Bathroom Cleaning Tip

I haven't posted cleaning tips for awhile. Here's a good one: Use rubbing alcohol on bathroom fixtures to help them shine.

If you're trying to sell your house, this can help your bathroom look inviting!

Gift Idea for Boys

I have three extremely cute male cousins who are between the ages of 7-12. Flannel pillow cases were their gift two Christmases ago. (I'm going through the archives of my pictures...don't judge...I'm just working on a VERY BIG home improvement project at the moment!)


These were really easy to make. Here's a tutorial suggestion.
I love flannel. It is so nice and soft.

Toddler Pickiness

My little guy doesn't really like meat. He eats hamburgers selectively (if they're nice and salty, I like to mix garlic salt and BBQ sauce into ours) and doesn't like chicken very often. He does love hot dogs.

But I feel guilty feeding him a hot dog every day. Too much salt.

He loves my mom's meatloaf (it was my grandmother's recipe). I can't make it myself b/c I don't think it is all that healthy (sorry mom!) and I don't have a place to buy the mix around here (she gets it at a small, family-owned grocery store).

My solution: make him meatballs. I made 1.5 dozen this morning and plan to freeze them. To my delight, I found some grass-fed beef at a farmer's market this weekend and used 1 pound of the ground beef in the meatballs.

I added 1 cup of Panko breadcrumbs (the Japanese kind which are flaked instead of ground so it is lighter and has more volume than regular crumbs).

Then I added a small amount of salt, pepper, an egg, minced fresh basil (I didn't measure) plus I chopped 1/2 an onion and shredded a carrot.

I'm hoping he eats these meatballs to get some more iron and protein into his diet.

Making a Flower Arrangement

We're currently in the process of selling our home. We have had two open houses and three showings. In about seven weeks. That's it. So I tried to do everything I could think of to make it more appealing to potential buyers. While we cleared clutter and put away pictures, I didn't want to make our home seem impersonal or uninviting.

So we bought a fake plant. Also, I wanted a flower arrangement or something for the living room's coffee table. I'm not one usually into flower arrangements...but I decided to make an exception. I didn't want to spend much money. So for $11.75, I made this:

I went to Pat Catan's, a wonderful craft store, and found these things: a tin rectangular bucket, $1 fake flowers (I bought 5 bunches) and a foam brick to hold it all together.

To start, I cut the flowers from their bunches (leaving 4-5" of stem) with wire cutters.

Then my wire cutters got jammed. I guess they're not so great.
Luckily, this was the set of tools my husband allotted me for crafting use, so he won't be upset they are now kaput.
Then I poked the remaining stem into the foam brick. This should be done with the brick inside the container so one knows how far the blooms should protrude. Live and learn.
I tried to make things symmetrical.
I think it looks good. It isn't too "floral-y" for me!

Bran Raisin Muffins

These muffins are GREAT. We used to make them all the time. Then once we started reading ingredient labels, we found out that there was high fructose corn syrup in the bran cereal we used (the recipe came from the cereal's box, we made a few modifications).

But then I found bran cereal at Trader Joe's last month with NO HFCS!! Yippie!

My husband is running a marathon next weekend, so he needs to carbo load. He requested that I make these muffins to help him with the carbo loading (also defined as 'eating as much as possible' by one of my Exercise Physiology professors in grad school...real technical, right?)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups bran cereal (like Kellog's All-Bran)
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I always use a little less)
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Place raisins in a bowl. Cover with boiling water.

2. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl, combine the bran cereal and milk. Let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal softens. Add egg and oil. Beat well. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Drain the raisins, fold them into the batter. Portion evenly into twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin pan cups coated with cooking spray.

3. Bake at 400° F about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.