More Baby Food: Pears

Last week a nasty stomach bug hit our house. My oldest was miserable most of last week so we did a lot of cuddling and lots of Dora/Diego. You know your kid is truly sick when he walks himself back to his bedroom and voluntarily goes back to sleep at 9:30am. 

Now on to the recipe. So pears are really easy to make and are a great first fruit.

Wash them and cut into fourths and cut out the core. 

Place them in a steamer basket and steam for about 15 minutes or until tender

Allow them to cool and scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Place in a blender or food processor and puree.

You shouldn't have to add any water to pears to get the right consistency. 

Scoop them into your jars and freeze or store in the fridge. This batch I did 4 pears @$0.87/lb and got 8 jars our of it (picture below was before I finished). So that worked out to $0.19/ jar! Still a great deal and it's super easy!

DIY Baby Food

My youngest has reached that point (ok - it was a while ago, but I'm just now getting around to showing you) where he's ready to eat solid foods. I like knowing exactly what is in my baby's food so I've always made it. Plus it is sooooo CHEAP!

Let me show you...

I usually start with orange vegetables. I read somewhere that they are easier to digest and aren't gassy.

So with carrots you just wash and peel them

Chop

Throw them into a steamer basket and steam. You can also simply boil them, but they retain more nutrients when steamed.

Once they're tender, about 15 minutes or so, throw them into a food processor or blender. I have this mini food processor that I've found is perfect.

With carrots you'll need to add some water and blend until smooth. 

Place in containers for storage. I got this set for my first son and have been great. You can also use baby food jars that have been cleaned out. 

I made about a half pound of carrots and got 12 1/2 containers. The bag of carrots (organic) was  .88 cents for a pound so that's about $0.04/jar! 

I'll be sharing more recipes through the week and as my little guy grows and we venture into new tastes so stay tuned for that!

Light & Healthy Lunch: Pasta Spinach Salad

Consider yourself lucky that I'm sharing this recipe! This is one of my MOST favorite and it is so light and yummy!

I love making this salad in a big batch and munching on it for lunch through the week. It also makes a great side dish to BBQ or whatever you've got going for dinner! It's perfect for summer too because you don't heat up your kitchen!

Boil some water and add 6 oz of spiral pasta

While that cooks, in a large bowl mix up tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, green onions, and spinach. 

Once the pasta is cooked and cooled (you don't want to melt the feta) toss together with 1/3C low calorie Italian dressing.

Enjoy!

Pasta Spinach Salad:

• 6oz spiral pasta (I use the garden, tri-colored kind)
• 2 medium tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 C feta cheese crumbled
• 1/4 C green onions sliced
• about a can of sliced black olives
• 6 C torn fresh spinach
• 1/3 C low calorie Italian dressing

Cook pasta and drain. 

Combine all ingredients and toss to coat the mixture. Cover and chill. 

Did I mention my little man devours it? Spinach and all!

My New Craft Table for under $50!

I'm so excited that I've finally gotten my craft table together. I've been waiting forever for it to come together in this house. 

In our master bedroom we have this little nook where I'm sure a bed or desk was envisioned going. I had other plans for it. I initially had my sewing table here in the nook. The problem was I didn't have enough space to pin things or keep in-progress projects away from the boys. Anything and everything would land on the sewing table and then I just wouldn't be able to use my sewing machine so nothing got done.

Now I have a space to keep my unfinished projects out of my boys' reach and plenty of room to work.

 

I got the table top from Ikea for $10 in the As-Is section!!! This was pretty much what I'd been waiting for in putting this together. I didn't want to spend a lot and since we don't have an Ikea here I had to wait until I could go to one and had a way to get it home. I found this one in Arizona when I was visiting my family last month and my dad brought it to me last week when he came through town. 

Here's what I did. 

First I found the stud and measured to the height I wanted (I did counter height so I could stand and craft and my littles couldn't pull things off). I pushed my laser level in at this point and then used it to mark the studs around the rest of the nook.

I attached my brackets to the wall ($2/piece at Ikea)

Finally I had my husband help me place the table top on the brackets and using a small screw attached the table top to the brackets. I had to get one additional L bracket at Lowe's for the side next to the fridge. 

I found these cute storage bins on clearance at Target that go with the colors in our room and Voila! My craft table for under $50!  

I also got this magnetic knife thing at Ikea and put my scissors and cutting tools on it for easy access.

One of the baskets has all my adhesives 

this one has dyes, my old school labeler, zip ties, etc

a magnet board I made out of a dollar store tray

Ribbons, fabrics, and all the rest (and I got the orange drawers for FREE! they were just chillin' on the neighbor's curb one night...lol)

I'm so happy with my new craft desk and now I can get busy on all the projects I have tucked away.


Like what you see? Follow my blog to catch all my upcoming projects!!!

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Do You Wash Your Produce? Another Use For Basic H!

So do you wash your produce? I usually do. I mean I rinse them off before cutting them up or using them, but recently I've been putting them in my sink to wash thoroughly. 

As soon as I bring them home, I fill the sink and add 2 teaspoons of Basic H. Then I add my fruit and let it soak for about 10 minutes and rinse. 

This batch was especially dirty. I could not believe the dirt that was on these strawberries! 

 The greatest part is the amount you use is only going to cost you about $0.22!  It's worth it to get my food clean! Yuck