1. I love making pancakes. They are probably my favorite breakfast food....a close second would be waffles. One morning I wanted to make my homemade buttermilk pancakes and noticed I was running low on butter. I had enough to butter the pancakes but not enough for the batter (the recipe called for 4 Tbsp melted butter). My mom told me just to substitute oil for the butter. I was a little nervous at first, but they turned out perfectly! I tried the same substitution in my pumpkin pancakes and my waffles and each time they turned out exactly the same as if I had used butter. Why is this such a great tip? Because oil is a lot cheaper than butter! Thanks mom for the great tip!

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  2. Every fall I wait for one thing. It isn't the fall foliage or the first cool fall day (ok, I now consider a cool day to be 80 degrees, this is Florida) I wait for IHOP's Pumpkin Pancakes. I love them. My mom found this recipe and mailed it to me and I have to share it with you. Although it isn't exact (I think when someone else makes something for you it always tastes better) it is VERY similar to IHOP's Pumpkin Pancakes. Making these is much more affordable than taking the whole family out for breakfast. However, I will get to IHOP at least once while they have their Pumpkin Pancakes on the menu.


    Pumpkin Pancakes

    2 eggs
    1 1/4 cup buttermilk
    4 T butter melted
    3 T canned pumpkin
    1/4 cup sugar
    1/4 tsp salt
    1 1/4 cup flour
    1/2 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp baking soda
    1/4 tsp cinnamon
    1/4 tsp allspice

    Mix together the wet ingredients. Mix together dry ingredients. Combine right before you are ready to cook. Stir well until combined.





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  3. I was house sitting for a friend of mine and noticed she had some sort of plant sprouting up underneath the slide of the swing set. I thought it looked like a watermelon plant but I really wasn't sure. A couple of months later we were over visiting my friend when I asked her how that plant was doing. Words can't quiet explain how this plant grew. Look for yourself!


    As you can see it grew or perhaps the correct word would be vined over their fence, into their neighbors yard and "landed" on their clothes line!!! So instead of hanging clothes, they are hanging gourds! Perfect for fall!


    Linked to Barn Hop
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    Labels: Gardening

  4. We love eating cherries in this house. It can be rather messy though to feed your kids cherries and at the same time it can be a real pain to pit the cherries! I came up with this easy way to pit cherries. Check it out! It makes the "eating" process a little less messy.

    I used Pampered Chef's Core and More ($11.00) and a knife. I slice the cherry around the pit, twist and then use the scoop end of the Pampered Chef tool to scoop out the pit. It is the perfect size for the cherry not to big or small! It works good to hull strawberries as well. (P.S. I am not a Pampered Chef consultant, just love their products!)













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  5. You can make any stir fry better by starting off with some ginger and garlic. Unless you are making stir fry everyday, you most likely won't be able to use the whole ginger root before it goes bad. I wrap my ginger in plastic wrap, place it in a ziploc bag and place it in the freezer. When I am ready to use it I just take it out and use my microplane on the frozen ginger. I place the ginger back in the freezer before it starts to thaw so I can use it next time. Work for me every time!
     
    Frozen Ginger and Microplane

    Makes for some awesome Spice Chicken and Noodles!
     

    Tammy's Kitchen Tips, WFMW, Frugal Fridays
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  6. I am not a fan of clutter. I am sure many moms would cringe at the idea of ever throwing away a pice of art work their child made. Despite how precious my children's pictures are to me, I can't stand having stacks of papers laying around. When my Sarah started bringing home loads of art work from school and demanding I save all the drawings she did here at home I had to come up with a plan to keep it organized. I made an accordian style folder with her name on it that I put her most precious best pictures in. I make sure I label each one with the date and age because only God knows when I will have a chance to scrapbook them. The rest of the art work or shall I say the honorable mentions I take a picture of with my cell phone. My phone automatically sends them to my Picasa account so if it gets deleted off my phone I will always have a back up. I also upload some to Facebook so Grandma who lives in another state can also share in Sarah's art work. Sarah also likes to look at the pictures of my phone while we are sitting in a resturant, doctors office ect. and gets excited to see her art work on my phone.



    Mommy Resources, Women Living Well, WFMW,
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    Labels: Kids

  7. This recipe is 3-4 generations old..my mom would ONLY make this version of Apple Crisp, I never knew another recipe exsisted until I learned how to cook!! I have noticed the recipes that come from my Grandmother and Great Grandmother are very simple, basic and CHEAP to make!!! They usually use pantry staples. If you make this when apples are in season, it will not cost much!!


    Mom's Apple Crisp *Dairy Free

    1 cup white sugar
    3/4 cup flour
    1/3 cup crisco
    6 medium granny smith apples
    1 t cinnamon
    1/2 cup water

    Combine sugar and flour, cut in Crisco (I use my kitchen aid) set aside. Peel and cut the granny smith apples. Place in baking dish. Add cinnamon and water to apples, mix. Cover with sugar mixture. Bake for 40-45 min at 350 degrees. Enjoy!!





     
     


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    Labels: Recipes

  8. I love finding new recipes on-line, but hate having to print them out. I don't find it practical to take the computer in the kitchen and it is often a pain to try and load up multiple websites on smaller handheld devices. The answer to all of that is Pepperplate. It is a free app for your phone or tablet. You can load (via your computer) any recipes to the site, make weekly/monthly menu plans and grocery lists. They have dozens of websites that are some how "linked" to Pepperplate that allow you to simply copy and paste the URL and the recipe will pop up into your account. If you find a recipe on a blog, I just copy and paste it into the site. Be sure to add the URL to the notes so you can remember where you found the recipe. Once you add the recipes on you primary computer, just take your tablet or phone into the kitchen it will "sync" up all the recipes. To check out other neat apps check out Living So Abundantly. She often features apps on her site.


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  9. Nothing can save you more time or money then preparing meals ahead and freezing them or buying bulk meat, fruit, vegetables etc. and freezing them for future use. At the same time nothing can be more disheartening then finding out your hard work was a waste when your food has freezer burn! The two best tips for preventing freezer burn is to make sure what ever you are freezing has cooled down to room temperature before placing them in the freezer and double wrapping. Double wrapping just means if you wrap it in tin foil, place the tin foil covered food in a zip-loc bag. If you are freezing fruits or vegetables come up with a way to double wrap them or freeze them in an air tight container. Hope these tips help you out!!!


    Click here for more freezer tips.




    This is linked to Tammy's Kitchen Tips
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  10. It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of having a baby. The first time you get to go look through the baby section at the store you start realizing that you can actually buy this stuff for YOUR BABY! Then you start looking at the price tags and reality hits home. Babies are expensive! Most people look to their friends and family on advice for what they need for their new little bundle of joy (and you know while you are pregnant people are NEVER short on advice!). One piece of advice I gave my expecting friend over at Living So Abduntanlty is not to waste her money on a crib bumper. Yes, they are cute, soft, and Grandma might even tell you that you HAVE to have one! But they can be very dangerous and are NOT recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Why do retailers have such a wide variety and assortment of crib bumpers if they are not safe? Because they want your money and they KNOW you will hand it over for a cute crib bumber that will look perfect in your new nursery. So don't waste your money or your gift cards on a crib bumper. Your nursey will look fine with out it and your pocket book will thank you!

    Besides a babies favorite place to sleep is on their mommy!

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