Delectable Hot Cocoa

Living 25 miles from an affordable grocery store has prompted me to get creative and frugal over the years.  One thing I started making several years ago is my own hot cocoa mix.  This is not the kind with instant milk.  This has real milk and not only is it good, but I have recently tried something that has made it even BETTER!!

Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa

Its so easy!  I remember my Dad talking about his mother making hot cocoa and how good it was.  I figured if Grandma could make it work with eleven kids during the great depression, surely I could figure something out!

I am into using glass pint and quart jars for everything these days.  

Fill a pint jar about 2/3 full of raw sugar (or white sugar)  

Fill the rest with Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder.  

Mix well, then add to milk and microwave it for one minute. Stir.

I microwave it a little longer to the temperature I like.  Oh, so yummy!  

Its the perfect treat for after a certain little person takes a good nap without a fight ;-)  (I like it after my {very rare} nap, too!)

Another variation is to pour about 3/4 cup of coffee, add the mixture and half-and half creamer!  It tastes so creamy and mocha-ish!  It certainly warms you up and lately all I'm doing is looking for ways to warm up!!

The weather is so up-and-down!  We've had 0 to 40 degrees in the last week.  Freezing rain,  a thunderstorm in January, and now its right around 0 with probably a -20 windchill!  {I can't wait for spring!!}

I'm Linked up at Our Simple Country Life  Frugally Sustainable

Our Laundry Diet

I got tired of feeling overwhelmed with all the laundry I have to do in a week.  I got tired of having mountains of laundry piled on my sofas in our living area because I couldn't keep up with folding.  I'd just HAD IT!

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So what do I do when I've just HAD IT???  I do something a little crazy.  I usually make a bit of a fool of myself in the process, but this crazy idea was a good one!

We went on a laundry diet.

When you cut weight, you cut back on food.  When you cut laundry, you cut back on how much you wear in a week.  I gave everyone {who's laundry I actually wash} a limit of how many outfits they can wear in one week.  I mean, come on, it's winter.  How many outfits does one really need, anyway?

1 Sunday church outfit: wear it to the morning and evening services.

1 Wednesday church outfit: nice but casual, also worn to any other outing for the week.

2 Play outfits.  If it gets a little dirty, wear it anyway!  I don't care about these clothes anyway!  If it gets wet from sledding, hang it to dry and re-wear it next time!  If you trash it playing in the creek, wear it in the creek next time 'cuz you're out of luck!

1 Homeschool academy uniform--same pants or skirt for both days. (Tuesday & Thursday afternoons)

With the exception of socks and underwear, I should only be washing 5 items of each per child, every week!  The first week we did this, I had ALL the laundry done in ONE day! {Except for towels & tablecloths, which I need to wash twice per week.}  

I have to admit its a little hard to keep track of whether or not everyone is following the "rules".  It helps if I take the 5 minutes to help them pick their outfits and put them in a specific place.  

I put myself on the same "diet" so I can be a good example to them.  I wear it if its a little dirty {at home}.  I wear the same outfit from Wednesday night church to the grocery store on Thursday.  I realized how wasteful I was in the process.  Not only does it ease my laundry suffering, but I look at it as being a good steward of both time and money.

Judy

Linked up at Raising Arrows.

Homemade {and healthy} Coffee Creamer

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I love coffee.

I love to smell it as soon as I can after crawling out of bed in the morning.

I love to hold that hot mug in my cold hands and warm up in the wintertime.

I love it iced in the summertime.

I love coffee creamer.  


I love lots of different kinds of coffee creamer, but vanilla is my all-time favorite.  Hubby doesn't like me to buy the pre-made coffee creamers because one of the ingredients is "hydrogenated" somethingorwhatever.  {Hydrogenated anything is "not healthy".}  So for a while I was using coffee syrup with half & half.  "Yummy!" but I decided it was an unnecessary expense, so I thought I would try and invent my own vanilla coffee creamer:

1 quart carton of Half & Half
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsps. vanilla flavoring
Shake well,
Enjoy!

Kitchen Tips & Tricks #6: Pre-cooked Meat

I have found it very helpful to our schedule to always fry up the hamburger ahead of time, in bulk.  I normally fry about 6-8 lbs of meat at a time.

I use my huge roasting pan on two burners.  (I think there might actually be 10 pounds in this picture.)

I then freeze it into 3-cup containers.  This helps me get a meal on the table in, usually, under 30 minutes.

One container is enough for most of my recipes.  I use two for tacos and tater-tot casserole because we like the leftovers!

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Ground beef has become so expensive, I refuse to buy it at the grocery store for $3.00/lb.  Especially with a larger family, it would cost us a fortune!  I try to never spend over $2.00/lb. on meat.  So I would like to share some ideas on how to eat at a lower cost.

Ground chicken!  I know it sounds very strange.  But when chicken breasts go on sale, I buy them, lots of them!  I can usually get a 40 pound box... or two.  I cut the meat off the bone if its bone-in, or just slice it up to fit in my KitchenAid mixer's meat grinding attachment..  I know dealing with chicken is disgusting, but it saves money and it is much lower in fat than beef or pork.  A friend of mine does the same thing with pork, except she takes it to someone who has a meat grinder, pays him a little something, and still saves money.

My other alternative is ground venison.  It's not my personal favorite, but with some good advice from a friend and the grace of God, I can cook so it doesn't taste gamey.  I cook it with bay leaves.  Last fall Hubby {Dallas} shot two deer and his hunting partners shot 3 more.  None of them were able to take home their meat so they gave it to Dallas!  He took three to the locker and gave away two to someone in need.  The pictures in this post are of ground venison.

Today I am linked up atMenu Plan Monday and The Welcome Home LinkUp