Tips and Recipes Week

For the last installment of Tips and Recipes Week I have one word of advice. Don't sweat the small stuff. Things don't have to be perfect. Don't worry about everything being perfect. Just the illusion of perfect is plenty good. Take that time you would spend making things perfect and spend it with you kidlets. You won't be sorry.

I also have a recipe to share. I made them for my supper tonight and thought I should share the recipe. This is just a mishmash of different recipes I tweaked until I found something I liked. I am the only one who likes sweet potato fries in the house so it is definitely made to my taste and it will definitely keep the vampires away!

Sweet Potato Fries for 1

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into fries (they are bigger than McDonald's fries but smaller than Wendy's)
olive oil
chili powder
paprika
seasoned salt
garlic powder

Heat the oven to 425. Put baking sheet in to heat up. Put the fries in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and the spices to you taste. I use about a TBS olive oil and about 1/2 tsp each of the seasonings. Toss until the taters are coated. Put taters on hot baking sheet and bake for about 15-17 minutes or until done. Dip in garlic dipping sauce.

Garlic Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup mayo
2-3 cloves garlic grated

Mix together.

Eat. They are VERY filling and will give you garlic breath. Good thing Cool is working late tonight. :-)

(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Tips and Recipes Week

Today I have another laundry tip.

I never use fabric softner. Instead, I use 1/2 cup vinegar.

Instead of using fabric softner sheets I use folded up aluminum foil. Tear off a 12 inch section and fold it in forths. It is good for about four loads and then I tear another one.

Both work fantastically and are econmical to boot!

Tips and Recipes Week

Another post from June of '09.

I made chicken nachos and chocolate banana malts for supper the other night. I am happy to report that everyone asked for seconds. :-)

Chicken Nachos

This was simple. You can make them anyway you want. To make the chicken I put boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot and sprinkled them each with taco seasoning. I covered and cooked on high about 3 hours. I then drained, shredded and mixed in more seasoning and kept it warm until supper.

To make the nachos I put tortilla chips on a microwave safe plate. On top of the chips I put the chicken and some dollops of sour cream. I then covered it in shredded cheese and microhosed it until the cheese was melted. I then topped with salsa. (If I had an avacado at the time I would have used that too) Black beans would have been a good option too but alas I had none.


Chocolate Banana Malts

1 banana per person, sliced and frozen
milk
chocoalte sauce
vanilla
malt powder

Put banana sliced in blender and cover with milk. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 TBS malt powder and a pretty good squeeze chocolate sauce per banana. Blend until smooth.

Nummy!

Tips and Recipes Week

I am a messy person. Very messy. I spill on my shirt all the time. I can't do anything and not stain my shirt. Honest. I have found that I need a little something to help my washing machine clean up after me. I can tell when I have used this and when I haven't. I haven't lately and most of my shirts are now worthless. I got lazy. There is no excuse. So today I share my washing machine booster. Then I am going to make some and use it before I sacrifice anymore innocent clothing.

Mock Oxi-Clean

1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
1/2 cup baking soda
1 cup hot water.

Mix together and add to wash.

**Warning: Use at your discretion. I find it works for me but all washers, water, people and clothing are different.**

Tips and Recipes Week

Whether it is with window crayons or with homemade window clings, the picklets love to decorate our windows during the holidays. I have found that the decorating goes much better with clean windows. The below recipe works wonders and is all we use.

Window and Mirror Cleaner

1/2 tsp liquid soap
3 Tbs vinegar
2 cups water
spray bottle

Combine all the ingredients in the spray bottle. Use like window cleaner.

One big key to streak free windows is to use as little cleaner as possible. A couple of sprays on a normal dirty window is plenty. The damper the window the streakier it will be. Plus we always use newspaper to clean our window and mirrors. We find this method is less streaky and cheaper than paper towels.

Tips and Recipes Week

As we prepare for the holidays, I thought everyone can use tips and recipes thus "Tips and Recipes Week" was born. Yesterday I posted my sausage burgers and avocado creme. If you get the chance to make them, do so! They are quite good.

With all the holiday baking our oven is getting to the point that it needs a good cleaning. I absolutely HATE the oven cleaner sprays. Cool swears by them but I would prefer NOT to use them. I started using the below method and found I don't dread cleaning the oven nearly as bad as I used to.

To clean the oven preheat to 200 degrees then shut it off.
Pour 1/4 cup ammonia in a dish and place in oven.
Let sit overnight.
In the morning dispose the ammonia. (I flush it down the toilet)
Wipe the oven clean.

This method works quite well without the spray and fumes that always made me sick. I hope it works for you.

As always, be careful and be sure to read the labels.

Tips and Recipes Week

Sausage Burgers and Avocado Creme

A post from June 2, 2009 that I never posted. Better late than never

I made a really good supper tonight, but didn't take a picture of it because I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it. I can't take full credit for it cause SWMNBN was on the phone with me and told me to jazz it up, so I did! The whole family LOVED, except for the eldest teenager who just said, "It's OK."

Open Faced Sausage Burger with Carmelized Onions

1 lb sausage
1/4 cup spinach flakes
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 - 1/2 tsp celery seed
salt and pepper to taste
onion slices
garlic bread

Mix all together and fry until done. When done, remove and drain the grease. Add a couple TBS butter and onions. Stir around, cover and let carmelize stirring every once in a while. Serve burger on garlic bread smothered with onions.

Avacado Creme

1/2 cup lite sour cream
1 avacado, mashed
onion to taste
minced garlic to taste (I use a lot of garlic)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and serve with baked potato along with your sausage burger.

YUM!

written to be posted in June 2009, posted November 2010