Triple Clicks

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Chicken Pox!

Well We've got them. Good ol' chicken pox.  It's just my two year and baby, but my boy is gettin fever sweats, so we are waiting to see if he is going to get them or not.  

I had planned on going to get calamine lotion to help with the itch for the girls, but Eva discovered that coconut oil works just great-plus we already had it in the house, so we are happy that it works for more than one reason. 

Eva has probably gone through a cup of coconut oil in the last day betwee putting it on the blisters and eating it, she's my little coconut addict.  

So we found another use for coconut oil.  At any rate, I'm glad she's getting some relief from the itchies.. 

After some family fireworks, my sister found this site.. At a risk of starting a debate.. I'm posting the statistics on contagious period..

CDC Chicken Pox Information

I find it very interesting that the vaccine that they say is supposed to protect us from this, makes those who get it contagious for longer than the actual disease. 

At any rate, if you are faced with the chicken pox, get some coconut oil and let them go to town. 

And from the words of my two year old 'Mommy, I have chicky dots on my butt'. :D

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Cherries Cherries Cherries!!!

I think I have mentioned before that we order from a Fruit of the Month Club. 

Well, technically my mother-in-law is the member, so we give her the money and then sometimes take her to get the fruit. 


This month the fruit was cherries. We got 12 1/2 pounds of fresh picked cherries.  We picked them up Sunday after church and I was in a hurry to get them taken care of so they didn't mold on us and didn't get a picture. 

I scrubbed the sink then soaked them all in a vinegar and water solution, about 1 cup vinegar to a half a sink full of water.  I let them all soak for about ten minutes, then started working on them. I read somewhere that they remain juicier when they are frozen whole (that, and I had a grumpy baby so was just trying to get them done).  

I froze ten pounds of destemmed cherries in one pound increments in freezer bags, labeled, of course. The rest was destemmed and stuck in a bucket lined with paper towels with paper towels in about three layers throughout the bucket to catch water drips to keep moisture out.. I need to redo this today to help keep moisture away. This method worked with the strawberries we got and I was able to keep fresh strawberries in the fridge for a week and a half. The vinegar soak kills bacteria any fruit fly eggs that might be lingering on the fruit. 

The kids have been enjoying them-although Eva is very unhappy to find that her shares are limited as she has an allergy to beta carotene.  

Now what I'm going to do with those cherries still remains to be seen. I know I'm saving some for cherry pies when it gets colder out. 

Also on the menu is mulberries, we have at least two known mulberry trees in the yard, one we are pretty sure is a mulberry, but not positive. My husband is not sure about this, but I plan on winning him over. :) 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Natural Remedies

We have been learning a lot about natural remedies around our house.. and are still learning.  

Magnesium helps chocolate cravings, depression and tooth decay among many other things. 

Tooth decay is something we are dealing with around here. Eva has bad teeth and I can't find a dentist who will look at her without putting her under... So I'm on a last attempt to try and heal her teeth without intervention (like pulling). 

So after some research and recommendations from knowledgeable people on a Facebook page, I bought some cod liver oil.  For the first few days, Eva and Andrew asked for it. They love their vitamins.. Now they run and hide. :/ Plan fail. I got it from Vitacost, can't say as it smells very good so I can't blame them any. 

Another plan I have is Earthpaste. Earthpaste is an all natural toothpaste-also sold on Vitacost.  It basically consists of bentonite clay, salt and essential oils. We chose lemon, it's pretty good. If the kids swallow it, it won't wort them. The clay would latch on to any toxins and take them out of the body with it. The kids were a little leary of it as it's brown-but they like it. 

And the final plan which has been in action for awhile is to put magnesium in her baths.. Epsom salt is full of magnesium, so I have been putting some of that in the baths with her.  Certainly can't hurt. 

So now we wait and see what will happen. 

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Slow Cooker Sesame Seed Chicken

We love Chinese food about as much as we love pizza. We always say it's a good we don't live in the city because we would be tempted to have food delivered more than we should. But there's barely any good places to eat here, none that deliver. So last summer I started looking for recipes that are typical take out food that I could make at home. 

The first time I tried this, I also tried fried rice. I was told to keep the chicken recipe but never try fried rice again. :) We just eat regular rice with it. 

This was a recipe that I found on Pinterest, but I'm not sure who wrote the recipe, so thanks to that person because it's AWESOME. I looked for my pin but can't find it. 

Slow Cooker Sesame Seed Chicken
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast (I have used bone in and thighs before, take the skin off first. The boneless skinless is the easiest)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 TBSP dried onion (I typically use onion powder)
4 TBSP ketchup
2 TBSP oil (recipe recommends olive or vegetable, but it's awesome with machine pressed coconut oil.. not so much with hand pressed, the coconut flavor just makes it taste funny)
1 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp corn starch dissolved in 6 tablespoons water
Sesame Seeds


 Put chicken in crock pot.  This is the chicken and our honey raw honey-notice the funny looking patch at the bottom-I had to pick out a few bees, you know it's fresh when your honey has some dead bees. :D



Combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil and garlic. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 3-4 hours or high 1 1/2- 2 1/2 hours.  (I was distracted by children and just started dumping instead of stirring together first-it tasted the same.  


Remove chicken, leave sauce. 


Dissolve corn starch and pour in crock pot. Stir to combine. Cook for 10 minutes or until thick.  


 Cut chicken into bite size pieces, return to crock pot. 



 Sprinkle with Sesame Seeds-The kids don't like theirs touching...
Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve over rice. 

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Beef Enchiladas (Or Burritos)

Hubby calls these burritos, I call them enchiladas-you pick. :)

2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 32 oz can refried beans
1 16 oz jar sour cream 
1 lb cheddar cheese
1 jar picante sauce or salsa
Enchilada Sauce-I just buy the stuff in the can next to the refried beans
1 package tortillas

Brown beef with the onion and drain

 While it's browning, warm up the refried beans,  mix in sour cream, half the cheese, half the jar of picante sauce. 
 When the beef is brown, mix in the refried bean mixture.Preheat oven to 375
Grease two casserole dishes (I use coconut oil)-but trust me, you don't want to forget this step, I've done it too many times. 
 On a plate, place your tortilla shell, take a ladle and spoon in a spoon full of the beef mixture.
 Wrap tortilla up, place in casserole end down so it stays together. 
Keep on going until tortillas are gone. 

 Top with the enchilada sauce or salsa and cheese. 

 My extras


 ...This is a fire I decided to start. It WAS one of those little rubber things to keep my cutting board from slipping. it started a fire. This is what happens when I'm talking and cooking at the same time. 
 Bake for 30 minutes. 
This makes about 10 enchiladas with some leftover. I put that in pyrex dish for dipping for the next day. 
Looks pretty good, doesn't it? :) The extras in the pyrex dish came about because the kids weren't able to eat the tougher baked tortillas...so I started putting some fillings in a dish without the shell. Now they want the shell. 

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Shopping June 5

Well.. It seems no matter what I do lately, I just can't make the food we need fit the budget.. On the lucky side.. I should come in under the $300 for the month despite spending $270 this time. Who woulda thunk it?

Sunshine Foods
Keebler Townhouse Crackers 1.98
Keebler Club House Crackers 1.98
Ground Beef 9.61
Ground Beef 11.58
Best Buy Bacon 4 at 2.99 each 11.96
Sliced Swiss Cheese 2.99
Mozzarella Chunk Cheese 2 at 5.09 each 10.18
Cheddar Chunk Cheese 2 at 5.09 each 10.18
Total of 64.09

Sam's Club
Sunny D 2 at 2.38 each 4.76
Mayonnaise two pack 5.78
Vinegar two gallons 3.58
Tuna 60 oz 8.98
Velveeta two pack 12.48
Jensen Angus Beef Packages 16.98
Tomato Sauce 12 pack 7.68
Breaded Cod Fillets 11.98
Vitamin C 11.96
Brown Sugar 3.90
Yeast 4.78
Flour 4.68
Egg 2 36 count at 4.49 each 8.98
Whole Dills 4.62
Hamburger Buns 2.38
Chips 50 pack single serve 9.98
Total of 130.91


Earthgrains Bakery
Bread 6 loaves at .90 each 5.40
Hamburger buns 2 at 1.19 each 2.38
Relish 1.29
Dill Pickles 1.29
Pecan Pie 5 at .99 each 4.95 (little, single serve pecan pie)
Total of 15.16

Walmart (UGH, I really don't like Walmart, but I needed freeon and didn't want to stop at an auto part store..and it was on sale)
Sunny D single serve 3 at 1.00 each 3.00
Gallon ziploc bags 1.97
Quart ziploc bags 3.78
Great Value Fries 2 at 2.00 each 4.00
Frozen Ravioli Meal 8.97
Refried Beans 1.38
Taco Salad Tortilla Bowls 4.58
Lettuce 2 at 1.48 each 2.96
Granola Bars 4.98
Breaded Chicken Patties 3.82
Butter 2 lbs 5.48
Canned slices mushrooms 1.54
Roma Tomatoes 1.21 lbs at 1.68 per pound 2.03
Soy Sauce 1.88
Tortilla shells 2 at 2.98 each 8.94
Charmin 5.47
Nursing Pads 7.97
Freeon 2 at 6.88 each 13.76
Sour Cream 1.25
Gravy Mix 2 at .54 1.08
Pullups 6.97
Total of 98.40


We also went to the local thrift store Wednesday. The kids got some books and I picked up 4 skeins of yarn for a project for $8.50.


Friday, June 6, 2014

Menu Plan June 6-June 20

Here's my menu plan. Dennis is getting tired of Italian food, so we are trying to find other meals. 

June 6-Lunch: Tuna salad sandwiches
        Dinner: Taco Salad
June 7-Lunch: Hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries
        Dinner: Pizza
June 8- Lunch: Ham and Cheese sandwiches with chips
        Dinner: Leftovers
June 9-Lunch: Chicken patty sandwiches, homemade lunchables
        Dinner: Shepard's pie
June 10-Chicken Patty sandwiches, homemade lunchables
         Dinner: leftovers
June 11-Chicken Patty sandwiches, homemade lunchables
         Dinner: burritos
June 12-Chicken Patty Sandwiches, pizza bites
         Dinner: leftovers
June 13 (we have a trip to take today)-Lunch: chicken patty sandwiches, pizza bites
         Dinner: eat out
June 14-Hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries
         Dinner: tacos
June 15-Lunch: ham and cheese sandwiches with chips
           Dinner: fish fillets with potatoes and veggies
June 16 (another trip out of town today)-tuna salad sandwiches, homemade lunchables
              Dinner: eat out
June 17-Tuna salad sandwiches, homemade lunchables
            Dinner: sesame seed chicken
June 18-tuna salad sandwiches, free lunch for the kids and I as one of the banks is having a picnic lunch at the park. 
         Dinner: leftovers
June 19- eat out for lunch as we are going shopping again
           Dinner: pizza
June 20- tuna salad sandwiches, homemade lunchables
             dinner??? 





Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Ads are out!! Shopping Trip for June 5

Why do I get so excited when ads come out versus the actual day? I DREAD shopping day... 

We are doing things a little different for a few months-going to shop every two weeks. 

We are also looking into getting a Costco membership-they are campaigning (for lack of a better word) at my husband's work today,so maybe they are going to offer a discount. I have to wait another month because car tags were due this month. 

A family discount we seem to forget about is that offered through his job. There are a ton of local businesses that will give employees of companies discounts, all you have to do is show your employee id. Check with your employer to see if that's an option. I also remembered my parent's insurance had the same type of benefit because of the plan they were on.


I started off my ad search this morning finding a truck load sale at Sunshine Foods. YAY! I like those!
Sunshine Truck Load Sale
Sunshine 4 Day Sale
Sunshine Weekly Ad

Then on to HyVee-make sure you find the HyVee you are going to before looking at the ad as the sales vary.
HyVee Weekly Ad

Fareway didn't have anything I was interested  in this week, but here is the link.

However, I am adding Walmart-but only because I need air conditioner freeon for the van. So I might as well check out food sales while I'm there.


Happy Ad Hunting!!!

Monday, June 2, 2014

Menu Plan

We are doing something different for a few months with grocery shopping to hopefully save some more money in at least the grocer category. We are going to try shopping every two weeks instead of once a month. This will give me $150 every two weeks. 

My husband helped with the meal plan for the next two weeks and decided he didn't want as many Italian foods.. So he had to come up with other foods. 

Breakfast is pretty much a constant around here.. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, cereal (we buy corn flakes and add craisins or raisins), waffles or coffee cake with OJ and coffee for me.

Lunches vary from here to there, and there's some days I will pull stuff out of the fridge for the kids and I and just make something. For Dennis we are going to do a week of tuna salad sandwich and a week of chicken patty sandwich. He gets chips, fruit, granola bar and popcorn for snack during the day. The kids and I, I am planning on pizza bites (sort of a mix between a recipe I found on Pinterest and a recipe from Modern Alternative Mama) and homemade lunchables. 

Dinner is always a tricky one. None of the kids like their food to touch..but food that touches (casseroles) is what helps food stretch.. So we compromise... This month we have planned, taco salad, ravioli (frozen, but hey-it works), shepherd's pie, burritos, tacos, fish fillets with potatoes and veggies, sesame seed chicken and pizza.