Friday Favorites: Holiday Tree Bundt Pan

December 23, 2011 By 2 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.

With Christmas (and the need for quick last minute gift ideas) upon us, this week’s Friday Favorite is…

Holiday Tree Bundt Pan

These pans become a staple around our house this time of year.  Sure, you can use them to make some beautiful cakes, but we prefer to use ours as a mold for Rice Krispy treats.  Just make the traditional recipe and, using gloved or greased hands, push the mix into the mold.  Once it’s cooled, unmold the treats and fill the center with M&M’s.  These make simple gifts for all of those little places where you want to show your appreciation, but can’t (or don’t want to) purchase individual gifts for one or two people.  Your mechanic, doctor’s office, even as a gift for your coworkers. You can also see our first post on the Christmas Rice Krispy Wreath idea for a decorated version!

It’s available on Amazon (and qualifies for Prime shipping!)


What is your favorite holiday treat to give as a gift? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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Friday Favorites: God Gave Us Christmas

December 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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.

In the spirit of Christmas, up this week …

God Gave Us Christmas

 

Details …

As Little Cub and her family prepare to celebrate the most special day of the year, the curious young polar bear begins to wonder…
“Who invented Christmas?”
Mama’s answer only leads to more questions like “Is God more important than Santa?” So she and Little Cub head off on a polar expedition to find God and to see how he gave them Christmas. Along the way, they find signs that God is at work all around them. Through Mama’s gentle guidance, Little Cub learns about the very first Christmas and discovers that…
Jesus is the best present of all.
This enchanting tale provides the perfect opportunity to help young children celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and to discover how very much God loves them.

Our Thoughts …

This book is a super easy read and our kids loved it as a bedtime story. It is a story for those who have kids that ask lots of questions about Christmas and why we celebrate it. The little cub and momma bear in the story allow the kids to easily relate to the journey they take to ask the cub’s question about “Who invented Christmas?” This would be a great book to add your bookshelf this holiday season!

It is available on Amazon (and qualifies for Prime shipping too!)

Have you read this book before? Do you love it? What is your favorite Christmas children’s book? Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

 

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Friday Favorites: Tonka Mighty Dump Truck

December 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

Yes, I am sticking with a toy theme as it is December and we have some toys that are seriously loved at our house!

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 …

Tonka Toughest Vehicle – Mighty Dump Truck

Details …

  • Full lifetime guarantee
  • Oversized dump truck measures 18 by 11-1/4 inches; 6-1/2-inch tires
  • Large-capacity dump bed constructed of heavy-duty steel
  • Rugged plastic body and tires safe for wet, muddy conditions
  • Tilt-back dump bed with sturdy plastic handle for lifting. Yellow or red truck selected at random when shipped.

Tonka trucks are made with steel and rugged plastic, and guaranteed for life! Young engineers are sure to have hours of fun with this authentic-looking dump truck. Giant wheels make even the most rugged sites accessible! Indoors or out, the Mighty Truck gets the job done!

Colors and styles vary. Yellow or red truck selected at random when shipped.

Did you know that “Tonka” means “great” in Sioux? It’s no surprise considering just how long this great, reliable brand of toy trucks has been around! In 1947, the first Tonka brand toy trucks were actually designed and manufactured by the Mound Metalcraft Company, a small garden toll manufacturer operating from a small schoolhouse basement in Minnesota. In their first year of operation, a staff of only a half dozen people produced a total of 37,000 metal trucks with two designs. This inventory sold out in just a few months as many post-World War II families quickly accepted this new toy. As a result, in 1949, the first Tonka dump truck was introduced launching the first generation of the Tonka brand’s family tree. Today, the Tonka brand upholds the same premise it was found on: a toy should be durable and provide the child with as much play value possible.

Our Thoughts …

Little Dude received the yellow version as a birthday gift when he turned one. He is now two and this is one of his favorite toys. He calls it “truck”. He loves to pile his blanket and sippy cup and whatever else he can find and run around the living room in circle pushing this truck. We love it is a steel truck so he hasn’t broken it! This is a heavy duty truck. There are a few toys the kids have that I will keep when they are done with them to give back to them one day and I think this will go in his box. It is big but this truck will hold up to another generation for sure!

If you have a truck lover, check this out for sure! By the way, don’t buy this on Amazon. The price on Amazon right now is triple that of ToysRUs!;)
Do you have this truck at your house? What is the favorite toy at your house right now? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Kids, Memes, Simply Family 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: , , , , , , , ,

Friday Favorites: Oscar Mayer Sub Kit

October 21, 2011 By 4 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 …

 Oscar Mayer Sub Kit

Details …

Kit contains:

  • Smoked Ham – 97% Fat Free
  • Smoked Turkey Breast – White Turkey – 98% Fat Free
  • Makes 16 6″ subs
  • Layered for easy prep
  • Zip-Pak® resealable packaging
  • Fully cooked

Our Thoughts …

Have you ever even heard of these? We discovered these at Sam’s Club earlier this year. Yes, this is why you often see “subs” on meal plan. We can make our own subs for a great price and everyone is happy at dinner time.They are laid out so you can put it right on the sub roll. You can get one of the package at a time since they are separated with the meat paper. So no pulling out three layers when you only want one!!

This is my Friday Favorite today because today Grace and I both have this our lunches today. I am meeting her for field trip today. She had to pack her lunch and I had to pack a lunch too. We both normally do this but I don’t normally have  sandwich in mine. I figured it would be good to have the same items in our lunch today. I had yummy looking subs in minutes. Well technically, we are sharing one big sub and I just cut it up for each of us to have some. The only thing would have made it better would have been if Brian got around to making the mayonnaise he said he would make.

Anyway, you have to check these out. I know Sam’s Club here in the Ham and Turkey variety (apparently there are other varieties out there!)

Do you use these kits or have any other great sandwich or sub making cheats? Share with us!

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Friday Favorites: Apple Cake

October 14, 2011 By 2 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 …

Apple cake

 In our house, apple season means the start of baking season.  Apple cake is one my favorite baking successes of the fall. I fell in love with apple cake I think seven years ago. It is a cake that is so simple to make yet so impressive. Plus is a cake that hardly anyone has had before so it a big treat to share. I have these new small bunt pans this year that I got one of those deal sites this summer. I had no idea what I was going to do them but they were a great deal so I bought two. I am so happy I bought to of these shallow bunt pans because I was able to split the recipe in half between them and ended up two cakes. One went to our new neighbors and we had the other one. These cakes weren’t as thick but you don’t really need them as thick. I use my apple peeler/corer to make the cake making process faster but you really only need like two decent size apples for the recipe. This is the recipe I use with the only variation being that I split the two layer approach into to pans this time. When I use one regular bunt pan, I would make the cake 3-4 layers (instead of the two) to get more apple taste in there!

What is your favorite apple recipe? We shared about our applesauce canning on Wednesday. Next on my list is a caramel apple pie. mmmm. Fall is just so yummy!! If you haven’t tried apple cake, you should … you are seriously missing out!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Home & Garden, Memes, Recipes, Simply Food, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Favorites: Eat Smart Asian Salad Kit

September 2, 2011 By 4 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 …

Eat Smart Asian Salad Kit

 

Details …

Try a healthy vegetable-based salad for dinner or add cooked shrimp and make it a meal! Kit contains shredded green cabbage, broccoli, carrots and red cabbage as well as chow mein noodles, sliced almonds and a sesame dressing.

From shopwell.com:

Ingredients:

Vegetables: Green Cabbage, Broccoli, Carrots, Red Cabbage, Chow Mein Noodle And Almond Mix: Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron (From Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, And/Or Cottonseed Oil, And/Or Canola Oil), Water, Salt, Almonds. Dressing: Water, Sugar, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Distilled Vinegar, Sesame Seed Oil, Soybean Oil, Salt, Steak Sauce [Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Distilled Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Raisin Paste, Orange Puree, Spices, Dried Garlic And Onion, Caramel Color, Potassium Sorbate, (Preservative), Xanthan Gum], Sesame Seeds, Xanthan Gum, Spice, Carrageenan, Natural Flavor, Dextrose. Contains: Wheat, Soy, Almonds.

Our Thoughts …

We try not to do many salad mixes but this one was a great time savers so we had to share. We did pork tacos the other night (recipe to come … I think!) Brian decided they shouldn’t be regular lettuce tacos and saw this at the store so this was our “lettuce”. He just mixed the dressing and then the cabbage salad was all ready to go. We didn’t use the almonds or the chow mein noodles that came with the salad mix. The good thing was the kids at this up like crazy. No leftovers were nice since I tend to do dishes and putting away leftovers. Brian did mention that next time he gets this he could see trying to put his own dressing together to avoid the preservatives in the provided dressing.

Have you tried the Eat Smart Asian Salad Kit before? Do you have a favorite salad kit? Leave us a comment and let us know!!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Memes, Simply Food, Tips & Techniques Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Friday Favorites: GE Coverlites

August 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

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 …

GE LED Leaves CoverLite

Details …

The GE 11257 Leaves CoverLiteTM LED Auto On/Off Night Light covers unsightly wall outlets with this energy-efficient LED night light and use just pennies worth of electricity per year. Provide a unique way to add style into your home.

Our Thoughts …

We bought these at Sam’s Club the other day. They came in a three pack there but you can buy singles too it seems! We have been leaving a light on in the living room every night in case one of the kids makes it down the stairs in the middle of the night. It was a waste of energy but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. We put two of these in the living room and they are great. The third went in the laundry/powder room that has no natural light! The added bonus to these lights is that the cover both plug so we were able to remove some baby safety plug that are less than pretty! :)

Oh and they have other cool designs too if the “leaves” design in the picture isn’t your style!;) You can find the one pictured and others at Amazon so you don’t even have to head to Sam’s Club!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Home & Garden, Memes, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Friday Favorites: Little Tykes Shopping Cart

August 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

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 …

Little Tikes Shopping Cart

Details …

  • Sturdy walls keep small items in
  • Deep basket
  • A favorite toy can ride in the fold-down seat
  • Storage underneath basket provide plenty of space for a child’s favorite things

Our Thoughts …

 This is a favorite toy at house … probably because it holds other toys. You know the best toys are the ones that hold other toys so you can stockpile them and keep them away from your brother and sister. That is the best quality of a good toy it seems. All three of our kids (2 years up to almost 5 years old) still play with this toy on an almost daily basis. It does have rules though like it can’t be in the kitchen (try tripping over this sucker and you will know why we have that rule!) It also has to be emptied out at night so it can’t just hoard toys.

Overall this is a great toy. You can find it at the store or even buy it online at Amazon!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Kids, Memes, Simply Family Tagged With: , , , , ,

Friday Favorite: Pet Water Fountain

May 27, 2011 By 4 Comments

Friday Favorites is another almost weekly feature here at Simply Budgeted. The whole point of this feature is to share some of my 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 I use and bought on my own.

Up this week …

Pioneer Fountain Big Max- Stainless Steel
Details …
Pet fountains help your animals to drink more water because they are attracted to moving water. In the past the only option you had for an automatic pet fountain was a plastic one. Now finally there is a stainless steel pet fountain that looks like it belongs in your kitchen. Our stainless steel drinking fountain is extremely easy to take a part and clean. It is 100% dishwasher safe and is made from high grade stainless steel. There has never been a fountain that looks or works as well as this one does

My thoughts …
LinkWe bought this in an effort to encourage our one cat to drink more water. We have three pets though (2 cats and 1 dog) and I wanted to get down to one big water bowl (we have had two). So I went with the Big Max version of this fountain. The great news is all three pets are drinking from it!!
My TIP is that you have to fill it up before plug it in or it makes a HORRIBLE noise. This scared our dog away from the bowl until he saw the cat drink from it.
I have put a pitcher of water near where the water bowl is an just about every time I walk by it, I add water. You are suppose to keep it pretty full according to the directions.
All that being said, the pets are drinking from the new bowl which is what I wanted!

If you are looking for a new pet fountain or maybe are like us and are trying to encourage a pet to drink more, check this pet fountain!

Did you miss my last Friday Favorite? Find it here!

If you have a suggestion for a Friday Favorite, leave me a comment and let me know.
If you have a blog post that includes a recipe, tip, or article you wrote that you want me know about, leave me a comment and you might see it in a future Friday Favorite!!

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