Suzie Homemaker in Training

I asked for this book for Christmas and when I got it I was super disappointed that all of the recipes were for ice cream machines. I put the book away for months because I was mad I couldn't use it. Luckily I also received a gift card for Home Outfitters and after 5 months it hit me, buy a ice cream maker. So I used my GC and bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker. The difference in the quality is amazing and knowing everything that is in it feels good too. I bought $6 worth of ingredients and the rest was just stuff I had around the house and it made 3 quarts of ice cream. A big savings in my book. The book is jenis splendid ice creams at home by by Jeni Britton Bauer and the Cuisinart ice cream maker was obviously from Home Outfitters and was $69.99.

I had to try it for myself. I kept seeing these posted on pinterest and wondered if there was much truth to it. I used the ends of 6 green onions that were going in the trash regardless and cut them about two inches from the root. This picture is a weeks worth of growth. I'm never buying green onions again! **Update**  This updated photo is 24 hours of growth, we have been doing this for a while now and it still amazes me. It is about half an inch in just 24 hours! 

Whenever I open the drawer to wrap something I always reach for the plastic wrap because this is what my family has always used, but every time I have to throw away a piece of plastic wrap I get an awful feeling of wastefulness. I have done a little research about when you should use one or the other and what the environmental effects of each foil and wrap have on the environment. Foil What it's best for: If you're refrigerating something smelly, foil creates a stronger barrier to keep odors in. Just be sure to seal as tightly as possible. Foil is also ideal if you'll be reheating the food in a conventional oven, since it can withstand heat. It’s also good to wrap a snug layer of foil around plastic-wrapped foods you plan to freeze like meat because it keeps out oxygen, which causes freezer burn. Plastic What it's best for: Keeping acidic foods such as fruit or avocados from browning, and keeping other foods like sandwiches and cut produce fresh. And...

Often we like to make quiche for lunch because it will feed us for a few days. Normally we make our quiche with no crust just to be healthier but because of the longer hours I am working we find there are longer waits in between meals and the carbs help the meal go a bit farther. These two quiches from start to finish cost about $8 to make and will feed both of us for at least four lunches which is $1 for each lunch. In our quiche we have: Zucchini Red pepper Spinach Ham Mozza cheese Salt & Pepper And the obvious egg What I like most about this is it is quick and we can make it on a Sunday night and then have lunches for the rest of the week. Otherwise I end up being too tired to make a lunch at night and I never have enough time in the morning. This means I end up spending unnecessary money on lunch.

I may be showing my age here but most of the time Chad and I like to spend Friday nights at home. We make a homemade pizza get a bottle of wine (or two) and maybe fire up the wii. This is a Hungarian salami and shrimp pizza with caramelized onions and peppers. It cost us less that $10 to make this pizza and about 30 minutes start to finish. Plus homemade pizza is twice as filling as delivery so we usually have lunch for the next day too. I highly recommend switching from delivery to homemade. The quality is worth the extra effort. **UPDATE**   I have started making my pizza dough a bit healthier as that seems to be our trend, but we still like to have some indulgences on the weekend. I found this recipe on Pinterest (where else) but I am sorry, I didn’t pin it and can’t remember which of the 100 different posts it was from. This is beyond easy, anyone can make this. Ingredients: 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 1...

So this cheesecake was one I made for Chad 's birthday because he is a Toblerone lover. It actually turned out really well and not as sweet as I thought. Here is the link to the recipe As far as cheesecake goes this is a really easy one to make and you don’t need a lot of ingredients. One thing I did notice is that it didn’t come out quite as tall as the picture makes it look, but I think that helps with cutting down the sweetness. You could easily change out the cheesecake recipe for one that you have in your repertoire and just use the toppings. Overall it was a crowd pleaser and it was put my back pocket for an easy go to dessert that I can make the day before if I need to.

Today my friend Katlyn came over and we made Sesame Street cupcakes. We used the #233 Wilton tip for the fur, marshmallows for the eyes and cookies for the mouths. The cake mixes were still $2.98 and the icing sugar, butter and vanilla were just in the cupboard so I can't really say how much they were. Plus Katlyn brought the goodies for decorating. I find that the food colouring ruins the consistency of the icing because you need so much to get the right colour. The gel you can get at Michaels is better for keeping the consistency but is more expensive. But I did learn that if you make the icing the day before the colour becomes more saturated and will look red rather than the pink you see here.