Holiday Gift Budget Pie

November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Remember all of those posts on The Budget Pie?

Yeah, that Budget Pie concept can come in handy for the holidays too. I saw a list today but of course I can’t find it now. It had four things on it but I like threes so here is a great gift giving Budget Pie!

1. Something fun

2. Something to wear

3. Something to eat

Maybe the pie isn’t balanced into to thirds but if you set your pie to $20 or $50 or whatever your budget is for the person, you will end up with a great holiday gift they are sure to love.

Yes, this is simple but something simple like this can help keep the holiday simple and let you focus on the “Reason for the Season!”

How do you determine your holiday budget? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Budgeting Advice, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wordless Wednesday: Dessert…mmmmmmmm!

November 30, 2011 By 24 Comments

No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without dessert.  This year, we cooked up three beauties.  The pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake were made with fresh pumpkin that we prepared ourselves (no cans here, folks!).

The cherry pie was a little too simple.  Store bought pie crust with canned cherry pie filling.  I had to do something to dress it up a bit.  After putting the lattice on, I cut out a few leaf shapes with the remaining pie dough and balled up a few pieces and smashed them flat to make a pretty little decoration.  It looked (and felt) just a little more homemade for the big day.

All of the desserts were tasty and a perfect ending to a great meal.

Leave us a comment about your favorite desserts for Thanksgiving and let us know where your Wordless Wednesday is so that we can come say hi!

 

Filed Under: Memes, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Big Boy Room: Toy Organizer

November 29, 2011 By 3 Comments

We are excited to provide a review of RiverRidge Kids 6 Bin Storage Cabinet in Espresso!

We were looking for an affordable option to help organize the mass of toys accumulating in our little boy’s room.  We had been using a two-drawer dresser, but the poor boy had trouble opening it and could never find his toys.  Once we saw the bright colors and easy access of this cabinet, we knew that we had found what we were looking for.

The cabinet got here very quickly (just a couple of days) and was incredibly simple to put together.  You have a bit of a balancing act fitting the middle pieces together, but that’s not too tough.  The biggest issue was really my own fault.  I’m terrible at screwing in the backings on these types of things and I almost always wind up screwing one through a piece of the wood.  All in all, it took me about 30 minutes to put it all together and that included me having 2 kids running around like crazy!

As you can see below, his little cabinet really helps to dress up his space and gives him some real organization for his toys.  Most importantly, he can get to his stuff and line everything up like he loves to do.  After Christmas, we may be looking at getting another one to hold some more of his gifts!  They are so affordable since it includes all six bins and easy to put together that I’m not sure how we can pass it up.

Looking for organizing ideas or toy ideas? Check out some product reviews and then head over to Amazon to shop!

How do you organize the toys at your house? What would use this cabinet for? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Home & Garden, Promotional, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Lakeshore Learning Materials – Great Gifts for Kids

November 29, 2011 By

Details …

Lakeshore is dedicated to creating innovative educational materials that spark young imaginations, instill a sense of wonder and foster a lifelong love of learning. With materials for infants & toddlers through the 6th grade, we help children reach developmental milestones and achieve educational goals—while still having fun! We know that each child is unique, and we strive to develop materials that appeal to children of all interests, backgrounds and abilities. And, of course, all of the products we carry must meet stringent quality & safety standards—so they’re strong enough for daily use in the classroom and safe enough for use by babies and children.

Lakeshore Learning Materials offers Great Gifts for Kids!

Our Thoughts …

We had the opportunity to shop at the Lakeshore Learning Materials website. The organization of the website helped us narrow down our selection easily with the ability to select gifts from the age ranges listed! We decided to try the Draw & Write Touch Board!

The main reason we selected this product is that Grace is on a sudden drawing and writing her letters kick thanks to Kindergarten. She really loves this board. It allows her to practice her letters and draw pictures then start all over. We have had to explain several times to the kids that you do not use crayons or markers on the board. As a result, we only pull it out when all “colors” are put away. The board is larger in size which is great for our family because two kids can easily play at this without fighting … well without fighting too much.

Use this link to Lakeshore Learning Materials to get 25% off your order!

We have been given the opportunity to give one of our readers a $25 gift card to Lakeshore Learning Materials!

Details:
This drawing will end Tuesday, December 13th at 11:59pm EST. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in the comment form so you can be contacted if you are a winner! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count. This giveaway is open to US residents only !

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Visit Lakeshore Learning Materials and tell us your favorite product.

Additional Entries:

1) Follow us on Facebook HERE. Worth two entries so leave two comments here! (Psst … we love comments on Facebook so maybe you can leave us one!)
2) Follow BOTH SimplyBudgeted and This_Cookin_Dad on Twitter. Leave a THREE comment with your twitter name.
3) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a Lakeshore Learning Materials $25 #giftcard at @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/vIsn7z ends 12/31 #giveaway #toys #learning #gift

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
4) Subscribe to the daily email here at Simply Budgeted. It is at the top of the sidebar!;) Please leave a comment. (worth 5 entries!)

NOTE: We were provided with a gift card to Lakeshore Learning Materials to provide this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Meatless Monday: Red Beans and Rice

November 28, 2011 By 3 Comments

Our family love rice.  With few exceptions, if you place a dish with rice in front of my kids, they will eat it.  I love red beans and rice in particular because, growing up in Louisiana, the dish was kind of a staple of my youth.  Many recipes add meat (ham hocks, sausage, etc.) but I’m not sure that this is completely necessary to make a successful red beans and rice.  I put together a version a couple of months ago that used a meat substitute (take a look here), but this time, I want to go completely meatless (no cheating).  This version takes simple ingredients and converts them into a thick, rich dish that, when poured over rice, makes a rich hearty meal.

 

Red Beans and Rice

This is a small batch recipe.  It’s just enough to top a small bowl of rice for myself, my wife, and our three little ones with no leftovers.  If you need more, you can pretty easily double or triple this recipe.  You can definitely make this ahead of time and reheat it during the weeknights.

Ingredients

2 T olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 t cumin
1 t Italian seasoning
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 C water
prepared white rice
chopped green onions (optional)

Directions

Heat oil in medium pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and cook until translucent, 5-7 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Add salt, pepper, cumin, and Italian seasoning.  Cook another 2-3 minutes.  Add beans and cook for 1 minute.  Add water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Uncover beans and smash about half of the beans against the side of the pot.  Stir well and recover.  Continue simmering for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Serve over prepared rice and top with green onions.  Enjoy!

We hope you enjoy our simple offering on Meatless Monday.  Leave us a comment if you enjoy it or let us know what you are having tonight.  If you are interested in Meatless Monday and want to get some more information about joining in the movement at your home, check out this site or send us an email.

Filed Under: Meatless Monday, Memes, Recipes, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cyber Monday Deals!

November 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We don’t post a lot of deals as we aren’t a deals blog but we are the first to admit that deals help make our budget. So we want to share with you the top three deals (in our opinion!) for Cyber Monday!

First up …. 40% off everything at Flirty Aprons and free shipping with code CYBERFLIRTY!! You can’t beat this sale. This is a perfect gift for someone on your list OR for your baking self! I LOVE my Flirt Apron! This is the frosted cupcake apron that I LOVE!

Spoonful of Comfort … Soup Package Black Friday deal is still good today! I wish I sent this instead of flowers recently so think about those who need a little pick me up or meal off but not out!

Regular Price $89 … on sale for 50% off to make it only $49!!

Includes …

Family size jar of chicken noodle soup
- Ladle
- Home-style rolls
- Holiday cookies
- Festive socks
- Candy cane hot cocoa
- Holiday wrapped with a candy cane
- Your own hand-written greeting.

Use coupon code “blackfriday” to get this discount!

 

And finally … E-Mealz meal planning for 30% off!

E-Mealz is offering our biggest discount ever on gift certificates. Through Cyber Monday, sign up for E-Mealz and get the Holiday Plan for free and 30% off of your new subscription. Another option is purchasing gift certificates for 30% off for all your friends and family. Use the code CYBER to take advantage of these deals.
SAVE TIME AND MONEY WITH E-MEALZ MEAL PLANS
Where are you shopping this Cyber Monday? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Deals, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Daring Baker: Sans Rival

November 27, 2011 By 5 Comments

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

I decided to stick to the Sans Rival cake just due to the amount of time I had available. The semester is winding down for my graduate class and my time is pretty limited but baking is a great stress relief for me … well most of the time.

The Sans Rival cake is a sponge cake. It traditionally has cashews in it but it seems my mother only baked with pecans and that is all I bake with too. I had the pecans in the pantry and it is hard to turn down anything with them in it so I figured pecans was the way to go. Brian’s comment was the pecan flavor made the dessert more “Southern”. Maybe those years living near the pecan plantation in South Carolina did wear off on my mom and that is why she bakes so much with pecans! It doesn’t really matter though as the pecan version was amazing. Brian requested to keep the traditional recipe (no chocolate). I decided to add the vanilla to the french buttercream icing because I love vanilla flavoring. My first attempt at the icing was not a success but the second time it worked thanks to Brian!

The icing seemed a bit skimpy to me to cover the sides and top pretty but the pecans along the edges made a nice finishing touch for sure. I went along the upper edge to just continue the decoration a little like I have seen with some other “fancy” cakes.

I did have to bake the cake in two batches because I only had two 9″ cake pans. I think one of my layers wasn’t as full as the others because it broke coming out of the pan. The beauty of the icing is that you can’t tell!

The directions said to eat it within in three days and I know we won’t be able to down this in that time. So I think I will freeze some and take it my dad. He loves pecans so I am thinking he will really love this cake!

Have you ever tried a Sans Rival cake? Do you bake sponge cakes? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Daring Kitchen, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Friday Favorites: Top Secret Recipe (TV Show)

November 25, 2011 By 7 Comments

Friday Favorites is another almost weekly feature here at Simply Budgeted. The whole point of this feature is to share some of our favorite finds. Anything is game. Food. Cleaning supplies. Kid stuff. Garden favorites. Recipes. Anything that I really like and want to randomly post about. Reminder/Disclaimer/Whatever: Everything in Friday Favorites is something that we use and bought on our own.

Up this week …

Top Secret Recipes

We have never posted about a TV show, but this one seemed to good to look past.  As many of you may have guessed from many of Brian’s posts, we think about food a lot around here.  Because our budget is tight, though, we don’t eat out very much.  Well, that’s only really part of the story.  You see, Brian can actually cook pretty well.  So when we actually do go out to restaurants, all we can think about it is how Brian could make the food just as good for a quarter of the price.

There are, however, some things out there that just seem impossible to recreate at home.  Have you ever eaten something and thought, “Oh, I wish I had this recipe?”  Take heart, you aren’t the only one.  And someone out there is on your side.  Todd Wilbur apparently had the same thought over 20 years ago and developed Top Secret Recipes.  The self-described “food hacker” has written a collection of books and now has a TV show that we are simply addicted to.  He attempts to clone such classics as Outback’s Bloomin’ Onion, Chili’s Baby Back Ribs, and Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookies.  It’s hilarious to watch him dig through dumpsters and get caught impersonating different characters.  Besides being entertaining, however, the show is also instructional.  It demonstrates the thought process that goes into creating a recipe in the first place and shows the home cook that even the chain restaurants spend months and years getting a recipe “just right”.

Before the Mrs. Field’s episode came out, we attempted to recreate Todd’s first “food hack” with his original Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookie clone.  The results varied, mostly because I set the oven temperature way too low (it had been a long day).  The cookies tasted great, but the soft texture just wasn’t right.  We might have to practice our cloning of clone skills.  I guess if you are going to practice, chocolate chip cookies aren’t a bad place to start!

What “Top Secret Recipe” do you crave after?  Leave us a comment and then check out Top Secret Recipes to see if Todd has cloned it yet.

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Memes, Recipes, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Sitbetter Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sale

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Are you doing your Black Friday shopping online or holding off until Cyber Monday to shop?

That means you are sitting in a desk chair … or if you aren’t then you should be. So head over to Sitbetter and check out their sale. The coupon codes for their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale are already live for Simply Budgeted readers so this a great opportunity to upgrade your desk chair or give one to someone you love!

As you may know or maybe don’t know, Brian has minor back pain problems.  A new chair at our desk would probably help him out greatly. Right now we have a dining room chair at our primary desk because it was all that we could find that would fit at the old desk and not take up too much space!

Well at Sitbetter, we were able to search by back pain level and find a chair that would be idea for helping Brian sit better at our desk! I have to say I am eying the Kore Stool!

 

Besides just looking cool, I know it would help with posture while sitting at the desk. The Kore Stool looks small enough to maybe even fit under this old desk we have. The biggest issue might be convincing the kids that it is a chair and not a toy or climbing stand for them!

So get a jump start on your Christmas shopping and find a Sitbetter chair for someone in your life … maybe one for you so you can shop online in comfort!

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about the Kore Stool or what other cool chairs you find at Sitbetter.

Filed Under: Home & Garden, Promotional, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Scentsy Celebrates Christmas

November 24, 2011 By

We are excited to kick off Christmas with a holiday themed Scentsy giveaway from Independent Consultant Amy Adams!

 

Jolly Full-Size Scentsy Warmer PREMIUM
As festive a sight as old St. Nick himself. Jolly’s playful, potbellied base is cinched in a wide black belt and silver buckle. Glazed in bright, Christmas red and trimmed with a contrasting white dish, you won’t be able to resist this very merry midriff!

Midnight Fig Scentsy Bar
Earthy, ripened figs and golden berries tempered by musky woods will open your eyes and captivate your senses.

 

Do you already LOVE Scentsy? Consider being a host and getting the host rewards that include discounts on your order and half price items!! Being a host would be a great way to finish your holiday shopping with a discount (and get something for yourself too!!)

Interested in learning more about Scentsy hostess benefits or job opportunities? Contact Independent Consultant Amy Adams at AmyAdams.IndependentConsultant@gmail.com!

We are excited to offer one of our readers the Jolly Full-Size Scentsy Warmer and Midnight Fig Scentsy Bar pictured above in a giveaway!

Details:
This drawing will end Thursday, December 8th at 11:59pm EST. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in your comment or have it in your profile so you can be contacted if you are a winner! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.This giveaway is open to US residents only!
So how do you enter?

Additional Entries:
1) Sign up to be part of Amy’s email newsletter for the latest Scentsy deals! Worth FIVE entries … so leave FIVE comments that say “agree to be added to email list”.
2) Sign up to host a catalog party with Amy by sending her email (email address above). Leave TEN  comments that say “Signed up to be a Catalog Host”. Plus you have some great benefits coming your way!:)
3) Follow us on Facebook HERE. Worth two entries so leave two comments here! (Psst … we love comments on Facebook so maybe you can leave us one!)
4) Follow us on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name.
5) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a Christmas Scentsy warmer and scent @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/v3ytxN ends 12/8 #giveaway #candle #gifts #Christmas

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
6) Subscribe to the daily email here at Simply Budgeted. It is at the top of the sidebar!;) Please a comment. (worth 5 entries!)
Disclosure: We received no payment for hosting this giveaway. The prize fulfillment will be honored through this Independent Consultant.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Home & Garden, Promotional, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts