Is Your Babysitter Worth It?

You get home after a long night out and the food from 3 hours ago is still sitting on the counter, dishes are still on the table, toys are strewn all over, and the sitter is playing on her cell phone, your laptop, or sleeping on the couch.

Was this 'night out' even worth it?

On the other hand, I have this one sitter who comes with supplies to play with my kids; bins of craft supplies, stuffed animals, cars, and more. I get home to a pretty spotless house and the sitter is finishing up the dishes. 

Jealous or WHAT?!

She is totally worth the cash. 

I've learned to lay it out to the sitter AHEAD of time exactly what they can get paid if they do certain things. This is what I say:

Here's me with 2 of my 3 munchkins. Yep, I'm good at looking happy while they choke me.

"When I get home, if the kids are alive, uninjured, and in bed, I will pay you $(the going rate per child, per hour).

(For me here in Idaho that's $6 for all 3 of my kids. Yes, I know how lucky I am.)

"If you do all of the above AND...the house is tidy, dinner is cleaned up, food put away, dishes washed, and that basket of laundry folded,

I pay an extra $2 more per hour."

They sitters ALWAYS show excitement when I say this. And they ALWAYS choose the higher pay. I get home, look around, ask how the night went, and pay up! 

I'm totally going out now.  Later!

Do you have any babysitter tips to share?

30 min & A Week of Lunches

I'm tired of scrambling school mornings, making breakfast, doing hair, & packing lunches. 

Last week I said,

"I wish there was a way to make the week's lunches all at once."

I figured it out! 

"Duh. why didn't I do this before?"

Here it is. Two boxes.

One box stays in the fridge, one on the shelf. 

Each day I grab stuff and throw it in their lunch bags. 

Easy Peasy.

BOX 1: Refrigerated items. Here's ideas to put in it:

• cheese in baggies
• cut up fruit in containers (melon, peaches, strawberries)
• cut up veggies in containers (carrots, peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes)
• little containers of dips (ranch, hummus, peanut butter)
• Sandwiches. PPJ don't work that well, but meat sandwiches do. Keeping a sandwich in the fridge for 5 says is possible, put the mayo between the layers of meat/cheese. It keeps the bread from getting soggy.
• Applesauce, canned fruit, Yogurt. See those containers on the right in the picture? I got those so I spend less on serving size items. Works for 

BOX 2: Shelf items. Here's ideas to put in it:

• Fill servings in baggies: crackers, chips, rice cakes, cereal, granola, popcorn
• granola bars
• fruit leather
• nuts

6 Ways to Give a Darn

 Did you ever wanna scream, "Help me, dagonnit!"?

Yeah, we've all been there. Here are 6 thing you could do for people that would really REALLY make a difference:

1. Babysit!  Seriously, so many parents are just aching for a few hours without wiping someone else's vomit off their shoulder. (However, their own vomit would be delightful). Offer to take someone's kids. 

 2. Help someone move.  Sounds utterly unpleasant, doesn't it? Well it is. Get in there and get your hands dirty, man. Your friends will be forever grateful.

 

3. Cook a meal. Text a friend in the morning that you are brining them dinner.  Knowing in advance that it's coming makes them NOT have to prepare anything. What a gift! 

4. Be nice while driving.  This will lower your blood pressure AND cause less accidents!  Go figure.

5. Donate your stuff. Make a post on Facebook and see which of your actual friends could use it. 

6. Give 10% of your income to a charity of your choice. WHAT? Crazy right? It's called tithing, Baby Cakes.  It's old school. I stole that idea from the Bible. Try it!

 

What are your ideas?

Why should I give a darn? Read my post on the Law of Giving & Receiving here.

Easy! Freeze Fresh Basil!

Dude! It's SO Easy!

 

1. Pick your basil
2. Rip off leaves
3. Wash & Dry
4. Lay out on baking sheet 
5. Freeze 2-24 hours
6. Lift of sheet with a spatula
7. Put leaves in freezer bags

That's it!

 

*When frozen laid out on a tray the leaves don't stick together in the bag.  Just grab out how much you want. Frozen tastes just as good as fresh and can be used in the same cooked dishes. 

 

Its so easy, go for it.

Maggie's Garden Tomato Sauce

So, you grew a ton of tomatoes and now you don't know what to do with them all. Here's a delicious idea, Garden Fresh Sauce!

You're not using fresh tomatoes? Want to use canned?
Here's my sister's recipe for Marinara Sauce using canned tomatoes.

Some of you are absolutely going to hate me for this recipe because I am awful at knowing amounts. But here we go for a try...

Ingredients:

Sink full of tomatoes

1/2 - 1 Cup Olive Oil

2-3 Lrg onions

1/8 - 1/4 Cup minced or pressed garlic

3/4 Cup fresh or frozen basil

Lots of salt and pepper

1/2 - 2 Cups Sugar

A sink full of tomatoes (Romas or other 'meaty' tomato are best for sauce)

• Wash
• Cut out bad parts and stems
• Use in a food processor
• Pour them into an ENORMOUS pot
• Simmer and reduce until its thick and not watery. Usually reduces by 1/4-1/2
• Stir often to not burn the bottom or it makes the whole pot taste gross.

During this simmering, get another large saute pan and cover the whole bottom with Olive Oil, like, A LOT of olive oil. (1/2-1 C)

*never let olive oil get too hot, it changes the taste and smell of it. Just keep it on medium or low.

Decide ahead of time what you want your sauce to be. If you want a hot diabolo sauce, then use hot Italian sausage and red pepper or go ahead and add some jalapenos. If you want a thick veggie sauce then add bell peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. Or maybe you want a meat sauce then use ground beef.

In all sauces you MUST have: lots of ONION, BASIL, GARLIC

   In the oil add:

2-3 lrg Chopped onions 

   Let them start to turn translucent, then add:

1/4 C minced or pressed garlic

3/4 C fresh Basil, or frozen (easy way to freeze basil)

What ever vegetable you want in your sauce

If you want meat:

Cook your beef or sausage in the big pan, drain the fat and add it to the veggies and oil.

Back to your big pot of tomatoes, ADD:

ALL the oil and ingredients from other pot

S/P a LOT, open the container and pour some

1/2-2 C of sugar 

*Amt of sugar totally depends on the bitterness of your tomatoes. If you water your garden well they are sweeter. If you use a lot of fertilizer, they are more bitter. It also depends on the variety of tomato. This year I grew "Amish Paste" and they were so sweet, I needed much less sugar than I ever have.

*This requires tasting and adding more as desired. 

-If its bitter you need more sugar.

-If its too tomatoey then you need more salt. 

-If it doesn't have enough 'flavor' then you need more basil and garlic.

Simmer 15-40 min. The longer it simmers the better the flavors are absorbed into every bit of this sauce.

With this enormous pot of sauce I put it in containers and freeze it. I have 18 quarts in my deep freezer right now. So easy for later use and, Oh, so much better than Ragu. 

My 3 little kids asked to have some of the sauce, they ended up eating bowls of it like soup. It really is that good. 

Enjoy!

Eliza's Marinara Sauce

Be a sauce snob and never

buy Prego or Ragu again.

*This recipe was derived from my 90 year old Italian grandmother living in Brooklyn. 

She da BOMB. Love you G-ma.

Recipe:

1 28 ounce can CRUSHED tomato (not stewed, not sauce, not anything else)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic finely chopped (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 Tbsp dry oregano
pinch red pepper flakes
10 leaves (handful) fresh basil chopped (or 1 Tbsp dry oregano)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and sautee garlic until slightly golden.  Add all other ingredients and simmer for 30 mins (or don't simmer at all).  (If using garlic powder, still add the olive oil).

*This is my sister's recipe using fresh garden tomatoes instead of canned. 

Other useful tips:

• I almost always triple the recipe and store any extra in a container in the fridge.  It lasts for a couple weeks. And if I don't get to use it quick enough, I just throw the extra in soup, or chili, etc.
• This is a catch all base for tons of recipes.  Add meatballs and you are mom of the year. (Melt in your mouth meatballs recipe here).
• Try chopping up spinach and adding it to the sauce.
• When I use this for pizza sauce I don't even heat it at all.  I just throw it together in a pot cold and put it on my dough. (Totally perfect dough recipe here).
• I thought I had tons more tips....hmm, drawing a blank.  Enjoy your sauce.

 

How do I make these green tomatoes turn red?

My sister, texted me this picture a few minutes ago and asked, 

"How do I make them turn red?"

 

Here's your answer:

Let 'em sit in a closed paper bag or box.

Each tomato will ripen at different rates from 2-14 days.

Want to expedite your order? 

Put a ripe fruit in with them, like a banana.

Don't refrigerate.

Wanna know why?

Ripening fruit emits a gas called, Ethylene. If you keep them in an enclosed place the gas is trapped inside the container and makes them ripen faster. The more ripe the fruit the more gas it emits which is why putting an already ripened fruit in the bag makes the process even faster.

Did you know?

Most fruit and veggies bought at a grocery store is picked before its ripe and they ripen on the truck on the way to the packaging plants and then the grocer. They have to pick them before they are ripe or they would be rotten by the time they got to the store.