A Mouse In My Kitchen

The Vinyl Company - Giveaway & discount code

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I'm super excited to bring you guys an awesome giveaway. My friend, Sarah, has started her own shop, called The Vinyl Company

A little about Sarah: Hello! My name is Sarah Ritchie and I am the owner and creator of The Vinyl Company. The Vinyl Company just recently opened up shop and I am so excited about some of my new vinyl designs. However, my favorite vinyl projects are those that involve custom designs that are unique. I love working with text to make beautiful vinyl lettering for homes and businesses. For this giveaway, the winner will receive one free item from my etsy shop or a custom item (with a value of up to $30). All you have to do to enter is (1) like my shop on Facebook. You can get a second entry by telling me what item you hope to win from my shop. Also, good until the end of this giveaway is 15% discount off your total purchase from my shop. Use coupon code TAKE15 at checkout. Best of luck!

Here are some examples of things you can find in the shop:

Hear that folks?? The winner of this giveaway will win their choice of item from The Vinyl Company or a custom item (up to a $30 value)! The giveaway will go until April 6th at midnight pacific standard time. And, if you feel like you aren't the type to win a giveaway, you can take advantage of the awesome 15% off discount going on until Saturday, April 6th. Just use the code TAKE15 at checkout! a Rafflecopter giveawayDisclaimer: This giveaway is open to US residents only. The winner will be notified before April 8th. The winner will have 72 hours to respond before a new winner is picked.

Would your company like to run a giveaway from my site? Please contact me [email protected]">by email for more information.

Recipe #29: Bacon laced chocolate cake

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Yes. You read the title right. Bacon. Laced. Chocolate. Cake. What? Yes. But, before you run and hide (or shout for joy), fear not. This cake can be made just fine without bacon (or with extra). This recipe was given to me by a friend, Jeanette. When she told me what it was called, I couldn't not make it. I mean, everyone should make bacon laced something at some point in their lives, right? So, I decided that I needed to make this.

So, the bacon is only in the frosting. If you are totally turned off by the idea of putting bacon in a cake, just use a different frosting. Problem solved.

This recipe was originally a Better Homes and Garden recipe, and can be found here. I changed it up a bit, (I halved the recipe and made a few other changes) and the instructions they posted were kind of hard to follow (I thought), so here goes:

Here's what you need:
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the frosting:
5 slices bacon
4 ounces dark chocolate (I used 60%)
1/2 of a bag of milk chocolate chips
2 cups whipping cream
5 drops liquid smoke
1/4 cup milk

Here's what you do:
Before you begin, butter and flour a small cake pan. Turn the oven to 350.

1. Boil the water. Measure the cocoa powder into a bowl. When the water is boiling, slowly pour it into the bowl with the cocoa powder and mix it well.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in another bowl.

3. Chop the vanilla bean as finely as you can.

4. In a different bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla beans and vanilla with an electric beater. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat for a while (5ish minutes).

5. Add half of the dried ingredients. Then half of the chocolate mixture. Then the other half of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the chocolate mixture.

6. Pour the mixture into the cake pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes.

When the cake is done, the instructions say to let it cool for 10 minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack. However, my cake fell apart horribly when I tried that... I must not have buttered it well enough... or something. So, I put it back in the pan and frosted it in there.

this is what happened when I tried to remove the cake from the pan

Making the frosting
1. Chop the chocolate bar in pieces and put them in a bowl with the chocolate chips

2. Heat 1 1/2 cup of the whipped cream until it barely starts to boil (this happens WAY faster than I thought it would).

3. Pour it over the chocolate. Stir it. If the chocolate doesn't all melt, stick it in the microwave for like 30 seconds. Stir it again. That is all it took for me. If your chocolate is still not melted, put it in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between each time so it doesn't burn.

4. Add the rest of the whipped cream and the milk. Stir well.

5. Put the frosting in the freezer. Stir it every 10 minutes until it looks like it's spreadable (it took about 20 minutes for me). Spread it over your cake! Enjoy!

The final product... a little unprofessional looking, but delicious none the less

Young Women General Conference

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Today is the annual Young Women General Conference. Every year, in the spring, the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints hold a conference and speak directly to the young girls of the church. It is such an amazing opportunity for them to talk specifically to the girls. They have give counsel, motivation, and help the girls find direction in their lives. I have been so grateful for the opportunity I have to work with this girls and to watch them grow. Working with them has helped me to see how much Heavenly Father truly loves ALL His children, especially the ones who are growing up right now in this rough world. If you are interested in watching the conference, you can stream it live from your own home! It goes live at 6 PM MST and can be watched live or afterwords. I strongly encourage all young women, weather they are members of the church or not, to watch this broadcast.

Click here to watch the Broadcast

In honor of this broadcast, I have redone the Young Women Theme posters that I made earlier. I have made them in a couple different colors. If you want a different color, please let me know! They are free. I just ask that you pin them or share them on Facebook so others can see them!

Blue 8X10 | Blue 16X20

Red 16X20 | Red 8X10

Pink 16X20 | Pink 8X10

White 8x10 | White 16 X 20

She Will Move Mountains - Free Printable

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I love my little girl. I want big things for her. Strike that, I want huge things for her. I want her to fill every measure of her creation. I want her to know how beautiful she is. I want her to know how much I love her. I want her to learn how to be a well rounded person. I want her to learn that she can do hard things. I want her to be a strong, independent girl. More than anything, I want her to know she is a daughter of God. I want her to understand that she has a divine destiny that no one else can fill except her. I want her to know that if she listens, Heavenly Father will help her to change lives. He will use her as an instrument to do amazing things, if only in the lives of those closest to her. I want, just like every parent wants for their daughter, for her to feel secure and loved and I want her to want great things for herself. I hope the be able to express my love for her in ways that she will understand. I want to be a Christ like parent to her and her brother and any other siblings that they may have. I want the best for her and I fear every day that I will not be adequate in teacher her to be strong.

When I was pregnant with this little girl, I heard this quote: "Let her sleep for when she wakes, she will move mountains." I guess it was originally said by Bonaparte about China, but lets not think about that. Let's think about the fact that this quote is empowering, but also perfect for a nursery. Now, just two months shy of her first birthday, I finally got around to creating this picture. I had a frame in mind for it for awhile, one that I had been given by my mother in law. I used some scrapbook paper I had on hand to decorate it a little bit. Here is what I came up with.

I liked it so much that I thought I would share it with you guys. I made them a few different colors. If you want a different color, leave me a comment and I will most likely be able to make that happen for you.

If you like it, pin it! I'd really appreciate it!

Pedi-Protexx Review

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:56:00 +0000

Hey guys! I have decided to open up my blog to reviews. If you have a product you would like to have reviewed, please [email protected]">contact me. To see my rules about reviews, click here.

This first review that I am doing is on a product that I personally think is very neat. It is called Pedi-Protexx. This product is made right here in the good ol' US of A which gives it extra points right off the bat. I am all for any product that is made in this country.

These were invented by Barbara von Mettenheim. She is a lady that was fed up with smudged pedicures, so she decided to do something about it.

The main function of pedi-protexx is to "protexx" your pedicure. It is really a genius idea. These nifty pieces of plastic attach to the bottom of your normal flip flop after a pedicure to ensure that you don't mess up your freshly polished nails.

I have to admit, when I first saw this product, I thought they were a little silly. But sillier than the stupid flip flops they give you at the nail salon? Probably not. And they work! You can drive, walk, run into walls, jump up and down and your toe nails will not get smudged. How awesome is that? No more waiting for the paint to dry.

For me, this is an awesome product to use at home. I am a busy lady and if I ever do get lucky enough to find the time to paint my toe nails, there is no way that I am going to be able to sit and let them dry. Thanks to Pedi-Protexx, I don't have to. I can paint my toe nails, slip on the Pedi-Protexx, and not even miss a beat.

I don't think I would actually take them to a salon to use for a few reasons. The main one is that they are a little big. They wouldn't be very easy to put into a small purse. If you are one of those ladies that carries around a large purse, then they would fit just fine.

I think that on a special day, such as a wedding day, these would be amazing to have. Yes, they may look a little funny, but so does smudged polish. All in all, I think it's a pretty good product, and I am glad that I have them.

If you would like to learn more about these or get your very own Pedi-Protexx, visit pedi-protexx.com

I received compensation and/or product in exchange for this review. However, the opinions are my own, and are truthful. Please see the manufactures website for verification of any claims and for more information.

Blog Lovin' Blog Hop!

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Hey readers! I've decided to team up with Meg over at Happy Kids, Inc to bring your another blog hop! The last one was so popular, so I decided to try again. It might end up being a regular thing, we'll see! I'd love your feed back on it - do you love it? Hate it? I think it's an awesome way to meet new bloggers!

Here we are, week 11.....and it just keeps getting better!

Last week, we had an amazing 195 lovely bloggers! Thank you!

The response to our co-host spots has been AMAZING! We have openings for co-hosts starting in July! I have decided to still keep our co-host count each month to 4 bloggers. Our co-host fee is $4 and this is for the WHOLE MONTH.

I also want to extend our sponsorship spot to bloggers as well (scroll down to view it below the button). I can link the button to your Bloglovin' profile and you are in a prime spot where bloggers enter their links. This spot is normally $10, but I am offering it for $5 for April and May. It includes social media promotion, too. Hurry!

Grab a button below and put it on your blog!

Show some love for this week's sponsor:

Want to be here? Click here for information.

Recipe #28: Waffle Iron Hashbrowns

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

My husband loves hashbrowns. But, I don't. I don't really mind eating them, but I HATE making them. Not anymore, though! I had seen this floating around on pinterest, but never actually clicked on a link because I figured it probably didn't work or was too much hassle or some other dumb reason. Probably because I didn't want to add anymore to my thousands of pins. Seriously, thousands... Anyway...

I decided to try it. All I did was wash three golden potatoes, grate them in a cheese grater, and add some kind of seasoning. Salt and pepper is fine, I used Johnny's seasoning. I turned my waffle iron on to the highest setting and sprayed it with cooking spray. I put the potatoes in the heated waffle iron and closed it. I left them in for about 8 minutes. I would check them every so often because I'm sure every waffle iron is different. By the way, I have a belgium waffle iron, but I'm sure you could do it in any waffle iron.

That's it. At the end of the 8 minutes we had hashbrowns! They were cooked well and crunchy and there was almost no cleanup involved.

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Toddler Suspender Tutorial

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:03:00 +0000

I have a friend who has the cutest little boy you've ever seen. I about died when I saw him wearing suspenders a little while. Ever since then, I have been on the hunt for some toddler suspenders. I found some, but didn't like the pattern. So, I decided to make my own. It only took about 20 minutes and holy cow, they are stinkin' cute. So, I thought I'd share the tutorial with you guys!

To make these, you need:
Colorful elastic
4 suspender clips
a sewing machine
coordinating thread

If you can, measure your little guy from the front to the back where the suspenders will go. My little guy was asleep, so I guess that 27 inches would be about right. It ended up being way too big, I had to take off about 5 inches.

Cut your elastic about two inches longer than what you measured. Cut two strips that length.

Sew the suspender clips onto each side of each piece of elastic. Make sure that you fold the elastic under so the raw edge isn't showing, and make sure the suspender clips are facing the right way.

Overlap the suspenders. They should cross about 2/3 of the way down. (think about how suspenders work) Sew them together so that you see a diamond pattern from the sewing machine. Sorry, it's kind of hard to explain... See the picture.

That's it! Put them on your little man and take lots of pictures because seriously, he's a stud.

Prepare for a baby without breaking the bank

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Hey! In effort to help you guys save money, I have complied a few guest posts. I've been doing one a week, on Mondays. Since this is the last Monday in March, this will be the last guest post on finances for a little while. I am still always interested in guest posts, so if you have something you think other people would like to share, send it my way!

This post is by Chantal from blog.simplybabyfurniture.com. She has some awesome ideas on how to prepare for a baby without using all of your savings.

Here is what Chantal has to say:

I’m just like any other frugal mommy out there. I base my family meals around what’s on special at the grocery store and I always return my movie rentals on time to avoid late fees. I am totally addicted to Groupon family specials, the Food Network, sudoku and DIY projects. Honestly, I just don’t have the time or capacity to waste my money on manicures, martinis or designer purses.

With my husband, 2 year old and 8 month old daughters, I have inadvertently elected myself as Chief of Finances. When you have an active family of four, expenses spread like wildfire and you have to constantly find creative ways to get what you need under a strict budget. Thinking back to when I was pregnant with my first child, I wish I knew what I know now on how to financially prepare for a baby. It’s so easy to buy every baby product in sight, especially when it’s your first.

The biggest expense for me would have to be preparing the nursery when I was in my 3^rd trimester. My husband and I bought everything imaginable with the ‘just-in-case’ mindset, which is fine if you are filthy rich, but we certainly were not! After my daughter was born, we took inventory of all our baby items and about half of the products we had weren’t even used. In fact, we had to return and exchange a ton of items because we ended up not using them. After my second child, we implemented a much different and smarter approach in getting just what we needed.

From parent to parent, let me share with you what I would have done differently to help you save lots of money before the baby arrives:

§ The Earlier, The Better: Don’t wait till your 3^rd trimester to prepare your nursery. Start as soon as you can and get the larger pieces, like the baby furniture, first. It is easier on your budget if you can space out the higher-priced items like the baby crib and changing table/dresser. We had limited space and I wish I would have chosen a mini baby crib. It’s slightly smaller than a standard-size baby crib, less expensive, and easy to move around the nursery.

§ A Smart Baby Shower List: Ask for items you will need, like baby bedding, high-chair, car seat, bath and diaper changing necessities, baby backpack, pacifiers, receiving blankets, bibs, wash cloths, nursery décor, etc. You can have friends and family split the cost for higher-priced items, and you can find better deals if you are registered at multiple places. For clothing and diapers, I would recommend accepting gift cards so you can pick them out yourself. You won’t know the size of the baby until that special day comes, so best to get some newborn clothes and diapers, and wait till baby is born to get what you want with the gift cards. Shop online to get good deals and save yourself the trouble of returning/exchanging tons of stuff. Also, I would suggest having an early baby shower so you can go through all your goodies and organize your nursery.

§ DIY Décor: Being frugal doesn’t mean you can’t welcome home your baby to a beautiful nursery. I am a sucker for DIY ideas, so hear are some fun ideas to help spruce up your nursery without spending the big bucks:

o Tissue Pom Poms: You may have seen them all over Pinterest, but they are super easy to make and look really cool.

o Paper Lanterns: There are great paper lanterns kits that you can easily put together, but I like to get blank ones and personalize them with watercolor or acrylic paints, studs, etc.

o Yarn/String Balls: Very fun and modern way to add ceiling décor to the nursery. Take a balloon and cover with elmer’s glue. Wrap with fancy yarn or string and let dry for 1-2 days. Pop balloon with needle and voila!

o Lid Art: Take a box lid, like from a shoe box, and paint a couple coats of any color of your choice (darker colors will mask designs better). Your box lid is now like a paint canvas and will not need a frame. Paint whatever you like, such as baby initials or baby name.

o Poster Art: Get a thin frame and get a poster that fits your nursery theme.

o Children Art: If you have older children, have them draw or paint something to welcome the baby or fit your theme.

o Old Children’s Books: Frame an old children’s book that could be falling apart. You can preserve it and will add a vintage style look to the nursery.

o Family Photos Hanging Mobile: Print a whole bunch of wallet size photos of the family. Get 2 sticks or hangers, cross them, fasten 3-5 long strands of fishing line, and thread your family photos on it (black and white is nice).

So there you have it. Some golden nuggets to help you prepare for you empowering journey to parenthood. There are so many things the baby books don’t tell you when you’re about to start a family. Being budget-conscious from the beginning is a smart way to prepare for your growing family and for the unexpected.

Author Bio

Hi! My name is Chantal Maddocks and I’m a blogger and full-time mommy. With my beautiful family of four, I am always looking for new and creative ways to save money. My husband, 2 year old and 8 month old daughters, are my world, and if there are ways to make my life easier so I can be with them, I am all ears! I invite you to visit my blog at blog.simplybabyfurniture.comfor helpful pregnancy, parenting and nursery design tips. Happy Blogging!

Recipe #27: Cheater Chicken Enchiladas

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:15:00 +0000

Everyone loves enchiladas right? Right. But you know what every does not love? Making them. I hate having to roll the tortillas and do all that. It's too much work. My first solution to this problem Enchilada Casserole. In that dish, you omit tortillas and add noodles instead. But what if you want tortillas but don't want to roll them? What's a girl (or guy) to do? I'll tell you!

You cheat.

In this recipe, instead of rolling tortillas, you layer the ingredients. First, you put down a layer of tortillas to cover the bottom of the pan. Then, you put down your sauce, then cheese, then sauce, then tortillas, then cheese again. So that's tortilla, sauce, cheese, sauce, tortilla, cheese. The result is a delicious dish that tastes JUST like tortillas. You can do this with any tortilla recipe, but I made one up for this meal. We were having the missionaries over for dinner and I wanted it to be delicious, but I was really nervous to just make up a recipe.. but I did it anyway. It turned out AMAZING. Ready to see what I did?

Ingredients for easy cheater enchiladas:

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion

2 green bell peppers

1 lb ground beef (or chicken)

Tapatio

Cayenne pepper

taco seasoning

3/4 cup salsa

3/4 cup sour cream

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 can enchilada sauce

4 cups grated cheese

(I used cheddar, but a Mexican blend would be good too)

6 tortillas

Instructions for easy cheater enchiladas

Turn on the oven to 350

In a frying pan, saute your onions and green peppers. Add the meat and brown it. While you're browning it, add your desired amount of tapatio, Cayenne pepper, and taco seasoning. Remember, the more tapatio and Cayenne pepper you use, the more kick this dish will have.

Once the meat is browned up, turn the burning to simmer. Pour in the 3/4 cup salsa and let it simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal.

In a bowl, mash up the cream cheese so it will mix well. Pour in the sour cream and about 3/4 of the enchilada sauce. Mix it well. Add the meat mixture.

I sprayed my casserole dish. I don't know if that's necessary or not, but better safe than sorry. Put down your first layer of tortillas. Then, put down a layer of sauce. Then, a layer of cheese, followed by another layer of sauce. Spread a top layer of tortillas, another layer of cheese, and the rest of the enchilada sauce. If you didn't cover all the top layer with cheese, the tortillas will go crispy in the oven. Not a big deal, just a heads up.

layer one

layer two

layer three

After you have your dish all set up, stick it in the oven for 30 minutes. It's delicious, you're going to love it, I know it. P.S. This serves 8.

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I shared this with Recipes From A Pantry on the Top Recipe Showcase

Bloglovin' Blog Hop

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:50:00 +0000

Hey my awesome readers! I have the opportunity to participate as a co-host in a blog hop!

This one is hosted by Meg at Happy Kids, Inc. Basically, a blog hop is a place where bloggers can go and add their blog for other bloggers to see. They are a fun way to get your own blog out there and to meet other bloggers. If I get a good response from this blog hop, I may start doing them more often. Let me know what you think about it and if you think I should/shouldn't do them in the future. Enjoy!

Here we are, week 10.....and what a time we had last week!

The response to our co-host spots has been AMAZING! We are booked for March, April, and May! I have decided to still keep our co-host count each month to 4 bloggers. Due to the demand for these co-host spots, our co-host fee will be $4 beginning in June. But remember, this is for the WHOLE MONTH and June is when Google Reader is scheduled to phase out. So I expect a big push in June.

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Recipe #26: Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:57:00 +0000

This recipe was given to me by a friend and reader, Amberly. She is an awesome friend and such a cute mamma. She has two beautiful boys and is always crafting/quilting/creating beautiful things. She is an inspiration to me, and I'm glad that I've gotten to know her better!

So, when she found out that I was trying to create a blog with different recipes, she gave me two to try out. This one was amazing. It uses applesauce in the recipe, so there isn't so much bad-for-you-stuff. There isn't even any sugar in this recipe! What? I know, amazing.

So, here's what you need:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup raisins

It's pretty simple. Turn your oven onto 375. Mix all the ingredients together and dish the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake them for 10-12 minutes.

What? What's that you say? Those are chocolate chips, not raisins? Oops...

Click here for more dessert recipes

What I learned My First Week of Blogging

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 02:59:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I know that I call this "career" blogging. I am no where near a career level at this point nor do I intend to be. Blogging for me is a hobby, but I do want to create a successful blog, one where my mother isn't the only reader (but thank's for being here, mom :) )

I am writing this post exactly one week after I started my blog. I don't know when I will publish it, but I wanted this information to be fresh in my mind. I hope that it can help someone else that is hoping to start a blog sometime soon.

There is a steep learning curve when starting a new blog. There is SO much information out there about different ways to blog and how to do it right according to so and so. There are about a million articles on how to make tons of money on your blog and how to do it over night and what not.

Here is what I learned during this week:

It takes a LOT of work

Just this week, I have probably spent 30 hours on my blog. Because I have two little kids, this has meant staying late. I have decided not to have my computer open when they are awake, so blogging happens in the morning, at nap time, and at night time. That means a lot of sleepless nights for this mama.

I should have had content before starting the blog

I was in such a hurry to start my blog once I got the idea to do 100 different recipes that I didn't really think it through. However, because the main purpose of my blog was to document those recipes, I still would have done it the same way. If you want to start a blog for the purpose of making money and being a successful blogger, I would recommend having 20-30 articles before ever telling anyone about the blog.

Google Adsense won't accept you

At least not right away. It doesn't say it anywhere in their terms, (that I could find) but a blog needs to be about six months old before they will accept you.

Other people will

Amazon accepted me as an affiliate the first day. Chitika also accepted me, but it works better for blogs that get search engine traffic, which I don't (at this point anyway).

Guest blogging is important

I asked around and found a website called www.myguestblog.com. Apply for your account and they will set you up with people looking for guest bloggers, It's a good way to get your name out.

There are a ridiculous number of ways to get money from blogging

I feel a little big like I am wadding through a swamp. There are SO many different websites that claim to be offering money to bloggers, and I haven't yet figured out which ones are worth my time. The same goes for social media. Do I really need a twitter, google+, facebook, bloglovin', hello cotton, instagram, linked in, you tube, and skype account for my blog? I am currently trying to figured out which of these are worth my time and what websites will actually allow me to make money. (although, like I said in my about me, I am blogging for hobby, not for pay. But no one is going to say no to a couple extra dollars every month, right?)

You need to index your site to be able to see it on a search engine

The Complete Idiot's Guide has a good tutorial on how to do this. Basically you have to tell the major search engines that you have a website and you want them to know about it.

Search engine optimization is a big deal. I think.

I still haven't figured this out, and I think I will be spending a LONG time figuring out exactly what this means. I have figured out that there are companies that will do this for you. One of them is Optimising. They are an Austrialian based company that specializes in optimizing websites. Basically, when you optimize your blog, more people will see it when they search for content that you write about. There are certain keywords and such that help search engines lead people to your site.

That's what I learned so far. I am excited for this journey and to learn more about the blogosphere (as us bloggers call it :) )

Now it's your turn. I would love to hear what other bloggers have learned about blogging. What awesome tips to you have for the rest of us?

I slipped. Shoot.

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

I slipped. I messed up. I didn't make it all the way through the month. Although, I do have a perfectly good excuse. So, here is what happened. I needed to go to the store to get a few things. I wanted to go by myself (because seriously, the grocery store is the only peace I get some days), so I helped my husband lay our kids down for a nap before going to town. It was only after I got the screaming 10 month old settled and almost asleep that I realized my cash was in the room she was sleeping in (she naps in our room during the day). There was no way in heck that I was going back in there to get it. So, I consciously decided that I would be using my debit card that day.

But, I made a plan. I didn't want to spend too much, so I made my list and I created a cash amount for myself. I was not going to go above that limit, no matter what. And, when I got to the checkout line and realized I was over by three dollars, I asked the cashier if she would please put one of my items away for me because I wasn't going to be able to buy it.

And do you know what?

It felt good. It felt good to be in control of my money. It felt good to know that I have the power to stick to my plan, even if I have to improvise a little. So yes, I did mess up. I will not have a perfect cash only month. But that's not what's important. What's important is that I am making huge progress in the money area. I am really figuring out my bad spending habits and how to fix them. I am doing my part to make our families money stretch further and last longer.What's important is that I am learning how to use my will power. I am learning to say no to things I want because I don't need them. I am learning how to be a more frugal person and help my family strive. I am learning that will power is something that must be practiced. I know that sometimes I will fail, but I have to keep going and keep trying. I am learning that I can do hard things.

And it feels good.

For more about my March challenge, click here

For more posts about saving money, click here

Guest Post: More Ways To Saves Money

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Another Monday of our March Money Challenge, which means I have a guest post for you guys all about how one family saves money. Like I've said before, I love learning how other people manage their money. There are so many different tips and tricks, and not everything works for everyone. This post is written by Jessie of www.thenilaughed.com. She is super funny, but also covers some important topics, like fetal alcohol syndrome and adoption. If you get a chance, check out her blog!

Here is a picture of her beautiful family.
Look at all those boys!

Jessie has been through a lot. A while ago, her entire house BURNED DOWN. I can't even imagine what that would be like. She now is a mother of 6 and has lots of tricks for you to help make ends meet just a little bit better. She also only uses cash, so her tips are really good for this month's challenge.

Here is what Jessie has to say:
I am so excited to have the opportunity to be a guest blogger! If someone would have asked me 10 years ago if I could write a post about money matters I would have laughed at them! The only concern I had about money was that I had enough. It’s amazing how marriage and 6 kids can change you. Now managing money is something I think about daily! I’ve become very creative in the ways I save and spend our money. Here are a few of the ways I try to stretch our dollars the furthest!

Meal Planning

I make a monthly menu and plan all of our meals in advance. This helps us save in a couple of different ways. First it put an end to us eating out. Seriously with 8 of us eating out costs a fortune! Now if all of the meals are planned in advance I don’t have the excuse of “I don’t know what to make for dinner.” Also by planning our meals ahead I can shop the deals and stock up on items in advance to save us money!

Price Matching

I price match almost all of our groceries. What I do is take my monthly menu and make a spreadsheet/grocery list with all the items I will need for each month. Then I go thru the ads for all of our local stores and find the lowest prices. Once I have a list of the lowest prices I head to Wal-Mart and do all my shopping there since they will match any lower prices. Now I even teach classes on how to price match at our local community college and add the teaching money to our savings. I also provide detailed instructions on how to price match on my blog http://www.thenilaughed.com/ and provide readers with a list of the weekly deals. Price matching may seem like a lot of work but it saves me hundreds of dollars a month. I now have our grocery budget down to about $400 a month.

Get printable grocery coupons

No credit cards

We said goodbye to credit cards long ago. If we don’t have cash to make a purchase it just doesn’t happen. I refuse to be owned by credit card companies!

Rent

I lost my house to a fire right before I met my now husband. I could have rebuilt or bought another home. But I choose to stay in a small rental that I don’t love because it is cheap! I put up with the bad paint job and chipped kitchen counters because I prefer to live debt free. I also appreciate that we are in a small space (1200 sq feet). Small spaces mean less stuff! Having a limited amount of space means we don’t buy stuff we don’t need! Someday we will buy a home again but until then I’m willing to pay a small amount of rent while we finish paying off our debts and stock piling our savings.

Say No

I’ve learned to tell myself no and most importantly how to tell my kids no! We don’t need to own every new kid’s movie that comes out and they don’t need name brand clothes. I buy what we need and nothing more. Since I’ve been through losing everything in a fire I have a clear understanding of how little material things matter. In the days after the fire when we had NOTHING I was so grateful for the smallest things. I try to fill our home only with things we need or love!

These are some of the things that work for our family. I don’t know if they will work for you but it’s worth a shot. Until the money trees start growing in our yards we have to get creative and make our money work for us! Tell me about how you save money!

About the Author

Jessie Voiers is a mom , a wife, and a blogger at www.thenilaughed.com. She is passionate about saving money, finding great deals, and living a life filled with laughter.

Tutorial: Padded 5 gallon bucket lid

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I made this tutorial specially for some fellow LDSers that are preparing to go on a trek this summer. For those of you that don't know, what we Mormons call a "trek" is a reenactment of the early Mormon pioneers. They came across the country with wagons. Some of them were lucky enough to have wagons that were pulled by oxen, but there were many who came pulling hand carts. The youth in our church reenact that trek by dressing the way they did, giving up many worldly things (cell phones, mp3 players, etc) and going on a 3-5 day journey pulling handcarts. I have never personally been on one, but I hope to one day. The kids and adults that go on the trek come home with an appreciation of the sacrifices those early pioneers freely gave to make it to a place where they could practice their own religion. For more about the early pioneers, please visit this site.

Anyway, during this trek, the youth are allowed one 5 gallon bucket for their belongings. Because of a need to pack light, they cannot take anything other than that bucket. After a long days walk (sometimes up to 12 miles) they would like to have a nice, padded place to sit down. But, they cannot take comfy camp chairs. The solution to that problem, therefore, is... drum roll please..

a padded 5 gallon bucket!

This took me about 15 minutes to make. No, it doesn't look professional by any stretch of the imagination, but it will do the job.

Here are the supplies you need:

Fabric - (the piece I used was 25X19 although I cut off quite a bit. I think 22X19 would probably be enough. If there is a chance they will get wet, use waterproof fabric. You can find table cloths at yard sales or thrift stores if you're lucky!)
scissors
glue gun
stuffing (I used left over blanket stuff that I had. Just get something soft that you can stuff in there)
A 5 gallon bucket lid, of course

Here is what you do:

1. Lay out your fabric, with the front side down.
2. Lay your lid, also front side down on your fabric. Lay it pretty close to an edge (3 inches or so away)
3. Put a little hot glue on the inside rim of the bucket lid. Tuck over a piece of fabric.

4. Keep putting glue on and tucking over fabric

5. When you get to the point that your fabric looks like either of these picture, you need to do a little fold and tuck. Grab the corner

and fold it over just like you've been doing with the rest of the fabric. Continue working around the lid until you have gotten ALMOST all the way around, but don't do the whole thing!

You'll get almost done and you'll realize that it looks like this:

6. Cut off most of the excess fabric, and stuff your padding into the hole you have. Make it as even as you can.

7. Now is the tricky part. You need to mess with the fabric a little bit to get it to lay as flat as you can. It won't be perfect, but it is going to be soft! Finish up by gluing down the rest of the fabric. Cut off as much excess as you can during this process so it can still fit on the bucket

And there you have it! A padded 5 gallon bucket lid.

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Google Reader shut down??

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:34:00 +0000

So there is a lot of talk about google reader shutting down. Luckily, this doesn't affect me much because my blog is so new. But, I had to figure out a new way for people to follow my blog, so I've decided to use bloglovin. If you haven't heard of it before, you should check it out. It's free, you can set it up through your facebook account if you want, you can transfer over all your google reader blogs, and it puts ALL your favorite blogs in one spot. No more searching the entire internet for those updates. Check it out. And, while you're doing that, follow my blog with Bloglovin

Day 14 of only cash & money saving tips

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:26:00 +0000

Once again, I am so glad that I started this challenge. My husband found a "reduction of force" card in his pay check yesterday. Basically it means that he was laid off. The production on the building he is working on is at a stand still because of some parts that are back ordered, so they have no work to do, sooooo they laid some people off.

Thankfully, he is a licensed teacher, which means he has been able to sub for a couple days. He also got an offer to work on another project. He contracted out for 40 hours of work there, and then him and the boss will decide if it's a good fit or not.

It's frustrating to me because here I thought we were finally done with the "poor college student" phase. I guess I just have to modify that to the "poor" phase since we can no longer claim to be college students. It's okay though. We have been praying a lot lately to know where we are supposed to be and what my husband should be doing for his career, and I know that Heavenly Father has bigger plans for us. It just may take a little longer for me to get that car...

But, we have been doing really well with our cash only thing. I still want to call it a diet, but I don't want you guys to think that I eat money... because that would be a huge waste. Although it would probably be a high fiber diet, right?

Anyway, I only slipped up once, when I bought P90X because it was a SUPER good deal from Tanga.com, but it doesn't count. Why does it not count? Because they refunded me my money when the realized they couldn't fill the orders for some reason... But, if you haven't searched around their website, you should. It is seriously awesome. They even have free stuff, all you do is pay shipping. Right now they have free stainless steal rings and free ear buds. Okay, never mind, they changed it. They now say the shipping is free, and the item is five dollars. Same difference.

So because they refunded me the money, I figure that I'm 100% on this cash only challenge. I know that we have spent MUCH less money than we normally do. I wish I had sure numbers so I could prove it, but I don't.

Because of this challenge, I have had LOADS of advice from other people about how to save money. It has been so AWESOME. I love when people give me advice. I love to learn from others who know so much more than I do. I thought that it would be nice for me to pass some of their advice on to you!

Start a price book

What is a price book? I thought you might ask that. A price book is a notebook, or document on your phone, or big piece of paper, or excel document, or whatever you want to keep it on, that keeps track of "good" prices for normal items you buy. I know you have had that experience where something is "on sale" but you don't know if it's really a good price or not. This helps you to know when you are getting a good deal. I am working on mine right now and plan on doing a post entirely on this subject at some point in the future. There are some that are already done for you online, like this on wral.com, but prices are so dependent on your area that I really suggest you doing your own. It might take a few hours to get it completely set up, but you can do it a little at a time instead of all at once. And, that few hours will save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Use coupons

I used to hate coupon shoppers (sorry, Tanya and Jeanette, I still love you guys... just other coupon shoppers...:)). I hate that they take up so much time in the lines and the spend all this time going from store to store and I don't know why that bugs me, but it does. I figured out a way, however, to make coupon shopping work for me without filling my shelves with boxes and boxes of fruit snacks (I don't care if they were free.)

So, here is what I do. I make my list for the month of everything I need to buy, and THEN I look for coupons. I know a lot of people will say that's dumb, you should make your list based on the coupons, but then I know I would end up paying way more for the food that is 50 cents off if I buy twenty six of them than I would without coupons at all. And, I don't order 17 Sunday papers. I just use the internet. I go to places like Redplum.com, and get the same coupons that would be in the paper. This saves me time and money. I don't end up getting $418.43 worth of groceries for $17.93, but I do save money off of what I normally would have spent. Sometimes its $10, sometimes it's $2, but it's something. And, I only use them at Walmart, for the most part. Walmart will price match and take other people's coupons, so unless a different grocery store is have an AMAZING sale, I just stick to Walmart. Maybe one day when my kids don't take up an entire shopping cart by themselves I change my strategy, but for now, this is my plan.

Plan out every purchase

Don't buy things on an impulse. You don't need that super awesome thing that is in the end cap of every isle. If it's not on your list, don't buy it. My husband and I don't buy anything over $50 without talking to the other person and really thinking about if it's worth it. In the past, we have done a "wish list." The way that worked is if either of us wanted something over $50, we would write it on that list. In 30 days, if we still wanted that item, and we could afford it, we'd get it. Most of the time we decided in that 30 days that we really didn't want that item as bad as we thought we did.

So, to recap, my three tips for today are

start a price book
use coupons
plan out every purchase

Now, it's your turn. What do you guys do to save money?

Any more advice for me? (I really do love to hear it)

For more money saving tips or to read more about my cash only challenge, click here

Image source: © Sofiaworld | Dreamstime Stock Photos &Stock Free Images

Adorable "Spring Is Here" Quilt

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:10:00 +0000

I just finished my first ever quilt. It is a gift for my sister in law, who is expecting a baby any day now. I found this pattern here from Curly Top Quilts. It was designed by Curly Top Quilts and the pattern is for sale on her etsy shop for just $3. Check out her blog here.

The pattern was simple and easy to read and I think it was a perfect first quilt. The pattern uses pink as the bright color, but I decided to use yellow. I used heat n bond to make the applique easier. And, I used the back fabric as binding to make things even easier. I was a little nervous to make it at first because I was afraid it wouldn't turn out well, but I went for it, and I love it! I am for sure going to make another one if I ever have another girl. I ended up buying all the material for $30, thanks to Walmart's fabric section, which isn't too bad! The hardest part was cutting it out because I didn't have a rotary cutter. Anyway, I love it, and I hope baby Akayleah loves it, too! Can't wait to meet her!

It reminds me of a black and white picture with some color added later on. I ended up making a few mistakes, but I'm sure the baby won't notice. And, I am just glad I did it. Sewing machines are so intimidating to me, but this was a good project to get the hang of my machine better.

And, for anyone who has yet to make a quilt, but wants to, I have one bit of advice. Get your nose out of your quilt. An experience quilter told me that, and it really helped me. Each time I thought I had made a mistake, I took a step back and looked at the whole quilt, and realized how much I really liked it. So, get your nose out of your quilt!

Maybe the next one I'll get really brave and machine quilt... maybe...

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Recipe #25: Resurrection Rolls

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

In honor of Easter, I thought I would make this neat little recipe. I had it once before when the Sunday School teacher at my old church brought them in for an Easter lesson. They taste sort of like cinnamon rolls, but they have a twist that makes them perfect for an Easter dinner: they are hollow on the inside, just like Christ's tomb was on Easter morning. Neat, right?

So you can make these a couple different ways. I just found this recipe that uses store bought crescent rolls to make them. That would be a lot less work, but a little less "homemade," right?

I have to confess that when I made these, they didn't turn out super great. I had a few problems with them. I think the main thing was that I cooked it too hot and not long enough. We were sort of in a hurry for them to be done, so I thought I would speed things up a bit.. bad idea. Most of them turned out okay but some of them looked like they should be on a pinterest fail board or something. I thought I had a picture of it but I guess not...

Anyway, this is what they are supposed to look like:

Here is what you need:

roll dough

large marshmallows

cinnamon

sugar

melted butter (about 1/4 cup)

So, here is what you do:

Acquire/make some kind of roll dough. Like I said before, you can use store bought dough, or you can make your own. I used a plain roll recipe from a REALLY old Better Home and Garden cook book. You can find that recipe here.

After you have the dough all made and let it rise, make a sugar/cinnamon mixture. I did a little more sugar than cinnamon. I think I used about 1/4 cup cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar.

Roll a marshmallow in butter and then in the cinnamon mixture.

Then, grab some dough and wrap it around the marshmallow

After you dough is all wrapped around the marshmallow, roll the dough in the cinnamon mixture. Place it on a pan.

Cook them in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes. Check them to make sure they don't get too done. When I did it, I cooked them at 425 for 15 minutes and the marshmallows hadn't had time to expand and melt into the rolls all the way.

For the icing

I made a powdered sugar icing by mixing 2 cups of powdered sugar with milk until it looked like icing. Then I added a teaspoon of vanilla for flavor.

Enjoy! For more bread recipes, click here.

In the spirit of Easter, I wrote a post on the Atonement. Click here to read that.

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Guest Post: DIY Cleaning Products

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Because I can only write about saving money so much, I have enlisted the help of a few other bloggers during this cash-only March month. Today's post is from Rachel at eReplacmementParts.com. It is all about how you can save money by making your own house hold cleaners. She has some awesome ideas!

Here is what Rachel has to say:

In today’s economy, we are all looking for little ways to pinch pennies. One way to do this that many people don’t realize is by making your own cleaning products. Not only will you be saving money, you will be helping the environment by not adding harsh chemicals to your home!

In this post we'll look at a few more cleaners that you can use in the whole house and in your yard as well. As always, you'll want some white vinegar, borax, and a few other supplies handy. If you don't have them on your shelves you can find them in most grocery or craft stores, and organic grocery stores will definitely stock them. First up, we'll take a look at an amazing air freshener that will keep your home fresh without the cost and chemicals. We'll also look at a rust remover and an effective drain cleaner.

Air Freshener:

Sure, you can grab a candle or a scented plug-in from the store, but those rarely last long periods of time and usually only freshen the air in a small space. Sprays can cover more area, but they tend to overwhelm the sense no matter how much you spray. Try this crafty little air freshener recipe to have rooms that smell great without the headaches and constant replacements.

Here's what you need:

Baking soda
Essential oils (I like cinnamon and grapefruit for this project)
Mason jar (with lid ring)
Cheesecloth

Start by filling about an inch of baking soda in the bottom of your jar. Then add about 20 drops of essential oil to the baking soda. Cut your cheesecloth about 1/2 inch wider than the jar's lid (you want to lid to completely cover the cloth). Then add the cloth and screw on the lid ring for a freshener that will keep your room fresh for weeks on end!

Rust Remover:

Rust has a way of finding its way everywhere. Whether it's on your patio furniture or just a chair that got damp that one time the basement flooded, just about anything made of metal will eventually pick up a bit of rust. And as we all know, cleaning that rust is a real pain. Here's what you can do to make your own rust remover that can tackle even the toughest rust spots.

Here are a few tricks for beating rust on anything you own:

Salt and lime: Sprinkle some salt on the rust (which sounds counterintuitive, I know), then soak the salt with some of your lime. Let the mixture sit for about 2 hours then use the lime rind to remove the rust. You can also use a lemon for this trick.

White vinegar and aluminum foil: Just dip the aluminum foil in vinegar and scrub away. The rust should flake away. You can also soak smaller items such as tools in vinegar overnight. When you come back in the morning, you won't have to do any scrubbing!

Baking soda and water: Yup, this simple trick can work wonders, too! Just apply baking soda directly to the rust spot then apply water and scrub the spot with a toothbrush.

These rust-busting tricks will help with just about anything you have showing some rust. I prefer vinegar and aluminum foil for quick treatments. Go to the salt and lime for bigger/deeper stains.

Drain Cleaner:

And that brings us to a good all-purpose drain cleaner. This will work on any drains you have in your home, and is preferable to pouring a bunch of harsh chemicals down the tub or kitchen drain. Remember, you can also plunge drains that have backed-up water--often with resounding results.

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup salt
1 gallon water

For tougher clogs:

1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup vinegar
4 cups boiling water or hot tap water for plastic pipes

For simple clogs, and general light-duty cleaning, use the first set of ingredients. Mix together the salt and water, then heat it until it's almost boiling. Then just pour the mixture down the drain.

For tougher clogs, pour 1/2 cup of baking soda into the drain. Then add the vinegar. The two will react and begin attacking the clog. After 15 minutes, pour the boiling water down the drain (for plastic pipes, use hot tap water instead). This should take care of even the toughest if clogs. While you still have vinegar in the drain, you should avoid any commercial drain cleaners, as the two can mix to create toxic fumes.

Conclusion:

And that is our DIY cleaners for the home. We hope these recipes can help you achieve a cleaner, greener home and save you plenty of money in the process. They've worked for us, so let us know how they work for you and any tweaks you have to our recipes!

eReplamementParts.com has been selling parts and accessories for most major brands since 2003.
They’ve established themselves as a fan-favorite for support and repair assistance in their industry.

For more money saving posts, click here!
photo source:stockfreeimages.com | rmichealballard

Mint Shake

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 05:29:00 +0000

I thought this shake would be a good one for this month, seeing how it's March and St. Patrick's Day is coming up. It was delicious and festive and fun. And yummy.

Here's what you need:
ice cream
chocolate syrup
milk
Duncan Hines mint chocolate frosting creation

If you haven't heard of these frosting creations before, you can find them in the baking isle, where the frosting is. They have a TON of different flavors. They are meant to just add to frosting to color and flavor them, but you can do a lot of different things with them. I used the strawberry cheesecake flavor when I made this fudge.

Here's what you do:
Mix it all together :) I used an immersion blender (thanks mom!) and I used about 1/2 of the packet of the frosting creation for a 15 ounce shake. I didn't use much chocolate syrup, just a little. And, it was super brown when I was done, so I mixed in some green food coloring, because who wants a brown milkshake?

Check out more dessert recipes

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PS, this post is linked up to Eclectic Housewife's Creative Showcase. There are lots of other creative things there, go check it out.

Insight into my 8th day of my cash only spending plan

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:34:00 +0000

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It's funny how the Lord works, right? They say he works in mysterious ways. This month, I've been able to see that. Here I am, planning out this month so that we can save as much money as possible to be able to buy a car. I have all these great plans, and I was positive by the end of the month, I would have my car. It doesn't look like things will work out that way.

Yesterday, we found out that my husband won't be working next week either. We are lucky that he had gotten all the paperwork in to be able to be a substitute teacher before finding the job he has. He has been able to work a few days doing that, so we won't be paycheck-less this month, it'll just be less of a paycheck than we're used to.

He also got a call a couple days ago saying that the bill for his wisdom teeth removal was going to be more than we had originally planned for. That bill had to be paid before the surgery could happen. But, we were able to make that happen. We paid for it in cash. It would have been easy to use a credit card for this, and to justify it since it was a big expense, but we didn't.

But, because I had tightened up our budget so much, it's not even going to matter. I am so grateful that I planned this month this way. I believe that it was no accident. No, we won't be able to save anything this month, but we aren't going to have to use the savings we did have or use credit cards. We don't have a wisdom tooth surgery bill to pay off, and we aren't any worse for wear credit card wise. For that, I am very grateful.

I am also very grateful for the fact that my husband has been able to be home with us a little bit. He normally works 48 hours a week, which means we don't get to see him much. He is tired when he gets home, and the kids go to sleep about a half hour after he arrives. It has been so wonderful to be able to have him here a little more.

Of course, today was a little different. His wisdom teeth were removed this morning, so he has had a pretty rough day. I thought about trying to get a picture but decided I better not. Instead, here is a picture of us when we first started dating. We'd been dating for like... a week and he drove me 10 hours to my brother's wedding. It was like 20 hours back because of a horrible storm. And it was during finals week. Ya, he's pretty awesome :)

He's swollen and in pain. I feel bad because there is absolutely nothing I can do to make it better. But, it's amazing how fast the body heals, isn't it? My mom reminded me both times I gave birth that I would feel better tomorrow than I did today. Every day you get a little stronger, so I'm sure tomorrow will be a little better for my husband.

On a side note, he asked to keep the teeth. Weird, right? But, it turns out that wisdom teeth are HUGE! Who knew?

How have you been doing with your cash only plan? Any success stories?

Check out more about the cash only spending month I'm doing

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Toddler Activity: Eggshells

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

In my quest to come up with some good activities for my almost two year old, I came across an idea from Play, Create, Explore. This activity was easy to prepare and my little guy loved it. It kept him occupied for about 25 minutes, which is house in toddler time. So, what I did was save egg shells from breakfast (we had omelets). I boiled the egg shells and cleaned out the insides afterwords. I'm not sure if boiling was actually necessary, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I put all the shells into a bowl and stuck him in his high chair. He wasn't sure what to do at first and started throwing the egg shells in the garbage. I stopped him and showed him that he could crush them in his hands. That kept him occupied for about 10 minutes. Then, I gave him the meat tenderizer. I wish you could have seen his eyes light up when I handed him that bad boy. He spent the next 25 minutes smashing the shells with the tenderizer.

I'll let the pictures think for themselves.

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Recipe #24: Clam Chowder

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:30:00 +0000

I have never made clam chowder before... I'm pretty sure that I've only eaten it once. But, awhile ago, my husband bought a few cans of clams and asked me if I'd make it. That was like... a year ago. So, I decided it was time to finally try it out. I looked at a LOT of different recipes and decided to kind of do my own thing. It was pretty easy, and it turned out REALLY good (I thought, although I'm obviously not a good judge since I never eat it).
Anyway, on to the recipe!

Here's what you need:

5 potatoes

2 cans of baby clams

1 bay leaf

1 onion

3 stalks of celery

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 teaspoon dill

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon curry

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

4 pieces of bacon

5 tablespoons of bacon grease

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

Here's what you do:

Skin and cut up the potatoes and place in a pot. Pour in the two cans of clams. Put in enough water to cover the potatoes. Add the bay leaf. Bring the water to a boil on high heat, then turn down to medium heat and let it cook for awhile, until the potatoes are nice and tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, cut up the onion and celery. Place in a pan with the butter and seasonings and cook on medium heat until the onions are transparent. Once it's done, pour it into the pot with the potatoes

Meanwhile, cut up the bacon and cook it in a separate frying pan. Once it's done, pour it in the soup pot as well.

Keep cooking the soup until the potatoes are tender.

In a frying pan, put the 5 tablespoons of bacon grease. Add in the flour and cook over a medium heat. Allow the mixture to brown, but don't let it burn. Once it's bubbly, pour it into the soup pot.

if you don't have bacon grease, or you'd rather not use it, you can use your choice of thickener. Sometimes when I make potato based soups, I just pour some flour straigt into the soup.

Add the 1/2 cup of heavy cream

That's it! We ate it with some sour dough bread. It was delicious!

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