for something else - than to have to turn it on just to roast the one squash.

That has WHAT in it?

I think one of the simplest things to downsize your life style, or live more frugally is to look at nearly everything and ask, "Can I make that?"

From food, to cleaning supplies, and home decor projects it is pretty cool what we can do ourselves. It is like there has been this giant disconnect with what we use in our daily lives and how it is made. With that said, not everything is worth the time, effort, and money to make on your own.

Last week, I flipped over a bottle of special teeth whitening mouth wash to read the ingredients. Wow! The first ingredients listed? Water. Peroxide. Then a bunch of scary looking chemicals. So why not occasionally use peroxide instead? It is cheaper, and I actually know what is in it compared to my mouth wash with 15+ compounds that I can't pronounce, let alone explain what they are.

The last couple weeks I have been trying to look at everything sideways. What can I downsize? What would be easy to make? Better to make?

The coolest thing about looking at everything like this? It is almost anyways more environmentally friendly. Making my own tea instead of buying sodas...? That is a lot less trash in this world. Using my Brita filter...? Saved my lots of money on those plastic water bottles and WAY less trash from my household.

Full disclosure: I am working towards lessening my paper towel addiction. Wish me luck.

First of many..

Hi!

I am looking forward to sharing crafts, frugal ideas, and more!

Like always, I am working on several crafts at once so details about those will be coming soon. What else is in the near future? Posts about my new bread machine, my foray into making my own dish soap/laundry soap, and an ode to Halloween.

I will always welcome comments!
Savvy